He froze. Then he relaxed as he identified what had been growling at him. He had almost missed it in the darkness as it was camouflaged among the dense trees.

In front of him was an Asian black bear—a mutated one, to be exact. Three times the size of its regular counterpart and exuding qi, it was a dangerous tier-one killing machine. He had not expected to encounter his ferocious beast this early in the apocalypse.

But Wang Shen wasn’t scared. Had he still been at the early Qi Condensation stage, he would have been in deep trouble. But his gamble had paid off. Mid Qi Condensation stage was more than enough to take on this tier one mutant.

“Come here, you ugly fucker. I want your core.”

The bear increased the ferocity of its snarl as if responding to Wang Shen’s taunt. Then it lunged at him, seeking his throat with its powerful jaw. Wang Shen calmly leaned backward, letting the beast fly above his head. It felt rather slow to him as his perception had developed even further. As it passed by his head, he willed qi to enter his palms before striking its underbelly.

The bear crashed into a pile of rocks, skidding to a complete stop. Then it stood back up, enraged even more than before. A line of drool dripped from its pulled back lips as it exposed its large canines.

Wang Shen grinned. “I would have been disappointed if that’s all it took to take you down. Now come!”

The savage beast tried its best to land a hit on Wang Shen, but the cultivator proved to be too nimble of a target. Utilizing his qi to shift his momentum, he easily avoided the swipes of the bear’s deadly claws. Then, directing a stream of qi to his legs, he jumped high into the air. He spun once, then twice, generating centripetal force and accelerating his descent.

“Take this, you fucking bear!” roared Wang Shen as he struck the bear’s head with the speed of a peregrine falcon and the strength of an elephant. A shockwave traveled into the ground and spread, causing the air to shake and leaves to shiver. A terrible scream of pain sounded from the mutant bear as it convulsed on the ground. Then it went silent as a final breath escaped its body.

There was still one last thing to do. Wang Shen walked with confidence up to the carcass of the bear. He used his qi to infuse his hands with a sharp aura then slammed it down, drilling a deep hole into the chest of the mutated bear. Then he reached inside. It was an unpleasant experience as he felt everything from connective tissue and fat, not to mention the thick smell of blood. But it was worth the trouble, for he had found what he had been looking for.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The heart.

Grabbing hold of the organ, he pulled and detached it from the corpse. Extracting his blood-stained hand, he unfolded his fingers and gazed at the mass of tissue. Then using his free hand, he made a slit in the heart and plunged in once more. His fingers closed around a smooth and round object.

Found it, Wang Shen thought. It was as he expected.

This was the real prize—a tier-one monster core. The early-stage apocalyptic mutant monsters still had small cores, but they were still useful. Monster cores were perfect catalysts for streamlining cultivation when appropriately consumed. They were safe to use once the impurities got expelled.

He cleaned his hands with the remainder of the water and also washed the monster core before stowing it away in his backpack.

It would come in handy later.

His eyes could now see perfectly, even in the dim moonlight.

Shouldn’t I kill a few more monsters for more cores? Wang Shen analyzed his position. He could spend a few hours killing infected beasts nearby and gain cultivation resources. Or he could leave and start the next phase of his plan. Hmm, I’ll come back later. These things are valuable but not to this extent.

Every second he wasted from here on out meant more people were going to die. Wang Shen intended to save his friends and family first. He would need to quickly determine who the virus had infected and separate them to cure them eventually.

The Heavenly Cures were secured inside his backpack. Still, there were two other steps that needed to be solved before he could distribute the medicine.

He needed to convert the flowers into liquid form, and then solidify its essence into pill form. In order to transform the flowers into a solution, he required a cauldron.

Unfortunately, this early into the apocalypse, new cultivators hadn’t yet discovered how to use cauldrons for medicinal pills. He’d need to contact an old acquaintance to borrow the only cauldron he knew about at this stage in the apocalypse. Though that acquaintance hadn’t yet met him in this timeline.

The second step was to find the Jadite Clover Stone. This artifact, originating from the Changsha region, would aid him in his cultivation path. It would likely push him up to late-Qi Condensation, which would allow him to increase the success rate of Heavenly Cure crafting.

He’d need to increase his power before attempting alchemy; one step was not more important than the other. His journey of a thousand miles began when he plucked that first flower.

Wang Shen would see it through.

It was late when he got back down the mountain, but Wang Shen didn’t mind. He had enough cures to save thirty people if he did everything right. Luckily, there was still a train going back to Changsha. He didn’t need to call a cab.

He stepped onto the last train back to the city.