Stone Lion Dungeon

Hong Zhao cautiously made his way into the cave, which went further back than he had realized. Instead of finding a deep room within the cave, he had to activate his Eagle Vision ability just to keep going down the winding path without tripping.

As he walked, he noticed small bones of other creatures on the rocky floor. 'I must have walked into the home of an especially strong beast.' he thought to himself, afraid to give voice to such thoughts, just in case he wasn't alone.

With every wind in the path, Hong Zhao hugged the wall close and looked over around the corner, ensuring that he was not going to be surprised, or surprise anything due to his Qi blocking uniform.

With his extra security measures, Hong Zhao spent only a few minutes before finding the first beast. He peered around the corner before coming to a long passageway and noticed a boulder in the center of the clearing.

Looking closer, he could see the Qi within the area surrounding the boulder, and it looked as though it was rising and falling. Hong Zhao at first thought it was a trick of his vision, as if he wasn't able to make out everything in the room which led his mind to play tricks on him, but after watching for a minute, he could tell that the thing truly was alive.

Before moving into the clearing, Hong Zhao picked up a stone from the ground and threw it to the other side. As it clattered against the wall, the thing raised it's head and Hong Zhao was able to get a clear look at it.

What he saw wasn't too different than the gryphon he had met outside the cave, but this one didn't have wings. Instead, it looked just like a lion, yet its hide looked as hard as rock. If he looked close enough, Hong Zhao could literally see cracks in the beast's sides.

Knowing that he didn't have much of a chance to sneak past such a creature, he formed two of his Qi Balls and threw them at the lion. One of them stuck, but the other landed at the beast's paw.

Before it had time to react, Hong Zhao activated Qi Explosion. The fierce beast was blown back a few steps from the impact of the two explosions, yet when his vision cleared slightly, he saw that his attack had minimal effect!

If the Lion looked like stone, it was a hundred times stronger than what it looked! He remembered the times he had trained his Qi Explosion ability out in the forest. The craters he had made, yet he hardly made a dent in the stone lion.

Hong Zhao activated his Devouring Qi Claws and Vortex Thrust just as the stone lion started its way towards him. Made of stone or not, it was still fast enough to have him on the defensive.

Hong Zhao used his movement ability to race along the wall of the cave, narrowly avoiding a headlong rush of the stone lion's teeth. As he avoided the attack, he took advantage of the angle he was running and slashed at the beast's hide.

He noticed the three marks left by his claws and grimaced. The gashes were only an inch deep, and he didn't notice any blood.

Jumping from the wall to the ceiling, Hong Zhao used it as a catapult to dive down and perform a piercing stab on the beast's back. The blow had connected, but then the beast threw up a paw and knocked him in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the center of the clearing.

Seeing stars, Hong Zhao felt his jaw go numb. Instead of thinking on the problem, he took a Health Recovery Pill from his ring and swallowed it. Just as he did, the stone lion charged him.

The pill's effects visibly healed Hong Zhao's broken jaw as he once again rushed into action. As the stone lion came to meet him, Hong Zhao raced towards the beast, jumping into a flip and dragging his claw against the rough hide, right where his claw marks were from the previous attack making the gash even larger.

Hong Zhao tucked into a ball as the stone lion once again pelted him against the wall. This time he was prepared and cushioned the blow, resulting in no breaks.

The moment his legs hit the ground, dust was picked up in two small tornadoes from Vortex Thrust being pushed to its limit. Hong Zhao launched himself once again at the ceiling of the clearing. Holding himself there, he activated Qi Shot and aimed at the gash he formed from the few attacks he landed and fired.

He was able to land five out of seven shots with the help of his Eagle Vision before he saw a large chunk of the beast's hide break off of his back. Without losing a step, Hong Zhao formed a Qi Ball as he dropped from the ceiling. He jammed it down with all of his strength until it was lodged inside the hole created from his attacks.

Kicking off from the stone lion's face, Hong Zhao activated Qi Explosion and was blasted forward from the force of the attack. He landed at the other end of the clearing and brushed off his uniform. Looking back, he only saw a pile of rocks that resembled a broken statue.

Hong Zhao went to the pile of rubble and sifted through it, yet he stopped when he noticed that the rocks themselves had a pulse. One after another that he picked up seemed to throb in his hands. Without a second thought, he put everything aside from the beast core into his storage ring. "Li Wuhan might want to take a look at this." since leaving the siblings, he had often thought of them. He also picked up a nasty habit of talking to himself. "Hopefully the next four and a half months doesn't drive me crazy."

He looked towards the end of the clearing, it seemed to slope down even further. "This is no ordinary cave." He walked to the end and looked down.

At the end of the slope, he saw more movement and noticed two more of the stone lions walking the path. Each one seemed to be going in opposite direction, almost as if patrolling the area. If he planned it just right, he might be able to pick one off at a time, yet he wasn't quite ready for another fight just yet.

Hong Zhao went back to the clearing and sat, taking out a Qi Stone, Qi Grasping Pill and the beast core he still had in his hand. He consumed both the beast core and Qi Grasping Pill before holding the stone in both hands and began cultivating.

The dense Qi within the cave began to pull itself towards Hong Zhao. Using the Qi Stone, he was able to triple the amount he could condense before funneling it into his dantian. It felt almost like breathing to him as he pulled the Qi towards himself, condensed it as much as it could be, then pulling it into himself only to start the process over again. He was able to repeat the process six times before the Qi Stone broke in his hands.

Suddenly all of the Qi he had gained from the experience broke through the barrier of his dantian, bringing him once more into the next realm. He had finally reached the Eighth Star Student Rank! All of the Qi in the area condensed and funneled back into him as it worked to fill his now empty Qi Spiral. As he opened his eyes, a white light could be seen even through his mask.

Clenching and unclenching his fist, he could feel the strength of the breakthrough. "Right." He said as he lowered his fist and stared at the narrow passageway. "Let's get this over with."