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After haven taken some time to enjoy his meal, Jian put out the fire and started moving again.
It was still early noon, and he had quite a long time left of the daylight.
‘Right, I almost forgot to clean my sword!’ Jian quickly unsheathed his sword and dried it off on his trousers.
‘If this thing rusts, I’m in trouble.’ He thought as he snickered at the somewhat clean sword.
He had stopped using Hunters step as it wasn’t necessary to tire your body out by continuously using it without a purpose.
Jian stepped over mossy stones and dry branches for a long time until he finally heard what he was looking for.
The low and soothing sound of water trickling through the forest.
‘Sounds like a creak.’ He thought as he changed his direction towards that of the sound.
‘If I follow that upstream it will naturally take me towards the Ten Thousand Mountains.’
Jian decided by using his vast knowledge about nature and this territory.
‘Water is also the number one priority for think kind of traveling.’
He filled up the waterskin with the fresh creek water and then started following it upstream.
‘I will follow it a bit further away.’ Jian decided as he remembered all his years of hunting.
Jian then walked a bit further away from the stream before he started following it upstream.
The reason for this was simple, most animals and even humans keep close to the creeks and water sources.
So, by staying a bit further away, he minimizes the risks of running into dangerous animals or even humans.
He kept doing just that for the next couple of months and a couple of times did it show that his strategy was indeed smart.
He met a couple of huge bears, smaller animals and even some people setting camp next to the creek.
Even though he is a skilled hunter, fighting a bear head on is a death sentence for a non-martial artist.
He has killed bears before, but that being with traps and planning.
The people, however, are a different matter entirely.
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Most people you meet outside of cities or manned territories are usually something.
Weather that being a herbologist, criminal or a martial artist you will never know until it is too late.
So, deciding not to approach them is the smart decision for a logical standpoint.
Just judging by Jian’s appearance anyone could see he had been in the forest for a long time by now.
His entire body was covered in warm pelts and his face had become increasingly more stoic.
‘Looks like I’m close now.’ Jian pondered as he analysed the forest around him.
The forest had started to become less dense, and the winds had started to pick up their pace.
He was soon on the edge of the Ten Thousand Mountains, the main territory of the Heavenly Demonic Cult.
‘At least there is some forest and not only flat ground.’ Jian laughed as he stared into the towering mountain range.
Just as he was about to start making his way into the mountains, he heard a sound.
‘Sound like a fight.’ Jian Deducted by the sounds of metal hitting metal.
Slowly he made his way towards the noise, what he saw left him speechless.
Two people were swinging their swords with all their might’s against each other.
Both wore almost the same attire, a black robe with some tiny red details over the shoulders.
‘They are from the Heavenly Demonic Cult!’ Jian deducted.
Everyone in Jianghu knew about the clothes of the cult members, black robe as a base and details of red or gold.
‘Only black being lowest ranking member of the cult. Then comes red accents and details, the more the higher rank.’
Jian thought hard to remember how it went.
‘And after red, is golden details.’ He finally remembered how the ranking system in the Demonic Cult worked.
‘That means that these people are very low rank.’
Even if they were low ranking members, Jian had trouble keeping an eye on their moves.
‘There is no way I would win against them.’ He sadly deducted by watching.
Their moves were faster and more precise then his.
He could also hear the force of their strikes, which was way above his.
They should be Third Rate Martial Artists.
‘If I remember it correctly. A third-rate martial artist is ten times stronger than a non-martial artist.’
Third rates are the most common type of martial artists in Jianghu, people who have just awakened their energy centre, and are able to sense internal energy.
Both martial artists were sweating profusely, and their movements were becoming sluggish.
The ground was a dark red colour as both had wounds all over their body.
Slowly leaking blood and fighting what seemed to be to the death.
Jian was almost hypnotized by the scene in front.
The way their swords clashed and ripped the robes and skin apart.
Within the next couple of sword moves the expected happened.
The sword of one of them penetrated right through the chest of his opponent in one fell strike.
Blood spurting out of his back and the grey metal painted red.
The loser fell on his knees and coughed violently.
He started gurgling on his blood as he tried to yell.
That finally snapped Jian out of it, and he lost his balance.
Making him step on a branch and leaving a loud crack sound in the almost silent opening.
The man who won, even though he looked exhausted, snapped his head towards Jians way.
“You should have left when you saw us the first time!” He yelled as he pulled out the sword with a sickening sound.
“Sorry boy, can’t have any witnesses.” He said with a malicious tone as he started sprinting right at Jian.
Caught in surprise, Jian stumbled on his own legs as he registered what was happening.
‘Fuck! I’m going to die if I can’t get away!’ Jian screamed in his head as he saw the way the man was gripping his sword and running at him.
His heart was almost stuck in his throat as he thought about the possible future.
Jian could hear the man sprinting through the leaves right at him, and Jian knew he had to run if he wanted to survive this.
He quickly started sprinting as fast as his legs could take him through the woods and straight into the mountains.