Arriving at the mountain ranges, Ryu carefully observed the terrain. The mountains look like they span for miles, Ryu couldn’t see the end of it. There were many canyons and caves inside which makes navigating without getting noticed or ambushed extremely hard.

Ryu landed softly at the foot of a mountain and started hiking. Flying would draw unwanted attention. There were native beasts that instantly attacked Ryu but given his skills, he easily evaded them all.

“This is harder to navigate through than the Forbidden Forest, although the forest was much larger these mountains have complex hills.” Ryu sighed after walking for half a day. The level of beasts were getting higher, occasionally Ryu had to shoot out a few Qi blades to repel them. Ryu still haven’t found any signs of the bandits or even another human being.

“Are these beasts communicating with each other?” Ryu asked himself. For a while now he noticed a few beasts stalking him. Back in the Forbidden Forest he didn’t really fight any beasts thanks to the protective charm from the Fairy Lady.

Suddenly the Infinity Tome swung around, getting him to focus his attention to his side. The distance was still a kilometer away but nearly a hundred bodies of Qi was dashing at him at extremely fast speed. Ryu didn’t hesitate and quickly leaped up to fly. However, a sharp claw came at his neck and he barely dodged thanks to his aura. Before he could recover a bull-like creature rammed into him from mid-air and it was all Ryu could do to grab its horns to stop it from piecing his chest.

“These beasts are working together!” Ryu yelled out in shock as he struggled with the bull beast.

The previously approaching beasts were now only meters away and they turned out to be Blood Wolves! The furs were crimson red and their fangs were dark purple, it’s as if all of them bathed in blood. The scary thing is that they are a mix of level 30-45 monsters!

Ryu’s survival instincts kicked in and he summoned the Gold Keeper to suppress the bull which turned out to be a level 42 Iron Head Bull. With a wave of his hand he shot a dozen Qi blades towards the pack of wolves.

He expected to fend the wolves off for a little bit or at least make them pause but the wolves leading the pack actually bit the Qi blades or just took them head on! These beasts were much more experienced in battles than the humans Ryu fought. It is possible to level up with enough time and spiritual medicines but just because your cultivation is high doesn’t mean you have the skills, experience, or courage needed to do battle.

As the wolves were just about to reach him, Ryu took the spear behind his back and brandished it at the incoming danger. The brilliant and profound stick techniques flowed out of Ryu in this life or death instance. The Infinity Tome is opened as wide as it possibly could and shined behind Ryu as it tried its best to support Ryu. The Gold Keeper is fending off the aerial attacks directed at Ryu with a golden spear and acting as a shield for Ryu’s back.

The spears were constant blurs, always aiming efficiently at the beasts’ weak points. Continuous sounds of smacking could be heard as Ryu repelled these beasts. Some managed to get a few hits in but thanks to Ryu’s armor, he sustained minimal damage. Somehow they entered a stalemate. Any beast that approached Ryu would just be forced back by his profound stick techniques.

Knowing that they have the advantage in numbers, Ryu knew he had to escape now or somehow end it. The problem is that he was completely surrounded.

Ryu dismissed his Gold Keeper and surrounded himself with chunks of rocks covered in flames. Two rings of magma also rotated closely around Ryu. The beasts looked at Ryu comprehensively, the defense Ryu set up was formidable and whoever charges in first would definitely be injured. The fire element was the most deadly to beasts since they don’t wear armor like humans.

“Looks like I bought myself some time.” Ryu sighed to himself as he sat down. He finally had time to evaluate the situation. He had no idea why the beasts were hostile towards him but he could tell from their Qi that they were upset.

Ryu closed his eyes and meditated but his aura was always stretched to the utmost to keep him aware of his surroundings.

The beasts waited patiently for Ryu to run out of Qi. A day passed and there were no changes except Ryu added even more defensive measures. Besides more fire objects, swords sharpened by Qi also spun around Ryu now.

Inside every beasts’ mind was how is it possible to have unlimited Qi? Ryu actually doesn’t have unlimited Qi, there are two main reasons why he could sustain this unusual display of power. First of all he seems to be loved by the Qi and can control it at will, so when he’s replenishing his Qi the world around him actually kept supplying as much Qi as possible. Secondly it’s because he has two reservoirs, he would deplete one then switch on to the next one. This way one would always have time to refill its Qi.

“This is also an interesting way of training.” Ryu said in surprise as the third day approached. By exhausting his Qi to the brink and replenishing it, he actually raised a level. He remembered the Fairy Lady mentioning that there are some people who loved to do battle and that’s how they evolve.

On the fourth day of the stalemate Ryu finally made his move. Every defensive objects flew outwards and smashed into the crowd of beasts, creating temporary confusion. Ryu flew forward like an arrow towards a specified area. The confused beasts seemed to have caught on and tried their best to block Ryu however multiple stone golems appeared and obstructed them.

Ryu drew his sword and with an elegant slash, Ryu chopped down a tree and stopped his blade behind a person’s neck. Ryu calmly spoke, “I got no grudges with you, call off the beasts and let us part our ways.”

Beside Ryu’s blade was indeed a youth that looked even younger than Ryu. Over the past few days Ryu noticed that the beasts were moving as one so he suspected a ring leader somewhere. He noticed one aura that was much weaker and stationary at the back. Ryu couldn’t know for sure but he knew that if the beasts changed their mind and wanted to take him down, they could with a few sacrifices.

“So you are not with them…” The youth said with uncertainty.

“Who are you talking about?” Ryu asked with interest. He had a suspicion he knew who this person was talking about.

“The bad guys who took over our homeland!” The youth said as he revealed his dirt covered face. This person had short blond hair and had yellow eyes which Ryu had never seen before.

“Why don’t we find a nice place to sit down and talk about it?” Ryu said uneasily as he noticed the crowd of beasts less than a meter away from him.

The youth looked at Ryu for a few minutes and slowly led him away. The majority of the beasts dispersed but a few still followed closely. They came in front of a huge waterfall on a mountain side after two hours of walking. The waterfall looked pretty ordinary to Ryu but suddenly a gigantic bear-like creature came out from the bushes nearby and moved two boulders behind the waterfall to the side. Ryu followed the youth into a narrow tunnel and they walked for another half hour.

“Wow.” Ryu couldn’t help but sigh in amazement. At the end of the tunnel led to a huge open area. It’s as if they were at the bottom of a gorge. There were many floors on the walls with many holes which Ryu assumed to be rooms. There must be at least five hundred people here.

The instant Ryu stepped in everyone present turned to look at him. Some were shocked, some were expressionless, and some were angry but most were scared.

“Mia-Shu, how dare you bring an outsider back?” An old skinny man shouted out. His hair was long and white, if Ryu had to guess he would’ve said he’s a hundred years old.

“This man means us no harm. He’s very strong too. He defeated all my animal friends outside and captured me but he didn’t harm me. He can help us grandpa!” Mia-Shu said quickly.

“Oh?” Many people around started muttering and gossiping. To survive the beasts commanded by Mia-Shu was no small feat.

“Hmph this pretty boy? Over my dead body.” The old man threw a quick palm strike out and Ryu hastily threw one to catch it. The two palms became glued together instantly and Ryu could feel streams of harmful Qi that threatens to rip apart his body. Without hesitation he exerted his own Qi outwards to combat it.

Sensing that Ryu’s Qi was not as weak as he estimated earlier, the old man decided to go all out. Ryu was surprised. This old man was at the peak of Grandmaster Domain by his estimate. Both of their Qi clashed violently through their palms and no one dared to take a step back. If one of them withdrew at this point then that person would be seriously injured.

“Grandpa!” Mia-Shu shouted out in alarm. He could see the space near their palms has been distorted by their profound Qi. He saw that his grandpa was sweating a fair bit now while Ryu had the same serious expression since the start of the exchange.

This little brat. His level is definitely below mine but how could his inner strength be so refined? His mastery of Qi isn’t below mine! The old man thought in surprise, he no longer had the luxury to talk.

“Please don’t hurt my grandpa!” Mia-Shu begged after nearly an hour passed. His grandpa’s complexion had paled greatly while Ryu only started sweating. Ryu knew that this old man wasn’t evil based on his pure Qi and it wasn’t like Ryu to injure a random person. With a deep breath Ryu suddenly moved his palm backwards, then sideways, then upwards… Ryu started swinging their palms in a circular motion by Tai Chi principles. The strength between them slowly dissipated until finally they released their palms at the same time once the Qi output had diminished to a fraction of what it was before.

“Thank you senior for going easy on me.” Ryu said modestly.

“Hmph who are you calling senior? I can out live a brat like you.” The old man shouted back. Deep down he knew that Ryu showed mercy and said that to give him face. However that doesn’t make him less mad.

A group of elders led by an old lady with blond hair welcomed Ryu into one of the rooms on the side. They saw his prowess and even how he went easy on one of their elders.

“My name is En-Wei and that stubborn old man was my husband Mil-Kai. May I ask for your name and what you are doing here?” The blond old lady asked politely.

Ryu quickly introduced himself and told them his motive. “My name is Ryu, I was originally coming here because of the Five-Colored Lightning fruit rumors. Then I met some villagers on the way and found out their young ones were taken by the Vanishing Bandits.”

The elders gasped as they heard the bandits’ name. En-Wei spoke up with the same smile, “Young hero, from what I see and what Mia-Shu tells me, you are not a bad guy. Your power is outstanding for someone so young however… you would be no match for the bandits still. I don’t know anything about the lightning fruit but I can tell you that the bandits do have Heaven Domain experts.”

“Heaven Domain…” Ryu sighed. If it was someone from the same domain as him, even if he’s nine levels apart he would still have confidence but once it’s a domain apart then everything changes. The power jump is just too huge. Ryu continued asking, “Could you tell me why the bandits are taking people from villages?”

“Sigh… First you have to know our history… we are the Han-So tribe. We are not natives from this continent as you can tell from our eyes and hair. During the last Great War… we were displaced from our home continent, the Sky Continent. After the war was over, our ancestors were gravely injured and didn’t have the means to get back so they came to this mountain range and lived in seclusion. Fifty years ago my son fell in love with someone from outside the mountains and left to be with her. This was of course against our tribe laws. We expelled him naturally. Almost fifty years later that same woman came back to find us, she was with child and she was seriously wounded.” En-Wei spoke with much sadness and paused. Mil-Kai gave another humph when his son was mentioned. Ryu was totally encaptivated by the story and waited for her to continue.

“She came to tell us that her father… was a leader of bad men. He had seen how my son used his natural ability to communicate with animals to save her. I believe people of this land call it special bloodlines… Anyways her warning gave us enough time to evacuate here but we were not able to protect our sacred temple. Later she died of her wounds despite of our efforts to save her but her child made it, as you guessed that child is Mia-Shu. I suspect that they needed common villagers to retrieve treasures from our sacred temple.” En-Wei said helplessly.