Chapter 20 - Explore (1/2)

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After talking to some of the other villagers Hao Xuan knew it was still going to be a few hours until they come down to the valley so he decided to practice Infernal Rapture.

He stood beside a little stream next to the fields. It was about 8 p.m and the sun had already set but because the moon was out he could still see for quite a distance.

In the last two weeks of practicing with First, Hao Xuan had finally gotten used to his new strength. Now with just raw strength he could jump several meters high, break normal trees in half and sprint really quickly for short distances.

Hao Xuan took out his Zanbato and channeled Qi into it. The blade's color changed from a dark red to a slightly brighter shade and it seemed like it was moving in the night, looking really strange.

He closed his eyes to concentrate and Infernal Raptures manual appeared. He opened the second the page and started practicing. It said for the Qi to gain thunder elemental characteristics he either needed an innate talent for it, some thunder pills or other external stimuli.

After trying for about 40mins he still couldn't get the hang of it. There were little sparks every now and then on the blade but they weren't black in color or harmful to anyone. It seemed more like a static charge.

Hao Xuan thought about conserving Qi for the fight up ahead and sat on a large boulder near him.

It was about 10 p.m by now and the moon looked absolutely beautiful in the night sky. He took a deep breath and looked around, the view was mesmerizing.

He could hear the sound of water flowing from the streams and feel the air brushing up against his white tangzhuang. It was really peaceful.

Without even realizing it he started cultivating and absorbing the spiritual energy from the surroundings. And since this was a valley for growing medicinal herbs, there was a LOT of spiritual energy to spare.

Bubbling sounds came from his body because of the speed in absorbing the spiritual energy. The Qi thrummed inside him moving towards the left hand this time and started attacking meridians one after another.

Hao Xuan wasn't aware but whenever he cultivated like that, it was extremely loud. The noises went far, especially in the quiet night.

After about an hour, he was still in a deep meditative state but the noises had never stopped, instead getting even louder. He had no idea what was going on in his surroundings and if someone attacked him right now, he wouldn't even know how he died.

A few hundred meters away in the treeline, a white humanoid figure was standing there looking at Hao Xuan. It was extremely small, less than half the size of Hao Xuan and dressed in a hanfu. But the most peculiar thing was that the figure seemed to be appearing and disappearing, like a ghost in the night. Its bright eyes staring right at Hao Xuan with a slight frown.

Another hour passed like this, with neither Hao Xuan or the figure moving even a muscle. Hao Xuan had already opened several dozen meridians. For normal people, each stage took a lot of time and opening meridians especially was very difficult. Not everyone could easily convert spiritual energy into Qi but Hao Xuan seemed to have a knack for it. It was as easy as breathing for him.

He felt very peaceful and loved the feeling of Qi coursing through his body.

Suddenly the crops in the distance started moving strangely. There was no sound but clearly, something was in there. And then another and another, several different areas started moving strangely.

The figure looked at crops and then Hao Xuan, who was still immersed in his meditative state and shook its head. It then bent down and picked up a small pebble and flicked it towards Hao Xuan.

The pebble hit the boulder Hao Xuan was sitting on and woke him up. He looked around and from his position, he could see the hyenas clearly.

They were twice as big as the ones from earth but it looked like they were starving. The skin was sticking to their bones and they basically looked like walking bags of bones.

Hao Xuan frowned even more looking at them. The surrounding areas were filled with wildlife and there was absolutely no way for any animal to starve like this. What was going on?

But either way, the fact was they were coming down to the village every other day and it wasn't safe for the villagers.

Hao Xuan slowly got up and stood on the boulder while taking out his Zanbato, waiting.

The hyenas knew they were found out so they stopped crawling around and stood up as well, coming up to Hao Xuan waist.

Normally anyone would be nervous when coming face to face with beasts for the first time, but Hao Xuan was strangely calm.

His eyes started to glow even brighter and he could see the hyenas clear as day.