4 Robbing a Monstrous Beast

It was a bright morning, and quite cold as two blurry figures passed flying above a huge chain of snowy mountains. The one in front was a majestic young man, exhaling a powerful aura. As for the other figure behind, it was an old man. Although good looking, time seemed to have hit him hard.

Both of them flew through the sky upon two scarlet swords. However, as the young man looked calm and relaxed, flying on the magical treasure, the same was not true for the old man. Looking closely, his face was filled with fear, as he seemed to try his best to continue on the flying sword.

"Young master!!! Are you sure these flying swords are safe!?"

"Hahahahaha! Relax old man! These young master never once fell from this sword... as for helping others to fly, this is my first time."

Panicking in his heart, Merlin could only lay down on the giant flying sword, holding tightly on its grip.

That morning, the duo prepared themselves and left the wood cabin behind, jumping on those scary flying swords. From what Master Luke had explained, now that he was better, he would continue in his assigned mission.

Back at his clan, a special mission was passed upon him: collect three ancient treasures that used to belong to his clan. They were essential to completing some kind of ritual and open a parallel Tiny World. Merlin did not understand everything and only knew that Luke received that sword wound in a fight to steal one of those. Now there were only two to go.

As so, the duo was now heading down to a giant Regional Capital, as they followed a magic compass created especially to locate those items.

Now they were flying above the Great Peak Mountains. It was a desertic land filled with ice and monstrous beasts. It went on for a whole day, to the point where Luke's Qi started to run out.

Searching from above, he found a pretty clean place to land among the dark trees and whitish peaks. Flying down, Luke rapidly cut down a medium tree with a Qi slash, setting up a fire. Although he did not need to keep his body warm, Merlin's cultivation was still weak and would freeze to death in such harsh conditions.

"Alright old man!! We're gonna stop here for some time to replenish my Qi! You can go around and hunt, or whatever... just don't get yourself killed, alright!?"

"Certainly, young master!"

Seating crosslegged near the fire, Luke began his meditation. Although he was quite powerful, skying a whole day while helping another person was quite hard on his Qi reserve.

At first, Merlin thought of staying around, cultivate a bit, but curiosity rapidly took his mind. Although his advanced age as a mortal, now he was one of those legendary Cultivators only heard in the Old Stories. As such, his adventurer spirit once again flourish.

With his sword in his hands, Merlin began to walk into the dark forest that surrounded the clean spot they were resting. With his cultivation of a Third Stage Body Refinement Realm, he could use his Qi to fight off the freezing frost of those mountains for a while. As so, he jumped through the trees, searching for something to test his new powers.

About half an hour later, about thirty meters ahead of him, Merlin heard some suspicious noises. Also, the air around him seemed to become much warmer with each step he took in that direction.

Proceeding on carefully, he was at his full concentration, looking out for any dangers. Then, a few steps later, he finally found what was making suspicious sounds in the woods. About fifteen meters from him, there was a large black wolf.

Also, the giant beast seemed to be guarding a strange object. It emitted a strong red little, filling the area with warmth. It was like a little sampling of an Oak Tree, but fully red-colored.

For an unknown reason, the Qi in Martin's body was extremely attracted to that strange little plant. The only problem was the giant wolf guarding it. Martin was struggling to make a decision. "For my whole life, I was a coward as a mortal... and now that I'm a Cultivator, I fear a big dog!?"

Then, having taken his decision, Merlin began to prepare his act. Looking around, the path he was on appeared to be the only clean entrance to the area where his target was, as all around it was filled with thick thorn plants. That meant that he did not have to fight a bloody battle for the plant, just rob it and cover the entrance!

For that, Merlin looked for any old dead trees around. For his luck, nest the entrance to the round area where the red tree was, there was an old Oak tree. It was huge but upon close look, its trunk was already decomposing! One powerful hit and it would smash closed the entrance.

With everything planned carefully in his mind, Merlin prepared himself for action. Although old, he was a pretty crafty guy.

Then, in a sudden jump, he entered the round area where the red tree was, immediately catching the attention of the huge wolf.

The beast grinned its sharp teeth, letting out a loud growl, trying to intimidate the invader of his home.

"Gonna need more than that too scary this old man! Hehehe!"

Seeing no reaction from Merlin's part, only standing there in a defensive stance, the wolf lost its patience, suddenly dashing in Merlin's direction with its sharp claws.

Resolutely swinging his sword, Merlin defended against the wolf's attack. But before it could launch another attack, Merlin suddenly threw three small sacks down. Hitting the ground, they exploded into a massive smoke fog, distracting greatly the wolf.

Using such an opportunity, knowing he could not kill the giant beast with just a single strike, Merlin quickly attacked its back led. The sword slash had a hard time breaking through its thick fur but managed to leave a deep wound.

Then, as the giant wolf cried in pain, Merlin quickly dashed to the mysterious plant. With a precise cut, he took the block of dirt on which the grew the tree from the ground. Then, running for his life, he headed to the only exit.

Being deceived by that old human for the first time and paying a heaven price, the wolf did not dare to underestimate him anymore. As so, he quickly pursued him in the direction of the exit.

But no matter how much it sped up, that old bastard seemed to have invisible wings, running like the wind to the exit! Then, in a desperate action, it used its ultimate attack.

In seconds, its claws seemed to accumulate bright energy, just like a Cultivator using Qi. When it was fully charged, the wolf did not hesitate to launch its attack.

Feeling a bad premonition, Merlin looked behind, just to be surprised by five slashes of energy flying in his directions. In a desperate action, Merlin just held his sword, defending his back as he ran.

Being struck by the energy slash, the heaven sword he used for years was cut in countless pieces and great pain filled his back. However, with the attack's sudden impulse, he finally managed to make it out the exit.

Suppressing his pain the best he could, Merlin quickly dashed to the giant Oak Tree nearby. Then, concentrating all his Qi on his right fist, he launched a powerful attack at the old dead tree.

Immediately, with the attack's impact, the tall tree fell from the sky, directly following upon the entrance, trapping the wolf inside.

However, Merlin was not sure how much time the tree would hold the wolf back as he heard the beast's wild roaring and the colossal tree shacking with its attacks.

Gathering his last strengths on his legs, Merlin quickly rushed through the dark trees, constantly changing directions in the hope the wolf would not be capable of following his scent in the future.

That chaotic situation went on until he finally managed to make it back to the camp and saw his young master once more.

Breathing heavily through his mouth, Merlin sat beside the fire and tried to calm down. Also, he took the opportunity to look more closely at the thing which placed him in that situation in the first place.

The little red tree had some quite peculiar characteristics. Its red leaves were filled with strange patterns and it seemed to radiate a Qi really close to the one he had in his own body: a hellish Qi.

As Merlin was lost in observing the strange plant he just robed from a crazy demonic wolf, Luke suddenly left out a giggle.

"Humm! Missing sword, ripped clothes, and the smell of blood... You should have gone through some hardships to get that little plant! I don't know... maybe a giant wolf or something like that! Hehehehehe"

Hearing master Luke's words, Merlin gave a frown.

"Did young master know of this little thing?"

"Yeah, I felt its presence around here, that's what I stopped here to rest! I didn't say anything or went get it myself because I wanted to see want you would do!"

"So it was a test from young master!?"

"Hehehe... kind of. And it turned out you're quite a clever old man for a mortal!"

"You praise me too much, Young master!!"

"Alright, alright... get it over here!"

A bit reluctant, Merlin got up and took the little tree to his young master. However, he was a bit sad in his heart. From what it looked, after all the work, that little tree would end up in his master's hands. Anyways, he would not know how to use it, right?

However, seeing Merlin's deception, Luke gave a smile.

"Relax old man, I won't rob you of your treasure! Let's just split it fifty-fifty! This is known as a Red Hell Oak Tree, and it can help with cultivation for people like us! If you want, just eat it raw and cultivate on your own, losing most of its effects..." Luke gave him a sarcastic look.

"Or...?

"Or let this young master refine it into a special pellet ten times more efficient!! You have to now that this young master over here is one of the most prominent alchemists my clan ever had!! They having me is the blessing of the Heavens upon them..."

Half an hour later, after master Luke finished bragging about his peerless talent in the art of Alchemy, Merlin could observe his actual talent.

Taking off all the little tree's leaves, Luke used his Qi to magically refine them with fire. But it was not the common fire burning in front of them, but a royal fire made out of master Luke's Qi itself.

It was bright red in color, like burning lava. Controlling it precisely, instead of burning into ashes, the leaves actually became a mysterious red liquid, floating in the air, between the red flames.

Then, after all of them became liquid, Luke took out some other side-ingredients. As for that mystery of where master Luke's items came out from, Merlin discovered a day ago that they were actually stored inside a Space Ring.

That rare treasure had a small isolated space inside it that permitted one to carry things around without difficulties!

Finally, after all the materials were done, Luke started splitting the now orange liquid into lots of equal-sized spheres, ten in total. In the final step, those simply became more solid, turning into ten perfect pellets.

Catching them with his hands, Luke tossed 5 pellets to Merlin.

"Take those and use one per cultivation section!! Use more and you'll explode in a mess of blood, do you understand!?"

Merlin only nodded his head with a serious expression in response. However, he had a curious gaze as he looked at the pellets in his hands.

"Humm! If you're asking yourself the quality of those pills, just for you to know, this young master over here only refines Top Spirit pills pr above! And don't ask, you can now that they or super good, in the future I will introduce to you the Art of Alchemy!!"

After a small silence between them, as the duo exchanged gazes, both of them sat down, took a pill, and began their cultivations.