Aurelius rested for a night in the outer forest to avoid ambushes then continued hunting. For someone who'd never cultivated before, the feeling of overcoming your limits and growing in power was too enjoyable. He was drunk on cultivating, the strength it brought him and the satisfaction of getting closer to his ultimate goal, revenge.
The inner forest was filled with countless trees but as you advance further, they become more and more sparse. The more powerful demon beasts reside in the deepest area and hold dominion over large territories. Legends say that the king of the forest is at the 3rd realm, essence forming. Even the leader of the Maximus clan would have doubts against such an enemy.
Unlike humans, beasts are born with powerful physiques and the ability to cultivate, albeit slower than humans. Basically, they cultivated slower but a beast could destroy a human cultivator at the same level. Due to the nature of Aurelius' technique, laughing at the heavens, he was even stronger. He absorbed many beasts and assimilated their power into his body to create the strongest body, which would be superior to any beast, never mind human.
This gave Aurelius a huge advantage as even in the higher realms he could store more energy, have a higher defense and use more power in his attacks. The core of the first realms is to lay a stable foundation for the later ones. Many lose the opportunity to advance because if they have a weak foundation and didn't cultivate long enough, they would ruin their talents and be stuck in a bottleneck.
Aurelius was now 50% deeper into the inner forest and it was very beautiful. Shafts of golden sunlight penetrated the trees overhead and illuminated the forest floor somewhat. The greenery and different colors created a nice scenery and a faint sound of flowing water entered Aurelius' ears.
Following it, he came upon a peak first realm demon beast, the same rank as him. Because of the aura he gained from cultivating laughing at the heavens, he was constantly seen as a threat to low level beasts as his power and essence contained theirs. They could almost sense the fallen beasts and power he possesses and fled.
It was a storm wind wolf, the fastest of their kind but with a lower attack power. It shot towards him and Aurelius entered a fighting stance calmly and sent out a right hook to counter it confidently. The punch hit the wolf in the side before it's claws reached him and it was sent flying through trees and undergrowth. When it finally stopped, the wolf didn't rise again.
After a bit more walking, the waterfall he heard came into sight. It was a huge, magnificent structure and Aurelius jumped right in, cleaning dirt in places he didn't even know he had.
At the top of the waterfall, a beast lazily walked towards the edge. Once sighting Aurelius it's eyes glowed red and it's huge, muscly body charged. Aurelius looked up and saw a 10 foot lion pouncing onto him.
Instantly, he shot off in retreat. After years in the forest, he developed quick reactions and knew how to retreat. Obliquely, he dodged the lion, which he now identifies as a demon blood lion of the middle stage of the second realm, essence gathering. Oh shit.
His strongest asset, his powerful body, paled in comparison to the beast before him. He must tire it out and then finish it. Employing guerrilla warfare tactics, he slowly fought. After two hours, the lion was fine but he was tired and it caught him with a kick. It felt like his organs were jumbled and blood deeper out of his mouth as the force sent his body shooting into the waterfall. He shot through the falling water and into the secret compartment behind.
Inside, he groaned and looked around. There were two things, a blood colored mask and a vial of blood. Without thinking, he downed the vial and absorbed the power of the contents.
He guided the energy through his meridians and he absorbed it into his body. He felt a surge of energy as his cultivation broke through in an instant to the first stage of the essence gathering realm. He felt a boundless power inside him and grabbed the mask.Laughing uproariously, he threw his head back. Walking out of the cave and towards the lion, he continues laughing whilst slowly walking forwards.
The lion senses him and jerks around, and bared it's fangs. Aurelius attacks with a punch, although he could never cultivate or learn techniques, after constantly practicing his punches and kicks on trees he had unbelievable power contained within. The lion responded with a claw slash and roared. His punch shattered the lions claws and paw and continued to break his skull. The blood lion dropped to the ground dead and Aurelius laughed continuously as if he was mad. He looked up as if to laugh at the heavens themselves.