With the blue token on one hand, excitement on his heart and robes on his body, Issei awaited for the start of the Medicine Hunt, Sa Ji resting on a three shadow's not too far away.
Some minutes ago, both of them arrived at the Medicine Peak, only to find it already full of people. No matter where one looked, an ocean of blue robes would be seen.
After arriving, Sa Ji was quick to find the shadow of tree to rest on, while Issei kept standing by his said, to excited to sit down.
The reason for his excitement was none other than the prospect of acquiring spirit grass! Especially high-grade ones!
For a person who coveted cultivation resources more than anything, the prospect of spirit grass was enticing to say the least!
Oh, just how much will I get... were Issei's current thoughts as he looked at the gate in front of him in rapt attention. He was determined to be the first one to enter and the last one to leave! That way, no matter if it was a second more, he would have more time to catch those resources.
Sa Ji, although excited, wasn't nearly as pumped-up as his eleven years old junior. At the moment, he was trying to conserve his energies before going there. At the same time, he was also thinking of ways to help Issei get some grass...
Suddenly, he felt a shudder. His eyes widening, he slowly turned his head around and found cold, elegant eyes glaring at him.
That stare... only one person in the entire world could pull it off – Sitri Sona!
Here comes the ice devil, Sa Ji thought with a sigh. He could see within her eyes a clear order to come over to her.
Looking at Issei, he was about to tell him that was going to head out a little, but seeing that he was paying way too much attention to the entrance of the Medicine Peak, he decided to just go over to the she-devil.
Carefully lifting himself from the ground, he hurried to meet his boss.
"Boss, do you have any matters with me?" Sa Ji said respectfully, bowing his head a little.
"Yes," Sona began as she coldly looked at her subordinate, "You are not to accompany Issei in the medicine hunt. He must acquire his results by himself. If he manages to get more than ten medium-grade spirit grasses, then I'll invite him to our group."
Nodding his head, Sa Ji said, "As you wish, boss"
Without so much as another word, Sona coldly glanced at Sa Ji before gracefully walking away. Although many people would be ensnared by the sensual sway of her lithe figure that the large robes could barely conceal, with large and round buttocks, all that Sa Ji felt was relief.
Looking at the person he feared the most walking away, Sa Ji felt as if the day had grown brighter. He could swear that the longer he spent around her, the shorter his life would be...
He then walked back to Issei, who was still fixedly staring at the entrance of the mountain. It seemed as if he had not even blinked since Sa Ji had left.
In reality, although Issei seemed to be absorbed in his useless and senseless task of observing the entrance, he was actually highly aware of his surroundings. The moment Sa Ji moved from his position he felt it. He also clearly saw as he talked with the purple-eyed, cold-looking young woman.
Who is her... Issei wondered, but no answers came to mind. In fact, he only knew one person in the entire school, that being Sa Ji. Given the fact that he spent the better part of his time there cultivating in seclusion, it wasn't too surprising that he didn't really know who that woman was.
Deciding not too delve too deep into it, Issei simply directed his attention back from the entrance, pretending to never have looked away from it.
"Hey, Junior Brother Issei," Sa Ji called out as he slightly tapped Issei's shoulder, garnering his attention.
"What is it, Senior Brother Ji?"
"Well, bad news," Sa Ji said with sigh as he sat down. "I won't be able to help you out on the hunt, so you'll be on your own."
"Huh?" Issei was surprised to say the least. He clearly remembered Sa Ji saying that he would go with him... what could possibly cause such a change? Could it be... that woman? Issei though in his heart as he looked at his Senior Brother.
"Well, there's nothing to be done about it. Well, I'll be leaving soon, so I'll only tell you two things.
Firstly, try to catch at least ten middle-grade spirit grasses. If you do that, I can assure you that something good will happen.
"Secondly, you may lose your life."
Hearing the first sentence, Issei nodded but upon hearing the second one, surprise couldn't help but to arise in his beautiful and feminine features.
Seeing his expression, Sa Ji decided to elaborate, "On the Medicine Hunt, the other disciples will try to acquire more spirit grass, it doesn't matter what it takes. Being killed there is quite a normal occurrence, so please be careful."
Issei then nodded, still in thought. He now understood that the world he was in was ruthless. This reminded him of a sentence that Shinso spoke not too long ago, but he couldn't seem to remember it at the moment...
"Well, that's about it," Sa Ji said, lifting his body up, "Try not to die and good luck." He said as he glanced at him one last time. Although he seemed rather non-nonchalant about the whole situation, he was still worried for his dear junior. After all, they had a rather good friendship.
As he walked away, he could only pray for Issei's safety. Even if he had two hundreds times the guts, he wouldn't dare to disrespect Sitri Sona.
Looking at Sa Ji depart, Issei sighed. In reality, he also wanted to do things alone. That away, he would have more liberty and would be able to move without restraint, employing his martial skill whenever he see fit.
As he looked at the entrance, he had also been thinking of ways to convince Sa Ji to let him go alone, but now it seemed to have been for naught.
"Well, this works quite well for me," Issei smiled lightly.
Soon after, the entrance opposed and all the disciples rushed in, some even stepping on top of others or punching their way through the multitude of disciples trying to enter the Medicine Peak through its narrow entrance.
Issei, on the other hand, faced no such problems. Because of his small body and flexible limbs, he was able to squirm his way through the crowd, arriving in perfect, although a bit disheveled condition at the other side
As he gazed at the scene in front of him, Issei breathed in a huge breath, taking in the pure and clean oxygen,
He was in a large forest, with tall tress and wide bushes. A sea of different variations of green could be seen on all directions, making the person think that all colors except green had temporarily ceased to exist.
But, sadly, Issei couldn't really admire the landscape for long as the are began to fill with disciples.
Silently cursing at this crowd of barbarians, Issei placed on foot on the ground and secretly using the third way of the lightning, he rushed into the forest in the blink of an eye, disappearing so fast that no one even noticed him.
After a couple of minutes of non-stop running, Issei stopped and looked around. From his estimation, it would take the other some hours to reach his position, so he could safely search for cultivation resources there.
Looking at the ground, he began to cast his gaze around before focusing on a strand of dark green grass that seemed to stand out from the others.
That strand of grass was nothing other than a middle grade spirit grass!
Looking at it, he approached it slowly, not daring to make a sound. Although he didn't quite believe Sa Ji's words of grass being able to escape on its own, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious. As they say, better be safe than sorry.
Issei, who was only a couple of feet away from the grass, then jumped forward, aiming to take the grass into his hands in a single sweep.
How could he have possibly imagined that instead of being captured, it would jump up before burrowing deep beneath the earth, reappearing a few seconds later a couple meters away.
"What the...?" Issei muttered as he once more tried to catch it, only for it to repeat the same process.
"It seems that Sa Ji really wasn't messing with me, huh?" Issei said in excitement, slightly shivering. This was the perfect opportunity to test out the limits of his speed!
Gathering lightning in his feet, Issei activated the third way of the lightning; movement, and dashed towards the newly risen spirit grass.
Surprisingly, it managed to escape again and again and again...
On is twentieth time, Issei's expression was one of impatience. He had already tried to catch it twenty times, always meeting with complete failure!
Sighing, Issei then looked at the plan, a stubborn look shining in his eyes.
"Spirit grass whose name I don't know nor do I care for, you shall be the first one after the kind dummy to taste my full power. You should be honored," said Issei in a solemn expression as he snapped his fingers.
At that moment, his light brown eyes turned into an ethereal blue with lightning flashing across them, his long black hair also becoming blue, circled with lightning. It then whipped about as the wind produced by his presence twisted his robes.
His figure right now no longer seemed like the shy eleven years old from before... in fact, he didn't seem like someone from this world... he seemed like... the embodiment of lightning!
His eyes narrowing, Issei moved forward. In a second, he disappeared. In the other, he appeared on the position the spirit grass originally was. The difference was that at the moment, the spirit grass was now in his palms.
Looking down at it, Issei coldly laughed, "No longer so mighty, huh? Run, run."
Indeed, as expected from a slight sadist with a vengeful personality... not even plants can escape his wrath...
Putting it on the Sky Poison Pearl, Issei was about to continue searching, but stopped as an idea came to his mind.
At that moment, he was lightning and lightning was him, which meant...
Immediately, he sat down cross-legged and placed his left hand on the ground. Lightning then left his body through his body by his left hand, entering the earth and quickly expanding withing it, sending wave after wave of lightning.
After a couple of seconds, Issei opened his eyes and got up. He then looked around once more before smirking. He then took a step forward and in that instant he disappeared, becoming a streak of blue light.
If anyone was to look at the scene, all they would see would be a flash of blue light traveling through the area at high speeds, bringing destruction wherever he went.
In reality, Issei was simply running, using lightning to bolster his speed. The problem was that he was so fast that people would only be able to see the lightning that was left behind him, his body melting with the landscape.
After a couple of minutes, the blue streak of light came to a stop, immediately becoming like Issei once again.
On the young eleven years old boy's face, intense happiness could be seen. That was because just now, he had managed to catch over twenty five middle-grade spirit grasses. Such a profit... was more than huge!
Calming his heart down, he slowly sat down and began to refine grass after grass, his spiritual power gradually rising.