John remained shrouded in his spatial cocoon for nearly an hour after the mysterious killers left. He wanted to make sure the coast was clear, as perhaps they would linger in the area for a while to see if anyone had been witness to the events that had occurred.
After enough time had passed, he slipped away in the opposite direction the others had gone, still shrouded in his spatial cocoon. His Qi reserves had been quite low due to using his Dragon-God Shift and his Limiter of Life, and the spatial cocoon slowly but surely drained the reserves he had left.
'I need to improve my control over the spatial Dao,' he thought, swiftly moving through the forest. His control over the spatial Dao was still quite rough, and was a far cry from what Lilian was capable of.
The notes and teachings of the jade piece Lilian had given him to study were still fresh in his mind, and those notes still had many things he had yet to fully grasp. By recalling and focusing on those notes alone, his spatial Dao control could improve several fold over the next few months.
An hour later, John finally came to a rest, his spatial cocoon fading away. He breathed heavily for some time, sucking in the dense Qi from this new world. He felt his Qi reserves slowly replenish with each breath. After recovering a bit of his Qi, John ensured the nearby area was clear of any danger, and then found a large branch on one of the massive trees to sit on.
The branch was dozens of yards thick, and was over a mile off the ground. Up here, he was like an ant amongst the leaves, invisible unless someone scanned him with their divine sense. A brooding look appeared on his face as he thought over everything that had just happened.
"Tch," he clicked his tongue in frustration. "I had a good plan in place, and those fuckers ruined everything," he grumbled.
His plan with Furi had been a very good one. All he needed to do was fight in the Dao Tournament, and as a result, he would obtain information from the best information network on the continent. If he was going to find Lilian, that would have been the best way to find her.
"And now that's all ruined," he grumbled further.
He thought of that woman who had killed Furi, the Half-Step Holy Manifestation cultivator. The woman appeared to be in her early thirties, with long red hair and a sharp, yet alluring face. She had not worn any distinctive clothes, nor had the others with her, so he had very little information to identify her other than her face.
Regardless of her identity, John felt murderous bloodlust arise within him as he thought of her. She had ruined his perfect plans, and had also killed Luri and Suri, who he was quite fond of. That alone was enough of a reason for him to kill her once he obtained the power to do so, as well as learned of her identity.
He brooded over that thought for a while before sighing, withdrawing his bloodlust. That day of vengeance was still far off in the distance, if it even happened at all.
"My primary goal is to find Lilian, and figure out how to get back home. Everything else is secondary."
The light within the already dimly lit forest was starting to diminish, a sign of the approaching night. John decided to stay on the branch for the night, as moving during the night was not advised within the Immortal Forest. The night gave him time to think; think of what to do next.
"The first thing I need to do is get out of this forest. From what I know, it's a dangerous place even for World Expansion cultivators. When I had entered to fight beasts, that had been at the very outskirts of the forest, where the weakest creatures dwelled. I'm most likely quite close to the heart of the forest, so I'll need to be careful moving through it. My first goal is to find civilization. From there, I'll come up with a plan to find Lilian."
As expected, the forest rumbled softly half-way through the night, the sign of the distant Serpent of the Immortal Forest moving about. The long night eventually broke, light of the morning cresting through the tree-canopy above.
John stood up and inspected the nearby area, and then picked a direction to move; inland away from the coast, away from the direction those killers had gone. He hopped off the branch and fell to the ground below, using his Qi at the last moment to slow his descent and land softly. And then he moved, hoping the direction he chose was a good one.
…
"Tch," John clicked his tongue as he suddenly sped forward at his fastest speed. He sped through the air like blur, scythe appearing in hand. His scythe suddenly swung downwards, unleashing a Divine Reaping Scythe onto the creature he had appeared above.
The creature had just noticed him a moment ago, its mouth opening to unleash a loud roar. That roar was cut off just as it started, its neck sliced through by the Divine Reaping Scythe, severing its head from the rest of its body.
John sighed with relief as he inspected the corpse of the Mid Dao Transformation creature before him. The creature looked similar to the Titan Ape's on his homeworld, only much larger and stronger. This one appeared to have been quite young, its power still undeveloped.
John quickly stored the carcass away as he inspected the surroundings.
"No movement. Good," he muttered, relieved that the brief sound from the creature had not alerted any other creatures nearby. Had the creature caused a commotion, his fate would have been quite miserable.
He had been traveling through the forest for several weeks now, and had learned quite quickly to be as quiet as possible. He had nearly lost his life several times when World Expansion beasts had been alerted of his presence, each time escaping thanks to his quick speed and control over the spatial Dao.
The forest had proved even more dangerous than he had imagined, with beasts at the Middle World Expansion level and above being quite common if the area was provoked by loud noises. Flying through the air had also proven to be a mistake, as he had been quickly spotted and chased by a Middle World Expansion flying beast, forcing him to move on the forest floor lest he cause a massive commotion in his battle with such a creature. If he had allowed this creature to unleash a roar, who knew what trouble would appear.
While the journey had been arduous and nearly lethal, there was at least one upside to it thus far. His beast blood reserves had been replenished and then added to, to a point that he would not need to replenish his beast blood reserves for several months at the very least.
"My human blood essence reserves are running quite low, though," John mumbled with a frown. As his cultivation grew, so did the Immortal Asura Bodies requirement for human blood essence. The blood essence he had obtained from the slavers he had killed had already been used up, as had the reserves he had collected previously. Without replenishing them, he would be unable to advance his body cultivation.
"And I'll need blood at the Late-Dao Transformation level at the very least, and preferably World Expansion human blood essence for it to be effective."
After surveying the area, John moved once more, staying on the forest canopy. After some time, his ears perked up to a new sound. A smile appeared on his face as he rushed forward with care, the sight of a massive river eventually coming into view through the forest thicket.
"A river!" John exclaimed. Where there was water, there would eventually be civilization.
