CHAPTER
43
Back to the Forest
I
“Huh. So you did break through.”
Hao Zhen opened his eyes and saw that Lan Yue was looking at him. Near them, Tian Jin also opened his eyes. The three of them were still sitting in the cave on their cultivation cushions.
Using Spiritual Sight, Hao Zhen confirmed that both of them were still second-level redsouls. He had seen them taking some pills yesterday, but it didn’t seem like it had been enough to break through quite yet. He’d need to be able to see their crux to tell how much progress they had made.
Tian Jin looked up at him and down before smiling. “Congratulations.”
Hao Zhen smiled back. “Thanks.”
Tian Jin’s congratulations seemed heartfelt, and Hao Zhen had no doubt they were. He didn’t think that the second level of the Red Spiritual Realm meant all that much to the other boy, but it was clear that his friend was happy for him all the same. Despite that, Hao Zhen didn’t really think that what he had done was worth congratulating.
Lan Yue seemed to share his opinion. “Please,” she huffed, looking at Tian Jin. “He just took some pills.” She then returned her attention to him. “But I guess you did play a role in getting those pills, so…” She shrugged.
Hao Zhen tipped his head toward her. He hadn’t been expecting anything from her, so her acknowledgment that he had been of help was already plenty. That thought, however, gave him a pause, as the implications sunk in.
Right. He did play a role in getting those pills. It was he who had realized that they might be able to use the schemas on the cave to get themselves out of that situation instead of running away. Maybe Tian Jin or Lan Yue would have still figured that out, so he wasn’t sure he could take credit for that. On the other hand, he doubted they’d have had the idea to stay behind in the cave and use the same strategy against the inner disciple, so that victory, at least, could be attributed to him.
And that made him realize that he was reaping the fruits of a murder. Sure, the ones they had killed had been after their lives, but the realization that the pills he had taken yesterday originally belonged to people he had helped kill didn’t sit well with him.
There was something he found much more troubling than that, however. If the Weave—or something like it—did exist, then Du Jian, his lackeys, the inner disciple, and the inner elder hadn’t been in control of their own actions. Was it right to kill them? If it were not for the Weave, could…
Hao Zhen shook his head, stopping himself from continuing that line of thought. Ultimately, if his theory about the Weave was correct, and their enemies had indeed been acting like minor cultivation novel antagonists because of its influence, then letting them live would have resulted in what happened when minor antagonists were spared in cultivation novels. Mercy would have been repaid with revenge. Sparing them would be a decision he and his companions would most likely come to regret later.
Maybe he was wrong—maybe that wouldn’t have happened—but Hao Zhen had had no intention of taking that risk. And he still didn’t.
“Hao Zhen?”
Hao Zhen blinked, snapping out of his thoughts. Tian Jin was giving him a look of concern, whereas Lan Yue appeared confused.
“Is everything all right?” Tian Jin asked. He seemed tense, ready to stand up at any moment.
“I am, yeah,” Hao Zhen said, offering the two a smile he hoped wasn’t too strained. They must have found his sudden silence strange. On top of that, he most likely had also been wearing a rather glum expression—or at least a pensive one. “Just thinking. Anyway…”
He stood up, storing his cultivation cushion away in his second spatial ring. Tian Jin and Lan Yue similarly got to their feet. He then looked in the direction of the entrance of the cave, at the waterfall. Judging by the light passing through it, it was already morning.
Yesterday, after breaking through to the second level, he had initially planned on cultivating some more, but ended up putting the pills away at the last moment. It wasn’t to stabilize his foundation, or anything along those lines. To begin with, unlike in many cultivation novels, it didn’t seem like there was such a thing as a stable or unstable foundation in this world. Whether you advanced quickly or slowly didn’t make any difference, nor did it matter whether you advanced using pills or relied solely on spiritual stones and ambient spiritual energy.
The problem was that he’d only reach the peak of the second level even if he took all of his cultivation pills. In other words, he wouldn’t be able to break through to the third level of the Red Spiritual Realm. Because of that, taking any more cultivation pills would have been foolish. It was much wiser to save them until he was using a cultivation method that suited him more, in which case he’d be able to make better use of the pills.
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Because of that, instead of cultivating, Hao Zhen had spent the rest of the night getting used to his new spiritual output by practicing some of his spiritual techniques. He had also dedicated some time to pondering what to do next.
“I think it’s time we left the cave,” Hao Zhen said. “It’s only been a week since the Glistening Hunt began. We’ve already managed to hunt several monsters and collect dozens of magical plants, but that might not be enough for all three of us to make it to the top five.” He paused, then added, “Even with the magical plants and monster parts in Du Jian’s spatial ring and his lackey’s enchanted pouches.”
Tian Jin frowned at him, giving him a deep look. Then he relaxed and nodded his head. “Agreed.”
Lan Yue, for some reason, furrowed her brow. “We’ll be returning to the cave later, right?”
Hao Zhen turned to her. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t imagine a safer location in the forest,” Lan Yue said. “With the restraining schema here, unless one of the prime elders decides to go after us, nothing should be able to harm us as long as we’re inside. I think we should hunt during the day and return here when night falls.”
“I did consider that,” Hao Zhen said, narrowing his eyes at her. Her point was valid, but there was something off about her expression, as if she wasn’t being entirely honest. “If we only stayed in the cave, without hunting, that’d be a good idea. But…” Hao Zhen frowned. “If we decide to make this cave our base of sorts while going hunting during the day… To Du Qing, this is our last known location. There’s a chance he might send someone to investigate. And if they happen to arrive or to already be here when we’re returning to the cave…” He shrugged helplessly. “Well, that’d mean trouble.”
Hao Zhen glanced at the schemas on the wall, recalling yesterday’s events. “We only managed to use the restraining schema on the inner elder and the inner disciple because we were already inside the cave. If we’re caught outside of it, we’d need to find some way to enter the cave, and that might not be possible.” He returned his attention to Lan Yue, who was now frowning. “Rather than taking that risk, I think it would be better if we simply left the area altogether and simply set up camp in the forest, as we were doing before. In fact, we should ideally get as far away from here as possible once we’re outside.”
Once Hao Zhen was done speaking, Tian Jin promptly nodded his head.
Lan Yue, on the other hand…
“Hmmm.” She crossed her arms, a conflicted expression on her face. She then looked around the cave, reluctant, before sighing. “All right. I guess we’re back to spending our nights outdoors,” she grumbled, clearly displeased.
Hao Zhen raised an eyebrow at her, before letting out a chuckle. Beside him, Tian Jin similarly gave her an amused look.
Lan Yue glared at the two of them before looking away, humphing.
II
The three of them didn’t delay any longer. After climbing out of the cave and returning to the riverbank, they ran into the forest. Once they were amid the trees again, they didn’t stop running, quickly putting as much distance between them and the cave as possible.
Before they departed, Hao Zhen had briefly entertained the idea of using Tian Jin’s magical cloud to fly away, but quickly dismissed it. Right now, they wanted to draw as little attention to themselves as possible. Even though they hadn’t come across any of the inner elders overseeing the Outer Forest on their way to the cave, there was still a chance of encountering one if they took to the skies.
As Hao Zhen ran, he couldn’t help but feel the difference in his body. Yesterday, after breaking through, he had noticed how his body had changed—how he had become physically superior in every way compared to before. However, it was only now, as he was running, that he could actually feel the difference.
Raising his head, he glanced at Tian Jin and Lan Yue, who ran a few steps in front of him. The distance between them didn’t increase, even though he could tell his two teammates were running as fast as they could. Yesterday, he never would have managed to keep up with them. Even right now, he had to strain himself to match their speed—but he could match it, and that was what mattered to him.
They ran for a good while, only coming to a stop in a clearing after what Hao Zhen assumed had been dozens of miles.
“This should be far enough, I think,” Hao Zhen said, wiping some sweat off his forehead. He felt somewhat winded, and his legs burned a little, but he could have still kept running for a while longer.
“It should be,” Tian Jin agreed, looking around. There wasn’t any sweat on the other boy’s face, nor did he show any signs of tiredness.
Hao Zhen wasn’t too surprised. The effect spiritual aura had on the body was—as far as Hao Zhen could tell—multiplicative instead of additive. That meant that the better the cultivator’s base physical qualities were, the greater the extent to which their body would be enhanced through spiritual aura.
Before he started training with Tian Jin, Hao Zhen had never really dedicated his time to exercise. Tian Jin, on the other hand, had grown up learning martial arts, which meant he was in much better shape. There was also the question of genetics. Tian Jin had clearly hit the genetic lottery in pretty much every sense. Because of those factors, even though both of them were currently second-level redsouls, they couldn’t really be compared in terms of physical qualities.
The same went for Lan Yue. Like Tian Jin, she wasn’t showing any signs of exertion, appearing completely at ease.
Looking at his two teammates, Hao Zhen realized that even though they were now all on the same level, he still couldn’t really be compared to them. Not only that, it was only a matter of time before they broke through to the third level, further widening the gap between them.
No matter what, if he wanted to keep up with them, he’d have to keep working on himself, Hao Zhen determined.
“Well, should we get back to hunting, then?” Lan Yue asked. Not waiting for a reply, she walked over to a nearby tree and closed her eyes. Then she nodded to herself, turning back to look at them. “There’s a second-level monster nearby.”
She then started walking back into the forest, promptly taking the lead without a second thought.
Hao Zhen narrowed his eyes at her back. Unlike in the previous times she had led the way, he was no longer keeping his questions to himself. He glanced at Tian Jin, who nodded his head.
“Wait,” Hao Zhen called out, and Lan Yue halted, turning her head to look back at him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. There was a frown on her face.
“The thing you did just now,” Hao Zhen said while walking over to her, Tian Jin right behind him. “What was it?”
“What do you—” Lan Yue blinked. “Oh. That. Right.” Her frown deepened, and she gave the two of them a long, careful look. “Hmmm. Well, I guess there’s no harm in telling you.”
She shrugged.
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve been able to… well, communicate with plants.”
Hao Zhen stared at her blankly.
“What?”