The culprit who stole the egg, Su Ren, reached the cave safely.

Let’s rest, he thought. He had an eventful day, after all.

But before he could, a loud screech rang throughout the forest, blowing all thoughts of resting away. It was the Garuda.

She had found out about her egg!

Su Ren panicked for a brief moment but quickly collected himself.

He knew about the [Eyes of Garuda]. It could give a bird-eye view but unless focused, one wouldn’t be able to make out the details. Moreover, it could be hindered if there were any obstacles before it. It was powerful but it was not omniscient.

He moved to a corner, as far away as possible from the fissure. For extra security, he curled himself on the floor, making his figure as small as possible.

More rage-filled screeches of the Garuda rang out.

He unconsciously flinched. He couldn’t help but fear. Although he was sure [Eyes of Garuda] was neutralized, who was to say that she had no other means to find the culprit who ate her egg? This was a strange world – anything seemed possible.

Fortunately, none of his fears came to pass. Even after several hours, the Garuda had yet to come close to him.

He was safe. He couldn’t help but celebrate his good fortune in happiness.

But that didn’t last long.

The next day, when he woke up, there were no more screeches. Emboldened, he moved near the fissure and peeked outside. But to his distress, he saw the giant figure of the Garuda soaring in the sky, continuing her survey in silence. He hastily withdrew himself to the corner.

“Damn that bird!” Su Ren cursed under his breath.

Does it need to get this serious about an egg? Don’t chickens get their eggs taken away from them all the time? She could just lay another one and get it done with. What was with this overreaction?

Su Ren was no longer fearful. The Garuda didn’t seem to possess the means to find him.

Still, he was confined to the underground cave. He would be easily spotted if he stepped outside. The Garuda might be able to figure out that he was the egg thief if she saw him. That would be disastrous. I must avoid her as much as possible, he decided.

With nothing to do, he explored the underground cave. Although it was quite wide, it only stretched for about fifty or so meters. There was nothing edible inside. In fact, there was nothing inside, apart from a few rocks.

The third day came. The Garuda had yet to give up on her search.

His stomach that was happy and contented for the past two days began to lurch. It was protesting that it had nothing new ever since it had the egg. All the nutrients from the egg were gone by now. It wanted more food. And fast.

Su Ren had the feeling that if he didn’t do something, he would be eaten from inside. But he was helpless. The only thing he could do was wait.

The Garuda stopped her search later in the afternoon. He watched as the huge frame of the big bird disappeared into the horizon.

A sigh escaped unbidden from his throat.

Finally. Finally, he could go outside and look for something to eat. He felt great excitement bubbling inside his heart. It felt as if a huge burden had been taken off his shoulder.

He climbed out of the cave and activated his trait [Eyes of Garuda] to survey the area around him. He was weak. He had to tread carefully if he wanted to keep his life in this forest that was filled with dangers in every part of it.

A little less than one kilometer away, towards where the beast horde had gone towards, he found two beasts – an ape and a wolf. Needless to say, they were much bigger than their counterparts on Earth. The two beasts were clashing against each other.

There were no fancy moves involved. The wolf, taking advantage of its superior speed, pounced around the ape and tried to bite onto the vitals of the ape. Meanwhile, the ape swung its arm and tried to swat the wolf. Both of the beasts had yet to inflict any heavy damage on the other. From the looks of things, it would take a long while for them to decide the winner.

The two beasts would look towards a certain direction from time to time.

Curious, Su Ren focused on the area and a red fruit about the size of an apple appeared before his eyes.

They must be fighting over the fruit.

It looked ordinary but since the two beasts were fighting with their lives on the line over it, there must be something special about the fruit.

His eyes lit up with greed.

But he hesitated.

Against the two beasts, he stood no chance. The only way to acquire the fruit was to sneak in and steal it. But if he were discovered, his fate wouldn’t be good. He would become beast food for sure.

But he soon found a gap he could exploit. As it went on, the fight between the two beasts became fiercer. And when it did, Su Ren noticed – the amount of attention the two beasts paid to the fruit became less and less. If he timed it properly, he just might be able to steal the fruit, leaving them none the wiser.

Should I or should I not? That was the question.

He looked at the horizon. The sun was already setting down. In an hour or so, dusk would set in and the night would fall. He didn’t fancy being out in the dark that offered only limited visibility with nocturnal predators for company. That left him with very limited time to fill his stomach. Consuming plants would not suffice; he would need to look for food with more energy content.

That left him with only few options. He steeled his heart – he had to proceed forward.

He plotted a safe route using his ocular trait and rushed towards the fruit.

That was when he noticed the effect of his increased physique stat, although it had only seen an increment of one stat point. He ran all the way at his maximum speed and he wasn’t even breathless!

The two beasts had strayed further from the fruit and their confrontation was so fierce that they were unable to spare any attention to the fruit.

It was ideal for Su Ren.

Keeping himself hidden in the shrub, away from the eyes of the two fighting beasts, he quietly plucked the fruit. He was afraid his animalistic instinct would kick in and cause commotion, which would alert the ape and wolf of his presence. Fortunately, his instinct was quiet for once.

With the red fruit in his hand, he dashed to the safety of his cave.

Barely had he sighed in relief when his instinct took over his body. Su Ren could only helplessly relinquish his hold on his body. Besides, his goal and the goal of his instinct aligned – they both wanted to eat the red fruit.

With a crunch, his teeth sank into it. Super sweet and juicy. It was nature at its best. No words could describe the surreal taste. Otherworldly. That’s the only word he could think of to describe the taste.

Su Ren wanted to savor the taste of the fruit slowly. It felt like a waste not to do so. But unfortunately, he had no say in it. The fruit was gobbled up quickly in its entirety in a few seconds.

After a contented growl escaped his throat, he regained control of his body.

Then he had the weirdest experience ever. And quite a frightening one at that!

His stomach started to churn and a huge amount of energy began to spread all over his body. His body began to inflate like a balloon. At one point, it became as round as a ball and threatened to burst.

There was nothing he could do but pray – fearful and helpless.

His body, on the other hand, absorbed the rampant energy frantically. And slowly, to his relief, the out of control energy was absorbed in its entirety. His inflated body shrank and returned to its normal size, thank the heavens above. The most surprising thing was, his insatiable stomach was also full. No. It was more than full. The surprising thing was – it had only taken a single fruit the size of a normal apple to do that.

You have consumed Clear Spirit Fruit. +2 Soul

This incident left Su Ren feeling complicated. It also taught him a valuable lesson. He had to be careful about what he ate. But did he really have any choice in this matter? He was in a world filled with many unknown things and he had an insatiable stomach that could only be satisfied with things that had elements of danger attached with them.

For now, he decided to be happy with what he got. There was no use worrying. His stats had increased and his stomach was full, what more could he as for?

One step at a time, he told himself.

Ma Jun opened his eyes. Traces of frustration and disappointment could be seen in them.

“It’s just a step, no, it’s just half a step yet this step is a huge chasm that is impossible to cross,” he sighed. His cultivation was at the peak of the Astral Soul stage. There was only a tiny barrier that stopped him from breaking through to Astral Transformation stage. Yet that tiny barrier had stopped him from advancing for more than hundred years.

He sensed a presence at his door with his spiritual sense.

“Grand Elder Sho, I have woken up from my mediation. Please enter,” he said.

The door was pushed open and an old man entered the room. “I am sorry for disturbing Sect Master as soon as you woke up from your cultivation. But there is an urgent matter at hand.”

“It is nothing to apologize for, Grand Master Sho. Please be seated.” Although Ma Jun was the Sect Master of the sect, a Grand Elder held as much prestige as the Sect Master, if not more. Moreover, Grand Elder Sho was his senior. Custom dictated that he be courteous to the old man. “I have some Green Spirit Leaf. Let me brew tea for you.”

The old man sat on one of the mats and waved his hands. “Maybe, later,” he said.

Ma Jun, who was about to stand up, settled himself back on the meditating mat and looked seriously at Grand Elder Sho. The old man was known for his fondness for tea, especially, Green Spirit Leaf tea. For him to say something like ‘Maybe, later’ to it was unprecedented. The matter he came for must be huge.

Seeing Ma Jun settled down, Grand Elder Sho spoke, “Sect Master, the ancient barrier formation in Fallen God Forest has disappeared.”

It took a while for this information to sink in. “You mean… you mean that impregnable formation no living being could cross? Is that really true?” Sect Master Ma’s voice was filled with disbelief and bewilderment.

He found it hard to believe. It was the ancient formation, after all. According to the sect record he read, the formation dated back to ancient times. Over the course of centuries, it had shown no sign of degradation. And now, it was suddenly broken… How could it be?

“Yes. It is that formation,” Grand Elder Sho confirmed.

“How?” Due to his shock, he was not able to phrase his question properly. He wanted to ask how Grand Elder Sho knew about it.

“It was Elder Bu Feng.” The old man seemed to have understood Sect Master Ma Jun’s question. “He was in Fallen God Forest looking for medicinal herbs when he came across the area where the barrier used to be. Presence of beasts, including those in Astral Soul stage was everywhere. He didn’t dare to go and explore the area beyond the barrier.”

Ma Jun thought over it. Should he send some elders to explore the region? The sect was already weak as it was but if he lost some elders, the sect would be weakened further. Today’s Yang Sword Sect was no more the glorious Yang Sword Sect of before. It had declined. He didn’t want to make the matter worse by making some irrelevant decisions.

“Sect Master, do you remember what was written about that area in our sect record?”

The old man’s voice jolted Ma Jun out of his thought. No, to be more specific, it was the content of what the old man had said that shook him.

In his worry and need to act cautiously, he had forgotten about an important fact. If it weren’t for the old man, he would have been unable to recall it.

Remain of a fallen Celestial God was inside the ancient barrier formation! That was what was written in the sect record.

If they were able get their hands on it –

It doesn’t have to be the full remain, even if it was a drop of blood, that would be more than enough for their sect to rise again.

“Grand Elder Sho, can you please call Grand Elder Yang and other elders, We need to discuss this matter carefully and make preparations,” he said in a solemn voice.

“I have already done that. They should be here soon.”

Sect Master Ma nodded. He unconsciously clenched his fists. A chance for both him and his sect had appeared.

The serpent opened its slit eyes. It wondered how long it had been asleep.

A tantalizing scent hit its nostril. It made its blood boil. High-level bloodline and what was more, it was young. It could feel it – if it consumed it, its bloodline would be upgraded to the next level.

Saliva started to accumulate in its mouth. It flicked its forked tongue in anticipation.

But it had to be careful of that accursed Garuda.

The long body of the serpent slithered under the ground, closing on its unsuspecting prey.

Su Ren’s updated Status

Name: Su Ren Age: 10 years old

Race: Hybrid

Cultivation Realm: None

Lifeforce: 20/20 (Regeneration: 0.01% per second)

Qi: 0/0 (Regeneration: 0.01% per second)

Occupations:

None

Cultivation Techniques:

None

Attributes:

Physique: 2 Movement: 1 Soul: 6

Fate: 11

Traits

Myriad Physique (Innate)

Innards of Primordial Taotie (Innate)

Eyes of Garuda (Acquired)