54 The Black Tiger

The Black Tiger was a group of bandit guilty of several serious crimes. Among them, there were the theft of goods, kidnapping of children and women, murders, and many other atrocities. In only thirty years, the Black Tiger had become the most fearsome bandit group of the Sky Jade Kingdom.

If the kingdom tolerated them, it was because their chief, Yong Zhen, was a powerful cultivator in the eighth level of the Foundation Establishment realm meaning that he was as strong as the strongest general of the kingdom.

Yong Zhen was actually a famous general in the past but he suddenly betrayed the kingdom forty years ago and up until now, no one knew why he did this.

The web novel gave no details about it since Yong Zhen was just a minor character that Teng Fen needed to kill to free the sister of the man he met in the Relentless Mountain. It meant that Li Jing had also no idea why he betrayed the kingdom…

It has been a few minutes since Li Jing had entered the forest at the base of the Relentless Mountain. His plan was to kill some bandits and 'steal' their memories until he found where the path leading to their hideout was. The Black Tiger had a strict hierarchy among its members so not all of them knew the location of their hideout in the mountain.

But first, he needed to find shelter before it was completely dark.

A few minutes later, Li Jing finally found a cave. However, he noticed that light from a campfire lit the interior signifying that someone was already there. Friend or enemy? Most likely an enemy since the weakest members of the Black Tiger lived in this forest.

Li Jing used his Divine Sense before walking inside the cave. There was only one man living inside but since the cave was curved and a little deep, he decided to intentionally make noises to force him to come towards him.

"Who is there?" The voice of a man echoed, followed by the sound of a sword being unsheathed.

The man walked towards the entrance of the cave and when he saw that the noises came from a young boy, his expression relaxed.

"Are you lost, kid?" He asked with a fake smile.

"Who Are You?" Asked Li Jing, using his Dark Command.

"My name is Lu Hong, thirty-seven years old. I am a member of the Black Tiger for two years and before that I… Argh!"

Li Jing didn't let the man finish his sentence and immediately killed him by piercing his heart with his dagger after he heard that he was a member of the Black Tiger.

It was the first time that he killed a man with his own hands but he didn't regret it. For him, bandits like this man who killed and destroyed the lives of innocent people didn't deserve to live.

[Host has killed a cultivator in the Qi Gathering realm: XP + 150.]

When the lifeless body of the man fell to the ground, Li Jing saw a large translucid dark orb coming out of it and flying towards him. This dark orb was actually the soul of the man and Li Jing was the only one who could see it.

The dark orb entered Li Jing's body and he realized that he wasn't forced to immediately absorb the soul, he could momentarily keep it inside him to absorb it later. However, it seemed that if he waited for too long, the soul would dissipate.

Li Jing searched the man's body and found some Spirit Stones then, he reduced it into ash with his lightning. Next, he entered the cave and after placing a Protection Stone Barrier on the ground, he sat cross-legged in front of the campfire and decided to absorb the soul.

A lot of images and sounds suddenly flooded his mind, it was like seeing a movie whose images scrolled extremely quickly. During this process, Li Jing discovered that he could actually select the memories that interested him and erase those without interest!

The man's memories were unfortunately useless. He was so weak and talentless that although he joined the Black Tiger two years ago, he was still at the lowest position. He didn't know any Martial technique, his Cultivation method was even weaker than the one from his clan, and his sword skills were awful…

The only parts of the man's memories that Li Jing kept were his knowledge of this forest, his ability to survive in the wild and make traps, and the information about three other members of the Black Tiger that he knew.

As for the man's personal life, Li Jing was only interested in the fact that he came from Star City, a small city of cultivator located outside the Sky Jade Kingdom, and erased everything else.

Once Li Jing finished selecting the parts that interested him, he noticed that the man's soul merged with his own's making it and himself slightly stronger.

[Host has absorbed the soul of a cultivator in the Qi Gathering realm: Strength + 5 Jin, Soul Strength + 5.]

Satisfied, he now decided to cultivate the whole night and start searching for the bandit's hideout as soon as the sun would rise…

[----------STATUS---------

Experience Points (XP): 137316

XP / hour: 84

Strength: 39257 Jin

Soul Strength: 152

Qi cultivation realm: Foundation Establishment I (XP: 0/40000)

Body cultivation realm: Skin Refining V (XP: 0/30000)

Lifespan: 1250 Years

Talent: A-grade

Bloodlines: [Soul Devourer Evil Metallic Boar], [Minor Thunder Dragon]

Perks: [Appraisal], [Full Recovery], [Exchange]

Elemental affinities: [Lightning], [Dark]

Cultivation methods: [Li clan's method], [Unholy Dark Art]

Martial techniques: [Elusive Smoke Steps], [Instant Flash Step], [Hammer Fist], [Dark Command]

Bloodline skills: [Heavenly Thunder Breath], [Dragon's Talent]

--------------------------]

The next morning, when Li Jing displayed his status screen to see his progress, he noticed that two new lines had appeared: Lifespan and Soul Strength!

The base value of the Soul Strength was 100 and for a cultivator to increase the strength of his soul depended on his age and his life experiences.

In this life and the previous one, Li Jing was a shut-in with very little life experiences. Moreover, he died at the age of seventeen and took over the body of the Li Jing of this world who was only fourteen. Therefore, his Soul Strength was very low.

But he knew thanks to the web novel that as long as his opponents' Soul Strength was not more than fifty times higher than his, his soul base techniques would be effective on them. It meant that in this world, except for Teng Fen and some old monsters, no one could resist his Dark Qi. And since he now had an amazing way to increase his Soul Strength, in the future even them wouldn't be able to resist it!

Although the sun had just risen, it illuminated the forest enough to make it possible to venture it. Li Jing left his cave and started searching for more bandits to kill in order to locate their hideout.