Fang Hao felt an inexplicable wariness, urging him to caution as he explored around the nearby forests for a pack of wind wolves. 'I think I should be a bit cautious now. While I may be able to deal with a pack of wind wolves, it may leave me open to further attacks.' thought Fang Hao as he was warily scanning his surroundings. He was scouting the area for a couple of days and had spotted a gurgling stream of fresh water at a distance. From then on he spent another couple of days cautiously scouting near the stream for spirit beasts.

After almost one week of scouting he had found a lair of the Gray-eyed stone bear. The Gray-eyed stone bear was fully matured and was a peak Grade two spirit beast. It could rival Qi Condensation Disciples at the 8th and 9th layer. But fortunately, unlike the wind wolves the gray-eyed stone bear was a solitary animal. It's fur and bones were decent earth element materials valuable to spirit smiths and the gray-eyed stone bear had high defense and attack prowess with low speed.

If the bear actively pursued him, Fang Hao could only run away unless he was willing to use talismans. Fortunately, the Gray-eyed stone bear was not aggressive as long as it was left alone. Nearby he had also found a nest of moss rabbits. The moss rabbits where a Grade 1 spirit beast whose individual power rivaled a Qi Gathering disciple. A single well timed spell from Fang Hao could kill multiple moss rabbits, so he had no problems hunting them. Initially he had used the flame snake spell to kill them, but it made their leaf green pelts a charred mess. The pelts were a low level material useful to alchemists, so Fang Hao switched to wind blades to decapitate them from range.

And their meat was tasty too so he didn't have to depend only on fasting pills for sustenance. The xp he received from killing them was a pittance. Xp wise, it would be more efficient to spar in the arena. He consoled himself that once he hunted wind wolves and other powerful spirit beasts, the xp would be worth it. After a meal of freshly roasted meat of moss rabbit, Fang Hao was feeling a bit drowsy when his instincts alerted him to a crisis. Without thinking, Fang Hao reacted with Aura infusion, almost instantly using Phantom steps to swiftly move around four to five meters away.

As if on cue, the little camp fatty was enjoying delicious rabbit blown to smithereens with many overlapping hemispherical smoldering crater. Fatty then activated his membrane barrier from his gloves, and a couple of barrier talismans for good measure. 'Damn multiple explosive bead sneak attack. It would have grievously injured me if not killed me outright and I would need to waste one of my shit-hit-the-fan card.' Fang Hao then spotted 5 people about a dozen meters away from him.

They looked like inner disciples, and one of them looked very familiar. 'Its that retarded snob Zhen Ji. So he was so butt-hurt that he is actually trying to kill me in a sneak attack? Oh well, wasn't I complaining that the rabbits were providing shitty xp? Here comes some sweet xp!' Fang Hao activated Floating leaves steps and rushed towards them in a zig-zag manner using multiple Phantom Aura Steps. The assailants were still observing the flickering phantom image at the original blast site and failed to notice Fang Hao's oblique charge at them.

One of the inmer disciples had n ugly look on his face as he shouted, “Not good, its a movement---” Before he could finish his statement, Fang Hao was a few meters away from the group. He retrieved his sledgehammer and threw it with all his might towards the observant inner disciple who had noticed his movement technique. The sledgehammer rotated in air and smashed against the inner disciple's head. A weak looking barrier flickered around him before shattering as his skull was bashed in. The others immediately looked at the origin of the hammer and they saw two flickering phantom images of a fatty.

They weren't too coordinated. Some immediately used barrier talismans and some threw explosive beads at the phantom. Seizing the initiative and utilizing their lack of coordination, Fang Hao smashed the head of another inner disciple who had opted to blow up his phantoms instead of using defensive talismans. The barrier barely withstood the first smash of his iron club, but a second smash shattered it along with his skull.

By now though, the three remaining inner disciples including Zhen Ji had regained their wits and piled up on multiple defensive talismans. Zhen Ji was holding a Kite-shield shaped bronze magic tool and chanting under his breath, while the remaining two rapidly used multiple talismans to send a barrage of low level spells towards Fang Hao. '2 down, 3 to go. They are using consumables like water. So unfair. I managed to kill two of the weaker ones unprepared , but now it will be a tough time if I don't use anything other than Aura spells.' thought Fang Hao as he made a quick incantation gesture and blew towards the attacking inner disciples.

A grayish fog left his mouth as it spread around everyone. This was the Concealing mist spell which Fang Hao had used as a distraction. Under the cover of the concealing mist spell, Fang Hao used Phantom Aura steps once again and used his wind vane shaped magic tool to quickly summon storm clouds overhead. The spell talismans the inner disciples were using had blown away lot of the concealing mist and revealed Fang Hao. A huge Axe made of green smoke was floating around Zhen Ji, as he readied a couple of explosive beads to bombard Fang Hao.

'Damn this fatty! Not only did he avoid the sneak attack, he counterattacked and killed two of my followers. His close combat prowess is terrifying. So he was holding back in his arena fights after all!' thought Zhen Ji as he was filled with anxiety. He had used a high Grade 2 magic tool given to him by his brother to inhibit fatty's close combat attacks. No matter how strong fatty was, he couldn't take too many hits from this specialized magic tool.