"Robes worthy of the king of the world…" Muttering under his nose, Sebian took a look at his reflection in a small stream he just used to wash the blood out of his skins and body. While the solution worked wonders, the outer side of the furs still required quite a lot of scrubbing before the red marks finally gave up. Dressed in a slightly improved set of furs, Sebian instantly understood why this kind of solution would draw attention to him as soon as anyone would see him like that.

While the forest was quite chilly, the same couldn't be said about the plains. Here, the dense vegetation all around the alchemist shielded him from the warm rays of the sun. Once he would get outside, the heat only increased by his thick clothing would surely turn into a pain in the ass. Sadly, Sebian could do nothing about it.

"At least now I should be able to enter the city…" With this major point in mind, the alchemist looked towards the settlement in the distance. With all of his prep work now done, only his anxiety was stopping him from starting the last stretch of his journey.

But it wasn't as if Sebian's worries were unwarranted. According to his experiences from his original world, outsiders weren't treated nicely. Be it the times when he was just a part of a clique of kid thieves, or the period when he united the entire world under his unrelenting rule, this simple fact stood.

'I can't take it too lightly… I don't know what's the base cultivation of this area, but judging from the monsters in this forest…' Taking a look behind as his feet made the first step towards the city, Sebian thought about all the beasts that joyfully feasted on his corpse. If they could be taken as the baseline of the strength of the locals, then entering the city in his current state would likely end up in a disaster. A disaster that he could theoretically avoid by just living in the forest for a while.

Yet, from the other side, there were hardly any monsters in the area Sebian was in right now! While at first the lack of predators crossing paths with him could be explained by their instincts, once he left the general proximity where the massacre took place, there should be some other reason for the monsters to step aside whenever he was passing through.

Unless the alchemist already left the depths of the forest where strong beasts resided, hardly any of Sebian's many guesses could explain the lack of predators attacking him.

'Huh?' Even before a slight sound of bushes rustling reached Sebian's ears, his senses already alerted him about the presence of a monster.

'I wonder if it's that jerk making things work exactly against my wishes…' silently waiting for the beast to attack, Sebian thought. Still angry about the appearance of this predatory beast destroying his best reasoning for his situation, he failed to hold his curiosity in, turning his head slightly to the side to steal a glance at the approaching enemy.

"Huh?" The surprise that followed, broke through Sebian's attempt to keep the beast from noticing that he was aware of its presence. And that single sound made a short work of all his efforts.

"Roar!" Giving up its attempts at pouncing the man before he could notice its presence, the beast rushed forward. Moving away from its cover, its bloodied body revealed itself to the alchemist.

"Are you serious?" Looking at the approaching beast, Sebian was dumbstruck. While monsters of this level clearly didn't possess intelligence, they still had their survival instinct at their disposal. And to see a beast with strength equaling to an average fourth stage cultivator charing against an actual third stage one…

'Just where did that beast grow this kind of guts?' Completely relaxing, Sebian's lips suddenly curled upwards. 'Isn't it unhealthy to hold back one's emotions?' Glancing with compassion at the crazed boar-like beast, Sebian stood his ground, before executing the simplest kind of fist strike.

"Roar?!" Apparently unwilling to acknowledge the reality before it, the beast continued charging. Its sharp fangs against Sebian's bare fist.

In a normal situation, a beast would be likely to win. After all, there was a whole cultivation stage worth of strength difference between them. What's more, as a beast, its body should be way more resilient than a human one! And this monster could easily kill Sebian… That is, if it killed as many people as he did beforehand.

Sebian's strike was simple. Aimed right at the long nostrils of the beast, it conveyed all the strength of someone who managed to perfect his foundations. After all, Sebian was a cultivator, capable of improving his body through cultivation. On the other hand, the strength of the beast was generally set the moment it was born.

The hit went through.

Smashing the soft flesh of the monster, Sebian released the seal on his cultivation as soon as his physical punch started to lose its momentum. As if someone kicked the alchemist's elbow, his hand pushed back against the charging beast, sending it flying for a few meters. Crashing against the ground, the beast attempted to regain its footing, only to be faced with a flurry of Sebian's furious attacks. Now, they lacked any form. His attacks were deprived of any grace, sinking deeply into the thick fur and then the flesh of the beast.

Only after a few long moments of venting his anger at his circumstances, Sebian finally stood away from the beast, adoring the work of his fists. Even if he leaned towards saber arts, he was more than confident in his ability to punch the life out of any opposition. In a sense, it allowed for the release of the rawest, most natural form of cultivated energy from one's within!

'Hmm?' A rhythmic noise of something hard gnashing everything underneath reached Sebian's ears. A moment later, a huge bear cut through the vegetation. Despite the saliva dripping from its mouth, there was no hostility in its eyes. Only excitement.

"Hey!" On the other side of the small clearing that became witness to the monster's pummeling a moment ago, Sebian was also excited. Not because of the appearance of some kind of trained beast, but because of the face of a man mounting it up.

"IT WAS MY PREY!"