The Vagrant Woods span a large area with unnaturally dense vegetation. Spirit beasts roamed about, some unknown and dangerous, and the nearby cities posted watches to prevent beast tides and attacks. In the past, rumors of a mystic treasure hidden in the depths of the forest spread, and the Brave Clan issued an expedition. Many teams went in, few went out. The spirit beasts countered in anger, and the cities suffered their wrath.
Anyone sane avoided going through, taking detours with a flying spirit beast or circumventing the forest. Ming Ren hid his trail well, no one expected someone at the fourth layer of the Body Tempering Realm to cross it. The scouts and tracking teams of the pursuing clans only searched the outer perimeter and never went too deep. Ming Ren would notice them even if they found the cave.
Having spiritual sense at the Body Tempering Realm increased his survivability, and he even scanned the surroundings for spirit beasts and precious herbs while running through the forest. Hunters took the best herbs from the outer perimeter, but they had limited knowledge compared to him.
While some herbs brimmed with spirit energy according to their age, even common herbs had their uses. Ming Ren obsessed over the way of pills inside the Bright Scripture, gaining tremendous knowledge into them. Even if he never saw that specific herb before, it wouldn’t be hard for him to discover its properties. He threw anything useful inside the space ring, ‘I can’t hate Yun Lin Xue, he gave me this wonderful gift.’
Somewhere else, a recently awoken and weak Yun Lin Xue felt pain in his chest and passed out again, as if rage and humiliation came out of nowhere…
Ming Ren noticed several groups of hunters along the way, most ranging from peak Body Tempering to middle Spirit Sea cultivation, none belonging to the bigger clans of Bluecloud city.
After a while, the youth sensed a beast at the equivalent of the sixth layer of the Body Tempering Realm a few kilometers from him, a three meters tall four-legged lizard with green, sturdy scales, and three tails. The scaled greenbeast, possessing formidable defense. Ming Ren’s eyes shone. He kicked the ground with spiritual energy, bursting forward with an increased speed far beyond his cultivation base.
[Flash Step], maximum power!
In a matter of a few breaths, Ming Ren was already beside the beast. It had sharp senses but bad reflexes, looking down upon most other monsters and hunters because of its superb defense. The youth had already advanced when the beast noticed and rose the tail to attack.
His right leg stepped forward, firmly on the ground, and the left hand led the way. The right arm extended back before surging forward. internal energy once again circulating to the palm, concentrating his might. The might of a strike at the peak of the fifth layer together with his strengthened body.
[Collapsing Sky]!
The palm hit and the beast tilted to the side in pain, its whole body shaking vigorously and spurting blood, but it was not a deadly wound. The three tails attacked in unison, all from different directions. Ming Ren weaved his body dodging them gracefully and hit once more, this time circulating the power of the reborn One Breath Luminescence Art into the mix…
Peak of the seventh layer strength!
The palm hit once again, the scaled greenbeast let out a terrified scream, struggled and died, its inner organs damaged beyond repair. It possessed terrifying defense, but Ming Ren’s palm strike transferred the entire impact inside the body, causing internal damage by avoiding the external toughness.
“The meat of a lizard-type scaled greenbeast, definitely… fried lizard meat-on-a-stick!”
Ming Ren flicked his wrist and the entire beast corpse entered the ring. He moved on without losing time, finding a bird-type beast resting atop a tree without a single worry in the world. It had a very long beak and feathers that looked like polished blades. Feather-bladed curlew, peak of the seventh layer.
Flying beast types easily escaped. If Ming Ren let it fly, it would hunt him down after getting some friends to come over. The youth used [Sky Steps] and got close. As the bird noticed him, Flash Step exploded several times in a roll, landing on the trunk of the trees for a second to gain momentum. He appeared before the bird and a sudden beak came at an amazing speed.
[Flash step, air version!]
Ming Ren kicked the air itself using spiritual energy and disappeared from the beast’s sight, landing on the branch next to it. The feather-bladed curlew wanted to attack with the wings, but it was already too late. The fist looked slow and then disappeared from sight.
At first, it seemed to have no momentum, so the bird didn’t worry and struck back. Before he could hit, Ming Ren once more revolved the One Breath Luminescence art, briefly activating the Divine Light Dragon physique this time.
Clear Sky Fist, peak of the eight layer strength!
The fist hit the bird’s body, its bladed feathers and bones shattering like frail glass with the impact from Ming Ren’s fist, drenching everything in blood.
“AH, MY BIRD!!!” Ming Ren used too much strength, wasting a lot of meat. The feathers were refining material, like the green beast scales. He threw the corpse inside the ring, “…Roasted feather-bladed curlew, here I come!”
This scene repeated itself with different species until the night fell. Ming Ren stopped before filling the ring, a low-grade spatial ring had a lot of space but not infinite. He went deep from the outskirts of the forest and had to be careful not to cross any stronger beasts. Nights were dangerous as some spirit beasts excelled in stealth. His stomach couldn’t take it anymore. He stopped to eat, but lacked utensils or spices!
That bastard Lin Yue Xue, couldn’t he carry at least a few? Did he ever go camping? Doesn’t he know how good spirit beast meat is to the body? What if he suddenly wanted to eat stew?
Those useless young masters, ah!
Somewhere out there, Lin Yue Xue had just woken up again but already spurted out blood.
This was Ming Ren’s first meal after spending days without eating, he thought a bit and headed towards one of the hunter groups. Ming Ren walked instead of hurrying through the trees, took out the scaled greenbeast’s body, and carried it on his back. He walked towards the group’s encampment.
Everyone sat around without a fire so as not to attract unwanted guests. One hunter, a youth at around seventeen, noticed Ming Ren and drew his weapon, a great sword. The other members followed, all cautious. The group had five people, two male youths, two young women, and an elder. The elder’s eyes widened seeing the young man carrying the green-scaled spirit beast on his back, cultivation only at peak fifth layer.
A cultivator’s strength varied a lot as many arts strengthened the physical body. Although surprising, carrying the three meters tall beast was not an impossible feat. Everyone in the group had strength at least at the peak of the seventh layer, and the elder reached the peak of the ninth layer.
They relaxed after seeing the youth seemed to be alone but didn’t let their guards down. A fifth layer cultivator alone this deep into the Vagrant Woods? unlikely.
“Please forgive my intrusion,” Ming Ren put down the beast, clasped the hands together and bowed.
The elder nodded, “What brings you here, young man?”
Ming Ren scratched his head, “Below Ming Ren, loose cultivator. I caught this scaled greenbeast but I have no spices nor utensils to prepare it. If senior and everyone don’t mind, would you be willing to share a meal?”
They hunted in the Vagrant Woods for a long time, yet it was the first time someone asked to share a meal. How could their hearts be at ease? Anyone would think of a trap. Ming Ren knew what they thought. They weren’t exactly wrong, brutality and treachery filled the world of cultivation. The elder wanted to say something, but one youth went first.
“We have enough food here, we need nothing else! Scram!” Caught a scaled greenbeast? Are you joking? It looked like a monster at least at the fifth layer of the Body Tempering Realm.
Spirit beasts were stronger than normal cultivators and this one specialized in defense, even their group would spend a lot of time hunting it, and with a ninth layer peak elder to give the finishing blow. The scaled greenbeast defensive power rivaled someone of several layers above.
‘Damn, should I have brought out something a little weaker…? I hunted nothing below the sixth layer…’ Ming Ren regretted not being more careful.
“Little Fu, cannot be impolite.” The elder hurried, beckoning with the hand for him to stop. He presented himself as a loose cultivator, but this young man possessed refined behavior and manners and showed no fear.
Also, with the surname “Ming” and around Bluecloud City, could he be…?
Ming Ren didn’t choose this group randomly. He first observed them with spiritual sense and discovered they belonged to a small influence from a city near Bluecloud. This clan had ties to his Bright Clan before, and even marriage connections. However, as a sixth-ranked influence with only Spirit Sea cultivators, they always acted low key. Ming Ren hoped to gather some information from them.
“Elder, how can we trust him? We should send him away or…!” Little Fu continued.
“Little Fu, if you’re worried, how about we check if he is alone?” One girl said. Beautiful and tall, with clear eyes and long legs, wearing a white robe. Her long green hair fell to the waist, thin sword in hand.
“Don’t call me little Fu!” The youth barked, “Go ahead!”
The girl nodded, taking a small jade token from the bag. She crumbled the token and a spirit beast appeared out of nowhere, a cute looking white and red rabbit with powerful translucent eyes. Spirit Sea Realm, third layer.
Ming Ren’s eyes widened in disbelief. He would have never expected to find a spiritual beast oracle in a sixth-ranked clan!