As I rushed towards this man, I take several precautions, such as determining escape routes in case I need to leave by myself or together with him.

I can’t directly research his history as a cultivator, which could set off some alarms for the more cautious and wealthy cultivators.

Something that would automatically turn a relationship negative. It’s almost never good for someone you don’t know in this world to know a large amount about you.

What I can do is to ask a simple question or two about their character.

Even that skirts the line a little.

If I were to gather this information normally about them, it wouldn’t come off too weird. But since I’m gaining all this information at once, it triggers suspicions.

I think it comes down to how well I can hide my knowledge or integrate it naturally with likely excuses.

It’s massively difficult to do when talking with cultivators.

This doesn’t my even take into the account cultivators that have ‘knowledge alarm’ Qi treasures, which will alert them when someone has discovered something that the treasure was tracking. A thing more common regarding cultivation methods, but could easily be triggered when looking at a cultivator’s personal history.

… since they learned a cultivation method.

Instead of all of that, I check to see if he’s a good person.

Which it affirms. I also check to see if he won’t attack me, unless I do something extreme. It’s a little wishy washy on this, but is mostly positive. Which makes sense in the world of cultivators.

I’ll just make sure to not show off any treasures and keep my abilities to the cultivation method.

Moving at my high speed, it still takes an hour to get there. By this time, he’s definitely worn down. The snake is coiled around him, trying to get him to submit.

It Bites, bites, and bites like a steel trap. Clearly attempting to take his head off. But, with his strength as a foundation establishment cultivator, he’s able to avoid being completely crushed and can bat away the bites. The occasional flash of light comes out from him, as well.

It’s still a losing battle, though.

In a few more hours, he’d be exhausted of his strength and would be helpless.

While it’s a shame, I treat the snake completely as an enemy and, using my big jump, I fly down from the sky and directly onto its head, throwing a sucker punch onto a weak spot on its skull.

Putting all my strength into the blow, I’m able to rattle its brain, despite the fact that it’s a mid Qi condensation level beast.

Unlike the Panther, this beast is used to ambushing, not being ambushed, and has all of its strengths laid in that area.

It’s automatically knocked unconscious, and with that I’m able to quickly pull the cultivator out of the still tight grip of the snake’s body.

He seems to give a defeated laugh, while bubbling blood from his lips.

He tries to speak, but cannot because of his injuries. Since we might not have that much time, depending on how long it takes the snake to wake back up, I automatically begin healing him using the healing cultivation method.

I also subtly use my scan to help guide the healing while attempting to avoid any secrets that may be contained in his body from his cultivation method.

There are several things going on, such as bites from demonic creatures from deep within the jungle, to simple things like crushed lungs and ribs.

Before I do anything else, I clear the Damage from the demonic creatures’ bite that had spread through his body. If not cleared, it would make healing him even more difficult.

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Afterwards, I transition to the more normal healing and getting him stable. Once I do that, I immediately move him as far away as I can from the snake’s location.

Then I send a taming avoidance contract to the snake, which accepts even in its unconscious state. Now it will leave us alone, rather than ambushing us.

With this, I’m free to bring him up to a fighting standard. Like the guards from before, he sits there and is in awe as I go through different parts of his body and heal them. It is only once I’m done and step away that he actually speaks.

“That was… amazing. Thank you, Young Master, for your help!”

I respond in kind.

“Of course, I saw the lights flashing in the air from a great distance, so I came over to see if there was anything I could do to help. It looked very familiar to someone cultivation technique I knew in the Ao clan.”

It is at that moment that I realized I said something I shouldn’t have, as his face and body immediately tenses up.

Although I just saved him, he seems to be ready to fight at a moment's notice.

However, he stays silent and closes his eyes before relaxing slightly.

After a moment, he speaks out bitterly.

“I… Once was part of one the Ao clan’s side families. I’ve been exiled from the clan and my wife and child taken to be used as playthings for other nobles.”

… Damn, I know I should have anticipated something like this. Especially since this world has been consistently shitty to those not strong enough to defend themselves.

Anger fills his face as he continues.

“The only thing they’ve left with me and have ‘allowed’ me to keep is this cultivation method I learned from them. A way to remind me and others of what I used to be part of.”

His eyes look distant, as it is clear that he expects this to be a breaking point for any relationship.

“I understand if you want to have no further contact with me, but I appreciate the healing you’ve done. I’ll find a way to pay you back once I get back to the sect’s teleportation area.”

His true age is revealed with these words, as despite his youthful looking face, I can see the stress lines of a 50-year-old man. He may be even older than that, considering the lifetimes of cultivators and how it long it takes to normally progress between levels.

Being exiled from a sect is no joke. The tough part about these things is that it happens for both serious reasons and trivial ones. One thing that should be noted, is that the serious ones usually just don’t end with exiling and being allowed to stay in the area.

Only the trivial ones that are meant to send a message may stay where others can see them.

I know my decision on this.

Though this may hit my social standing a bit, I feel this is the right thing to do. I’ll still need to do some research when I get back, but I plan on continuing to help this guy where I can.

It’s not unusual for an exiled member to be welcomed back if they show more promise. Might makes right in this world, as expected.

Straightening my back, I speak out with confidence.

“You don’t need to pay me back. I’m the one that came to heal you, without asking. Regarding your exile from the Ao clan, to me, that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. I’ll stand with you still.”

He stares at me in disbelief.

Which is really the normal reaction to something like this.

People here don’t do things like this. They don’t act how I do.

But my sincerity reaches him.

I can see the tears pool in the corner of his eyes before he closes them quickly and hides his face. I stay silent to not embarrass him, as it’s clear he finds it somewhat shameful.

When he looks back up, his gaze is filled with gratefulness as he speaks.

“Thank you. You do not know how terrible these past few years have been. Finding someone who cares is…”

He seems to be caught up in emotion again, falling silent yet again.

When he looks up again, I can sense a warm inner fire from him.

Conviction.

In this culture, there seems to be a mixture of between saying your thanks, that you’ll pay someone back and letting your actions speak for your words.

It looks like this man is of the latter.

He continues on, changing the subject.

“I was planning on heading out since I had gotten what I needed from deep in this accursed jungle. Did you need to go back in?

“I can’t help but notice that you’re only the first level of qi condensation… Actually, how did you get this far in? Also, how did you knock out that snake?

His face turns to one of slight confusion and a tad bit of suspicion.

I move to quickly assuage his concerns.

“I’m actually an alchemist and have been using a concoction and plants from nearby to keep the dangerous things away. Regarding my strength, I have a special constitution that allows me to heal from things and grow much stronger and most cultivators of the same rank.

“Not to brag, but I’ve caused quite the stir at the sect. It is unfortunate, though, since I’ve used most of the stuff to get to this point in the jungle. Oh, but don’t worry, I can grab some as we go through the jungle and make something as we go along. It won’t be a loss to me at all.”

I use my best attempt to look embarrassed.

“I… may need some help to get back from this deep in. I’m not sure how effective this would all be against higher cultivation spirit beasts.

“There were some very close calls. Though, my master from back home imparted to me a jade slip with routes I can take in the forest. So, I should be able to lead us back quickly, at the very least.

He seems incredulous at all of this, but comes to an internal conclusion and laughs.

“I see now. Okay then, we’ll be heading back, but I’ll be relying on your master’s route for the way back.”

It would only make sense that I have a capable master with such abilities. This makes things much more believable.

“Great. Let me collect some things from nearby first, to help.”

It only takes a few moments of running around and collecting rare plants and materials that I’ve seen nearby before I meet back with him and we begin our journey back.

Now, I have to figure out how to sell hulk jumping to him.