William opened his eyes and let out a deep breath that he unknowingly held. Entering a new realm always gave a revitalizing feeling, and it just got stronger the higher the realm.

With new found energy he jumped up as quickly as he could before starting to stretch. He could feel his Qi course through his body. He was a little disappointed that he hadn't gained any kind of physique, as breaking through in the first two major realms was when a cultivator had the highest chance of awakening a physique. And he was now on the last minor realm of the second major realm. In theory he could awaken a physique after he started practicing the [A devious rose], but the odds of that was low. Which meant he might need to find a technique to nurture a physique.

Nurturing a physique took a blood shedding amount of effort as well as a not insignificant amount of resources, add on top of that, physiques gained this way tended to be the least impressive ones of the three main categories of physiques.

The were normally three different ways of gaining a physique, these were.

The first method was simply by being born with one. These were called Innate physique, these were commonly the strongest but also the most rare ones, even if both parents had a Innate physique didn't guarantee that their child would have one, but it did increase the likelihood.

The second method was Enlightened physique. They were normally gained by random chance. Either trough a random opportunity and enlightenment, henceforth the name. Or by awakening one during a breakthrough in the first two major realms. This was the second strongest and actually universally the most common type of physique.

The third method was simply by constant training and cultivation. This method required a immense amount of effort and depending of what technique was used it might require a large amount of rare resources. This was actually not commonly used since if a person used this method than they would decrease the chance of gaining a physique through enlightenment. Also the strength of the physique would vary depending on the compatibility of the person and technique.

There was a forth method of gaining a physique through artificially creating one through alchemy or rituals but this was incredibly risky as it would commonly backfire and if it did then the best case scenario would be a regression in the cultivation of the person. In the worst case it could make the cultivator lose control of their body and trap them in their own mind while their body mutates into an abomination that would rampage around until they were finally killed.

Therefore this method was not only looked down upon by cultivators it was also outright banned in most places. Sects had a special hatred for this type of physique and would hunt them and their creator down. There had even been instances of countries hiring alchemists and magicians to create a physique for their soldiers. These cases usually either ended with a large amount of assassinations being conducted or the country in question shutting down these plans after extensive 'diplomatic' talks.

William quickly finished up sensing his new strengthen meridians to make sure nothing was wrong after lamenting the unfairness of the world. But for now it was time to eat.

William sat next to the fireplace. The pot was sitting on a stone that had been placed within the the edge of the fire place, with the handle sticking out of reach from the fire. This seemed like a trap, the whole pot was made from metal and so even if the handle wasn't inside the fire it would still be hot. William was not immune to temperatures so he would definitely be burned if he took that handle. Had Victor forgotten about William not being immune to temperatures just because Victor hadn't been bothered by temperatures for a long time?

William glanced towards Victor. He was just holding his pot normally while smelling it. He twisted his body to look at William as if he noticed William eyes on him. He then had a look of realization as he took out a wooden spoon and handed it to William.

"You should take the pot of the fire and stir it so everything mixes nicely."

"Grandpa, I'm not at a point were I can ignore the heat..."

Victor just looked at him with vague amusement, like he was making a joke that was funny but not funny enough to make him laugh.

"Don't worry. The handle is made from a special metal that has trouble heating. The temperature of the handle should only be a bit lower than your body temperature."

William believed him and took the handle in his hand. William swore to himself that he would study more on different materials, and how too discern them when they got back to the clans home. Even if this would annoyingly put him behind schedule in all the other things he needed to train and learn.

The soup was a mixture of some kind of powder with bits of different vegetables and dried meats in it and normal water. William tasted it with his spoon and the only thing he could think about was how bland it was. It didn't even hold the slightest trace of Qi.

Victor set down his pot on a stone outside the fireplace before a loaf of bread appears in his hand. He handed the loaf to William. William saw Victor take out two more things but these were covered with white cloth. Victor opened them up reveling a big round cheese and a large ham, he then started to cut pieces off of them.

William tried to eat bite into the bread. William was pretty sure he only succeeded in tearing a bit off because of his cultivation level.

William stared at the bread while wondering if it was even fit for human consumption.

Victor laughed a little before giving advice on how to eat it the best way.

"You should either tear or cut a piece of it off and then dip that piece in the soup."

William followed the advice. It became easier to eat but the taste was terrible. There was no Qi in it either.

William sampled the cheese and ham, they were not bad nor very good, which made them the best part of the meal, unfortunately neither of them held any Qi in them. It was truly disastrous in his opinion, since he had gotten used to the extra Qi from his meals to help him cultivate.

But William had been walking the whole day and he was hungry so he continued eating without voicing his complaints.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Victor was also eating but he didn't show any reaction to the food. Simply smiling a bit more when he saw William eating.

William didn't like this. Apparently it was going to stay a comfortable temperature the whole night so Victor insisted in not putting up anything to protect them from the weather. He simple took out two very thick rolls of leather. There was some kind of filling inside the rolls to soften them enough that it wouldn't be uncomfortable to lay on them. But it was incomparable to a real bed.

William gave up with a soft sigh, this wasn't the romanticised adventure that he was hoping for. He was even having trouble falling asleep so he tried a sure way of falling asleep that he had found out about when he was younger. He tried to meditate about and seek enlightenment about nothing, all his thoughts and complaints simply disappeared one by one and then he fell asleep.

----------------------------------------

It was the second day of traveling now. The breakfast had been as disappointing as the dinner. Simply because it was the same.

This continued. The only difference being some rain that had started on the second night. This time Victor had taught him how to put up a tent.

----------------------------------------

William and Victor was now approaching a wide river which cut the forest into two. There was a large stone bridge to help travellers cross it. William believed that the river was around a hundred meters wide. The bridge was built low enough that you could hear the water crashing into the stone foundation that held up the bridge.

When they had crossed the river Victor spoke up for the first time in almost Half an hour.

"Well how does it feel to finally leave the Soh forest area?"

William looked at him in shook before questioning him.

"That was still the Soh forest? Where were all the beasts and other dangers?"

"It was the outer most part of the external area, essentially the edge of the edge. Of course there wouldn't be many dangers here. Out clan has spent a large amount of effort cleaning up most of the dangers in the external part of the forest. The clan also spent some extra effort in maintaining this road since it leads to the northern most city in our territory. But even so you will need to spend some effort on learning a perception technique, there have been a few creatures in our general vicinity at all times."

William was shocked upon hearing this. The most he noticed was a few birds sometimes passing them by, but they looked like normal animals who didn't pose any danger to even normal people. William started to look around this new forest to see if he could notice any creatures.

"This is not part of the Soh forest. I doubt you will find any beasts that are brave enough to approach the road. At best you might see some birds or a squirrel... I guess if you are really lucky than you might see a rabbit."

William became a bit sad upon hearing that. He had looked forward to seeing proper Qi beasts, not small animals, but he had missed his chance and now the rest of their journey promised to be as mundane as it had been so far. Victor cheered him up with some words, of course they were quite ominous if William thought about it.

"Don't be so down. You will be able to see as many Qi beasts as you want to when we have arrived at our first task."

William quickly took this opportunity to ask what their task was about.

"So what exactly are we going to do? I heard that we will be meeting a clan member there but nothing else."

Victor looked around before seemingly deciding that they had nothing better to focus on since they would still be walking for a few more days.

"A few years ago the clan noticed some Qi beasts of the insect variety approaching the Soh forest, specifically they are apparently called Pseuphyllopara, commonly called swift scythe mantis. Problem was that because we had little to no records of the region we didn't know if this was a natural migration or an invasion. So this gave birth to a problem. If this was an invasion and we allowed them to enter the Soh forest then that could imbalance the outer areas of the Soh forest. But if this was a natural migration that happened every so often then stopping them could cause other problems inside the forest as well as in other areas. So we contacted a circle of druids and scholars for advice, and they recently came up with the answer that this was an unnatural expansion and that they should be stopped to preserve the nature of Soh forest. So we are now going to clean them up."

Victor checked upon William to see if he understood, which he seemed to do.

"So our first task will be to exterminate them?"

Victor nodded and continued.

"If necessary. Beasts of the insectoid variation present their own problems. Normally, if you kill enough of any creature, they will escape. In this way you can sheppard them where you want them. Insect creatures are usually not the smartest, it also doesn't help that their numbers are a strong point, meaning you will have to kill quite a lot of them before they retreat, a good thing is that few insect creatures are actually powerful enough to threaten veteran cultivators unless they get the chance to swarm them. Which was why we only had to leave one person to keep them in check."

Williams brain apparently didn't take notice that he wasn't considered a veteran cultivator and was very much at risk of being injured or worse. Instead he focused on the member they would meet up.

"So who will we be meeting there?"

"You wouldn't know him but he is from the same generation as Hikaru. He is an expert hunter and was therefore tasked with controlling the creatures numbers while we were waiting for the druids and scholars response. Normally we would just send a message to him telling him to deal with the matter. But there are three reasons why we didn't. Can you guess them?"

William had to think for a while before he could answer. One of the reasons were quite obvious. The second reason he could figure out quickly enough. He had no idea about the third reason.

"The first reason is because I need experience and this was a good opportunity for me to gain it. The second reason could be because something new happened with the insects. I don't know about the third reason."

Victor patted Williams head before complimenting him.

"Good job. The first reason is as you say, this is a good opportunity for you to fight for real. The second reason is indeed because something happened there. Insect creatures actually have another strength, because of their high numbers there is a higher than normal risk of variants appearing among them. This newest generation of creatures were simply heaven defying. According to the report we got, there is a variant for every ten normal creature. This would signify that something significant has changed and we are to investigate that while killing them. Worst case is that the Queen herself evolved into something new and we will need to exterminate the whole colony instead of simply guiding them back to where they came from to prevent damage to the environment that they live in. This is not a one man job and so we are to assist."

William looked towards Victor when he stopped after speaking about the second reason. Victor looked like he was deep in thought.

They walked for another before Victor continued with the third reason.

"The third reason is the man who is stationed there, Rigel. Because he was enlightened while watching the scythe mantises, he volunteered to stay back and keep their population in control while also using them to finish the work of perfecting his new sword technique. More importantly for you, he is an expert hunter with a lot of experience in the Soh forest. He also cultivated and reached perfect mastery in [A devious rose] which gave him the poison alignment before he created his core. This all means that for the foreseeable future he will be acting as your teacher."

William was a little shocked at this. Until now he hadn't had a proper teacher. He had been taught by whoever was available. The closest thing he had to a proper teacher was the 'whispers'. But this was also good. If he could be trained in the technique enough to gain the poison alignment before he created his core then he would have a double affinity core. He hadn't truly thought about that. He had just been happy to be able to boost his attack power with the poison affinity, if he even managed to unlock the poison affinity. But since the person who would be instructing him had achieved it then the chance of him achieving the same and getting the alignment was good. This was great news, no longer would he be a one affinity cultivator, it also helped that the poison affinity was very compatible and therefore boosted by the forest affinity, making it much stronger than it would normally be.