Chương 60: The Aftermath of a Treasure Hunt

Are you kidding me?' Sitting in the high grass by the lake, having finished a cultivation cycle, An dared not move, not taking his eyes off the three not far from him.' This is starting to look less like a coincidence... They've run into me twice now, even though they were initially heading in the opposite direction. Either the environment itself is somehow directing us to the same place, or something is drawing them to the locations I choose.'

Propping his head on his hand, he thought about the reason they kept crossing paths. He immediately dismissed the idea of manipulation by the observers, as it didn't make sense. He knew that in the eyes of those monitoring this mission, he was worthless. Could the environment itself somehow affect the mind or create micro-illusions? An dismissed this option almost immediately. One way or another, he would have sensed something in the Qi flows around him.

Sooner or later, such a massive formation covering such an area would make a mistake. The only reason that seemed likely enough was that something was drawing them to the places he chose. All this time, he had been following paths with richer and more diverse Qi, places with stronger spirit beasts and where second-rank spirit plants grew.

One way or another, by choosing his own path, he was getting closer and closer to places that others could reach through their artifacts using the same principle, in search of something unique and valuable. Throwing a glance at the lake, he felt that something valuable lay at the bottom, with dense and rich Qi, but he also sensed something similar to his last demonic pill.

Reading the partial information that reached him from the lake's bottom, he felt neither excitement nor greed for treasure, but only disgust and contempt for this energy. He had been able to sense this energy even before reaching the lake, but due to its weak signal, he had simply decided not to pay attention to it and over time began to completely ignore it.' Oh! What kind of pill is that... Air Paradise? A lost recipe?'

Listening to the conversations of the three by the waterfall, he carefully examined the pill, trying to understand what it was made of.' Eh... I can't even tell what ingredients were used... But what's strangest, I don't sense the concoction process from the pill? Hmm...' Analyzing the pill's flows, even from a distance, he couldn't help but frown. Studying it, he couldn't distinguish either the plants used in the recipe or the refining process itself. As if the pill had simply appeared out of thin air.'

Could it be... So this is what an item from a cheater system looks like?' Continuing to examine it, he even felt a moment of envy for the pill itself, but that feeling passed instantly.' Having a system is indeed cool, but... it's not really for me... The feeling when you go through the entire process, from sketching out a recipe from whatever you have in your pouch, to finally succeeding after several days, sometimes weeks, when you take out and hold a warm pill in your hands, your pill, created by you...

That's what's truly cool...' Looking away and staring at his feet, he began to smile, remembering the rush of emotion every time a new recipe finally succeeded, his thirst to continue further, to improve, to study, and to comprehend. Only after the last, deep remnants of envy faded, did he feel a familiar click from within his soul. Something inside him had snapped again, something had disappeared without a trace again.

Already familiar with this feeling, he immediately tried to understand what it was and why it was happening. But all he felt was a sense of loss and strange relief. Frowning, he began scanning his physical body and inner world over and over, trying to find what he had just lost.' What the hell? This is the third time. Every time I feel the same thing, loss and relief! I definitely need to go to the Scripture Pavilion and find information about something like this...'

Rubbing his temples, he decided to put these thoughts aside for later, understanding that right now he wouldn't be able to find or comprehend anything. Besides, his strange calmness completely negated any desire or concern about it developing within him. While he floated in his thoughts, he noticed how the trio, having eaten the pills, began to enter the water.

Watching them slowly go further and further, until they completely disappeared underwater, An shook his head and closed his eyes, partially deactivating Qi Silence so that the smell and aura of the gorilla's innards would begin to spread around him again, driving away the spirit beasts that were getting closer and closer to where the three had been standing and bickering.' The sun is already starting to set. I just have to wait out this night, and this will finally be over...'

Having finished a cultivation cycle, An opened his eyes. Raising his gaze above the horizon, he saw many huge winged creatures flying high in the clear sky, hundreds of kilometers away from him. Some beasts resembled birds, others had strange body shapes that, based on physics, shouldn't be able to fly at all.' Eh... Still, out here, in the wilderness, among the beasts, is much better than inside the Sect...'

Watching small spirit beasts and ordinary ones approach the lake from opposite sides to drink without bothering each other, An smiled at the idyllic sight and thought.' Maybe I should stay here for good? Before breaking through to Foundation Establishment... find a safe place for the breakthrough and then just live somewhere out here, far from everyone and everything... I could even go to the top of that huge waterfall...'

Looking into the distance, at the waterfall, he began to seriously think about moving here, where no one would bother him, where he could completely detach himself from everything that didn't concern him, and cultivate in silence and peace, until he hit the ceiling of his abilities." Hmm?" Suddenly, his daydreaming was interrupted. He felt a huge wave of Qi being released from the center of the lake's bottom. Feeling this energy, An could barely hold himself back from spitting.' This really is demonic Qi...

What is it even doing here, right under the noses of cultivators at the Sect Leader level? And why am I still here? Damn it!' Realizing how foolish he had been, when he hadn't even thought to retreat upon seeing the three and hearing their plans, he jumped up and, activating his Qi, dashed as far away from the lake as possible. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. BOOOOM! WHOOOSH!

The surface of the lake exploded like a nuclear bomb, releasing a bloody and thick wave of energy that instantly began to spread around the perimeter. Everything this wave touched was blown to pieces, all the earth rose into the air following the wave. Turning his head, feeling this terrible energy, An abruptly stopped, fell to the ground in a fetal position, and activated Qi Armor, directing most of his Qi to the external membrane." AAH!"

Receiving the impact from the bloody wave, the external membrane cracked and immediately burst." AAGH!" His screams of pain were drowned out by the roar of the wave, which began dragging him along the ground." AH! VHA! FUCK! AGHA! BASTARDS! AGHA!" Catching everything in his path with his body, he was thrown around like a defenseless puppy, completely unable to reactivate his defense due to the terrible pressure of this crimson energy.

For a few moments that felt like an eternity, the wave surged over him, leaving him behind." Agh…" Lying buried under the layers of dirt, he was finally lucky enough to stop the momentum, having absorbed the full brunt of the blast, which was actually the wall of an expanding formation barrier. It had dragged him across the ground against his will for several hundred meters in an instant." Ow! Ow! AAh!"

Trying to move, he realized that all his limbs were broken, his ribcage was caved in, and even though the scaled membranes of his Qi Armor had been active over his organs, they couldn't withstand the load and cracked. As a result, his remaining organs were crushed, his heart was pierced in several places, both lungs collapsed. Only his dantian was without a single scratch." A-ah... H-haa…" Lying without any ability to move, he groaned in pain, trying to turn his broken and torn neck.' I'm alive! Ouch-ouch!'

Feeling the mush of his insides sloshing around inside him, he was unspeakably glad that he had survived.' How could I have been so stupid! It was obvious! That they would do something, and I'd end up getting hurt! Agh!' Finally, his body began to heal. First, the holes in his organs began to close and restore themselves to their original form.' Holy crap... I didn't know my healing factor was this high!' Right before his eyes, within minutes, all his internal organs returned to near normal.' Wait!

I'm creating too many Qi disturbances around myself from the healing. If they notice me... Then I'll only heal my insides and spine. That'll be enough for now.' He abruptly stopped his regeneration on a subconscious level, as he noticed how much his energy was provoking the neutral Qi around, creating conflicts, because his Qi Silence couldn't handle extinguishing all the escaping flows of his Qi.

At this moment, the observers had clearly turned their attention to this place because of the three, and he didn't want to take such a risk by showing his healing factor to everyone around, thereby attracting unnecessary attention." Agh! Come on!!" Turning over, he activated Qi Armor and enveloped both his legs and arms, understanding that all his limbs were still broken, except for his neck, thanks to the healing of his spine, which had been broken in dozens of places.

He began to dig himself out, afraid of using too much force, only maintaining the correct shape of his limbs with Qi, since the bones in his arms were completely crushed, held together only by torn skin and remaining chunks of flesh..." Haa… haa… haa!" Finally digging himself out from under the earth, he hooked his left, more intact, arm onto the grass, slowly pulling himself up from the hole while clenching his teeth to keep from screaming too loudly.

"Bastards! Sticking their noses where they don't fucking belong! Agh!... And others suffer! I'll remember this! Agh!" Through terrible pain and the fear that his body might suddenly fall apart, he was emitting a thick, unrestrained killing intent. Even his strange and recently acquired inner calm couldn't handle his rage in this situation. Finally, from the hole appeared a torn arm with pieces of bone sticking out through the skin. In several places there were gaping puncture wounds with chunks of flesh torn out.

Behind the arm, a head appeared. Part of his scalp had been torn down to the skull, a skull full of deep cracks through which pulsing pink matter was visible. One cheek was simply torn, with side teeth torn out. His nose was split in half. Behind the head, his throat appeared, sporting a huge hole on the side where the brand used to be; through this wound, blood flowed ceaselessly over his shoulder and upper chest, exposed down to the bone. Part of his ribs was either lost or torn out.

In the center of his chest, a huge crack, through which his slowly but steadily beating heart was visible. Having pulled out his mangled, heavily perforated body, he finally fell to the ground from the overwhelming pain and severe physical exhaustion.' Damn... I can't stay like this. I need to find a safe place where I can wait this out and at least partially heal myself within reason...' Turning onto his back, An began to scan his surroundings for any sign of shelter.

"What the hell?" Only now did he realize what was happening around him. All the trees were covered in bloody innards, everything around was littered with fresh remains of spirit beasts. The entire ground around and beneath him was soaked in blood. And the most terrifying thing, the thick red energy dome around the lake.' A formation?' Focusing, he began to read the Qi from this barrier.' A barrier with an external illusion and Qi blocking?' Reading the information from the energy, An understood what this dome was.

'No, there's something else here, but I can't figure out exactly what...' Having received information he couldn't understand, he tensed up, realizing that this could be either something minor, such as full surveillance inside the dome, or something catastrophic for him, such as the summoning of something terrible that could crush him like a bug with just its Qi. His imagination was running wild, especially when everything around had turned blood-red.

Catching himself, he shook his head, trying to stop his overactive mind.' I need to get farther away from the center of the dome... Ugh!!' Activating his Qi and beginning to hover, An felt terrible pain. His own Qi, striking and creating pressure against his shattered body and exposed nerves, brought him unbearable sensations. On the verge of losing consciousness, he managed to reach the edge of the dome, where the force of the wave was no longer so strong, and many trees had survived.

Even some beasts had managed to stay untouched, being so far from the epicenter. Finding a perfect tree, he climbed onto it and lay down on the branches, activating his Qi Silence to its maximum. It was not doing its job very well, especially in his current condition. Turning his head toward the lake, he could feel the demonic Qi growing stronger and denser in the center of the lake.' The main thing now is just to wait it out.

Even if this barrier blocks the observers, the plaques themselves, which are used for teleportation, are clearly connected to the main Sect formation, and this dome is unlikely to compete with that.' An began slowly healing his body. Looking at the dome, he still didn't trust this formation, and held back his healing factor. He understood that this could hardly block high-level cultivators, and there were clearly plenty of those in the Sect.