I swung by the palace grounds before leaving the capital. The Spring Palace was under tight guard, but these security measures didn't apply to the rest of the palace, allowing me to sneak in. After making sure Aisnam was not in immediate danger, I left the capital and started to run toward Markas.

The trip from Markas to the capital required three days of intense effort from me.

I expected the return trip to last about a full day. It was partially about my cultivation. Now that I was at the Second Realm of Qi Gathering, my body improved significantly. Also, I had broken through the Mid-Level Skin Refinement, which increased the efficiency of my Martial Arts significantly, including the movement art I had developed for myself.

The only problem, no matter how much I practiced, I was never able to push through the Perfection. Clearly, there was some kind of component missing to allow that to reach the next stage, still lacking a matching essence. That much was clear with my experience with Forest Dance, which broke through the limits the moment I copied the feeling on the board of the Spring Palace.

I needed an essence for my sprinting art as well.

Technically, as I waded through a horde of savage beasts — and they were certainly crowded, though I was able to avoid them with my speed — I had a lot of options. The other arts I learned like Tiger Fist and the others had been copied based on savage beasts as well. As for the Black Tiger, I had no idea exactly what kind of beast it was, but I suspected it was something greater than a savage beast.

It was tempting to find such a beast, but since I didn't have the luxury of going on a lengthy sabbatical, I started searching for an appropriate savage beast.

For another martial artist, such a move would have likely required a lifetime of dedication. Creating a new set of martial arts was not easy. However, with my talent and the extensive martial knowledge I managed to accumulate through my unorthodox means, it was much easier for me.

Too bad martial cultivation had its limits. Not only it was clearly weaker than the same level of true cultivation, but also it had a clear peak, which even the System counted as the equivalent of the Seventh Realm of Qi Gathering.

Of course, I didn't plan to stop working on it. Martial techniques were still valuable for me. Not only did I use the Essence to keep my true cultivation hidden, but also it gave me many tricks that I couldn't replicate by using Qi.

Not to mention, I didn't have the ability to replenish my Qi without an Immortal Root to facilitate it, meaning, I couldn't use those techniques easily.

Altogether, neglecting my martial capabilities was not a luxury I had. So, at the risk of delaying my arrival a little more, I started observing the various savage beasts, trying to find an appropriate target. The first target that tempted me was a wild wolf, larger than a bear as it chased after some kind of deer. It was fast and elegant, and it would have allowed me to break into Minor Immersion.

Yet, it didn't feel right. It was too strong, too aggressive, which would mean the essence would be tainted by its nature. Not exactly ideal for an endless run.

If it wasn't for my experience with the Black Tiger Onslaught, I might have ignored that detail. But, since practicing that had impacted my mind to such an intense degree, it made me question whether the other martial arts had the same problem.

Maybe not immediately, but what about after weeks of nonstop usage. It wasn't too big of a problem for the other styles, as those were used rarely. Unfortunately, with the way things stood, I had to use the movement techniques for weeks and months, and the closer the mentality of a beast, the better.

For once, it wasn't supposed to be a predator, with pesky killing instincts. A great deer with impressive antlers was tempting, but they were too territorial and aggressive.

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Then, I saw several wolves chasing a little, brown-furred animal. A savage beast rabbit, took sharp turns as he avoided the chase before he jumped into a borrow, and while the wolves were desperately trying to dig him out, he jumped out of another one.

Fast, crafty, and cunning, surrounded by far more dangerous entities yet creating a living space for himself … it was truly the perfect choice. I spent the next hour observing him and the other rabbits I came across, a unique essence taking shape, my movement getting faster and faster…

Then, a familiar glow surrounded me, marking my arrival at Minor Immersion.

"Excellent," I gleefully declared as I started running, each step consuming less essence yet bringing me to a greater distance. My speed almost doubled, reducing the travel time between the two locations even more.

A very important benefit for my larger plans. With the savage beasts crowding the road, they didn't have a lot of trade channels. The local forces didn't have enough to consume all that Markas was producing. Elsana was a good apothecary, but unlike my cheating self, she had to work hard to contain and prevent the side effects of her cold essence, meaning the amount she could refine every day was limited.

And, she was by far the best apothecary in the city. Unless they managed to recruit some new apothecaries — unlikely considering the political situation — they would have an excess of materials, and they would be willing to trade for pills.

While the System also provided me superior materials, it was surprisingly difficult to get people to gift me with a lot of materials without any expectation. With the right role, I could get enough to support myself and a few Connate Realm fighters, but more would have been troubling. The garden of the Spring Palace had been helpful in bridging the gap, but it had been a temporary measure for me.

I needed a reliable channel, and Markas provided me one.

Seeing Elsana again was a nice bonus as well.

However, once I passed the wilderness and reached the city, I realized the situation was even worse than I expected. The outer border had many outposts that worked as staging grounds for hunter teams and caravans. Some of them had been destroyed, but most of them had been simply abandoned.

Villages were similarly empty, but the farther away from the border, the more orderly they looked. Clearly, the evacuation had been organized well. However, not for nothing, as there had been quite a few savage beasts in the territory.

They weren't enough to threaten soldiers or hunter teams, but they were cunning enough to avoid the armed people and target the weak, therefore, keeping the villagers safe was impossible. So, they abandoned their farms and migrated … probably to the city itself.

I traveled for a while more, once I was about ten miles away from the city, I started to meet with the hunter teams, most returning from the hunt, carrying savage beast carcasses with them. One benefit of the sudden increase of savage beasts, finding them was much easier.

The teams were more than usual, usually consisting of twenty people or more, but their cultivation was lower. Mostly Beginner and Intermediate Initiates, with occasional Peak initiates leading the teams. Some teams were mixed, but most of the teams were either Wolf Fang or Crane Kick.

However, while their cultivation was low, their competency was even lower. They weren't particularly talented in the first place, and they clearly didn't have too much time to work.

I changed to look like a lone hunter who had drifted away from the crowd. Markas had already changed too much, and I didn't want to take the risk. As I got closer, I finally started to come across military patrols, but their status wasn't much better. Their cultivation was low, and their weapons were shabby.

The city itself had changed even more. There had been some small towns around the city, but after the migration of the villagers, those grew large enough to count as a second city, wrapping the first one. "What a mess," I said as I moved forward, examining the slums.

Even from a distance, I could see it was a true mess. People fighting, begging, and extorting … there were some city guards patrolling, but considering that the patrolling city guards were all wounded, they were even less effective than they would have been otherwise.

A true mess. Even though it was not a problem. I didn't even consider whether I should her or not, because there was a simple thing … I wasn't strong enough to intervene openly either way.

The memory of a cultivator, strong enough to destroy the city alone if he wished to was more than enough to teach me that lesson. Whatever that was going on in Markas involved two cultivator sects, it was not something that I could poke my nose thoughtlessly without strength.

The only reason I even dared to return was the confidence that such strong cultivators wouldn't be hanging around a mere ordinary city for a long time, meaning, unless I acted too openly, I wouldn't have been in danger.

Unlike the newly developed slums, the city proper was still in decent condition, with a lot of guards on the walls. However, unlike in the past, people couldn't get in just by paying a fee. Only the residents were allowed in.

Luckily, bypassing the security was not a challenge for me.