Chapter 84: In Search of a Cozy Cave

Sitting on the branches and watching the conflict, An suddenly turned toward the center of the Heavenly Soul Sect disciples' crowd.

'What the hell!' Rapidly activating his Qi Armor and channeling all his energy into the outer membrane, he quickly jumped down from the branches and began leaping between trees, trying to put as much distance between himself and the source as possible.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a stream of energy appeared behind him, closing the distance in an instant.

'Damn!' Realizing he wasn't fast enough, he stopped abruptly and directed every bit of Qi he could gather in that instant toward the front of his outer membrane.

The moment separating him from that stream felt like an eternity.

As the stream came within a few centimeters of his membrane, the hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and his entire body trembled.

But then, the strange stream abruptly stopped and absorbed a particle of Qi that had emanated from his membrane.

After absorbing it, the stream shot straight into the sky like a startled snake.

With eyes wide with fear, he shot into the air and activated Qi Silence at full power. Rising above the treetops, he flew at maximum speed in the opposite direction from that stream.

Flying over the trees, An glanced back from time to time. 'What was that? I almost screamed from fright...'

Realizing he was finally safe, he descended slightly so the foliage would hide him.

'That stream... It was similar to the teleportation altar's energy. But there was something mixed in. As if the original energy had merged with the teleportation platform's energy, and only then did it absorb my Qi. But for what purpose?' Looking at the sky in the direction the stream had flown, he continued pondering. 'That stream shot into the sky above the altar itself. But what does that have to do with me and my energy? It only happened to me... Is someone scheming against me? But why?'

'No way. I'll be keeping my distance from all of you. Not even ten minutes have passed, and I've already been dragged into something...' Shaking his head, he scratched his nose in irritation at the situation.

Soaring back into the air, An decided to fly in the direction he had chosen earlier.

After flying for just a few minutes, he frowned. 'The concentration of Qi is increasing. I definitely chose the right direction...' Flying through the clouds, he decided it would be safest to ascend as high as possible, just in case any flying beasts happened to be above him.

'The main problem now is that I'll need to spend time filtering Qi during cultivation, and that will take too much time...' Flying over a massive canyon of red stone and sand, he suddenly stopped.

'So Li Deng was right. Spirit beasts really do predominate here, not demonic ones... Is that because their cultivation works differently from humans?'

Hovering in the air, he watched as two massive spirit beasts, resembling centipedes but as thick as a school bus, with bodies so long that most of them were buried underground, clung to each other with huge, sharp metallic pincers on their faces, trying with all their might to tear each other's heads off.

After watching the territorial fight for just a few minutes, he slowly continued flying. 'Hmm, filtration and energy replenishment are happening faster than my Qi expenditure during flight. At the rate demonic energy breaks down and is absorbed by my dantian, it's faster even if I use my Qi at one hundred percent. Hehe!' Realizing he didn't need to worry about monitoring his Qi expenditure, he exhaled in relief and accelerated as much as his strength allowed.

'Ah! With all these problems, thoughts, and schemes... I forgot to enjoy my first free flight!' Finally feeling some semblance of freedom, he spread his arms and began maneuvering between the crimson clouds.

Soaring upward, he pierced through the clouds like an arrow, constantly rising and falling. From time to time, he changed poses: extending one fist forward, then both, trying to figure out which posture was most comfortable.

In the end, the most comfortable pose turned out to be the intuitive one: his entire body relaxed, his head tilted back to see where he was flying, and his arms held slightly away from his waist, like an arrow. Moving his arms closer or farther from his waist changed his trajectory.

With a satisfied and carefree expression, he flew like this for several hours until he noticed a massive red river ahead.

Stopping in the air, he stared intently at the nearest bank of the river. 'Hmm? Thousand-leaf plants? Right by the water?' He spotted plants resembling huge arcticum petals, collapsed on the ground under their own weight.

Looking around, An checked the Qi flows several times. After confirming there was no one nearby, no beast lying in ambush, he slowly descended to the ground.

Approaching one of the thousand-leaf plants, he carefully took it at the very base and slowly pulled it out, making sure not to break the root.

After pulling it out and shaking the dirt from the root, he examined it. 'Hmm... Surprisingly, the plant isn't contaminated with demonic energy... Could it be that only humans, when cultivating in this environment, are affected?' Reading the energy, he was surprised to find that not only spirit beasts but also plants don't absorb demonic energy during natural growth.

'Or maybe, due to prolonged exposure to this energy, the plants and beasts evolved, learning to filter the energy?' Shaking his head, he crushed the upper part of the plant and scattered it around the area, since the leaves themselves are seeds for further growth. He kept only the root and placed it in his pouch.

'I'll take all of them. Who knows, they might come in handy in the future!' Looking at the vast field with hundreds of thousand-leaf plants, most of which had crossed the threshold of the second rank, An rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

.

.

After collecting the last thousand-leaf plant, he suddenly raised his head. "Hmm?"

In the distance, he sensed surging Qi. 'Strange, I don't hear the sounds of battle. That means the distance is more than a few dozen kilometers. And at that range, I can feel disturbance in the Qi? What's happening over there...'

'I'd better leave.' Taking off into the air, he began crossing the red river, continuing in the same direction.

Although the distance between him and the battle site was definitely more than twenty kilometers, the fact that he could feel the disturbance in the Qi meant that in that direction, there was either a creature clearly above the second rank, or a clash between groups that could involve up to four hundred people.

After flying for more than ten hours, stopping from time to time to collect spirit plants, he reached a mountain range that snaked like a serpent, dividing the forest into two parts.

'I'll find a place here...' Hovering in the clouds, he examined the mountain range from all sides, trying to find an ideal spot to make his temporary home.

Initially, he thought it would be ideal to reach the central area and find a place to cultivate there. But the farther he flew, the stronger the spirit beasts around him became.

Less than an hour ago, when he suddenly felt a Qi pressure similar to Li Deng and Lua Mou's, even slightly denser, he realized that somewhere nearby was a spirit beast, possibly even a demonic beast of the third rank. The moment he sensed it, he veered slightly off course and began searching for a suitable place for himself.

'Found it!' Finally, closer to the summit of one of the mountains, he spotted a cave overgrown with vines, only barely visible because An was looking from above.

Beginning his slow descent, he wrinkled his nose. 'There's something inside the cave, and judging by the energy, clearly second rank.' Shaking his head, he realized it would be better to find another spot, understanding that he had no chance of taking that cave. Besides, the mountain range stretched for hundreds of kilometers, so sooner or later he would find an ideal and safe cave.

After spending a few more hours searching, he found a narrow entrance on one of the peaks. After confirming the inside was empty, he descended and landed right in front of the entrance.

'Judging by the marks on the stone, this cave was made by a cultivator using a bladed weapon... Possibly a sword? Or a machete?' Running his hand along the deep grooves in the stone, he took a step forward and squeezed through the entrance, which was only slightly wider than himself.

Entering, he immediately heard the sound of water striking stone. Moving deeper inside, a view opened before him: a small pool, into which crystal-clear water seeped through cracks in the ceiling and trickled down the rocks.

"Wow!" Approaching the pool and looking at the bottom, he made out something like a funnel, hiding its depths in darkness.

'Everything seems safe... I should block the entrance just in case.' After examining everything around and confirming there was only one entrance, he turned around. Approaching the far wall, he leaned down and, activating his Qi, formed a Qi Blade in his hand.

Pressing the blade to the wall, he began adjusting the vibration frequency.

Crack! Crack!

After successfully matching the frequency, he began cutting into the stone, crumbling it into sand along the line he traced with the blade.

After cutting out a rectangular slab and prying it loose, he carried it to the entrance and covered it. Ensuring everything was secure, he removed the beast pouch from his belt.

Walking toward the pool, he slowly opened the pouch and, giving a command, pulled the rooster out.

"Cluck?"

While eating delicious fish, completely focused on the amazing and beloved taste of meat, he hadn't noticed his surroundings change.

Instead of a beautiful lake and warm grass beneath him, he found himself in a dark, gloomy cave. Immediately rising to his feet, Baldi turned to An and began flapping his wings and squawking, showing with his whole demeanor that he was not pleased.

"We're inside the Sacred Land. Even though everything here is rotten with demonic energy, I need to conduct a small experiment." Bending down, An took the rooster onto his arm and looked at him with a serious face. "I need you to try cultivating. Try to absorb the energy around you."

Baldi was about to continue his complaints, but seeing the serious expression on An's face, he immediately fell silent. After processing what he had been told, Baldi nodded and, closing his eyes, began the cultivation method natural to beasts.

.

.

"Stop!" Hearing An's sudden command, he stopped.

"As I thought: the spirit beasts living here have either evolved over time, or they have special body structures that allow them to filter the energy..." Holding Baldi in his hands, he observed how the chicken transformed the energy from the fish in its stomach into pure energy, which immediately mixed with the filthy demonic Qi being involuntarily drawn in through the bird's pores. In the end, it settled inside the beast.

Unlike the beasts that inhabit this place, Baldi lacked the function to filter energy, meaning this place could not benefit the rooster.

"You can stay outside with me, but you'll have to control yourself to avoid drawing Qi from the environment. Or you can go back into the pouch. Your choice?"

Baldi looked around at the damp, dark cave walls. Wrinkling his nose at the smell of rot and dampness, he didn't even want to choose.

"Bok! Bok!" Crying out twice, he chose to go back, pointing his wing at the pouch on An's belt.

"Alright. If anything happens, let me know, and I'll let you out." After saying this and waiting for a nod from the bird, An placed him back into the beast pouch.

He approached the pool and, untying his spatial pouch, pulled out a cushion.

'So how did the beasts evolve? Perhaps initially there was no demonic energy throughout the entire Sacred Land, only in a certain place. But for some reason, it began to spread around, and over time, the beasts constantly encountering it learned, or rather, were forced to learn, how to filter it.' Placing the cushion on the ground, he sat down comfortably and began examining the pool.

'First, I need to make sure there won't be any problems during my cultivation.' Exhaling, An closed his eyes and began a test cycle.