"Of course! When we return, we'll have the biggest family feast ever!" Leyvi said, his eyes bright. "Over the past three years, I've collected thousands of demonic beast bodies. A few of them even at the Commander Level. All that meat could last for years. Tasya will make the best delicacies out of them."
Just thinking about it made him drool slightly. Most of Tasya's food that he'd brought along was already gone, so he had to eat them sparingly now.
"Dohoho! I'll join, I'll join!" Bodo shouted happily. "I can't do much with other stuff, but I can work as a guard or something like that." A few seconds later, he scratched his head. "Sorry, Brother Leyvi. I don't have any demonic beast meat to contribute. I ate them all for cultivation."
"Don't worry about it. I've got plenty already. Haha!" Leyvi chuckled.
Another one baited by food, Leyvi thought with amusement.
At first, he'd been clueless about this Spirit Gourmet Maestro title Bodo kept praising after tasting Tasya's cooking. Later, Valenia had explained it to him, a title given to cultivators who pursued the path of flavor and taste. It wasn't an easy one to earn, either.
Leyvi had once tried a dish made by a Spirit Gourmet Maestro who'd traveled with Valenia's group before, and after comparing it, he concluded that Tasya's cooking was on par with that master's. Meaning, if she ever went to the Protogaea Continent, she'd easily qualify for the title. And since that was three years ago, she was probably even better now.
Thinking of Tasya made him wonder if Tal had made any progress with her. She'd been playing hard to get, after all. Poor guy. Thankfully, Anda hadn't been like Tasya back then. Both of them were also childhood friends who grew up together, but Anda wasn't playing hard to get, which saved him a lot of headaches.
Leyvi continued chatting with Bodo. Talking with him felt refreshingly simple, a pleasant change from conversations with Dastan and his brother-in-law Victor. Those two could be exhausting to talk to for different reasons. Bodo's honest nature, on the other hand, made every conversation easy and lighthearted.
Suddenly, in the middle of their conversation, waves of extraordinary aura swept across the land, instantly alerting both of them. Leyvi and Bodo stood up and fixed their gazes in the direction the aura came from.
"Brother Leyvi, this strong aura... is it an enemy? Should I fight?" Bodo asked, cracking his fists.
Leyvi's frown quickly turned into a smile once he recognized the source. "Hahaha! Don't worry. That's our group member, Dastan. Looks like he's finally finished his breakthrough. Took him a year and a month, huh."
"Oh, Dastan. The clown prince you told me about," Bodo said as the aura waves continued to wash over them.
"Brother Bodo, you can say that nickname behind his back," Leyvi reminded with a grin, "but don't say it to his face, or he might explode on you. You don't want to hear his annoying voice yelling in your ears all day. Hahaha!"
Bodo scratched his cheek, looking troubled. "Uhh… Brother Leyvi, you shouldn't have told me his nickname. Now that it's in my head, I might accidentally blurt it out when I talk to him."
"Well, then you'd better find something to plug your ears," Leyvi said, laughing.
---
In a man-made cave within a hill.
Thum! Thum! Thum!
Dastan sat cross-legged, his body glowing brilliantly as waves of majestic Nascent Soul aura pulsed out from him. The deep, thunderous sound that echoed through the cave was like a heart beating, only countless times louder. The surging aura emanated from the newly formed Nascent Soul stabilizing itself within his body, as his Qi nourished his body and enhanced its strength to a higher level, just as in all his previous breakthroughs.
At this point, the process was nearly complete. All that remained was for the Nascent Soul to fully settle.
"This prince has already disabled the formation," Dastan said, grinning inside the light. "They should be able to sense my majestic aura after my Nascent Soul is formed, right? Daa hahaha!"
Normally, cultivators wouldn't disable their formation right after a breakthrough. Doing so would only attract unwanted attention due to the overflowing aura. But Dastan, of course, did the complete opposite just because he wanted to brag. He was confident that nothing on the island would dare approach him anyway. If anything did, he'd simply send it to the grave with his newfound strength.
Although he was quite far from the mine, the waves of his Nascent Soul aura still spread across the land, powerful enough to be sensed thousands upon thousands of kilometers away, depending on the Nascent Soul's quality. And as the Crown Prince of the Howling Kingdom, who had been showered with the finest resources since birth, his Nascent Soul was naturally extraordinary.
"Now that this prince has stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm," Dastan declared proudly, "let's see who dares to bully me! Leyvi, just you wait, this prince will be the bully next! Daa hahaha!" He laughed aloud, thoroughly enjoying the surge of strength flowing through his body.
In the Nascent Soul Realm, as long as one's Nascent Soul remained intact, even the complete destruction of the body was no longer fatal. The body could be rebuilt later. For most cultivators without influence or wealth, such a process would be an unimaginable challenge, but for someone of Dastan's status, it was hardly an issue at all.
A few hours later, the brilliant light around him gradually dimmed as the final waves of aura dissipated. Dastan's Nascent Soul had fully stabilized. His figure emerged, clad once again in his ornate royal suit.
He immediately stood up and stretched his limbs. Though his breakthrough had completely rejuvenated his body and removed all traces of stiffness, the psychological urge to move after sitting for over a year was too strong to ignore.
Feeling invigorated, Dastan gathered everything in the cave, stored them in his space ring, and approached the sealed entrance. With a wave of his hand, he undid the seal and stepped outside.
The sunlight he hadn't felt for an entire year finally touched his skin. He stood there silently, eyes half-closed, letting the warmth of the sun wash over him for several minutes.
"Daa hahaha! What a great day! This prince is only twenty-eight years old and has already reached the Nascent Soul Realm! Even in the entire history of the Protogaea Continent, there are few who've advanced this fast! This prince is truly a cultivation genius rarely seen in the world!" Dastan couldn't stop praising himself.
Boom!
A powerful surge of Nascent Soul Qi exploded from his body, stirring up fierce winds and pressure that sent everything around him flying.
"Amazing!" he exclaimed, eyes gleaming with excitement. "The Qi is so much denser! The range is wider, and I no longer need to channel it through my meridians. I can release it directly just like that! Hahaha! All martial skills that require external Qi manipulation can now be activated faster and strike even harder from a distance!
Before the Nascent Soul Realm, someone like me was at a disadvantage in close or mid-range combat. Fighters who specialized in that had the upper hand since it was easier to operate Qi within or near their bodies. But starting from the Nascent Soul Realm and beyond, the tide turns! Long-range fighters like me can now dominate! This prince is truly a genius! Planning everything from the beginning, thinking far ahead! Daa hahaha! Daa hahaha!"
"Let's see how fast this prince can fly now!" Dastan shouted with excitement before launching himself into the sky to test his new speed.
A few seconds later, he landed back on the ground with a completely dumbfounded look on his face.
"Dammit! This prince forgot about the flying restriction!" He scolded himself in annoyance, glaring at the sky as if it were to blame. Then he looked around nervously. "Whew, thankfully nobody's here. That would've been embarrassing."
However, unbeknownst to him, a certain rabbit man was laughing his ass off from a sky island far away, joined by a snickering plant beside him.
A few moments later, Dastan composed himself, returning to his dignified demeanor and striding forward. This time, he executed his movement technique. Compared to when he was still in the Core Formation Realm, his speed had multiplied several times over. Each step felt lighter, each stride carried him much farther, and the afterimages he left behind lingered longer in the air.
A couple of hours later, Dastan arrived at the spirit stone mine, landing atop the crumbled fortress wall that surrounded it.
Everyone else was already waiting in front of the mine to celebrate his achievement, as requested by Tamina.
"Daa hahaha! Witness this, everyone! This prince, the cultivation genius of the millennia, the future king of the Howling Kingdom, has returned! Behold the power of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator!"
He unleashed his Nascent Soul aura once more, and his mighty energy swept over everyone present.
"Yo, is that a Nascent Soul Realm Clown Prince?" A voice sounded.