Chapter 25 – Hunting Session

"Kid, are you telling me that Fifth Elder has enough free time to take her son to a distant spot in the forest two days in a row? I don't believe it!"

"I never said my mom took me here, I'm here by myself."

"Then scram. Even if your parents are powerful, you can't bully everyone else in the sect. When you enter the inner sect as a disciple, you can start competing for resources."

The man already doubted Ken's identity. The only reason he didn't just beat him was the token, which made him unwilling to take the risk of hurting the real kid of the fifth elder.

"So you're part of the inner sect? What's your rank?" Ken did not budge from the threat, instead, his interest was piqued and he wanted to know more details.

"I see you're quite knowledgeable about the sect for your age. I'm Ron, ranked 223 in the inner sect."

"That's amazing, Big Brother Ron! What's your cultivation stage?" Ken walked toward the man while playing on his ego.

"Haha, Little Brother, I'm at the top of the Soul Strengthening Stage. Do you know what it means?"

"No, but it sounds powerful!"

"It is, I'll soon get to the next-"

*Woosh!*

The whistle Ken had listened to so many times in the past day echoed in the open space once more. Ken stood right in front of Ron with his sword held less than a single centimeter away from the latter's right eye.

Ron had a look of disbelief in his eyes. The movement was too fast for him to follow, and he wasn't even prepared for it. All he knew was that he suddenly felt the air surge to his eye and a dangerous pulse of foreign Qi was transmitted from the sword to his face, sending a wave of pain to his brain.

"AHH!" He screamed and fell on the floor, holding his head with two hands as he convulsed in pain while trying to fight off the invasive Qi. His body was soaked with sweat within seconds, and his skin turned red from the effort and agony.

Ken simply looked at him motionlessly before a beautiful smile adorned his small face. 'I've finally controlled the dashing technique. Aiming my attacks against humans is so much more effective!' He ignored the man's screams and sunk into his own fantasies of getting stronger.

"…W-why did you attack me?"

Ron eventually expelled the foreign Qi and asked the boy standing above him. He was still lying on the ground, blood coming out of his bloodshot eye and his sight turned red. He was so shocked that he didn't even know what question to ask. He could not understand what prompted the kid to attack nor how could such a young boy be fast enough to move at a speed a cultivator like himself didn't perceive.

Ken just shrugged back and answered with an uncaring voice. "I just felt that I could finally master this dashing technique if I attacked. I've practiced it for a few hours now."

The young boy did not see anything wrong with his actions. After all, he practiced 'with' a fellow disciple, and even stopped himself before the sword pierced the man's eye, avoiding any long-term injury. The minor injury should heal by itself quickly, and it'd be even safer if Ron purchased a cheap healing pill.

"That's… all?" Ron's face distorted in anger as he wiped drops of sweat from his forehead.

"Yes. You should correct your attitude, you were useful to the son of the two strongest elders in the sect, are you sure that's the impression you want to leave on me?" Ken kneeled on one knee and patted the lying man's shoulder.

"I… I'm glad I was useful, Young Master. I apologize for doubting your origins earlier." Ron realized his situation and forced out a pained smile, hurrying to appease the young master in front of him. Just like Ken said, it was too late to complain now, and it'd be better if he could form a connection with Ken through this incident.

"Good. Now you may go. If you tell anyone about what transpired here today, you will lose your grace with me, and I will make sure to turn your life miserable until I take it. Don't waste this chance to become my lackey, here's a token of goodwill" Ken smiled and threw a healing pill at his new servant.

"Thank you, Young Master!" Ron bowed and left, leaving the treatment of his eye for later.

To Ken's surprise, he could think clearly and rationally. He wasn't overwhelmed by his first time attacking someone else, nor did he feel bad about it. 'Seems like I was ready to take human life today, and it still wouldn't affect me much,' Ken mused. His body screamed at him to thrust the sword all the way into Ron's skull, yet he forcibly stopped his muscles from moving.

His hands shivered and his whole body was agitated, but Ken knew it was not out of guilt over harming another; it was the adrenalin that accompanied his first conflict in this world.

He sighed as he acknowledged his inability to force himself to feel mercy or empathy, prompting him to swiftly shift his focus back to refining his techniques. At the very least, he could control himself and avoid killing when it conflicted with other interests.

'I will call this move 'One Step', it seems to fit it well. Ah, this is the feeling of attacking someone. No wonder I had difficulties mastering my killing moves without attacking someone first. I lacked the intent to kill.'

Next, Ken practiced a movement technique that allowed him to move freely rather than just step forward. This technique was much slower than One Step but powerful, nonetheless.

After assaulting a human, he could visualize the technique's execution more easily, which was the main reason why he had charged at Ron. His next move, 'Cloud Running', allowed him to move quickly and silently in long smooth movements rather than the short one-time movement that characterized One Step.

Only at the end of the day, he mastered it to the basic mastery level, and he still had to practice using it in real combat to properly integrate it into his fighting style.

During the next days, he learned two more moves that complemented his repertoire of attacks, and the first was 'Snake Thrust' as he called it. It was a thrusting attack with his flexible sword that moved like a snake, making it nigh impossible for the enemy to predict the attack's trajectory and counter it.

The second had the unimpressive name 'Slash' which was a sharp slash of his sword when it's in solid form. Despite its dull name, its raw power was the highest among his sword techniques.

When he learned, he would practice first the movements required for the execution of the technique separately. Once he was familiar with them, he'd stand in the open to try executing the whole attack. He would close his eyes and use his perfect memory to relive the moment he chose to attack Ron, feeling the urge and intention to kill.

He stood a few meters away from him, full of the intent to kill Ron and use his new technique. He killed Ron over and over again in his mind with the different techniques, until he mastered them all. Luckily, Ron did not know what this young master was visualizing in his mind.

'Let's go and try killing some beasts. there shouldn't be any beasts above the fourth rank in the forest's outskirts, and even those are rare.'

Beasts' ranks corresponded to cultivators' stages. A fourth-rank beast was comparable to a fourth-stage cultivator, posing a serious risk to Ken who was still in the third stage despite his superior skills and foundation.

He entered the woods and went deeper into the forest. He was still in the forest's Outer Zone, so he didn't worry about meeting stronger beasts. With his perfect memory and high intelligence, he also didn't have a reason to fear getting lost in the forest.

Ken wasn't sure how to hunt beasts, but he just kept his vigilance high, so he'd feel any beast in his surroundings. Thanks to his powerful soul, it would be impossible to sneak up on him unless the beast was highly proficient in hiding its killing intent.

Even if it was, it would be hard to hide from Ken's physical senses with the way he maximized his gains from the first stage, and even then, with all his meridians awakened and his powerful dantian, he would feel any movement of Qi around him.

Overall, it wasn't easy to sneak up on him. He was still walking inside the forest when he suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes. He placed his hand on his belt and stopped walking. He stood still and concentrated on his surroundings.

Another rustling came from him behind him and he sensed the Qi moving as well as a thick killing intent toward him.

*Woosh!*

It was his sword's whistle as he turned around and performed his Flash Unwind technique. He felt his sword penetrates a skull and he sent a strong pulse of Qi into the beast's head.

He was pushed back by the powerful momentum of the beast and was sent flying, landing on his back with the dead beast on top of him.

"Argh, that hurts."

He pushed the beast's carcass to the side and checked it out. It was a large feline animal that reminded him of a panther from his previous world, but it wasn't exactly that. He could slap a normal panther to death with his current strength without any technique.

Indeed, it was a panther, just not a normal one. It was a third-rank beast called 'Panther Lurker' known for its ambushes in the forest.

'It was a good experience. Despite my superiority, I got injured when it came to a real fight in which the enemy didn't abide by my rules,' he reflected and moved on to continue his hunt.

Next, he found a boar. The boar charged at him without any surprise element, and Ken just used his Cloud Running to move to the side at the last moment before beheading the boar with a slash.

He kept hunting third-rank beasts and lower for a while as he got used to using his techniques in real combat, and his techniques' execution improved after every fight, proof of his terrific comprehending speed.

At first, everything was going well, until Ken overdid it and entered zones he shouldn't, bringing the wrath of the local lord on himself.

*SCREEEE*

Ken was running in the forest using his Cloud Running while a large bird followed him from the sky, diving every few seconds to catch him.

'Damn, it's a fourth-rank beast. This is going to be tough.' Ken cursed in his mind when he recognized the bird from the many books he had read.

Every time the bird dived, he would quickly use One Step and appear a few meters ahead, making the bird's claws miss him by a meter or two.

All the third-rank beasts in his way already ran away as soon as they heard the bird's screams. Every time the beast flew back up, he would use this chance to jump and use his Slash skill, yet it only left superficial cuts on the bird. He wasn't sure if his Qi could outlast the bird's stamina and vitality.

'This won't do, my Snake Thrust is only meant for a precise attack on a vital spot, but for that, I'd need to be able to cut through its flesh and reach the organs.'

Ken kept running simulations of the attack in his head, yet none of them could pierce the bird's flesh deep enough to kill it without leaving Ken at its claws' mercy.

'A damn bird tries to stand in my way?'

He visioned all the times he used his technique on the other animals before, the way it would pierce through their flesh and even their bones. His killing intent toward the bird that kept chasing him rose to a new level when he felt he was getting at something.

'I can do it. I must do it before it's too late,' Ken thought in determination as he dodged the bird's dive once more.

The beast was adjusting to his One Step technique, and every time the gap between its claws and Ken would decrease as it adapted. Now that he was ready to confront the enemy, he decided to break this cycle.

"Come and fight!"

This time, Ken still used Cloud Running and just jumped upward, surprising the bird that kept trying to counter the One Step movement.

With a sharp whistle, the sword coiled and strengthened, adding to its swing, and penetrated the bird's flesh. The sword's wriggles inside the flesh added another layer of damage to the bird, making it suffer from Qi deviations in multiple places.