Zhu Yi walked deep into the forest while staying alert. Zhou Fan was on his shoulder, acting as an additional lookout. This was all Zhou Fan could do in order to help before he recovered more.
As Zhu Yi walked, he suddenly fell into a crouch. Up ahead, laying on a tree, was one of the lizard beasts that inhabited the lizard beast forest.
"3rd level Qi gathering." Zhou Fan said.
This was another way that Zhou Fan could assist Zhu Yi. After all, no matter what, he still had the river of cultivation.
Zhu Yi, who had been unable to estimate its cultivation, nodded and crept forward. He got closer and closer, but after entering a range of about 20 feet, the lizard beast's head snapped up. It jumped off of the tree and launched towards Zhu Yi.
Zhu Yi hurriedly dodged its sharp claws and punched it in the side. The lizard hit the ground hard, and Zhu Yi took a dagger out from behind him.
He had made a stop in white palace city to buy that dagger. After all, he needed to cut out the beast cores.
He used the dagger as a weapon and stabbed the beast multiple times before it died. Without being able to wait or rest for a moment, Zhu Yi began to cut into the beast. Luckily, the dagger was quite sharp.
Soon, Zhu Yi held a beast core in his hand. He touched it with his ring, and Zhou Fan tested his theory.
The river of cultivation moved, and like a river washed away dirt, the will of the dead beast was washed away. The beast core was then absorbed into the ring.
Zhou Fan felt a very slight amount of recovery. It was about equal to half of a low quality spirit stone.
It was a very small amount, but there were countless Qi gathering realm beasts around the world.
In addition, once Zhu Yi could hunt foundation establishment realm beasts, everything would be much better.
Qi gathering beasts, as well as Qi gathering cultivators, had very little Qi.
Zhu Yi moved around the edges of the forest. After digging out the beast core, he would also take the tendons out.
After nearly two days of nonstop hunting, Zhu Yi camped in the forest. The mission had requested 1000 Qi gathering realm beast tendons, and Zhu Yi had already gathered 900. He only needed 100 more, but he was too exhausted to continue. He fell asleep while Zhou Fan kept watch.
The night passed by safely and Zhu Yi soon woke up. "Let's start another day, Master."
Zhu Yi had gained a lot more confidence and did not even hide himself any longer since he felt so safe.
Zhu Yi soon gathered the remaining hundred, but just as he turned around from the corpse of a beast, Zhou Fan spoke.
"Dodge."
Zhu Yi did not hesitate and leaped to the side. Where he was previously standing, a lizard's claws were buried into the ground.
Zhou Fan assessed the threat. "It is at the 7th level of the Qi gathering realm. Run."
He did not need to tell Zhu Yi. From the moment he heard the number 7, he had began running as fast as he could.
In the wider universe that Zhou Fan knew, humans and humanoid creatures almost exclusively held the advantage over beasts of the same level. This was due to passing down techniques and the large amount of battle experience accumulated while cultivating to a high level.
In this world, however, there was no such advantage. If 100 random humans and 100 random beasts on the same level were to spar, the beasts would win 90 out of 100 times.
This was not only due to the relatively low strength in this world, but also due to the lack of inheritances passed down. There simply wasn't as much of a foundation in a single world as in the wider universe.
Of course, even in this world, there were exceptions. A prime example is Chen Jie. However, there were also exceptions among beasts, such as dragons and phoenixes, or rather, most supreme beasts in general.
Zhu Yi was not a dragon, phoenix, Chen Jie, or a person from the wider universe. Therefore, rightfully so, he ran away.
No matter where, beasts had an advantage in the Qi gathering realm, a time when Qi was barely accessible. Their stronger body's made an obvious gap.
Zhu Yi ran, and the lizard beast followed. Zhu Yi had already been close to the exit of the forest and soon ran past it.
The beast did not stop chasing simply because Zhu Yi left the forest. It ran after him, slowly catching up.
Zhu Yi focused on running away from the beast while Zhou Fan made a plan inside his head.
A short time later, Zhou Fan had an idea. "Run to the open plains. Forest beasts can feel uncomfortable without any cover. It may stop chasing you."
"May!?" Zhu Yi asked.
"You got a better idea?"
Zhu Yi shook his head and took a turn. He bursted through some leaves and ran into a plains.
Looking from behind his shoulder, Zhu Yi saw the lizard stop for a moment, clearly hesitating.
Then, the lizard continued chasing him.
"What now?!" Zhu Yi asked desperately.
"I suppose you'll just have to fight to the death. Ready your weapon. I'll try to guide you." Zhou Fan said.
Zhu Yi nodded and gripped his dagger. Just as he was about to stop and turn around to face the lizard, he tripped and fell down face first.
"Oww." He heard a voice. It was the voice of a girl.
Zhu Yi got up and turned around. Behind him, he saw an approaching lizard and a girl no older than 16 rubbing her head.
"What is a girl doing out here? Damn girl!" Although Zhu Yi cursed, he ran in front of the girl. He could not let some innocent get hurt because of the lizard.
Just as Zhu Yi was about to charge, Zhou Fan spoke. "Don't worry about her. She'll be fine."
Zhu Yi was about to question him, but an icicle shot past his face and into the skull of the lizard.