After immobilizing the man on the ground, Teseu takes his belt and ties him by the wrists to the nearest office desk. The man didn't even think of resisting; he probably did it more out of desperation than revenge, as he had the look of someone who had just been prevented from committing suicide. No doubt he would do that after killing Thompson.

Speaking of Thompson, the manager still seemed dazed. It apparently hadn't occurred to him that treating people almost like slaves could earn him a death sentence.

Teseu finished tying the belt to the foot of Thompson's desk and turned to face him.

"I quit!" *turns and leaves hastily*

***

Teseu was somewhat disappointed; he had only wanted to hurl a few insults in Thompson's face and speak some truths in front of everyone, and only then quit. Of course, Thompson was a heartless bastard, but he didn't deserve to die. Teseu was one of the few employees who had stayed long enough to see the manager's daughter show up at the office. She had gone to try to convince her father to go home and rest since he was sick at the time. That was the only time he had seen the man show weakness in front of anyone. Teseu could hardly believe that such a cruel man could have such a sweet and gentle daughter.

'Anyway, this turned out to be a good thing. Now I know I'm not completely vulnerable to bullets, hehe,' Teseu thought, with a small smile on his face.

***

Later, Teseu was in his pickup truck, heading back to the house in the forest that he had decided to call the "House of Qi." It was already night, and he was tired and excited at the same time. After quitting his job, he went to a real estate broker to put his old house up for sale. Then he went to the supermarket and bought various things, from toilet paper and canned food to a camping tent and a mini barbecue.

"I also managed to buy a bow and a quiver with twenty arrows, but now I'm almost broke! But it doesn't matter; now I have all the things I need to go all out in the other world," he said, gripping the steering wheel a bit tighter.

"Now I'll have a lot to do. I already know that metallic things are more susceptible to Qi, and the more organic something is, the greater its resonance. It also seems to be related to how pure the material is, but I'm not sure. I'm still too weak to test these things efficiently; I think I'll first focus on nourishing my body in the other world." Teseu had already noticed that the changes his body underwent in the other world also affected his original body. Even the injuries he suffered came as a phantom itch that disappeared over time.

"Oh, I just remembered!" Teseu grabbed his phone and launched an audiobook app.

"There's no better way to study Qi cultivation than by reading Chinese novels." Then he started one of the stories he had read in his school days. He didn't remember much, and it was great to compare his experiences in the other world with what was described in the book.

***

The mountains in the other world were extreme and challenging, not just due to the high altitudes and rugged terrain. The monsters were different from those in the forest; there were still many invertebrates along with long-tailed bats, but they were much scarcer. The real problems were the reptiles.

Most of the venomous snakes were ambush predators; they hid in the gaps between rocks and waited for their prey to come to them. They weren't such a big problem if you were careful, as it was easy to distinguish risky areas. They couldn't hide under just any rock since they were as large as anacondas, just like everything in this world of cultivation was giant-sized.

The worst monster in the mountains and the top predator in the food chain was the stone lizard. It seemed like God had taken the most sadistic demon from the depths of hell, put it inside a Komodo dragon, covered it in rocks, and pumped the creature full of steroids to the brink of overdose. The bastard was nearly twelve meters from snout to tail tip and stood close to three meters tall on all fours. Its body was covered in irregular, rocky spikes, which tended to be sharper towards the tail region.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

That said, Teseu had a very bad experience dealing with this creature. The damn thing took pleasure in sneaking up on its prey and positioning itself where it would be completely camouflaged. When the prey was at an acceptable distance, it would attack with a stone shot from its mouth or a blow from its massive tail. The stone shot was comparable to a cannonball that, upon impact, exploded into smaller fragments. The tail strike was like a tree trunk full of spikes hitting your chest and hurling you away.

How did Teseu know all of this? It's quite simple; he was ambushed by this wretched creature not once, not twice, but three times! In three consecutive days! The damn thing was deliberately preventing him from climbing the mountain, no matter which path he tried. It seemed to have something suspicious going on.

"He might be protecting his nest, his territory, or he might just be a demon in lizard form. If he were protecting a nest, he shouldn't have ambushed me so many times. I made sure to try various routes on those three days; it can't be that he has a nest at the end of each one... I think. This behavior seems more like a lion protecting its territory, but it doesn't make sense that he hasn't pursued me to kill me. Something strange is happening here."

It had been almost two weeks since he returned to the House of Qi, and during these two weeks, he focused solely on killing monsters, which allowed him to reach the fourth stage of the body harmonization realm.

After learning more about cultivation from various sources and comparing it to his experiences, Teseu decided to create his cultivation realms as needed. He divided the realm into five possible stages:

1st - Meridian Harmonization

2nd - Muscle Harmonization

3rd - Skin Harmonization

4th - Organ Harmonization

5th - Bone Harmonization

The 5th stage was just speculation, but it didn't seem wrong to assume it would be next. It turned out that what he thought were veins were actually his meridians, also known as Qi veins. In fact, not all of them were meridians; there were also blood vessels, but since his blood was still somewhat transparent, it took him a while to notice the difference.

After reaching the 4th stage, Teseu realized that the forest monsters had become a very small source of Qi, so he decided to climb the mountain in search of stronger creatures. Of course, now that his stomach and intestines were starting to absorb Qi, the sensations of hunger and thirst returned with a vengeance, along with the increasing need to breathe. All these physiological needs had been present since the 2nd stage, but now they were becoming much more similar to his original body on Earth.

Returning to the stone lizard, Teseu had some guesses about why its behavior was so suspicious.

"It could be protecting its nest, its territory, or it could just be a demon in lizard form. If it were protecting a nest, it shouldn't have ambushed me so many times. I made sure to

try various routes on those three days; it can't be that it has a nest at the end of each one... I think. This behavior seems more like a lion protecting its territory, but it doesn't make sense that it hasn't pursued me to kill me. Something strange is happening here."

Teseu was now hidden on a rocky ledge and decided to return to Earth to think of a plan to hunt the stone lizard. He had mastered the ability to travel between worlds, which was similar to entering meditation, but he had to focus on the position he left his other body and imagine himself in the same position. Teseu left his original body lying on the bed with his hands together and fingers intertwined, resembling a corpse at a funeral. Meanwhile, his body in the other world was sitting in a much more dignified lotus position, although it didn't really matter because the copy seemed to integrate with his Earthly body every time he returned.

When he woke up in his bed, he just stood there, staring at the ceiling.

"I guess there's nothing to do but go around the mountain. I don't have anything that can help me kill that beast, not without wasting a ton of Qi that could be used for my cultivation. I could try to buy a hunting rifle, but I'm almost out of money, and I don't think Qi-infused bullets would be enough." He thought for a few more minutes about various possibilities, then grabbed his phone to see if there was anything on the internet that could help him. The internet reached everywhere nowadays, although it was a bit slower in places like this, it still worked.

When he turned on his phone, he was met with an unexpected message. His sister had come to town for the weekend and wanted to talk to him. It was supposed to be a surprise, but she couldn't find him anywhere, so she ended up sending a message. There were also several missed calls...

"I guess she must be annoyed." With a dark look, he hurried to leave as soon as possible; his phone displayed:

You have +30 missed calls from *Sister*.