Chapter 144: Another Beast Core.

Haru's body was engulfed in the wind as he was pulled into the vacuum of space once again. He felt the pressure around him suck his clothes against his skin, making them skin tight as he floated a few metres ahead from where he started.

The feeling of fear crept upon him as he remembered the events of what happened when Kun had brought him in here last time. He felt a slight chill run over his body as a dark shadow seemed to pass by him below.

'What was that…?' His eyes widened as the same feeling of fear he had last time hit him full force. He was now in full panic mode and cut open another void corridor as quickly as he could.

He felt the suction drag him out as his body was thrown from space. He braced himself for impact since he didn't prepare for the landing. But to his surprise, the landing was soft as he tumbled through tree branches before regaining his balance and managing to land on his feet after flipping through the tree.

He felt a fluctuation in Qi as his feet touched the ground. He used his spiritual sense to locate the source but then heard the gentle flutter of a heartbeat as it sped up. He looked down below him.

There was a man who looked a few years older than him sitting with his back to a tree with a book in his hands. He had shoulder-length black hair that was held back out of his face with a red sweatband.

He looked up as he had just seen Haru drop from the very top of a tree. He then jumped to his feet and got into a defensive stance. He looked Haru up and down as he judged the threat that had appeared before him.

A small wave of Qi emitted from his body as he tried to take a reading on Haru's strength but nothing came back at all.

"Phew. I thought you were an assassin for a moment… You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that, It might get you hurt…" He said before sitting back down against the tree before picking up his book once again.

"Okay…" Haru said before walking away. He was confused but just shrugged it off before turning in the opposite direction.

As the man sat with his back to the tree. Something seemed to replay in his head and he noticed something that he didn't even think of. Even regular people have a little bit of Qi sourcing through there body. But he didn't pick up any as he looked at Haru. That only had one explanation.

"Wait!" He shouted and then ran in the same direction Haru had just walked in. But there was no sign of him at all. It was like he had just disappeared from existence. Nothing made sense. 'How could he vanish so quickly?' He thought as he felt a hand tighten down on his shoulder.

He turned suddenly to see Haru was now behind him.

"You followed me?" Haru asked while still holding his shoulder. He had no idea what he wanted from him or why he decided to follow him. The only thing he did know was that he didn't want someone following him so he decided to confront him as soon as he noticed.

The man was still a beginner in cultivating and seemed sloppy. He didn't even notice Haru was behind him until he touched him and not to mention he was only at the core refining stage. So it made even less sense to follow him.

"I was just wondering… You're a cultivator too right? I need a little bit of help." He said and then looked up at with a desperate look on his face.

"What are you offering?" Haru asked with a sigh. He didn't want to help anyone for no reason so he would have to be for a good amount of money to get him to even consider it.

"Um… Well, I don't have much money but I could give you this." The man said before pulling something out from his pocket.

Haru looked down as the man opened his clenched fist to reveal a small yellow pill.

"I have about ten of these Qi condensing pills. I can give you half of them if you help me with something." He said with a smile. He knew that pills were precious to cultivators but he had no idea that the person in front of him could make hundreds of those if he wanted to.

The pills had no value to Haru as his cultivation level had acceded the point where a simple pill would give him a difference in Qi. The pills wouldn't do much to make him stronger since his body was constantly taking in Qi without a limit.

"Not interested." Haru sighed before turning around.

"Wait!" He shouted once more.

"What is it now?" Haru said as he reluctantly turned around to see him holding a small blue Crystal-like object. It glowed as it emitted natural Qi into the air around them.

The man's cultivation level was so shallow that he could only sense abundant Qi. There was no way for him to know that what he was holding was releasing as much natural Qi as it was doing at that moment.

'A beast core… Where did he get one of those from? There aren't that many animals on earth that can absorb enough Qi to form a beast core…' Haru thought as he looked at it. He had seen only a few of them before and he knew he couldn't pass up the opportunity to absorb another one of them.

After all, it was the fault of a beast core that his soul ocean had flooded. He wondered what would happen if he absorbed another one now that he would be able to absorb the whole thing directly into his body.

He looked back at the man he seemed hesitant as Haru purposely hid the excitement that he was feeling. He didn't want to let him know how valuable the thing he was holding actually was in case he went back on his word.

Haru looked at him for a few seconds and then walked closer to him.

"What is this?" He asked and then took the crystal from his hand and held it up to the sun.

"You know. I was looking for a present to give to my girlfriend… Fine, what do you want me to help you with?" He tried to act as casual as he possibly could before putting the beast core into his pocket and then transferring it to his storage ring.

"I think it will make a good gift." The man smiled as he knew he would have the help of the cultivator whose strength couldn't be seen through.

"Well… I got into some trouble with a local sect a few months ago and they keep sending people to try to kill me. It's lucky that I know a few escape techniques or they would have killed me many times over. I only want you to make them stop. I don't care how you do it as long as you make it stop." The man smiled sadly as he expected Haru to reject his request.

But to his surprise that didn't seem to be the case. In fact, he seemed to be confident that he could actually do what was asked of him.

"Okay. What is the name of the sect?" Haru asked and then reached down into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

"They are called the twilight moon sect…" He went on to explain some things about the sect that Haru might need to know like the fact that they had a witch in their sect that held sacrifices to make their disciples stronger. That was when Haru started to wonder why no one had wiped them out.

Surely if they were as bad as this man made them out to be then the cultivator association would have gotten rid of them already. There were two options. Either it was all a lie. Or they were a sect that operated within the criminal underworld so they could avoid regulation.

He then decided to make a phone call to make sure he had all the right information on the sect. He pulled the business card out from his wallet and then dialled the phone number.

He remembered Lian telling him he could call whenever he wanted and she would be able to help him so he decided to test her word and make a phone call. He knew that she was pretty high ranking in the cultivator association so he figured she would be able to tell him the truth about this sect.

That is if they had any information on them. If Haru's assumption was right then he would either be making enemies with a whole sect that was part of the association or he would be making enemies with the criminal underworld but he desperately wanted the beast core.

It wasn't like he could find them at will. He needed to get stronger so he figured that he would have to be proactive in doing things like this to gather wealth and power. But it didn't sit right with him to just steal the beast core from the man. And it also didn't sit well with him that there could be a sect out there performing human sacrifices in order to gain strength.

He put the phone up to his ear. It rang out two times before a voice on the other side spoke out.