He sees around him a forest with different coloured flora, some trees had black wood, some had white leaves. There were also flowers of different colours around.
In front of him are a variety of weapons laid out on the floor, they weren't the practice one but they had actual steel. Deciding to take a sword, magically the other weapons disappear. He swings it around to feel the weight and realizes that it is quite light.
Having figured out where he was, he starts heading in a random direction. There was no need to care about the direction since it would rely on luck.
After walking for a bit, he hears leaves rustle, he looks around, now on high alert. He hears it another time, turning in time, he sees a small shadow.
He doesn't know what that is, but he readies his weapon, to strike if needed. He hears a rustle again but before he can swing, he gets scratched on his leg.
He now sees the menace, a small, mutated rabbit. He was shocked to find that rabbit was a Qi gathering II beast. It was only a small rabbit, but it would already be a challenge.
Beasts had a different way of growing stronger, relying solely on killing and absorbing the energy of the loser's body. Beasts in the Qi gathering were stronger than normal cultivators. They didn't need to adapt their mana veins or not. It was already adapted.
The only reason they were in the ''Qi gathering'' realm was because in the same realm, cultivators had a chance to win. It was more incline to the beast, but a well-prepared cultivator could win.
Since this beast knew how to utilize Qi, it could use it to make his strikes deeper. Luckily for Jiang, this beast was quite young. It probably thought Jiang was easy prey.
Feeling the scratch, Jiang turns to face his opponent. Ready to deal with him once and for all.
The beast lunches itself from side to side, trying to distract him. Jiang managed to follow the whole time, waiting for the beast to be close enough. The beast suddenly jumps forward, trying to scratch him again on his leg. Jiang was ready, he acted as if he was taken by surprise, at the last moment, he thrusts his sword forward, directly in the chest of the mutated rabbit. He swiftly removes his sword from the chest and remove the last bit of life it had. Making sure it didn't need to suffer any more.
After this fight he takes the time to get the beast core. It was a good way to get better equipment. Using other beast's things like claws, skin, beast cores, etc.
Since he didn't really know if he could hide everything, that's the only thing he brought with him. Beast cores were usually about the size of a thumb. they were easy to hide. They were always complementary compared to the material used. It could add an additional aspect that some materials couldn't.
Now having figured that beasts were more dangerous than he thought, he decides to proceed with caution. Walking slowly and making sure to hear everything around him, he walks for about 2 hours, without seeing anything.
He decides to take a small break, he goes in a tree, and starts to meditate. After about 20 minutes, he gets down and starts walking again.
After some time he finally hears sounds from a distance, deciding to have a look he heads there.
As he approaches he sees 5 men fighting together, 3 versus 2. Both men surprisingly hold themselves up pretty good. They are in a clearing with blue flowers, a stark contrast seeing that blood was being spilled.
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He notices that the strength of the trio is around 2nd to 3rd Qi gathering while the duo are both 4th realm. He knew that it was only a question of time before the duo would easily win.
He makes sure no one sees him, he looks around and sees a gemstone on the ground, surrounded by bluebell flowers. "That has to be mine, wouldn't need to worry about walking with a giant sword" He thinks.
This was also a big part of the problem. They didn't really know what was considered a treasure for them, it could be anything. He figured that a gemstone in plain sight was an easy way to identify one.
After making sure no one else sees him, he decides to go around them, to be closer to the gem, it would be easier to snatch and run.
Before he manages to get there he accidentally makes a noise by pressing his foot on dead leaves. They all stop fighting and look to where the sound came from. Thinking he could hide he dashes to the closest tree.
They see a shadow running around. ''HEY, WE SAW YOU GET OUT HERE.'' One of them screams, being careful not to be backstabbed by the other side.
''ARGH'' Everyone turning around, Jiang looking over the tree. They see one of the trio get bitten by one of the bluebell flower. Jiang knew he could hide and wait here peacefully now.
Meanwhile they all start getting bitten, the duo starts running towards the gemstone but the trio stops them, since none of them could get it, they decide to attack the flowers, hoping to get respite from the weird plant.
Unfortunately for them, the plants seem to move on their own, getting closer to them. Knowing none of them could get the gemstone, they force each other to leave. They knew they would have to fight as soon as they got out.
Before they manage to get out, a bigger bluebell bits one of them and he falls down. Before they could even help him get up he gets bitten by all the other flowers. His friends decided they couldn't save him so they left.
The man then disappears a few seconds later, having being bitten in the neck on his artery, there wasn't a lot left he could do. He got transported out where he could get medical attention.
Having figured that getting this gem wouldn't be easy, he tries to think of a plan but since he was alone he didn't really know what he could do. He decides that he would let someone else try their luck with this one.
He goes around to see what's happening with that fight, it doesn't take long to see the duo, not seeing the other two, he decides to hide quickly. Looking at them again he feels something weird is going on.
Even after 30 seconds, they didn't move the slightest. He decides to make his way around in a big circle to see their faces. As soon as he sees them he feels his heartbeat quicken. Only their eyes could move, the rest were completely stuck.
He realized that some of the flowers must've had a venom in it. He goes forward to them, looks around their clothes and bags to make sure they didn't have anything he could use.
He finds 3 beast cores of the same level he had, some medicinal herbs and their weapons. After dealing with that, he manages to spot one of them barely move his arm an inch. deciding to see the effect he waits a bit longer, while faking he left.
After about 10 minutes, the one on the right manages to bring his arms down and he managed to bring a foot forward. Knowing he didn't have a lot of time, He went ahead and used his sword to hit them on the head.
They both get taken out of the stage as soon as the sword is about to hit. Having dealt with two potential opponents, he decides to go the closest tree he can from the gemstone.
He is about 20 meters away from the gem, he knew he could potentially dash and get it. It would be a close call because he would need to go on a tree as soon as possible.
Having made up his mind, he sighs and then rush forward, cutting the flowers in front of him. He manages to cut some of them while running but he still gets bitten a couple of times. near the gem was a 1 meter zone free of them, then he would have to run again.
He finally manages to get to the gemstone, bending down to pick it up, it doesn't budge. He tries again but it still doesn't move. Then, all of a sudden the ground shakes around him. he decides to run off without the gem.
He manages to get two feet before the ground shakes again and he falls down. He gets lifted high on what looked like a giant earth crab. That's when he realized this gem never was a treasure but more of a lure.
He sees the pincers extending and going towards him. Without wasting anytime, he goes for one side of them and slides off just before it gets to him. He barely avoids it before he starts running again.
He then manages to get to the arm of the pincer, he goes to jump off but he realizes too late the he is too far off the ground. Having no choice he brings out his sword and holds it in front of him. Hoping to break the fall.
Luckily, with the momentum of the beast moving and his jump, he manages to land on the side of the big tree with his sword stuck in the trunk. He removes the sword using his whole strength and starts falling down. Without being able to catch himself up, he falls down directly on the floor.
He knew he couldn't stop now, getting up he tried to run as best as he can but being too hurt. He can only limp forward rapidly. Luckily for him, the beast didn't seem to see or care about him, it went back to his hiding spot. Waiting for a new prey.
All of that seemed to be happening in the span of a minute or two but it happened in under a minute.
He barely managed to climb a tree before his body started to solidify. Knowing he didn't have a lot of time, he managed to bring himself comfortably on a branch, deciding to rest there for now.
After about an hour, he manages to move normally again. Seeing it was kind of late, Jiang decides to stay there for the night, going a bit higher to hide from beasts. He then sits in a semi-comfortable posture to meditate.
He tries to enter a half state of cultivation to try and open another meridian in his other hip joint, trying to keep a balance. It takes him a long time to gnaw at the barrier since he couldn't fully concentrate on it. In the end he managed to open it perfectly, without any hindrance.
Now he had three meridian opened. One on his neck and both of his hip joints. It allowed him more flexibility in his movements now. Since both hip joints were open the energy transferred could allow him for more movements.