A small tornado violently occured above her head and sent a brisk of shock from her body to her surroundings! Celes had finally broke through and felt her Devour cultivation pulsating in excitement. How could she forget about the troublesome cheat?!
After Qi collection, her cheat will instantly begin to grow in power and hunger. That said, Celes' vision doubled and blurred, sending a headache to her already nauseous state. But since it's pretty minor compared to the future, she calmly let herself wander off the ruin and out of the cave. She passed by the well-lit room without care, as if the new residents there were her neighbors. And in the midst of the foggy forest of the Unforgiven, Celes has stored her beloved robe into her dimensional storage to prepare herself for her plan.
Various spiritual beasts roamed the forest of the Unforgiven but few troubled themselves to notice a mere martial warrior. Those with higher cultivation had developed intellect while those which were lower ranked spiritual beasts relied on their instincts. And unless a higher ranked beast was incredibly hungry would it discard its ego of touching useless, unworthy preys. Just as she had thought, Celes' sensor went off as more and more spiritual beasts has appeared to be nearby the closer she got to the farther, outer areas of the forest. This meant that she was stumbling into lesser graves and more isolated barren areas instead. It took her more than half a day to reach the outer region of the forest that the fog has become lesser but the night was darker and felt more ominous than before. Though she has yet to encounter one high ranked spiritual beast, she has been facing countless low ranked spiritual beasts on her way here. Provided she had just broke through the low-rank Martial Warrior, she felt more than exhausted!
Celes' lightly-tanned skin that used to be smooth and flawless was now covered by her sweat, dried blood stuck to her face as well as with mud. Some twigs and bones have been stuck in her matted, shoulder-lengthed hair. Her robes were unquestioningly ragged this time and beyond recognition from its past look. And though it would be as easy as snapping her fingers to clean herself at any given time, it was only practical if she had not suffered several assaults today. If she does try and use some Qi to clean herself, Celes' brows almost knotted into a unibrow and stated, "It is such a waste! The more I can preserve for unexpected battles increases my chances of survival. Though my spiritual ocean might be vast, my cheat is eating my reserves instead the more I rest and avoid encountering beasts!"
Celes knew very well that her cheat was a humongous liability. Though powerful and helpful for her conquest to power, it can bite her back as easily as breathing air. Especially in the early stages, all ranks below the midstage of a low-level Martial Supreme. She has to be very careful or else, this life was going to turn out to be a repeat of her first life. "That I cannot allow to happen," she said so icily as she remembered her goals.
After such a day, her spiritual ocean was already full once again as if her vast spiritual ocean was no longer an 'ocean' but just a bucket of Qi reservoir instead. Her heart violently thumped in anxiety at such thought that Celes quickly had to check! "Please, Please, please!" But it was just a false alarm to her delight. It was still like the normal - It was just that her encounters and victories today was abnormally high. With the maintained, tempered body of a martial Saint at the mid-ranked refined state, a powerful Devour cultivation cheat and her breakthrough to a low-ranked martial warrior, she swept past these battles with ease at the cost of her Qi getting almost depleted.
"I can still face six more low ranked beast or only three mid-ranked beasts but zero high ranked. If I could recover, I can face one high ranked with a small chance of victory but higher chance of living! Now, now-," for a bit, Celes felt helpless but not until she remembered that she was a pill master! She flipped her left wrist to open her storage and pulled out a few pills - three were her own vitamins, two was of her level 5 blue Spirit Gathering pills and one was of her Condensed Pure Qi refined yellow level 3 pill. She took them all in, in order of when she took them out. The moment each pill entered her mouth, it had melted and dissolved into her body allowing a quick absorption!
Therefore, Celes felt better as her body returned to normal. Her body felt lighter, evident by her straight posture and relaxed breathing. Right away, she knew she had more than enough Qi in her reservoir that would allow another break through!
It did not take too long before her power has increased twice that of her previous strength. She felt her spiritual force stir at the tickling sensation of her elation. How great was that to increase in power twice in less than a full day! And at such young age as well!
Satisfied, Celes used her Qi to wipe the filth off her body and allow freshness to take over! Now a mid-rank Martial Warrior, she was ready to move forward to once again stabilize her foundation.
Since she was at the outer region, it should now be a lot easier to find high-ranked spiritual beasts. As well as find to find more herbs for her mini-pharmacy in her storage. If ever she gets tired fighting, operating a pharmacy business should help tackle her life problems. She was not much of a dreamer after all and all she has in her check list right now was level up and take control of her devour.
She sighed.
It was a starry night tonight and the fire just burned so warmly beside her. She could hear low-ranked beasts approaching as well as a few mid-ranked ones. She smirked. "I guess the high-ranked ones are much too unbothered until now. Good for me."
Needless to say, Celes chewed the last of her barbecued pheasant and threw the stick away. A sword has been summoned in her right palm and then she stood in a defensive stance. Tonight was going to be another night of training.
"This is worth it," she convinced herself.