It took almost another year for Evan Parker to finally regain his cultivation in the military. Not only that, but the improved cultivation method had completely eliminated its previous flaws, allowing Evan Parker to once again become a top-level expert.

Chapter 4: Sudden Calamity (Part 1)

In the years since returning to his hometown, Evan Parker seemed to have become more and more ordinary in the eyes of others, lacking any of the sharp, intimidating aura he once had in the military. His honest and simple appearance made people immediately think he was a good and trustworthy man.

Evan Parker's way of training had also changed—from meditating on mountaintops to being able to enter a state of mobilizing his true energy anytime and anywhere in this place. Unlike the urgent mobilization of inner strength during combat, this was a form of cultivation that exercised and nourished the dantian and meridians, something that previously could only be achieved during meditation. Of course, the effect was even more pronounced after entering deep meditation.

Setting aside his own cultivation, Evan Parker also keenly noticed that the so-called demon in the Fist Mark Lake seemed to have grown stronger in recent days. Previously, its influence only reached the mountaintop, but now even the teahouse at the foot of the mountain was enveloped, and the so-called baleful energy contained within was even denser than it had been at the summit.

Of course, these things no longer affected Evan Parker. At this distance, he had completely adapted to such disturbances. To increase the difficulty of his training, Evan Parker even deliberately moved closer to Fist Mark Lake during cultivation, feeling the ever-increasing baleful energy, desperately controlling the true energy within his body that became harder to manage the closer he got to the lake, and slowly continuing his practice.

After receiving the teachings of Master, Evan Parker understood well that even the fastest cultivation methods had inherent weaknesses. Moreover, in Master's eyes, Evan Parker had already lost his virginity in the military, so no matter how much he trained, it was impossible to reach that state of ultimate perfection. The faster the progress, the greater the hidden dangers.

Although the cultivation method had been improved, it was still just Evan Parker's own corrections based on his previous experience and problems encountered, involving only a few meridians. It was in no way comparable to the methods of the great sects, which had been perfected over hundreds or thousands of years by generations of ancestors.

Therefore, controlling the speed of cultivation became a crucial process. Only with an increasingly solid foundation could one hope to reach greater heights. Without a foundation, there was no hope of building a tall structure—this was a truth Evan Parker understood very well.

Fortunately, under the influence of this baleful energy, even if Evan Parker wanted to progress quickly, he simply couldn't. More importantly, after regaining his previous level of cultivation, making further breakthroughs was no longer something that ordinary training could achieve. Evan Parker's military cultivation had already been astonishing; even with the improved method, at this stage, he had to admit that his cultivation had once again reached a bottleneck.

Evan Parker also knew that breaking through again was no longer something that could be achieved through simple daily training, so he chose to move even closer to Fist Mark Lake to stimulate himself. Even if he couldn't achieve a breakthrough, getting closer and closer to the lake was, for Evan Parker, at least a small consolation and achievement.

Fortunately, until Evan Parker could step into the lake water while circulating his energy, this way of life had not been discovered by anyone. And reaching this state had taken Evan Parker another full year. The baleful energy had, without him realizing it, spread to a distance even Evan Parker didn't know. At the very least, his hunting and living area was completely enveloped, and as for farther places, Evan Parker basically had no interest in exploring them.

If an ordinary martial artist dared to practice here, although no problems would be apparent at first, within a month they would definitely be plagued by internal injuries. And if anyone dared to train by Fist Mark Lake as Evan Parker did, they would immediately vomit blood and have all their cultivation destroyed. The fact that Evan Parker could remain unaffected was already extremely remarkable.

Ordinary people going about their normal activities here seemed to be basically unaffected. Even Evan Parker found this strange; it was as if the baleful energy could choose its targets. The traveling merchants on the official road, the couriers who passed by regularly, even the galloping horses and the game in the forest were all unaffected. The only one affected here seemed to be Evan Parker himself. Of course, this doesn't count the dead man who was struck by lightning and reduced to ashes while standing in midair.

Unable to figure it out, Evan Parker could only explain it as the so-called demon, as Master called it, having the dignity of a master and never attacking ordinary people who posed no threat. However, Evan Parker still didn't know what this so-called demon actually was. Judging from the scene that day when the sky was filled with red light, it seemed that the higher one's cultivation, the stronger the demon's baleful energy became.

There was no one to share these strange phenomena with, and of course, the problems could only be borne by Evan Parker alone. After treating Evan Parker, Master had disappeared, perhaps to focus on cultivation or to seek help in eliminating this so-called demon. But to be honest, Evan Parker now actually hoped that moment would come as late as possible.