"Welcome back, Meixiu." Feng Yuxiang said to her the moment she logged back inside, acting as though her disappearance was only natural.
Meixiu nodded and said, "I have some news for you regarding Yuan."
"Brother Yuan?" Xiao Hua was the one to react upon hearing his name, and she quickly asked, "What about Brother Yuan?!"
"I just wanted to let you know that even though he’s separated from the other two disciples, he’s still safe and sound," Meixiu said.
"What? How do you know that? Did you contact him somehow?" Long Yijun looked at her with a face of disbelief. How could one contact someone that’s inside the Mystic Realm? He has never heard of this before.
Meixiu nodded, "Yes, I have a method of contacting Yuan."
"So Brother Yuan is safe?" Xiao Hua asked her again just in case.
"Yes, he’s safe and well. In fact, he’s even reached fifth level Spirit Warrior."
"What?! Fifth level Spirit Warrior?! But he’s only been inside for a day!" Elder Shan exclaimed in a shocked voice.
"Heavens... At this rate, he’ll return to his original cultivation base in no time..." Elder Xuan mumbled.
"Hahaha! As expected of Disciple Yuan! His talents know no bounds!" Long Yijun laughed out loud.
The other sects looked at the Dragon Essence Temple as though they were crazy. What the heck are they talking about? Their number one disciple is missing and they look quite happy, and the Sect Master is even laughing out loud.
"Thank heavens..." Xiao Hua released a sigh of relief after hearing that Yuan was fine.
Meanwhile, inside the Mystic Realm, Yuan spends another hour looking at the stone tablet.
"Miss Lan mentioned that this place is surrounded by Sword Aura. Now that I’m a Spirit Warrior again, I can use my Divine Sense. Let’s see if I can see this Sword Aura with my Divine Sense..."
Thus, Yuan closed his eyes and activated his Divine Sense, extending it as far as he could manage.
But alas, he was unable to ’see’ this Sword Aura. However, with that being said, he could sense an unfamiliar aura around the temple.
"Is this Sword Aura? I can sense it but not see it..." Yuan mumbled in a pondering voice.
He continued to ’feel’ this Sword Aura, trying to understand it for as long as his Divine Sense could hold up.
When he could no longer use his Divine Sense due to exhaustion, he began cultivating to restore his spiritual energy.
Once he was full of energy again, Yuan used his Divine Sense to inspect the Sword Aura around the place, and the longer he looked at it, the more he understood it— at least that was the feeling he was getting.
It was almost like that time when Xiao Hua read her book to him for the first time. He couldn’t comprehend a single thing at first, but as he listened to it, he gradually understood it more and more until he eventually learned the technique.
Thus, from night to sunrise, Yuan studied the Sword Aura in fascination, almost like he was mesmerized by its existence.
Yuan logged off for breakfast, returning shortly after to study it some more.
In the afternoon, Yuan retrieved his Divine Sense and took a deep breath afterward.
He then turned to look at the sword marks on the stone tablet, and he proceeded to stare at it for hours without moving a single muscle.
Suddenly, he began closing his eyes, feeling a familiar sensation overwhelm his body.
"This feeling... Enlightenment?" Yuan mumbled in a low voice as his mind drifted.
Even though his eyes were closed, Yuan could still see the stone tablet in his mind, and he could see each and every sword mark clearly, almost like he still had his eyes open.
Suddenly, the sword marks on the stone tablet began disappearing.
A few moments later, all of the sword marks disappeared with the stone tablet completely clean and untouched.
A few more seconds later, Yuan could see a figure suddenly appear before the stone tablet with its back facing him, and in this figure’s grasp was an ordinary sword.
Yuan then watched as this figure raised the sword in its grasp and struck the stone tablet repeatedly, creating multiple sword marks on it.
A few minutes later, the stone tablet returned to its original form with many sword marks on it.
However, the sword marks disappeared again a few seconds later.
Once all of the sword marks were gone, the figure repeated the actions and struck the stone tablet with its sword using the exact same movements, and this scene repeated tens— hundreds of times inside Yuan’s head.
Yuan’s enlightenment continued throughout the night, even forgetting to log off for dinner.
"He’s still inside the game?" After cooking dinner, Meixiu waited for Yuan to come out of the game, but in the end, he remained inside the game.
And not wanting to disturb him, Meixiu quietly put his dinner in the refrigerator before calling it a night.
The following morning, Meixiu woke up to see Yuan’s condition, but alas, he was still inside the game.
Meixiu decided to not log into the game until Yuan returns like last time. While she waited, she went to look at the auction and other things online to kill time.
Meanwhile, inside Cultivation Online, Yuan had just witnessed the figure strike the stone tablet thousands of times. And with every strike, he could sense the Sword Aura from the sword and the sword marks much clearer.
Suddenly, Yuan stood up inside his mind, and he approached the figure.
A few seconds later, Yuan stood exactly where the figure once stood and with a sword in his grasp.
After taking a deep breath, Yuan began replicating the figure’s sword movement, almost like he’d become that figure himself.
One... two... three...
Yuan struck the stone tablet three times, but there were no marks on the stone tablet.
However, Yuan didn’t stop and continued to strike the stone tablet.
One hundred... two hundred... three hundred strikes.
After striking the stone tablet hundreds of times inside his mind, completely unbeknownst to him, a profound aura that resembled Sword Aura began appearing around Yuan’s real body!