Chapter 8
In the vast and endless forest where different varieties of beast and flora exist, a small and inconspicuous cave lay hidden near the boundary in the middle of the forest. Inside this dimly lit cave are two people are happily chatting with each other while having their meal.
It has already been more than a month since Shin Jiao came to this world. After learning a lot of things about it and gaining the skills from the deceased traveler Gubu and his ring, he had acclimated himself in this place.
He has also already improved his crafting technique and cultivation by leaps and bounds. Inside his dantian, the number of spheres are now at 30, and it seems that he is unable to raise it as if he encountered another bottleneck.
It was only thanks to Cherry Lao at that time that he was able to feel spiritual energy which enable him to be inspired and breakthrough from the 10th sphere.
Even though he wasn't able to raise his cultivation level, for now, he can still hunt higher level beast using his almost cheat like artifacts.
Meanwhile in Cherry Lao's case, although she was able to feel the spiritual energy, her cultivation and core were still ruined. Although she has already reached the core-forming realm peak stage, because of the incident with her sect, she had to restart once again from the beginning, the body refining stage.
Determination can be seen in her eyes as she truly tried her best to persevere and start her cultivation all over. Shin Jiao respected her strong will, courage, and determination to never give up.
A though flash to his mind as they ate.
"Cherry, I wanted to help you boost your cultivation. But... I... I don't know if you would agree. Last time you said that your meridian is blocked, right?"
"Hmm? Ah yes, well... when I was escaping and encountered my sect mates, I accidentally inhaled a meridian blocking powder. This made my cultivation level dropped to the core-forming realm's primary stage. But the worst thing is... I... at that time as I truly was desperate, over-drafted my dantian by using a forbidden escape technique, and that in turn damaged my core." Cherry Lao explained with a saddened expression.
"Hmm... I'm guessing that this has affected your core too much... I can help you with boosting your cultivation, but... your core... hmm... Can you think of a way to recover from it?"
"Sigh… there is actually, a possible way. But... it is impossible with only the two of us."
"A... way? Tell me then... I may have some ways in accomplishing it." Shin Jiao said with a tinge of confidence in his tone.
The two have been close these past few months. He didn't want to see those sad expressions on Cherry Lao's face which she tries so hard to hide.
"Haha... You're so smug, huh. I don't know what's your cultivation level is. What I can say is that even if it was me from before, I won't be able to accomplish this task alone."
"Really? Tell me, I can only judge its difficulty upon hearing it. I want to know how you can regain your cultivation level back."
"Sigh… Okay, since you are that confident... Well, I need a 5th level beast king core... This is the only way I could regain and fix my core and my cultivation in one go... and there is a possibility of me jumping immediately to form a gold core... I know that this task is impossible, even in my sect, to get our hands on a 5th level beast king core we have to gather at least 5 infant soul realm elders." she explained while taking a glance at Shin Jiao's expression.
"So... do you think that it is possible with just the two of us?" Cherry Lao ended with this question and raised one of her brows to taunt Shin Jiao.
"Hmm... Well, we might not know. Maybe tomorrow if I go out, I would come across a dying 5th level beast king. And then I would be able to get my hands on a core. Haha... Who knows, right?"
"Yeah, right…" She chuckled at his antics.
"Shin, just... just promise me one thing... please... please, don't push yourself in danger because of me, okay? I'll just start all over again, I know I can do it" her words were filled with undisguised concern to them.
Although Cherry Lao is showing concern and is smiling at him, Shin Jiao can still feel the sadness in her eyes. And so with determination, he has already planned in his mind to hunt a 5th level beast king tomorrow.
As he is already familiar with the geography of the area they are in, and the distribution of power among the beasts. He is confident that he can find a beast king.
The next day after breakfast, Cherry Lao continued her cultivation, and Shin Jiao, as usual, provides her with a beast core to absorb. She is already aware of Shin Jiao's capability of hunting a 3rd level beast. This made her think that he is also a core-forming cultivator realm cultivator just like herself, or stronger.
So when he provides her with a beast core she just accepted them and slowly absorb the spiritual energy within. He also told her not to discard the cores as they still have their use.
Shin Jiao discovered that within a beast core exist 2 kinds of energy, spiritual and natural energy or mana. He was able to discover this upon forming his 11th sphere. Although he is still unable to cultivate spiritual energy, absorbing spiritual energy is still a must so that he can create more spheres, hence he was able to reach the 30th sphere using this method.
That day, Shin Jiao went out with his gears. Then he went to the southern direction as he already knows that it was the territory of the bull-like beasts. In that area, there exists 2 beast kings, the Demon Bull, and the King Minotaur.
After an hour of dashing through the woods, Shin Jiao entered that territory.
Using his goggles he can already see different types of auras, and to his surprise, he actually saw a lot of 5th levels normal beasts.
"This is the right place." Shin Jiao said and then waved his hand in the air.
From his ring, a long rifle, with the length up to his shoulder came out.
If the people from this world saw this. They would think that it is a strange hallow staff. Because of its design, they would not be familiar with its functions. But from Shin Jiao's old world it is considered as one of the most commonly used sniper rifles, the BARRETT.
This weapon was formed using a combination of materials and one of them is called the black ore. This material is used by some cultivators, but only a small part, to make their flying swords. This is because black ores are rare and are not easy to find.
Shin Jiao created this with the use of runes which made the weapon exceptionally overpowered. Now, the power of the weapon depends on the level of the beast core being used and can be combined with the user's own energy.
With this weapon, he is confident that he can take down a 5th level beast king.
So, Shin Jiao began to sneakily enter the territory and carefully searched for any traces of beasts in the area.
Since he knew that there are two beast kings in this place, he is confident that he could find one of them. And so, after an hour of searching, he finally noticed a powerful fluctuation to the west of his position.
And there, in that direction, he found a gigantic figure, gorging on a dead carcass. The head of that figure is that of a bull and the body is of a man. Although it is sitting while munching with gusto on its prey, it still stood at around 1 and a half meters.
The creature is unaware that a small human figure is observing it at the distance and under the cover of trees. However, unlike the beast, which Shin Jiao named, the Minotaur beast king. Shin Jiao, can actually see its aura and its figure, by using his trusty goggles.
He immediately looks around and found a tall tree which is a really good place for sniping at a distance of around 2 kilometers from his target. Because of the size of his target, Shin Jiao is sure that he will be able to hit it without any problem. So without a word, he silently dashed and climb the large tall tree.
After reaching a favorable spot he raised the BARRETT rifle and began to adjust the reticle for a clearer sigh and also observe the air in his surroundings. When he suddenly found a favorable timing, he smiled.
"Sorry big guy." He mumbled to himself.
The Minotaur beast king suddenly sensed impending doom with its sharp animal instinct. Then it carefully observes the area.
When Shin Jiao saw this he felt a bit nervous, he scolded himself for making the biggest mistake in sniping, killing intent.
In his years of experience as a spy, he has learned to hide his killing intent. But after he became a researcher and an engineer he seems to have forgotten it. Even in this huge forest, he didn't even hide his killing intent while hunting, hence he became a bit rusty.
"Damn… That was close... Okay, let's relax first..." Shin Jiao said and then took a deep breath.
After calming himself, he once again aims, this time he remembers to hide his killing intent and then pulled the trigger.
Psst!
A silenced muffle sound came out of the rifle. While the bullet flew unhindered as the air element around it melded together with the bullet.
In the meantime, the Minotaur king resumes its action as it felt its danger perception turned normal again. But as soon as it was about to take a bite of another chunk of meat, a silver flash suddenly appears.
Then the Minotaur king suddenly stopped and then lifelessly drops down on the ground. On its head, a large fist-sized hole can be seen which seem to have exited at its back. Red and Brain matters can be seen all over the place as the impact of the shot was too horrifying.
Shin Jiao's figure then appears and a wide smile bloomed on his face.
In fact, he was truly astonished by the result.
Now, lying on the ground is the carcass of a 5th level Minotaur beast king, and then he noticed that beside it with almost half of its body already gone is another 5th level beast king, the giant earthen bear.
Shin Jiao was truly excited and immediately send both of the carcasses inside his ring and immediately ran back to the cave. He felt too exhilarated just now. He also felt happy that he can now help Cherry Lao with her cultivation.
He knew that once she recovers, she could also be of great help to him as she could maybe show him the way out of the vast and almost endless forest.
Meanwhile, inside the cave, Cherry Lao is still sitting on the bed while cultivating. But she can't concentrate as she was a little bit worried that Shin Jiao didn't come back for lunch.
"I can't concentrate on cultivating with this situation… Where could he have gone to? This is the first time he missed lunch." She muttered to herself as she stood up from the bed and look at the cave entrance with worry in her eyes.
"This is not good, I have to go out and look for him." She said as she walks towards the huge stone door planning to go out and look for Shin Jiao not caring anymore of the danger outside.
As she touches the cold stone door wanting to push it out, it suddenly jerked and moved back.
To her surprise, the stone door opened and she saw Shin Jiao walking in with a big smile on his face. When she saw him, all the worries in her heart flew away that she just suddenly hugged him without a second thought.
"Where have you been? I was really worried you know!" She worriedly said while nestling her head on Shin Jiao's chest.
Though the situation felt awkward, as a grown man, and someone who already has experienced having a relationship, Shin Jiao didn't push her away as he has somehow already accepted his circumstance and has been familiar with Cherry Lao.
Although feeling a little bit awkward Shin Jiao carefully caressed Cherry Lao's head. But suddenly, he felt her body shuddering. She then pushed Shin Jiao away and quickly turned back, afraid to see his reaction.
This situation made Shin Jiao smiled sheepishly while scratching his head, not knowing what to say.
"Umm... Sorry, for… for getting home this late. I know I cause you to worry."
"Who… Who's worried about you," she said with an annoyed tone.
Hearing her words, Shin Jiao just shook his head helplessly. It was her who hugged him, why is she acting shy now?
"Sigh, okay… I was late because I found something in the forest... Here look at this..." Shin Jiao said as he took out a beast core that pulsates with strong energy.
As soon as Cherry Lao felt that strong energy, her body suddenly stiffens, and with disbelieving eyes, she slowly turns around to see the beast core in Shin Jiao's hand.
"This… this… how can this be? How did you manage to get this?" she said in astonishment.
Seeing the surprise look on her, Shin Jiao felt elated.
"It's a secret… Hehe." Shin Jiao chuckled.
"This... this aura and... and this feeling. Ahh... I can still remember the first time that I felt this strong spiritual presence... It's true, it's the core of a 5th level beast king." Cherry Lao said with a blushing face.
"Well, yes… I was really happy to find it... Now we can use this so that you can regain your cultivation back, right?"
Cherry Lao just nod her head but she didn't lift it up to look at Shin Jiao. This is because right now, tears are slowly trickling down on her cheeks.
"Sigh... women are really made of water. I guess no matter what planet it is they surely like to cry." Shin Jiao thought.
"Well, enough crying… Tell me what else do you need? I'll get them for you." Shin Jiao said to break the awkwardness in the air.
Hearing his words, she just shook her head.
"This is already enough... just... just protect me as I try to absorb the energy within this core…" she said in a low voice.
Cherry then lifted her head and looks at Shin Jiao in the eyes.
"Shin, thank you so much for your kindness. I... I truly can't explain how much I owe you for this..."
"Hey, hey, what is this drama? You're my friend, right. So, I would surely do my best to help you." He said with a gentle smile.
However, his words made Cherry felt a bit dejected.
"This guy is so dense… Grrr… Is he blind? Am I really not that attractive for him? Gosh... this is so frustrating." She said to herself as her face frown in dissatisfaction.
So as to not ruin her mood, Cherry Lao just accepted the beast core and went directly to the middle of the cave and sat in a lotus position. She then began to absorb the energy inside the core.