BXBX NOVEL Chapter 161 - The Twisted Forest
In the depths of the night and the forest\'s twisting and curving passages, the man ran across these walkways and concentrated on using his inner energy. This was the training that she intended for him for tonight, a game of hide and seek within a forest far beyond what one\'s eyes could see.
He needed to find the Priestess.
The life energy stored within his spiritual root seeped out of his body and extended past him like a thin cloak that enveloped his surroundings. If he could compare it to anything, it would be like an invisible fog or mist which reached a distance greater than what he usually did.
This was actually easy enough to do, if not slightly dependent on him having a great amount of qi to perform this feat—but then came the next step to it. It was intuitive, he got the answer immediately when Mitsuko told him to use Ao to find her.
But actually concentrating on his qi in the air and reading the minute changes happening was mentally taxing. It was if he had developed a sixth or seventh sense. An unnatural occurrence that threw his brain into the loop with new flashes of information beyond his normal senses.
.Too many for him to consider them all.
The man soon slowed down from running to concentrate. He shut his eyes and mentally traced his qi in the air as they filtered and passed through numerous objects in his immediate surroundings.
It was as if he could now take note of the air around him, the wind passing by and finally there—about ten feet above him, several squirrel-like creatures were resting and unperturbed in their sleep. Hidden in the hollowed rough bark of trees, slumbering.
Beyond the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste in the air and the sense of touch was the capacity to notice anything that came in contact with his qi. And with this, he didn\'t even need to face an enemy to know where they were and instead could locate them with ease.
This was what the lesson Mitsuko wanted him to learn.
It was similar to possibly far-seeing beyond what he was capable of, or to be more accurate, the haze of qi now acted similarly to infrared vision. Something greater possibly? He focused once again on his surroundings and was granted access to the minutiae rustling of tree leaves, and even the smallest hint of a caterpillar\'s cocoon underneath it.
And then, it traced and processed beyond that and moved on to the deep lines and grooves within the trunk, the leylines of Ao that allowed and resonated with his own—he shook his head and held a hand across his temple, squeezing it and gritting his teeth.
He ignored the searing pain that took over this moment. Simply beyond detecting energy given by living beings, it was as if he started to look deeper into it.
Once he was assuaged by the migraines, he resumed with the sensing technique.
The man focused on the qi that seeped out of his body, and then extended it further past the current range and then suddenly felt a tug within him, a sharp pain in his gut—as if he had stretched himself too thinly.
His eyes snapped open in annoyance. He clicked his tongue and clenched his fist. He needed a far larger range that would envelop the entire forest if he wished to find Mitsuko without wasting any time.
No, it was the only possible way to find her.
If he attempted to search for her by running around—even with the heightened physical capabilities of using his qi—it was too big for him to find her exact location and expect to return at dawn back in time to meet with Setsuko.
But before he could retry again and gather the available Ao in his surroundings, he would come across a concentrated spot. It was unlike anything he had ever encountered before. It was a visible distortion in the air and once he allowed the remainder of his qi to meet it, it reacted to the energy he gave.
It now resembled something akin to a ripple of their surroundings.
His skin crawled for a moment, but his qi could not detect what lay across—no, he couldn\'t tell what lay within it. But he felt that he understood what it was. Within the forest already extended through spatial or dimension techniques, more pocket dimensions lay within the forest.
The man reached for the hilt of his sword, bringing the weapon out as he stepped inside—
Li Yang was sucked into the Mashiro Forest\'s portal.
—-
Half an hour later, the man emerged out of the portal. His sword dripped with entrails of something, green ichor. There was a large gash across his shoulder\'s robes torn at the first attack, but the wound already healed due to him consuming the healing potion.
He sighed inwardly.
"Well, she wasn\'t in there… but it would have been too easy if she was close to my current whereabouts. All in all there had been some use for it." Li Yang had really gotten to talking aloud, but there was no answer.
Except for what appeared in his vision.
The man eyed the glittering screen in front of him. The number of points he earned from tackling all those insectoid beasts was sufficient enough to garner \'Power Points\' this time. It was an impressive amount, but he actually expended an entire bottle of healing potion and used his unique skills several times to survive it.
[ You Have Accomplished A New Achievement! ]
[ Rampage of a Beast - I ]
Defeat a great number of enemies in a consecutive frenzy.
50/50 defeated
[ You Have Earned 25,000 Power Points ]
[ Next Stage At 250 enemies defeated ]
This was great and all, and it was enough to face his current dilemma. The man\'s ability to tap into his internal qi reservoir in order to locate her could only do so much—but now, the man finally bought upgrades once more in the shop.
Specifically at the Personal Cultivation area.
[ Deducting 15,000 Power— ]
[ Deducting 20,000 Power Po—]
[ Congratulations! You Have Purchased Qi Condensation Stage— ]
[ You Have Achieved Qi Condensation Stage Nine! ]
He absorbed the available energy around him and felt the ao gather to him faster than before and he even converted it into his own at a better speed. Although reaching a higher stage made things more efficient for him in terms of gathering and sensing qi—It didn\'t change the fact that he had already extinguished a great deal of energy earlier.
Simply cultivating to gather qi right now when there was a possibility of more pocket dimensions for him to launch himself into and gain more points—it would be safe, but too slow.
Right now it was obvious that pocket dimensions were an easy ticket. However, he needed to locate them and Mitsuko. Once he made this decision, he\'d find a solution. He returned to the shop once again and assessed the screen.
Points Shop
> Harem-based Items
> Personal Cultivation
> Mystery and Gift Boxes
> Special Limited Items
> Unique Skills and Masteries
[ Current Total Points: 51,659 ]
He had used twenty-thousand points the last time for the Afterworld Temporary Dissolution Technique. But this time, instead of the Unique Skills and Masteries nor the Personal Cultivation—instead he chose the Special Limited Items.
If one needed a temporary but immediate boost to actually take care of everything, anybody could have assumed that this was the proper place to look for it. And so he did find something that immediately captured his eye.
AAA Boots
A+ Sellar Boosting Pack
Absolute Deflection Shield
Acid Demonic Pill
Adeptus Four Weapon
Artifact of the god Azeroth
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There was a problem of having too many options that might have led others to check each one out to find the perfect fit, but for now—Li Yang only had his eyes on one thing.
A+ Stellar Boosting Pack
Gain the Chance for the A+ Moment of Your Dreams.
Temporarily Increases All Personal Status Points of the Host by 50% increase for a ten minute duration. Will temporarily grant an A+ rank to a randomized status within defense, agility, strength, vitality, wisdom, intelligence and magical energy/cultivation energy.
Replenishes health and energy to the max.
10,000 Power Points
It was no doubt expensive, but he wouldn\'t back out from the experience and the chance to earn more points. All it took was one confirmation, and without waiting for another second—the man achieved the maximum strength of a Ninth Stage Qi Condensation Cultivator and then even beyond it as he hovered close to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Li Yang concentrated on his sensing technique—and watched it extend beyond his current limits. He quickly came across numerous more pocket dimensions within almost half of the entire forest.
The man then moved for that spot.
An unsuspecting squirrel woke up to the rattling outside of its hole, and then encountered the flash of movement that ran past it. The incredible speed blew off a great number of leaves from the tree.