Chapter 3
In his sleep, he had a strange dream. He dreamt of a resplendent palace made of jade. Each pavilion was made of jade, its level of artisanship staggeringly high.
Wearing elegant dresses, a group of beautiful and seemingly good-natured beauties shuttled around the palace. Auspicious looking animals roamed the skies, creating the imagery of a world of immortals.
Naruto had never seen such a beautiful palace, not even in paintings. At this moment, the scenery suddenly transformed and the resplendent palace collapsed. Countless figures had appeared in the skies above. From amongst the countless figures, streams of light shot out. The streams of light were beautiful to behold; however, when it descended upon the lands, it caused the lands and mountains to be decimated!
The lands were split apart while the skies were covered with demonic flames. A huge spell array covering a surface area of hundreds of li (0.5 km) appeared out of thin air and multitudinous number of mysterious symbols covered the entire sky.
A war was something that Naruto could never have imagined let alone on this scale! Masters! These are masters of an unimaginable realm of strength! This level of strength is something that could not hope to compete against, let alone imagine!
Everyone within this imagery are beings that Naruto would never have any chance of even glimpsing upon. However, how is it that so many God-like beings would appear here?
After that, the scene changed and turned into a world of snow and ice. A frightened looking woman held onto a crystal, facing off against ten thousand figures standing on the skies.
This woman was actually standing just less than three feet from Naruto. Even though he understood that this was all an illusion, Naruto was able to feel an extremely powerful yet gentle and holy aura radiating from the woman's body!
What surprised Naruto most was that the crystal that the woman was holding was the crystal that Naruto had found near that Ancient Skeleton!
The woman spoke out a series of words, but the words spoken were vague. Naruto could not make sense of not even a single word.
For some unknown reason, Naruto's mind thought of the crystal.
"Boom!"
An explosion! The space itself was rent apart, the skies were twisted into a raging whirlpool with seemingly infinite power, sweeping up all of Heaven and Land. Everywhere it reached, mountains would collapse and skies would crumble. The icy glacier was instantly transformed into nothingness and the ten thousand figures were reduced into dust. Their souls were fragmented and absorbed into the crystal!
As for Lin Ming, he found himself standing in the middle of the whirlpool, witnessing with his own eyes as everything were absorbed into the whirlpool. Everything around him was reduced to ashes while he himself remained unaffected. This feeling was simply indescribable and would likely be an unforgettable experience for Naruto!
Naruto felt himself drenched in cold sweat. At this moment, he suddenly found that he had arrived at an incredibly large and dark space. Here, various specks of light hovered in suspension. Naruto had no idea of his whereabouts. Known this was dream he willed himself to wake up.
Naruto found himself back in the cave with the only light coming from the entrance. Due to feeling not feeling well, He made his way outside for some fresh air. Finding a nice place to enjoy the cold Air of the night he sat down to clear his thoughts.
He was immensely shocked!
As of now, he clearly understood that the vivid scene he had just seen were true. Although he had told himself that he was simply dreaming, he was unable to believe that it was just a dream. Everything he had seen in this dream was too realistic and the image of the spatial whirlpool fragmenting the world was deeply engraved into Naruto's mind. As a mere ignorant Child who had yet to truly see the world, let alone someone who hasn't embark on the immortal path. how could he have a dream that involved such a great level of power?
Then, all those visions were true? This Crystal had actually swallowed countless masters whose strength was at a level where he would have no chance of ever laying eyes upon?
Naruto could not imagine which kingdom could possess such a high number of masters whose strength could suffocate him to such an extent. He focused his eyes and peered into the Crystal again. Something has changed, Naruto can't figure despite his best effort. Growing frustrated Naruto pocketed the crystal.
A month has passed in solitude, no clear destination in mind. Where can Naruto go, It's not like he has a map or anything. All He can do is Wander till he finds a village or people for help.
In the morning Naruto continued his journey after a quick meal. Naruto arrived on the peak of the largest mountain that he climbed. He was quite pleased with the sight, what awaited him was a dense forest split by a river but still no sign of a human life. He Drank some water and continued on.
Naruto felt his instincts going crazy, as an ominous feeling descended on him. The Forest no longer looked safe to journey through but after coming this far he can't just turn back. Gathering his courage, he entered the forest with great caution. The further in the forest he went the more danger he felt.
His instincts all but screamed for him to hide, not wasting a second he ran for it. Looking left and right for a place to hide as he made his escape. He knew something was approaching from behind and it was quite fast.
As he reached the mountain side he jumped inside the bushes to hide. Naruto was quite aware it was futile, He need a better place to hide. As he was getting desperately his eyes landed on a hole hidden by a bush and as just his luck it was big enough for him to enter.
Without wasting a second he ran for it and all but jumped in not caring about any injuries. As he landed inside he saw that it was quite big on the inside. Feeling safe he peaked to check what was after him.
A Beast suddenly exited the forest without pause it attacked the location where Naruto was present. But the hole was too small for him to enter.
Not expecting this he was quite terrified and ran down the tunnel to preserve his life. Naruto saw a light source in front of him thinking of it the exit he ran even faster.
Just as Naruto exited he fell from the cliff straight in the small lake. Getting himself out of the lake he observed his surroundings. He was in a cave with no exit there were two small holes through which water entered and exited the cave some unknown herbs Along some trees there were small sized hole on the surface through which light entered. It was a beautiful place.
Deciding to stay the night here till the beast leave Naruto made himself comfortable. As he relaxed he felt something amiss. Observing his surrounding again he found nothing that could harm him. Then it hit him practically in the head as he found the difference was the presence of a large and pure amount of energy in the Air.
Naruto had gotten used to the presence of this energy in the Air so didn't pay it any mind at all. But Now coming in contact with So much pure energy in such a large concentration he was baffled. He can't ignore it now even if he wanted too.
What is with this Energy, why is it present in the Air? Is it like Chakra? Mused Naruto.
Now that he thinks about it what is chakra made of? why did he lose it? Can't this body make chakra?
So many Questions that Naruto does not have an Answer too. It was frustrating him. Can the energy in the air not be like chakra? I wonder what will happen If I Absorb it? But How?
He suddenly remembered someone telling him to meditate to unlock his chakra. Can I Try clearing my mind through meditation to gain control of the energy to use it the same way as chakra.
Seeing no Harm in trying it out, Naruto Cleared his mind and imagined the Energy entering his body. Naruto felt The Energy entering Through his Skin but he felt something blocking the way. Nevertheless, the energy Pushed whatever was blocking out side of the body and entering further inside. It was a wonderful feeling, Naruto felt like he was being cleansed. All His troubles were forgotten lost in this wonderful sensation.
Having Lost himself Naruto didn't notice the crystal Shining a bright light. The Crystal Gently pulled Naruto's soul out of the body without disturbing him. Naruto's Soul was placed with in the dark room inside the crystal. Naruto soul looked like his former self having remembered the original Shape of its body and growing accordingly.
The crystal broke the body down into pure energy leaving out the filth of the mortal world out. Then it began rapidly absorbing the energy present within the cave without pause. The energy absorbed was then send towards Naruto in a never ending stream. Slowly but steadily the pale Naruto starting becoming solid when the last of the energy entered him. The chakra which was lost to him for the first time starting slowly forming and flowing in his body again. The Body created had regained its former glory, the bloodline's of the Uzumaki and other clans present were strengthened. The body contains no impurities, has a great foundation for cultivation.
Due to no impurities being present in the body, the chakra circulatory system worked with an efficiency never seen before, it produced the purest chakra in the world. Chakra is unique since it is made from spiritual energy of the soul and the physical energy of the body in the Chakra circulatory system. The spiritual energy being pure while the physical energy being tainted with impurities of the mortal body Thus, The Chakra produced wasn't good in quality. It is the reason why people have poor control when they have more chakra. However, since the shinobi world never knew how to cleanse the body of its impurities they never managed to obtain Pure Chakra.
Naruto remained in the crystal in his state of meditation, Not aware of his surroundings.
In order for a person to embark on the path of an immortal he must First cleanse his body by using the world Qi. When a person cleanses his body a fowl, black sticky liquid comes out of the body. The cleansing of the body takes a long time from 10 to 50 years depending on the person.
Purification stage starts from cleansing of Skin and organs.
Muscle Altering Stage to cleanse the muscles in the body.
Bone Refining Stage Cleansing the Bone marrow.
Foundation Stage the opening and cleansing of the meridians of the body.
After the reaching the peak Foundation stage the person enters the 'Xiantian Realm' by absorbing the World Qi. And filling his meridians with it. A Xiantian level has the life span of 300 years. The above mentioned stages increases the lifespan but, it varies among the cultivators. Some when performing the cleansing rush to the next stage thus missing some of the impurities of the body. Which leads to an unstable foundation leading them to stop at the second or third stage. Thus, they never enter the foundation stage. Anyhow, the amount of impurities still present in them determines the increase in their life span.
Thanks to the Mysterious Crystal Naruto regained his former body free from its impurities. His body is already at the initial foundation stage all Naruto needs to do now is fill his meridians with World Qi in order to advance to the Peak Foundation stage then cross the boundary to Xiantian Realm.
However, Naruto knows nothing about Chakra let alone anything about an immortal. So Far he survived due to sheer luck and his instincts.
The crystal Kept absorbing more World Qi as Naruto was still meditating to absorb The Energy. The Energy which was once used to cleanse the body now entered unrestricted from the pores of his skin to every part of his body. The World Qi due to not being guided entered even the chakra circulatory system mixing with the pure Chakra. The Mixture of Chakra and World Qi finally entered Naruto's meridians. The meridian which was empty started getting filled up at an insane rate with the unique combination of chakra and world Qi.
Naruto went from the Initial Foundation Stage to the Middle Foundation stage nearly touching the Late Foundation stage when the flow of world Qi stopped. Naruto being inexperienced and not knowing what he was doing didn't absorb the World Qi still in the body inside his meridians thus, it would have dissipated outside the body after sometime. However, the presence of the Chakra Circulatory system gave the World Ki still in the body to be mix with it cause a serious mutation. The Rinnegan and Sharingan present were dominating each other. Naruto would never have the chance to awaken either one because of it but the presence of the world Qi merged the split Dojutsu bloodline into the original Dojutsu. The World Qi gave Naruto's Chakra a unique affinity to every element in existence. What other benefits it gave Naruto will be found out by him in time.
Naruto disappeared from the Dark room and appeared in place of the crystal with it nowhere to be seen. Inside Naruto's Heart a white crystal appeared without cause and remained stationary without moving.
Naruto reluctantly opened his eyes unwilling to let go of his previous state. He was feeling strange again if something has changed. His body was very light, he felt stronger.
Not knowing what was happening, he blamed it on the energy in the Air. Naruto having a lot of energy to spend decided to leave this place. Not seeing the Beast around he came out and made his way in the forest with the same caution as before.
He suddenly felt his instincts go wild again but this time it was from the direction where he was hiding. Naruto ran for it, his instincts for danger kept increasing the further inside the forest he went.
Suddenly, Naruto stopped.
He looked around with eyes watching him from every direction. He was surrounded with no way out. Slowly and steadily they approached Naruto sensing his fear as he tensed and fanatically looked around trying to find a way to escape.
Naruto was beyond terrified, He didn't want to die. They were approaching slowly sizing him up.
One of the beasts broke the tense environment and pounced on Naruto. Naruto jumped left and avoided the strike but in his haste he fell as face down. The beast didn't stop and came for the second strike to finish Naruto off.
Naruto turned face up and found the beast coming to bite his neck off. Not knowing what to do he tried to kick the beast away.
When the kick connected it broke its ribs and send it flying. It was dead before it touched the ground.
Seeing on of their own dying, the beasts Growled and charged. Naruto stood up and attacked the first beasts that reached him.
His terrified expression changed in an instant, He laughed like a madman while kicking and punching the pack of beasts away. Some died instantly why others a painful one. Naruto was enjoying himself, The Prey has become the hunter.
Not a single one survived, Naruto was covered in blood not a single wound present on him.
He arrived near the lake and wasted himself clean. His luck was as good as ever, He even found a sword along the way.
As he was prepared to leave, a chilling Howl came from the direction where he killed those beasts. That that his clue he didn't dare to try his luck.
Whatever creature was a coming after his was stronger than him, so there was no way Naruto was going to fight him. Naruto had gotten used to walking out of danger, so he will never face it head on. His first option is always to run it he knows he can't defeat it.
Suddenly Naruto entered an empty area that was two or three hundred meters in diameter. As he was about to cross the beast cut his path off. This Beast was different then the rest.
Beasts, upon gaining a level of intelligence, could begin to absorb natural energy and transform into monstrous beasts!
Monstrous beasts, after managing the difficult art of transformation, would enter the Xiantian level and become Xiantian lifeforms. Only then would they be considered Diremonsters. Generally speaking, Dire Monsters were capable of transforming into humans. But amongst monstrous beasts, there was a very unique type of creature: The God Beasts.
God Beasts were magical beasts that contained some of the bloodline of those ancient Fiend Gods of the past. They were born intelligence, and possessed powerful natural gifts. Their strength was far greater than that of ordinary monstrous beasts. They also found it extremely hard to transform into human forms, and for different God Beasts, the level of difficulty was different as well.
Some needed to reach the 'Zifu' level before they could take human form. Some needed to reach the 'Wanxiang' level. Some, even higher…
Naruto let out a soft breath, calming himself down.
"Hoooowl!" Instantly, a carefree howl rang out.
Ning held his breath.
The Beast slowly made its way out. Its entire body was covered with beautiful silver fur. It was over two meters tall, and its steps were graceful. It stared at the tiny little pipsqueak standing in the distance; a human male. As one of the special types of monstrous beasts, a Godbeast, the creature's intelligence wasn't lower than that of humans.
Naruto stretched out his sword, gleaming with cold light.
The beast's massive body weighed nearly ten thousand pounds, but its four legs moved with great agility as it closed the distance. Its long, narrow eyes inspected this human youth.
Naruto walked forward, one step at a time, with the sword in hand.
The distance between the two quickly drew near.
"Shua!" The Howling Moon Wolf's movements suddenly changed from being graceful to being savage, and it suddenly transformed into a blur as it pounced at Naruto, and its previously soft paws suddenly had sharp claws emerge from it as well.
Swoosh!
At the critical moment, Naruto suddenly moved, as graceful as the wind as he dodged the Howling Beast's pounce, and then stabbed out with the sharp sword in his hand! The stab was extremely forceful and straight, and it was also fast as lightning. If it managed to land on the Howling Beast's body, it would be able to borrow the charging force of the Beast and tear its body open!
"Huh?" As he stabbed, Naruto's face suddenly changed. The sword tip had met with a powerful blocking force. The Howling Beast's fur had blocked the tip of the sword, preventing it from penetrating through.
At the same time, the Howling beast suddenly sent its tail whisking towards Naruto. Unable to dodge in time, Naruto quickly used his sword to block.
Bang!
The Beast's tail landed against the blade like a heavy iron whip, and the powerful force knocked Naruto flying away, his body slamming against the distant trees with a boom. Bang! The trees trembled and broke violently.
"Roar!" The Howling Beast immediately followed up with another pounce as it slashed at Naruto with its claws.
Naruto quickly dodged with a flying leap.
Chi! Chi! Chi! Several deep claw marks appeared on the Trees. The beast landed on the ground, then stared at the distant human youth. Its tail attack was its killing weapon. Its tail had sent the human youth slamming into the wall, but the human youth had actually been able to quickly dodge far away. It understood that this human youth truly was very powerful, powerful enough to give him a good fight.
"Hrmph!"
Naruto let out a deep growl, and from his nostrils came forth two streams of energy that were visible to the naked eye. The streams of energy were causing the air itself to shake. At that moment, the hidden, terrifying potential strength that was lying dormant in his body suddenly exploded forth. Chakra went to his eyes activating the dojutsu.
With a slight movement of the sword in his hands, Naruto shattered the air before him and carved a huge ditch into the thick earth.
The distant Howling Beast let out a low growl, staring fixedly at this youth.
Spinning the sword in his hand, Naruto slowly walked towards the Howling Beast, circling around it.
The Beast stared at Ning as well, choosing not to rashly attack. This was because once it attacked…it would expose its own flaws as well. That would the moment which determined life or death.
"Hmph." Not hesitating at all, Naruto suddenly charged forward after the Beast, his body becoming a blur.
With a howl, the Beast immediately pounced over as well, opening its massive maw and revealing its sharp fangs. Its sharp claws tore at Naruto as well even though he saw it coming.
Shua!
A flash of the sword!
The shadow of a sword slashed through the air, striking in a short range while changing trajectories nine times. Its speed was terrifyingly fast, so fast that it was as though even the void was being chopped apart with it. Chi chi chi chi chi. The flashing sword chopped at the Beast's chest, carving out a massive wound, and fresh blood instantly spurted out.
"Block." Just after Naruto chopped out with one sword, he immediately turned his sword back and blocked the Beast's claw. while simultaneously borrowing the clashing force to fly backwards and retreat. How he saw though its attacks were a mystery but he was grateful nonetheless.
The Howling Beast stared furiously at Naruto. The massive wound on its chest was shrinking, and the flow of blood began to slow, but it still continued to drip blood. Clearly, that wound had simply been too massive.
The Beast was now truly sensing the impending arrival of death!
Naruto had the feeling that everything was under control, and he continued to wield the sword in his hand as he drew near the Beast.
"Awoooooo!"
Sensing the threat of death from this human youth, the Beast gave a savage howl. All the fur on its body stood up straight as needles, and its eyes turned hard, its pupils flashing. Those who were familiar with Beasts could tell…that this one had already entered a wild, bestial state.
A terrifying aura spread forth from it, causing Naruto to pause.
A killing aura?
"Growl!" The Howling Beast charged towards him, the earth shaking beneath it.
Naruto dodged as agilely as the wind, changing directions with a simple step. At the same time, his sword flashed. Chi! Fresh blood sprayed out once more, and yet another enormous wound appeared on the Beast's chest, but this time, the Beast didn't care at all as it sent its two pairs of ferocious paws towards Naruto, its knife-like claws slashing through the air.
Naruto calmly retreated while at the same time, using his sword to block. He was pleased that he saw that coming.
"Ka!"
The Beast's left paw slammed against the sharp sword, its paw seeming to have transformed into a hook which suddenly latched onto the sword. But how could Naruto's sword, infused with his chakra and World Qi, be so easily caught? If the two clashed and then immediately flew apart, it wouldn't have been so bad, but the Beast wanted to fight that power head on with his claws, and so it smashed it hard against the sword.
Ka!
The Beast's left paw clearly turned red with blood, and the faint sound of bones breaking could be heard.
Hua!
The other paw came at Naruto's chest. The distance was simply too close, and there was no chance to block. Naruto's only option was to take a deep breath, and his chest suddenly retracted in by three centimeters. Chi! Chi! Chi! The tough animal fur over Naruto's chest was ripped to tatters. Blood spouted everywhere, and Naruto was knocked flying as well, striking against the ground and making the earth itself crack from the impact.
Swoosh! Naruto hurriedly pulled away.
"Injured." Naruto looked at the Beast, his eyes narrowing.
Just then, the Beast had actually chosen to use its paw to take his sword head on. The Beast didn't care about what injuries upon itself were being inflected, as it was going all out. Its left paw was now half useless, and its speed had dropped dramatically as well. But the paw blow it had landed on Naruto leaving fierce cut to his chest. Without warning he vomited a mouthful of blood.
"I need to be more careful and more cautious."
Naruto was like a sponge, quickly absorbing the learned experience. The fierce scar over his chest was visibly shrinking. The blood from it began to stop, and soon, it totally closed over, leaving behind a red line which then turned into white, clear skin. No lasting damage at all!
This was the powerful regenerative power provided by Uzumaki Bloodline enhanced by World Qi, using pure chakra.
"Excellent!" Naruto cracked his lips into a smile. "It actually took my sword away."
"Roaaaar." The sword was stuck right beneath the Howling Beast's paw. It stared at Naruto, its eyes filled with boundless bloodlust. The terrifying recuperative abilities of the human youth in front of it… it understood that he needs to finish this quickly.
"Come again."
Naruto transformed into a shadow as he pounced towards the Beast.
"Roaaar!" The beast charged forward as well.
Naruto retrieved his sword from its paws and the two engaged each other time and time again, each time exchanging blows that nearly took the other's life. Naruto possessed powerful healing abilities and terrifying power! But the Beast had its fangs, sharp claws, and tail, all of which it could use as weapons. In addition, its massive body was so large that most weapon wounds were of minimal threat to it.
"Hu!" "Hu!" "Hu!" Although Naruto had the Uzumaki Bloodline, right now, he couldn't help but pant for breath. The wound on his body was rapidly closing.
"Roaaaar."
The Beast let out a despairing growl. It was forcing itself to stand erect, but its two paws were both quivering, as though it could collapse at any time. Its body was covered with dozens of giant wounds, and a particularly vicious pierce-wound was in its head.
Both of its legs had been shattered. It was already quite an impressive feat for it to be able to remain standing.
"You lose." Naruto wiped the blood from the corner of his eyes, then said in a quiet voice, "My power is actually greater than yours, but my victory was quite a difficult one…the reason is because when faced with your bloodlust and your wildness, I was unable to be calm and bring out my full power. You are the first monster that I have ever killed, but you won't be the last!"
Flashes of light suddenly appeared, destroying one of the Beast's remaining good legs, and then, with another flash, a massive crisscross wound appeared on the Beast's head, sending blood and brain matter flying everywhere.
Naruto landed on the ground.
The Beast collapsed on the ground, brain matter tumbling out of the massive wound on its head. Its fur was stained with the color of the earth, and its formerly beautiful silver fur had become a stained combination of mud and blood, unsightly to the extreme. It has died painfully.
Time passed by.
Naruto fought with one monstrous beast after another, and his created sword technique and footwork grew more exquisite. At the same time, he learned how to better maintain his calm in life-and-death battles. If his heart was not calm…then his power wouldn't be able to be displayed to perfection.
….