The early morning sunlight, soft and diffuse, gave way to the first strong rays of the day.
Among the numerous and tall trees, a silhouette could be seen walking at a rapid pace. It looked unstoppable as it walked through the trees and bushes. Sometimes, a beast tried to attack it but would immediately die because of a simple movement of the silhouette.
This silhouette obviously belonged to Li Jing. He was currently in the territory of the Crimson Blood Spiders and was making his way towards the territory of the Demonic Black Bears.
At his current pace, he estimated that he would reach the exit of the Dark Forest before nightfall.
Killing the spiders and cutting the cobwebs along the way, it took him a few hours before he finally reached the territory of the Demonic Black Bears.
As he continued to walk, he suddenly saw two middle-aged men fighting a group of three bears. They were wearing a brown tunic and brown leather boots. The head of a wolf could be seen embroidered in black on their tunic, it was the symbol worn by veteran Beast Hunters.
Li Jing quickly used his perk Appraisal on them and found out that their cultivation realm was in the fifth level and the seventh level of the Qi Gathering realm. They could easily kill these beasts so he decided to ignore them.
He kept walking until he was suddenly attacked by a Demonic Black Bear.
"GHHHHHHAAAAA!!!!"
The beast charged him but as it got close to him, Li Jing killed it with a simple wave of his hand.
[Host has killed a tier-1 Demonic Beast: XP + 15.]
Around one hour later, Li Jing saw three dead bodies on the ground. Two boys and a girl, they looked rather young.
He was about to ignore them but he noticed that they were not dead because of a Demonic Beast but because of a sword.
Were they attacked by bandits? He decided to search their bodies to learn more but didn't find anything on them. It was not enough to completely confirm his theory but if they were really attacked by bandits he would have to be careful. Not that he was afraid of them, he just didn't want to lose his time dealing with them.
Bandit attacks were not rare in the edge of the Dark Forest, they usually target young and inexperienced people. After killing them they could just leave their bodies on the ground since they would eventually be devoured by the Demonic Beasts.
Li Jing increased his pace and kept moving through the trees, this time without stopping.
"Stop right there, kid!" Suddenly exclaimed a man. And a second later, Li Jing was surrounded by four masked people.
Seeing them, Li Jing sighed. Why was his luck so bad?
He used his perk Appraisal on them and found out that three of them were in the fourth level of the Qi Gathering realm and the man who just spoke was in the sixth level. He was most likely the chief of this bandit group.
These four bandits obviously noticed the 'Li' name embroidered in gold on the youth's clothes and since his clothes were covered with blood, they assumed that he was wounded. A member of the powerful Li clan alone and wounded? It was easy prey for them since everyone would assume that he died because of a Demonic Beast. They were all greedily staring at his spatial ring and could already imagine its content.
They were experienced bandits and knew very well this part of the forest so they were sure that no one was followed him.
The chief unsheathed his sword and pointed it to Li Jing.
"Listen kid, we are reasonable men. If you give us your spatial ring, we will spare your life." He said.
He was obviously lying and Li Jing knew this. Since they wanted to kill him, Li Jing had no reason to spare them. In this world, the strong survived and the weak died. But why should he get his hands dirty for some bandits scum?
"Kill Your Comrades Then Kill Yourself!" He ordered, using his Dark Command technique.
The chief suddenly turned to his three comrades and looked at them with lifeless eyes.
"Hahaha, Boss, did you heard this kid? He thi…" Before he could finish his sentence, a sword suddenly pierced his heart.
Seeing this, the other two men panicked.
"B-Boss, what are you doing? Why did you kill Ya…" The man was beheaded before he finished speaking.
The last man tried to fight back but was far weaker than his boss and quickly died.
Finally, the chief took his sword with his two hands and pierced his own heart.
[Host has killed a cultivator in the Qi Gathering realm: XP + 150.]
Staring at the four dead bodies on the ground Li Jing sighed. He didn't think that he would have to kill humans so soon after his transmigration.
Strangely, he didn't feel that bad. Maybe it was because he got used to killing the past six days or maybe it was because he thought that these men deserved to die…
Before hitting the road, he searched the bodies of the four men. They had two bags filled with tier-1 Demonic Cores, a few Spirit Stones, and three normal weapons.
After that, he left the place, leaving their body on the ground. He knew that they will be devoured by some Demonic Beasts in less than an hour...
He walked for a few more hours and when he finally exited the Dark Forest, the sun had already started to set.
At the distance, he could see a luxurious carriage drawn by four majestic horses. He immediately recognized that it was the carriage of his clan and walked towards it.
As he got closer to the carriage, the door suddenly opened and a beautiful young girl wearing a pink and blue dress got out of it.
The girl ran towards him with eyes filled with tears and a worried look.
"Young Master, what happened to you? Are you hurt?" She asked, panicked when she saw the bloody clothes of Li Jing.
This girl was obviously Li Hua, his personal maid. Li Jing didn't expect to see her here but strangely, seeing her made him feel at home.
"Don't worry sister Hua, I'm fine. It's not my blood." He said, smiling.
Hearing this, the girl sighed in relief. She quickly rubbed her red eyes and smiled at him.
"By the way, why are you here?" Asked Li Jing.
"I just wanted to be sure that you were fine!" She answered.
"Oh… Alright, let's go." He said.
They both entered the carriage and let the coachman bring them back home.
Inside the carriage, Li Jing wondered what had happened to the clan while he was away.
"What news is there from the clan?" He asked Li Hua.
"The Qi Condensing Pill is a huge success! There is so much demand that it is hard to keep up. Even the royal family is interested in these pills and the king personally invited Master yesterday."
It was not surprising to hear this, Li Jing had already anticipated such a success. Now he just had to wait for Teng Fen's reaction.
"I see. What about the other Great Clans?" He asked.
"I don't know what they think but they already ordered a large number of pills, especially the Zhao clan." She answered.
Li Jing nodded and stayed silent for a few minutes.
"What about you? Was it hard to stay alone in the Dark Forest for a week?" Asked Li Hua.
"It wasn't hard and I learned a lot of things. But I really need a bath!"
"Then, I'll prepare a bath for you as soon as we arrive."
Three hours later, the carriage finally arrived in front of the door of the Li clan compound.
The moon was already hanging high in the sky but although it was dark, the whole clan compound was illuminated by many Spirit Crystals.
Li Jing leisurely walked to his courtyard with Li Hua following him. Once they arrived, she immediately prepared a bath for her young master.
He took his time to enjoy and relax in his bath and once he was done, he entered his bedroom to cultivate.
According to Li Hua, he will have to meet his father and grandfather tomorrow morning.