Stray into the Field of Cultivation

Steaming Cloud Mountain, Yunzhou.

Deep in the dense mountain forest, the fog was thick, obscuring vision.

A snowy white cat with fur as smooth as warm jade lay sprawled on the back of a black and white husky. The cat's head rested on the dog's, and its golden eyes gazed ahead at the path.

"Meow!"

At Du ke's cry, Husky immediately slowed his pace and stopped under a tree.

Du ke jumped down from Husky's back, opened the Black Cauldron Space, and took out a Blood Food Pill and a Clear Water Pill. He first gave the Blood Food Pill to the kitten, then placed the Clear Water Pill nearby for it to lick and replenish its fluids.

Next, he spread out a bear skin with a hole in it on the ground below the tree, so the kitten could lie on it and not touch the icy ground and catch a chill.

With everything prepared, Du ke also took out a Blood Food Pill and popped it in his mouth, crunching on it like a candy bean.

After eating the Blood Food Pill and licking the Clear Water Pill to replenish fluids, the kitten lay down to rest on the bear skin as Du ke patted its head.

Du ke guarded the sleeping Husky and sighed, "It's been five days already!"

He gazed at the slumbering Husky and couldn't help but sigh.

It had been five days since he formed the Water and Fire Fairy Garment and left that pit, yet he and Husky had been wandering endlessly in the deep mountains, unable to find a way down.

Sometimes, even when Du ke commanded Husky to head downhill along the mountain's incline toward the foot of the mountain, they would inevitably encounter cliffs or gorges.

Moreover, the fog in the mountains had grown increasingly dense lately. When Du ke led Husky through the thick fog, by the time they stopped, the cat and dog's fur would be drenched.

Even when Du ke climbed the tallest tree he could find and gazed out at the distance, all he saw was a sea of clouds.

The pure white, dense fog submerged the forest, with only the tops of the tall trees poking out. From the mist, occasional roars of beasts and cries of birds sounded.

But there was no discerning any sense of direction. Aside from thinning slightly at noon, the accursed fog would quickly grow thick again after noon passed, leaving Du ke and Husky wandering like headless flies.

"When will we finally get out of this damned Steaming Cloud Mountain!" Du ke lamented inwardly.

He then took out another Blood Food Pill and crunched it in his mouth before swallowing it down.

As the Blood Food Pill entered his stomach and transformed into hot waves that filled his body, driving away hunger and cold, Du ke delved into the Fairy Martial Manual he had refined and consumed.

Although the manual Su Qi Luo had given him did not contain any great destructive battle techniques, its descriptions of the four major post-natal realms were extremely detailed.

Very detailed indeed.

It also contained some knowledge about exerting power and force, and how to mobilize one's blood and energy to form battle power to be wielded.

Lately, Du ke had been exploring and practicing the contents, conducting experiments.

As he recalled the manual's teachings in his mind, Du ke's right paw rhythmically extended and retracted its claws.

Stretching, extending his sharp claws and spreading his toes, then retracting them and sheathing them again in repetition.

A cat's paws, like human hands, were also made up of five digits - toes instead of fingers. Although the innermost toe on the forepaws would atrophy and shorten as a kitten grew, a newborn kitten's front paws clearly showed five full toes like human hands.

Right now, Du ke was practicing the qi summoning method described in the manual, propelling his blood and energy to flow through his limb channels, gathering power to be expelled with each exertion, as the method dictated.

As his paw continued opening and closing, Du ke finally slapped it against a nearby tree, leaving a clear imprint of his claws.

The plum blossom-shaped gashes went three fen deep into the wood, seemingly effortless and innate. Du ke gazed at the claw marks at the tree's base and nodded.

"I've finally cultivated potent qi!"

As Du ke spoke, his ears suddenly twitched.

The cat whose ears had flickered abruptly stood up, like a puma sensing an intruder, raising his paw and head as he bristled with power.

"Something's nearby!"

Du ke tilted his head and listened carefully, faintly catching human voices.

"Ah, these are human sounds. Could there be people nearby!?" Du ke grew excited at the thought.

If there were people, they might know the way down the mountain.

"Although distant, those are definitely human voices!"

Even if these people didn't know the way, following them and using them as scouts to avoid danger for himself and Husky was an option.

"Stupid dog, wake up!"

Du ke roused the slumbering Husky with a slap. After storing away the bear skin, Husky yawned and stretched, lowering his body and raising his rump as he flexed his limbs.

But before Husky could fully shake off his drowsiness, Du ke had already jumped onto his back and urged him to get moving.

Without any complaints, Husky immediately sprang into action. As a Northern Spirit Dog, running and hunting were ingrained instincts.

Already as tall as a grown man's knees, Husky ran swiftly and soundlessly, with great ferocity.

His only flaw was that if Husky got too excited while running, he might smack straight into a tree if Du ke didn't rein him in.

Yes, it had happened once before, but Du ke had batted him away before he hit the tree. Husky had only tumbled several rolls on the ground that time, avoiding collision.

Otherwise, Du ke would now be a one cat search party.

Through the vast fog, the faint human voices gradually faded, but Du ke firmly remembered the direction they had come from and directed Husky to run that way.

As they charged through the thick mist, Du ke's whiskers quivered and his expression grew solemn. He bit down on Husky's ear, signaling him to slow down.

Although puzzled, Husky immediately slowed his pace and, following Du ke's prompt, began crawling forward stealthily.

Du ke's nose twitched as his furry cat face wrinkled in dismay.

The stench of blood!

An extremely thick, overpowering stench of blood, like an abattoir.

After surveying their surroundings briefly, Du ke jumped off Husky's back and grabbed him by the scruff, dragging the dog over to the nearest tree. He climbed up the trunk with Husky in his jaws before placing the dog on a horizontal branch.

Clinging to the branch with all four legs, Husky shot the cat a resentful look.

Must he always get tossed up a tree whenever something seemed off?

He was still young, and such experiences could leave psychological scars.

What if he developed a fear of heights?

But Du ke paid him no mind. An untrained pup Husky's age, no matter how quick or enduring, was useless against real threats.

A wild beast could easily snap him up.

So for the past five days, whenever Du ke sensed anything unusual, he would first stash the pup in the nearest tree, using the mist as cover to conceal him, while he investigated alone.

After securing Husky, Du ke leapt from the branch, his silhouette disappearing as he activated Shadow Cloak.

Now hidden amidst the swirling fog, Du ke swiftly approached the source of the bloody stench.

Leaving the mist behind him, the cat landed on a tree branch and looked down, immediately sucking in a breath.

Mutilated, incomplete corpses lay dead-eyed on the icy earth below, no less than twelve or thirteen in all. The bodies were gruesomely dismembered - some with arms torn off, some with snapped thighs, some with caved-in chests pierced clean through front and back, and some with heads smashed into ribcages.

Blood was spattered everywhere, coating the ground, tree trunks, and rocks. Inhaling the overpowering, metallic stench, Du ke clicked his tongue.

No wonder he could hear human voices from so far off earlier. These must have been the victims' death screams in their final moments of terror.

Only such shrill screams of one's last living breaths could carry so far.

What killed them again?

The cat jumped down from the tree, carefully avoiding the bloodstains while also examining the attire of these people.

Some were wearing short jackets made of cloth, some were wearing long robes of hemp, some were wearing close-fitting leather jackets, and some were wearing cotton armor.

At first glance, they looked like a group of roaming warriors.

As Du Ke walked among the corpses, he also stopped in front of a huge ghost head knife. There were very clear fingerprints on the knife, and even the fingerprints could be seen.

The fingerprints were only an inch away from the blade.

The corpse holding the knife had a bloody hole punctured through its chest, front and back.

Just by looking at the fingerprints on this knife, as well as the bloody hole punctured through the chest, Du Ke could guess how this person died.

It was obvious that while this corpse was chopping with the knife during its lifetime, the person who killed him grabbed the huge ghost head knife with one hand, leaving fingerprints at the moment, and punched through the opponent's chest with the other hand.

Following the position where this person fell, Du Ke saw the splash of fresh blood on the tree, as well as the internal organs and fragments adhering to or hanging from the branches.

"Tsk, a punch with such power must at least be a warrior who has reached the peak of the Bone Tempering Realm, or a small accomplishment in the Internal Organs Realm."

"However, the possibility of the Bone Tempering Realm is a bit low. Unless it's someone with extraordinary innate talent, with sturdy ox-like bones from birth, and innate divine strength, it would be possible to punch through the chest, and the explosive power would cause the blood and organ fragments to splash out."

"But such people are too rare. It's more likely someone at the peak of the Internal Organs Realm. The energy, blood essence, and primordial qi have fused, giving rise to inner force."

The cat silently analyzed everything before it.

The Immortal Warrior Strategy stated clearly that the four great realms of warriors are simply the process of perfecting oneself from the outside to the inside, and nurturing true qi.

The Flesh Tempering Realm is about sealing oneself, locking primordial qi, blood essence, and spiritual qi, so that one's spiritual qi circulates within the body. One can also voluntarily open or close the connection with the outside world.

Du Ke could now do this. After completing the Water and Fire Fairy Garment, even iron arrows shot from a strong bow at five paces away could not pierce his skin membrane. Of course, that was at a certain distance.

At close range, he would immediately die.

Moreover, once the Water and Fire Fairy Garment was completed, it represented that he already possessed an unleaky body, able to seal in primordial qi and blood essence. The nurtured primordial qi and blood essence would not leak out.

The Bone Tempering Mirror refined all the bones in the entire body, tempering the bones and cleansing the marrow, while also changing the blood, integrating blood essence, energy, and primordial qi to nurture inner force.

The birth of the first strand of inner force from the internal organs represented stepping into the Internal Organs Realm.

At the same time, a warrior with inner force would see their combat power grow exponentially. Wielding martial arts, one person could confront dozens of armored warriors.

Only those in the Internal Organs Realm who have nurtured inner force could achieve such terrifying destructive power.

Empowered by inner force, even a light punch could kill an ox.

Not to mention the final True Qi Realm. Those who have achieved mastery of true qi can emit true qi externally. Killing someone from a distance is easy for those who have achieved great accomplishment in the True Qi Realm.

The biggest difference between inner force and true qi is that inner force can only spread and transmit through the warrior's direct contact, while true qi can be freely emitted and controlled remotely.

The Innate Realm was a whole other sight.

"I thought they were the guiding lights to lead us out of the forest. I didn't expect them to be a bunch of poor cursed corpses. How inauspicious!"

After looking over everything, the cat who was still invisible turned around, intending to leave.

Not only intending to leave, but to get far away from here.

So as not to get caught up in any messy situations.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw a man dressed as an outer ministerial attendant, holding an abacus in his hand and stroking his chin as he gazed at the corpses on the ground.

In an instant, the cat's fur stood on end.

When did this guy get here? Why didn't I notice him at all?!