by Tinalynge
At first, the hog was clearly taken aback by the speed the human displayed, however, it quickly collected itself and used its own speed to escape to the side. Escaping at the last moment as less than a second after the air where the hog had been was now sliced apart by the sharp edge of the dagger.
Seeing this, both man and beast were now completely focused on the other, and within moments the only thing visible was two black blurs, one constantly chasing one constantly fleeing.
Even now after the first exchange of blows he still did not have an advantage. While Hui Yue was busy focusing on the battle, Lan Feng was busy analyzing the situation. Although he usually made fun of the white-haired boy he did not wish for him to be hurt. By looking at the hog, Lan Feng was soon certain that this beast was Duke ranked. He was most likely at the peak level as well.
Hui Yue had no time to pay attention to his opponent’s actual rank, he was only interested in defeating the beast in front of him. His eyes turned darker and darker by the minute, but there were no signs of the red mist present. Hui Yue decided only to use it should he have absolutely no other option.
As he narrowly avoided the tusks which were heading his way, Hui Yue struck out with his dagger, but his attack was easily deflected by the miniature hog’s tusks. The two of them continuing to exchange blows, but none could gain an advantage. Although both managed to scratch and superficially injure the other, nothing was serious enough to truly make a difference during the battle. This was no longer a battle of strength, but a battle of stamina and internal energy.
Hui Yue spent his entire childhood refining Qi of the purest quality and using Qi of such pure quality meant that less was needed to activate his abilities. This allowed for him to use his abilities for a longer time and for him to have more stamina.
The hog squealed in anger as it noticed that this battle of stamina was being won by the human. The hog gathered all his remaining mist energy, a black mist which appeared around him, and this mist ended up gathering itself on his tusks. These now black tusks shot forward at a speed much swifter than ever before, and the hog used his entire strength on this one attack.
The sudden acceleration took Hui Yue by surprise, but his body reacted on instinct and he managed to almost avoid it. His side was hit and instantly cut open. A lot of blood was gushing out.
The hog knew that he was doomed as his final attack had failed. Having used all his energy he could no longer fight back anymore. Hui Yue took the dagger and with a heavy arm slammed the tip into the forehead of the now fully exhausted animal. He then quickly withdrew a few medicinal pills from his stone which he popped into his mouth. After a moment a chilling, tingling sensation spread throughout his body which stopped the blood flow and slowly starting to heal the wound.
Although medicinal pills were capable of healing wounds they were nowhere as effective as using a healer and the price was much more extravagant. Sadly, though, Hui Yue had no other option than to quickly use them to stop the bleeding before he hoisted up the miniature hog, swung it over his shoulder, and quickly continued to move within the forest escaping the battlefield as soon as possible.
Moving forward for a few hours, Hui Yue finally stopped. He had carried the hog the whole time. Looking around, Hui Yue noticed that no beasts were nearby so he made a small fire where he roasted the miniature hog. He allowed for himself to enjoy the feast for a whole half hour before he once more stood up. He killed the fire and rushed forwards looking to see if he was able to find other beasts to battle, other beasts to help him improve his strength.
Moving through the forest, he met one beast after another. Some of them were rather weak while a few were as strong as the hog he had met. Not all of the strong beasts were dealt with easily and the amount of scars on his body grew more and more numerous. The green pearl completely ignoring all his wounds making the young man rely on his medicinal pills.
Although battle after battle consumed a lot of energy, Hui Yue soon felt the changes within his body and to his way of fighting. His reflexes became much quicker, his body started dodging on its own, and the attacks he dealt no longer had any mercy.
Hui Yue finally understood what the old proverb meant. When one was merciful to others they were merciless to themselves. He had at one point fought against a young wolf, a wolf not much older than a pup. Hui Yue pitied that it would lose its life this early, especially since he was not hungry and the wolf itself had not attempted to attack him.
Unfortunately, the wolf later returned with its family and the battle was so intense that although he used up all his power he was only able to kill three of them before he was forced to flee while sustaining multiple wounds. So far this was the most dangerous moment of all within this massive forest.
Traveling further and further into the forest, the beasts became stronger and stronger. With their strength, many of them also became more intelligent. The more intelligent the beasts became the more it required Hui Yue to improve. Eventually, he was unable to move further because he kept battling early stage King beasts.
Although beasts did not possess Wu Wei, they had their own kind of mist energy. An energy which evolved and was strengthened the older the beasts became. This mist energy was at least as strong as Wu Wei possessed by humans. No matter what Hui Yue did, he was unable to gain an advantage against the beasts. He decided to flee when he knew he could not win.
Sitting down with a heavy sigh, Hui Yue’s whole body was covered in sweat as he had just run away from a Black Shadow Hellhound; however, this time he had successfully managed to injure the beast though it was just a slight scratch.
‘Maybe I’m just not strong enough,’ Hui Yue contemplated. He looked around and as he saw no animals within range he jumped up into a tree where he sat cross-legged on a thick branch and closed his eyes.
As his eyes closed he saw before him Wang Ju Long and behind her was Deng Wu. He saw the Rong twins, Sha Yun, Ma kong, Gao Yan, and even Xu Piao. All of them where there, branded into his mind. He was as determined as ever as he started to cultivate. Only the strong had the privilege of determining their own future. Hui Yue wished to return to his friends, but currently, he was far too weak to even protect himself. Returning to his friends? That was something he could only do once he became strong.
Chapter 202 - To Become Strong
* * *
Chapter 202: To Become Strong
Seated within the tree, Hui Yue’s breathing slowed down and became so shallow that no one, should they pass right below the tree, would be capable of detecting him. During the time Hui Yue was within Shenyuan’s borders he had come to understand that it was incredibly rare for beasts who were capable of scanning the area with their beast energy to scan up into the trees. They would usually scan the ground and search in those directions while only a few would think to scan the trees above.
There were multiple reasons for this.. Firstly, the price they paid was a severe amount of their mist energy, and at the same time the forest was split into two main regions; the sea of leaves and the forest floor. Although the two locations never existed without the other, the magical beasts which lived up in the sea of leaves never descended down to the forest floor while those on the ground were incapable of climbing into the sea of leaves.
The reason that Hui Yue chose the tree tops rather than the floor was due to the beasts who lived here. Although the tree tops had an amazing array of bugs, birds, monkey species, and reptiles the majority of them were not territorial. Those who were would only look after their territory not caring about anything else.
The majority of these bug beasts were quite weak. Not one of them was stronger than a Practitioner rank which allowed for Hui Yue to easily protect himself. Even if a full swarm arrived they would be nothing to the white-haired boy. It was in many ways as simple as swatting normal flies.
The snakes proved a bit more troublesome, however, they too were of a relative low rank. The majority of them having the strength of a Master ranked cultivator. T
heir venom could be dealt with when Hui Yue allowed for his Qi and spiritual energy to enter his body. To go through the Dai Mai meridian and enter into his muscle, blood vessels, and bones eradicating the poison which struck him.
The most challenging was avoiding the family groups of monkeys. There were so many different types of monkeys and apes. For instance, there was the Mellowed Dawn Ape, an ape which generally would not attack you unless you, in some way, provoked it. Although it’s normal nature was mellow, that was not the case when it started to attack.
As long as Hui Yue kept his guard up and did not enter the territories belonging to either a strong opponent or a family of monkeys or apes, he knew that he would be fine.
Looking at the branch he just arrived on Hui Yue sighed deeply as he knew clearly his own inability to fight; how weak he truly was. He sat down and popped a medicinal pill from his bag into his mouth.
‘Wait. Hold on a moment,’ Lan Feng said with a frantic voice, ‘I know we want to get stronger, but you can’t just use pills to increase your strength. Your cultivation base will be unbalanced and eventually broken. You need to fight on your own!’
Hearing the worry in the voice of the phoenix Hui Yue could not help but laugh, ‘I know.’ He said with a gentle voice, however, I’m going to stay here until we break through into the Duke rank. What I’ll do is take one pill a week and spend the rest of the week battling against magical beasts. This way I can gain more real battle experience. I will be able to look after my cultivation base to ensure that it does not break down due to the overuse of pills, and I will also be able to get my hands on more demon cores and materials.’
Hearing his reply, the bird harrumphed a few times but said no more as Hui Yue popped the pill into his mouth where it instantly turned to liquid which entered his meridians. Hui Yue sat down and started to move his Qi Swirl. This made strands of Qi rush through his meridians and as they did the liquid energy latched onto the Qi strands and ever so slowly took on the same color as the strand. It had the same size and feel after a while.
As it finished copying the original strand, the newly created Qi strand let go of the original strand and together they moved back into the Qi swirl within his body.
It had been years since Hui Yue last used medicinal pills as he prefered to use his own strength to cultivate. Using pills, even just one, had the possibility of bringing one’s cultivation base into an unbalanced state; a state which was incredibly hard to get free from.
An unbalanced cultivation base did not mean that one could not use their energy, it meant that the energy within them was of various qualities. This in turn caused their attacks to be of various quality. Something which could lead to your death the moment you entered a serious battle.
Although it sounded terrible, there was a very slim chance for this to happen which was why medicinal pills were still incredibly popular. The stronger the pill was the less likely it was to cause any incidents.
Although Hui Yue knew all this, he also knew that if he relied on one pill a week and then battled beasts afterwards he would likely be able to balance even the slightest imbalance within himself.
As Hui Yue ate the pill, he ensured to activate the blue cloud which was inside his dantian cave. His entire body suddenly felt light as the blue gentle feeling shrouded him. The energies from the heavens and the earth flooded against his body trying to force him to absorb more than what he physically could.
Shrouding himself with the blue cloud, Hui Yue entered into deep meditation while Lan Feng kept watch. He devoted himself to cultivate for some time to truly finish refining the energy he had gained from the medicinal pill.
Being seated for approximately seven hours the day turned to night. Hui Yue exhaled deeply causing a pearl white steam to suddenly appearing from his mouth. This caused both man and phoenix to be taken aback. The steam slowly ascended into the air before it dissipated, turning into nothingness.
As soon as the white steam vanished into thin air, the blue cloud around Hui Yue turned much more solid than it had been before, and sparkling stars started to shine within it. Looking at the cloud, it no longer looked like one, but instead it now resembled a moonless night lit up by thousands of stars.
Looking at this breathtakingly beautiful scenery, Hui Yue was gaping as he reached out his hand and felt a soft, gentle texture. A texture which he had never felt before making him quite confused. As he touched the cloud, which now looked like a sky, a profound tremor ran through it before the stars all entered into Hui Yue’s body. They moved all over his body and easily bypassing his clothes before they turned into nothingness. It was as if those stars had never existed in the first place.
‘Uhm Lan Feng,’ Hui Yue called out, but the phoenix just shook his head. Even he was dumbfounded. His theory was that each of the gates and items within his dantian came from the lives he had lived previously. So far there was the red mist which clearly belonged to a bloodthirsty magical beast. Then there was the green pearl which most likely belonged to a greedy healer back when he was alive. The Wu Wei wings were still questionable where they came from, however, the biggest question concerned this blue cloud which constantly evolved.
At first, Lan Feng imagined that it belonged to one of those priests who gave their lives to cultivation. It was tranquil and beautiful, and it improved cultivation speed. Everything matched perfectly. That was until today. Lan Feng had never seen anything like it, and obviously neither had Hui Yue. But currently he was feeling much better than he had ever before. It felt as though deep within him something was growing, but he could not explain what it was.
Instead, he decided to leave the sea of leaves and return to the forest floor where he could go looking for beasts. Although it was no longer early morning Hui Yue did not mind. The beasts were awake by now and he needed to train.
Jumping down the hundred meters from the tree branch to the ground, Hui Yue managed it without making any sound at all. He quickly looked around him and with a quick scan of his spiritual energy he felt that quite a few beasts were within his range.
There were a lot of lower ranked beasts, but Hui Yue’s attention was caught by a Lynx-like beast which Hui Yue had never seen before. A beast which was slightly stronger than himself and determination grew in his eyes, Hui Yue rushed towards the lynx, silent as a shadow and nimble as a cat. The sounds he made were so minuscule that even the lynx which was stronger than him would have a hard time noticing the human.
Hui Yue felt that his senses were sharper than usual. His body emanated a small humming sound from within, a sound which only Hui Yue and Lan Feng could hear. This humming sound was new, however, it was incredibly gentle. So gentle that every move made from Hui Yue seemed gentle as well.
As he felt the humming inside of him his movement speed increased rapidly. Although he had moved somewhat fast before he had been more focus on being quiet, but after this humming sound appeared it was as though his body was now incapable of making noise.
Rushing closer and closer, Hui Yue was able to see the lynx. It was a young male and it had a strength equal to that of a Duke ranked expert. Its eyes were red, its fur golden, and its fangs were incredibly sharp as were its claws. Fighting this beast would require Hui Yue to completely focus. Although he had fought Duke ranked beasts before, the lynx in front of him was without a doubt the most dangerous opponent he could fight on his own.
Standing in the shadows while the lynx was laying down relaxing after having successfully caught a beast earlier that day. The remainder of that beast was still next to the lynx, blood still adorning his mouth.
Seeing this a grin appeared on Hui Yue’s face as he stomped the ground and shot towards the lynx. A whole cloud of dust appeared and finally the sound of breaking branches was heard. The previously relaxed lynx finally opened its eyes and with vigilance look at Hui Yue who was rushing forward with a dagger in his hand.
Its agility and speed was astonishing as it instantly came to its legs, and with a swift screech
ing sound, his terrifying claws unsheathed and scratched at the air where Hui Yue was moments before.
Fortunately, Hui Yue was as swift as the cat and he managed to use Velocity Flow to help him evade. The claws flashing through the air and released energy waves causing Hui Yue to shudder. Even if he used spiritual energy to defend himself, he was very unlikely to be able to protecting himself against the sharp claws in front of him.
Man and lynx were standing in front of one another their eyes were locked together, and as Hui Yue determined that the claws were too sharp he decided that it would be impossible to fight in close combat. He flicked his hand and stored Black Blood within his storage stone before a blue and yellow flame appeared above his hands.
Chapter 203 - Lynx
* * *
Chapter 203: Lynx
The Lynx quickly retreated as though it was capable of feeling the danger which the blue and yellow flames contained. Both flames radiated an intense energy, an energy which promised to take the lives of whomever they touched, a promise to devour anything until only ashes remained.
