After getting dressed, I left a note for Zhao Ting saying I had gone to look for an apartment and to cultivate as we had agreed. Taking some things, food, and a huge refrigeration unit that I bought yesterday, I headed into the jungle. The wounds that the old man had left on me yesterday had indeed almost healed and didn't cause as much discomfort as yesterday. In this state, I had great confidence in my abilities!
It was still early morning, so the streets of the city were quite deserted, and the sun had just begun to rise. Delving into the jungle, I began to look for spider lairs. My primary goal was to exterminate them, as they were the easiest target for me, despite their large numbers. After half an hour, I found the first lair. By my estimation, there were about twenty to thirty spiders there, possibly even the pack leader, a steel spider. But I risked attacking it anyway, after hiding the refrigeration unit beforehand, as it would greatly hinder me in battle.
I encountered the first group of spiders, about five individuals, ten minutes later. They were heading somewhere from their lair but met me. It would have been incredibly easy to deal with them using mid-level magic, but then the necessary organs could have been damaged. I had to fight using only beginner-level magic.
The first spider was killed by an unexpected lightning strike to its abdomen. While they were trying to react, another one died. After that, they ran towards me, and I, in turn, ran towards them, drawing my daggers. The nearest spider tried to stab me with its legs, but I slipped under it and ripped open its belly, from which its entrails spilled out.
The next two spiders were waiting for me right behind the first. As I stood in front of them, their legs were already flying at me, aiming to pierce my head, chest, and abdomen. Waving my daggers, I unleashed two wind blades that I had prepared earlier; it was still difficult for me to create two spells of the same element simultaneously.
Straightening up and looking around, I breathed a sigh of relief; this battle was much easier than I had anticipated. Over the next five hours until noon, I managed to almost completely clear this spider lair. Fortunately, I never encountered the steel spider. A total of about forty-five spiders were killed. I cut out all the necessary organs, put them in jars, and hid them in the refrigeration unit so they wouldn't spoil. As expected, killing a hundred spiders would be an easy task, but there are still many other monsters. I was also quite exhausted from such constant battles. As for souls, only shards dropped from all the spiders, which was a pity, but it favorably affected the development of my tooth. By my estimation, it should now be an ordinary magical artifact of the nebula.
I needed to kill ten red-eyed tritons, lower leaders, which meant I had to kill at least one a day. So, I decided to spend the second half of the day searching for these tritons after a short rest and a snack. At first, everything was quite calm; I ventured into the jungle to the northeast, where the corresponding tritons were located. Fortunately, these tritons are solitary and only unite during the mating season, which is in the spring.
After about a couple of hours, I stumbled upon a red-eyed triton. It was walking somewhere completely unhurriedly, which clearly showed that this creature was a pack leader, one of the rulers of these lands. The triton was three meters tall and about ten meters long, not counting its tail, which was another seven meters. I hid in the foliage of a tree in its path. Of course, with the strength of a junior leader, there was no point in hiding in a tree, but as long as it hadn't found me yet, it was a good place for a surprise attack.
The triton gradually approached me, while I was preparing mid-level magic, aiming to kill it with one blow by destroying its hindquarters. After absorbing the lightning-wind core, my seeds increased my magic power by almost three times! This would be just a little short of the third stage! However, I had to be extremely careful, otherwise such a pack leader-level monster could detect me, and I wouldn't be able to fully realize the potential of a stealthy mid-level attack.
The triton had already come quite close, so I activated the whirlwind of wind blades, a mid-level wind spell, trying to direct it to the desired point. But, at the last moment before the spell activated, the triton sensed something and jumped aside. In the next moment, where its hindquarters had been, a powerful hurricane of wind blades erupted. Fortunately, the triton didn't manage to completely escape the blow, and its hind leg and part of its right side were torn apart, but this wound was not even close to being fatal; it wouldn't even significantly hinder its resistance to me!
It immediately headed for the tree where I was. Quickly composing the star path of lightning's wrath, I directed it at the triton's crown. However, the effect was minimal. Despite the amplification factor of almost three times, this pack leader triton wouldn't be so easily killed by beginner-level magic. But blood flowed from the charred wound, and the triton also lost some orientation in space.
Unfortunately, this didn't prevent it from crashing into the tree I was on with great force. From this collision, the tree shook, creaked, and began to fall. Using an air dash, I pushed off the tree and flew towards the triton. It immediately began to turn, trying to keep track of me, but I broke the distance, using the residual effect of the air dash. Gaining distance, I again used lightning's wrath to strike the triton. Of course, I aimed for the same spot, but due to fatigue from today's hunt, as well as the triton's own rapid movements, I slightly missed and hit near the spot.
The triton roared and lunged at me. I had no choice but to lunge at it, simultaneously straining all my strength to compose star paths to implement my plan. First, I composed a normal wind step, immediately followed by an air dash, which I used right before the triton's maw, jumping onto its head and piercing the two spots where I had previously hit it with lightning's wrath with my daggers. This made it roar again and try to shake me off.
Of course, the triton had less strength than the three-eyed wolf, and I had become stronger since then, so it couldn't shake me off. Meanwhile, I had been preparing a new unusual, paired lightning spell, namely lightning shock, as I called it. The essence of it was that all the power of the lightning magic strike was concentrated in the hand and passed from it to the object; unfortunately, I couldn't hold the charge. It resulted in a single, but quite powerful, pinpoint lightning strike, which also easily passed through my daggers directly to the target. I remember how hard I searched for this star path! I myself was repeatedly struck by not-so-strong lightning!
Another advantage of this spell was that I could simultaneously compose two such spells as wind blades. And so, a powerful electric discharge passed through my hands, through the daggers, and struck the triton's head, hitting and incinerating its brain. Fortunately, I only needed its eyes and heart. Although there was a chance that the eyes would also be damaged by this blow, I was lucky; everything remained intact. From my first red-eyed triton, only a soul shard remained, which disappointed me a little, but oh well, there was nothing to be done about it.
So, by three o'clock on the first day, I had the entrails of forty-five spiders and one red-eyed triton in my hands, which was quite good, but I was incredibly exhausted as a result. With mid-level magic at this stage, I could use it freely twice; if I tried a third time, it would lead to problems. Also, during battles with weaker beasts, magical energy was consumed, which made fighting stronger ones difficult. Now I had only a little more than half of my wind magic reserves and about seventy percent of my lightning.
I began to understand the meaning of all these trials that the old man had given me. First, a test of strength, where I couldn't use any magic except wind acceleration magic. He probably wanted to test my physical fitness and resourcefulness in combat; the old man was just playing with me then! Now, he had chosen far from an impossible number of monsters for me to kill. With a bit of luck, proper distribution of strength, and the determination to complete the task no matter what, it was quite within my power! However, this number of beasts wouldn't let me relax and easily pass this trial; it forced me to fight constantly, exhausting my strength, testing my endurance and ability to fight in constrained conditions. It seems this is important for his method of gaining strength. As for the third trial, the test of resolve, I can only assume it will be related to my determination to go to the end and do everything to achieve my goal.
Thinking about this, I remembered today's nightmare; strangely, it was related to this. Could I do everything necessary to achieve my goal? If the nightmare was indeed related to this, then why was there a fight between my pseudo-me and the old man at the very beginning? Or was it a demonstration of how I should act, ready to move forward, crushing everything in my path? In any case, I don't think I'm ready for that right now, not after the nightmare; there's something to think about after it. The third trial will definitely be the most difficult for me.
Taking the triton's heart and eyes, I headed further; this time my target was alligators. I couldn't waste a single minute on unnecessary downtime! Alligators were also not difficult to find near the lake; after all, all the monsters I needed were abundant near Huzhou! Before the sun completely set beyond the horizon, I killed about ten alligators and took their entrails and fangs. Although they weren't mentioned, why let them go to waste?
Finding a secluded spot, I climbed a tree, making sure my belongings and I were safe, and then began to cultivate. I absolutely wasn't going to return to the city; I could cultivate here with increased efficiency, so why worry? Besides, the effect of yesterday's tea hadn't completely worn off. I wondered what results could be achieved if I drank it every day? By the time I decided to go to sleep, I had managed to control the twenty-seventh lightning star!
As I fell asleep, I found myself in a familiar place. I had definitely seen it before but couldn't remember. Only after a couple of minutes did I realize that it was Mo Fan's Shanghai apartment. What was I doing here?
"Brother Jiaxing Yun." a very stern voice sounded. Turning around, I saw Jiaxing Xia sitting in a wheelchair. Her voice sent shivers down my spine; I had never heard her speak like that!
"Ah, Jiaxing Xia, what happened?" I smiled awkwardly, not understanding what was going on.
"I know you know everything. What do you plan to do with it?" she asked mysteriously and sternly. "You've already experienced one event, keeping everything in place, but what happens next? Are you ready to follow the chosen path, stepping over your enemies?"
"What are you talking about, Jiaxing Xia?" I continued to smile awkwardly, but I began to realize what she meant.
"You know the future; what do you plan to do with it? Are you ready to gain your own benefit at any cost?" she repeated the question.
"Yes, of course!" I declared confidently. "How do you know this about me?"
"It doesn't matter, Brother Jiaxing Yun. What matters is whether you are truly ready to risk everything on your path and sell and kill anyone for your own benefit?" Jiaxing Xia raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Yes, without question." I answered just as confidently, trying to convince myself as well, after all, yesterday's nightmare had shaken my confidence.
"Even if you have to kill Lin Yun Er? Me? Mo Jiaxing? I'm not talking about Mo Fan; he's deeply involved in your plans. What about Xiao Hou? He Yu? Or Xu Zhao Ting? Are you ready to step over all of us? To let us be killed or to take a hand in it yourself, to achieve your goals when we have played our role? I'm not talking about innocent people who may have already suffered from your actions." Jiaxing Xia spoke calmly but menacingly.
"I... I strive not to allow the death of innocents!" I retorted, greatly irritated by her words. It's hard to get me angry, but her words!
"And what about us? Will you kill if necessary, when it's required, to achieve your goals?" she asked, looking me in the eyes. I thought deeply about her words. Could I really allow those dear to me to be killed for the sake of my goal? Could I even kill anyone besides beasts and live with it peacefully? I had been losing resolve on this matter lately!
"Jiaxing Xia, I don't know why you need all this, but I must admit that I don't have the steely resolve to kill people, even those who came to kill me. They are all people, they all have their own stories, they are all coming to kill me while protecting something of their own. The members of the Black Church don't count; they are monsters who kill indiscriminately for pleasure. I find such people disgusting, even if I might become one of them." I began, after five to ten minutes of silence and reflection. "However, even if I am firm in my desire to kill to gain benefits and satisfy my aspirations, ambitions, and achieve my goals, I will never kill anyone dear to me, especially Lin Yun Er, for that! If you want to ask why, I'll tell you." I said, holding up my index finger in front of her mouth so she couldn't interrupt me. "Everyone dear and important to me is part of my aspirations and goals; their well-being is part of what I am striving for. If any of these people die, I will consider it a defeat!" I finished confidently.
"Then, allow me to ask one last question: who are the people dear to you?" she asked with a smile.