'Calm down, calm down. Don't be a fool and let too much joy take away your common sense.'
Shi Lan said to himself with his eyes that had turned to a swollen lip.
The Primordial Dark Sea was a fable at best. No one knew much about it aside from speculation that it flowed out of the Void River that preceded the Star of Time and Fate Supreme itself.
The Dark Sea was as ageless as the Star of Time and the Fate Supreme, which were the lawful forces of equilibrium that governed the realms and were, in turn, governed by the realms. It was a cunning concept, one that Shi Lan, even back in the day, had never fully grasped.
'The Fate Realm and Star Realm really are a weird bunch. I never expected that slut would swallow her pride and go back home to the place that forsook her when she needed them most, just so she could get back to me.'
Shi Lan did not know the whole story, but the only way Star Mother could have gotten ahead of him was if she had received help from her heartless father. Which meant the man had also set aside his hatred for his disgraceful daughter just to kill him.
Shi Lan laughed.
'I'm so filial. Because of me, a father and daughter who had been estranged for several hundred years reunited.'
He genuinely felt proud of himself. But that was not the point here.
The point was that because of the Dark Sea's agelessness, he did not know how to properly utilize it for cultivation. One's core later became a very instrumental piece in forming the Nascent Soul, which then grew into the Dao Source.
Their Elemental Truth.
If he got it wrong, the Primordial Dark Sea could turn against him and consume him. Anything could happen as far as he was concerned.
'I have traveled many great lands and crossed endless rivers in search of untold and undiscovered cultivation scripts. I have many techniques to use and train with from my knowledge, but it's useless if I don't understand the nature of the Dark Sea. I never even expected to have this!'
Shi Lan pouted and lowered his head in utter disappointment.
He had gained the very gold he had been searching for, yet that gold was too heavy to carry with a weak body. It had no handle he could grasp, and he wanted to climb a peerless mountain.
Shi Lan fell silent for a moment. Then his eyes widened with enlightenment.
'Why worry?! I can just focus on body tempering for now and observe how the Dark Sea responds to my body!'
Shi Lan beamed and slapped his thighs, proud of his belatedly obvious solution. Truly, the sky was blue.
He inspected his body, deciding that focusing on it was the best course of action. However, before long, the light on Shi Lan's face faded into a dark expression.
"What type of body is this?"
This was the weakest constitution he had ever laid eyes on! Shi Lan did not remember his body constitution being this weak.
'What is going on?'
It was a miracle that this body was still alive after all this beating. Shi Lan examined it again, and his eyes widened.
"W-Wait a minute…"
The body was weak, true. But the strange thing he noticed was that the beating had actually helped it. The places that ached felt stronger and more durable.
'This is strange… and useless?'
Surely the great and mighty Heaven-Defying Demon, the Wife Thief, had not fallen so low that he needed to take a beating or two to grow stronger.
'Hell no! Over my dead body.'
It was useless nonetheless. This body was useless and could not properly help him temper it. It would break before enduring anything, and even if it did not break, Shi Lan simply could not accept the idea that he had to lose to win. He had lost too much already to be interested in losing again.
He loosened the boy's trousers and looked down.
Immediately, Shi Lan's eyes sparkled brightly as if he had discovered glowing treasures beneath his trousers.
'You bastard. Of all your usefulness, this is where you decide to dump it.'
A mischievous grin spread across Shi Lan's face.
'Not that I'm complaining.'
The next moment, however, a darker shadow fell over his expression again.
'With this kind of body, will he even be able to last two seconds?'
Shi Lan was not one to brag, but he held the most records in all the Seven Realms. There was nothing those Immortal Elders could do, because their wives wanted to be with him so much that they were ready to abandon their realms.
Shi Lan had been drying up the realms of women, and every young female cultivator dreamed of finding the Heaven-Defying Demon and becoming his partner.
There was no city he entered that did not already belong to him. That was how dangerous he had been back then.
Shi Lan abandoned his old memories, peeked at the boy's pants again, and grinned like a deranged man.
'I'll put this to very good use.'
He was still left with the problem of training his body, though. Shi Lan did not mind. He had a far greater heavenly spear than even in his prime. With more effort, this would grow into a rod capable of destroying any cavern with a single push.
Thinking about it, Shi Lan smiled proudly, and beneath him a bulge rose in his shorts. He placed his hands behind his back like a profound elder and walked away from the lake.
A moment later, he returned to the lake and looked around.
'Where am I? How do I get out of here?'
Shi Lan had no idea where this place was.
At that instant, his ears perked up as a rustling sound came from the surrounding bushes.