When Shi Lei first realized that he had transmigrated to an alternate world, his initial reaction was fear—fear of the unknown dangers in this world of cultivation.
Then came shock, as he felt a deep sense of awe at the vast, boundless, and endless nature of this cultivation world...
Next was joy. After all, he was now a cultivator himself, capable of soaring through the skies and traveling underground just like the protagonists in novels from his past life, achieving eternal life. More importantly, he discovered that the mist here seemed to be an extremely dense concentration of Wood Spiritual Energy, which had an immediate effect on the recovery of his injuries. At that moment, he could no longer feel any physical pain, and some of his wounds even showed faint signs of scabbing.
After that came distress, as his brain felt like a giant stewpot crammed with all sorts of memories, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
Then came depression and sorrow, because he discovered that he truly had no way of returning to the Blue Star of his past life... He missed his hometown, his parents, and his friends.
...
Right at that moment, he had no idea what to make of his own feelings; his heart felt like a jar containing a complex mixture of all five flavors.
However, the Spiritual Energy here seemed exceptionally dense and pure, making Shi Lei's mind feel clearer and clearer as the memories of his two lives rapidly fused together...
...
Shi Lei took deep breath after deep breath of the dense, mist-like Spiritual Energy around him, and began to circulate the wood-attribute Changchun Formula (the Cultivation Manual from the original owner's memories, which was the foundational introductory manual of the Qianyuan Sect). Fortunately, most of the energy here was Wood Spiritual Energy, which was a perfect match for the manual, and the True Qi within Shi Lei's body circulated more and more smoothly.
...
"Pop..."
Suddenly, a slight abnormality occurred somewhere within his body...
"This is... a breakthrough!"
A wave of joy washed over Shi Lei. He had never expected that the bottleneck the original owner had always been unable to break through—the barrier of the Qi Refinement Early-stage—would be effortlessly breached right after his soul transmigrated into this different world and merged with the original owner's memories.
"Could my cultivation talent be exceptionally high? Just arriving in this alternate world helped the original owner's body break through its shackles!"
For a moment, Shi Lei felt quite delighted. Regardless of the exact reason, this was definitely a good thing after all.
Following his breakthrough in realm, he was now at the Qi Refinement 4th Layer, transforming from a Qi Refinement Early-stage cultivator into a Qi Refinement Mid-stage cultivator!
Most importantly, his wounds had completely healed along with the breakthrough in his realm, and his body felt sturdier and stronger as well!
Shi Lei slowly climbed up from the ground. Not a trace of pain remained in his body; instead, he felt it brimming with explosive strength.
He hopped lightly in place a few times, then threw a few punches forward to test the waters, finding that he had completely adapted to the original owner's body. Finally, he nodded slightly in satisfaction with his powerful new physique, his lips parting to reveal two rows of bright, gleaming white teeth.
"Awesome..."
"Hahaha..."
A burst of loud, hearty laughter rang out...
Once Shi Lei quieted down again, a fresh wave of distress washed over him. Although the Spiritual Energy here was dense, his field of vision was extremely limited, and the surrounding environment was completely unknown...
Most importantly, there were no other people or living creatures around. He was currently unable to go without food; if he didn't leave this place, he was bound to starve to death here. Therefore, this was no place to linger.
At a loss for what to do, Shi Lei had no choice but to continuously digest the original owner's memories regarding this cultivation world...
Although the original owner was a cultivator, he hadn't been to many places. Most of the locations he knew came merely from miscellaneous records and classic texts in the sect's Scripture Pavilion, amounting to nothing more than written accounts.
To the southwest of the original owner's birthplace lay a massive lake and marshland. According to the sect's texts, traveling further west or south across this vast expanse of lakes and marshes would lead to the boundless Endless Sea...
The Qianyuan Sect was located to the northeast of his birthplace. Leaving the sect and heading further north would bring one to the Savage Beast Forest, and if one could cross the Savage Beast Forest, it was said that one would reach the boundless Shiwan Great Mountains.
...
"But where am I right now?" Shi Lei was still scratching his head in confusion, completely unable to figure out where this foggy region of dense Spiritual Energy was located.
Shi Lei racked his brains...
He tried his hardest to remember...
Finally...
He recalled the original owner's final moments!
What on earth had caused his death?
...
The memories began to surface:
In a dense mountain forest, a group of young men were cautiously moving forward. The original owner was among them, and they were out hunting.
Ahead in their field of vision was a creature resembling a wild bull. It had two horns on its head, four legs, a reddish-brown back, scales on both sides of its body, and a thick, sturdy tail trailing behind it.
This creature was called a "Red-Spined Azure-Scaled Bull", a common savage ferocious beast found in the Savage Beast Forest. Although it was a herbivorous beast, it could run at lightning speed, possessed immense strength, and boasted formidable combat prowess. It also had a bad temper; once disturbed or startled, it would invariably launch a fierce attack on its enemies. After wounding its opponent, it would quickly flee. This savage bull would not even fear some of the larger carnivorous savage beasts.
These young hunters seemed quite familiar with the habits of this wild bull, knowing that this big guy could not be easily provoked. None of them wanted to suffer a round of its attacks; its sharp horns and brute strength were certainly not to be trifled with. To prevent it from escaping, everyone was simply creeping closer without making the slightest sound, waiting for a suitable opportunity to capture it.
These young hunters all wore identical dark cyan garments, with a cloud-like emblem printed on the corner of each outfit. This emblem was none other than the sect insignia of the Qianyuan Sect, located just outside the Savage Beast Forest. They were all Outer Sect Disciples of the Qianyuan Sect, not professional hunters.
These disciples were a mountain-patrol squad dispatched by the Qianyuan Sect. Surprisingly, out of so many Outer Sect Disciples, only the original owner was a Servant Disciple (Servant Disciples held a lower rank than Outer Sect Disciples within the sect, making them the lowest-ranking and most basic members of the sect)!
After sorting through his memories, Shi Lei finally understood that he was merely the cook for this team. Before reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage, cultivators still needed to eat regular food. Only cultivators at or above the Foundation Establishment Realm could practice *biggu* (abstaining from grain and food), relying solely on absorbing the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth to maintain their vitality indefinitely.
Of course, Qi Refinement Stage disciples could also consume Alchemical Pill for fasting (pills that could keep one full). However, these Outer Sect Disciples seemed to find the fasting pills too expensive, so to save a few pennies, they had dragged along the original owner, a Servant Disciple.
Shi Lei couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself...
He saw these Outer Sect Disciples holding various weapons: steel swords, iron-wood staves, iron chains, and even net-like contraptions made of an unknown material...
And of course, there was the Servant Disciple holding a round iron pot and spoon, lingering at the back of the team and trembling with fear...
Determination and resolve were visible in the eyes of every Outer Sect Disciple.
Though humble in status, this group of disciples possessed extraordinary courage and team spirit. They knew deeply that hunting ferocious beasts was not only meant to protect the safety of the immortal sect, but also to prove their own worth.
Under the leadership of the team captain, they quietly approached the foraging savage bull. The beast was massive, its body covered in hard scales, and it looked extremely fierce.
The disciples were not intimidated by the savage bull's imposing aura; they quickly scattered to form an encircling net. At the captain's command, the disciples launched their attacks one after another. Some thrust their swords toward the savage bull's eyes, others slashed their blades at its legs, some shot arrows at its body, and a few used trapping nets on the periphery to cut off its escape route...
Enraged by the disciples' assault, the savage bull lowered its head, bared its sturdy horns, and let out a low roar from deep within its body.
The disciples did not flinch, continuing their onslaught and giving the savage bull no breathing room.
After a fierce battle, the savage bull finally crashed to the ground. The disciples cheered with jubilation; they had successfully hunted this ferocious beast, making yet another contribution to the immortal sect.
Afterwards, the team pushed forward once again, patrolling back and forth within this area. All sorts of ferocious beasts could be found here, though Azure-Scaled Savage Bulls were the most common. Moreover, their combat strength ranked near the top among ferocious beasts, but primarily because they were not pack animals, making them relatively easy to hunt. They were the most cost-effective kind of beast to target. Hunting savage bulls allowed the mountain-patrol hunting squad to complete their missions much more easily.
Every disciple searched for traces of the savage bulls as much as possible, hoping to kill them the very moment they were spotted.
The pile of savage bull carcasses carried by each person grew heavier and larger. Finally, everyone could only trudge back toward the sect carrying the beasts' corpses, because the Storage Talismans on each of them were already packed to the brim.
A Storage Talisman was a spell talisman that served no other purpose than storing items. It was a storage item issued by the sect to disciples while they were on missions, capable of holding roughly one to two cubic meters of goods. Easy to make and simple to use, it could only be used once, however.
Since mountain patrol missions could be repeatedly accepted, the disciples naturally hoped to acquire as many ferocious beasts as possible. Now that even their Storage Talismans were used up, the team had no choice but to head back.
Chatting and laughing, the disciples all looked very happy. Clearly, the harvest this time was substantial. By now, the team had reached the outer perimeter of the Savage Beast Forest.
Ferocious beasts were rare in the outer perimeter, and their strength was generally very weak. Some prey were even unworthy of being captured by the patrol squad.
At this moment, everyone's mood relaxed even further, and their formation became rather scattered. They had assumed they would make it back to the sect smoothly, but unexpectedly...
An accident occurred...