Stalking the Cicada

"Yo, Captain Cheng!"

It was the morning after, and Ryker greeted the captain as he opened his door.

"Good morning, Sir Ryker," Cheng Hui greeted back in his full armor with his usual salute. He immediately noticed, however, that Ryker was now exuding the aura of a peak Qi Gathering expert.

Wasn't he at the third level, just yesterday?

"I... see you've had some breakthroughs," he said, looking to Ryker for an explanation.

"Ah, yeah, I had a whole bunch of pills lying around that I took right after you left," Ryker said, scratching his head with a grin.

Captain Cheng looked at him in slight confusion.

Although Qi Gathering Pills weren't considered too rare, at least for the noble families, there was a period of time where the one who consumed it would have to refine the pill's energies.

This period could last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the quality of the pill. Certain cultivation monsters could even lower this refining period to a few days.

He had never heard of anyone finishing the process overnight, let alone for multiple pills!

This further supported his suspicions that Ryker was just hiding his true cultivation, and steadily revealing it. But, if that were the case, would he really think that this was a normal cultivation speed?

And he seemed genuinely confused by many terms considered commonplace in the cultivation world.

If he were really hiding his cultivation, he was a master at playing the fool!

"So, we heading out then?" Ryker asked, bringing Cheng Hui back to his senses.

"Ah, yes," he said, rubbing the back of his helmet, "Please follow me. I've got all of our supplies in this storage ring, so no need to worry about packing anything."

He briefly showed Ryker the ring on his finger, who looked at it thoughtfully.

"Hm, is that what it was? I thought you were married, or something," he said, grinning.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"A ring on that finger means you're married or engaged, back where I'm from," Ryker explained, a teasing smile growing on his face.

"Could it be Yuhan, perhaps?"

"W-what? How could I look at Vice-Captain Wang in such a manner as her captain!" Cheng Hui exclaimed, a flustered look on his face.

"Haha, I'm just playing with you, man!"

Ryker patted Cheng Hui on the shoulder, urging him to get a move on.

"Come on, let's go!"

Cheng Hui just followed behind as Ryker jumped down the stairs, shaking his head. This was already starting to feel like it would be a pain...

--

Yuliang City was bustling as usual, this morning. The two of them wasted no time in getting to the city gates, where the soldiers guarding the checkpoints saluted them and waved them through.

As Ryker and Cheng Hui left the city, however, a gnarled old man sat at a tea house, nearby, watching them as he sipped his tea. His name was Meng Guo, an itinerant cultivator.

This was one of the Golden Core experts Li Daoming had baited into teaching Ryker a lesson, though it was one that he wouldn't live through to put into practice!

The old man slowly got up from his chair, restraining his aura as he prepared to trail them. It really wasn't a request the old man would usually take, but the offer he had received was too good to pass up.

Li Daoming had offered up a chance to enter the Pill Saint Mystic Realm.

The Pill Saint was a legendary figure in the Nanwu continent their Zhou Empire was situated in, being a master alchemist as well as a powerful cultivator in their own right. They say that before he ascended to immortality, he had left this mystic realm for others to find his inheritance.

No one knows if the story is really true or not, but there are certainly many heavenly treasures and natural resources in there, so cultivators all fight to gain entry.

A restriction is in place to prevent those above the Golden Core realm from entering, however, and like all good things, opportunities to enter the mystic realm are monopolized by those in power, namely the Five Grand Dukes.

Aside from the direct descendants of the five families and the royal heirs, other cultivators must register with them to gain entry, with only limited spots going to these unaffiliated experts.

One could always try to sneak in, of course, but to do so was to risk your life. Still, there were many who chose to risk it, anyways.

Li Daoming, however, had offered a spot to accompany him into the mystic realm as one of his guards, though they would of course be allowed to roam and find their own opportunities.

All one had to do was kill one simple Qi Gathering Cultivator who was being protected by the Long family.

Although he wasn't as young as most of those who wanted to enter would be, he was still eligible as a Golden Core realm expert, having been stuck in the middle of the Golden Core realm for a few hundred years, now.

And, in truth, he was reaching the end of his life.

That was why he was betting everything on obtaining this chance to enter the mystic realm, to hopefully find an opportunity to break through to the Soul Wandering realm or otherwise extend his lifespan.

'I'll just have to be quick about it once they've left the city borders,' Meng Guo thought to himself.

As an itinerant cultivator, he didn't dare cross the Long family without some sort of backing, but taking out this whelp outside of the city wouldn't cause any problems.

Perhaps they would have an idea of who had wanted him dead, but they would never find out who actually killed him.

The Foundation Establishment expert that was with him would just have to be an unfortunate casualty.

He quietly left the city through one of many hidden entrances only known to those in the noble families, calmly preparing to kill.

--

"Uh, if we're looking for this fire root thing, wouldn't it be faster if we split up?"

Ryker and Cheng Hui were currently combing through the Western Forest, presumably for the Firespike Root. However, that was really just an excuse to get Ryker to show more of his power, so of course they wouldn't split up.

"No, the Western Forest is even more dangerous than the Red Viper Mountains," Captain Cheng said, giving an excuse, "We should stick together to watch each other's backs and help each other escape, if need be."

He was mostly telling the truth, since this place wasn't really somewhere he'd want to bring any of his subordinates. The jungle-like forest was home to a host of nasty beasts, and visibility was low due to the dense growth of plant-life on the forest floor.

Even he wouldn't have come here if he had a choice.

"Hm. Well, alright, I guess."

Ryker just shrugged his shoulders, not really caring how they went about finding this root. It was a good chance to gain more favorability with Long Meiling, so he figured he would just go along with what her people want.

"So, what kind of dangers are we talking about, here?" he asked, looking around to see if there were any Firespike Roots about.

"Various demonic beasts wander the forest, all of them with strength at least comparable to a Foundation Establishment expert," Cheng Hui explained, staying vigilant as they walked.

"The most ferocious would probably the Thunderclap Tiger, however. You would need to be a peak Foundation Establishment realm cultivator to even stand a chance against it."

So he said as if to warn him, but in reality, Captain Cheng was leading them straight to a known Thunderclap Tiger den.

He knew that Ryker was at least as strong as he was (and likely stronger), so he wasn't too nervous at the prospect of two peak Foundation Establishment fighters going up against the beast.

The main thing he was worried about was how he could observe Ryker while they were fighting. After all, if he shifted his focus from the battle, it might be his life that he lost.

"Yo, captain, is that one of those 'demonic beasts' you were talking about?" Ryker called out to him, pointing off into the distance.

Cheng Hui looked to where he was pointing, spotting a large boar through the underbrush digging at the earth with its tusks.

Its skin held a distinctive white color, with dark red bristles scattered about, and its tusks were misshapen with laden with spiky growths.

"Hm, good eyes," he said, nodding, "That's a Huoyan Boar. Its known for its flame resistance and iron-hard tusks. Most cultivators avoid them even at the peak of Foundation Establishment, just because of how violent they are."

"Hey, it's trying eat one of those fire spike thingies!" Ryker shouted, pulling his sword out of his storage space and rushing towards it, completely ignoring Captain Cheng's warnings.

The captain could only take a closer look, stunned when he saw that the boar was actually digging up one of the Firespike Roots they had supposedly come here for. He could see the distinctive red spikes of the root the boar was current tugging out from the ground.

"What are the chances..." he muttered ruefully. The Firespike Root was actually out of season, right now, so the chances of actually finding one were almost none.

The one they were seeing now was most likely an older specimen that had evolved to be able to withstand the cold winters, a fairly rare occurrence.

Lucky, but did it have to be at this moment?

'Hm, but this may be a good opportunity to see more of what he's capable of,' Captain Cheng thought to himself.

The Huoyan Boar's violent nature and stubborn vitality should naturally let Ryker showcase his abilities, and the captain wouldn't even need to pay too much attention to protecting himself, either. Perhaps this was truly a lucky occurrence, after all.

"Be careful when engaging it, Sir Ryker," he shouted, running to catch up to him, "I'll support you from behind!"

Neither of them, however, noticed the presence of a pair of eyes watching from the treetops...