After Rehvka felt confident using her Dao, they prepared to enter the forest; danger and hidden mysteries seemed to emanate from that place.
Unfortunately, she faced a limitation in her power. Without Qi, she couldn’t generate Yin, so she had to rely only on what she had in her body and around her. During the day, when the Yang of the sun was intense, it became impossible for her to hide for more than a few seconds.
They could only act during the night for their plans to move forward. Soon, on a night extremely well-lit by the stars, they took the first steps into the forest.
Rehvka fully merged with the Yin and disappeared from the eyes and senses of everyone. They could feel her presence through the array and the whale with his soul, but it was still shocking to see her vanish before them. Unfortunately, this woman wasn’t born in the Queen’s universe, or the Queen would surely have tried to recruit her. Almin and Ruri were already born with a partially inactive domination rune in their mental seas, but Rehvka had none of that.
The universe where Rehvka was born was the same as the one where Almin and Alm lived in the past. In those places, everyone was born dominated by another method that completely robbed them of their freedom. To the Queen, people from other universes were her disposable slaves, whom she kept on a short leash. As for those from her universe, she gave them subtle freedom, and those talented ones she activated their rune and made them her servants. It was a completely different treatment, and Rehvka would never have the heroic power like the other two.
They moved and quickly approached the first territory of a quadrupedal beast. The whale, Thea, and Almin used pills to conceal themselves. The domain area of this beast was five hundred meters, so if they weren’t a hundred meters away from it, it wouldn’t sense them.
Their goal was obviously the beast, so they had to get closer; that’s why Rehvka was essential. But before that, they took the opportunity for Almin to gather herbs and the whale, things buried underground. There was a chance that after the fight against the beast, another one might arrive and they would have to flee; so it was safe to collect what they could beforehand.
In this untouched continent, the influence of the behemoth was intense. Even without Qi, it was guaranteed they would find treasures that only existed in the divine world waiting for them.
In this first region, being in the outermost area of the forest, only Almin found a different herb. But it wasn’t a big deal, and he didn’t dare to keep it feeling the thirsty gaze in his direction. He turned to the whale, who sighed.
’You can keep it... just be careful not to eat anything poisonous we find...’
The whale murmured through the array, and Almin handed it to Thea. She accepted it, but her face, unable to properly express emotions, remained unchanged from the others. However, Alm and Bruno could feel her internal fluctuations—she was radiant. There was no longer any desire in her to hide what she wanted from them.
The two sighed, recalling the moments of extreme hunger they had suffered when taking over the whale’s body. Ironically, now they were raising a female android who seemed like a beast with an insatiable appetite, constantly needing to be fed.
With the outer region searched, they approached the main course. Everyone stopped at the boundary where the beast couldn’t sense them. They observed the creature in meditation, eyes closed and distant. There were no cultivation levels to be felt; it was like a common terrestrial animal. But the physical power emanated from this figure, along with its colossal size, made even the space around it heavy.
’If it could fight a cultivator using its Qi... just with its physique, this beast would have the power to kill a common person in the Elemental Condensation Realm. Without Qi and cultivation, only someone in the divine realm might not die; winning is already questionable. After going through all the reconstructions, the physical body naturally becomes something truly semi-divine.’
The whale explained through the array, while everyone took a deep breath. This beast was only the first in the outer region of the forest; inside there should be creatures many times more powerful.
’But... unfortunately for this beast, our assassin is already someone with divine cultivation.’ The whale finished, and in the next second, a sharp sound echoed.
CRACK!
The dense and powerful scales near the beast’s heart shattered. A dagger pierced straight through and began draining the creature’s life.
ROAAAR!!
Quickly a wave of power exploded along with its roar. Obviously, Alm and Bruno didn’t expect to kill it like this; after all, if it died this way, they would lose all the vital energy from the body, rendering it useless for their goals.
Rehvka immediately pulled out the dagger and merged her body with the world, moving at an extreme speed away from the beast. In the next second, the earth seemed to crack, and with a leap, the whale attacked head-on with a long spear in hand.
The quadruped beast was startled by the sudden attack. Seeing the spear in front of him, which looked like a twig, it reacted with its claws.
CRASH!!
Unfortunately for the beast, that wooden spear was like a piece of steel and it, a still water. At the moment of impact, its bones cracked and blood gushed from its mouth frantically.
Rehvka’s first blow severely injured it internally. Now, with the whale in front of it, it was completely blocked and cornered. With a circular motion, the spear spun and struck the beast, causing it to rear up and stagger back.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Thea attacked from afar with simultaneous shots. All her hits landed on the wounds and the weakest points of the beast’s physical body. She trained with Almin all this time and both learned to judge by observing the creature’s movements, identifying where its physique was most vulnerable.
Against cultivators, this wasn’t something everyone learned. Knowing how to defend against the laws and devastating blows of their weapons was more important than attacking their physique. However, upon returning to the normal world, the three would realize how beneficial this would be. In close combat, they would be like grim gods against opponents; at a distance, Almin and Thea would be at a greater advantage. They became more complete and formidable fighters with this skill.
Swish!
As the beast roared, feeling its body shatter under the shots, a spear red as fire tore through the air. Almin now fought without using his flame as usual, but he managed, through pills, to shoot his spear, harnessing a firepower from the natural laws of the herbs. It was limited in uses due to the pills, but its power surpassed that of Thea’s and was perfect for a final blow.
BOOM!
The massive body fell to the ground. The spear pierced exactly where Rehvka had initially struck, in the heart. It was a precise and deadly strike. Since there was no cultivation, beasts didn’t have a core; thus, the heart was their weak spot.
However, no one celebrated. Everyone turned to the whale and saw his cold and serious expression. He looked into the distance silently and thoughtfully.
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’That... was just for a split second... but it was a fluctuation that shouldn’t exist here,’ Bruno thought, shocked.
Alm spoke coldly. ’Something observed our movement stealthily and then fled. It wasn’t something physical... maybe Qi? No... it was different.’
The two of them soon huffed and turned away. It didn’t matter now; if it escaped, they wouldn’t find out now. They would have time and would investigate further. Their senses were sharp, and they trusted them fully, and if there was danger, they had an escape route and cards up their sleeves.
’Let’s go, the night is still young,’ the whale said, moving and placing the entire beast inside the spatial inventory. If it were a spatial ring, without Qi, it would be impossible to store. But this inventory, after they evolved and modified it, worked even without Qi.
No one got hurt, and there was no Qi to exhaust. They moved silently after consuming more concealment pills; though not many, as long as they had them, they could keep going.
They didn’t venture into the forest interior, only skirted its periphery, where the beasts had similar power levels. The night passed without incident, with four beasts taken down.
During the day, they didn’t rest or relax. The whale found ores buried underground using its bloodline, and without Qi to extract everything quickly, they all worked as miners.
After a week passed, the pills were almost gone, and Thea’s materials were also running low. Dozens of beasts were slain, and Almin found many useful herbs that could aid in making other pills. It was time to return to the checkpoint.
The return was surprisingly quick. Three seconds were enough for everyone to jump into the channel and return to the world on the moon. Then, in a few minutes, they entered another portal and were back in the city. The three sighed heavily feeling the Qi around them... that terrifying and dangerous place vanished, and now they were back home.
Alm and Bruno didn’t waste a second and ran to the city’s herb field. All the life force contained in the beasts’ bodies was preserved in their spatial inventory; using their tattoos, they manipulated the land of death and life, and everything was slowly absorbed.
It was nighttime when everything finished. It was sudden when everyone in the city felt a shock in the laws that made them freeze. They turned in sync towards the herb field. Above, they saw a five-meter tree emerge and grow before their eyes.
It stopped growing, but the next second, a pulsing made everyone’s hearts vibrate. In the central trunk of that tree, nine cores emerged, and the laws of the world accumulated there. The cores pulsed, and with each pulse, a mystical and colorful light covered the night sky magically; it was as if nine stars were being born and lighting their youthful glow for the first time before them.
It took minutes for everything to stop. Only that five-meter tree existed, emanating a subtle and gentle glow.
"Nine Star Tree, its legends seem to be true," the whale exclaimed, looking at it admiringly. It still had much to grow, but it already demonstrated its magnitude right from the start.
Almin beside him floated and examined the leaves closely with wide eyes. With great care, he gently plucked one as if not wanting to cause any harm to that celestial treasure.
"Yes... this is definitely more than enough for the Nine Heavens Pill!"
Almin confirmed excitedly, and he picked a dozen multicolored and shiny leaves. He didn’t even look at the whale and rushed to the alchemy room, completely enthusiastic to start working.
Alm and Bruno waved in relief, finally they would start cultivating again. Everything seemed to be going according to plan... but immediately they felt a strangeness. Since when were their lives easy? They instinctively felt that hidden and dark things were moving, and they needed to be prepared, or everything would crumble.