Low sounds were starting to come from Bai Jingshen's body. Even Sam woke up and looked at his friend in confusion. Suddenly his eyes went wide, as he frantically shouted:
"Nonono. Bai Jingshen what are you trying to do? You can't break through! You don't have a suitable cultivation technique yet!"
Sam began to panic as he observed his friend. He could already see the latter's skin turn red all over his body, as sweat poured out. His mind went blank as he didn't know what to do. He knew that their RSS team weren't some specially trained elites but joined Thobar Bionics later on. Therefore, they were handed some cultivation techniques which were great to build a foundation, but also weren't suitable for the New World. After all, they might just quit at any time before traveling to the New World, taking a precious technique with them.
As someone who came out of nowhere, it was natural for Sam to assume that Bai Jingshen's cultivation technique wouldn't be able to tame Immortal Qi. The former emperor was unable to hear his friend though. Of course he chose the option to break through.
He wasn't blindly rushing into things however, as he began to coat his Dantian in his core energy as a precaution. Fortunately, this energy never disappointed him yet, as he observed pleasantly surprised how the Immortal Qi suddenly acted like it saw its king.
Safe for a few last struggles, the Immortal Qi became obedient, and Bai Jingshen could finally use his will to suppress it. For dozens of minutes the young man kept up the pressure, getting increasingly exhausted. However, he knew he couldn't falter at this critical moment, so he gritted his teeth and pulled through.
The Immortal Qi visibly shrank and shrank, until seemingly congregating in a singly point. Finally, Bai Jingshen felt a wave of pleasure flow through his body. He felt invisible shackles falling off, felt his body and mind evolving, and felt one with nature around him. He took away the pressure as his Qi spread into a small cloud, which truly belonged to him know.
From the side Sam watched his friend in worry. He was still contemplating what the right thing to do was. Waking up Bai Jingshen from his meditation could have just as serious consequence as letting him continue. He didn't notice that Bai Jingshen visibly relaxed. Suddenly he jumped in surprise, as the Qi around him churned. He thought his friend was going to explode, already closing his eyes. However, nothing happened. He gingerly dared to look at Bai Jingshen again, only to realize with disbelieve that the half-naked young man was lying on the ground sleeping.
Sam tried to sense Bai Jingshen's situation. He thought his mind played some tricks on him, but after a few seconds he had to accept reality. His friend really managed to break through. Sam didn't understand how he did it. However, he reminded himself to never doubt his idol from now on.
Sam knew that he wouldn't have made it here by himself. Finding this cave, defeating Spike-tail, all of these would have been impossible without Bai Jingshen's lead. The young man loudly sighed, as he thought about the other RSS team members. He could only wish them the best.
The brawny young man looked at Bai Jingshen sleeping. He decided to sit down and guard their cave, although he was slightly relaxed in this safer environment. As he sat down, Sam slowly realized that nothing existed here to distract him. Therefore, he couldn't ignore his body's hunger and thirst anymore.
However, he knew that he couldn't do anything about it, so he closed his eyes and focused his mind. As a talkative young man filled with energy he was never good at meditation, but under these circumstances it was surprisingly easy to calm himself down. Using some commonly taught meditation techniques, Sam did his best to drive down his body's energy expenditure to a minimum. He tried to just be aware enough to recognize movements outside their cave.
A few hours later, Bai Jingshen opened his groggy eyes. He heard Sam's voice quietly next to his ears, as the young man pulled on his shoulder. The black-haired man slowly brought his body into a sitting position before throwing a confused look at Sam.
"Bai Jingshen. A beast seemed to have found its way here. Should we do something?"
Now already fully awake, Bai Jingshen didn't necessarily need Sam's reminder. He could already here noises of paws scraping the ground outside their cave. Listening closely, he estimated the beast to be still a bit away from their cave. Most likely a beast found the blood they tried to hide. The former emperor quietly made his way towards the destroyed cave entrance. He drew his sword and for the first time filled it with Qi. He chuckled slightly, imagining telling anyone about his first Qi usage, as he only stabbed it through some dirt to make a whole for peeping.
Bai Jingshen realized in disappointment however, that his sword wasn't optimized for the Qi Gathering Realm, leading to a bad Qi flow. It was enough to stab some dirt, but it would prove to be a serious disadvantage in a fight against a tier two beast.
After a short while Bai Jingshen created a satisfactory small hole to observe the beast outside. To Sam's surprise however, the experienced veteran hurriedly destroyed the hole again, as soon as he saw the wolf-like beast outside. Although every species of beasts was different, most of the time they still shared some characteristics. Wolf-like beasts for example were some of the worst beasts to encounter if you were already struggling to survive. After all, they were known for their great sense of smell and patience in hunting. Bai Jingshen was sure the brown wolf outside their cave shared this trait, as is sniffed Spike-tail's blood on the ground.
The former emperor signaled to Sam to sit down and keep quiet. Both the young man slowly walked towards the deepest part of the cave and listened to the footsteps outside. Bai Jingshen thought about the little things he could analyze about the wolf outside. Imagining the beast in his mind, he realized it wasn't that strong probably, only around the low-grade tier two. He could most likely try to take it on, now that he was able to use some of his White Illusion Arts. However, he couldn't take the risk for two important reasons. First, he wasn't able to familiarize himself with his techniques again, and second, wolfs tended to hunt in packs.
Therefore, Bai Jingshen decided to wait here until this wolf hopefully left. Meanwhile he went into a state of shallow meditation, thinking about his White Illusion Arts. At the Qi Gathering Realm and the first-step-stage in White Illusion arts, Bai Jingshen was finally able to use a few of the easier techniques. He didn't have to concentrate much to recall those familiar martial arts.
He slightly activated his illusionary core, which enable the White Illusion Arts before only imagining himself sending some Qi into his sword. A smile crept into his face as he couldn't wait to use his favorite technique with the deceivingly simple name of 'Illusionary Attack' again. Sadly, now wasn't the right time to practice, so Bai Jingshen carefully ended his meditation.
Sam looked at his friend with a wry smile. Although he learned to be much calmer, he still wasn't able to relax with a beast right outside their door. However, he was still proud of himself, for his own growth during this adapt-or-die situation.
Like this the two men waited for a few hours. The wolf outside left and came back more than once, but finally it stayed away for a longer time.
Bai Jingshen observed Sam with increasing worry. He knew they couldn't stay here anymore. They had to find water. The former emperor informed Sam about his plan and quickly got to work. Together they used their hands and weapons to dig the cave's entrance free once again. It took them half an hour to create a hole big enough so they could crawl outside. Sam felt the strain on his body, but he could only hope they found water quickly.
Plagued by thirst the brawny young man asked Bai Jingshen, if the could kill a beast and drink its blood, but the experienced veteran only saw this as an absolute last option. They simply didn't know which beast's blood could be dangerous. Only experienced alchemists were able to mix beast blood with herbs in order to eradicate its volatile or maybe poisonous properties.
Bai Jingshen quickly led Sam away from their cave in the opposite direction of Spike-tail's carcass. He was sure that place was occupied by a wolf pack by now. After gaining some distance, Bai Jingshen tried an old trick experienced explorers would use. He climbed high on a tree and stood on a branch. After telling Sam to guard for a few minutes, Bai Jingshen once again sank into his mind. This time he consciously cut off his body's senses one by one. Shortly after, he couldn't hear, taste, smell, or see anything, maximizing his skin's sense of touch.
At higher realms cultivators naturally had a higher sensitivity for Qi and didn't need to go through such a procedure. For now, however, this allowed Bai Jingshen to clearly perceive the Immortal Qi in the air. He carefully felt around, searching for the direction on natural Qi flows. It was common knowledge among cultivators, that useful spirit herbs would always grow at Qi gathering places, or created them themselves.
However not many cultivators cared for the fact, that Qi flow could be altered by most changes in the natural scenery. For example, a river in a forest would often give of Qi, standing in contrast to the normal flow among the forest's mostly evenly distributed trees.
Fortunately, it only took a few minutes, before Bai Jingshen felt some irregularities in the Qi around him.