Desolate Astral Forest

The Desolate Astral Forest is a small yet dangerous forest near the Green Lotus City, according to local legends, a fight between two legendary Qi Experts changed the very terrain and mutated it in some incomprehensible ways.

Eventually, it became a paradise for wildlife and especially, Qi Beasts!

Qi Beasts are animals who, like humans, managed to somehow gain enlightenment and cultivate Qi, becoming beings who are fundamentally on a higher level than animals. Just like how humans shed their mortal coil and become entities of their own when they achieve Qi Ascension.

Currently, the Desolate Astral Forest is almost infested with the Qi Beasts due to the strange state of this mutated forest, and that's why it's a popular destination for Qi Cultivators to hunt for Beast Cores and other precious materials.

Ximen Wei could be seen in the outskirts of this very forest, panting.. After running for a while, he leaned on an oak tree to catch his breath. Even from here he can still hear the fight going on between the Immortal Devil Sect Cultivators and the Green Lotus City Cultivators, seeing the fight made him even more resolute to get stronger and gain more powers.

He can see how the black-robed bow-wielding man can shake the heavens just by nocking an arrow, he can see how the Green Lotus City Lord can split the sky just with a sword slash, he can see how Long Gen can punch through the earth just with his fist strikes and he can see how the Western Wen Cultivator can summon nature itself to unleash destructive in the surroundings.

Each one of these Rank 2 Qi Experts is a force to be reckoned with. And the fight between the Rank 1s is just as shocking as the fight between the Rank 2s to Ximen Wei.

He saw a black robed Cultivator spit fire that threatened to engulf the very dome of the sky, or how a Green Lotus City Cultivator making the terrain an ice world just by waving his sleeve.

And most shocking to Ximen Wei were the two 14 year old kids who were battling people double their age and double their number! Yet they were winning!

This scene left Ximen Wei shaken to the bones, he could not figure out how children almost his age can be so brutal and so ruthless. He clenched his fists and looked towards the battlefield, his gaze piercing through all the mist and rubble to land on the two kids fighting.

If kids almost his age can be so powerful, then why can't he? He already got a huge advantage by reincarnating and having a mental age that exceeds his peers by threefold. If he can't exceed these two kids by the time he becomes 11, then he can forget about going home!

Ximen Wei got up, looked one last time at the battlefield before he made his ways to the very depths of the Desolate Astral Forest. He gained his cultivation base and was confident that he can fend off some of the Qi Beasts!

Plus, if he can manage to get his hands on a Beast Core, or find a treasure in the form of a plant or a magical fruit, then his cultivation base will grow by leaps and bounds. To Ximen Wei, this Desolate Astral Forest is not an area filled with danger, but an area filled with potential good fortune.

Except for the occassional rumbling of the fight, the Desolate Astral Forest was very quiet, in fact, it was so quiet that Ximen Wei found it unsettling, and if you add the hazy white mist, Ximen Wei found himself in a horror movie.

Currently, Ximen Wei was very careful with his steps, taking one step at a time, he does not want to attract unwanted attention from Qi Beasts, although weaker Qi Beasts that he can handle are always welcome. His progress was slow but for now, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Judging by his current pace, Ximen Wei figured it'll take a week to get to the other end of the forest. He was worried about water and food since he didn't bring any with him, the only thing he brought was the medallion given to him by Long Gen and the Earth Grade Qi Condensation Manual.

Thankfully tho, Qi Cultivators fed upon the natural energy of Heaven and Earth, and if Ximen Wei become a Rank 1 Qi Expert, he'll no longer need secular food. But at the moment, because he's a Level 1 Qi Trainee, he still requires food, but not as often as a mortal's.

Along the way, he picked some blueberries and shoved them down his pocket. And occassionally, he would lean upon a tree to study the Qi Condensation Manual.

His progress was very fast, and he felt like within' three months time, he will breakthrough the second level of Qi Trainees and open his seventh Extraordinary Meridian. But to Ximen Wei, he frowned as he felt like his progress is not fast enough!

Each level in the cultivation journey gets progressively harder and harder, with the current progress Ximen Wei is going, it'll take years to become a Rank 1 Qi Expert. And that's if nothing unexpected happens, if he gets stuck in a bottleneck in the third level of Qi Trainees, then he can forget about Qi Ascension and becoming an official Qi Cultivator!

That's why Ximen Wei decided to take advantage of this opportunity and get some good fortune out of this Desolate Astral Forest.

Two days passed before something eventful happened, Ximen Wei was walking as always before he noticed a lifeform not too far away from his place. His heart dropped as he didn't know what kind of beast he stumbled upon.

He made his way into one of the bushes that have a perfect view of this mysterious lifeform and hid there. What he found himself looking at sent his mind reeling and overturned all his previous life's knowlege.

He saw a bull with small demonic wings sleeping in front of a cave, it's size was larger than your average bull and it was emanating fluctuations that indicated it was a Qi Beast.

Judging from the fluctuations, Ximen Wei could tell that it was equivalent to a Level 2 Qi Trainee. Normally, Ximen Wei will stand no chance if he went up against this Qi Beast, but since it's currently sleeping. He figured out he may as well try and set up a trap.

A deadly trap to kill this Qi Beast and retrieve the Beast Core out of it.

If he could acquire the Beast Core, then his cultivation journey will be smooth and he'll eventually reach the second level sooner. Even if he does not want to use it, then he can easily sell it in some market and acquire an unprecedented sum of money.

Ximen Wei's eyes shone greedily as he eyed the sleeping winged-bull. He remembered passing by a bamboo field a few hours ago so he grabbed his dagger and went there to get some bamboo sticks.

After getting some bamboo sticks, he remoulded them into spears, dug a hole, put them there and covered the hole with a layer of grass, eventually making a deadly booby trap. However, Ximen Wei still felt that's still not enough, in fact, he felt that it's a far cry from enough.

Qi Beasts and Qi Cultivators have a skin as tough as stone, a booby trap alone is not enough to fatally injure this winged-bull. So he cut down a tree, although with some difficulty due to the mutated nature of this forest, and arranged it in a way that, if the bull falls in the trap, the tree will come crushing down from the top.

Even so, Ximen Wei still felt that's not enough!

His hands flashed in an incantation gesture, targeting the hanging tree and the bamboo spears.

"Qi Technique - Sharpen!"

Instantly, the tips of the bamboo spears shone with a threatening, sinister light that threatened to cut through everything, Ximen Wei swiped down the sweat that's trickling down his forehead. It took him hours just to get this trap done.

He took a deep breath down as he proceeded to cast spells on himself in order to buff himself up and increase his chances of taking down this Qi Beast.

"Qi Technique - Strengthen!"

Power surged through Ximen Wei's veins as he brimmed with lifeforce.

"Qi Technique - Bedevilment!"

A fiendish, nefarious air swirled around Ximen Wei as his aura became more sinister and savage, his eyes shone with a tinge of red and a faint outline of a horn could be seen on his forehead. After getting the new Qi Condensation Manual, the Qi Technique Bedevilment became more powerful and started encompassing all aspects of combat.

His body brimmed with even more power, his eyesight grew sharper, his skin got rougher and he became more numb, negating any pain that'll get inflicted upon him. He eyed the sleeping winged-bull like a lion would eye his prey, before throwing a bamboo stick towards it.

Blop!

A bamboo stick got stuck in the winged-bull's body as an enraged roar echoed out across the forest, disturbing the calm and scaring away the birds. Ximen Wei was pretty surprised that his attack managed to pierce through the Qi Beast's skin, but he realized that with three Qi Techniques casted, it's only natural that it'll pierce.

Despite that, Ximen Wei put his hands forward and yet again casted another Qi Technique, drawing upon the scant reserves of his power.

"Qi Technique - Enfeeble!"

A bit of blood oozed out of his nose, after all, four Qi Techniques unleashed simultaneously is Ximen Wei's current limit, any other than that and he'll be harming himself greatly.

Instantly, the Qi Beast's movement got sluggish and it's senses waned, yet despite that it shot towards Ximen Wei with unprecedented speed, nearing him in seconds. Before it could get any closer, it fell into the booby trap.

This time, a roar of rage and pain echoed out from the beast's mouth, bamboo sticks pierced all it's body, and before it could struggle any further, a large tree trunk fell down on it from the top, rending it's lower body a mixed mash of flesh and bones.

The winged-bull growled as it stared towards Ximen Wei in hated and anger, despite being pierced everywhere and having no lower body, it's strong vitality kept it alive. Ximen Wei sighed as he stabbed his dagger in the Qi Beast's forehead, killing it and ending it's misery.

"That was pretty quick.."

Murmured Ximen Wei to himself, apparently he overestimated this winged-bull Qi Beast, he thought that judging from the undulations coming off of it, it's a Qi Beast similar to a Level 2 Qi Trainee. But apparently, it's on the spot teetering between Level 1 and Level 2.

Ximen Wei grabbed the Qi Beast's body out of the booby trap, he felt it's such a shame that most of it's lower body is now just a mash of gore. Meat has always been a luxury to him, especially now that he's always eating blueberries and other vegetables and fruits he found in the forest.

He flipped the Qi Beast's body over as he dissected it's corpse, he didn't even bat an eye as his nimble small hands made their way to it's internal organs. After searching the Qi Beast's insides, he finally managed to pull out a small, shining pebble.

It was the size of his pinky but rich Qi emanated off of it, it was cold to the touch yet it soothed Ximen Wei's heart and pumped his blood. Even his Extraordinary Meridians showed a reaction, wanting to be nourished.

This shinning pebble is the Beast Core derived from the winged-bull, despite being small, lots of people will go mad crazy for it in the outside world!

With the right methods, any mortal can become a Level 1 Qi Trainee without cultivating a Qi Condensation Manual just by absorbing it.

And when Cultivators absorb Beast Cores, their cultivation bases will advance by leaps and bounds, this kind of resource aids in one's cultivation greatly and even allows people to breakthrough to higher levels and realms, bypassing bottlenecks and clearing up mistakes one may commit in his cultivation journey.

However, when Ximen Wei looked at it, he was a bit disappointed, he expected something bigger, something that is more rich in terms of energy and Qi.

Yet he felt it was reasonable, only Qi Beasts who have ascended have the Beast Cores he wants, this one is considered to be immature and in fact, could be considered a half-Qi Beast! It's just a mutated beast who by some stroke of luck acquired some Qi and became what it is today. Maybe some day in the future it could mature into an ascended Qi Beast with a proper Beast Core.

Ximen Wei put the Beast Core in his pocket, picked up some meat and left the place. He's planning to absorb the Beast Core in a safe place, after all, the reek of blood and gore will definitely attract other beasts.

Moving backward for couple hours, Ximen Wei made it to an empty cave he found along the way. He set up a trap in front of the cave just in case something happens.

Night fell and by the time Ximen Wei finished, he sat cross-legged and starting absorbing the Beast Core, warm currents of energy flowed in Ximen Wei's veins, nourishing his body and elevating it to higher degrees.

The faint outline of the seventh Extraordinary Meridian became clearer and clearer, 10%, 20%, 30%, until it became 40%... As a result, his capacity to hold Qi increased by severalfolds, allowing him to wield power he couldn't wield before.

Simultaneously, his body was being cleansed and baptized, black filth oozed out of his pores. Ximen Wei figured out that these are the mistakes he made along the way in his cultivation journey.

The process took until dawn to fully absorb the Beast Core, when he finished, he felt refreshed and at ease, his body was more agile and lighter and his mind was clearer than ever. He bathed in a nearby lake before he continued on his journey.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Desolate Astral Forest, four men could be seen entering.

They wore the Green Lotus City uniform and had the Song family emblem on their sleeves, each one of them had a sword strapped to their waist and two of them emanated auras not that of mortals but of Qi Cultivators.

They were none other than the red-haired young man and Dongfang!

"Are you sure he's not dead yet?" Asked Dongfang.

"Yep, even I can't believe a 10 year old kid can survive for this long, even if he dies that doesn't matter, we'll just pick the treasure from his body." Replied the red haired man.

"A 10 year old child running around with a Qi Scroll, it definitely must be some precious treasure, maybe an unprecedented Qi Technique? Or even a Qi Condensation Manual!"

"Indeed, when I saw the treasure on him I didn't want to bring any unwanted attention from those eccentrics fighting so I just threw a tracking talisman at him."

"What a brilliant decision of yours! If any of these Level 3 Eccentrics saw you chasing that kid they'll definitely think something weird is going on, so you pretended like you let the matter drop and let the kid go! Absolutely genius! However, what are we going to do about the Qi Beasts here? I've heard the Desolate Astral Forest has a King Qi Beast who is equivalent to a Rank 2 Qi Expert... If we stumble upon it by accident we're gone."

"No worries about that, I've brought the Song Family Ancestral Treasure for this expedition!" Laughed the red haired man as he pulled out a seemingly ordinary bronze lantern, that lit with a faint blueish fire. No matter whichever angle you look from at this bronze lantern, you would think that it's just an ordinary bronze lantern that's on the verge of dying, but when Dongfang looked at it, his eyes shrank as he smiled faintly.

"You've brought the Song Family's one and only Qi Artifact! I can't even believe that you gained the Patriarch's approval to bring this item with us. Good good, with this item we don't have to worry about any beasts."

Dongfang said as he proceeded alongside the red haired man and the other two towards the forest.