Jing merely snorted in amusement, "I am just teasing, go on..."

"The difference between spiritual ore and normal ore is that one of them can act as a conduit for Qi whereas the other does not." Wang Fei explained. "But this is just the very tip of the iceberg. For an ore to be considered spiritual other than its ability to hold and move Qi, it must be first purified of mortal filth. And because we will be entering these materials into the most vulnerable parts of our bodies, they need to be as pure as possible. Refining Iron for example poses the risk of our ethereal body getting infected and sick. Everything Qi touches evolves, and diseases follow the same rule."

"Qi-boosted sicknesses?" Jing asked in a mortified tone. "Diseases are already terrifying and hard to cure, how unimaginably powerful do they become with Qi?"

"Exactly," Wang Fei said, and with a solemn tone, he continued, "But it's more complicated. Even some spiritual ores could hold unimaginably powerful viruses. Four years ago, Grand Elder Lee of our sect, A Nascent Soul expert, refined a precious spiritual ore he found in one of his outings. At first, he didn't feel anything, but when he reached the sect everything changed. His Nascent Soul had become riddled with holes, and it looked like it was poisoned from what I heard. Then all of his cultivation progress began to break away, and with it all of his vitality. In the end, one of the biggest experts in the sect turned into a hunched-back mortal old man whose bones were deteriorating day by day before he died."

"And they couldn't help at all?" Jing asked after they pushed the wide door to their dorms open.

"No," Wang Fei said. "Almost all of the famous spiritual physicians have tried their hands on him, and yet the disease proved to be far superior to their hundreds of old age knowledge."

"Terrifying," Jing commented.

"Wang Fei," Shen Yun suddenly said when they were in front of their room. "You go in, I need to ask Xie Jing something."

Wang Fei nodded and entered inside.

Jing followed after Shen Yun, and after they made enough distance between them and the dorms he said, "Did you say everything I told you about?"

Shen Yun clicked his tongue in frustration as he crossed his arms together. "I couldn't hear what you said in the end."

Jing's eyes widened as he remembered that, "What did you say?"

"I said that he wanted your help with something at first." Shen Yun said with a slightly anxious voice.

"Help with something? At first?" Jing said. "Oh no," his tone betrayed a sense of terror.

"After he asked me to explain, I said that maybe he wanted your help in the stables to bring the horses." Shen Yun, eyes locked with Jing's awaiting his answer.

"No, wait," Jing said with a relieved tone. "That is exactly what I said. And now that I think about it I think it was good to show that you didn't remember very well. Otherwise, we'll seem prepared."

"Yes," Shen Yun with a less anxious countenance. "I thought of that too and I made sure to show it in other questions." Then as if he remembered something, he deeply looked at Jing and asked with a solemn voice, "How did you act in your answers? Were you suspicious?"

"What?!" Jing mumbled in a startled tone, feeling caught. "Of course not," He defended. "I knew how important it was to act in a calm manner." Inside, however, his heartbeat increased in pace, remembering how absolutely suspicious most of his body language, facial expressions, and tone were. 'I really fucked up.' He cursed in his mind.

Shen Yun looked at him with blatant disbelief on his face as cocked his head to the side, "Why am I having trouble believing that?"

"Forget that," Jing rushed to change the subject. "We're free now aren't we?"

Shen Yun frowned, "That's a Nascent Soul realm expert. We're as free from him as a fish is free in a large pond."

"Then," Jing said. "Won't it be wise to just end this here? At least for a while."

Shen Yun's gaze narrowed and nodded, "Let's go breakthrough and we'll get your revenge."

'Thank god he didn't ask me about the mental connection,' Jing thought with slight relief. 'But it's only a matter of time before he remembers, I need to think of some lie.'

It was then that Aukhman's voice echoed in Jing's mind, "Five minutes."

Jing calmly breathed in and out to calm his anxious mind. He turned around to gaze at the sun that was swiftly approaching the end of the horizon, impatient to call it a day. A soft refreshing breeze that fluttered his loose black robe, a distant light brown hare that jumped around in the outer sect's forest, the pleasant and unstoppable songs from hundreds of birds that flew in every direction. Some of them were perched on the tall trees in the outer forest, others rested in the trees around the living quarters, and some of them even took the closed roof of the dorms as a satisfying abode.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Here we go," He mumbled, following Shen Yun into their rooms. Zho Tu was still in deep cultivation, Shen Yun in the lower bed was preparing the materials before him as he crossed his legs. On the other bed, Wang Fei too was sitting cross-legged with his mighty calves above one another in the lower bed. Jing climbed to the top, where he previously left his black robe, put the two bags before him, closed his eyes, and sat cross-legged.

Unlike them, he wasn't in cultivation, but meditating. He knew that something very grand would happen, and he was composing himself in preparation for it. Breath in, breath out, the world with its entirety began to slip out of the peak of his mind into depths where the light of his attention didn't shine. In that world of darkness where thought was not, peace was.

However, he wasn't allowed to enjoy it because as abruptly as lightning strikes, he felt himself getting transported into a whole other world.

When he opened his eyes, the first thing that he saw was his now big red furry hands. 'What in the world?' He exclaimed. But when he glanced up, his long mouth parted open in shock. Even more, confusion clouded his senses as he looked around, only to discover himself perched upon a flying flat disc suspended amidst the vast expanse of the cosmos. In front of him, an even more breathtaking sight unfolded.

A colossal arena stretched infinitely in all directions, encircled by towering circular benches teeming with a multitude of spectators. The audience, a sea of faces from countless realms and dimensions, erupted into a cacophony of cheers and screams, their deafening voices echoing through the cosmic void.

Ten identical flat discs, identical to the one upon which he stood, floated in the cosmic expanse beside the one he was on, each one housing a myriad of monstrous beings. These creatures, ranging from fierce dragons to elusive fae, prowled and soared across their respective discs with pride and excitement, emanating an aura of primal power and untamed ferocity.

Jing's hand slightly shook from nervousness, and as he looked at the large number of familiar and not-so-unfamiliar faces, he knew that he was now in the body of Nick Wilde, the fox from Zootopia. That was even more solidified when he saw a large number of characters that he personally loved before him.

There was a tall John Wick in swordsman attire, the conductor from The Green Mile, Luffy and Zoro from One Piece. There were normal animals that spoke, cats, horses, wolves, and bears. Several dragons from the animated Disney movie How to Train Your Dragon.

'Sweet lord!' Jing thought in both shock and amazement at seeing all of these characters come to life. Especially, the dragons, after they moved on from their animated origins into more lifelike, they became fierce, huge, and strong, dazzling him in the process.

The arena itself was a vast expanse of celestial white energy above a golden-marbled floor rich with moving engravings, its boundaries blurred by the boundless depths of the cosmos. Mystical sigils and symbols danced across its surface, imbuing the air with an aura of mystique and majesty.

In this surreal and awe-inspiring setting, Jing found himself thrust into a world beyond comprehension, where cosmic energies clashed amidst the roars of the crowd and the tumultuous energy of the other players.

His eyes couldn't help but linger on the seemingly millions of people who were staring at them with wide eyes. different creatures, and so on. And then at the other discs, and the new races above them.

A voice behind him spoke in English, "Look who the cat dragged in!"

Turning around he saw the old SilverFang character walking toward him with his signature old man walk shirtless. Beside him was a huge black bear whose face was riddled with terrifying scars.

"Issam?" Jing said hesitantly.

SilverFang chuckled and said with a nodding smile, "The one and the only." He then turned to the bear beside him and said in the mother tongue of the new world, "This here is Bearfeast, Dmitri, he's from the cold lands of Russia."

"Hello, Kenneth," The growly voice of the bear spoke calmly.

"Hey there, big fella," Jing joked with a smile as he glanced up at the big bear whose long warm breath made his soft fur dance. When he visualized his avatar, he had given Nick two other items that he didn't have originally. A straw hat, and a fat brown blunt. When he took a puff, the bear's eyes lit up.

"What's in there?" He asked.

"Surprisingly, there is actual weed in here," Jing said, and of the three he was the one most surprised by his words. "When I made the avatar I imagined a blunt, and I think unconsciously I knew what a blunt had, so they gave it as well."

"Can I?" Dmitri questioned.

"Sure," Jing said, holding the blunt between two fingers in front of the bear's face.

Dmitri sat in haunch, as bears do, and reflexively reached out with his claws before he suddenly stopped, "Somehow I forgot..." He said with a weak smile on those bear features.

The other two merely chuckled before Jing approached him and because of the differences in height he had to stand on his toes and stretch his arms to the limit before the bear could draw a long hit.

With a huge exhale, a thick plume of white smoke escaped Dmitri's big nostrils as he mumbled, "That's good."

Feeling curious SilverFang tried one as well. The visual was rather striking and it caught many other players in the same flat arena off guard.

"Is that Silver Fang smoking a fat blunt with Nick Wilde and a giant bear?" He heard someone saying from the back.

"We're in an inter-galactic TV show and yet this feels even more surreal for some reason." Another one said with a stupefied tone.

The crowd was as lively as ever. Their yells, whistles, shouts, and murmurs dominated the ears of everyone present.

"What now?" Jing asked the other two.

Silver Fang who still had the blunt in hand, exhaled a long cloud of smoke and pointed up, "Look over there."

Following his direction, Jing saw dozens of small creatures of various types and colors talking with one another directly above their arena. One of them was none other than Aukhman Goldstead who noticed his gaze and flashed him a weak smile. He turned to a demon that looked eerily similar to him and pointed in Jing's direction before the two laughed, confusing the honest fox.

"The representatives?" Jing asked.

"Yeah," Silver Fang said. "I've always been curious about them. Which one is yours?"