A Journey Through Darkness

Yaan departed from the Heavenly Path Sect with no intention of turning back. In fact, he was uncertain if he would ever return to the Greenwood Mountain Range.

He headed South, delving deep into the dark forest, braving the dangers of the beasts hidden within the gloomy depths of the forbidden land. Compared to the cultivators in the Heavenly Path Sect who would now be able to see through his identity as a member of the demonic races, he would rather face the beasts.

Despite the complicated emotions Yaan held towards Rui, as he thought back to the resolute look in her eyes as she spoke those final words, he understood that she was someone who had seen far too much suffering in this world. She was a person who valued her own survival above all else and cared for almost nothing else, not even her own heart.

Feeling anger towards such a person almost felt meaningless.

The months flew by quickly. Yaan continued travelling South during this time without pause. He didn't stop to think about anything, instead focussing all of his attention on staying alive. After all, not only was he concerned that he might be followed by an elder from the Heavenly Path Sect, but he also needed to deal with the harsh conditions in the dark forest.

Yaan's understanding of the Ghu Province's geography was rough at best.

The Ghu Province encompassed a massive area of land. Yaan had always lived on the Northern border of the province.

The nine mountains in the Greenwood Mountain Range separated the Ghu Province from the Northern wilderness. The Northern wilderness became increasingly dangerous the further you travelled North. The nine mountains and the nine factions protected the Ghu Province from the countless beasts living in the forest.

The Northern border measured around 2,500 miles across. As for the total size of the province, Yaan had no idea. What he did know was that supposedly, there should be a cultivation society even further South, beyond the depths of the dark forest.

Yaan wasn't entirely sure what a cultivation society was exactly, nor did he know what he might encounter when he entered such a place…but it couldn't be worse than this cursed forest.

He was familiar with the dark forest already. The dark forest surrounded everything South of the nine mountains, including Lightstone Village and Zong Village.

The dark forest was where he found the black stone ring, changing the course of his life and allowing him to step onto the path of cultivation.

The edge of the forest wasn't too dangerous, but after travelling into the depths of the forest, Yaan encountered demonic beasts far too often.

These beasts were mostly at Rank 1, but Yaan encountered a Rank 2 beast every few days. As for Rank 3 beasts, he had only seen one so far.

That beast was far too terrifying, both in terms of its appearance and aura. It vaguely looked like a massive centipede, but it was difficult to be certain in the darkness of the forest. Because of the lack of light in the dark forest, it was impossible for Yaan to discern the beast's features, but he wouldn't try to do something like that anyway. As soon as he saw that monstrosity, he hid himself beneath the cold muddy waters in a small swamp, holding his breath for as long as possible before emerging. Luckily, the beast was nowhere in sight when he resurfaced.

His progress was slow as he journeyed through the forest.

Yaan's eyesight was much better than Qi refiners at the same level, but his vision was still lacking compared to these nocturnal beasts which lived in eternal darkness. He needed to be cautious with every step he took. If he didn't exercise this caution, he might attract the attention of a beast far stronger than himself, like a Peak Rank 2 beast, or even a Rank 3 beast.

The journey was tough, but Yaan persevered. He knew there was no guarantee that he would make it out of this place alive, but he needed to at least try. He needed…to survive.

Unfortunately, Yaan wasn't exactly well quipped for this sort of dangerous journey. There were only two items in his possession; his silk red robe, and the spiritual treasure sword that he received from his teacher.

Yaan still felt a sense of grief every time he held this sword, yet he was also glad that he had something to remember his teacher by.

Even though the dark forest was dangerous, outside of those life and death encounters with the beasts, the journey was actually quite boring. Because he was alone, Yaan found himself thinking back on the time he spent with his teacher in the Heavenly Path Sect.

Eventually, Yaan came to accept that when Great Elder Wan took him in, the old man truly intended to refine him into a puppet. However, his teacher's feelings changed with time. He eventually developed feelings for his talented pupil, causing him to second guess his plans. This inner conflict grew larger and larger as time passed by, leading his heart astray.

Yaan found it difficult to hate his teacher, but at the same time, he felt betrayed.

Regardless, Yaan honestly believed that if Great Elder Wan was given more time to ponder his internal conflict, he would have abandoned his initial plan, instead raising Yaan as his student wholeheartedly. Unfortunately it was impossible to be sure of this, now that Great Elder Wan was dead.

Even though he had faith in his teacher, Yaan wasn't naive. He understood that his viewpoint was distorted by his emotions, and also by the fact that his teacher had only ever shown him 'kindness'.

Yaan continued to ponder this matter. He tried to assess the situation objectively, and after some time, he came to the depressing realisation that the 'kindness' shown by his teacher was simply an act, a method to lower his guard.

Yaan understood now that he couldn't really blame Rui for her actions.

All in all, Yaan's feelings towards pretty much everyone in his life could be defined by a single word: complicated!

In a way, living in the dark forest, away from all human life, was actually somewhat refreshing. He didn't need to worry about scheming people, he didn't need to care about acting politely in order to maintain relationships. In this place, he only needed to survive.

After spending three months in the dark forest, Yaan had mostly recovered from his shock and sadness towards those final events on Heavenly Path Mountain. He still felt pain when he thought about it all, but he was able to suppress this pain.

Somehow, Yaan was able to use the pain to drive himself forwards.

Time continued to fly by.

Yaan was sat down inside of a hollowed out tree, cultivating quietly.

His dantian became totally crippled after he was attacked by Yuso Lan, but he could still cultivate his demonic body. He had no medicinal pills, but with the abundance of beasts that relentlessly attacked him on a daily basis, he had plenty of beast meat, blood, organs and bones at his disposal.

Yaan made it a habit to consume as many demonic beasts as possible during these past three months. After surviving in the dark forest alone for so long, Yaan was now able to assess which parts of the beast would be most beneficial to his cultivation.

The hearts were often the most valuable organ, whilst the blood was also good since he could drink a large amount of it. Certain bones could hold dense Spiritual Energy, whilst the bulk of the meat was rarely of much value.

As for the taste, since this was demonic beast meat, every part of the body always tasted vile.

As Yaan sat inside the tree and absorbed the energy from a Rank 2 beast's spinal marrow, he opened his eyes with a smile.

"Finally, I reach the Mid 2-Star Realm!"

He could feel that he had attained 50% progression through the 2-Star Realm. Vital Energy flowed through his blood and was transported to every single cell within his body. Yaan's Vital Energy had now reached 50% of the total amount required to reach the boundary of the 3-Star Realm.

This cultivation speed was even faster than when he was cultivating in the Heavenly Path Sect!

Of course, he was focussing entirely on cultivating his body right now. He was not spending time refining Qi, or practising sword arts, or training with spells. Yaan was focused on a single pursuit, and because of that, his progress became extremely fast.

He was constantly engaging in battle, fighting for his survival on a daily basis. It was said that a body temperer's progression accelerated if they regularly engaged in battle…Yaan had doubted this before, but now, he personally experienced this strange phenomena for himself.

He had no shortage of resources, since Rank 2 beasts were appearing every few days. Every time Yaan crossed paths with a beast, it always resulted in a bloody battle.

He trained by eating all of the essential organs which he harvested from those Rank 2 beasts. Because of this training regime, Yaan was able to cultivate his Vital Energy to this extent.

Yaan opened his eyes and sighed. Rui had once told him that cultivating his Qi would be preferable to his body. At later stages, the amount of resources needed to improve the body became increasingly unreasonable. Right now, it still wasn't too bad, but at the 3-Star Realm, it would become far more difficult to progress

After reaching the 4-Star Realm, he would encounter serious problems. At that stage, he would need to consume extremely profound medicinal pills, just to progress one single step further.

There was one more limitation in the way of Yaan's progression; Boundary Ascension Pills. Most Qi refining cultivators gave the Boundary Ascension Pill to their tamed spirit beasts, because this pill could help a spirit beast to cross the rank boundary. Body temperers also used these pills, because this pill was unique, in that it permitted a forceful ascension through the realm boundary.

Yaan used the Rank 2 Boundary Ascension pill to reach the 2-Star Realm, but he would need to find a Rank 3 Boundary Ascension pill to reach the 3-Star Realm.

For now, he pushed this problem from his mind. What mattered the most was continuing with his journey Southwards.

A week later, Yaan finally arrived at the edge of the dark forest. He squinted as the sunlight shot down from the sky, entering his eyes for the first time in months.

He only adjusted to the brightness after a few minutes. Yaan looked around, and before long, his gaze landed on a faint structure in the distance.

Just outside of the dark forest, there was farmland all around. Further along, Yaan saw some small and quaint housing, reminding him of Lightstone Village. The simple housing and the mortals coming and going about their lives made him feel a sense of nostalgia.

Another mile down the rough dirt path, there was a wall. Yaan narrowed his eyes, then decided to investigate. That was clearly a man made wall, but he couldn't tell the size of it from here. Either way, it seemed to be more impressive than the mortal housing around these farmlands.

Every now and then, Yaan passed by a mortal, mostly farmers. Some people glanced at him and ignored him, whilst others were more friendly and directly greeted him. He was a bit out of practice, but Yaan's practised polite way of speaking quickly came back to him, as memories of the time he spent in the core Heavenly Path Sect flashed through his mind.

Eventually, he stopped and looked forwards at a large wooden arched gateway. The doorway was built into a peculiar sandstone wall, which towered three times higher than the doorway, even though the doorway was large enough for a large demonic beast to pass through.

The two gate doors were wide open and guards stood on either side. Yaan watched as some people went in and out of the place beyond the doorway. They seemed to be paying an entry toll with some sort of local currency.

Yaan had never seen any guards like this before today, causing him to examine them curiously. They wore steel plate armour and carried metal swords at their waists. Despite them looking quite imposing in that armour, they were clearly mortals, Yaan could tell this at a glance.

He did not expect that there would actually be mortals guarding such a huge doorway, which must definitely lead into a large human settlement!

As his eyes turned to the side and he gazed past the gate, Yaan became dazed by the sights ahead.

The stress were bustling with activity, people were coming and going, talking and laughing, endlessly. The buildings were built from stone and brick, making them sturdy looking.

Yaan had heard that there were some small mortal towns just South of the Northern border, but he had never seen mortals operating on this sort of scale before! Yaan felt intrigued by this place and made his way forwards.

"Scram you little beggar!" One of the guards pointed his sword at Yaan and stared down at him with an arrogant sneer.

Yaan blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected the guard to be so confrontational before he even spoke!

But then, Yaan glanced down at his clothing and smiled bitterly. He really did look like a beggar. After travelling through the dark forest for three months, his previously splendid silk red robe was now torn to shreds and soaked in blood and dirt.

He looked back up at the mortal guards who were acting like his superiors. Seeing that he still wasn't moving, one of the guards stepped towards him with the intention of pushing him away.

Clang!

The guard was dazed as he was thrown backwards for a few feet before hitting the ground with a clanking sound from his armour. The other guard stared in shock, then turned back towards Yaan with wide eyes, who was standing casually with one hand stretched out.

"Our apologies, esteemed immortal! Please forgive our offence!" The guard quickly got down on his knees and lowered his head. His body was trembling violently. He felt an unfathomable fear in the deepest depths of his heart, terrified that he had offended an immortal! These guards knew that if the person before them wanted to take their lives, he could easily do so, and nobody would even dare to criticise him for it!

"It's fine." Yaan said this causally and walked past the guards without sparing them another glance. As he entered the streets, many people made way for him. It was obvious that they had witnessed the scene outside of the entrance just now, and they were scared that they might get in the immortal's way by mistake!

'So people here know about cultivators, but they are ignorant and think that all cultivators are immortals.' Yaan assessed quickly.

'I wonder if there are any cultivators in this place. It's so large, there must be at least one or two!'

Prior to his arrival in this city, Yaan was merely wandering about without direction, with no clear goal in mind. However, after realising that there were probably cultivators living somewhere in this city, Yaan felt a surge of motivation, because now, he at least had somewhere to start!