Chapter 173: Moving Forward (2)

A male consort was not allowed to move around without permission from his lady. There were a lot of restrictions placed on men, making their conditions in life second to the women that it made sense that groups like Damask Insurgencies existed. 

Life was unfair, but it couldn't be helped sometimes. Even for a consort that a woman depended on for pleasure, there were too many limitations imposed upon them. It was even more difficult because he was in the Mashiro Temple, a place run primarily by Priestesses. 

However, Li Yang's case was different.

"Priestesses are not allowed to leave without any permission."

"That's fine."

"Wait, you'll be the one leaving?!" Rei stared at him, bothered. "You're going to die if you ever thought of going there all by yourself."

His lips twitched slightly. "I did not think that you would care."

Priestess Rei glowered at him. "No, you can leave. I have the perfect place for you to head to if you want to challenge large beasts and not return here at all."

"That's fine, as long as I get the directions and naturally the Beast Cores."

The man collected the available Beast Cores that Rei could give him and then moved out once he had been given a map. He was not tied down to anyone in particular and could move with ease. With the special tassel provided by Mitsuko some time ago, no Priestess stopped him as he left the temple.

"I should have done this already," he muttered underneath his breath.

Today was different because Priestess Mitsuko refused to see him now. However, it meant that he had the free rein to capture gigantic beasts and afford himself of better Beast Cores. Before, he might have had difficulty in finishing a Gigantic Vine Turtle all by himself when he first came here, but he had grown far stronger by defeating fifty beasts in the Mashiro Forest.

It was now up to him to see if he'd obtain another Achievement Reward.

[ Rampage of a Beast - II ]

Go on a killing spree and defeat two-hundred and fifty enemies. (0/250)

While he may have drained his Healing Potions to the last drop before in his encounter with Mitsuko during the hide-and-seek training in Mashiro Temple's Sacred Forest—he was stronger now. Even the System acknowledged the improvement he had gone through since he first acquired it.

[ Name: Li Yang ]

[ Gender: Male ]

[ Age: 28 ]

[ Cultivation: Qi Condensation Tenth Stage (10/9) ]

[ Constitution: None ]

[ Bloodline: None ]

[ Roots: Null Roots (Special) ]

[ Fame: Olympian Corp: ?#1! ]

[ Fame: Mashiro Temple 560 ]

[ Sect: Mashiro Temple Sect (Temporary) ]

[ Cultivation Methods ]

[ Harem Cultivation (Mortal) ]

Power: Extremely Weak - Divine Grade

Comprehension: Intermediate (10/42)

Stage: Qi Condensation (10/9)

There was the possibility that he could ascend into the next stage of cultivation—Foundation Establishment—but he delayed it in lieu of mastering and gathering more energy. While most cultivators could ascend once they reached the ninth stage, if one was capable, then delaying it would be more beneficial for him.

The man deliberately ignored his current 'Fame' in his own company for now, even though it might have allowed him to tell that his disappearance was affecting his reputation to some extent.

His current situation did not allow him the chance to mitigate anything that might have occurred while he was gone. His gaze scrolled down more of the things available in his Personal Status Screen.

[ Martial Arts Methods ]

Kin Hunters Survival Fighting - I

Mashiro Temple's Combat Style - III 

Setsuko might have trained him before while the two of them were both Kin Hunters, and yet the time was too brief for him to fully grasp all the essentials. Instead, he had mostly made it up by taking advantage of Skills one could purchase in the Points Shop.

[ Skills ]

Afterworld Temporary Dissolution (Rare)

Ao Energy Bending - (Common)

Body Muscle Memory Enhancement (Common)

Close Combat Knowledge (Uncommon)

Grappling Techniques (Common)

Mental Fortitude (Common)

Qi Infusion Technique (Uncommon)

He should have bought more, but his Power Points were mostly accounted for… or rather saved for emergencies. 

Li Yang had a lot of things to micromanage and among them was gathering enough to finally use the 'World Warper'.

There was a fine line between conserving the Innate Energy he had gathered and using said energy to speed up how things worked. Confident that he'd be able to recover the amount he'd lost, the man moved like a dragonfly and darted amongst the trees of the Mashiro Forest and eyed the mountain he had not ventured to before.

Frostborne Mountain Peaks.

A mountain range that toppled even the likes of Mountain Everest—its very peak was hidden in the clouds. The distance between it and the Mashiro's Forest was actually something that a regular human might take a day and even a day and half to travel to, but he reached it in four hours.

The sweat on his body cooled down immediately as he settled at the foot of one of its mountains. His blade rested against his back as he stared up, and even with qi-enhanced vision could truly not pierce the thick condensation that dominated the top.

His ears picked up on the sound of large avian screeching past heights. Li Yang wordlessly moved away from the boulder it dropped from its claws. The boulder crushed the ground he had been standing on. Even without stepping a foot up in the mountain, the large snow-feathered bird already attempted to deal with him by cracking his skull open.

"Hah…" his breath came out frosty.

If the man had the ability to tame such a creature or communicate through the use of more subtler Ao types, then—well, a wild creature like it would have been difficult to cooperate with. The gigantic Frost Eagle swooped down on him.

His obsidian blade only moved once—

[ You Have Killed 1x Beast ]

[ Obtained 1x Small Beast Core ]

[ Obtained 1x Feather of Frost ]

"Small." He looked at his screen and at the items he obtained for once. The screen quickly dispersed and the man took his first steps to hike up the mountains. He wondered how many Beast Cores he'd collect before he'd actually need to return back to the temple.