In but a second, Jing's vision blurred and he found himself in the same place where he died previously. In a world that was dominated by both brown and grey. Hidden deep within a grey but short mountain gorge, he surveyed his surroundings. Nestled between two rocky walls that arced in opposite directions, he contemplated climbing them to have a better view of his surroundings. However, he quickly changed his mind once a sudden sound echoed to his left.
Turning around to look, he couldn't see anything other than the narrow rocky path that led down the opening of the gorge. He slowly exhaled to compose himself, because although he knew he wouldn't die here he was still affected by how eerie everything was, and of course, how terribly painful death was. He could still vividly remember the monster's rocky cold and sharp nails piercing through his throat.
Thick stormy clouds above dominated the skies, and fast-moving winds howled through the rocks. Step by step, he walked through the slowly meandering path until he was confronted by the vast grey rocky plains whose end he couldn't see. That was when the tall slender creepy creature made its appearance once again. It was hiding beside the mountain edges to his right, sticking to the jutted rocks that protruded all over the place peculiarly.
Jing's heart skipped a beat when the creature's dull white eyes met his, and a terrible feeling gripped his heart. The monster stood up right once it sensed the human, and with seemingly slow steps it approached him.
He clenched his fist into a strong fist and raised it to his level. Inside, he willed a new spiritual organ to move, and it did. His strong tight fingers were coated with a thick layer of black and bright golden matter. A smile couldn't help but tug at his lips when he saw that scene and felt the strength held within it.
This was the Golden Mountain Sect's signature weapon and shield, Inner Gold. The gold wasn't merely normal ore that was summoned at will, it was much more complex. It was the combination of both Qi and the refined core of gold that turned into a strange matter that was both tough as steel, and as soft as a flower petal according to the wielder's wishes.
As if it had a mind on its own, the thick layer of black gold moved on its own and shrouded his forearm in a smooth glistening protective casing that oozed with strength from its abundant Qi and tough properties. Jing stepped forward with his arms to the side, and when he was but a few paces from the monster he noticed how he was merely reaching his waist in height, something that slightly intimidated him.
Jing raised both hands in preparation and continued moving forward. The monster moved and swiped at Jing with his claws. His previously slow demeanor disappeared and was replaced by a frenzied fast monster at the drop of a hat.
He was startled but he quickly raised his protected forearm to block the attack. A dull clinging sound rang out through the silent expanse that was only visited by the howling winds. Jing felt his inner organs shift in place after the attack, but he remained standing!
The strength of the monster before him was still very vivid in his mind, and so to remain standing made him feel proud. However, the monster's frenzied attack had just begun. Its tall slender legs were nothing more than spike rocks moving at lightning speed aiming for Jing's heart. However, in his spiritual domain, the monster's moves became slightly easier to follow. He moved a step to the right, narrowly dodging the attack.
His spiritual sea was acutely sensitive to everything that was happening in a three-meter radius, and it was sending his actual brain a torrent of inputs. The small pebbles that were on the ground once he changed his step, the vibration of the wind as the monster's legs cut through the air, and most importantly the strong mass that was heading in his direction.
Yet, before his thoughts could even reach their course, the monster moved once again. Its gnarly long claws horizontally danced in the air, vowing to send his head flying away. Jing's body seemingly moved on its own in response to the inputs from his spiritual sea, and he ducked down. Finding an opportunity, he coated his right fist with his Inner Gold and punched the monster's stomach with everything that he had.
The monster cried in a high-pitched grating sound once the attack landed on its stomach, and its whole body couldn't help but tilt forward. Jing's face was working on a smile when two of the monster's claws raced from both directions toward him.
Using his bent legs, he pushed forward, sending himself flying backward a considerable distance, evading the attack by a hair's width. As he fell on his left side, small rocks stabbing into his shoulders and torso, his smile finally showed up in its place. Swiftly, he sprung up to his feet with a wild vigor, "Show me what you got you creepy fuck," He shouted in the monster's direction.
The monster as if it understood his words eerily growled at him before it started running in his direction. Its torso was small and from it rose slender long rocky legs, and even longer arms. Needless to say, the way it was running was very intimidating, and the speed made it even more so.
Jing felt his subtly growing confidence grow stale, but the cool feeling of his inner gold around the lower part of his forearm made him stand courageously.
When the monster was but a few steps away, it used its long arms and shot itself in Jing's direction like a javeline with its spear-like legs ready to claim his life.
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Because the monster had begun his attack outside the range of his spiritual sea, Jing had trouble following after it, but his reflexes were also sharp. Something the Purple Crystal Spiritual Root, The Inception of his spiritual sea, and of course breaking through to the Qi Condensation played a big part in.
His inner gold swiftly disappeared into his skin before it emerged out of his stomach, protecting a palm-sized square area. A thundering boom reverberated through the silent plains once the two creatures made contact.
Jing was sent flying like a broken kite, his face flushed, and eyes bulging as an intense pain fried his brain. When he finally fell down, he continued rolling down as the rugged terrain made a mess of the skin of his face, arms, torso, and legs.
However, although one could never get used to the pain, Jing began to get acclimated to controlling one's mind to not dwell too much on it, especially in the middle of a fight. Thus, as he faced an onslaught of painful sensations all over his body, he swiftly sprung up to his feet with his left hand clutching the air in an attempt to soothe the pain away.
His body was hunched back as he gazed forward, and he could see that the monster was still on the ground, something that shocked him! When he looked down, he saw how his robe was obliterated in the place the monster had attacked, but his stomach's skin was taut and intact. Although it was oozing with blood from the bruises he suffered along the way, it wasn't open, because that was what would have happened if he hadn't used his inner gold to shield himself.
As he stood there, his heart was drumming inside of his chest to the point that other than his fast rasped breathing, it was the only other sound he was hearing. Willing himself, he slowly approached the monster. When he was but a short distance away, the monster stood up!
Or rather, it tried to. Its legs were broken from the middle, and as it stood balance deluded its mind as it awkwardly fell time and time again. Realizing the reality of its new situation, it quickly adapted. It had forgone using legs as a means of moving around and used its gnarly claw-filled hands. Surprisingly, it worked wonders, though its speed had dived.
The pain was gradually loosening its grip over Jing's mind, and when the monster clumsily approached him, he readied himself for the final confrontation.
The monster jumped in Jing's direction using the impressive strength its arms held, and it quickly brandished its sharp claws for an attack as it flew astonishingly fast.
'Jesus,' Jing exclaimed after he ducked down, dodging the monster's attack. Taking advantage of its momentum as it rolled forward, he immediately followed after it. Coating his right clenched fist with his inner gold, he descended on the monster with a punch on its thin elongated head.
The monster growled in response to the pain as its head was punched forward, and in a creepy manner, it turned its head 360 degrees and tried to bite Jing's other punch.
Caught off guard by the abruptness of the face, Jing jumped backward and tapped into his own Spiritual Qi to assault the monster. The Spiritual Qi teleported inside of the monster's head, and another torrent of inputs was transmitted into his brain. The monster had only one brown meridian activated as he had a perfect vision of its whole brown-ish ethereal body, its energy was still rich and full, and most importantly its spiritual sea was nonexistent.
Jing's spiritual Qi was then transformed into flying saucers in the monster's head as they bounced from one end to the other, trying to break apart his established meridian paths, something that would cripple its whole cultivation as its cultivation base would crumble into itself.
Unfortunately, the properties of his spiritual Qi were only inquisitive in nature, and if he wanted to transform it, he had to have access to a spirit cultivation technique. After all, this was a first-stage Qi Condensation monster, not a weak helpless fly.
Still, his efforts were at least successful in making the monster scream in pain as it fumbled from one place to the next. Taking advantage of that window, Jing jumped above it with ruthless eyes and pummeled its face with his black gold-coated punches.
Time ticked by on the vast rocky plain that rang out with the sound of Jing's punches vengefully descending on the monster without rest. One after the other, until Jing felt his shoulders burning, finally the head crumbled away, and the monster's body turned lifeless.
Jing fell down beside it, and as he gazed at the dark grey clouds above, a huge smile widened his lips. This was his very first actual battle in this world, and it was enthralling. Although he knew that survival wasn't at stake, the pain was still a very huge deterrent. Thus, he had fought with everything he had.
A white light rose from the monster's lifeless body and gently flowed toward Jing's, something that startled him. However, as he felt a warm energy coursing his body, healing and strengthening it, he was surprised. The energy didn't only heal all of his injuries, but his very cells themselves were undergoing a change.
"This..." He mumbled with an astonished voice as he sat cross-legged. "Isn't this cultivation?"
In order for one to break through to the next stage in the Qi Condensation realm the first thing that they had to do was to use their first stage quality Qi to temper all of their body before setting the foundation for the second meridian.
Once the energy ran its course and ended by virtue of it improving his body, Jing opened his joyfully beaming eyes. His body healed, and his Qi which was used up in both the spiritual attack and the command of his inner gold was restored.
"Isn't this kind of awesome?" He muttered to himself. "If I kill another eight of such monsters I would be able to break through the next stage."
As if the gods of the simulation realm heard his words, Jing could make out two faint figures in the distance, and they were wildly running in his direction in the same strange manner that the previous monster ran.
One of them was a carbon copy of the monster that had just succumbed to its death before him, but the other one resembled a strange rocky jaguar. A four-legged monster with a sturdy rugged body that jutted with pointy spikey rocks. Its hind legs were relatively larger than its forelimbs, and its speed and size were even more exaggerated than the slender tall monster.
Jing leaped to his feet in a jolt!
"What..." He said with a wide open mouth as he followed these monsters whose every movement screamed danger. He stood there for a couple of seconds before he turned around and frantically escaped in the opposite direction.
'Two would be pushing it,' He thought as ran like he never did before. 'And that four-legged one looks even stronger. I need to separate the two.'
Jing escaped into the narrow gorge he had woken up in and followed the sinuous path to an unknown end. Just after a few seconds, he could hear the two monsters running behind him on the same path. Their steps sent the small rocks flying away.