Qi Essence Sunflower

In another part of the Forest, two women could be seen walking through the woods. One woman appeared to be around thirty years old, while the other was much younger, possibly around 18 years old, and both wore pure white robes with a Snowflake design embroidered on the back of the robe.

"This part of the forest doesn't seem to have what we're looking for. Young miss, maybe we should head to one of the more powerful clans in the area and ask around," said the woman.

"We would have done that already if that was a solution. Do you really think if the clans knew of something like this, they would freely tell us about it? The only way we're going to find out if it exists or not is to find it ourselves," replied the young girl.

A small item suddenly appeared in her hands. It was shaped like a small disk, and it had many complex-looking runes carved into its surface. Sending her Qi into the item, the runes on the disk started glowing, before it eventually dimmed and returned to normal.

"There's nothing here as expected. Let's keep looking around. We only have to be within thirty miles for this disk to detect it," said the girl as she put away the disk.

As the two of them talked, a pair of eyes stared at the two of them from above.

"Rustle!"

The two women turned around to see the beast rapidly lunging towards them from the tree canopy above. The beast had four muscular limbs, a thick tail, and was dark green and covered in thick scales. Dozens of massive spikes could be seen jutting out of its back and head.

Just as the powerful beast was about to reach them, it was frozen in its tracks by a bright white light emanating from the woman's hand who was beside the young girl.

"These pests are everywhere in this forest," exclaimed the woman disdainfully as she snapped her fingers, and the frozen beast was destroyed into a pile of broken pieces. She started walking away, not giving the beast a second glance. The girl nodded her head as she followed the woman deeper into the forest.

Had Alex been here, he would have been extremely shocked. The beast that had just been killed with absolute ease was a Spiker-Bear and was equivalent to the first stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

2 Months later...

The moon hung high in the dark sky. Light from the fire Alex had created flickered, illuminating his meditating figure. After meditating for a few hours, Alex slowly opened his eyes and breathed out heavily.

"I'm getting closer and closer to the 9th stage of the Body Refinement Realm," thought Alex as he took out a piece of meat from his storage and placed it over the fire.

As he watched the leg of meat roast over the fire, Alex thought about his journey over the past two months. He had fought and killed over a dozen Body Refinement level beasts, with each battle helping him advance in both cultivation and battle experience.

"It should be a few more weeks until I advance to the 9th stage of the Body Refinement realm. After I do, I can start venturing deeper into the forest," thought Alex as he took the leg of meat off the fire and bit into it. Juices ran down Alex's chin as he devoured the meat. After finishing his meal, Alex set up his formation disk and fell asleep.

The next morning, Alex woke up early and took out the leftovers from last night. After having a small breakfast, Alex got up and started venturing further into the forest.

"Let's be a little more adventurous today," said Alex as he turned a bit more to his right than normal, heading farther away from the road and civilization as he had the previous 2 months.

Several hours of walking later, Alex spotted an Iron Boar. Although Iron Boars were not particularly strong, they were still equivalent to 5th-stage Body Refinement Cultivators.

"This boar is pretty weak, but I've heard that the meat of an Iron Tusked Boar is quite delicious. Time to go hunting" thought Alex as he started walking his way over to the boar.

Although Alex could sneak up on the boar and kill it before it would notice him, he preferred to let his prey spot him. If it wanted to fight, Alex would be treated to a fight. If it tried to run, Alex could work on his movements and footwork while he chased the beast.

"Snap!"

The sound of a twig snapping underneath Alex's foot alerted the boar. The boar looked up and spotted Alex, at which point it screeched and charged toward him.

A smile crept up on Alex's face as he watched the boar approach.

"Boom!"

Alex's fist collided with the tusk of the boar, sending the boar flying backward. He immediately dashed forward and followed up with another punch, which landed on the still-tumbling boar.

Another boom echoed out as the boar was once more sent flying backward. After tumbling backward for dozens of yards, the boar eventually came to a stop and sluggishly got back on its feet. Looking at Alex with fear in its eyes, the boar immediately turned and fled.

Alex started chasing the boar as best he could. He desperately needed a movement technique, but the best ones are only available to Qi Gathering cultivators.

So Alex had to wait to get one, and he didn't have any specific techniques to begin with because techniques are only considered worthwhile to learn when someone reaches the Qi Gathering and begins using Qi as a medium for the technique. When Alex enters the Qi Gathering realm, he will most likely look for new techniques to learn.

After a few minutes of chasing the boar through the dense forest, Alex watched the boar come to a sudden stop. Startled by the boar's strange behavior, Alex stopped as well. The boar looked back at Alex and again in front of it, before taking off to the side.

"What's it doing? By running to the side instead of straight away from me, I'll be able to catch up much easier," thought Alex as he watched the boar run away.

Alex thought about giving chase, but the strange actions of the boar alerted Alex into acting more cautiously. Alex walked over to where the boar had stopped, at which point a small clearing in the forest came into view. In the middle of the clearing was a large cave.

"It seems like there's something in the cave that caused the boar to decide to take his chance with me instead of whatever is in there."

Alex climbed one of the trees nearby and sat down on a branch. He observed the cave for several hours but saw no activity at all.

"No activity has happened so far," said Alex as he climbed down the tree and started walking towards the mouth of the cave.

Alex reached the mouth of the cave before coming to a stop. He peered into the cave, but only saw a long, straight cave that eventually blended into the darkness. After peering into the cave for a while, Alex took out his katana and proceeded inside.

"Maybe there's a strong Body Refinement level beast inside. If I do end up running into something I can't handle, I can just use my talisman."

After a few minutes of walking, the cave became so dark that Alex could hardly see in front of him. Just as he was about to bring out a torch to light the way, he spotted a small light further into the cave.

"Hmm? What's that light?" thought Alex as he started walking towards it.

After carefully walking forward for another minute, the cave passage opened up to reveal a large, expansive cavern. The cave was several hundred yards wide and deep and had a ceiling dozens of yards high. As his eyes scanned over the cavern, Alex suddenly paused, his eyes wide open in shock.

In the middle of the cave, a dazzlingly beautiful flower could be seen. The flower looked like a sunflower, but it emitted a beautiful white glow that illuminated the cave.

"A Qi Essence Sunflower," Alex exclaimed in shock as he stared at the flower.

Qi Essence Sunflowers were rather rare flowers that only grew in dark and damp places. The flower naturally absorbed the most elementary form of Qi, resulting in the radiating white glow it gave off. Because the Qi Essence Sunflower absorbed the most basic essence of Qi, it was an extremely beneficial item for Body Refinement cultivators.

Cultivating in the Body Refinement realm in front of the flower would allow the cultivator to feel the surrounding Qi more profoundly as well as absorb it easier. However, because the flower absorbed only the most basic levels of Qi, it was only useful for Body Refinement cultivators. Most clans and sects did not have access to this flower due to its difficulty in growing and limited use.

Alex stared intently at the flower.

"If I can cultivate in front of this flower, I should be able to advance to the 9th stage of the Body Refinement Realm within a few days."

Alex started to walk over to the flower when he quickly froze, his breath caught in his throat. Because of his excitement over the flower, Alex had failed to notice that just ten yards from the flower slept a powerful Qi Gathering realm beast.

To Be Continued...