Ling Cage, pick up Lu Mingfei at the start.

Lu Mingfei had a dream in which he fought against many monsters. These monsters were not as disgusting as the Devouring Beasts, but they were much more troublesome. He held two knives and charged in and out of the monsters. He had never seen such monsters before, but two words involuntarily surfaced in his mind—"Deadpool".

Lu Mingfei had never thought he was so handsome before, actually wielding two knives and killing everyone in his path. But as handsome as he was, the battles were extremely dangerous. Even in his sleep, Lu Mingfei's brows were furrowed.

Then he woke up to find that the alarm clock that Lu Mingfei had bought from Aunt Nur at the secondhand market had gone off. He relied on this to get up early every day; if it weren't for it, he would have been late again and been severely punished by Instructor Aodeng.

Lu Mingfei, who had just woken up, was still savoring the moment. The alarm clock rang so fast, he hadn't had enough fun yet!

Wait, the alarm clock is ringing!

Lu Mingfei slapped his face twice, the pain quickly waking him up. He quickly got out of bed, turned off that damn... no, the best alarm clock, and checked the time. There was still half an hour until the agreed time.

Lu Mingfei suddenly calmed down. Anyway, it was Mai Duo who came to find him and would take him to the training ground, which was where Mai Duo and the other Awakened Walkers trained. He had never been to that place before.

So Lu Mingfei slowly washed up and then tidied his hair.

He stood in front of the mirror, wow, he looks so handsome!

This mirror was specially obtained by Lu Mingfei. For the first eighteen years of his life, he could only be considered a decent person. His uncle didn't care for him, his aunt didn't love him, and no one paid any attention to him at school. Only Chen Wenwen would take the initiative to find him, as well as his bickering love interest Su Xiaoqiang, and Liu Miaomiao was also willing to talk to him.

Hmm... Come to think of it, it's quite surprising that he managed to hook up with three of the most beautiful girls in school.

Lu Mingfei walked out the door, intending to go to Bai Yuekui's house for breakfast. Well, it's not really about freeloading, since he always paid for Bai's meals and often ran errands for him, buying groceries. In fact, he paid for them, so... it's normal for him to stay for a meal.

But when Lu Mingfei knocked on the door, no one answered.

Did Boss Bai go out?

Lu Mingfei sighed, clutching his stomach. It looked like he was going to be hungry this morning.

Just as I was about to go back, I caught a glimpse of a familiar figure below out of the corner of my eye.

It was Mai Duo walking towards his house, carrying a steaming bag in her hand. Lu Mingfei, with his sharp eyes, recognized it at a glance as a bag of steamed buns.

Oh dear, it seems Maido bought me breakfast. Maido is so kind!

Lu Mingfei was waiting at home, having opened the door beforehand.

Mai Duo muttered to herself the whole way: "Boss Bai is so good to Lu Mingfei. He left early this morning and still asked me to bring him breakfast. Did Dad get this kind of treatment back then?"

But thinking about Lu Mingfei, who never lifts a finger in the kitchen, it's clear he's a guy who can't cook. I wonder who would want him in the future. Fang Yuan is so lucky; she married a man who can cook. Although he's not a Juexing Zhe, he's an excellent cook, and she's living a very happy life.

Lost in thought, Maiduo had already arrived at Lu Mingfei's door. The door was open, and she could see Lu Mingfei grinning foolishly, his eyes fixed on the bag she was carrying.

"Well, you little devil, you must have seen me coming and been waiting here all along!" Maiduo put the bag behind her back and leaned slightly forward at the door to look at Lu Mingfei.

"Hey... I saw you coming from afar, so I opened the door for you in advance. Maiduo, come in quickly, it's chilly in the morning, but it's warm inside." Lu Mingfei said apologetically, inviting Maiduo in.

Maiduo was already used to Lu Mingfei's evasive manner. As she walked in, she gently shook her little hand, and the bag landed steadily in front of Lu Mingfei.

"This is what Boss Bai told me to bring for you. Remember, it costs one crystal coin!"

"Alright, alright, thank you, heroine! If it weren't for you, I would definitely be training hungry today. I'll give it to her when Boss Bai comes back. Come sit down, Maido." Lu Mingfei's eyes lit up as he looked at the steaming bag of buns, and he took it and started eating.

"Slow down, no one's going to take it from you." Mai Duo looked at Lu Mingfei's handsome face. His appearance had changed, but his inner self hadn't changed at all. He was still carefree and unserious, but he did have some energy now, unlike the listless person he was at the beginning.

Although… watching Lu Mingfei devour it so quickly, well, it was still a bit unfortunate. Mai Duo was at a loss, but also very envious. Lu Mingfei came from a peaceful world, as prosperous as the old world. Although Lu Mingfei said his life wasn't great, at least it was peaceful. Mai Duo had witnessed a lot of life and death; some acquaintances had greeted her the day before, and then sacrificed themselves in the line of duty a couple of days later. But there was nothing she could do; sacrifice was inevitable…

Maido just watched Lu Mingfei eat; actually, watching good-looking people eat is quite pleasing to the eye.

However, Lu Mingfei felt embarrassed to be being watched, so he quickly finished off the four buns in the bag.

Seeing this, Maiduo said, "Eating so fast, why don't you rest for a while before you go?"

"No need, let's go." Lu Mingfei wasn't full, so there was no need to wait here to digest; he could just walk around and digest his food.

……

Dingmao Peak, Longgu Village.

Lu Mingfei followed Mai Duo to an elevator that led to the outside world, high up on the mountain where Longgu Village was located.

Follow Mai Duo out of the Dingmao Peak entrance.

A gust of cold wind hit him, and Lu Mingfei shivered. The altitude here was very high, and there was snow everywhere.

Lu Mingfei walked a little further and turned to look around.

The dawn wind swept across the mountain ridge, like an ancient ballad. The sky, a cool, indigo, was gradually thinning. Suddenly, a thin crack appeared on the horizon, revealing a molten gold-like color—the sun.

The first ray of light is not seen, but felt. Like the gentlest blade, it precisely slices through the curtain of night, rescuing the whole world from its deep blue icy abyss.

The light is like flowing honey, thick and precious, slowly spilling across the endless mountains. The continuous snow-capped peaks are no longer cold boulders; they have awakened, transforming into giants clad in silver armor, silently accepting this sacred baptism once a day.

"So beautiful." Lu Mingfei felt his knowledge was lacking at this moment. He had read a lot of books following Chen Wenwen, but he couldn't find a single sentence to describe this scene. It really is true that you only realize how little you know when you need to use it.

Maiduo watches it every day, and it's become nothing special to her; it's nowhere near as amazing as it was when she first saw it.

The two continued walking forward and finally came to an open space, next to which was a training field, though it was closed off.

"Come with me," Maido said, beckoning Lu Mingfei to a rock.

"You should sit like me." Mydo sat on the boulder and crossed her legs.

"Returning to the origin means calming your mind, focusing without distraction, smoothing out your emotional fluctuations, carefully feeling the life essence within your body, calming its fluctuations, letting it settle, and then storing it away." As she explained, Maiduo began to activate Returning to the Origin.

The process of returning to the origin was carried out internally. On the surface, Lu Mingfei did not see anything special about it, but the moment Mai Duo finished speaking, Lu Mingfei felt something was strange.

Maido was right in front of him, breathing and beating, but if you didn't look at her with your eyes, you would feel that she had become stone, as if she had merged into the boulder she sat on.

"This is amazing! Teach me!"

"I'll go down, you come up, do as I just said and feel it carefully."

Maiduo climbed off the rock, and Lu Mingfei could sense her again.

"Why did you turn it off? Can't Guiyuan stay on forever?"

"Returning to Origin also consumes stamina. If it could be kept running indefinitely, people going out on missions wouldn't be in danger," Maido explained.

"Oh, I see." Lu Mingfei nodded, climbed onto the boulder, and crossed his legs like Mai Duo.

"Okay, you practice here, I'm going to train too." After saying that, Maiduo walked to the open space not far away and prepared to start today's training.

Lu Mingfei didn't rush to experience it. Instead, he stared at Maiduo. He knew that the training of the Awakened Walkers was different from theirs. It was almost like a customized program. But what exactly was different? Today, Lu Mingfei would reveal the answer.

On the silent summit of the snow-capped mountain, everything is covered in pure white, with only the low murmur of the cold wind. A tall and graceful young woman stands on this boundless expanse of white, holding a dark silver short stick in her hand, incongruous with the purity of her surroundings.

With a sudden flick of her wrist, without much movement, the short stick rang out with a resounding clang! The internal mechanism clicked shut with crisp, clean sounds, and the other section of the spear, like a dragon awakening from hibernation, sprang out with a "whoosh" using centrifugal force, instantly locking in place. A gleaming silver spear, taller than the girl herself, appeared, its tassel blazing like flames against the snow-white backdrop.

Moved.

Still as a virgin, swift as a rabbit. Her figure was no longer a stationary point, but transformed into a whirlwind sweeping across the snowfield. The fresh snow beneath her feet was whipped up by the wind from her gun, creating a hazy mist around her, and she was the most formidable core of this mist.

With a single thrust, the spear shot out like a dragon, whistling as it pierced the cold wind, its momentum resolute, as if it wanted to pierce a hole in the space in front of it.

Then the spear rotated, transforming into a protective halo of light. This was the basic skill of "Blocking and Thrusting," but in her hands, it conveyed a sense of impenetrability, with snowflakes stirred by the force and fluttering like shattered jade.

The most stunning move was a mid-air spear strike! With a light touch of her toes, she leaped gracefully into the air, her spear billowing like fire, and with immense force, she brought it down with a deafening thud. The snow-covered ground trembled, and a deep trench was etched onto the pure white canvas.

Power and beauty reached their ultimate unity at this moment. Her movements had both a dance-like rhythm—every turn, every sweep, drew a smooth yet deadly arc; and contained an invincible explosive force.

Her frostbitten nose exhaled long, white breaths, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but her eyes shone brighter than the cold glint of the spear tip, focused and fervent, as if the spear in her hand was an extension of her life.

As she finished her stance, she stood on one leg, her spear pointing diagonally at the sky behind her, the tassel of the spear trembling slightly.

Silence returned to the heavens and earth, with only the messy footprints and gullies on the snow silently telling the story of the magnificent yet lonely revelry that had just taken place.

Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded.

Time seemed to be stretched and extended by some invisible force, becoming viscous and slow.

The sounds of the wind, the rustling of falling snow, and even the pounding of his own heart all receded like the tide, leaving only silence in his world, where only that ball of light dancing in the snow curtain remained.

He forgot to breathe until a slight stinging pain came from his lungs, and then he realized that he had been holding his breath for a long time.

His breath blurred his vision, and he hurriedly wiped it away with the back of his hand, afraid of missing a single moment.

That wasn't a martial arts demonstration, but a ceremony that couldn't be disturbed. He saw:

As the girl leaped into the air, her spear slicing through the sky, he felt his heart leap into his throat, a tingling tremor spreading from his spine.

When the tip of the spear touched the ground, stirring up a thousand waves of snow, he seemed to feel the biting chill and the vigorous vitality intertwined, which made his eyes slightly warm.

Lu Mingfei's mind went blank at this moment, unable to think about mundane questions such as "What is she doing?" or "How can she be so handsome?" All his rationality was overwhelmed by the torrent of visuals.

Instead, a surge of emotion welled up inside him, like warm wine, warming his limbs and bones. He didn't even realize that his lips had already formed a wide "O," a deep, soul-stirring exclamation after witnessing the ultimate beauty of martial arts.

As the girl stood still and the world returned to silence, he remained frozen in place, as if any movement would shatter the dreamlike scene before him like a mirage.

He stared at the figure standing alone with his gun sheathed, trying to etch this scene, along with the unfamiliar yet burning sensation in his chest, deep into his memory.

When Lu Mingfei came to his senses, he found Mai Duo standing in front of him, carrying her long spear on her back, her cheeks slightly flushed, and a bead of sweat on her forehead in the snowy mountains.

"What are you looking at? Hurry up and learn how to return to the origin."

Mai Duo noticed that Lu Mingfei was staring at her without moving, clearly lost in thought. She wondered what was so interesting about this training; she trained like this every day.

"Holy crap, heroine, heroine Wulan! You really have to teach me this!" Lu Mingfei immediately jumped down from the boulder and was about to bow down. He had to learn at least one move of this spear technique. If he could dance with it, damn, how cool would that be?

"Hey, hey, what are you doing!" Mai Duo panicked when she saw Lu Mingfei preparing to bow to her. She was several years younger than Lu Mingfei, and she couldn't accept this.

Lu Mingfei was helped up by her. When he met her eyes, he found that the black eyes seemed to shoot out lasers, and the eyes swept from side to side over her and her spear.

"Alright, alright, we'll talk about it when you awaken. You can't even return to the origin yet, and your physical condition can't keep up." Mai Duo felt embarrassed by Lu Mingfei's intense gaze and couldn't stand it anymore, so she had no choice but to agree to his request.

"OK, good, heroine!" Lu Mingfei jumped up happily when he saw her agree, and then returned to the boulder, as if he wanted to learn the Return to Origin skill immediately.

Maiduo smiled gently, turned her head away, and thought, "Returning to the origin isn't that easy."

Lu Mingfei forced himself to calm down from the shock he had just experienced and carefully considered how to soothe the life essence.

Is it just a way to hide yourself?

"All phenomena are illusory."

The sentence appeared in his mind without warning. Lu Mingfei felt confused. He was still thinking when the sentence was shoved into his head as if someone had stuffed it in. Who was it? But there was no one else here. When did he realize this?

But this sentence was like a key, instantly unlocking his narrow-minded thinking. It wasn't about hiding, but about integrating!

He kept thinking about how to hide himself, but found that wasn't the case.

Instead of establishing strong boundaries to isolate oneself from the world, one should weaken or even eliminate these boundaries, and integrate oneself with nature.

Lu Mingfei suddenly sensed the life essence within his body, which was a huge ball of light. Lu Mingfei was stunned; why was this thing so bright?

But he didn't think too much about it; he just focused on smoothing out, smoothing out, merging, merging.

The mass of life essence calmed down and stopped fluctuating, as if it were on the same frequency as nature itself.

It's... done?

Returning to the origin is so easy!

Maido, who was training nearby, suddenly felt that someone was missing from her side. Just as she was wondering about it, she was startled and turned around.

She glanced at Lu Mingfei at first, and only noticed him on the second glance.

No? That's it!

Mai Duo felt like the sky had fallen. Back then, she had practiced diligently for several months before succeeding, but Lu Mingfei had only been practicing for a short time, less than a day. From the beginning of his practice until now, it had only been a dozen minutes.

Maido walked over quietly, her voice tinged with shock:

"You've already done it?"