Now, having regained mobility, he readies himself to head back out there. He was on that tree for too long, if there were beasts nearby they could easily sense him.

He gets back down from there, almost tripping, his legs numb from the amount of time he took being stuck in that position. He decide to move for about 15 minutes and head back to sleep for an hour, repeating the process the whole night. He manages to cultivate a bit before falling asleep. He didn't have enough time to try another breakthrough.

He wondered how his friends were doing, he hadn't seen a single person that was from the same camp as him.

He continued to walk forward, finding some herbs, having no real clue as to which were useful or not, he took the ones he thought could be worth something. He didn't have anyone to tell him about herbs, only following what the duo did.

After going towards yet another one, he suddenly hear the air whistle, not thinking more, he lunches forward. Barely evading a strike he turns around to see someone at the 5th Qi gathering.

Clearly surprised, the man looks at Jiang.

''Huh, I didn't expect you to do that. Try to take that one!'' He sneered while throwing a knife from his hidden sleeve.

Jiang not being ready for that barely manages to bring his sword up to meet the knife, before he can lower his weapon he sees the young man almost next to him.

He blames himself for losing his attention on him, he manages to strike towards him before gets to close.

''Do you think you stand a chance? You're not the first one I remove. You. Will. Be. Removed.''

He states between each strikes.

They are both in a deadlock, both being careful at what the other can do.

*SNAP* a branch breaks, both not thinking someone could be near, the man looks while Jiang takes this chance to deal a blow directly towards his spleen. The man wasn't prepared and gets transported out before the hit lands.

He turns around ready to strike again, that's when he sees two men at the 3rd realm. He didn't even have a chance to say anything before one of them started to lunch an attack. They both used swords.

They started fighting and Jiang started taking light injuries, cuts on his arms or on his chest. They weren't serious but it drained him of his energy. The only thing keeping him from losing was their lack of trust towards each other, and the lack of synergy.

He manages to make a couple of strikes, until one of them suddenly overextends, revealing a big flaw that Jiang didn't hesitate to take. What he didn't know was it was a trap.

He was about to strike down towards the one that overextended when he sees the other one going for swift strike. He switches target, aiming at the other one. Being unprepared, the man barely manages to put up a defense before tumbling a couple of meters.

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Taking this chance Jiang lunches a kick at the other guy, slashing right after. He goes to deal another blow but the other one comes back. They both lunches their swords at Jiang at the same time. He manages to use his arm to throw one of the weapons off course while tanking the hit on his arm. He used his sword with his right hand anyway, it would heal.

He uses this opportunity to lunch a strike towards the man on his right, it "Lands" and the guy gets transported out. Jiang doesn't give a chance to escape to the other one. He goes right after him and after a couple more exchanges he deals with him.

He got ready to run at any given sign of aggressivity.

''Great moves! You gave me goosebumps, I didn't expect you to sacrifice your arm like that.'' He says his fighting spirit clearly ignited.

Turning around in a fighting stance, Jiang recognizes this person. It was one of the few at the 4th, now also being at the 5th. Jiang knew that if they were to fight, he wouldn't be able to last long.

His arm was now useless and he barely had any Qi left. He couldn't deal with another fight.

''Hey, I'm just trying to give myself the best chance to get stronger. Why aren't you attacking?''

''Hey respect for that. Simple, you aren't a challenge to me and I know I'll be in the thousand.''

''Look I like your fighting style, I'll give you two hours to heal as much as possible, take it or leave it.'' Looking a bit smug, clearly not caring about what Jiang would choose, he sits down and begins to cultivate.

''Sure, I'm not a challenge now, you'll see on the stage!'' He responds also wanting to fight.

He also sits down and begin to draw Qi from the environment while using the one in his body to stop the bleeding and start the healing process. It wouldn't allow him to recuperate but it would at the very least stop the bleeding.

After the two hours are up, the man gets up.

''Time's up, don't disappoint me.'' He then leaves before Jiang can respond.

Jiang then proceeds to a tree and jumps as high as he can. He hides there and starts cultivating. Seeing everyone getting closer and closer to "Bone strengthening," He knew he didn't have a lot of time before he wouldn't be a match for anyone.

He proceeds to open another one in his right leg. It takes him some time to get enough Qi. Soon as he got some he started the breakthrough. It takes him around the same amount of times as the other ones. He eats the whole barrier and the Qi changes yet again.

He wondered what kind of effect it had on the Qi, it didn't reflect for now. He could officially be considered in the "3rd Qi gathering" realm now. After advancing he looked at his arm, Fortunately the meridians weren't hurt. It would heal in time.

He had to leave his arm hanging on the side, having nothing to wrap it around for now. It hurt a lot to keep it like that but it was the price to pay. After walking for a while, he finds a big clearing. He knew heading out in the clearing was a bad idea, staying in the forest was better.

At least until he healed.

He continued to walk around trying to find a treasure. Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait for long. He found a saber that looked a lot better and sharper than the sword he used. He decided to take it with him, using it only if needed.

After about three more minutes of walking, he hears some movement. Staying silent and approaching slowly, he finally sees something that makes him slightly relieved. One of his friends, Zou Gao, is there! Bad news is, there's 3 people surrounding him.

He rushes forward silently, swiftly slashing with his sword, one of the other two screams the other one.

''Be careful! Behind you!''

Turning around, he only manages to see Jiang already next to him with the sword almost at his face. He couldn't react in time and got transported out.

Turning around to deal with another one, Jiang sees Zou using his saber to stab at one of the two. Using this chance, he lunches at the other one, hoping Zou could deal with that one.

Luckily they both knew how to fight a bit, it didn't take long before they managed to remove them from the tournament. Glad to have finally found someone they knew, they both do a "Bro hug."

''Man I'm glad to see you!'' Zou says, extremely happy.

''I sure hope you were, your ass was about to be whooped, hahaha.''

''hey that's not true, I would've won, it was only a matter of time!'' He says half-laughing.

''Oh hum I found this, it's going to be more useful with you than with me, this is probably considered one of those treasures.'' He hands out the saber to Zou.

''Thank you! I already had a treasure but with this I'll be a lot stronger! Let me give you mine so I can repay you a bit!'' Without giving him a chance, he throws out a talisman.

''Alright, where should we head to?'' Putting that talisman in his storage.

''I found a place where there could be more treasure, let's go have a look.''

Jiang remembers the path he took and goes back to the gemstone, it takes them around half the day to get there. When they get there, Jiang explains what happened to him and what kind of monster is there.

He knew that even if his friend was there they wouldn't have a lot of chances, but it was better than none.

''I know that gemstone is probably part of this beast but I feel like it's something special.''

''I believe you, let's hope it actually is if we're going to distract this thing long enough to cut it off'' He says nervously.