I didn’t meet any more disciples after the first three. But I went through two more temples and saw three more inhabitants of these grasslands. The first animal I sensed was an animal pack: some gray wolves. I had some bad experiences with gray wolves so I decided to make a detour and pick up a fight with them.

The fight went pretty well: they were weaker than the rabbits but they were tougher. They were fast, could control the wind, and seemed almost weightless at times. There was one time when I thought I would hit one of them that was in midair but he inexplicably changed direction. In the end, though only two survived of the eight. They were much faster than me so I couldn't catch up when they ran away or I would have annihilated them.

The second animal I saw was a horned serpent. So I now know that the one I met on the mountain probably came from the grassland, the one I saw was only 5 meters long though.

The last animal was a buffalo that I saw battling a bunch of rabbits. It had two main methods of attack, the physical one, with his horns and hooves, and a spell: an earth spike spell. He could make it appear wherever he wanted around himself and, while it didn’t appear very strong, it was more than enough for those rabbits. In the end, the buffalo won even if with serious injuries.

Now, about the temples: their design was completely moronic. Who put a defensive barrier in front of an attack technique and a pressure pad trap in front of a lightweight one?

The first technique, the sharp qi molding technique, was pretty useless since I already knew it from the rabbits: it consisted of molding one qi to deliver sharp attacks and it’s described as a must-have technique for sword cultivators.

Since I already knew it, the stele released me as soon as I showed my Sharp Claws created by molding the qi in a sharp pattern along my claws according to the method learned from the rabbits.

The second one was called ‘light as a feather’ and allowed the body to move as if it was weightless and increasing one speed. It took me most of the one-day limit to learn it since it was quite complicated to recreate for my bear body.

The reason why the traps were moronic was that the barrier was so sturdy that it couldn’t be pierced if not with the sharp qi molding technique. While the pressure pads released all compassing qi attacks that couldn’t be avoided. The only way to reach the stele was to be so light to not trigger the pressure pads or be so tough that the attacks didn’t faze you.

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I was now in front of the last temple of the grassland. The test in front, because I concluded that they were tests and not traps those inside the temples, was another barrier.

‘Hmm. Another attack-based technique. I hope it’s not something I already know like the last one.’

I struck the barrier with my Sharp Claws and they went through. But the barrier didn’t shatter, instead, the gashes quickly healed themselves. I continued striking but I made no progress, It felt like striking water only for it to recompose itself,

I tried to go through with my body but the barrier was sturdy and it didn’t work.

‘How do I pass this? I am sure that the technique inside would help me but, since I can’t reach it, I will have to find another method.’

‘Hmm, that could work’

Firstly I took some distance from the qi barrier. Then I activated my new lightweight technique and dashed forth. When I was near enough I jumped and switched my lightweight technique with my heavyweight one, increasing my weight to 1500 kg. I crashed into the barrier like a bear-shaped bullet and went through leaving a quickly healing hole into the barrier.

‘Phew It seems it worked.’

Next: the stele.

I entered the already familiar black space and learned the name of this technique: the qi poisoning technique. It allows the user to leave some of his qi inside the wounds inflicted on the opponent, rendering them more difficult to heal and worsening them over time.

It’s the perfect counter for my regeneration skill, fortunately, the technique explained even how to deal with qi poisoning and, while it’s not a short process that is possible to execute in battle, it could still be a lifesaver.

The technique is a replication of what the qi of higher-level beings can automatically do. As the disembodied voice explained the qi at a higher level it gains a sort of sentience, a will matching its possessor, and when said qi is left in the wounds of another being it rebels and starts to wreak havoc. The technique allows one to infuse one’s will in strands of qi and to simulate the qi of those beings.

The strands will float inside one’s dantian and can be used in every melee attack. The only problem is that they are consumables so you will have to manually replenish them after use.

I started practicing and noticed that I could infuse my will in my yin, yang, or neutral qi. Each qi occupied a different section of my dantian and could hold different amounts of qi poison strands. The tin and yang section could hold 3 strands while the neutral qi could hold 5.

After learning the technique I only had a day remaining before the exit from the realm and I spent it training my stealth which was on the verge of a breakthrough to rank 3.

I just reached rank 3 when an external force enveloped me and I was teleported away.