"Achoo!"

Mu Chen rubbed his nose, it itched. He had just slashed at a low hanging vine that was in his way, destroying the flowers on it. But pollen scattered into the air entering his nostrils and making him sneeze. It was annoying because his nose had become more sensitive.

Mu Chen trod on the thick undergrowth of a crisscrossed network of tree roots that interleaved with each other. The grass was tall enough to reach his knees, the dew on them had soaked his trousers as he weaved his way through them. Every now and then he used his sunstone to confirm the direction he was heading. Inside the forest, it was always gloomy and hard to tell the direction. If one didn't keep track of their direction, they could end up moving in circles.

Shua!

There was a rustling sound and something flew at Mu Chen with incredible speed. Mu Chen raised his hand and pinched at the flying object that was making a beeline towards his face.

Hiss!

Mu Chen clasped his fingers around the throat of a snake with an inhuman level of precision. The snake wriggled trying to break free from Mu Chen's grip but it was futile. All it could do was try and threaten Mu Chen by baring its fangs and hissing.

"Even if someone sneak attacked me with a flying sword, I should be able to grasp it?" Mu Chen imagined. The snake he had caught was called the Flying Viper. It was well known for its attack speed that rivaled the speed of flying swords of lower-level cultivators. Since it was venomous, cultivators had to be on guard against its attack. But Mu Chen managed to prevent its attack just like that. In theory, he should be able to deal with flying sword attacks of low-level cultivators in the same manner.

"That would be stupid!" Mu Chen shook his head and flicked the viper across. It flew across with extreme speed and hit a tree several feet away. Its head exploded and the viper died at the moment of impact.

Mu Chen was extremely pleased with his increased reaction speed, but he didn't have any plans to put his theory to test. If he did that, his opponent could just channel a martial technique or worse, make the sword explode in an instant. Mu Chen would lose his hand for trying to look cool. Pinching the flying swords would only be practical if Mu Chen could cut off his opponent's connection with the sword.

Since he had been training in this part of the forest a couple of days back before his trip to the city, Mu Chen had become familiar with his body's capabilities. At first, he thought only his strength, reaction speed, stamina, and healing would improve. But unexpectedly there were some other changes. Mu Chen didn't detect them at first, but they became apparent as Mu Chen became familiar with his body.

The most obvious change was his eyesight. It had improved a lot. He could see clearly in the dark and if he focused, he could see much farther than he could before. This was how he was able to identify the Mu Family ship, yet escape the notice of Mu Changshou and others.

The second change was that his hearing had improved. It had improved so much that Mu Chen didn't even need to see. He could get a good grasp of his surroundings based on just sound. But there was also a downside. The forest was the home of several types of insects which kept buzzing. The beasts themselves were not quiet either. In the past, Mu Chen had never thought that the forest was so noisy.

His sense of smell and taste has also improved. But Mu Chen had not yet found any use for them. They had instead become an inconvenience.

Mu Chen hadn't seen these changes mentioned when he had learned about the Tendon Transformation stage. He could only assume that it was a transformation caused by Hell's Water. It had unlocked his body's potential.

Mu Chen continued to proceed deeper. He didn't bother to look for the essence of the viper. He was just a couple of miles deep into the forest and the majority of the beasts that were here couldn't be considered monster beasts since they hadn't cultivated essence yet. The viper was one of them. Even its poison was useless to Mu Chen since fighting with poison wasn't his style. And there was already an antidote available.

As he continued to move forward, the frequency of beasts that Mu Chen encountered rose, their size also grew. Majority of them were just harmless herbivores and their first reaction on seeing him was to run away. Some of those herbivores were monster beasts, but Mu Chen didn't hunt them like he did, a few days back. This time, Mu Chen wanted to experience real danger. It was a waste of time to chase after those timid monster beasts, when he could look for one that would be eager to attack him. And this wish was fulfilled when an hour later, a monster beast blocked his path.

Roar!

The Purple Backed Leopard gave a loud cry and pounced. But Mu Chen stood still as the monster beast, which looked like an overgrown house cat, made a move for his jugular. Just a moment before the beast could sink its teeth, Mu Chen dodged and made a sweeping motion with his sword. His sword made a long gash on the underbelly of the beast. Injured, the beast whimpered and backed away. Blood gushed out of its wound like a waterfall and dyed the ground red.

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Mu Chen touched his neck. The former exchange left him with an injury. However…

"It's not enough?" Mu Chen sighed. Although he had felt his life threatened, there was no miraculous insight or any other inspiration.

Mu Chen watched the leopard bleed. His strike had been fatal, the sword had cut deep through the beast's abdomen. The leopard was already on its last legs.

Mu Chen moved forward to finish off the leopard. As if it knew its death was imminent, the leopard growled.

"Huh?" Mu Chen stopped in his tracks. "It's that sound again." The growl was very deep and low, not the usual sound the leopard made, it was like a hum. He had heard this sound a few times now. But he had never heard this sound when he had killed monster beasts in the past when he was still a cultivator.

"It must be my hearing." Mu Chen moved again and slashed at the neck of the leopard, beheading it. "Not only did it become acute, but now I can also hear a wider range of sounds." Mu Chen thought. It was the only reason he could think of. But he found it unusual that several different types of monster beasts had made the same exact sound, moments before death.

Mu Chen took out a small knife and carved out the beast's heart to get its blood essence. After getting the essence, he once again resumed his path.

#

"Not enough!" Mu Chen sighed as he looked at the fallen Black Bear, the latest addition to the long list of victims that had fallen to his sword.

Mu Chen's upper body was covered in monster beast's blood. It trickled down his exposed chest and his abs, mixing with his own. It had been several days since he had been hunting monster beasts. Every time a monster beast attacked him, he would delay his own attack at the last possible moment till he felt the threat of death. Till now, he had gone through several such life-threatening moments, but it was all for naught.

"That strike, was it just a fluke?" Mu Chen was vexed. This was what he was most concerned about. If it was just a fluke and wasn't reproducible, it could not be something he could rely on during combat. He could not count it in his arsenal of techniques.

So he would have to direct his efforts in some other direction to improve his strength. The next logical step would be to complete Bone Forging, but he didn't have any ideas on how to achieve it. He could only complete Tendon Transformation because his muscles could absorb spiritual qi on instinct and he found a few methods to speed up that process. But Bone Transformation was a completely different beast.

"Or is it because I am too calm?" Mu Chen pondered. Because he had already gone through two near-death experiences, he could face those life-threatening situations headfirst without hesitation. He could maintain his calm and take action. His heartbeat didn't even change the slightest, even when he knew he could get killed if he made the slightest mistake. Although his life was in danger, he was still in control.

"Do I need to push myself in a completely desperate situation?" Mu Chen thought. Deeper into the forest there was a valley. Beyond this valley, was the territory of monster beasts that had cultivated their core. The difference between the monster beasts who cultivated blood essence and those who had formed their core was like heaven and earth.

Mu Chen brought his sword closer to his eyes and ran his finger along the edge with caress. The blade had lost its shine and its edge was no longer sharp as it had been when he entered the forest. Nicks and minor cuts had formed, and the steel had rolled in some places. Just killing monster beasts who only cultivated essence with his sword had already started to dull its edge. And it was even though he had been targeting their weak and soft spots.

If anything screamed desperate to current Mu Chen, it was pitting himself against those beasts. He didn't have any other weapons or treasure with him. Since he couldn't use spiritual qi or divine sense, even a spirit grade weapon was the same as an ordinary weapon in his hands. The same was the case with talismans and other magic items. So he had long since given them to Zhou Mei. The sword alone was more than enough for the mortal him.

But the only way to know this for sure was to test it himself.

After collecting the essence, Mu Chen quickly left the scene. The blood might attract some other beast. But he needed some time to heal his wounds.

Mu Chen went to the stream he had already marked. He first cleaned his body of the blood. Then grabbed some wildflowers that had grown at the side of the stream and squeezed them hard. The juice from the flower oozed and Mu Chen rubbed it all over his body. His wounds stung when the juice made contact with them but he ignored it.

"I wonder if this is how those barbarians lived…" Mu Chen couldn't help but regret his inability to control spiritual qi. If he had his cultivation base, he could have used spiritual qi to prevent his clothes from getting dirty. But now, he couldn't avoid it. His clothes had become dirty and drenched in blood and he had to get rid of them. Without any spiritual qi, he couldn't block his body odor. So he had to mask it using other ways.

Mu Chen followed the marks he had left and reached a small den. He had killed its original inhabitant and its pelt now covered his lower body. The den had become his choice of residence for the last few days.

Mu Chen first surveyed the surroundings.

It was almost the same as he remembered.

After making sure the den hadn't become a dwelling of some other beast, Mu Chen covered the mouth of the den with a boulder, leaving a slit for air.

It was difficult even for cultivators to rely on absorbing spiritual qi in this forest, much less someone like him. With lack of spiritual qi, the energy had to be compensated by other means. The cultivators could rely on pills, Mu Chen had his energy drink.

Mu Chen took a sip of his energy drink and sat with his sword while his body healed. His body's natural healing ability had made a huge leap since completing the Tendon Transformation. While his body healed, Mu Chen took out a whetstone and some oil from his pouch and began to sharpen the edge of his sword. The sound of metal brushing against the stone echoed within the cave.

After he finished sharpening it, Mu Chen raised his sword. The naked blade glimmered in the low light with a metallic sheen. Single-edged and thirty inches long with a slight curve, the sharp edge of the blade blended with the top forming a curved tip. The steel had been folded and beaten over a dozen times forming wavy patterns on the surface, which were pleasing to look at. The metal guard locked the blade inside the wooden handle, complete with an elliptical guard. The craftsmanship was top-notch, but it wasn't the sacred sword Mu Chen had once thought it to be.

But it was this same ordinary blade that had managed to cut through the armor of that assailant, which was several times tougher than the hides of the beasts Mu Chen had cut so far. And Mu Chen had been unable to figure out why.