Chapter 990: Strange Fruit

"What? That's impossible!" John exclaimed with much frustration.

When using battle arts and moving Qi throughout one's body, the powerful surge of Qi naturally flowed out of a cultivator's acupoints, surging into the air as an aura. The more powerful the Qi circulating within a cultivator's body, the more powerful the aura would be as a result.

While an aura was technically a sign of wasted Qi, there was not much that could be done about it. For all cultivators, the Qi surging through their body was powerful to a point that trying to contain it all was a waste. Not only would it require more attention to ensure no Qi escaped from their acupoints, it would also increase the attention, or soul-power, needed towards balancing their internal Qi.

Qi leaking through acupoints was akin to a pressure regulator, ensuring that the level of Qi within the cultivators body didn't grow to a level that was harmful to themselves. It was the natural design of a cultivator, one that ensured powerful battle arts could be used without the internal Qi destroying them from within. Going against that natural design was not only incredibly difficult, but also dangerous.

When he had withdrawn his presence and aura during the first trial, he had been using almost no Qi at all, making it possible. However, to use fifty percent of his Qi output, all while keeping his aura to a level that the bats couldn't detect, that was beyond difficult.

"Is it truly impossible?" The Prime Shadow asked amusingly.

"No," John sighed eventually, recalling when the Prime Shadow had shown him this assassination art. He had not detected the Prime Shadows aura at all, indicating that it was possible to channel Qi while hiding one's aura.

"Good, then you may begin," the Prime Shadow said.

"Why did you let me wash myself if I'm just going to be covered in that shit again?" John grumbled, mostly to himself. He sat down, not bothering with the tunnel just yet, as his ability to withdraw his aura was not nearly at that level yet.

His aura began to surge powerfully, which then slowly lessened as he struggled to keep his Qi from leaking out. The pressure within his body quickly grew, making him feel like a balloon that was about to pop. After a long struggle, his Qi vanished, not from hiding it successfully, but from feeling like he was about to explode from within.

'Not only do I need to regulate my Qi from escaping, I need to learn to re-integrate it into the Qi I'm currently using. Balancing the Qi from two directions, one from my dantian, and the other from my closed acupoints, is going to be incredibly difficult.'

...

Two months later, the Prime Shadow stood up from his comfortable chair he had taken out once more, looking towards the cave. A smile appeared on his face a moment later, followed by a nod of approval.

"Two months? It took me six months to pass this trial. This boy is truly something else," he said to himself, then vanished.

...

John looked up at the Prime Shadow, who had appeared before him in the same manner when he had passed the first trial. The Prime Shadow nodded, then tossed John another bar of soap to wash the slime off his body.

John grumbled as he grabbed the soap, then sped towards the natural spring. He returned a short while later, body cleaned, mind refreshed. He looked at the Prime Shadow pointedly, awaiting the most up to date information regarding Lilian.

"Ah, yes, the information regarding your companion," the Prime Shadow said, frowning. "It seems like The Auction keeps a tight lid on information, but Zuri has managed to learn this. Your companion was purchased by someone from the Sword Dao Sect."

"The Sword Dao Sect," John repeated with narrowed eyes. "Did you find anything else. Who has her? What her condition is?"

The Prime Shadow shook his head.

"The Auction's information regarding your companion ended there," the Prime Shadow said. "The team I have already established within the Sword Dao Sect has been instructed to pursue this matter exclusively, and they have found bits and pieces of information, but nothing concrete. They should have something for us soon."

John nodded his head, thankful for the effort the Prime Shadow and the Guild was putting in to help him find Lilian.

"Let's continue," John said firmly, ready to complete this training as soon as possible.

"Good," the Prime Shadow nodded, then wrapped John up in his power once more. John suddenly found himself standing in an entirely different place than before, and he sighed with relief that it wasn't the cave he had lived in the last three months.

Trees surrounded him in all directions, towering into the skies as far as he could see. Lush vegetation covered the ground all around him, which small animals skittered through occasionally.

"A forest?" John asked curiously.

"Not just any forest," the Prime Shadow said, then began walking. John followed behind, looking all around. He spotted more small animals, bushes, trees as dozens of yards thick, flowering plants with delicious looking fruits on them.

"Wait...did I actually see any fruits?" John stopped and talked to himself.

'I swore I saw...wait. What did I see again?'

The Prime Shadow stopped, smiling as he turned around to face John.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I...I don't know," John said, shaking his head at the uncertainty he felt right now. "I thought I had seen something...but can't remember anymore."

Cultivators had incredible memories, to the point that they practically never forgot anything they saw, heard, read, or experienced in any way. The feeling he felt at the moment was incredibly stifling, like a hole had been created in his memories, insignificant, yet important at the same time.

"Did I actually forget something, or was I just imagining it?" he mumbled to himself, then looked at the Prime Shadow, who was smiling a knowing smile. He knew what was going on.

"What is going on?" John asked.

To answer John's question, the Prime Shadow waved his hand to the side. A powerful yet gentle wave of Qi enveloped the area, at which point the scene before John's eyes changed. Dozens, hundreds of colorful plants with bright, fist-sized multicolored fruits came into view, as if an illusion had suddenly been lifted from his eyes.

"What...." John said, eyes wide. "How did I not notice these fruits at all? Wait, that's what I forgot earlier. Just what is happening here?" he asked the Prime Shadow.

The Prime Shadow reached out and plucked one of the multi-colored fruits, then took a bite of it.

"So good," he said to himself, then plucked one and tossed it to John. John caught the fruit and studied it, still unsure of what had happened to him earlier.

"These fruits are incredible," the Prime Shadow said, taking another bite. "And not just because they are delicious, or that they help with raising one's cultivation. No, these fruits are incredible because of the defense mechanism they have."

"Defense mechanism?" John asked with a thoughtful look.

"These fruits naturally emanate a Dao, one that helps them remain unnoticed, protected from harm."

"The fruits naturally emanate a Dao? Which one?" John asked, surprised and yet not surprised at the same time. He had encountered non-sentient treasures before that also emanate Dao's naturally, although none as perplexing as this.

"Your next trial is this," the Prime Shadow said, taking another bite of the fruit in his hand. "You are to study these fruits, meditate near them, and learn from them. When you have learned to control this Dao to the Dao Adept level, you have passed the trial."

He began to walk deeper into the forest, out of John's line of sight, his voice drifting about a short while later.

"Oh, and to answer your question, the Dao these fruits emanate is the Dao of Nothingness."