"Return to Nature Concealment technique… and then Nature's Whisper Sensing technique. These two will be key for me to stay hidden and sense it. And then I can try out the puppet perception method. But I need to practice more on the Spiritual Threads technique before that. Once I have mastered those skills, I can try to hunt it."
Han Xing calmed himself down and put the thought of hunting the wolf at the back of his head. Cultivation required patience and steadiness, the same went to challenge an opponent. He knew his trump cards should let him defeat it in a head on fight even now, in theory at least as per his father's words. But uncertainty and fear was human nature, and he could not shed those feelings.
He sat cross legged on the dirt and took out the manuals.
"To be a part of nature, spread one's Qi to create a veil… feel nature, resonate with them, blend in to become one…"
Han Xing closed his eyes, spreading his Qi outward. His senses spread outward, feeling the dirt, the grasses, the tree, the insects crawling and the earthworm beneath. In a matter of seconds, the Qi spread around him and began to move in harmony with the surroundings, camouflaging him as if he was just a tree amidst the mountain.
His body was of a tree to begin with. Parts of his skin subconsciously turned into its original appearance, of white bark with an imperceptible soft light. His aura returned into nature, calm and unassuming.
Wild animals that had been avoiding the area due to Han Xing's presence and the explosions returned after minutes, unable to detect his presence anymore.
Han Xing opened his eyes, surprised that a squirrel climbed right on his lap up to his head. It seemed confused, its hand scratching his hair as if trying to figure out why the 'tree' seemed weird. And as if it no longer cared, it made its bed right on the soft hairs and kept a good position to nap.
Han Xing chuckled. "Buddy, what are you doing?"
He let it be and focused on sensing his surroundings and blending with them. As he was able to maintain them without much thought, he read the other manual for the sensing technique.
"Nature carries the aura of all living beings. Qi seeped into the soil, picked up by roots and insects. The Earth had their own way to communicate with each other to survive and grow."
Han Xing digested the words. He recalled an unknown piece of knowledge he had of plants that do communicate through chemical signals, bioelectrical signals and even through inaudible sound frequencies.
"First, I must sense the words spoken by trees and grasses…?" Han Xing read the instruction and entered a state of meditation once more. He began to feel the patch of grass beneath him carefully. The imperceptible tingling, the very quiet notes and sound he was able to hear as he dived deeper. It was a strange sensation.
And as he began to probe the grasses with his senses, the grasses replied back.
It was more strange that Han Xing could understand they were 'curious' and were 'probing' him too.
"This is weird." He said with amusement to himself. He did not know the technique was that miraculous and fairly easy to get the hang of it.
"Hello." Han Xing said it within his heart, his body communicated with them through a signal of Qi, sending his intention.
The grasses said hello back in their own way.
"Have you seen bird eggs?" Han Xing asked to test them. He felt the wave of 'inquiry' spreading from the grasses around him, spreading outward.
He waited for a minute before the grass below showed him the way. He was surprised that it worked.
"How do you guys even know?"
"Oh… so bird droppings are good for you. And the place where there's more is where the birds build their nest. And mother birds stay in the nest most of the time… so there's a lot more there." Han Xing figured out the details after asking a few times. To think such a chain of thoughts and reasonings was even possible.
He walked in the direction the grass pointed at. And to his astonishment there really was a nest up there. The mother bird was still there though. It glanced down at Han Xing yet did not care much. In its view, Han Xing was like a part of the environment that did not threaten it. Like the squirrels, other birds and the insects.
Han Xing let it go since it was not his intention to steal its egg. He walked around the mountain casually like it was his backyard, blending himself with nature and talking with grasses and plants.
The wild animals did not avoid him, as if he was a part of the ecosystem. He casually walked to a wild deer. Poking its side again and again to test how much he can get away with. The deer kept turning back to look at him in displeasure, snorted, and walked a few steps away. In its view a strange animal was disturbing him for no reason.
"This concealment technique is amazing. I can walk up to wild cats and pat them this way!"
Han Xing returned to the inn after an hour of strolling, getting himself used to communicating with nature and blending in with them.
Han Yang noticed how much Han Xing's presence was reduced on his return. A gentle smile appeared on his lips.
"Xing'er, always keep your presence hidden all the time. Once you achieve a state of concealment even in your sleep and cultivation, then you would have achieved mastery in the technique. You had a compatibility with the technique that a human body could never reach."
"I will keep it in mind, dad." Han Xing nodded at the advice.
The 2 weeks afterward, Han Xing practiced the concealment technique and the sensing technique together, further mastering them.
In between, he would train on using the spiritual threads to control his puppets. From one, to two, to five. Stretching the threads from initial 5 meters to 10 meters, then to 20 meters.
He went to Thousand Beast Mountains every day to sharpen his skill in controlling the puppets. With a steady mind and heart, he concealed himself at the same time.
He asked the tree near him where the nearest demonic beast was.
"200 meters ahead… huh, there is a human fighting it?" Han Xing approached them while keeping his presence low.
20 meters away, he observed the cultivator in a brown robe fighting a huge demonic peacock. From his senses, he estimated the peacock was a low level tier 2 beast. The robe of the man seemed familiar, the Iron Mountain Sect disciple. He had seen them around in the area commonly and often just avoided them.
He was about to head to other directions to find another target, but he heard a scream before he could go. He turned to look, surprised the man had multiple blue feathers sticking on his skin and flesh just after a moment he turned his eyes away.
Kaw! The peacock beast spread its tail and swept them outward, shooting a barrage of feathers sharp like iron knives at him. He quickly ran to hide behind one tree to the another, chased by the peacock like he had just stolen her eggs.
Seeing the man was actually running away instead and seemed miserable, Han Xing decided to give a helping hand.
He took out his first full bodied battle puppet named Jian. The wooden puppet was painted black, wearing a dark robe with a sharp aura. Runes flickered beneath the cloth, at the joints to unleash faster movement; runes on the surface to strengthen its body.
An iron mask covered its face, the black cloak covering him added more to his mystery.
Han Xing clasped his hands together, creating Spiritual Threads which then connected to all the joints of the puppet.
"Ha…" He took a deep breath, entering a focused state as he projected his senses through the puppet through Puppet
Through Qi spreading outward from the puppet in waves, he received the reflected information back and could see objects around it. It felt similar to when he could not see with his eyes, similar to a sixth sense instead of sight.
Without further delay, he moved his fingers, stretching the threads further to control the puppet. The puppet let out a creaking snapping sound, its head snapping forward as it rushed towards the demonic beast. Qi propelled from the sole of its feet each time it was lifting up the ground, accelerating its movement. Han Xing's real body moved silently to follow from behind, keeping a distance of 50 meters away while keeping connection to the puppet.
The peacock was too focused on his front; he did not notice the puppet reaching 10 meters away behind him.
Now! Han Xing bent his ring finger, the puppet's left arm stretched out, the wooden parts clicked and snapped revealing a hidden arrow inside.
Snap!
A thick iron arrow shot through the air directly onto the beast's thigh.
"Kaw!" The beast let out a loud shriek as it was pierced, a drop of blood slid down its thigh down to its foot. It stopped chasing the man in front of him and turned its head back with fury.
In its view, a human in black clothes had attacked him sneakily.
"Kaw!" The beast spread its tails once more - then with a powerful flap, a barrage of iron like feathers shot across the air.
In the next second, Han Xing snapped his arms, the puppet made a sharp turn and dashed in a round path. Feathers struck the ground and the trees, missing by a step chasing the puppet.
"Kaw!" The beast was enraged. Half of its butt already lost its feathers, making it become more enraged. It spread its wings, and chose to rush straight to the man in black. It lunged forward with a gust of wing, intending to use its iron-hard beak to pierce through him.
The puppet stood still, its hand held on the sword handle on his waist as if unconcerned, unafraid. The disciple of Iron Mountain Sect that had fled earlier stopped by to watch after sensing someone actually helped him.
His eyes bulged wider seeing the man in black stood still even when the beast was rushing straight at him!
What is he doing…!
The beast kawed, its head rushed forward to kill the man with its beak. But right before the beak could touch the man, he dashed backward, the beak at that moment unable to reach his body.
Time felt stagnated, the puppet's grip on the iron sword tightened, Qi overflowed his entire arm before he swung with all his might in that exact moment.
A flash of cold light reflected in the peacock's eyes for a moment, before its surroundings suddenly spun around and his sight fell on the grasses and dirt.
Slice-
The peacock was beheaded in one decisive stroke. Blood gushed out like a fountain from its neck. The body swayed slightly for a second, before falling down with a thud upturning dust and dirt.
The spectator had his mouth wide open. He was shocked at the sheer calm the swordsman had. The sword technique was nothing but a decisive swing fueled with Qi, and yet the power in that attack was comparable to Early level of Qi Gathering Realm.
Unafraid, filled with overwhelming confidence, as if he had his opponent under his control the whole time.
Not to mention, seeing the man swing his sword again to remove the blood stains on his sword then fluidly insert the sword back to his sheath with a click gave him a sense of euphoria at the sheer aura of the man.
So damn cool!
The disciple of Iron Mountain Sect was trembling in awe. He walked out of his hiding place, clasping both his hands together in respect.
"Senior, thank you for your help."
Han Xing could not make the puppet talk, so he made it nod his head once. His arm raised to hold the edge of the straw hat, tilting it down to cover his face further as if not wanting to interact any longer.
Casually he crouched down to pick up the corpse of the bird with one hand. His cape fluttered in the wind as he disappeared from the man's sight, leaving a lasting memory in the disciple's eyes. Han Xing did not know the disciple of Iron Mountain Sect had already planned to get a cloak, a mask, and a straw hat in town and learn the sword because of the encounter.
"I, Ye Fan, from this day onward will learn the sword and show that bitch Liu Ruyan she is the one who does not deserve me!" He raised his head to the sky, clenching his fist in renewed spirit.
"Cough…"
Ye Fan was startled by a sudden cough. Chills spread through his back as he looked left and right like he just heard a ghost.
"W-Who's there? S-senior is that you?" Ye Fan assumed the man earlier was still around, hopefully, otherwise that cough was too creepy.
"Cough… Young man. It is me, inside the ring." A raspy old voice sounded in his mind. Ye Fan was bewildered. He was about to throw the ring away before the old man explained his circumstances and calmed him down.
But Ye Fan's story was for another time.
The old man in the ring swept its gaze in the direction of Han Xing, his eyes carrying a deep thought and contemplation.