Chapter 16: Into The Forest Part 4

The youth, whom he had come to know as Li Hong, turned out to be a chatterbox. His mouth had not stopped flapping even for a second since they started the journey.

But Luo Ling didn’t find it annoying. He was rather thankful to the youth as his incessant chattering filled the gaps in information he had about this world. His greatest harvest was the knowledge he obtained about cultivators and the so-called Qi.

Voice Transmission, after understanding its characteristics, turned out to be a familiar trick to the transmigrator.

After a martial artist achieves the second stage of Martial Master, and their body has an abundance of mental force -also known as Inner Breath- they’d be able to touch upon some auxiliary techniques. Using Inner Breath to relay a message directly into the ears of a target to avoid eavesdropping— the martial artists in Murim called it Whisper Technique.

The cultivators employ a similar method, replacing the role of Inner Breath with Qi.

Speaking of Qi, Luo Ling couldn’t help but ponder on this subject. Li Hong explained it as the essence of existence itself. Everything he sees and feels, be it living or non-living, is made up of Qi.

In contrast, Inner Breath could only be generated by a being with a soul.

Cultivators train by absorbing the Qi from around them, using it to modify and elevate their essence of life. But martial artists had to train rigorously and stimulate their mind and body again and again to increase their Inner Breath.

After getting a detailed explanation of Qi from Li Hong, Luo Ling had to begrudgingly admit that it was far above Inner Breath in both versatility and raw power.

Immortal Path appeared to be superior to Martial Path in every way possible.

Much to Luo Ling’s regret, their idle chatter came to an end as they arrived at a clearing. The ground was littered with broken, misshapen wooden pillars, and dry leaves blanketed what appeared to be the torn remains of a tent. Many animal bones of all sizes were haphazardly strewn across the area, painting a grim picture.

“Is this the place where it first appeared?” The middle-aged cultivator asked as he eyed the clearing marked with obvious human activity.

“Yes, Lord Ping,” Luo Ling replied, scanning his surroundings vigilantly.

This clearing was unofficially called Gathering and used to be a place for the hunters from the village to field dress their prey. Professional butchers among these hunters would help others prepare their hunts for a price, after all, not all parts of an animal they caught were useful. Instead of taking back the entire thing, they’d rather only carry the valuable parts.

From morning to evening, the Gathering would always see a rush of activity. Yet, today, even though the sun had already risen to the sky, not a soul was present.

According to Daluo, that maneater beast attacked the unsuspecting butchers when they were busy and left only half-eaten corpses behind for returning hunters to recover.

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Even though hunters had stopped coming here for a few days, Luo Ling could still smell the thick metallic scent unique only to blood. Although, with his current capabilities as a 2nd-rate Martial warrior, he could not tell whether the scent was from a beast's blood or human blood.

And he was not the only one who noticed this strangeness.

“Such thick resentment,” Lord Ping grumbled, knitting his brows with a thoughtful look. “It is impossible for wild beasts without proper sentience to be capable of this.”

“It could belong to those humans who were killed.” Li Hong said, drawing upon the most logical conclusion he could think of.

Luo Ling distanced himself from the surrounding bushes growing up around the edges of the clearing and stood closer to Li Hong. The dense shrubbery was a perfect cover to hide a predator. If something was lurking in these carpets of dense green, and decided to ambush, he might become the first one to fall victim.

He’d rather not be that unlucky sod.

He'd not have cared if he still had the capabilities of his previous life even if hundreds of maneaters showed up. Unfortunately, he was only a 2nd-rate martial warrior trash.

Luo Ling preferred to work according to circumstances rather than holding on to unreasonable hubris. People who kept clinging to their past achievements and were unwilling to adapt often died in the cruelest ways possible. He’d not be like them.

“Indeed.” Lord Ping nodded his head in agreement with the youth. “It’s the work of a panther species. Only the beings killed by tigers or their variants would leave behind such dense resentment.”

The capable-looking cultivator’s grave tone startled Luo Ling, and a sense of dread began to settle in his heart.

“Master, could it be a tiger spirit?” Li Hong guessed, his voice trembling when he spoke— a clear indication of fear.

“Not necessarily,” Lord Ping debunked the youth’s guess with a shake of his head. He was much more knowledgeable and could easily pick up on clues missed by the youth. “Although there is resentment, I don’t feel a shred of demonic Qi. That thing is not a demonic spirit… for the time being.”

“For the time being… Master, do you mean that this beast is about to enter demonhood?” Li Hong whipped his head at the middle-aged man, seeking confirmation.

“Seems so. Otherwise, I don’t see how a mere beast without spirituality could stimulate such dense negative emotions out of its victims.”

Luo Ling was genuinely confused by the two cultivators' exchange of words. Demons? Resentment? What’s going on here? He understood the meaning of those words individually, but together, they didn’t make sense to him. Just when thought he managed to make some sense of this brand-new world, stranger things popped out and slapped his cheeks silly.

It was frustrating. He needed to get answers.

The transmigrator cleared his throat and leaned closer to the youth, his voice dropping to a hushed whisper as he asked, “Brother Hong, what is a demon?”

A few seconds of silence lingered in the clearing. Luo Ling felt his cheeks burn with shame, thinking he had been ignored. Perhaps it was not the right time to ask questions.

“Wild animals, after enlightenment, gain sentience and begin to absorb the Qi from the air. We call that process, demonization. After demonization is successful, they are no longer wild beasts, but are called demons.”

Luo Ling stopped shifting from one foot to the other awkwardly and listened intently as the gentle voice of the middle-aged man flowed out.

Lord Ping folded his hands behind his back and gazed into the depths of the dense woods of Hundred Beast Forest.

“Usually, the enlightenment of sentience is a prolonged process, taking anywhere from ten to twenty months to complete. But...”

Lord Ping trailed off, narrowing his eyes at something in the distance.

“But that process could be sped up by consuming the flesh and blood essence of a sentient creature. Since these beasts couldn't kill a demon because of the humongous power gap, humans are their favorite alternative.”

He turned around and threw Luo Ling a glance devoid of any emotions.

“It is necessary that we kill that beast before it claims the lives of any more unsuspecting humans. Therefore, kid, are you willing to lend us a hand?”

Luo Ling felt a chill rush down his spine. The look on the cultivator’s face didn’t bode well with him.