Dawn peeking, Wu Tian stood up from the campfire. He patted his loose robe, marching back toward the sun. Not so far from him, a few hundreds of meters apart, another forest awaited.

It seemed denser and more eerie. A strange sense brushed him off the wrong way. He felt ancestral memories to be roaming even at the edge. Unwilling to back off from just a mere atmosphere, he did not bother asking Guizou. As a Warrior, what should he be afraid of?

A couple hours of steady walking over with, Wu Tian stopped. His feet were still on the tall lime grass, the next step meant to enter the doom right in front.

Slowly putting his left foot forward, it landed on grass of a very deep green. The moment he did, he felt a sense of oppression befalling him. "What the hell..." Taking his foot back, he was mesmerized. So creepy...

Shrugging as he felt no real danger other than some discomfort, he slowly advanced. Each step was heavy, but after some time, he became used to the difference. It was like a small increase in gravity, not much to a level three Warrior. It could not even reduce his exertion level.

This feeling however soon intensified. It had been a few hours more since then, and the darkness of the forest, unwilling to let sunlight shine through, was becoming more intrusive. The vegetation turned demonic in some ways, instinctively making him reject everything near. But even if he tried, there was no point. By now, he was already surrounded, the path he took to come here already vanished. After turning left and right, he was strangely lost.

"Can't believe this..." Smacking his face, he tightened his eyelids. "How deplorable!" Spitting on the ground, he felt sick. "What a shitty forest!" Since a mere abundance of trees affected him, he needed to fix it.

Closing in on a nearby tree, he hugged it. Taking in a deep breath, he held it well, his cheeks flushed and full. Crouching slightly, he then reinforced his grip and extended his legs. "Huss!"

A loud roar echoing past the surroundings, Wu Tian tore the large tree a dozen meters high off the ground. Roots deeply interwoven underneath were pulled as well, some still properly lodged down there. "Huff!" Dropping the tree, it fell on its side, still attached to profound roots. Reflexively sweeping his forehead with his arm, he chopped down with his right arm, severing the lower part of the tree. It was a clean cut all the way through.

Walking to the opposite side, he did the same. He now had a trunk ten meters long as a tool. Spitting on the ground some more, he nearly gagged due to the strange invisible miasma. "Fucking hell..." Noticing some of his saliva to be on the tree, he almost cursed. "Slimy..." Shaking his head, Wu Tian took a couple seconds and used the [Mountainous Incarnation]. His body became one with the world, a mountain of a man. Rooting his feet inside the earth, he focused his Qi.

Gathering more and more from the surroundings, he felt even worse but did not mind for now. This Qi helped him, each moment temporarily increasing his very own weight.

After a minute, he was at his maximum capacity, his body unable to handle more strain.

But it was enough.

"Three thousand pounds heavy!" Smiling from ear to ear, he easily pierced the trunk with his right hand down to the forearm. The thick tree was then lifted easily with one arm. "Not too lightweight, but well, it's fine?" Waving it around like a mutated arm, his every move stirred the air. Some swings almost collapsing frail saplings.

Laughing aloud, he did not waste much more time. Running in circle, he began to use this tree as an axe and chop down all the trees around.

He did not stop for half an hour before fatigue took hold of him. Unwilling to be targeted at his weakest, he let go of the tree, causing a loud thump to rumble. "Phew~" Stretching his arms toward the now visible blue sky, Wu Tian smiled even more. He was now facing a large clearing tens of meters across. "A task well done!" He could already tell the ethereal feeling of doom to be fading in the area. "If something smells bad, you can just ventilate it a bit!"

Taking some time off, he was sitting cross-legged in the centermost area of this new clearing. He soon managed to expel the strange feeling from his body.

A howl heard from all sides, Wu Tian frowned as he stood back up. Judging that two hours had passed, he realized himself to be surrounded by beasts from all sides. "..." He was left speechless.

No wonder the Mortal Land is like this... no wonder master despise them. How many times do I get a feeling close to his?

He could not believe it. He was currently being approached from all sides, and so by mere Mortal Beasts. Not a single Warrior Beast still. In fact, none were above the seventh layer as well.

Sigh...

"Alright then! Come get me!" Circulating his martial method, a faint vortex greedily sucked the Qi around into his body. Familiar scales of rocks and dirt covered him from head to toe. "I love this method!" Intimidated, the beasts stayed clear from him. This was perfect, giving him enough time to gain more weight by the moment.

Finished, he did not hesitate, raising his left leg high up. Looking straight ahead, where a pack of wolves and a brown bear with spikes were waiting, he smashed his left foot down as fast as he could. A large rumble was felt across the entire clearing, large cracks forming on the earth reaching five or so meters far. "This is embarrassing..." Flushing slightly, he could not compare to his master. "Still need to practice..." Ignoring his failure, Wu Tian ran toward the targets instead.

Gaining some courage, the bear rushed ahead as well. As the two met, the bear hurriedly bit down while swinging his paws. Surprisingly, Wu Tian did not move.

But what could a little bear do anyway? The paws were deflected by their own weight, as if meeting a mountain. The maw exploded with a sharp pain causing the bear to wail, removing its now fangless maw. Gently patting his shoulder, Wu Tian removed some leftover bloodied fangs, his skin left intact. "Not bad honestly... fifth layer Mortal Beast? That was like almost two thousand pounds right there. Ferocious!" Calmly grabbing hold of the bleeding maw from both sides, Wu Tian easily tore it apart like paper, exposing the skull hidden underneath the fur. Putting some more strength, the skull split in two, and so did the brain. It only too him a second or so to split a bear in half with his bare hands.

Gathering some sharp bones from the dead bear, Wu Tian threw them at full force, killing the two wolves ahead. The collisions were vile. The flying bones exploding on two skulls.

Now aware of their opponent's ferociousness, the dozens of beasts began to retreat. There was no point in fighting such a being for some leftover food. Would they even be able to eat his corpse in the first place?

Seeing them scurry away, Wu Tian did not push the matter further. I don't have infinite clothing! Sighing at his poor robe, he resumed his adventure.

With somewhat of a new reputation in the area, Wu Tian discovered a lack of attacks ever since then. Few were the beasts daring to approach and even fewer the ones thinking about offending him.

As such, the hours passed, another campfire lit in the dead of the night. The fire was brushing his face with light, the miasma strangely repulsed by this heat.

Cooking some of the bear's meat, Wu Tian drank from a makeshift cup of wood. When one's finger could pierce wood by simply moving it around, crafting items became much easier.

Reminiscing about the past, he looked above, where the crowns from the trees battled for a bit more sunlight when daytime. He could not see a single star, nor even a single piece of the sky.

I cultivated when I was around fourteen? Then... I think I was twenty-three then... after that... Counting on his fingers, Wu Tian was dumbfounded. I look so old, but I should be less than thirty. Around twenty-eight and some change? Maybe a bit more? A bit less?

Sigh.

Sipping on his cup, ignoring the splinters, he then took a big bite from his cooked bear. Needs seasoning... as always.

Days later, Wu Tian was unknowingly deep into the forest. The aura of demons and imps, along the deadly silence only shut by the wind and its targets, was getting denser.

So dense in fact, Wu Tian swore being able to see a thin veil of black in front of him. It was like a somewhat translucent darkness coating his very eyes. Uncanny it certainly was.

But right then, amidst his arms gently pushing away giant leaves and bushes, an assault of sounds submerged him.

"What the young lady says is right!"

"Indeed! If you guys are so cowardly as to run right now, don't blame us for not sharing any treasure! We came here together, so we should see it through the end as a whole."

Young voices of men and women chattered away. Wu Tian was surprised by this. Even as a Warrior, he felt the aura around to be unsettling, attempting every chance it got to rob him of his senses.

Closing in more and more, he soon stood behind a large bush, gazing ahead. A small grey cliff was blocking the way, a faint layer of ice, nearly invisible to the naked eye, spread everywhere upon it. A group of people was arguing, a cave entrance five meters wide waiting to be explored.

Using his acute vision, Wu Tian believed the miasma to be originating from this cave, or at least some of it. But before he could react, his good old master appeared.

Meeting eyes with the purple soul, he awaited.

"Kiddo, where are you? I felt something quite powerful, so I..." Guizou's eyes shifting to the side, he took notice of the cave entrance. This made him realize the surroundings to be coated in darkness. Dao? Daos? Frowning heavily, he did not say a word.

Dao of Darkness, Dao of Ice, maybe a few more? That should be at least from a Monarch, maybe an early stage Dao Enlightened. Even if it's a middle stage Monarch only, this isn't really a place to... well, it's the Mortal Land now that I think about it...

Looking around some more, Guizou gauged the group near the cave entrance. Foolish.

"Kiddo, don't associate yourself with these morons over there. I think that with my help, pocketing the treasures in that cave might be possible. Just don't rely on these idiots. Not even a single Warrior, and they want to covet a place like this?" Wu Tian nodded sternly, followed by a question. "Master, is that cave so dangerous? Am I not getting in trouble? We might as well leave it as is."

Guizou scoffed audibly. "Why not take advantage of it? It's true that a place like this requires at least a Nine Stars cultivation base, but with me here, we could get some good things. Even if we have to run away with empty hands, we would have tried."

Feeling that it made some sense, though the confidence mostly came from Guizou's background, Wu Tian stepped forward. The bush making noise, he saw a dozen heads snap in his direction. Since they would not move and appeared to keep arguing, he would not enjoy the boring show any longer.