"Indeed. When I first arrived in the great Di Forest with my not-so-greedy friend, our rings were given spatial energy signatures. So I can activate teleportation back to the Beast Hall."
Shi Guyin laughed.
"I should have even asked."
"The air here is cold," Tianlei said softly.
"This is the boundary between the inner region and the outer region. The cold here is unnatural. Even during my time, I could sense something was off about this place."
I am currently at six-star soldier class level, Tianlei thought. Maybe this cold could help me.
He waved his hand slowly through the air, trying to feel the cold.
Then he slowed his breathing until even Shi Guyin thought he had entered a meditative trance.
Then Tianlei did something different.
He deliberately opened his blood circulation.
His body temperature dropped sharply. Frost crept over his skin, crawling up his arms and across his neck. His heartbeat slowed, blood thickening as cold replaced warmth.
Shi Guyin's glow flickered.
"Kid, what you're doing is like charging a phone battery using lightning. Believe me, I don't know much about human technology, but I know it always fails."
"Old ghost Shi, you said my monster genes are the problem—they need to adapt to other characteristics. So why spare those in my blood system?"
Shi Guyin chuckled, looking up at the night sky.
"Huh. No wonder most genius people die young."
"They die young because they try to achieve what is called impossible."
He let the forest's cold enter his bloodstream directly, guiding it through his veins like a secondary circulation. Where the cold met his bodhi blood, it did not clash.
It stabilized.
He continued practicing in the same position for over six weeks. Luckily, no magical beast dared to come close, aided by Shi Guyin, who released his terrifying aura as a five-hundred-year-old soul plant.
His cultivation sat firmly at six-star soldier class. No matter how he circulated essence through his blood vessels, it refused to compress further. The cold strengthened his body and sharpened his mind, but it did not push him forward.
Shi Guyin sat cross-legged, hovering slightly above him, his eyes fixed on Tianlei.
"Your body has already adapted to cold temperatures. I think that is enough," Shi Guyin finally said.
"It has been six weeks, yet there's no advance to the seventh star."
"Aye. I told you , breaking through stars may be simple, but you can't use the same unstable method every time you wish to advance."
Tianlei let silence drown them for about thirty seconds. His eyes were wide open, clearly lost in thought.
These past few weeks were the first time he had felt so alive. The cultivation world had actually allowed him to advance, yet he was like an athlete kilometers away from the finish line while others were only meters away.
"Old ghost Shi, in your life as a spirit plant… were you always behind others?"
Shi Guyin scoffed.
"I was an Emperor born with an Emperor-grade bloodline. Every spirit plant bowed to me, and my strength was—"
He closed his mouth, realizing he had overrun it. The true intention behind the question was now evident.
"I have always been behind others. People call me a monster, but I am one bound by chains made of the strongest metal."
He curled his fist In front of him.
"That is why I can't let go of this chance. Using the cold to temper my body is a unique art."
Shi Guyin exhaled.
"But you can't continue using it with your unstable body, or else it will fracture and collapse."
"I would rather collapse than drown in failure," Tianlei muttered under his breath.
Tianlei didn't heed his words. Instead, he stopped the controlled circulation, giving the cold freedom to invade his organs, marrow, and muscles yet his heart continued beating.
Pain followed . It was sharp, invasive and absolute.
His vision blurred.
Shi Guyin's voice came urgently.
"You madman! Do you want to turn into an ice sculpture? Stopping controlled circulation of cold air and essence will only fracture your body!"
"Not yet," Tianlei whispered.
He forced the invading frost inward, muscles tightening as ice-like pressure built from the inside. His bodhi blood reacted, burning faintly as it resisted collapse.
That resistance was what he needed.
A sound echoed inside his body , it wasn't physical but structural. His cultivation barrier splintered as pressure overwhelmed equilibrium.
Tianlei released his seal.
Essence surged violently, flooding pathways that had just been forcibly widened. Cold and bodhi blood fused into a denser circulation.
He coughed once, frost spilling from his lips.
Shi Guyin's glow steadied.
"Seven-star soldier class," he said quietly.
Tianlei remained seated, his chest rising slowly.
His body felt heavier and denser.
Every movement now carried weight, as though gravity itself had renegotiated its terms with him.
He stood.
The branch beneath his foot creaked but did not break.
Tianlei exhaled, watching ice form and fall from his breath.
"I will do whatever it takes to rise above these wicked systems. People like the military branch will learn to respect me."
He raised his hand into the air. Rays of sunlight tore through the leaves, giving his storage ring a luminous silver glow.
"This place has many spirit beasts. With your increased strength, I suggest you obtain another contract beast."
Another contract beast?
He nearly leaped towards Shi Guyin.
"But I thought my monster genes prohibit me from contracting any powerful beast."
"If they tell you to jump off a cliff and you do, what happens?"
Tianlei was puzzled by the question but chose the simplest answer.
"I guess I die."
"That is absolutely wrong. What if you have wings? Or below is water instead of hard rock? You never know unless you find out."
It was a strange answer, almost as if Shi Guyin was telling him to conduct an experiment to test whether the Beast Hall's restrictions were true.
"Old ghost, you're telling me to actually take a risk."
"Then tell me, how else will you find out? Do you want to be controlled like a puppet, following rules, or make your own?"
Tianlei scratched the back of his head. Ever since arriving at Golden Earth Academy, he had been told what to do, disobey and be punished. As if a switch flipped in his mind, he remembered Xue Ren's words about independence.
Relying on rules—the academy, the Beast Hall, even his grandfather was a weakness. If he truly wanted to succeed in this brutal world, maybe just once, he didn't have to follow the damned system filled with restrictions for deviators in beast taming.
"I would be honored if the old ghost showed the way."
Tianlei gestured toward Shi Guyin.
His illusory, misty form stretched its arms.
"Alright. Let's go hunting."
Tianlei hadn't left this zone for over six weeks, and stepping out felt like escaping a prison.
Shi Guyin kept whistling. The fact that he wasn't afraid of magical beasts hearing him puzzled Tianlei even more about the extent of his strength.
He walked carefree, even bypassing a Hell Minotaur.
"A Hell Minotaur?"
Both of them turned at once, their eyes landing on the creature. It was ugly, its body covered in countless wounds.
Judging by its aura, it had reached the early stage of level three.
"I've been wanting to slaughter," Shi Guyin roared, eyes blazing with killing intent. "Who would've expected my enemy to deliver himself personally to me?"