Setting Out on the Return Journey

The morning after killing the Green Pattern Giant Serpent, Lin Tian woke in the cave to golden sunlight filtering through the vine gaps, casting dappled light on the ground outside. Feeling his magic power and battle qi surging within him—fuller and more refined than before—he suddenly understood: true training was never about defeating a particular Magic Beast, but about constantly breaking through one's own limits at the edge of life and death.

Over the next month, Lin Tian threw himself into even more ferocious training in the Magic Beast Mountain Range. He no longer deliberately picked his targets; instead, he followed the scent of Magic Beasts and struck proactively, from sixth-rank Iron-armored Rhinoceroses to seventh-rank Shadow Leopards, his footprints covering every dense forest and canyon in the middle section of the range.

The battle with the Iron-armored Rhinoceros was a pure collision of brute force. That beast, nearly three zhang tall, had hide so thick it could withstand fifth-rank magic; Lin Tian's Fireball only left a scorched black mark on its back. After three hours of stalemate, he used the rhino's charging momentum to concentrate the high temperature of his Flame Spear at the tip, driving it into the gap of its front leg joint—the only weak point of this iron giant. When the rhino crashed to the ground, Lin Tian's arm was dislocated from the recoil, but after a simple reset, he immediately began extracting the magic core.

Encountering the Shadow Leopard was a different kind of ultimate test. That beast was pitch-black, able to merge into shadows and move at lightning speed, its claws laced with paralytic poison. Lin Tian was toyed with for two full days, collecting seventeen claw wounds, until he finally figured out its movement patterns. He used the chain Fireballs of his Gun Cannon to seal off every possible landing point, then pierced its heart with his Spear Blade. Collapsing beside the Shadow Leopard's corpse, he looked at his left arm, faintly blackened by the poison, and for the first time realized that "caution" mattered more than talent.

Besides Magic Beasts, the threat of raiders never disappeared. In a valley rich with Nether Grass, Lin Tian had just finished off a sixth-rank Demon Bear and was crouching to carefully harvest his spoils when three poisoned crossbow bolts suddenly shot from the bushes behind him, whistling straight for his back. Lin Tian reacted instantly, flooding his legs with battle qi and twisting his body at an almost impossible angle. The bolts grazed his side and embedded in the dirt, their tips gleaming with a faint blue light that promised lethal poison.

"You're a sharp one." A burly man in black tight-fitting clothes stepped out from behind a tree, a full head taller than Lin Tian, with broad shoulders and a thick back. In his right hand, he held a serrated blade still stained with fresh blood, and his aura was as deep as an abyss—a seventh-rank warrior. He was alone, clearly a solo raider. "A young kid like you daring to come to the middle of the Magic Beast Mountain Range—you must be carrying some good stuff."

Lin Tian slowly straightened, spinning his spear in his palm and pointing the tip at the man. "Trying to rob me? You tired of living?"

The man snorted, twirling his serrated blade with a grating metallic screech. "A sixth-rank brat with a big mouth. Let me teach you today—we're the ones who make the rules in these mountains." Before the words faded, he charged, his blade tearing through the air toward Lin Tian's neck with a savage howl, the force of the swing showing he was a hardened killer used to life-and-death fights.

Lin Tian didn't retreat; instead, he suddenly dropped low. The high temperature of his Flame Spear instantly ignited the dry grass on the ground, and using the smoke as cover, his spear tip darted out like a viper, precisely aiming for the man's joint—a gap in his armor. With a puchi, the tip sank half an inch. The man cried out and twisted aside, swinging his serrated blade in a horizontal arc that forced Lin Tian to leap back, though the blade's wind still scraped his lower back, leaving a burning sting.

"Quick reflexes." The man licked his lips, his eyes growing fiercer. "But the gap between seventh and sixth rank isn't small." His footwork was steady, each swing carrying the weight of a thousand jun, every strike aimed at a vital point—he clearly wanted a quick finish. Lin Tian, relying on his agility, kept circling, alternating Fireballs with spear techniques, using the chain Fireballs of his Gun Cannon to disrupt the man's vision and the penetrating power of his Spear Blade to find openings.

After nearly half an hour of fighting, Lin Tian's left arm had been slashed open to the bone by the blade's wind, and the poison spreading through his blood made his vision blur. The man wasn't in good shape either; his right leg was burned by Fireballs, his movements noticeably sluggish. Lin Tian knew he couldn't drag it out. He suddenly feigned exhaustion, stumbling back and deliberately exposing a weakness. The man took the bait, roaring as he swung his blade down hard. Just as the blade was about to land, Lin Tian bit his tongue, using the sharp pain to focus, and poured both magic power and battle qi into his spear. The tip erupted with blinding red light—the limit temperature of his Flame Spear.

"Die!"

The moment spear and blade collided, the high heat melted a notch into the serrated blade. In the man's moment of shock, Lin Tian closed in, driving the spear tip through the notch and straight into his chest. The man's eyes filled with disbelief as his massive body crashed to the ground. Leaning on his spear, Lin Tian gasped for breath, looking at his poison-blackened left arm. He suddenly remembered what Laun had said when he first entered the mountains: "Caution isn't cowardice; it's the capital for survival." Only now did he truly understand the weight of those words.

During this month, Lin Tian's days cycled through fighting, healing, and training. He learned to quickly meditate and recover magic power between battles, mastered the technique of using battle qi to expel poison, and even managed to observe a Magic Beast's weaknesses and habits while locked in combat. His self-created moves grew more refined: the temperature of his Flame Spear could be precisely controlled to burn rather than incinerate, the Fireball density of his Gun Cannon could adjust to the number of enemies, and the penetrating power of his Spear Blade, honed through constant practice, could barely break through the defense of a Rock Turtle—a seventh-rank beast with the defensive power of an eighth-rank.

His storage ring gradually filled up: over a hundred magic cores of various ranks, a pile of healing and recovery herbs, and three anonymous magic crystal cards taken from raiders' corpses. More importantly, his warrior strength quietly broke through to late sixth-rank, his mental power stabilized at late sixth-rank, and his coordination of magic power and battle qi grew increasingly seamless. Sometimes, he could even cast magic while using battle qi to enhance his body for impossible evasions.

One afternoon, Lin Tian had just finished off a seventh-rank Rock-Armored Bear and was crouching by a stream to wash off the blood when he suddenly sensed a familiar aura descending from the sky. He looked up to see a fiery red figure breaking through the clouds, diving down with a wave of scorching heat—it was Laun's Magic Beast companion, Fire Phoenix.

Fire Phoenix landed in a clearing nearby, the wind from its folded wings blowing Lin Tian's bangs back. Laun jumped down from Fire Phoenix's back, his gray-blue robe rustling in the mountain wind, his gaze falling on Lin Tian with a mix of scrutiny and approval.

"Teacher." Lin Tian stood up, instinctively straightening his back. After this period of training, his frame was more defined, and his eyes were sharper and brighter than ever.

Laun walked closer, his eyes sweeping over Lin Tian's unhealed wounds, then glancing at the Rock-Armored Bear's corpse by the stream, finally settling on Lin Tian's clenched right fist—where traces of condensed battle qi still lingered. "Not bad." The old mage's voice carried a hint of a smile. "After all this training, not only did you keep your life, but you've also tempered your strength solidly."

Lin Tian scratched his head, remembering how green he'd been when he first entered the mountains, and felt a little embarrassed. "It's all thanks to your guidance, Teacher."

"The path is yours to walk, the blood is yours to spill. Hearing the lesson is one thing; living it is another." Laun waved a hand and pointed at Fire Phoenix. "Pack up. Time to go back. Your magic power and battle qi have both improved greatly through this training. You need to go back and settle it."

Lin Tian's heart stirred. He quickly stored the Rock-Armored Bear's magic core and claws into his storage ring and checked his belongings. As he walked toward Fire Phoenix with his spear on his back, he suddenly thought of something and turned to look back at the mountain range that had witnessed his life-and-death struggles over these days—the deep forest seemed to echo with Magic Beast roars, the distant canyon still held lingering smoke, and the air was forever mixed with the scent of grass and faint blood.

"Can't bear to leave?" Laun's voice came from behind.

"A little," Lin Tian admitted honestly.

Hearing this, Laun's aged face showed a rare hint of warmth. "The path of cultivation is always forged between life and death. But working behind closed doors or charging in blindly won't get you far either. Go back and settle down. Once you've digested the insights from this period, you can come again."

Lin Tian nodded firmly and followed Laun onto Fire Phoenix's broad back. As Fire Phoenix spread its wings and took off, he looked down at the shrinking mountain range—the canyons where he'd fought, the caves where he'd healed, the dense forests where he'd gathered herbs—all turning into blazing marks in his memory.

The wind howled past his ears, carrying the chill and freedom of the high sky.

"Teacher, next time I come, I want to challenge an eighth-rank Magic Beast," he shouted into the wind.

Laun's laughter echoed in the wind: "Let's talk after you break through to seventh rank first!"