An Lin almost blacked out in fear after seeing An Kirin blowing itself up into smithereens.
Everyone else also looked on in shock as their hearts trembled.
No one even had a chance to react before they saw the golden lightning left behind in the aftermath of the explosion transform into a ball of light which merged into An Linās body.
An Linās whole body shuddered involuntarily as a numbing sensation began to spread through his body, which felt quite good in a weird way.
āAre you alright, An Lin?ā Everyone surrounded him with curiosity etched onto their faces.
āIām fine, I just felt a numbing sensation and then nothing.ā
An Lin waved his hand to dispel their concerns.
Xu Xiaolan was still a bit worried. āIt looks like An Kirin merged into your body, can you detect his existence?ā
An Lin considered Xu Xiaolanās question before a thought suddenly occurred to him. When he had first hurled up An Kirin, he was trying to internally assess his own sea of vital energy. Perhaps he would discover where An Kirin was now if he did the same thing again?
An Lin began to assess his own sea of vital energy to see if there had been any changes. He was then completely dumbfounded by what he saw.
The entirety of his sea of vital energy had been colored a vibrant gold.
Within the center of his sea of vital energy was a shiny, golden infant with lightning crackling around his body. He was currently lying on the sea of vital energy with one leg crossed over the other, giggling to himself as if he didnāt have a care in the world.
He then began to swim in the sea of vital energy, creating splashes with his chubby little limbs.
An Lin: āā¦ā
āWhatās wrong, An Lin?ā
Xu Xiaolan asked in a gentle voice upon seeing An Linās peculiar expression.
An Lin opened his mouth but only managed to force out a sentence after a short while.
āTheā¦ The golden baby is swimming in my sea of vital energyā¦ā
What greeted him was silence, deathly silence.
Everyone stared silently at An Lin as they blinked with vacant expressions as if they were doubting their own ears.
āYou heard that right, the baby knows all the strokes too! Backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle, heās having the time of his life in there,ā An Lin continued.
Sword Immortal Ling Xiao fell completely silent while Vice-Principal Yu Hua slapped his own forehead in shock.
Vice-Principal Yu Hua stuttered in astonishment. āHowā¦ How can he swim in a sea of vital energy? No, what I should be asking is, just what is this golden baby to be able to swim in your sea of vital energy?!ā
An Lin looked up at Vice-Principal Yu Hua with a pained expression. āPrincipal, arenāt you supposed to be answering my questions right now? Why are you asking me questions instead?ā
Vice-Principal Yu Hua: āā¦ā
āCan you summon An Kirin again?ā Sword Immortal Ling Xiao asked.
āI tried to do so just then, but I canāt seem to communicate with himā¦ā An Lin sighed in resignation.
āHmmā¦ I feel like An Kirin should be closely connected to your domain. How about you activate your domain first to see if you can forge a connection with An Kirin?ā Sword Immortal Ling Xiao suggested.
An Linās eyes immediately lit up at his words. That was a good idea!
A long period of silence then ensued.
āWhatās wrong, Student An Lin?ā Sword Immortal Ling Xiao couldnāt help but ask.
An awkward expression appeared on An Linās face. āHow am I supposed to activate my domain?ā
Sword Immortal Ling Xiaoās body swayed slightly as he stared at An Lin in silence.
Vice-Principal Yu Hua began to provide instructions, āA domain is the manifestation of a cultivatorās Dao. You will only need to activate your Dao intent realm in order to unleash your domain.ā
Dao intent realm? Well, thatās f*cking awkward. An Lin had never even reached Half-Step Soul Formation Stage, so how was he supposed to have a Dao intent realmā¦
Another long period of silence ensued.
āPrincipal, I donāt have a Dao intent realm. You know this, I skipped straight from Spirit Nurturing Final Stage to Soul Formation Stage, I really canāt force out a domainā¦ā An Lin confessed.
Canāt force out a domain? Are domains forced out?
Vice-Principal Yu Hua opened his mouth then closed it again. He was at a complete loss for words.
This whole f*cking tribulation transcendence had just been a complete farce. An Lin did indeed possess the cultivation base of a Soul Formation Stage cultivator, but what kind of Soul Formation Stage cultivator didnāt have a domain?
After a short silence, Vice-Principal Yu Hua knew that this situation was beyond him. āForget about it for now then, weāll explore this issue another time. You must be tired from your tribulation transcendence, go back and have a good rest. Ling Xiao, keep an extra eye on Student An Lin and report to me immediately if any mishaps arise.ā
āIāll be sure to do so, principal. Student An Lin is the pride of our school, Iāll ensure nothing bad happens to him.ā Sword Immortal Ling Xiao nodded with a smile.
An Lin knew from Vice-Principal Yu Huaās words that this was something that was beyond even him.
He raised his head to look up at the sky with a gloomy expression.
He knew that he had gone down a slightly crooked path in his cultivation, but he didnāt realize it would be crooked to such an extent.
Was he really at Soul Formation Stage?
An Lin was extremely perplexed.
He bade farewell to his friends and returned to his living quarters, where he sat in a daze.
He looked at the golden baby in his sea of vital energy again to find that he seemed to have exhausted himself with all his swimming and was panting heavily as he lay on top of the waves. As he floated along, he kicked his chubby little legs up and down, looking extremely cuteā¦
Cute my a*s!
An Lin laid a hand on his forehead. He was completely at a loss for what to even think.
Xiao Chou made his way over and patted An Lin on the shoulder before offering up words of consolation, āDonāt be so down in the dumps, Big Brother An. You knew you were destined to stray down the strange path when you materialized your Beast Core.
āSo what if you donāt have a domain? Even when you were just at Spirit Nurturing Stage, you could still beat the crap out of Soul Formation Stage mighty figures who had domains. Now that youāve progressed to Soul Formation Stage, youāre even more powerful than you once were. Even without a domain, Iām sure thereās no other Soul Formation Stage cultivator in this world that could beat you in a battle!ā
It had to be said, Xiao Chouās words of consolation were very effective.
A domain was undoubtedly flashy and eye-catching, but from a pragmatic perspective, the cultivation path one took as well as their practical strength in battle were much more important.
An Lin turned to Xiao Chou with renewed confidence. āYouāre right, a path only exists because enough people have trodden through it. Iāve been bada*s for this long and Iām sure Iāll continue to be bada*s in the future. So what if my cultivation is a little strange, itās fine as long as itās successful! I wonāt fall at a tiny hurdle like this. Even if thereās no path ahead of me, Iāll just have to make my own!ā
His heart was once again burning with combative spirit as he turned his gaze toward the system.
An Lin decided to see what condition was required to be fulfilled in order for him to progress to the next rank.
Sure enough, after opening the system, a new condition had already been updated.
Soul Formation Intermediate StageāCondition: Increase An Kirinās weight to one kilogram.
An Lin: āā¦ā
What the hell? Even the system was acknowledging the weird golden babyās name to be An Kirin?!
An Lin clasped his chest and suddenly had the urge to vomit blood.
Hehe, he was a weirdo after allā¦ Other people were all focused on refining the spirit, condensing true intent and observing the laws of the world in order to progress in Soul Formation Stage.
What about An Lin? He just had to take care of a f*cking baby!?
If he was to take care of a normal baby, then that wasnāt too tall an order. But who could tell him how he was supposed to even feed this shiny, golden baby? He didnāt have any milk!
Even if he did, it wasnāt as if the baby would drink it!
An Lin fell silent as he looked at the mission.
After a while, he turned his gaze internally upon his sea of vital energy to see what An Kirin was doing.
The golden baby seemed to have been fully rested and he stood up. A steady stream of golden liquid then began to flow out from in between his legs before splashing into his sea of vital energy.