Over an hour later, Cold Yan woke up with a soft moan and cried out, "Ah Cheng!"
Wang Hao quickly embraced his wife. "Honey, I'm here, don't be afraid. I'm with you."
Now fully seeing the husband holding her, Cold Yan was overcome with grief and broke down crying:
"Ah Cheng, I shouldn't have let you go to the wilderness alone. It's all my fault."
Thinking of how she had coldly sent off her son in their last meeting tore her apart with unbearable sorrow.
Wang Hao didn't try to console her right away. He just held his wife in silence, letting her release her emotions. Only after Cold Yan cried for a while did he gently say:
"Dear, what happened to Ah Cheng has already happened. At this point, all we can say is that it was his fate as a monster hunter. But our son left us a gift. When the medical pod examined you just now, it found that you're pregnant. Even if it's just for the sake of the child in your belly, you need to take care of yourself."
Though Cold Yan still felt immense sorrow, the news of another child growing inside her gave her a small glimmer of hope. She finally composed herself a little and asked:
"Honey, what exactly happened to Ah Cheng? Did you get his wristwatch back?"
Wang Hao silently nodded, took out Wang Cheng's watch, and operated it briefly. A projection appeared, showing Wang Cheng encountering the beast that Wang Hao had previously killed.
The timestamp showed it was from three days ago. When the monster in the video swallowed Wang Cheng's arm and the screen went black, Cold Yan was once again overcome with grief:
"Wuwuwu… I told him so many times to be careful. Why didn't he listen? Why did you have to leave so soon…"
"It's okay, honey. Don't blame yourself. I'm sure Ah Cheng wouldn't blame you either. Otherwise, he wouldn't have left us a gift to remember him by."
Seeing the video was three days old and knowing she had just gotten pregnant, Cold Yan instinctively believed it was Wang Cheng's final gift to them, which only deepened her grief.
For a parent to outlive their child—it is a pain no living being should bear.
Over the next month, with Wang Hao's companionship and comfort, Cold Yan slowly began to recover from the trauma of losing her child.
But the main reason she began to move forward was her awareness of the life inside her. Eventually, she steadied her emotions and refused to let Wang Hao continue staying home:
"Honey, don't worry. I'm fine now. After all, I'm a level-6 apprentice warrior—I can take care of myself. You just advanced to level-7; it's the perfect time to grow stronger. Don't let this opportunity go to waste."
"Okay, I understand. You rest well at home. Leave everything else to me." With that, Wang Hao bid farewell to his wife and headed out into the wilderness with his backpack.
Soon, a new warrior appeared in the outer areas of the wilds—slaughtering beasts madly. This person clearly had high-level apprentice strength, yet he was competing with mid-level apprentices for resources. This left many warriors feeling aggrieved.
But none dared confront him. A level-7 apprentice was a presence they could only look up to.
Meanwhile, Wang Cheng had no idea about his parents' pain over the past month, but he could more or less guess.
Throughout the month, he had been practicing the "Basic 256 Warrior Stances", almost embedding them into his bones.
Still stuck without progress, Wang Cheng was on the verge of enlightenment when suddenly, an idea struck him. His expression froze briefly before he gave a wry smile:
"How stupid of me! Mastering the Basic 256 Warrior Stances without breaking through the secret technique is meaningless. I need a catalyst to break through—and what better catalyst than enlightenment itself? I've been stressing over nothing."
With that realization, he tossed the corpse of a high-level apprentice beast into the gray energy within his inner space.
The energy meant to strengthen his body remained inside the internal space without flowing into the origin core. Instead, the transparent energy flowed directly toward Wang Cheng's soul.
His month of diligent practice in the Basic 256 Warrior Stances and insights into the "Mountain-Splitting Slash" had become nourishment—suddenly, his mind was struck with inspiration.
"So that's it! The Basic 256 Warrior Stances are just one of the requirements for breaking through to the planetary level. But if one cannot synchronize body and mind, then the genetic shackles can't be broken. Thus, cultivating or even creating one's own secret technique is the key to breaking this balance."
With Wang Cheng's movements, the once incompatible "Mountain-Splitting Slash" no longer resisted. As if naturally merging, it became a newly formed secret technique.
Wang Cheng then had a thought—whether mental power techniques or genetic origin energy techniques, they were all ultimately applications of the laws of the universe.
Though the warrior foundation was different from mental master secret techniques, in the end, they too returned to the same essence: understanding and utilizing laws.
"Why can't I combine the Basic 256 Warrior Stances with Mountain-Splitting Slash to aid in breaking through with my mental strength?"
"All techniques are connected. There's nothing that can't be done—only what hasn't been thought of."
To his surprise, after experimenting, he found that in a state of enlightenment, the new secret technique truly could aid his mental power breakthrough. He was overjoyed.
"Maybe this breakthrough will result in average mental power in the future. But on the flip side, being average means having no weaknesses. For me, the path to becoming a Realm Lord should be without bottlenecks. Whether plain or unique doesn't matter—as long as I reach the end. If that's the case, then let's break through now. As they say, once you enter the path, there's no regret. Even if I take the most ordinary path, who can say I won't go the furthest?"
With that resolve, Wang Cheng began using his newly created secret technique—though he gave it a new name: Mountain-Cleaver.
A single character difference, but it signified a vastly different concept. With the creation of this new secret technique, Wang Cheng stepped into the realm of Intent.
As he performed the moves, his body began to heat up, as though every cell was boiling with life.
Previously unabsorbed genetic source energy within his cells began to slowly gather.
To ensure his breakthrough would go smoothly, Wang Cheng poured all the blood and internal organs of his high-level apprentice beasts and the planetary-level pangolin into the gray energy.
The heat in his body surged and gathered, flowing like rivers from droplets, rotating and condensing until it reached his lower abdomen—his Dantian.
"Boom!"
It was like the moment the universe was born—the Dantian was opened, and like a planet forming in space...
Countless strands of genetic origin energy converged in the Dantian, spinning rapidly, expanding and contracting.
Suddenly, Wang Cheng felt his body shudder, and even his consciousness trembled. Within the vast Dantian, a micro-star had formed.
The tiny star was earthy yellow, formed by many six-sided crystals of the same color, fused into one cohesive mass.
It spun continuously, emitting mysterious pulses.
"Genetic origin energy…" As the pulses surged, a thread of pale yellow origin energy shot from his Dantian into his body, accompanied by a chorus of crackling sounds—bones breaking and rapidly healing.
Wang Cheng's entire body underwent a tremendous transformation.
(End of Chapter)