“Still, Trinity Giant Serpent, huh? This is quite tricky. Not only do I have to be on guard against the Trinity Giant Serpent, but I would also have to be wary of other lesser beasts attacking me,” Yun Ling frowned.

If he fought the Trinity Giant Serpent, the commotion might attract other powerful lesser beasts towards them. Yun Ling couldn't afford to let that happen. Fighting the Trinity Giant Serpent alone was dangerous enough, how much more another lesser beast joining the fray?

‘I have to kill the Trinity Giant Serpent quickly so that won’t happen,’ he thought to himself.

If Yun Ling had any choice, he would rather kill three demonic cultivators instead of killing the Trinity Giant Serpent. It was because lesser beasts were generally stronger than humans. His task might be to kill only one Trinity Giant Serpent but it was actually much harder than killing three demonic cultivators combined.

Normally, to face just one lesser beast, it would require the full effort of at least three cultivators in the same realm to confront it together before they could fight on even grounds. To successfully kill it with few to no casualties, at least five cultivators on the same realm had to take action. That was how powerful lesser beasts were.

Lesser beasts were born with a superior body and spiritual power compared to regular humans. The only advantage the humans had against them was their superior numbers and intelligence. Why? Because lesser beasts had a slow reproduction rate, only giving birth a few times every century depending on what kind of lesser beast it was. They also have a less developed mind. They were much smarter than normal animals but a lot inferior to humans. Only after reaching a high cultivation realm do lesser beasts acquire intelligence on par with humans. By then, one of the disadvantages they had against humans would disappear.

Still, it was not like humans were completely helpless. After reaching a certain cultivation realm, humans would undergo a huge transformation both in body and spirit alike, greatly transcending their past selves by leaps and bounds. At that realm, humans could finally go toe to toe against lesser beasts on their own. Their bodies would be just as great, if not, greater than lesser beasts while their spiritual powers would also have a qualitative leap. Though lesser beasts would also undergo a transformation once they reach a certain realm, it was not as pronounced as a human’s transformation. It was because humans were more gifted in cultivation in comparison to them.

After all, it was the humans who created the cultivation system so it was only natural for humans to be better at it than the lesser beasts.

Or so they say.

All of these were merely speculation of the world’s top experts. There was no definitive proof that cultivation started in the human race. Even so, despite having no evidence, some people thought that these speculations were actually true. It was the only answer that would explain why humans were most suited for cultivation compared to other races.

Yun Ling cleared his mind from any unnecessary thought as he took out a map from his storage ring. He let out a frown when he looked at it. Although he had been traveling for three days already, he was not even halfway through his destination. At the rate he was going, it would take him four more days before he arrived in the Thousand Mountain Valley.

Sighing, he kept the map back to his ring.

It had only been three days yet he missed his daughter already.

…

World of Terra

Riverspan Sect Territory - Shenlan City

Two days had passed, Yun Ling finally arrived in one of the cities under the Riverspan Sect’s jurisdiction, the Shenlan City.

Yun Ling looked above and saw some cultivators wearing the Riverspan Sect’s robes soaring the sky as they rode their flying swords. Yun Ling raised a brow at that. Back in the Jin Empire, flying in the sky was illegal. An individual could be fined if they got caught red-handed by the authorities so sights like these were quite rare in the empire.

‘Riverspan Sect disciples, huh?’ Yun Ling thought. Although the Riverspan Sect was still a distance away from Shenlan City, there were still many disciples even in this far away place from their sect.

“Hey! You there! Stop!” a sudden loud shout from behind him broke Yun Ling out of his thoughts.

Yun Ling immediately halted his horse and turned around as he looked towards the person that called him. It was a guy looking at him with slight hostility. Judging from his outfit, he seemed to be a disciple from the Riverspan Sect.

“How may I help you?” Yun Ling asked with a smile.

The guy was shocked upon seeing Yun Ling’s appearance when the latter turned around to look at him. He didn’t expect that the one he called turned out to be such a pretty woman. He got a little embarrassed for shouting at her rudely.

“Ah this, forgive me for my discourteousness, miss, but you don’t look like a resident here. Would you mind telling me who you are and where you came from? I don’t have anything against you but we’re in quite a bind right now,” the guy’s attitude instantly changed and became more polite.

Yun Ling’s eyes went cold when the guy addressed him as a miss. He wanted to beat him up for mistaking him as a woman but Yun Ling suppressed the urge to do so as this was not the capital. If Yun Ling attacked him here, there was no mistaking that the other sect disciples in the place would instantly retaliate against him. Though he was confident that he could beat pretty much everyone in the area, he would rather not attract a sect’s hostility just because of this.

“I’m from the Yun Clan of the Jin Empire’s Capital, my name is Yun Ling,” Yun Ling stoically introduced himself.

The guy was shocked once again when he heard a surprisingly manly voice coming from the beautiful woman's mouth. He inspected Yun Ling once more and this time, he noticed that Yun Ling’s chest was quite flat. He suddenly came to a realization.

He was more embarrassed now after realizing that he mistook Yun Ling for a woman. He was about to get angry at him for making him think he was a woman but Yun Ling’s words suddenly registered in his mind.

“Wait, did you say you’re from Jin Empire’s Yun Clan?”

“I did.”

“Are you perhaps related to Yun Hui? That famous genius from the Spirit God Sect?”

Yun Ling just raised a brow at him, “Yun Hui? He’s my elder brother.”