What appeared in front of them was a lion that looked at Luan and Ingrid in a predatory way, yet at the same time, cautiously. He appeared to be several times smarter than the spotted hyenas.

"This might be a little difficult... This pattern on this lion's body is that of a bloodthirsty beast of the Second Order." Luan murmured and said without turning to Ingrid, "Ingrid, stay behind me. This lion is capable of killing you easily if he attacks you."

​​

It was sad, but it was a reality; the mere weight of a bloody lion's kick would have been capable of killing Ingrid. If it has bit an arm, Ingrid would lose her arm; if it bit her leg, she would lose her leg, etc.

The lion's bite could reach an incredible 17 tons. Even Luan had to be cautious and not let himself carelessly be bitten by this lion.

"Okay," Ingrid responded nervously, hiding behind Luan.

Luan left his things on the floor. From his waist, he took out a long bone shaped into a dagger, and a white aura began to surround Luan's body as his strong intent to kill was intensified the moment Luan used his Assassin Qi.

The instincts of this bloodthirsty lion were very good. The moment Luan had gotten serious, the bloodthirsty lion became even more cautious. He walked around Luan and Ingrid, looking for a breach to attack.

'That white aura again... This is related to Luan's Qi, correct?' Ingrid asked herself rhetorically. She also felt Luan's intent to kill, but was unaffected, since Luan was able to differentiate between allies and enemies when using this.

*ROARR!*

The bloodthirsty lion roared loudly as he tried to frighten them and create an opening, but unfortunately for him, although Ingrid was frightened by this, Luan was not frightened and his defense was impenetrable.

Seeing that the bloodthirsty lion was very cautious and would not attack, Luan acted. When Luan appeared in front of the bloodthirsty lion, he didn't think much and simply punched the lion in the rib.

This punch was strong enough to split a mountain. Even a white whale would have fallen to the ground by that punch.

*AGGHHH...*

The bloodthirsty lion felt pain coursing through his body, but suddenly, the bloody lion's body became weak and involuntarily fell to the ground.

Luan's punch was loaded with Negative Qi, causing all those who were hit to become weaker, in pure disorder, and although the bloodthirsty lion was strong, it was still inferior to Luan's strength using his Negative Qi.

But that was not enough to defeat the beast. Despite having become weak, with a negative effect on its body, the bloodthirsty lion managed to stand.

"Heh... Not bad," Luan said. He was referring to the fact that the bloodthirsty lion was still standing.

The bloodthirsty lion heard the voice as he closed his eyes in an attempt to endure the pain. It didn't even bother to scream in pain before turning and attempting to escape.

This type of enemy was not someone he could deal with; the bloodthirsty lion could only escape. By running away through the bloody forest, only then might his life be saved! But when the bloodthirsty lion was just about to flee, Luan touched the back of its neck with his bone dagger. That touch alone weighed more than ten thousand tons!

*BOOM!*

With a thunderous sound, the body of the bloodthirsty lion was buried in the ground and the head was decapitated in the process.

Luan looked indifferently at the bloodthirsty lion and thanked the animal for being frantic. If it were a normal case, Luan would not have been able to kill a lion of that level of strength so easily.

"Wow! That was quick!" Ingrid expressed her admiration for Luan's strength.

Increasingly, Ingrid was curious about Luan's past life, which had allowed him to become so strong. Furthermore, in his past life, had Luan loved someone? Was he ever married? This was something that Ingrid couldn't help wondering.

"Mm, in cases like this, the faster you kill, the better. If I had been bitten, it would have been dangerous," Luan said without turning around. He took the body of the bloodthirsty lion with one hand and dragged it out of the crater.

Luan got close to a tree and started to cut the leather of the bloodthirsty lion that was almost three meters long, and began fashioning a bag to carry his items.

After that, he also cut all the meat and removed the bones and tendons, and cut everything proportionally to fit inside the new backpack he had created by sewing with a thread he made from tree bark. Going to the lion's head, which was big enough to bite half of Luan's body with a mouthful, Luan pulled out all the sharp teeth out of the skull.

Using the largest canine tooth of the bloodthirsty lion, Luan created a new dagger for himself. Although it was only 20 cm long, Luan used the tendon of the lion's rib to tie it to the leg bone that he cut to the size of 20 cm. Now the total size of the dagger was 40 cm and the thickness was 3 cm.

"It's done." Luan was satisfied with the new backpack and dagger and started to keep all the things he found inside the backpack, while for the dagger he made a small sheathe to put on his waist.

"It looks cool, I think," Ingrid commented.

"Mm, although it is not the best, it is enough for our current purposes," Luan said, and handed Ingrid his previous dagger. "Use this if necessary."

"Thanks." Ingrid thanked him with a smile. Although she did not know how to handle a dagger, it was better that if she fought empty-handed.

After that, Luan and Ingrid continued to walk through the blood red forest.

Ingrid, who walked alongside Luan, balled her hands into fists. She vowed to become stronger and not be a dead weight. It was then she noticed that she was feeling more and more strange in that place; she could feel that her strength was greater by the minute.

'How strange...' she thought.

As they walked, Luan found other rare medicinal herbs and harvested them with great precision. It was as if he had done this a thousand times. Ingrid praised him mentally. She herself had no idea how to do this without affecting the quality of the medicinal herbs a little.

"Ah, look!" At that moment, Ingrid suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the sky.

Luan looked, only to see countless birds flying, practically covering the entire sky.

"Let's move fast and hide," Luan said gravely.

"Yes." Ingrid didn't understand, but she didn't dare to be slow.

Luan and Ingrid ran in the direction from where the birds had flown, and found a cave.

"Let's go in there." Luan pointed in the direction of the cave.

"En." Ingrid nodded and continued to run to the cave.

*Splash... Splash... Splash...*

When they entered the cave, the sound of footsteps on the water echoed inside the cave, but in reality, it was not water, but blood.

Of course, this was not surprising, considering that before they had been in a lake of blood, but what most caught Luan's attention was the altar he saw at the end of the cave, and on top of the altar there was something sitting on top. As it was dark, even with Luan's vision, he was unable to see it properly.

Luan's curiosity intensified, but he was still cautious - mainly because he knew that some powerful beast was out there was strong enough to scare all those birds.

"Follow behind me; avoid touching things; even on the wall, avoid touching anything," Luan said.

"Okay," Ingrid agreed and asked, "Luan, do you know what that was out there?"

"I'm not sure, but there is a good chance that those birds were fleeing some powerful beast," Luan replied and started walking slowly towards the altar.

"Luan, I am noticing something coming from the bottom of the cave... And is that an altar?" Ingrid was able to see a little as she approached.

"Did something attract your attention?" Luan became thoughtful. He then said, "Until you get there, don't touch it; let me confirm something. And yes, it's an altar."

"Okay." Ingrid realized by Luan's tone of voice that what she was being attracted to could be a good thing. But as Luan said, she had to be cautious and not touch anything without his permission. After all, he knew the supernatural more than she did, well, she practically knew nothing: just knew what Luan had said before.

When they got very close to the altar, something happened on the side of the cave.

*ROARRRRR!*

A deafening roar, capable of shaking the earth, echoed throughout the structure.

"It's a Wyvern..." Luan didn't expect there to be such a beast in this place. This was on a totally different level; it was at least a creature of the Third Order, and to reach the Third Order, one must achieve the strength of at least 100 common men: this was twice what Luan currently had.

"Is that very dangerous?" Ingrid asked, startled.

"Yes, so let's avoid making noise now. I'll also cast a spell to hide our presence... I hope this is enough," Luan said.

Luan and Ingrid were silent. Ingrid was barely breathing, afraid to make a noise. They didn't even bother to walk towards the altar; their safety was more important.

Only after 30 minutes did Luan speak again, "Okay, now I don't feel the presence of the Wyverns anymore. Probably already ate enough and left."

"Phew ~" Ingrid patted her chest and sighed with relief. Before, she had been very concerned. Only now when she heard what Luan said, was she able to feel relaxed.

Luan made a small flame in his hand and started walking towards the altar. When the flames lit the altar, both Luan and Ingrid could see an old altar table with ancient patterns, and on the top there was something written that Ingrid was unable to understand.

"Blood altar: left by Emperor Shan." Luan was able to read the symbols.

"Is that what is written up there?" Ingrid didn't expect Luan to be able to read it, but remembering that Luan had memories from a past life, she supposed that was how he understood, which made her more sure of what Luan said about having memories from a past life.

"Yes, it seems to be an inheritance. In fact, you said you were being attracted to something here, right?" Luan asked.

"Yes, it is that sphere!" Ingrid pointed to a ball the size of a baseball sitting on the altar.

- -

{Edited by: Azurtha}