Journey of the Immortal Grandmaster - Chapter 98: Hunter and Prey (2)

“Finally, with that sword, I will be able to fly and get quickly to my destination.”

Han Lingyun breathed a sigh of relief and observed fine craftmanship of the weapon. The sword hilt was dark red while the blade was deep black, giving a menacing air. It actually did not lack in quality compared to his own dark blue flying sword and was probably of higher value! Han Lingyun slightly relaxed and deactivated his blackbird art. The scene was still filled with the bizarre odor of the pill to ward off magic beasts.

Looking back at the corpses of the young disciples he had just killed, Han Lingyun’s expression contorted slightly. ‘When circulating this blackbird art, I really don’t feel any emotions…

I guess this is my first time killing without the moral justification.

But… there is no pity for those dead fellows, I just regret losing the right to try to believe I’m a good person deep down. Heh, the terror of this forest was the only light nudge I needed. I hope those elders at the School are proud.’

After everything was said, the objective was simply the flying sword. The prize was well deserved after all Han Lingyun had to go through since he had been dropped in the middle of the forest more than 24 hours ago.

Han Lingyun had underestimated the time it took to advance on foot. He couldn’t move fast because he had to constantly be on his guard against magic beasts. His greatest fear was to step inside the territory of a rank 3 magic beast, which could even kill foundation establishment cultivators.

The peace of the night was constantly being broken by beast cries and fights. Rather than being frightened by the activity, Han Lingyun was glad to be able to estimate the locations and levels of the wild and magic beast roaming around.

This phenomenon was much more prevalent at nighttime than during the day, due to 2 reasons. Firstly, a greater number of magic beasts were out hunting at night. And secondly, sound could be heard much more clearly over longer distances in the forest at night than during the day because of temperature inversion.

But avoiding all magic beast proved to be an impossible task and Han Lingyun would have an encounter every so often. Those at rank 1 were easily dispatched with a qi blade but Han Lingyun had also come face to face with rank 2 Magic Beasts on several occasions.

On those occasions, Han Lingyun would release his Black Fog around the beast and flee, hide and use his merger art.

Fighting a rank 2 beast would only come as a last resort. Even by being quite powerful for his mid qi condensation cultivation, he didn’t have absolute confidence to win against a rank 2 beasts. This was mainly because he currently had no weapon to properly utilize his black bird art, lacked attack power and had no defensive measure. Magic beast had extremely tough bodies in general. Clashing head on was a sure win for those magic beasts with greater brute strength. In addition, they had all kind of abilities, with some unpredictable variations.

With all that considered, fleeing and hiding was the best solution for Han Lingyun. He couldn’t burden himself with precious beast parts as well, considering the rest of his journey. All in all, Han Lingyun didn’t have anything to gain from killing Magic Beasts.

As a consequence of this highly stressful environment, his application of the Blackbird art was actually improving at a surprising pace, especially the movement and merger skills.

Han Lingyun tried to follow the right direction as precisely as possible. The map he was given was basically completely useless as he had no visual landmarks to determine his precise position. Everything around was covered by the forest anyway.

During the night, Han Lingyun would find his direction thanks to the blue star and during day time, he had to rely on the sun. Needless to say, it was already quite approximate. But what made Han Lingyun veer of his route further were the numerous detours he had to make.

As soon as Han Lingyun noticed he had entered a silent area, Han Lingyun would double his attention and tried walking around it.

These areas could mean two things: either there were no beast lurking around, or a very powerful one had made its territory here.

Regrettably, Han Lingyun had no way of knowing which was which. The map didn’t show anything and he himself had no previous knowledge of the region.

But even with all of Han Lingyun’s precautions, he failed to always avoid danger.

One particular encounter still sent shivers down his spine.

Han Lingyun had been treading carefully when a huge serpent suddenly bolted towards him. Even with the serpent’s size, Han Lingyun had failed to detect the beast’s presence due to its excellent hiding skills. The snake could contract his qi and remain still to perfection.

Han Lingyun, caught unprepared, had only managed to activate his blackbird art at the last moment to dodge the snake’s deadly mouth but the beast contracted its huge body to slash its tail at the young boy’s back.

Han Lingyun received the full brunt of the attack and was flung in the air before rolling on the ground to retake his footing, the air having been taken out from his lungs. He immediately activated his blackbird art and attempted to flee but the snake was as fast as him. Even for the strong qi condensation cultivator, it would have been a slight miracle if their back bones hadn’t shattered by the impact but Han Lingyun had already trained his body substantially and had been through a great increase in toughness with the bone eating flower.

The worst part was that the beast wasn’t at all impeded by Han Lingyun’s black gas!

At this point, he regretted even more not having learned a defense type magical art. He cursed but there was no point losing brain cells on what could have been, as there was a more pressing issue.

Without his exceptional dodging skills that came with his blackbird art, Han Lingyun would have probably died already as the snake kept on harassing him.

Han Lingyun could only fight the beast head on. What followed was a violent unhinged fight with fists and kicks.

The young man only had a rudimentary knowledge of fighting without weapons and that snake was surprisingly muscular and agile. Both used qi to reinforce their muscles as they collided in dull booms. Han Lingyun did his best to repeatedly punch the snakes head multiple times but it was harder than a rock. The boy could only contend because of his extraordinary strength, enhanced by bones as tough as steel.

Han Lingyun was walking on a tightrope as he had to constantly make maneuvers to not end up encircled by the snake. The beast was doing its best to restrict its prey. It seemed to be consumed by a mad frenzy as it sensed the benefit consuming the flesh of this human would bring it to its cultivation.

By concentrating to the utmost, Han Lingyun gradually entered a trance without noticing it. Unknowingly, his qi was circulation gradually became more fluid and precise. In the beginning, the snake was capable of exchanging violent blows with the boy but strangely, as time passed, it failed more and more to block or hit him.

The snake started becoming confused by what was happening, sensing the air growing colder. The growing sense off threat made it grasp back its usual clarity of mind, stopping its frenzy attacks and deciding to end this matter here by retreating. It too was starting to be severely injured with many broken bones.

It was at the instant the snake bolted away that the air seemed to freeze and Han Lingyun felt something click in his mind. He slashed the air with his hand and managed to launch a qi blade as if his hand was a treasure sword!

At this close proximity, the snake didn’t have time to dodge and its head was instantly severed.

Han Lingyun breathed a huge sigh of relief. He picked up the box he had frown to the side and immediately ran away before other beasts arrived, attracted by the commotion.

He couldn’t find a suitable hiding place to rest so he just climbed a tall tree. At this point, his body was aching all over with many soar points. At the same time, Han Lingyun felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He had never fought in this raw fashion before and would continue to avoid this scenario at all cost, but releasing all his power in an incomparably brutal fight against a terrifyingly strong magic beast and managing to prevail! Now that it was over and that the death threat had passed, he wanted to roar in a mixture of ecstasy and rage.

When Han Lingyun calmed back down, he realized bitterly that he wouldn’t make it on time without a flying treasure. There were too many obstacles on the way. Between the detours and fights, he was advancing 3 times slower than what he had originally predicted.

He could still make it in time, but that would require him charging headfirst into unknown territory and his cautious nature rejected that approach. Just at this time, Han Lingyun noticed behind the leaves 2 cultivators flying above the forest on their flying sword.

This was his second night and these cultivators were the second group he had spotted since he had been left alone on the forest. Han Lingyun surmised that there should be cultivation sects around. As the two cultivators disappeared in the distance, Han Lingyun squinted his eyes as dark plans surfaced in his mind.

It was only later during the night that Han Lingyun woke up. Cultivators typically don’t require to sleep every night, but Han Lingyun had been physically and mentally exhausted by his last 24 hours of struggle. His pain had greatly diminished thanks to his strong constitution, and yet, his form still wasn’t ideal. Because Han Lingyun had abandoned his plans of traversing the forest on foot. He didn’t rush to leave and instead decided to recuperate further.

Once again, he saw three disciples passing above the forest on their flying swords but Han Lingyun paid them no head. He had to find the right occasion before making a move. Alone and without any tools or weapons, he was at the mercy of an average small group of qi condensation disciples.

However, this time he spotted the same disciples passing by once again a dozen minutes later and a third time after half an hour. A bright smile crept on Han Lingyun’s face as he suddenly thought of a plan.

These disciples were obviously searching for something. And in this forest, there wasn’t much to look for except hunting magic beast. Han Lingyun was 80% confident that he had stumbled on a group of disciples searching for magic beasts in the area.

Without further ado, Han Lingyun headed in the direction of a Crazed Warthog he had spotted earlier in the night. After a bit of searching, he found it sleeping next to a large rock. Han Lingyun slashed the air with his qi blade.

The blade managed to cut a tiny portion of one of the Crazed Warthog’s horns. After awakening in shock, the beast was engulfed in fury when it realized what had happened.

It immediately charged at Han Lingyun with all its might, uprooting trees in its wake. Even with his remarkable speed, Han Lingyun couldn’t outrun the powerful beast once again. However, the Crazed Warthog’s agility paled in comparison to the snake Han Lingyun had thought earlier. As soon as the colossus was about to collide with its attacker, Han Lingyun would swiftly change direction.

Little by little, Han Lingyun headed towards the territory of another beast. This beast roars had awoken him on multiple occasions during the night which had somewhat annoyed him. Han Lingyun couldn’t recognize the beast, but he could estimate its strength to the second level.

It didn’t take long for the young man and the Crazed Warthog to rampage their way to this unknow beast’s territory.

Han Lingyun found a beast that he could only described as a large, red-furred panther. The eyes of the red panther only showed deep bloodlust.