The old demon bade him farewell after he had fully recovered. His identity as a devil would put the old man's life in jeopardy if other demons in the demon realm caught wind of the old man's kind gesture so he had no choice but to leave the old man to preserve his life.
It was now night time. The old man took the boy down to a nearby ferry and as they approached a canoe that would lead the boy across the sea to the outskirts of the demon realm, the old man paused for a moment before asking him a question.
"I never got to know your name. Would you at least do this old man a good one for saving your life? I haven't heard you speak since the day you regained consciousness," he asked turning to the young boy.
But the boy looked at him and turned away nonchalantly not uttering a single word in response. The rest of their few steps together towards the canoe were filled with nothing but feet stumps and light breathing.
The old man motioned for the boy to get in the canoe with a slight head movement and hands him a bag of supplies as he entered the boat.
"Young man," the old man said.
"These supplies should be able to last for at most a week. From now on you're on your own," he said, this time now resting his left hand on the boy's shoulders and his right hand on a walking stick while staring directly at the boy's eyes whose pupils shimmered with a faint hue of green.
"Although I don't know what kind of predicament you went through that caused you such severe injuries as at when I met you, I can tell every time I look in your eyes that your heart is shackled by resentment. This would pose a serious problem when you start your journey of cultivation," he said now resting both his hands on his walking stick.
"The outer skirts of the demon realm are one of the most dangerous places in the four realms but you aren't even in the first stage of Vessel Cleansing Realm the very first five stages in the fifteen stages of cultivation.. Since you were lucky enough to survive death, may your luck see you through," the old man said before cutting the anchoring rope of the canoe letting the boy float away.
"Mo lingtian. My name is Mo lingtian," he says to the old man without turning to look at him. The old man watches in surprise as the boy drifts farther away into the depths of the sea as the dim rays of the moon highlights his figure - a young boy standing alone, floating across the sea on a canoe, his long hair dancing to the wind, his robes swaying consistently and a book clutched tightly to his chest.
- The Wilderness Of Demons -
"How long have I been on this floating boat?" Mo lingtian said to himself as he clutched his book tightly. He had gone so far across the ocean that all he could see was the lit moon and a mist, an other worldly fog accompanying the dim of the evening.
He lifted his eyes to the moon, observing its all-encompassing elegance. It was dim yet radiant; gentle and consistent. Flawed in crevices and spots, yet perfect in every bend.
Mo Lingtian unknowingly began to sense an intent hidden behind the moonlit sky. The moon seemed to slowly sink toward the very edge of the ocean, and the further it fell, the more his heart palpitated in the stillness.
And then, they kissed.
The edge of the moon and the surface of the ocean made contact, triggering a spontaneous eruption of essence around him.
His body abruptly levitated with various streams of demonic energy oscillating his body gently and slowly. The book in his hand suddenly began to glow with a dark purplish candescence as the pages began to turn rapidly until it came to a stop at a page.
Suddenly, the hand drawn seal on that page seemed to gain life breaking into floating pieces of characters and strokes. They flew swirling in the air towards his forehead where they were absorbed by his still levitated body.
Inside his sea of knowledge, his core was covered in the devilish energy bearing corrosion and voidness as it hung in the air bound and suspended by heavy chains of suppression - these chains had ancient runes etched on them glowing with a faint golden glow.
The floating pieces of characters and strokes from the hand drawn seal on the book made their way into his sea of consciousness. Then they began to tera form, performing a form of fusion mutating slowly into a giant demonic core, a demonic core etched with similar ancient runic patterns as the ones etched on the chain only that this one seemed to help absorb demonic essence from outside his body to his sea of consciousness and then to his demonic core.
Outside his body, the dark purplish fluid essence began to dissolve into him. More and more demonic essence poured out from the moon, the deep places of the sea, some pouring out from unidentifiable sources and distances dissolving into his body.
And then, his eyes opened slowly releasing a slight change in the air current around the boat.
His demonic core had been formed and he had completed the first five stages in one swell leap - Marrow Purification, Blood Boiling, Jade skin, Organ Transmutation, and Acupoint Awakening.
"Crazy brat! You've absorbed all my crystals!" a voice cried out from beneath the ocean.
Ocean tides suddenly began to surge in-ward forming massive walls of water around him. The steady rhythm and momentum of a beast could be heard from the depths of the ocean.
Mo lingtian immediately transferred his book to his sea of consciousness looking unperturbed and unbothered in any way even as the ocean raged violently in response to the terrifying voice from the ocean.
The massive walls of water formed from the ocean tides began to cave in threatening to capsize the tiny canoe he was in as the other parts of the ocean parted like gates steadily revealing the undisputable posture of a terrifying beast.
With a casual wave of his hands, Mo Lingtian swiftly dispelled the approaching walls of ocean tides with a powerful manipulation of air currents displaying for a brief moment a power beyond that of someone who had just entered the vessel cleansing realm.
"Worthless! Just at the vessel cleansing realm even after absorbing my hundred year old lunar crystals is such a waste!" the beastly voice cried out again from the depths of the pool.
In front of Mo Lingtian was a chaotic ocean brimming with thunder and violent air forces that could even tear apart practitioners at the early and mid level of the qi refining stage. Moving forward was logically a dead end and moving backwards meant a clash with the unveiling beast but still, his face showed no sign of fear, anxiousness, or unsettlement.
His face wore a disturbing calm.