"Greetings, I'm Liu Xing from Purple Moon Sect. I intend to go to Dragon Skull Forest and to a mission. Would you permit me to pass?" Liu Xing clasped his hands in a respectful gesture. He knew the probability of them allowing him to pass was almost nil, but he had no reason to be rude yet.
Sensing the qi around them, Liu Xing realized only Mo Yan was at the same stage as him; the rest were either at the fourth or third stage.
"What a polite fellow. If only every cultivator that passes here were as polite as you. You may pass, brother, but you need to pay a toll fee. After all, the roads need maintenance. Consider the fee as a donation to the local community!"
Liu Xing looked past their shoulders and saw a dirt road. While the path looked passable, he doubted they did any maintenance.
"Is that so? May I know how much the fee is?"
"It's cheap, only 50 spirit stones per person. And since you're polite, I'll give you a discount. 30 spirit stones. How about that?" Mo Yan and his two friends chuckled.
Liu Xing considered his options. He scanned their clothes and noticed wrinkles here and there, signifying they wore ordinary clothes, not the silky, shiny, self-cleaning ones from a sect. This indicated they were likely loose cultivators. Loose cultivators were usually weaker due to limited options for cultivation scriptures and techniques.
"I'm sorry, but I'd rather not pay the fee. I'm poor," Liu Xing replied.
Mo Yan snorted. "Well, I guess we'll take the fee by force. Attack!"
Mo Yan and his gang rushed together. The red-haired guy brandished a dagger, the narrow-eyed one unsheathed his sword, and Mo Yan himself glowed with a yellow hue.
A thought to fight without his gun crossed Liu Xing's mind, to test his full capability without it. But he dismissed the thought. While there was time, he'd rather start hunting as soon as possible.
Liu Xing summoned his gun and made it invisible. The process was fast, and hopefully, they didn't see it. He then activated his Lightning Cloak and kicked the ground.
The world became a blur. In a fraction of a second, Liu Xing appeared in front of Mo Yan and punched his belly. Mo Yan was lifted off the ground and flew like a cannonball, crashing and shattering trees before lying on the ground unconscious.
"What's happening?!" shouted the red-haired guy.
The narrow-eyed guy lunged at Liu Xing, trying to slash his neck. Liu Xing took a step and disappeared, reappearing behind him. Before the narrow-eyed guy could react, Liu Xing grabbed the collar of his clothes and threw him, making him fly and crash into the cliff wall, dust falling around him.
Realizing his two friends were defeated in the blink of an eye, the red-haired guy widened his eyes, his feet trembling. "I-I'm sorry. This was all Mo Yan's idea! Please spare me!" He knelt and started kowtowing.
"Then go get your friends and leave. If I see you again, I won't spare you."
"Thank you, senior! I, Pu He, won't forget your mercy and will lead a righteous life from now on!" Pu He scrambled to retrieve his two friends. Even though he was pale and skinny, he was still a cultivator and could carry both friends on his shoulders.
"Oh right, Pu He," Liu Xing called.
Pu He stiffened and turned around. "Y-yes?"
"Do you know where the swamp area is?"
"Of course! After you reach Skull Hill, just go north; the swamp is there!"
"Alright, thank you."
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Pu He then started running, carrying his two friends.
After they disappeared, Liu Xing turned and started running. He has the choice to kill these robbers, but he chooses not to. After all, he is not harmed, and he shows enough power so they would not mess with him again.
"Spirit beasts, come to me!" he shouted with anticipation, forgetting the matter about the robbers.
Since he already knew the direction he needed to go, Liu Xing could finally start hunting.
***
After running for several hours, Liu Xing truly arrived at Dragon Skull Forest and was surprised by the surroundings.
The outskirts of the forest were normal, but here, the surroundings were bizarre. Mushrooms were everywhere, from little ones on the side path to those growing on trees, to giant mushrooms as big as houses growing here and there. The mushrooms had different colors, some yellow and white, some brown and red, some purple, pink, and some other combinations. Seeing these mushrooms made Liu Xing feel like he was in some kind of wonderland.
After gawking for a moment, Liu Xing jumped from the ground to the cap of a mushroom the size of a truck. When his feet landed, it felt soft, like landing on soft ground, yet it didn’t make him bounce like a rubber ball.
Liu Xing was kind of disappointed. Giant mushrooms should make him bounce like a trampoline!
After trying several mushrooms, Liu Xing decided to get serious.
He moved from mushroom cap to branch to ground, moving straight toward the Skull Hill.
He was jumping fast, but not as fast as when he used the Lightning Cloak. After all, he needed to look out for spirit beasts, and he couldn’t do that if his vision was blurry.
After moving for almost half an hour, Liu Xing suddenly felt a prickling qi around him. Feeling this, Liu Xing closed his eyes and tried to sense the qi around him more clearly. The qi in this place was abundant, but among the natural qi, Liu Xing felt a strong presence several hundred meters in front of him. He couldn’t pinpoint exactly where the spirit beast was, but he was certain that this beast had a cultivation stage above him, maybe around the sixth or seventh stage.
Opening his eyes, Liu Xing summoned his gun and pointed it in the spirit beast's direction. The gun then turned invisible, and he willed the invisibility to spread to his body.
This invisibility could only be activated when he sensed danger, but it seemed like he didn’t need to point at an enemy to activate it, just the general direction.
Fully invisible, Liu Xing jumped silently from branch to branch, mushroom cap to bush, and finally crouched behind a large rock.
Liu Xing felt the spirit beast's presence moving toward him slowly, like a lioness stalking her prey. The spirit beast had probably sensed his qi, but when his presence vanished, it approached carefully, hence why it moved slowly. This meant the spirit beast was smart. Hopefully not too smart, because while Liu Xing sometimes wanted to test his power, in situations like this, he would rather move like an assassin and kill silently.
After several more minutes, Liu Xing finally saw his opponent and needed to rethink his assessment.
The spirit beast bulldozing everything around it was a large black turtle, as big as a house. Each step it took made the world vibrate, branches sway, and some mushrooms shrink underground.
This turtle had a menacing face with bloodshot eyes, saber-like fangs, and a long horn extending from its head for dozens of meters. Its brown shell was a giant mushroom, with red tentacle-like worms extending and wiggling in the air.
Seeing this bizarre turtle, Liu Xing gulped. Its eyes scanned the surroundings like eagle eyes, and the tentacles seemed like antennae that detected vibrations in the air.
Liu Xing had no doubt that if he hadn't concealed himself with invisibility, the turtle would have stomped him like an elephant stomping an ant.
Liu Xing held his breath and aimed from behind the rock. This thing looked super strong. Since it was a turtle, it should have high defense, but since its shell was a mushroom-worm hybrid, there was a possibility it was softer than it looked. Plus, while it looked big and strong, it was still in the realm of Lock Opening, probably at the peak of the sixth stage.
The tip of Liu Xing's gun pointed at its head, then moved to aim at the mushroom, and back to its head.
Liu Xing didn't know the turtle's weakness. He regretted not taking the time to check the library and read some bestiary. If he had checked, perhaps he would know this spirit beast's weaknesses. Still, there was no point in regretting things he couldn’t change. He needed to adapt to the situation or brute force the problem.
Liu Xing cycled his qi to the rhythm of his Exploding Fist Technique. Liu Xing didn't dare to hold back. He sent as much qi as possible to the technique, then activated it, letting the gun absorb his technique and converting the technique into a bullet.
Aiming at the turtle's head, Liu Xing pulled the trigger. A blue bolt of electricity shot toward their target. The qi around the bullet was so dense that the turtle and the worms in its shell snapped their heads toward Liu Xing.
When the turtle opened its mouth, a blue fireball seed appeared inside. Seeing this, Liu Xing realized the turtle had a breath-based attack, but before the fire seed could create a fire breath, his bullets hit dead center in its mouth, landed on the turtle's jagged tongue, and then exploded.