The Beginning of the Cultivation Journey.

With the jade token from his master in his hand, Li Ying stepped out of the barrier.

He regretted leaving the place where the qi was so rich that even the Flame Horn goats had attained unimaginable cultivation levels. But his master had ordered him not to cultivate inside the barrier.

She also reminded him that the last serpentail wolf was still roaming around. Li Ying had to leave the area, he ran as fast as he could, until he reached a safe distance to rest and cultivate.

He crossed his legs and frowned. The spiritual qi here was too thin, only fit for those with third-grade aptitude or lower.

His tenth-grade aptitude was useless here. He needed Purple grade spiritual qi, the kind that only the sacred lands possessed.

Spiritual qi had five grades based on its density: White, Green, Blue, Purple, and Gold. White qi was the most common and the lowest grade, found everywhere on the continent. Green and Blue qi were artificially produced by the Sects, depending on their wealth and influence. Purple qi was extremely rare and precious, and only the sacred lands and the peak cultivators could access them. The higher the grade 

of the spiritual qi, the faster and easier the cultivation process.

Li Ying was fortunate to have the Spiritual Qi Reaping Art, a technique that his master had imparted to him. With the Spiritual Qi Reaping Art, he could harvest the spiritual qi from the dead.

The qi was indestructible, and it would normally return to the spiritual veins, the natural sources of qi, after a cultivator or a demonic beast perished.

But with the Spiritual Qi Reaping Art, Li Ying could bypass that cycle and directly take in the qi of the dead. It was a secret and powerful technique, and Mu Xuanyin had warned him not to reveal it to anyone.

Li Ying made up his mind to hunt some demonic beasts. It was survival of the fittest in the cultivation world, and he had to be strong.

He came out of the woods and saw a flock of Flame Horn goats in front of him.

They were grazing on the grass as they spotted him. They charged at him as their instinct dictated. Li Ying ran as well, but not away from them.

Li Ying had found some Wild boars earlier and headed towards them.

The Wild boars were another type of demonic beasts that lived in the forest. They had sharp tusks and thick skin, and they were very aggressive and territorial. They were enemies of the Flame Horn goats, and they often fought for food and land. Li Ying wanted to use them as bait and as prey.

Two boars heard the sound of running and turned around. They saw a bald man running towards them at full speed. They were shocked and got ready to fight, but the bald man passed by them in a flash. The two boars looked at each other in confusion. But that was not the end of it, as a flock of Flame Horn goats followed the bald man, their mortal foes.

Li Ying hid behind a tree and waited for the spectacle to unfold. The two boars howled, and all the wild boars in the vicinity rushed to their aid. Li Ying had ignited a war.

After a fierce battle, the corpses of the slain beasts littered the ground. Li Ying emerged from behind a tree and glanced at the wounded Wild boars and Flame Horn goats.

They posed no threat to him in their current state. Some of them had already fled, and some of them were dying.

Li Ying sat cross-legged in the center of the battlefield. He took out a jade token, Mu Xuanyin had said that the token could sense the presence of people nearby. He circulated his spiritual qi into the token and his divine sense spread the area, there was no one nearby.

Li Ying closed his eyes and focused his mind. White lights began to rise from the dead bodies. They quickly merged into a sphere near Li Ying's chest. The sphere changed color from white to green, then blue, and finally purple.

Li Ying absorbed the purple qi into his lower dantian, the energy center in his abdomen. He felt a warm and comfortable sensation, as if he was bathing in a hot spring. He felt his spiritual qi increasing and his cultivation base stabilizing.

Four Days Later.

Li Ying opened his eyes and saw that the eight bodies he had drained of qi had withered like they had been rotting for years.

The surviving beasts were still recovering and did not dare to come close to Li Ying.

'I have broken through to the Fifth stage of Qi Condensation. My Tenth-Grade aptitude is truly amazing. But this Spiritual Qi Reaping Art looks too sinister. People might confuse me for a Demonic Cultivator. Is it really created by a righteous cultivator? I can't let anyone see me using it.' Li Ying thought to himself, feeling both happy and worried.

'I have to leave this forest as soon as possible. That person will surely look for me. He is someone I must avoid at all costs. If I get captured, he might even recognize me.' Li Ying made up his mind.

…

The grand hall of the Silver-Dragon Sect was a glorious sight. The walls were covered with dragon paintings and old scriptures. The ceiling was engraved with complex patterns of clouds and stars. The hall was packed with elders, who sat on chairs that formed two rows with a high throne in the middle.

On the throne, a handsome man in his prime, with shining silver hair and commanding eyes, sat with a stern expression.

He shouted, "How did this happen? Did I not order that all beasts above the First-stage Qi Condensation level have to be eliminated from Skyreach Forest?"

A disciple, who was shaking with fear, held a ripped and dirty robe in the center of the hall. It was Li Ying's robe. Li Ying had asked his master to discard his old robe and sack outside the barrier.

An elder replied, "Sect Leader, the outer court disciples were training on the mountains, they must have scared the beasts and some Serpentail wolves escaped the mountains to survive."

The Sect Leader said nothing but the mood was tense. He had just come out of his seclusion and learned that someone dear to him had died. He clenched his fists and his eyes flashed with anger and grief.

Another elder asked, "Sect Leader, who was he? Were you close to him?"

Li Ying was a scholar who served the Silver-Dragon Sect. He was respected and knowledgeable, but his rank was the same as an outer-court disciple. The elders did not expect that the Sect Leader would have a personal connection with him.

The handsome man sighed, his mood sorrowful, "He was not only an acquaintance. He was my friend for decades. He was smarter than any of you. You knew nothing about him because he wanted our friendship to be secret. He always said he had no interest in the Sect's affairs. If only he could cultivate, he would have been the Grand Elder long ago."

The final words shocked everyone. They all glanced at the Grand Elder.

The Grand Elder was old and white-haired, with a long beard and thick eyebrows. He looked offended. He was from an older generation than the Sect Leader.

But no one spoke up, the Sect Leader was a genius that the sect had not seen for a millennium. Even the Grand Elder kept quiet, there was no point in arguing over a dead man.

…

Li Ying dashed through the dense foliage of the Skyreach forest. His speed had increased significantly after reaching the fifth stage of Qi Condensation.

While running, he noticed that the trees were becoming sparser and shorter. He was nearing the end of the forest. 

Li Ying found a dirt road among the tall grasses at the end. He decided to follow it.

It led him to a small village, consisting of a few dozen huts made of mud and straw.

The villagers looked up in curiosity as Li Ying walked through their midst.

Li Ying spread his divine sense while holding the jade token that Mu Xuanyin had given him. He found nothing unusual. The villagers were all ordinary mortals. They stared at Li Ying with a mix of awe and wariness, as he stood still with his eyes closed in the center of the village.

He opened his eyes and smiled warmly at the villagers. He tried to appear friendly and harmless. Some of the villagers smiled back and others looked away nervously.

Li Ying understood their reaction. He was an odd sight in his black robe, which contrasted with his pale skin and bald head. He had a delicate and handsome face without a single hair. If he wore a wig, he could easily pass for a beautiful woman.

He left as he realized that there was nothing for him in this village.

Li Ying ran across the wilderness. He visited many other villages along the way. 

After leaving the Skyreach forest, Li Ying had entered the Verdure Province. It homed many villages and a few sects.

The villages were sometimes inspected by the righteous cultivators of the nearby sects to check for evil cultivators, as well as to recruit potential talents.

Li Ying stopped by another village. He spread his divine sense again.

'Cultivators!' Li Ying smiled as he had finally found what he was looking for.

…

A man with silver hair stood before the barrier in Skyreach Forest. He gazed at the barrier and muttered, "So, this was your final obsession." He drew the sword on his waist and swung it at the barrier.

Boom! The earth and trees around the barrier were annihilated by the sword's force, but the barrier was unharmed. He slashed a few more times, but the result was the same. Sorrow could be seen in his eyes. He was the Sect Leader of the Silver-Dragon Sect. 

A woman in a wooden house opened her eyes. 

'Friendship huh, how beautiful.' She sighed.