Of course, I wasn’t either, but they were 13.
Might be an Infernal Thing.
Anyway, we began making our way back to the forest as I thought about everything Greja revealed to me.
First of all, the concept of Death Qi. First it was Infernal Qi, and now Death Qi. The world of cultivation is far more vast than I think we all realize.
And to think it that wasn’t even the biggest thing she revealed to me.
The Undead.
I’m sure most of us have heard of zombies or watched a movie or show with skeletons in it, or maybe one about mummies instead, but the Undead were so much more than that. Where there is life, there is death, and where there is death there will be those that are ‘born’ from it.
That will thrive in it.
There are a vast variety of races who fall under the umbrella term that is The Undead, and all of them have different agendas. According to Greja, it wasn’t a situation where all Undead are just out to kill everything living. They had communities, countries, empires and lived day to day ‘life’ just like the living did.
But of course, that didn’t include all of them. Some of them truly believed in purging the universe of all living entities and other things along that line of thinking. That will obviously pose a problem if that type of Undead are on Earth. Which could very well be a possibility considering that the branch monsters as I’ve been calling them, are a type of Undead. Not the kind we’re talking about though, they aren’t sentient, and instead just mindlessly attacks anything living.
Ah…so many different things to consider, what’s next Vampires?
Hm. Is that considered raising a flag?
Moving on.
We finally made it to the forest.
The mist was as thick as ever but never reached higher than knee height. It was still dark, and the branch monsters that were waiting at the edge of the forest seemed to have wondered off.
Alright. The number 1 priority here is to find the Dungeon, clear it and return safely. Because we are in Qi Refinement, we shouldn’t be affected by the Death Qi present in the forest or potentially even the Dungeon, but I don’t think it would be wise to linger here needlessly.
“Boys. We will do this mission as fast possible. That doesn’t mean to be reckless, it just means we won’t be lingering. Get in, kill whatever gets in our way, get to the Dungeon, clear it then return.”
“Understood Patriarch.”
“Understood Patriarch.”
After getting the expected answers from both, I took off into the forest, and the boys took up positions on my left and right respectively.
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We sped through the forest for quite a while before the branch monsters finally caught wind of us, and before we knew it their loud cackling began continuously resounding in the area, then very quickly the branch monsters could be seen rapidly moving towards us.
Nothing was said between us.
Our spears did all the talking that was necessary.
As always, the both of them were showing a level of efficiency that I was still chasing, but where I lacked in proper technique I made up for with immense power.
Five branch monsters jumped at me from the front, and of course I wasn’t surprised since I had sensed them long ago, and thus my attack was likewise already prepared.
I let out a loud grunt as I swung my spear from the right to left, catching all of them in one wide swing that was coupled with an explosion of flames right on impact that roared forth from my spear which resulted in all five of them being flung far into the distance, destroying multiple trees as the mass of their bodies crashed into the surroundings.
The boys were undoubtedly stronger and better fighters than I am at the moment, but surprisingly to myself, it was confirmed by Elder Zal herself that neither of them could compare to the amount of power I could unleash with my flames alone.
Essentially, I could fight far above my level when my flames were taken into account. Which was good to know.
That of course made me wonder about the difference between the realms in the Qi Refinement and the fact it basically came down to 3 different things which was interesting. At the Early Stage, one could move Qi around their bodies to augment different parts of themselves, or in some cases the entire body at once, while at the Middle Stage, that Qi could now be extended from the body to cover or imbue something that the user is in contact with.
Finally, the third stage was where things got a bit more fantasy like than it already was. The Qi could now be willed to leave the body in a controlled manner to do various things. Of course, all of this made sense when I thought back to the techniques I was given by Eldar Zal.
Of course, neither of the boys had done any attack that fit that billet as of yet, but I was looking forward to seeing it.
Anyway, we continued forward for quite some time, with the many branch monsters in the area doing nothing to stop our advance, until Frian said his first words since entering the forest. Well, they were the first words from any of us.
“I sense something.”
Before I could respond, Lirian chimed in as well.
“I do as well, in that direction.”
I obviously didn’t sense what they did, but I took their advice and began heading in the direction Lirian was pointing to.
Some time and a few dead branch monsters later, I finally felt what the boys were feeling. It was a massive collection of Qi in the direction we were heading in. It wasn’t moving, and we were only getting closer and closer to it. I would assume it’s the Dungeon, but we never know.
Okay.
It was the Dungeon.
It is quite literally a massive dead tree that stood without any other trees around it, and although there weren’t any visible openings on the tree, yet there was a very thick mist continuously coming from it and spreading into the surrounding forest.
I didn’t waste any more time admiring it and walked up and touched it.
Welcome to the Dead Land
(D) Class Dungeon
Five 5th Cycle Body Tempering Cultivators Recommended
Enter? Yes/No
So, this was still a D class Dungeon huh, and if I remember correctly, that last Dungeon in the Tutorial required five people in the 4th Cycle, while this one required five 5th. I highly doubt we are going to run into things that someone in the 5th Cycle could handle.
Alright, let’s do it.
“Let’s go.”
All three of us accepted the prompt to enter and before I knew it I was teleported to some place new.
I gripped my spear tightly as I looked around the area.
There was mist everywhere.
Unlike the forest outside where it was only around knee height, this was far much worse. No matter which direction I looked in, there was only mist, or would it be more accurate to call it a heavy fog than a mist at this point.
I couldn’t even see the boys around me.
“Li..-“
Voosh!
The second I opened my mouth to call for one of them, a massive branch swung down from up above and I sensed it just in time to jump backwards and a loud boom could be heard in the area the branch slammed down into.
Well then.
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