He hadn’t finished speaking when countless spiritual lights gathered from all directions, surging toward Eric Bennett. The 360,000 pores all over Eric Bennett’s body opened at once, absorbing all this spiritual energy into himself. Immediately, he raised his head and let out a thunderous shout; a seven-colored radiance, like a flying sword, shot from his mouth, soaring sixty zhang into the sky, twisting and turning like a swimming dragon for nine revolutions before finally returning to his mouth.

Wolf Carter had just been boasting, but unfortunately, he had long been stuck, unable to break through the “Nine Palaces” realm. Meanwhile, Eric Bennett had effortlessly completed the first stage of Qi Sense, as if a resounding slap had landed directly on his big mouth, leaving him embarrassed and awkward.

Eric Bennett stood up, patted the dust off himself, and walked away with his hands behind his back. Before leaving, he didn’t even glance at the crowd, not even sparing Wolf Carter a look, showing utter disdain.

This contemptuous attitude made Wolf Carter burn with rage. He slammed his fist into the ground. “Idiot! How dare you show off in front of me? I’ll make sure you die a miserable death!”

The surrounding servants were all dumbfounded. The momentum when Eric Bennett broke through the “Qi Sense” stage was simply too astonishing—even Wolf Carter in his prime had never caused such a spectacle of spiritual lights and seven-colored radiance.

“How is this possible? That fool can actually cultivate?”

No one could believe it.

Wolf Carter roared, “He has no spiritual roots—how could he possibly cultivate! He’s just been lucky lately, that’s all…”

No one dared to argue, but it didn’t seem right. If it was just dumb luck, how could a mere Qi Sense breakthrough cause such a miraculous phenomenon of spiritual lights and seven-colored radiance?

But Wolf Carter wasn’t wrong either. Without spiritual roots, cultivation should be extremely difficult, let alone for a fool—he shouldn’t be able to cultivate at all.

Everyone was baffled, finding the recent string of events increasingly strange. They began to look at Eric Bennett with new eyes. In the cultivation world, if you can’t cultivate, you’re worthless; but once you can, your future is unpredictable.

……

Eric Bennett paid no attention to the astonished crowd behind him. As the Emperor of the Southern Wastelands, his perspective was far from ordinary—he would never stoop to the level of someone like Wolf Carter. In fact, Eric Bennett didn’t even consider Wolf Carter a worthy opponent; he simply didn’t measure up.

With the profound cultivation knowledge and extraordinary insight from his previous life, plus that mutated copy of the Dao Canon, if Eric Bennett still couldn’t break through the Qi Sense stage on the spot, he’d truly be letting down his former self.

In fact, as Eric Bennett walked away, he felt no pride at all. Breaking through Qi Sense on the spot, accompanied by such phenomena, was unimaginable for people like Wolf Carter—any one of these occurrences would have made them ecstatic for seven days, laughing in their sleep. But for Eric Bennett, it was only natural.

What Eric Bennett was really thinking about was that mutated Dao Canon. He had also studied the ancient demonic scripture, the Vastness Sutra, and in his opinion, this mutated Dao Canon was in no way inferior. Unfortunately, it seemed to only contain the opening section, meaning it could only help complete the Baoshan stage and lay a foundation.

Why this Dao Canon had mutated was a complete mystery to Eric Bennett. He secretly resolved to visit the gate often in the future to figure out what was going on—maybe he could even obtain the later chapters. He quietly glanced back at the dark prison gate, his curiosity growing: he’d never heard of any continuation to the Dao Canon before. This Ru Prison was truly mysterious.

……

There are several key moments in a cultivator’s day: the early hours before dawn, noon, and midnight—all prime times for meditation and absorbing the world’s vital energy.

After midnight passed, Ru Prison quieted down for a while, and the meditating cultivators went to rest. Eric Bennett, however, sat cross-legged on his mat, motionless. Only when everything outside had settled did he slowly open his eyes.

He peered out through the window crack, making sure no one was secretly watching him. Only then did he carefully bolt the doors and windows from the inside. After waiting a bit longer, he finally relaxed.

After all, Eric Bennett was still a minor figure—not worth anyone’s attention in the dead of night.

He took off the hair-thin chain from his neck, preparing to refine it.

Normally, only those who had broken through the “Baoshan” stage and entered the “Nine Palaces” realm could refine artifacts, but Eric Bennett had his own methods—he could begin refining magical tools even at the Qi Sense stage.

He pricked his left thumb, squeezing out a few drops of blood. Then, using a needle tip dipped in his own blood, he carefully drew a complex formation on the table.

Once the formation was complete, he placed the chain within it and squeezed another drop of blood onto the chain, beginning the refinement.

Driven by the essence blood, the formation slowly rotated. The hair-thin chain curled up into a ball, and a single drop of blood was enough to completely soak it.

In just a moment, the chain had absorbed the entire drop of blood, and seemed unsatisfied—lightly clinking, as if urging Eric Bennett to feed it more blood.