Chapter 564: Playing Freely

Chapter 564 -244: Playing Freely

But now, things were different…

He played with wild abandon, without any purpose.

It was like when he was a child, holding a stick in his hand and stumbling upon a field of cauliflower.

The young boy would leave no cauliflower with its head intact.

What purpose could a young child have?

None.

No purpose at all.

It was just simple ‘fun’.

At this moment, Qin Fang seemed to have rediscovered that same state of mind.

He leaped wantonly through the mountains and over the rivers. He soared freely high in the sky and deep beneath the water… If he even saw some strangely shaped rocks, he couldn’t help but rush over and smash them to pieces…

There was no purpose to it, he simply felt…

That it was fun!

「Time passed quietly.」

In the blink of an eye, Qin Fang had spent the better part of a day indulging his playful side among the mountains, forests, and rivers.

He only began to calm down after the inexplicable frustration in his heart had completely dissipated with his laughter.

Looking around, he realized that after all his crazy antics, he had no idea where he had ended up.

But he was in an excellent mood and couldn’t care less.

He sprawled out on a giant rock atop a mountain peak, just gazing at the sky.

Peacefully, he thought of nothing, simply feeling the passage of time and the caress of the mountain breeze. The World became exceptionally quiet.

Night fell, and stars began to dot the sky. Qin Fang lay there, motionless, watching the star-filled expanse.

‘Are the stars of the Great Abyss the same as the stars of this World?’ he couldn’t help but wonder at the somewhat familiar sight.

A spark of interest ignited within him… In the Great Abyss, he couldn’t fly high into the sky. But what about this World?

Filled with curiosity, he didn’t hesitate. His figure shot through the air, transforming into a streak of light that rocketed toward the heavens.

At first, there was a gentle breeze. Gradually, the wind grew stronger. But after a while longer, the wind disappeared altogether. Qin Fang continued to fly upward.

But the higher he flew, the heavier his body felt, as if some force was pulling him down.

And the higher he went, the stronger this force became.

Eventually, even he found it difficult to resist.

In the end, it was as if he had been plunged into a mire, unable to advance even an inch.

Looking down, the entire World had vanished into a mass of dark clouds and mist.

Qin Fang activated his True Gang, trying to push higher, but at this point, it seemed that no matter how much effort he exerted, it had no effect… His entire body felt dead weight, as if a great mountain was dragging him down.

After struggling for a short while, Qin Fang let out a soft breath.

“Is it… Gravity? Or… something else?”

Qin Fang gazed at the starry sky that seemed so close, but in the end, he could only choose to give up and let himself fall back down.

‘Still, there’s no Gang Wind in the upper atmosphere of this World…’ he thought to himself as he descended.

Back on the ground, Qin Fang lay down once more. As he looked at the starry sky, a strange feeling washed over him…

Just a moment ago, he was watching the stars. Then, on a whim, he decided he wanted to fly up and see what was in the sky, and then…

He actually went!

…Even if he didn’t succeed in the end.

But the act itself… was filled with wonder.

“This is the true essence of Cultivation!”

Qin Fang smiled as he let out this sigh of admiration.

…To do as one pleases, unrestrained and free!

‘Shouldn’t this be the ultimate goal for a Martial Artist’s Cultivation?’

…At least, that’s how Qin Fang felt in this moment.

Gazing at the myriad stars, he relaxed his mind and eventually, just like that, fell into a deep sleep on the large rock atop the mountain.

「The next morning, Qin Fang awoke.」

‘Looks like those seven days of consolidation still took a lot of my energy,’ Qin Fang thought.

Then, he thought about his ‘craziness’ from yesterday and couldn’t help but let a smile grace his lips.

…It was nice.

Indulging like that once in a while felt pretty good.

His Spirit and mood, in particular, felt much lighter.

Qin Fang got up and gave a big stretch.

He glanced around, then decided to set off and return to the Sect.

…Even though he had wandered aimlessly all day yesterday without paying attention to the path.

But he at least knew the general direction he had run in.

As long as he knew the approximate direction of the Sect, it was fine.

…Being able to fly just made you that much more awesome.

Just as Qin Fang, in a good mood, was about to set off, a sudden roar echoed from the forest behind him.

Qin Fang froze for a moment, then instinctively turned his head to look in the direction of the sound.

Judging by the sound…

…It sounded like a tiger’s roar?

Qin Fang raised an eyebrow.

…This World, of course, had all sorts of ferocious beasts.

In his years of taking various detours through the wilderness between Old Ox Back and the Sect, Qin Fang had naturally seen his fair share of them.

Tigers, bears, he had seen them all many times.

So, normally, a simple tiger’s roar wouldn’t have been enough to surprise Qin Fang.

What surprised him was… this roar didn’t sound normal.

‘Does it faintly carry the quality of a True Essence Transmission?’

Qin Fang narrowed his eyes. After a moment’s thought, he simply moved, flying toward the source of the sound.

…Now that Qin Fang’s Cultivation had greatly improved, his courage had grown considerably as well.

The forest scenery receded below him. After the first roar, another one sounded a short while later. This one sounded furious, as if it had been provoked.

The sense of True Essence contained within the roar became more and more distinct.

A Demon?

Qin Fang narrowed his eyes and sped up slightly.

Soon, he arrived over a stretch of wilderness and witnessed the scene unfolding in the wild below…

A great battle was underway.

On one side of the conflict was a magnificent striped tiger. It was not much smaller than Xile, and its furious roars shook the very forest.

And its opponent… was a snake.

Or rather, a giant python.

The python’s body alone was as thick as a water bucket. It was covered in scales and was probably over twenty meters long. Coiled upon a massive rock, it stared coldly at the tiger with its forked tongue flicking in and out…

…No wonder he had only heard the tiger’s roars and no other sound.

Qin Fang stopped in the distance, watching with a raised eyebrow.

‘Two Exotic Species have appeared? And from the looks of it, they’ve both crossed the Extraordinary threshold?’

Qin Fang was a little surprised.

‘What are they fighting over?’

His gaze swept over the area out of curiosity, but soon his eyes narrowed. A glimmer of light caught his attention…

‘What’s that?’

He focused his eyes, watching with curiosity.