12 Chapter 12

Chen Ming usually takes a herbal concoction once a week to help remove impurities in his body after absorbing sprite particles and open his pores so he is able to absorb more than an average person, however recently the ones that he used doesn't work on his anymore. It was likely due to to the fact that his body no longer reacts to the herbs, meaning he has to find a new and effective one. That's why he decided to set out for Xueling Forest, this forest is what connects the Mu Kingdom and the Ling Kingdom. Xueling Forest is the biggest forest in the Da continent, even though hundreds of people venture into the forest not many people know the real depths of it.

The forest is filled with sprite animals, even though it doesn't sound scary many people who have done into the forest have never come back alive, if one did come back it would be that they didn't go too deep into the forest or if they did they would come out scared and injured. The thing about this forest is that it has a lot of rare herbs. From all the books he has read he knew that if he wanted to find rare herbs that will allow him to advance his rank he will be stronger not only that when he summons his first sprite beast it will also be strong.

Chen Ming didn't tell anyone of his plan on leaving for the forest. Everyone in the Chen family knew that he has grown stronger and about his outstanding medical skills. So when he told everyone the day before that he was going in close door cultivation and that he doesn't want to be disturbed. Everyone respected his wise and the next day when he left they weren't all that worried about his safety.

From the Chen mansion, it takes two days to get to the Xueling forest, during the time, Chen Ming stayed in inns that were in the city which was located near the forest. He was also able to make sum some time to squeeze in some cultivation. Chen Ming was close to ranking up into the middle tier of Colonel. For those two days, he didn't go out much and just cultivated in his room. He was joined by Wang Shu as well during the cultivation sessions.

It was finally the day Chen Ming is to set it for the Xueling forest before he left the inn he made sure he had everything he needed. Medical herbs, food and other items that might be useful. He paid his bill and headed straight for the forest.

Once in the forest, Chen Ming was roaming around the outer areas of the forest, the outer area wasn't that dangerous, no sprite beast came here allowing many people to come and walk free. As he didn't want to stay away from home for too long, Chen Ming decided that he was going to go for the middle today around midnight.

During midnight Chen Ming walked so quietly that you couldn't hear even the leaves rustle under his feet. His steps were light and gentle, this is one the advantages of making a contract with Wang Shu, he taught Chen Ming secret techniques that allowed his to be light as a feather but have an impact like a rock.

When Chen Ming reached the middle zone it was still dark out, so he decided that he would set up camp. Chen Ming was lying down while daydreaming when he suddenly felt the ground tremble. He got up and opened his tent and to his terror, he saw tens maybe hundreds of sprite fire tigers coming his way.

Before he came to the middle zone he made sure to sprinkle some power that won't attract sprite beats but right now before his eyes were hundreds of them, 'maybe it's beast tide'. Chen Ming couldn't understand what was happening, but all he could do was run. He has no way of defending himself against these animals.

Chen Ming tried to use his sprite to allow him to run faster but it seems that the Tigers were catching up to him, when one of the tigers was inches away, Chen Ming though that this would be a goodbye, he didn't live the life he wanted and he wasn't about to fulfil his wishes, however, to his surprise the Tigers just ran past him.

Chen Ming was shocked, to say the least, he was so shocked that he stopped running not realising that there was more coming towards his way, not being able to react in time, Chen Ming got trampled in the process and was knocked by the Tigers further and further away from his tent area.

When Chen Ming woke up he realised that he was far from where he originally was. To be honest, he didn't know where this place was, there wasn't anything about this place on books or anything. Chen Ming got up and took a bottle of bluish liquid out from his pouch. He drank it and all the scars he had over his body disappeared instantly. He walked around for a bit and realised that this was the bottom of a hill. He wanted to get out of here and find the rare herbs he needed, so he decided to climb up the hill.

Chen Ming was halfway through the hill, it wasn't a big hill nor was it small, he was about to climb one more step when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ribcage. There could have been many reasons why his ribcage was hurting but there was one obvious answer, it was when the Tigers trampled and pushed him away, one of them had kicked Chen Ming to move him out of its way. Even though his medical liquid healed external injuries his internal injuries weren't healed as much.

Chen Ming decided that now wasn't the best time for him to climb up this hill to get out. He could have used his sprite energy to get away but it would be wasteful to use sprite energy on something like this when he can use it for a dire situation involving his life and death. Chen Ming got off the hill and walked around for ten minutes until he spotted a cave. He walked to the cave and decided to stand at the front to keep a look out for anything. Since the moment he left the outer area he hasn't eaten anything and one could tell as Chen Mings belly kept making noise, even Wang Shu felt embarrassed.

Chen Ming rubbed his belly and was not focusing until he felt a cold chill run down his spine, before he could turn around he felt a large hand wrap around his mouth and the other hand grabbing his hands and putting them behind his back.