Seed of Dao

The bet was won

On a cold morning.

Ye Chen's body that hadn't moved for some time inside the cave suddenly moved its eyelids, and moments later opened fully.

Ye Chen's clean black eyes looked slightly dazed, but then he immediately sat up and couldn't help but mutter, "Am I still alive?"

Looking left and right, up and down, and finally finding the familiar cave room, a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"I'm really still alive!"

Ye Chen felt joyful and couldn't help but laugh, but moments later he frowned and looked at his entire body with disgust.

"What kind of foul smell is this?"

Ye Chen felt nauseous seeing both his arms covered with a disgusting layer of black filth with a foul smell. Not just both his arms, he also found that apparently his entire body was also slimy, even his face wasn't spared from these very disgusting things.

"Damn it!"

Ye Chen couldn't restrain himself and immediately ran out of the cave to clean himself.

---

Some time later, quite far from the previous cave, Ye Chen who had cleaned himself couldn't help but admire his entire body.

Standing naked at the riverbank, Ye Chen found drastic changes to his body. Previously, his body was weak and skinny like a farmer's child who had never done intensive physical training. But now, although still slender, the muscles in his arms and stomach appeared more formed. His skin that was previously rough and full of dust was now smooth and slightly glowing, as if layers of dirt accumulated for years had disappeared.

Most surprisingly, small wounds on his body—snake bite marks, thorn scratches, bruises from falls—all had disappeared. His skin was clean without blemishes.

Seeing his own face through the river water's reflection, Ye Chen also found that the face of the boy who looked not yet mature appeared better than expected.

"Haha!" Unable to contain his joy, Ye Chen began to laugh at his gamble.

He had won the gamble of life!

With the changes to his current body, he could finally be sure that his decision to eat the unknown fruit at the last moments was the right decision. Not just right, but Ye Chen was also very confident that his entire body was beginning to transform because of it. Not only limited to the physical body, but all his five senses were also strengthened.

With his enhancement, Ye Chen found that his vision was far sharper than before. Leaves that were previously blurry in the distance were now clearly visible, he could count leaf veins from five meters away. His hearing also improved, the river water sound that was previously just a rumble now sounded like thousands of small droplets. Birds chirping in trees, insects crawling on the ground, everything was heard more clearly.

This wasn't superhuman level, but far exceeded what an ordinary fifteen-year-old boy could do.

This discovery inevitably made Ye Chen excited and very happy, at the same time also began thinking about his original goal. If previously he very much wanted to immediately go to Dayan village, now he thought that he shouldn't be in too much of a hurry.

With the changes to his body, and also the four strange fruits still remaining in the cave, Ye Chen couldn't give up on both just like that. Besides, in a forest like this was also a good thing to train himself. With his original goal of becoming Immortal, what to do next was already clear.

"Practice," Ye Chen's eyes suddenly became bright and immediately walked toward his bag.

---

Taking out and removing things he didn't understand from inside the leather bag, Ye Chen began to examine everything. Starting with trying to open the two strange pouches and the black dagger enthusiastically, but in the end he had to be disappointed.

Because although he tried various ways, he couldn't put his hand into the pouch, as if there was an invisible wall blocking. The same thing also happened with the black dagger, there was no reaction whatsoever when he tried to pour energy or anything into it.

"Could it be I need to become a cultivator first before I can use this?"

In the end he chose to set aside those three things and took the nameless book.

The old Immortal man before had said that this book was a basic technique for mortals to sense, absorb, and store energy between heaven and earth into the body. The man didn't seem to be lying.

When Ye Chen read it to completion, and memorized some of its most important contents, he began to sit cross-legged under a tree, then closed both his eyes, recited mantras according to the instructions in the book, and concentrated fully on it.

After such time, Ye Chen began to forget things around him, ignoring anything and seemed to merge with the atmosphere around him.

Who knows how much time had passed, he felt that there were several warm currents floating and circling around his entire body. Those currents weren't visible or shaped, but existed and that might be what was called spiritual energy.

Following the steps in the book, then this was the time to absorb spiritual energy into his body. Unfortunately, as a beginner who just started practicing, it was impossible for Ye Chen to take it in. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it.

That feeling was very nauseating, it was like diving into water, but you couldn't feel the coldness or freshness of the water at all.

"Phew."

Inevitably Ye Chen had to stop and open his eyes, but he didn't feel worried and knew that becoming Immortal couldn't be done overnight. Being able to sense spiritual energy was also progress. There was still plenty of time ahead, moreover he also wasn't in a hurry.

Getting up and walking to change into spare clothes in the bag, Ye Chen found that it was already noon, which meant unconsciously he had been practicing for more than six hours.

"Amazing!" Once again, Ye Chen couldn't help but feel amazed at what had just happened.

Even though he still hadn't absorbed qi or was even still too far from storing it in his dantian, he felt he had gained some things. The harvest of those six hours could be felt when he found that his body which had evolved some time before became stronger and more energetic.

By continuing to practice hard, wouldn't he become stronger and stronger? What's more with the four miraculous fruits still remaining in the cave.

Ye Chen was truly excited and couldn't wait to immediately return and practice in the cave.

He was addicted!

Ye Chen was truly addicted to its benefits, and didn't think of anything else besides practicing.

---

With that, days that were boring for ordinary people became something anticipated at all times by Ye Chen. No longer needing to hurry, he began his activities regularly in the cave.

Practicing in the cave at night, looking for food at the river in the morning, and practicing basic fighting skills by hunting wild animals in the forest during the day.

First week: Ye Chen still had difficulty sensing spiritual energy consistently. Sometimes felt, sometimes disappeared.

Third week: Finally able to sense stably, the warm current around his body was always there when meditating.

Until the second month: After relentless training, Ye Chen who was practicing beside the strange fruit tree suddenly smiled and opened his eyes full of joy.

"Hard work for two months has finally paid off!" Ye Chen couldn't restrain his smile knowing that he could finally absorb spiritual energy into his body.

Although actually he still couldn't store qi into his dantian, this was progress. Next was just the final step, which was absorbing spiritual energy through pores, then guiding it to flow through all his meridians as many as seven cycles back and forth, and storing it in his dantian.

If all that was completed, officially Ye Chen could be called an Immortal at qi refinement first level.

"To be faster, should I eat this strange fruit again?" Ye Chen asked himself and thought while looking at the four strange fruits remaining on the tree beside him.

But then he shook his head and said, "Better not waste such a miraculous treasure. I already ate it two months ago, but I still need a long time to reach the final stage of refinement. There's still plenty of time, I'm also not in a hurry. Better I practice first."

Ye Chen stood up enthusiastically, and looked at the cave which was now more livable than two months ago, and suddenly thought of something.

During these two months, Ye Chen wasn't without challenges. This forest turned out to be more dangerous than he thought. Besides the venomous snake guarding the spiritual fruit, there was something more terrifying—a large tiger with golden fur that he called Huang.

First meeting three weeks ago, Ye Chen almost died. The beast's speed and strength far exceeded his. He could only flee by leaving his hunt results. Since then, Ye Chen always avoided Huang's hunting area.

But now...

"That's right too. It's been more than two weeks since I met Huang. Back then, because I couldn't defeat him, I had to flee from him, but with my current strength, he shouldn't be a threat, right?"

Ye Chen who was excited and needed practice material couldn't help but exit the cave.

Then looking toward the trees on the mountain and grinning. "Little Huang, let's see who's stronger now?"