An enormous shape that seemed to coil around itself appeared behind him, it eclipsed the size of the tiger by many times and radiated a pressure that was immeasurably greater, Zhishi Wu hadn't even seen it and yet he felt an instinctive fear of the creature behind him, every cell in his body screamed at him to run.
"I greet senior." Zhishi Wu was not able to turn his head to look at the source of the voice and could only sit there paralyzed by the creature.
"Why are you here?" The voice behind him sounded slowly.
Zhishi Wu was unsure about the nature of this world and whether abilities to detect lies may exist so he decided to tell the truth.
"I'm seeking refuge, I am a fugitive."
Suddenly a small serpent only a few inches in length landed on Zhishi Wu's head, he wanted to grab it but was unable to as he was still paralyzed, the snake slowly made its way into his lap.
The small snake had red streaks across its body and dark slit pupils that stared straight at Zhishi Wu.
"You are unaware" The voice spoke behind him once more.
"I do not understand senior." Zhishi Wu felt the impact of those words to his bones.
"Bring me a Qi condensation beast." the voice sounded before lifting the pressure from him.
"DAMN IT! I should have left when I had the chance." Zhishi Wu felt his limbs fall back into his control and he stood up, the snake that had been on his lap made his way up to his shoulder.
He started to focus and search for a Qi condensation beast, it was not that he was a pushover rather he was someone who valued his life.
"But maybe this mysterious senior can be a source of knowledge." he said as he darted of into the forest
…
"We greet the great cultivators from the Raging Thunder Sect."
The village chief at the base of the mountain greeted some unexpected guests. Since this was a warring kingdom sects would often send their disciples here to gain real experience within fights.
"Thank you for your gre-" A woman in the late stage of Qi condensation suddenly passed out while replying to the village chief.
"SOMEONE PLEASE TAKE US TO THE PHYSICIAN." the two other members of the girl's sect quickly picked her up and begun to take her to the physician.
The physician was surprised and kicked everyone out of her hut while she performed an assessment.
The 2 other sect members waited outside as well, one man and one woman, they were both within the middle stage of Qi condensation, this meant that the girl within the tent was their leader.
"What do you think is wrong with the eldest senior sister?" the other girl asked with a worried tone.
"I am unsure, she didn't have any outward injuries, perhaps she suffered internal injuries."
While they were discussing the situation Gu Yun returned to the village with his son walking side by side and arrived at the physician's door awaiting her summons. Gu Yun was happy that his son was well but wanted to as the physician to double-check anyway.
While the two disciples were chatting they caught a glimpse of little Liu.
"Junior sister, take a look at that child and focus on the Qi he possesses."
Regular mortals who had not achieved Qi condensation would have a scrambled and unmanaged pattern of Qi within themselves showcasing its dormancy.
"This child, he seems to have undergone a purification of Qi." the woman spoke with shock.
"Even in major sects a purification of Qi is a myth and only those born among an abundance of Qi possess this constitution. But this child seems to possess it despite the thin Qi this mountain possesses."
"Greetings to the two immortals." Gu Yun bowed and greeted them respectfully, they were both at a level of power that some of the magistrates of the counties were at.
"Greetings, forgive me for being blunt but may I ask if your child has had any beneficial encounters. He possesses an incredible constitution for cultivation." the senior brother asked.
Gu Yun was unsure of how to respond but he knew he could not lie to cultivators and risk the entire village in the process.
"My son was sick recently, I took him up the mountain and ran into the Sage of Mount Kunlun. He preformed a miracle of my son and cured him."
The two disciples listened closely and looked at each other before replying.
"When we leave the village I could take your son with us to the sect to become a disciple if you wish."
Gu Yun's face lit up, he remembered the days of his youth when he dreamt of setting forth on the path of cultivation but sadly he had absolutely no qualifications.
"I would be grateful." he cupped his fists as a tear fell from his eyes, he looked over at his son who still held the side of his shirt.
The physician opened her door and exited.
"Your senior sister has no external problems, I fear she suffers from internal injuries which are beyond my expertise." she spoke in defeat and lowered her head.
The two disciples ran in and saw their senior sister still unconscious on the table.
The junior brother clenched his fists "We should have fought that three horned frog, we got greedy."
The three horned frog was a pseudo foundation establishment beast which they had faced a few days ago.
The junior sister chimed in "Let's go see the sage, he helped the child, he may help us."
He wanted to refute her but he did not, he knew that if their senior sister wasn't healed here she would never survive the journey back to the sect.
The two set out with their senior sister and became to climb the mountain, given that they were cultivators they scaled it far quicker than Gu Yun had.
they had been looking around for Qi signatures when they picked up one that was fluctuating violently and rushed towards it.
….
Zhishi Wu had figured out an efficient way of killing beasts.
He would first hunt a rabbit which was easy for him, he would then lay out the rabbit and wait for an unsuspecting friend to show up.
This time a beast which he chalked up to being within the peak of Qi condensation and then some showed up, this beast resembled a bear but had a tail like a lion, he deemed it bion.
When the beast arrived he would leap at its spinal cord and pierce it through. This time however when he jumped on it the bear moved slightly so it didn't get paralyzed rather it began to run around with Zhishi Wu on his back.
He had decided to choke the bear out instead and held onto its throat with a chokehold, he felt like a bull rider, the bion had a force that was insane, as it ran around trying to get Zhishi Wu off of its back as the ground trembled beneath its feet.
"I'm really glad that isn't me on the ground." Zhishi Wu said as he saw the rabbit that had been pummeled into mush, it had taken him a while but the bion was finally dead.
When he finally got a chance to breath he sat down to recuperate. The little snake that was on his shoulder hopped off and began to inch towards the dead bion.
"I wonder what it wants" he thought to himself, he found the snake kind of cute, it was like if you gave an extra large burger to a new born.
The little snake sunk its fangs into the beast and it deflated faster than Zhishi Wu could think, all of the beast's bones, all of its organs, all of its blood and even its eyes weren't spared.
"...."
Zhishi Wu was unsure of what he had done in his past life to deserve this within this reincarnation.
"Damn it you little bastard, I was supposed to give that to the senior." Zhishi Wu picked up the little snake.
The snake looked away and pretended that it did not know what it had done.
"Don't act cute with me, I literally saw you do that in front of me!" Zhishi Wu wanted to cry but he had no tears.
The snake let out a little burp before curling up on his shoulder and falling asleep.
He gave into defeat as he slowly let the snake back on his shoulder. When he finally got over the situation he realized that two people had gotten very close to him and he quickly put his mask back on.
The two disciple arrived with their senior sister in hand and immediately got on one knee, if the man in the village was truthful this man was an existence they could not offend.
Internally both of the disciples were nervous, that was becasue they were unable to detect his Qi signature, the signature they had detected was that of that deflated pseudo foundation establishment beast.
"We greet the great sage of Kunlun mountain." The said in unison.
"Uniforms, weapons and all three within Qi condensation, they have to be from a sect. Let me amaze them." Zhishi Wu was making mental markers of his newest encounter and recorded the details within his head.
Zhishi Wu sneakily altered the Qi surrounding him to bounce more light in his direction, the artificial spotlight had added to his sagely presence and also used Qi to make soundwaves from his voice reverberate.
"Speak."