Nyara was panting as she looked at the youshen's body in front of her.
Ding!
[Mission completed.]
She felt something warm in her abdomen. Instinctively, she brought her hands to the spot and realized the core of that body had been completely restored. However, there was no sign of power—it felt like the core of a child who had never cultivated.
"At least I can cultivate again…" Nyara muttered.
[Do you wish to absorb the youshen's core? Y/N]
Without hesitation, Nyara said yes. Instantly, the youshen's body began to disintegrate until only a yellowish sphere remained on the ground.
"A mid-level Awakened Essence stage core," she murmured.
She picked it up and sat down right there in a lotus position, beginning to absorb the energy contained within the sphere. She started circulating this energy carefully through her own core to strengthen it.
Ordinary humans would never dare to do such a thing. If they tried to absorb the core of another living being, the energy could clash with their own, causing severe side effects.
But Nyara, with her wisdom accumulated over ages, knew a safe method. Calmly, she focused a fraction of her energy and used it as a sort of filter. This subtle barrier purified the energy from the youshen's core, adapting it to her own flow before fully circulating it into her dantian.
Several hours passed, and Nyara had completely absorbed all the energy in the core. Although she hadn't achieved an immediate breakthrough, she felt she was on the verge of advancing to the Mid Level of the Awakened Essence Stage.
An inexperienced cultivator might take months to reach that point, depending on their talent.
Nyara noticed her body had grown stronger. Absorbing the youshen's core had helped reinforce her constitution, which had previously been that of a regular human, and now resembled that of a beginner cultivator.
The wounds and scratches on her body no longer hurt, but now she felt hungry. The sky was darkening—dusk was approaching. She stood and walked toward the small village where the body's previous owner had been mistreated.
Passing behind a house, Nyara saw a beautiful white dress hanging on a clothesline. She approached cautiously and took it. Then, she went to a more secluded area and changed clothes.
"At least I look a bit more dignified now," she muttered.
Nyara was smart. She knew she couldn't afford to act like she was still a goddess. With a single finger movement, a powerful cultivator could utterly destroy her—body and soul.
"I need to adapt… and better understand this world. Only then will I be able to achieve my goal," she thought, her eyes fixed on the horizon.
Nyara walked through the village, eating an apple. Just before leaving the forest, she had found some fruit trees and decided to collect a few.
Now, at night, few people were in the streets—mostly guards patrolling the area.
Realizing there was nothing left for her in that place, Nyara dismissed the idea of returning to the old home of the body's previous owner. Instead, she headed to the cemetery and returned to the abandoned hut.
She sat in lotus position and began absorbing the world's energy. The process was slow.
"This place is lacking in energy," she murmured. It felt like she had to search for spiritual particles before absorbing them.
Even so, Nyara used every fragment of energy with extreme efficiency. Not a single particle was wasted—something only possible with centuries of experience. Ordinary cultivators lost at least 40% of the energy they absorbed.
Hours passed. The night slowly gave way to dawn. Nyara hadn't slept at all; she cultivated the entire time, unwavering.
Ding!
[Congratulations! Advancement to Awakened Essence Stage – Mid Level.]
[As a reward for the advancement: Ring of Shendu.]
Still slightly dazed from the sudden breakthrough, Nyara fixed her eyes on the System notification. A ring had appeared on her finger—simple, silver, with strange symbols engraved on it."A dimensional ring…" she murmured. "This is very interesting."
Nyara made a gesture with her hand, and all the fruits at her side were sucked into the ring. She observed it for a moment, then plunged her consciousness inside. There were the fruits, floating in a void.
A smile formed on her lips.
"This will help me a lot… Thank you, Shendu, whoever you were."
She stood up, determined to head to the city. During the day it would be easier to learn about the place.
As she walked through the streets, Nyara suddenly heard a shout behind her:
"Hey, you bitch!"
Turning around, she saw the same boys who had mistreated the body's previous owner. This time, they were accompanied by another young man—taller, with an expression full of fury.
"How could you do that to my little brother?!" he yelled, charging toward Nyara.
The shouts caught the attention of passersby.
"Look, isn't that Liu Mei? The useless daughter of the Liu family…"
"I thought she was dead."
"Just look at her… She doesn't seem to be suffering."
Murmurs spread through the crowd. Nyara felt discomfort growing in her chest. Some looked at her with disdain, others with pity.
The boy she had knocked out earlier was now hiding behind his older brother like a coward.
"You bitch! What kind of trick did you use to knock out my brother?!" the older one shouted, eyes burning with rage. "Wasn't being expelled by your family enough? Trash should stay in the trash!"
Without hesitation, he lunged at her with a punch.
"If you weren't taught manners, allow me to teach you!"
But Nyara calmly raised her hand and caught his fist with ease. As if it were nothing.
The young man's eyes widened.
"Brother! What are you waiting for? Teach her a lesson!" the younger one shouted from behind, still bitter from the humiliation Nyara had made him suffer.
"Shut up!" the older brother growled, still stunned.
He was at the Awakened Essence Stage – Mid Level. For his age, it was rare and a point of pride. It was unthinkable that someone his age could match his strength.
Then, he looked at her more closely.
"She's also… at the mid-level…?" he murmured, incredulous.
Nyara pushed the boy's hand away.
"Touch me again and I'll show you what real pain is."
For a second, Nyara stared at him. Their eyes met, and the boy felt as if a massive mountain stood before him.
The crowd around them was stunned.
"Wasn't she the useless daughter of the Liu family?"
"Must be someone else… She was expelled for not having a core. She couldn't cultivate!"
"W-what happened, brother? Why did you let her go?" asked the younger one, still resentful of the humiliation.
The older brother completely ignored the question. His thoughts were in turmoil. He was considered the village's trump card, one of the most talented. His dream was to join a sect and bring honor to his family. But having his strike stopped by someone known as trash… it deeply wounded his pride.
A growing hatred consumed him.
"Liu Mei… what are you up to?" he muttered, clenching his fists.
Nyara continued walking through the village, observing her surroundings. It was a simple place, inhabited by a few influential families. Some had cultivators and trained their children from an early age to seek glory and recognition.
Those born outside these lineages ended up as servants, farmers, or doing other humble jobs—often serving the great families with no support to cultivate.
That would have been the fate of the original owner of the body. Maybe she'd end up as a maid for some rival of the Liu family, used merely as a tool of humiliation.
Nyara sighed. She felt absolutely nothing about it.
After all, only the strong rule. She had lived for eons, crossed countless cultivation realms, and ascended as a goddess.
To her, the lives of ordinary people were like the fragile flame of a candle about to go out.
As she passed near what seemed to be a tavern, she heard some murmurs. Her hearing was now far sharper than before, and catching conversations of mere mortals was trivial.
"The festival will start soon… Maybe some of us will be chosen by a family and get a chance to cultivate," said a hopeful young man.
"You're crazy… You really think you can compete with the talents of the great families? I gave up long ago," replied another, with a bitter tone.
That immediately caught Nyara's attention.
An opportunity like that could be exactly what she needed to gain visibility, attract the support of a sect, and with it, obtain valuable information and access to resources.
It had always been that way in the past, when she reigned as a goddess. Back then, countless lesser immortals destroyed entire worlds just to earn her favor.
In the cultivation world, relying on someone stronger was the smartest choice—it was the difference between being prey or becoming a predator.
With the right backing came status, power, and the abundance of resources that shaped legends.
Nyara's eyes gleamed, and a mischievous smile curled her lips.