Kapitel 97: Hunter and Prey (Part 1)

Han Lingyun small trace of optimism rapidly disappeared.

He had long realized that he had greatly underestimated the time it took to advance on foot in this unknown forest.

If he wanted to be even slightly cautious, he couldn't move fast because he had to constantly be on his guard against magic beasts. His greatest fear was to step inside the territory of a rank 3 magic beast, which could even kill foundation establishment cultivators. With no knowledge of the environment, he was nearly advancing blindly. For Han Lingyun, there was nothing more terrifying than the unknown.

His only respite came from the beast cries echoing through the night. Han Lingyun was glad to be able to estimate the locations and levels of some of the wild and magic beast roaming around. The majority were only ranked one, but Han Lingyun frequently found signs of rank 2 magic beasts.

Even by treading carefully, avoiding all magic beast proved to be an impossible task and Han Lingyun would have an encounter every so often. Those at rank 1 were easily dispatched but Han Lingyun had also come face to face with rank 2 Magic Beasts on several occasions, just on this first night.

On those occasions, Han Lingyun would release his Black Fog around the beast and flee, hide and use his merger art.

Fighting a rank 2 beast would only come as a last resort. Even by being quite powerful for his mid qi condensation cultivation, he didn't have any confidence to win against a rank 2 beasts. This was mainly because he currently had no weapon to properly utilize his black bird art, lacked attack power and had no defensive measure. Magic beast had extremely tough bodies in general. Clashing head on was a sure win for those magic beasts with greater brute strength. In addition, they had all kind of abilities, with some unpredictable variations.

With all that considered, fleeing and hiding was the best solution for Han Lingyun. He couldn't burden himself with precious beast parts as well, considering the rest of his journey. All in all, Han Lingyun didn't have anything to gain from killing Magic Beasts

The following day, Han Lingyun's speed became even slower. The frequent beast cries of the night were replaced by the singing of birds. However, his situation became even more critical for the young cultivator.

The beast cries were much more prevalent at nighttime for 2 reasons. Firstly, a greater number of magic beasts were out hunting at night. And secondly, sound could be heard much more clearly over longer distances in the forest at night than during the day because of temperature inversion. But the beast were still just as numerous during the day and as territorial, with many having a powerful sense of smell, able to detect outsiders from far away.

At this point, Han Lingyun truly felt the night to be more comfortable. His improved nighttime eyesight was a great asset. But it was currently daytime and Han Lingyun's nerves were greatly tensed, not without reason. He had a harder time detecting magic beast that were sneaking up on him for an ambush. Han Lingyun was losing hope at every passing hour.

Through all the obstacles, Han Lingyun tried to follow the right direction as precisely as possible. The map he had received was basically completely useless as he had no visual landmarks to determine his precise position. Everything around was covered by the forest anyway.

During the night, Han Lingyun would find his direction thanks to the blue star and during daytime, he had to rely on the sun. Needless to say, it was already quite approximate. But what made Han Lingyun veer off his route further were the numerous detours he had to make.

As soon as Han Lingyun noticed he had entered a silent area, he would double his attention and try circling around it.

These areas could mean two things: either there were no beast lurking around, or a very powerful one had made its territory here.

Regrettably, Han Lingyun had no way of knowing which was which. The map didn't show anything and he himself had no previous knowledge of the region.

Eventually, Han Lingyun had to stop. He climbed a tree and began cultivating to refill his dantian. Circulating the blackbird art to hide his presence so frequently had greatly expanded his qi. It was already highly risky to go this far, with no confidence of having enough qi left to fight back a rank 2 magic beast.

However, with his unsettled heart, even this simple cultivation didn't go so smoothly. Han Lingyun was forced to spend more time than he would have wanted to. At this point, the sun was beginning to set already. Soon, 24 hours would have passed since protector Shun had dropped him off.

Han Lingyun began despairing at the impossible equation he had to resolve. To survive he couldn't just blindly sprint forward and rely on extraordinary luck, but it seemed he had no other choice if he wanted to make it on time. He glanced at the box he had attached to his side. This poisonous gift. He had already thought of abandoning this impossible task more than once.

'I have to persevere. I can't afford to fail! Even if this revengeful Nascent Soul cultivator lets me off, it would be hard for me to have the place in the White Tiger School if I don't make it. As for escaping… where too? I know nothing of this cultivation world. And assuming that I survive alone like this, I would still have no future. Falling into banditry and being hunted down by sect disciples for training purposes? I rather not. And I'm not resigning myself to abandoning the cultivation path for the life of a mortal just yet!

The only remaining way would be to try to enter another sect, one not from the SCA. This is easier said than done. But not only would I miss out on the benefits of a top sect like the White Tiger Sect, I'd be making an enemy out of the White Tiger Sect. And most likely, they have a way to follow my position.'

Han Lingyun thought back to his first assassination. It was just a mortal, and Han Lingyun had been able to easily find his target with a guiding token.

The young cultivator grouped his knees, head in his hands. For the first time since he had stepped in the ranks of cultivators, Han Lingyun had a fever.

By the time he recollected his thoughts, the sun had finally fallen behind the horizon. Han Lingyun watched the sky mindlessly. He had managed to find a faint and naive sense of anticipation for the upcoming darkness. He still had a chance if this night went more smoothly.

Right then, Han Lingyun pupils constricted, and his body froze. He had spotted a cultivator passing by on his flying treasure.

Only after the cultivator had long disappeared did Han Lingyun relax his muscles. He did not know why he suddenly felt so apprehensive, but his instincts yelled at him he absolutely couldn't afford to be spotted by the local cultivators. He was not in the territory of the Sun Cultivation Alliance after all.

Thinking back at this cultivator who just flew by with ease, Han Lingyun suddenly felt a boundless desire at this flying treasure. But currently, it was nothing more than the fantasies of the beggar looking at the royal palace.

Calming his wild thoughts, Han Lingyun activated his merger skill and climbed down from his tree and begun his journey once again.

However, the darkness failed to bring him any comfort. Han Lingyun found himself making errors in judgement and having lapses of concentration. He was surprised by rank 1 magic beasts on a couple of occasions. Thankfully, Han Lingyun hadn't received any serious injury yet.

The body was still fine but the mind screamed exhaustion. But he couldn't stop. He couldn't.

It was only a matter of time before Han Lingyun had a potentially fatal encounter.

To prevent this, Han Lingyun's was putting all his mental energy on sensing his surroundings.

Just now, he stumbled on a couple of uprooted trees and deep oval-shaped footprints. The tracks presented other incisions typical of tusks. Han Lingyun recognized the marks left behind by the Crazed Warthog. His situation had just improved greatly. The previous minutes had proved extremely stressful. He had just traversed an area infused with a lingering scent of blood. He had even spotted two terrifying red eyes from afar. What had truly terrified him was that the red glow suddenly disappeared, and he couldn't detect the beast afterwards. Thankfully he hadn't bumped into it later.

To calm his throbbing forehead, Han Lingyun slightly relaxed his vigilance and focused more of his energy on hiding his presence with his merger art. This Crazed Warthog was still a rank 2 magic beast after all, but it wasn't of the discrete type. And on the territory of Crazed Warthog, the possibility of other magic beasts roaming around was small. Still, it wouldn't be good to startle this troublesome Crazed Warthog.

Han Lingyun was carefully advancing when a huge serpent suddenly bolted towards him. Even with the serpent's human size, Han Lingyun had failed to detect the beast's presence due to its excellent hiding skills. The snake could contract his qi and remain still to perfection.

Han Lingyun, caught unprepared, only managed to activate his movement at the last moment to dodge the snake's deadly mouth but the beast had contracted its huge body to slash its tail at the young boy's back.

Han Lingyun received the full brunt of the attack and was flung in the air before rolling on the ground to retake his footing, the air having been taken out from his lungs. Even for the strong qi condensation cultivator, it would have been a slight miracle if their back bones hadn't shattered by the impact, but Han Lingyun had already trained his body substantially and had been through a great increase in toughness with the bone eating flower.

Not losing an instant, Han Lingyun immediately activated his blackbird art to the greatest extent and attempted to flee after having released his signature black gas.

But this time, the beast wasn't at all impeded by Han Lingyun's black qi. It could pinpoint Han Lingyun's presence, unaffected by the optical obstruction. The worst part was the snake's incredible speed. In just a few breaths, it had caught up to Han Lingyun and was diving for the kill.