Chapter 5: Spirit Beast First Encounter

After a long inquiry and a bit of interrogation, Wei Chen learned that the local province he was in was called Azure River Province.

The trending topic everyone was so hyped about was the opening of the secret realm known as the Flaming Lotus Secret Realm, located in Flaming Lotus Prefecture within Azure River Province.

As expected of a Xianxia world, there are secret realms everywhere. From what he had gathered, these secret realms are pretty fishy.

So fishy, that even his socks smelled better.

From his inquiries, he discovered that not all secret realms are equal. Some are far more dangerous than others, some so deadly they are practically death traps, while others are no different from the outside world, filled with spiritual beasts and spiritual herbs.

As for the gained from these secret realms, they ranged from simple spiritual herbs to heaven-defying cultivation methods and combat techniques.

This only meant that these secret realms, or at least most of them, had been deliberately created by powerful beings.

To dig deeper, he would need to ask the Lord of Death a few questions. After all, that guy was a Lord of Death; he must have seen countless things and lived long enough to know plenty of juicy secrets.

Taking a look at the group of Sword Manor disciples kneeling and trembling on the ground as they gathered the Spirit Net Jade into their storage rings, Wei Chen spoke.

“Don’t forget to distribute my Spirit Net Jade. As a reward, your sect may keep ten of them. Don’t even think of swindling me, because I’ll pay a visit to your sect later to check on you guys.”

“Yes! Senior, we’ll do our utmost. We’ll even ask for the sect’s assistance to distribute them,” Liu Shanhong said with a cupped fist.

“Good. You may go.”

After hearing this, the group of Sword Manor disciples quickly ran off with the Spirit Net Jade, as if they had just been pardoned from a death sentence.

Watching them scatter, Wei Chen couldn’t help but think they looked like those folks who raid convenience stores in New York. The sight gave him a strange sense of homesickness.

“Don’t know why, but I suddenly want a cheeseburger,” Wei Chen muttered.

This world was great and all, but a single day without internet made him restless. He wanted to scroll through social media, watch some crazy videos, or laugh at idiots crying online because of the backlash from their own stupidity.

Especially… his ex-girlfriend. He missed her.

Even though they had broken up, he completely understood her and didn’t blame her at all. In fact, he felt guilty for dragging her into his mess. Who would tolerate being harassed every single day?

As for his family, he also felt unworthy of their love. He brought money home, sure, but he also brought trouble. Those f*cking haters didn’t even spare his family.

He wouldn’t excuse himself, he knew he deserved a punch in the face, working as a nuisance streamer like that. He’d take it like a man if they came after him. He hadn’t even blame the guy who shot him to death; that was the consequence of his own actions.

But what the f*ck about those who went after the ones he loved? If he ever found out who they were, he’d put a bullet in their ass!

“Sigh…”

Wei Chen let out a depressed sigh and walked out of the cave to check on the aftermath.

Looking at the trees outside, he noticed they had lost much of their energy. They weren’t as vibrant as before; it was like they had lost some of that Xianxia juice.

To put it more clearly, normal trees in this world gave off a mystical feeling, a sense of freshness and revitalization that trees in his previous world could never match.

But now, the trees around his cave looked no different from the ones back on Earth.

“Is it because I drained all of their spiritual energy? That’s likely,” Wei Chen muttered.

With cultivation at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, Wei Chen leapt from the mountain, stepping off branches protruding from the cliff toward the lake below. Every movement felt effortless. It was as though he were flying through the air, and the sensation of freedom was exhilarating.

He took a quick bath to freshen up. Cultivating had left him dirty, covered in grime and body toxins. If he didn’t wash, it would feel like torture. No wonder those Sword Manor guys made faces like they had stepped in shit.

After his bath, he changed into the spare clothes he had taken from the Sword Manor disciples. It was the kind of ancient Chinese clothing that would normally require some learning to wear. Fortunately, the everyday life knowledge he had gained from the Lord of Death made it much easier for him.

Since he had drained all the spiritual qi within a 10-kilometer area, he needed to change locations. Otherwise, his cultivation wouldn’t progress. Especially since this world was nothing like his previous one, where law and order could restrain people.

Here, the bigger the fist, the greater the authority. As for law and order? That was for powerless mortals to obey, not cultivators.

If he wanted to survive, he needed to have the biggest fist of them all, or at least enough strength to escape and save his life without too much trouble.

With this in mind, Wei Chen began searching for a place rich with spiritual qi. Using his heightened senses, he wandered for about an hour before he finally found it.

The place was inside a cave. The cavern was massive, with stalactites and stalagmites glowing in a beautiful blue hue. If this cave existed on Earth, he was sure it would be considered a natural wonder.

He walked deeper until he reached a vast chamber, where light streamed down from an opening in the ceiling above. On the highest elevated stone stood a fierce-looking spirit beast, glaring at him. Its fangs were the size of an adult’s arm, and it growled menacingly.

The beast looked like a giant Siberian husky… yes, a four-meter-high and six-meter-long Siberian husky.

Its red fur was glossy, almost inviting to the touch. But the catch was… its eyes glowed a fiery red, as if flames burned within them, while small tongues of fire leaked from its mouth. Its claws shone with a sharp, fiery red light, and its tail looked as though it were made entirely of fire.

Wei Chen slowly retreated step by step, smiling wryly.

“Ok… good doggy… good doggy,” he muttered, raising his hands in a calming gesture as he backed away.

Roar!

The beast roared and charged at him.

“F*ck! I forgot places like this are usually occupied!” Wei Chen cursed as he bolted out of the cave. But the beast was relentless, chasing him down.

“Hey! I’m out of your house! Stop chasing me! I’m already outside your damn Castle Doctrine!” he shouted back, annoyed by its persistence.

But truth be told, he didn’t actually feel his life was in danger the moment he saw it. It was like being chased by a neighbor’s chihuahua, something he could kick away easily, even though this beast was over four meters tall, six meters long, and had a face full of murderous fury.

Wei Chen frowned at that realization. He had run because he was startled by its fierce display, but why didn’t he feel threatened? Was this some kind of instinct that let him judge how dangerous an opponent really was?

Come to think of it, he had easily outrun the beast, and now it could barely keep up at all. Normally, something of this size should have caught him easily, at least if it were on Earth.

But this was a Xianxia world. Beasts here were supposed to be stronger and faster, and in fact, this one was indeed faster than anything on Earth. So the reason he had outrun it couldn’t be because of his lightness skill. He only had combat techniques from the Lord of Death, not escape techniques.

“Could it be…” Wei Chen muttered, turning back as he kicked a small stone from the ground straight at the beast.

The stone shot forward like a bullet.

Boom!

Roar!?

The stone smashed into the beast’s face, throwing it backward and sending it crashing through several trees along the way.

“As expected,” Wei Chen muttered.

Now he was certain the beast couldn’t pose a real threat to him. He didn’t sense any cultivation from it, but he was sure of his own strength at the early stage of the Foundation Establishment realm.

Could it be that this beast was only at the Qi Refining realm? That seemed possible. Unfortunately, he couldn’t sense the beast’s cultivation level the way cultivators could sense each other. From what he had gathered, most of them were in the Qi Refining realm.

Only that Liu Shanhong guy had been in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, just like him. That was why he had dared to fight them.

Seeing the massive red, fiery Siberian husky trying to get up, Wei Chen slowly walked toward it, and the beast immediately growled at him.

It was confused. Why was this human mortal so strong? Wasn’t he just a mortal? It couldn’t feel any cultivation from him at all! But then how had this mere human managed to hurt it?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep