“One has to understand the truth of the fist—that strength is what matters in the cultivation world. So one should never provoke unnecessary trouble.”

There were plenty of things Qai did not understand.

He did not mind it too much since there would definitely be more chances to ask questions. However, he did not try to hunt some Spirit Beasts when Old Bu left.

He was deep-seated.

He was deep in thought.

“What Master rank Knight!? What legendary Saints!?”

Qai was disheartened with all the things he heard—all of a sudden he felt his dreams crumbled down, and for a moment he felt that everything he had been trying to build was worthless.

It was a very humbling realization.

He had initially become convinced that, in this second life, he was a peerless individual destined to rise as high as the sky—only to be slapped hard by the harsh truth.

However, Qai was no longer the same person who would easily resign.

Yet, it still took a bit of time before he finally woke himself up never to stop finding ways to get better.

“Level 7 Spirit Beasts, huh!?”

He felt his initial plan to cross the mountain range would just be one of the fated challenges that he would definitely overcome. He did not believe it to be a walk in the park though. It was just that he had been looking forward to it—to personally see what lies beyond.

But now it felt that he had eyes but failed to recognize Mt. Tai—how he realized that he was a bit arrogant to believe that he had the ability.

‘I was too anxious. I was wrong.’

Qai stood up and looked into the horizon.

‘If I need to be a Saint, then I will be one. And if there’s a possibility for me to become an immortal, then I shall be one.’

He screamed on the top of his lungs as he attempted to release his frustration.

When he began to feel better, he rushed outside in order to, once more, hunt Spirit Beasts.

He needed 3 dozens beast cores.

‘That’s equal to a whole lot of questions.’

He never saw the task a difficulty. He saw it as an opportunity.

Although he did not know how to determine the Spirit Beasts’ level, it didn’t matter to him. He would cut them down just the same.

At any rate, he already figured out that the area around his abode had no Spirit Beast higher than level 2, and if ever there were level 3, he was still willing to take them head on.

For a day he was madly hunting Spirit Beasts.

And after 3 days, his aura began to see a change as he massacred his way around the area and butchered every Spirit Beast he found.

‘Dance of Death!’

He no longer felt the need to treacherously attack. In his mind, such method was for the weak.

If he wanted to get stronger, then he would have to treat low-tiered Spirit Beasts like any ordinary wild beast and engage them head on.

‘Raging Beast!’

‘Nightfall!’

Day by day, his moves gradually transformed into much powerful attacks. Although the attacks were extremely heavy, there was an ease in his movements.

He did not take too much rest. He only applied some healing pastes over his wounds then moved to find the next target.

On the fifth day, Qai had already collected around 40 beast cores.

He had eaten his fill with tons of Spirit Beast meat and took all the other parts he thought were precious.

When Old Bu saw him seven days later, Qai’s aura was now filled with bloodlust.

And when Qai looked at him in the eye, Old Bu was startled.

For a second the old immortal felt fear. He was certain that there was a flash of intense sharpness that emanated from Qai’s look.

‘Intent!?’

It only appeared for a moment, it instantly disappeared, but Old Bu was convinced it was there.

Qai, on the other hand, was unaware that he has stepped into the doors of Guandao Intent.

If there was any way to describe his current achievement, then it may be called a quasi-Intent and that his current level was half-step into Master rank Knight.

Old Bu knew that although there were myriad cultivation techniques, Intent was a common trait of only those follow the path of Sword Dao.

‘How is this possible!?’

Qai was obviously not a cultivator.

He had a body forging technique, but it was not of the same breath that some cultivators used.

“Senior!?”

Old Bu awoke from daze when Qai called. The latter was actually trying to hand over a beast skin made into an improvised pouch.

“Here are the beast cores, senior. There are a total of 50 in there.”

“Good! Go ahead, throw in your questions.”

With 50 beast cores, Qai began to ask all other things he wanted to know to which Old Bu replied albeit grumpily at times.

Qai learned that Old Bu was the only cultivator on the island.

Old Bu didn't thoroughly explain it, but it appeared that he was somewhat the protector of the island.

Qai also had the chance to hear that 'Spirit Roots' refer to the innate elemental affinity of a person.

And the most basic of them were the 5 elements of Earth, Fire, Wood, Water, and Metal. While there were other elemental affinities, they were more like hybrid types and definitely rare—some known were Wind, Ice, Darkness, Lightning, Time and Space.

Spirit Roots were required to become a cultivator.

“That is because the main source of a cultivator’s technique is the spiritual Qi energy which contains all such elements. So it is necessary to have an affinity with any of the elements.”

Without Spirit Roots, a person was doomed to be a mortal for the rest of his life.

“This island is divided into 3 areas which the are more commonly known as rings. They are the outer ring, the inner ring, and the core.”

The outer ring referred to the immediate layer near the ocean which consisted mainly of the forested areas. Thus, the nameless village was apparently just a small part of that outer ring.

“The entire mountain range between the forests in the outer ring and those 3 peaks is the inner ring. There is dense spiritual Qi energy here. That’s why you can find Spirit Beasts here and not in the outer ring. Like immortal cultivators, Spirit Beasts have innate cultivation that necessitates spiritual Qi energy.”

The core consisted of the 3 peaks in the middle of the island which included what the villagers called Evercloud. And the nearer to the center, the denser the spiritual Qi energy, and therefore, the higher the level of Spirit Beasts present.

“Within the 3 peaks, you will find several ruins of an old sect. Those mountains were once home to an almighty sect that was eventually decimated several hundreds of thousand years ago. They say it was a war between sects. But in this immortal world, it happens all the time."

Qai took a deep breath as he listened.

‘Truly, this world is filled with dangers.’

Yes, back in his previous life there were wars between territories; but wars in this life were evidently a notch higher.

Qai couldn't imagine the sight of a war between armies of immortals.

"At present, this entire island has become a place for Trial by Fire by some sect disciples every 100 years. Every time disciples come here, they ransack all the precious herbs. But their main target is the core ring because there sure are plenty of unearthed treasures and legacies to be found. Unfortunately, even I cannot be certain to survive in that place. The spiritual Qi energy is densest in the core area. So obviously, all high leveled Spirit Beasts on the island stay there."

‘So that's why I never saw any stronger Spirit Beast within my hunting area.’

Qai was still absorbed thinking of Spirit Beasts when he suddenly recalled something from Old Bu's words.

“Senior, if you're the only immortal cultivator on this island, how do the sect disciples come here then. Do they fly on swords for an entire year?”

“No, they use the Teleportation Array.”

“Eh!? Teleportation what?”