Chapter 44: Unbelievable!

It was as if time had paused in my eyes, as white streak of insight involuntarily flashed through my eyes. Eye of Insight! On my left hand side was a girl hanging mid-air with confidence burning in her eyes as she held on to a frosty sword with vapour ascending from it. Immediately opposite her was the furious Scarlet Ape slowly arcing an arm towards me, out of instincts, with its eyes not leaving — even for a moment — Lingxi's eyes.

'Woosh!'

'Thud — crack!'

'Boom!'

Three sounds seemed to have pierced through the heavens. The first was the dash of Lingxi's sword. The second was my fist burning with energy that'd sunk into the flesh of the mighty Scarlet Ape's rib, simultaneously causing the sounds of breaking bones in our ears. And finally, the impact of that punch on the beast. The mountain-shaking boom projected the beast in the air as consciousness immediately slipped off it. It fell down some metres away, lying limply as though it had not been the same animal that'd proudly governed the territory.

Lingxi had tapped into the force from the beast to make a backflip and balance herself on the earth, unsteadily. I, on the other hand, landed with one knee to the ground, the other as though in an attempt to stand, one palm flat on the ground, while the other spread behind me, successfully balancing my descent.

Everything had happened so quickly. However, the only thing that rang in my head was, "We did it."

I raised my head slowly. My loosed hair spread across my face caused me to wash my head a little before I opened my eyes. A stone throw away stood Lingxi with a pale face, ajar mouth and a sword dangling in-between the tip of her thumb and forefinger.

She slowly raised the sword and pointed at me. "That..."

"That was unbelievable!"

Disbelief was smeared across her delicate face as the wind gently pushed her jet-black hair. Her hair was normally always tied, but at a point in the previous battle, it had loosened.

I finally raised myself up then flexed my joints.

"You... are you even human?!" Lingxi could not understand how someone could take that force without cracking a joint; and neither could I, so there was no way I could give an explanation. The feeling was just... exhilarating.

Earlier, when I was thinking about the poison from the chameleon, I had an idea that I would dominate the Scarlet Ape through turning my true essence into a lethal poison. Who would ever have thought that a single punch from me could do the trick?!

Just then, a voice rung from no definite direction.

"50 points to Lingxi, 50 points to Stephanie."

It was unmistakably Teacher Haggz's voice. Joy flushed through my face as I pushed a fist up causing a booming sound. However, it was then that I felt an unbearable pain in my right hand. It was as though a time bomb waiting for the right moment to explode. It was only now that I finally got a glimpse of the result of my punch against the Scarlet Ape. I'd spiced everything up by the little upward punching gesture I'd just made.

"Ah-awww! My arm! Oh, my joint!"

I fell on my butt in an unbearable pain.

Lingxi quickly made her way over and sighed, muttering to herself, "I knew it she couldn't have gone unscathed by that punch's force."

She knelt while taking my arm and placing it gently on her laps. She looked into my eyes for a moment before saying, "Don't worry, this won't hurt. You'll be fine in no time."

She then shifted her attention to my arm and raised a palm facing downwards to my arm, slowly closing her eyes. As I watched on, I noticed a blue-coloured light materialise from the palm and meticulously make way into my arm. With my Meditation realm cultivation, I could view any changes that took place within my body. I saw the light relax inside my arm, meticulously healing the veins and bones. Soon, this light blended with my colourless true essence, nourishing my arm with some energy.

Lingxi opened her eyes with a hard-to-find smile on her face.

"There, done and dusted. How do you feel?"

* * *

Together, our duo slowly walked into the forest. We faced quite some number of wild savage beasts on the way, but none were even quarter as strong as the Scarlet Ape, giving us nothing more than ten-ten points for each of them. We soon gathered 120 points each, for ourselves as we advanced.

We'd been walking for an hour, yet no signs of other humans anywhere.

"Let's catch a break under that mahogany tree and recover some of our exhausted energy." Lingxi pointed to a dark, reddish-brown tree a stone throw away.

"Sounds like a good idea."

It was already a good thing we'd survived this far. Teacher Haggz had clearly stated that we needed to survive for two hours. That means that we still had one hour more before we could leave this trail. Or else, our points would be considered insignificant.

We meditated with the Eccentric Heavens cultivation technique for a few minutes, before Lingxi broke the silence.

"This virtual world, what forest do you think its simulated after?"

"Acorn Forest," I answered without thinking for a second.

Her eyes went wide with awe.

"Indeed! It's the same thing I was thinking, based on the geographical position! You're really quite smart, Steph."

I smiled warmly. If only she knew that I'd never heard of the Acorn Forest until today, then she wouldn't have said those words. MBI had made a short introduction of this place when I'd first appeared here, so I naturally still remembered the name it was called.

Our time together, fighting side-by-side had improved her coldness towards me. In truth, Lingxi was awed by the strength I'd displayed against the Scarlet Ape, despite my next to zero idea of battle techniques. She'd spoken more often than she'd normally do, which was why I was glad I'd made that decisive move. Really, being in a forest like this and staying bored was worse than suicide.

"Thank you."

I closed my eyes as I directed my cultivation ability to enhance my sensitivity. I could sense some animals not too far away. They all seemed to be... charging towards our direction. I opened my eyes quickly and screamed, "Quick, let's run up. We're on trouble's lane!"

Under the one hour we'd spent together, Lingxi became familiar with my sensitivity ability, so when she heard me scream those words, she knew to respond even instinctively. Unknowingly to me, the impression I'd left on her was just too big.

We held hands and, with a stomp of my feet, we flew up and clung against a tree branch.

"How far is the company?" Lingxi eyes sparkled a glint as she looked into my face.

"Two hundred metres away, we should be seeing signs anytime soon."

Two hundred metres was the extent my sensitivity could reach the moment I broke into the Meditation realm, so my estimation was, in all certainty, precise!

Lingxi roused from her short meditation state, and her eyes shot open quickly, when the company with spiritual fluctuations breached the one hundred metres distance.

"I sense it too!"

We instinctively raised our heads East. We noticed the ground trembling slightly, with our sensitivity cultivation realms.

"This is not good," I said.

With the Eye of Insight, I could clearly see canopy upon canopy of trees falling rapidly, advancing towards our direction. My sensitivity ability picked up and I began to sense the animals. I sensed the movement from the muscles and realised that it was burning my spiritual consciousness. Just then I noticed that there were blazing flames advancing with each fallen tree.

"Oh no, no, no," I muttered in a startled voice with my hands cupping my face.

"What is it, sis?" Lingxi's coldness had totally drifted away as fear covered her eyes. She could feel the powerful true essence fluctuations, but unlike me, she couldn't feel the animals. She could only make rough guesses as to how serious the situation was. She'd quickly changed her address to me from Stephanie, to Steph, to sis.

"It's... it's the..." I swallowed some saliva.

"What?! I'm getting scared!"

"The Blazing Overlord Lions!"