Chapter 11: Lone Journey

2 days later

Li Gang was standing on riverside looking at his face in the reflection darkly.

'I always thought I knew myself very well, but it seems I am also as normal as a normal human. Everyone in this world strive for survival, even though they know one day everyone would die. Even those rank 9 Warriors faded away with time. My fear of death is creating hindrance to me. Now that I think about it, if I were calm in that situation, I could have used Venomheart mist. There is also that rank 4 Warrior. I expected him to use me as a bait, but I still hesitated. What if I were wrong, I have been wrong many times since I have been travelling with Wang Xueyao. That momentarily hesitation nearly cost me my life. I have to learn my lesson. You don't get lucky very often!'

After using the rank 4 Warrior as a bait, Li Gang's mind went blank when he woke up. His expression was heavy. Even though he expected that in this world, he would have to kill someone one day or other, but he didn't expected it to happen it so soon. He felt a lot of trauma initially, but he suppressed all his emotions.

'This is also good, in this way, I am one step closer to understanding myself! Every human in this world is sane and rational. The only way to understand how a sane person would behave is to understand how a sane person would usually behave in the particular situation. So, If I know myself well, I can understand others much more easily!'

"What's most important is to recover from the injury! I am feeling lot of pain in my shoulder bones and there is also internal bleedings. The medicines I had prepared might help me get through this one, but if I get injured again, it might not be enough!" Li Gang murmured after looking at his situation.

After reaching a rank 1 Warrior, everyone is able to vaguely sense what's happening withing their body, just like how a human with their eyes closed can sense anything by touching them!

Li Gang didn't waste any time, and immediately sat down to heal himself. He took out a pouch of Ironbone tonic. It is a yellowish fluid, capable of healing bones related injuries up to rank 3 Warriors. Then he used some clothes to close up the few external wounds and also used few grade 2 Vitality pills to heal his internal injuries. Vitality pills increases the recovery speed, and is able to heal all sorts of injuries.

At the same time he also thought of his advantages and disadvantages.

'I have already collected various Spiritual Plants for making different kinds of poisons, but now I don't have enough space. I only managed to make poisons that could seriously injure up to a rank 4 peak, and mildly injure rank 5 peak. I wanted to make grade 5 poison Bloodmoon Poison, but I don't possess enough materials. I have already obtained Bloodmoon lilies and Lunar seed, and many supplements. What I need most now is Bloodmoon spider's tongue to start the refining. There are other supplementary materials which is also needed, but they can be replaced. I also possess Bloodthorn vines, used for making Soulbane poison, but I need Soul Devourer Orchid and Corpse Blossom, and some other supplements that can be replaced as needed.'

Li Gang possessed many materials for creating poisons, but all of them are incomplete. Now that Wang Xueyao is not here, he didn't have enough storage to carry all of them. He would have to discard some of them, and only keep what he needs most.

Even though Li Gang needed Bloodmoon poison most, he discarded all it's materials resolutely. First, it will free lot of his space, since it is available in abundant. And second reason is, Bloodmoon spider is very difficult to find, they are rare and is unlikely to be found in this small world. He also thought making Soulbane poison in abundant is lot more easy, since it's materials are not required in bulk, and occupy very small region of his space rings.

As he thought of this, he started constructing a boat. It would be easier to travel with boat, since it connects lot of region. In the last few years, he has already constructed boat multiple times with the help of Wang Xueyao.

He searched for sturdy, straight branches and logs, selecting those appropriate ones. Then he stripped away the excess foliage and bark. After finishing creating logs, he started lashing the branches together, to create a frame.

Next, he searched for suitable materials to cover the frame, like large leaves. Using vines and grass, he secured the covering tightly to the frame, to make it more stable. He then made some final adjustments to make sure it is well balanced. 

After finishing it, he verified it in the river water. It took him 6 hours to complete all these!

'Although it is not as good as the ones Wang Xueyao made, but it should be able to hold on. Now that I have learnt swimming, it shouldn't be problem even if it drowns. Though I hope it doesn't happen, or my clothes would become wet. Even if I have few sets, it is wasting time to wait and dry clothes at one place.'

Li Gang didn't know swimming in his last life, since he was kind of loner. Now, he and Wang Xueyao had to often travel through river, he learnt it meanwhile. Even though he isn't as good as those champions, it is enough to survive.

With his experience from the last year, he knows, the River flow in this small world is quite fast, and so the boats can't sustain too long.

He started travelling through the journey, while rowing the boat. He started thinking about various stuff, and since he was in water, he started pondering about the properties of water.

'Elements in this world are indeed unique, they are probably not made of Hydrogen and Oxygen, but the Water Attribute, otherwise they would behave like normal water, and same thing goes to wind. But if this is so, then why my understanding of Wind attribute is so much that led me to exploit so much out of Secret Techniques? There has to be some similarity of Wind of this world, and Wind of my world. But, there seems to be none, they don't follow the properties at all!'

Li Gang has always been curious about this situation, it has hindered his cultivation and marked a bottleneck in mastering Secret Techniques to higher degrees! The main reason he couldn't figure out was Spiritual Essence. He didn't know anything about this mysterious intangible thing. Even though he could sense it's existence, but he was only limited to sensing it's existence. He knew it was everywhere. 

Li Gang always believed he would be able to find all the answers once he reaches rank 4 Warrior, after all, a rank 4 Warriors possesses Heavenly core, which allows them to explore the Spiritual Essence as if it is part of their body. Li Gang would be able to comprehend what Spiritual Essence is and may be able to find the missing piece to solve his puzzle as to why those attributes in this world doesn't follow the properties he learnt before!

Soon, he stopped the boat at the bank of the river. He looked at the deep forest and entered without hesitation. 

'I am missing a disguise technique very much, I wish I had asked one from Wang Xueyao!'

As this thought came up, he suppressed it immediately. 'No, there is no need to ponder such thing. Thinking about what I don't have will only waste my time. It is better to explore the area, and find some Spirit Stone or Soul Stone! There is also powdered Moonlight Ferns.'

Soul Stone is a special material just like Spirit Stone. The only difference is, it is able to help one in improving their Soul Cultivation. Li Gang doesn't need it, since he can't even sense them, but it can be sold to get resources he needs! It can also be swallowed to improve the Soul, though it is very crude method, and may leave some side effects to the soul. Li Gang would never do something dangerous to his soul. The main reason for finding Soul Stone is to make Soulbane poison. Soul Stone is one of the material needed for it.

As he came out, he brought the boat, and destroyed it immediately, then he threw it in the middle of the river. Then he destroyed all traces of water that flashed due to bringing boat on the land. Once he destroyed all traces of his presence, he immediately moved deep in the forest. He soon found a top position, and started scanning with his Wind-Thunder Eagle Eye.

He immediately took out a blank paper to mark all the position of different beasts, so that he won't forget. People tend to forget things often. A human's mind tend to keep the information at a new location, when those information are accessed again and again, the path to the location is activated, leading to long term memory. But, when those information is not used, then they are forgotten eventually, not because it doesn't exist in memory, but because the way to access them isn't known to the mind at all.

Li Gang's situation is even more special. He keeps his mind active at nearly all times, leading to continuous use of different paths. But, this creates so many branches, that the branch he needs may be lost like a needle in the hay, when he is searching for it! Hence, he requires a back up, so that he could not forget them. His memory utilization is overwhelming. Just because he keeps his mind active all the time, there are lots of junks stored in his mind, which needs time to flush. Let's take an example, once he visits a market, he keeps his eyes on all the people coming and going, not only does he tries to notice their clothing styles but even focuses deeply to the extent that he even tries to figures why there is a dent to their cloth. Initially, he was only able to look at few people, but as he continued, he was able to do it to more number of people.

But, this also has a negative impact. Such huge utilization also needs adequate rest. He sleeps more than a normal human! He has set up a time, once every 10 days, he spends whole day to sleep. Sleeping is very good way to refresh the brain. Sleeping allows one to recall memory more efficiently.