《After Spending Money, I Became A Sword Saint.》


 Chapter 1 - Raymond Dawson.

    It was a dark and gloomy autumn evening. In a small and quiet town situated along the border between Sweden and Norway, a small incident took place. This small incident had no real impact on anyone who lived there, however, this small incident would come to affect a great deal of people in the future. This seemingly normal occurrence would one day affect the fate of worlds, but no one had any way of currently knowing that. For now, it was but an ordinary incident.


    On a small dirt road, gentle rays of moonlight shone on the face of a young man in his twenties. The young man''s skin was abnormally pale, and he was currently lying down on the ground. Around him was a small pool of blood, presumably his own. Although the young man was obviously dying, he had a strange smile on his face. If anyone was around to see it, they would probably be creeped out; what kind of weirdo would smile in the face of death?


    This young man''s name was Raymond Dawson, and he was a rather normal guy. From the day he had been born until the day of his apparent death, he had accomplished practically nothing. He was a man without any family; a man without any friends. He had once been ambitious, but reality was certainly harsh, and in the end, he had no accomplishments to his name.


    All he did was bounce around from town to town, taking any menial labour he could to sustain his living. He was always searching for something. He didn''t even know what he was searching for himself, he was just certain that there was something he had to find. Like this, years passed as he kept looking. He had heard others talking about purpose; maybe that was what he was looking for? His purpose.


    On this particular night, he had been on the way to the local corner shop. He was engrossed in reading a particular light novel, and he wanted some snacks to last him through the night. That was when it happened. Some guy who had been drinking a tad bit too much ran him over, and that was it. That was the end of his life. Lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood, Raymond realised how disappointing life really was. Trying to struggle would be futile, and it was this small realisation that made him smile. He knew he was going to die, but at least he would leave this world with a smile. That was how Raymond consoled himself.


    Although he wanted to feel sad, like any normal human being, he truly couldn''t find it within himself. A pitiful death for a pitiful guy; that was the last thought of Raymond Dawson. His mind grew blurrier as time passed, and the pain throughout his body turned into numbness. Eventually, he reached his limit, and his consciousness slipped into eternal darkness.


    ...


    In the far southern reaches of the Herus Kingdom of the north continent, a large forest stands tall. The forest is seemingly endless, clear, and diverse. Its canopy is ruled by various different trees, none of which you would be able to find on earth, and occasional openings in their crowns allowed plenty of light through for various herbs to sprout in the rich grounds below. Thick vines clung to most trees, and a range of flowers, which grew in abundance, added colourful variety to the otherwise dark green terrain. A hodgepodge of wild noises, most of which came from birds or insects, reverberated through the air, and almost completely muffled the sound of the wind blowing gently through the forest.


    It was in this particular forest Raymond currently found himself in. He had been sitting here for the past hour, yet he was still not completely able to grasp the situation he was in. From what he had gathered so far, he seemed to have transmigrated into this world out of the blue. This would probably scare most people half to death, but Raymond was rather calm about the whole situation. He didn''t really have anyone or anything back on earth that would miss him, so he was able to accept what had happened to him without too much distress.


    He had already died once, so no matter what followed, he wasn''t really scared. In this past hour, he had also managed to come to terms with his apparent death, accepting the new life he had been given with gratitude. Maybe this was an arrangement made by god? But which god would that be? Raymond wasn''t religious, so he couldn''t really explain what had happened to him. As far as he knew, no god from earth would transmigrate people into other worlds.


    Luckily he had read his fair share of novels online, and being transmigrated into another world was a rather common trope these days. If not, he would''ve probably panicked on arriving here. The only thing he was really unsure about was where the hell he was. In most stories where the main character transmigrates, they get memories of the world they are in, and they usually even take over someone else''s body. But for Raymond, it was different.


    He was sure that the body he was in wasn''t his original one, but he had no memories to speak of inside of his head. The body he occupied had nothing except some rags to wear either. Whilst he was in the midst of pondering, he could suddenly hear a strange voice inside of his head. And no, I''m not talking about his own thoughts.


    [Ding! Conditions have been met!]


    [Confirming user...]


    [16%...]


    [47%...]


    [100%]


    [User confirmed! Initialising Supreme Wealth System.]


    Before he could really wrap his head around the voice he was hearing, a transparent screen suddenly popped up in front of his eyes.


    [Host]: [Raymond Dawson]


    [Race]: [Human]


    [Age]: [16]


    [Cultivation]: [Mortal]


    [Skills]: [None]


    [Talents]: [Meagre Wealth Mortal Body]


    [Wealth]: [0]


    Seeing the text on the screen in front of him, Raymond blanked out for a moment. He had read novels about cultivation before, and the concept fascinated him, but to think that he would one day arrive in a world where such an abstract concept was actually reality. Life was truly baffling sometimes. Although he still couldn''t be sure how cultivation worked in this world, since it was different from novel to novel, he was sure that he at least understood the general concept.


    Tempering oneself and attaining immense strength, that was usually how cultivation worked in novels, and he was sure that this world probably wouldn''t be too different. Whilst he was lost in myriads of different thoughts, he could hear the monotonous voice of the system start speaking again.


    [Redeem welcome package?]


    [Yes/No]


    He was suddenly presented with two options. He could either press yes or no. Maybe it was because of the system, but Raymond had an instinctual feeling of how he was supposed to use it. Without delay, Raymond used his thoughts to "think" yes, and in response, the system made a noise.


    [Ding! Welcome package opened.]


    [Received]: [Beginner cultivation knowledge x1], [500 gold coins].

 Chapter 2 - A World Of Cultivation.

    Seeing the lines of text in front of his eyes, Raymond was baffled. He was happy that he had received some money and all, but the cultivation knowledge captured his attention. To live in this new world, he would inevitably need money, and 500 gold coins seemed like a lot. However, compared to the cultivation knowledge, the money was just secondary.


    The most important thing for him to understand right now was cultivation.


    [Redeem Beginner Cultivation Knowledge?]


    [Yes/No]


    With a single thought, he once again chose yes.


    [Ding! Beginner Cultivation Knowledge obtained.]


    Before he could make sense of the message in front of his eyes, Raymond could feel a stream of new information streaming into his mind. In plenty of novels that Raymond had read, this process was particularly painful, which is why he had braced himself. To his pleasant surprise, there was no pain at all, only a gentle stream of warmth, and a weird sense of familiarity with these new memories. It was almost as if they had always been there.


    Thanks to this newfound knowledge he had received, Raymond was finally sure that the cultivation mentioned by the system was the same cultivation he had heard of before. In this world, energy called spiritual energy exists. Or to be exact, it was actually called the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, but the name was too cumbersome, which lead people to call it spiritual energy.


    To cultivate was to harness this spiritual energy and use it to temper oneself on the path to immortality. The cultivation realms were divided into 9 stages called the 9 revolutions of body refining. Raymond had a feeling that there were other cultivation stages above it, but he had no way of knowing that right now. He had only gotten beginner cultivation knowledge, after all, there were a lot of things that he was bound to not know.


    Since he now knew that his speculations were correct, Raymond was beginning to grow excited. He had been given a new shot at life, in a world with endless possibilities. Not only that, but he had a mysterious system on his side. Although he was still unsure about its functions, just the fact that it had given him knowledge and money was a good start. Without money, living in a foreign world would be hard, since he wouldn''t be able to get either information or food without money.


    From the information about cultivation, Raymond had also managed to glean some information about this world, or at least its techniques. Techniques were divided into different grades depending on how sophisticated and powerful they were. Techniques were divided into 4 large boundaries: Mortal, Profound, Earth and Heaven. These were in turn divided with another 4 small boundaries: low, mid, high and top.


    Although he was excited for his future prospects, he was also quickly brought back down to earth. His most urgent need was definitely strength right now. He had no idea where he was, but he was in the wilderness somewhere. Since this world had spiritual energy, humans weren''t the only people who benefited from it, the animals did as well. If Raymond was unlucky, he would probably die before he even got the chance to experience this new world.


    With a clear mind, Raymond tried to think about his future path a little. The first thing he had to do was find civilisation. The only real problem was that he had no idea where he was, and if he ran into a demonic beast, then he would probably end up dead. This was his dilemma; how was he supposed to get out of this forest if he didn''t even know where he was? Why did he have to start in the middle of a forest, instead of in a city?


    Being frustrated wouldn''t do him any good, and Raymond managed to calm down pretty quickly. Maybe this was one of the few talents he had, calmness bordering on apathy. As soon as the word talent came to his mind, Raymond paused for a moment. Wasn''t he forgetting something? When he was shown his character sheet earlier, wasn''t there a column for talent? Raymond admonished himself a little before he quickly brought up the system in his mind again.


    [Meagre Wealth Mortal Body](0/100)


    Seeing these words in front of him, Raymond was both a little baffled and disappointed. He wasn''t sure what it was, but it didn''t really sound impressive. Not to mention it had the word "Mortal" in it. According to the information he had obtained about cultivation earlier, Mortal was the lowest realm, which meant that no matter what this talent did, it wouldn''t be too impressive. With a thought, he pressed on it and managed to obtain a bit more information.


    [The physique of the god of wealth. Grants meagre talent in immortal cultivation. Can be enhanced through obtaining wealth.]


    [Remark: Money makes the world go around.]


    After taking a look, Raymond was excited beyond belief! The physique of the god of wealth? Didn''t that imply that he could become a god in the future? Raymond wasn''t entirely sure, but he was optimistic for once in his life. He didn''t manage to find his purpose before the day he died in his last life, but in this life, he would surely find it. Whether it was becoming a god, finding the love of his life, becoming the richest person in the world, it didn''t matter. He just wanted to find his own purpose.


    The only real downside to this talent he had obtained, was that it didn''t give him any immediate benefits. What good would immense talent do him if he didn''t get a chance to even use it? One thing he did notice, however, was the number next to it. If his guess was correct, that number should be what he needed to upgrade the talent.


    [0/100 gold coins.]


    With a thought, he even found out the currency that he needed to use. Without further ado, he used his thoughts to communicate with the system. He had no immediate need for money, so spending a fifth on it to upgrade his talent seemed reasonable. Who knew, maybe it would bring him other benefits?


    [100/100 gold coins.]


    The pouch that had appeared on his waist when he redeemed the welcome package had become considerably lighter, as a mysterious force entered his body through his pores. Raymond assumed this force to be some form of spiritual energy, but he couldn''t ponder too much about it before his mind went completely blank.


    Terrible pain assaulted all of his senses at the same time, completely rendering him unable to even think. It felt like his body was melting from the inside out, before being reshaped again, multiple times over. In his panic, he bit down on his right arm. He couldn''t scream out now, if he screamed now, he might put himself in unbelievable danger. He didn''t have time to find something else to bite down on, so he just bit his own arm.


    After around 10 minutes of unbearable agony, the pain slowly subsided. Raymond could finally relax a little, and as he did, he looked up at the vast blue sky.


    "Fuck."

 Chapter 3 - First Encounter.

    Drenched in his own sweat, panting heavily on the ground, Raymond felt like a dog. He had never felt pain that was even comparable to what he just went through. With a glance at his right arm, he noticed the bright red teeth marks. If he had bitten down a tiny bit more, he would''ve definitely drawn blood. Luckily for him, he didn''t. He avoided the two worst-case scenarios. If he screamed out in pain, he could''ve easily attracted the attention of some kind of demonic beast, and if he did, he was 100% dead.


    If he had bitten through the skin on his arm, and drawn blood, it could''ve also ended in catastrophe. The scent of blood, although very faint, could''ve also attracted the attention of something he had no way of dealing with. Looking up into the deep blue sky, Raymond sighed to himself. He finally seemed to realise what he had gotten himself into. If he wanted to go far in the future, he would inevitably have to suffer through hardships. For some reason, suffering through hardships didn''t seem too bad to Raymond.


    In his past life, he never felt any real purpose, he just bounced around from town to town. Calling whatever he experienced a "hardship" would be a lie, at least in Raymond''s eyes. If suffering through hardships could help him find his purpose in life, Raymond would throw himself at them with pleasure. Whilst his mind wandered around, Raymond could feel the subtle changes in his body after the talent upgrade.


    His strength, which had originally been average had been completely reforged. Although he had yet to test it out, he could feel that every fibre of his body was filled with a sort of strength that he had never experienced before. Although this strength was immense in comparison to what it had been before, Raymond was far from strong. Right now, he wasn''t even as strong as someone in the first revolution of body-refining, and that was the first cultivation realm...


    However, compared to a normal adult male, he was at least 50% stronger. With excitement in his heart, Raymond looked at the system panel in his mind, and noticed the difference in his talent. His [Meagre Wealth Mortal Body] had turned into [Moderate Wealth Mortal Body], and next to it, he could see the wealth needed to level it up again: (0/1000).


    "Really?"


    He exclaimed in irritation. Although he had expected it to get more expensive, a 10x increase in price seemed pretty harsh. Maybe he was just being paranoid; maybe the value of money was lower than he had originally presumed? Raymond knew that he was only fooling himself, and he shortly stopped thinking about it. He would worry about money later, that wasn''t his issue right now. Through the system, he once again checked the information about his newfound talent.


    [The physique of the god of wealth. Grants moderate talent in immortal cultivation. Slight increase in perception. Slight increase in comprehension. Can be enhanced through obtaining wealth.]


    [Remark: Money makes the world go around.]


    The new talent seemed pretty good, and Raymond''s mood became a little better. After reading that his perception had increased, Raymond started looking at his surroundings. He had been preoccupied with his thoughts earlier so he didn''t notice it, but his perception had truly been increased a little. Although the increase was ever so slight, it was noticeable at least. Considering the changes that he had seen from just a talent increase, Raymond was looking forward to cultivating more and more.


    Just imagining what it would do to his body made him ecstatic. With a stronger body and a sharper mind, Raymond was ready to set off on his journey. Picking a random direction, Raymond dusted himself off before he started walking at a moderate pace. Basically dressed in nothing but rags, Raymond was at least glad that he had transmigrated with a pair of shoes. Although they were worn out, they were better than walking around barefoot.


    ...


    In another part of the forest, a small group of 5 was trekking forward slowly. This group consisted of 2 women, an old man, as well as two middle-aged men. The two middle-aged men wore grey martial arts uniforms, adorned by badges with a green dragon on them. One of the young women was dressed like a servant and was following shortly behind the other woman. Compared to the others, the old man was dressed a little strangely.


    The old man was just dressed in loose-fitting grey robes, which in itself isn''t too weird, but considering his position, it could certainly be seen as weird. It was obvious from the looks of reverence and respect that the middle-aged men would cast his way every now and then that this old man was extraordinary in one way or another.


    "Talia, do you want to stop by the nearest city for a rest before going back?"


    All of a sudden, the old man politely asked a bright-eyed young lady walking in the middle of the group.


    "Uncle, I know you''re just looking out for Leon. I''m not some bratty young lady anymore, so you can be more direct."


    Seeing the young lady pout, the old man chuckled a little. This young lady of his had been a real piece of work when she had been younger, and he hadn''t seen her in years. He was glad that she had grown up a bit in the time that he hadn''t seen her. He had originally been a little worried that his young lady would be inconsiderate, and refuse to rest in a nearby town before leaving. One of her guards, the guy named Leon, was in bad shape.


    He had sustained a pretty serious injury protecting the young lady, Talia, and although they had given him great medication, he would need at least a day''s rest before they could set out on the long journey back home. They had originally only come all the way here to get a spiritual plant that would only mature every hundred years. But the beast guarding the plant, which the old man was supposed to take care of, had given birth a few years prior. This young beast proved quite the challenge for the two guards guarding the young lady, and one of them almost lost his life.


    Luckily, they had managed to acquire the spiritual plant, and could now go home again. The old man did think that it was a bit reckless to bring the young lady with them, but after his leader told him that she needed experience, he couldn''t refuse him. All of a sudden, the old man stopped in his tracks. No one was really surprised by his sudden stop, they were used to it at this point. Instead, everyone drew their weapons and got ready to fight.


    "Don''t bother."


    No one could really understand what he meant until they could hear the soft sound of footsteps getting closer and closer. As they cast their gazes towards their right, they could see a young man slowly approach them. After he got a little closer to them, he suddenly stopped in his tracks; he had noticed them.. It was at this time that two pairs of eyes curiously peered into each other, not knowing what kind of future was in store for them.

 Chapter 4 - Talia Graham.

    Raymond was currently on high alert. He had been walking around for close to an hour, but leaving the forest seemed unrealistic at this point. Was he really going to have to camp out here without equipment or strength? As he was contemplating what to do, he noticed a few figures not far in front of him. He stopped in his tracks immediately. His heart was beating fiercely, it felt like it was going to jump out of his chest at this rate.


    He didn''t know what kind of people he would run into. Maybe they would be civilised. Perhaps they would be savages. No matter what, Raymond was just hoping that he could communicate with them. He was scared, yet strangely calm. When he looked at the group of 5 people in front of him, his gaze met that of a young lady. For a few seconds, they stared into the eyes of each other without breaking away, until the young lady finally felt a little awkward and averted her gaze.


    To Raymond''s delight, he didn''t sense any ill intent from her, and he was hoping that it would stay that way. After she averted her gaze, Raymond''s gaze wandered to the other members of the group. After it stopped at the old man standing in the back with a gentle smile, Raymond was astonished. He quickly noticed that something was wrong with that old man. From the others, he had sensed an inexplicable amount of danger, but from this old man, he felt nothing. As if he wasn''t even there. His instincts were screaming at him; this old man was far from normal.


    At this point, Raymond hesitated about his course of action. He wanted to ask them for directions to the nearest city, but he was also wary of them. These were the first humans he had met in this world, and if there was one thing Raymond knew about humans, it was that they could be unpredictable. One day, they would be happy and treat you like a friend. Another day, in the face of benefits, they wouldn''t hesitate to turn their back on you.


    "Hello there, would someone mind pointing me in the direction of the nearest city? I''m a bit lost."


    He couldn''t hesitate anymore, and he tried his best to sound polite, but it sounded a little forced. Raymond was a man from the 21st century, excessive politeness was not something he was used to, especially not the customs of another world altogether.


    "Hahaha, the closest city to here is a few hours in that direction, it''s called Greencrest city."


    One of the guards found his way of speaking funny, but after chuckling, he still gave him a direction to walk in. Before Raymond could get the chance to feel grateful, the old man said something that sent a chill down his spine.


    "We''re also heading to Greencrest city. You don''t seem to be a warrior, if you''d like, you can come with us."


    Raymond looked at the old man with vigilance. After observing his facial expressions for a bit, Raymond concluded that he didn''t have a choice. The old man was obviously hinting at him to come with them. Raymond didn''t want to follow around some strangers that had just met, especially not if they all had the strength to kill him in just a second. However, he had no interest in enraging this old man either. Something he had learned from experience in his previous life was that the scariest people were often the ones that looked the nicest.


    "Then, thank you!"


    He tried to sound polite again, but the wary glint in his eyes was obvious for all to see. His body language and tone of speaking was stiff, but his eyes were bright. Raymond wasn''t the only one who was shocked by the old man''s decision. In fact, Talia was probably the one who was the most shocked. She knew this uncle of hers looked nice on the outside, but he was actually pretty aloof. He was polite, but he seldom acknowledged others, at least not easily.


    Talia started to seriously inspect the young man in front of her. He was dressed shabbily, basically the same as a beggar, and he also looked pretty dirty. Contrary to his clothes and dirty body, his hair looked soft and taken care of, almost nicer than some young ladies from famous families. Although his hazel-brown hair looked nice, the thing that stood out the most about him was his eyes. A rich and deep gold colour. Their splendour was greater than that of the most polished of gold coins, and they contained an unfathomable depth.


    The look in his eyes, as well as his body language, didn''t seem like that of a beggar at all, which made it pretty easy to guess that this young man might not be as ordinary as his clothes made him seem.


    "Is it really okay for us to bring some beggar along with us?"


    The person who suddenly broke the short, yet awkward silence, was Talia''s personal maid. Their group of 5 might seem ordinary to some people, but she knew what kind of big shots she was currently serving. To bring a random beggar into the group was incomprehensible to her.


    "Hmm?"


    After receiving a cold look from the old man, the maid quickly shut her mouth. She quickly scolded herself in her mind. Why did she have to question the decision of her master? Who gave her the courage? With a nervous look on her face, she quietly took half a step backwards, as if to show that she had realised her mistake.


    Raymond became even more uncomfortable after hearing this, and his already stiff body language became a little stiffer. Maybe it was because he was still a little unfamiliar with this body, but he had a hard time controlling his expression and body language. Even his feelings felt more agitable than normal.


    "Before we get going, we should at least introduce ourselves right?"


    With a glint in her eyes, Talia was the one who spoke up this time to ease the tension.


    "I''ll start, my name''s Talia Graham and I''ll be 18 this year. That girl over there is my maid Lillie."


    After introducing herself and her maid, Talia looked to the guards on her right.


    "The name''s Leon, I''m just an ordinary guard."


    "My name''s David, but you can just call me Dave if you''d like."


    "You can just call me uncle Graham, my name isn''t too important."


    It was finally Raymond''s turn to introduce himself, and after contemplating for a bit, he decided to tell them his real name. He wasn''t sure about the powers of cultivators for now, so he wasn''t going to risk lying to one.


    "I''m pleased to make your acquaintance, my name''s Raymond Dawson."


    After introducing himself, he stretched out his right hand out of habit. The only response he got to this weird behaviour were a few peculiar gazes. Raymond quickly noticed that he had made a mistake, and he awkwardly scratched the back of his head after taking back his outstretched hand.. Old habits die hard.

 Chapter 5 - Civilization.

    After hearing that Raymond had a family name, Talia understood that her uncle had been right, there truly was something special about this young man. Having a family name implied that your family had some kind of history and that you weren''t some normal beggar or peasant. Since she didn''t want the atmosphere to get too awkward, Talia decided that it was time to get a move on.


    "Alright, we can talk more later, let''s get going for now."


    No one questioned the young lady''s decision, and they all started moving again. Raymond just followed a few steps behind them, wary of their every move. He had gotten a little more used to this new body of his, which meant that he could mask his feelings easier. This came as a surprise for everyone else, since the stiff and awkward body language suddenly disappeared, replaced with apparent calmness.


    "When you introduced yourself earlier, why did you stretch your hand out like that?"


    After walking for a while, and familiarising themselves with each other, one of the guards suddenly asked an interesting question. Talia''s ears visibly perked up a little, awaiting an equally interesting answer.


    "Oh, yeah it''s an old habit. It''s a custom where I''m from to shake hands with people you introduce yourself to."


    "Now that you mention it, you never said where you''re from. You don''t seem like you''re from around here."


    "I''m from a country called Sweden, you''ve probably never heard of it."


    As she was silently listening in on their conversation, Talia was intrigued. She had never heard of this country called Sweden before, which meant that it''s probably very far away.


    "Hmpf, Sweden? Never heard of it, you sure you''re not lying to us?"


    The maid cut into the conversation without hesitation. She had been silently reprimanded because of this beggar that appeared out of nowhere. She couldn''t endure listening to him spout nonsense without worries.


    "J?vla idiot."


    To her rude interruption, Raymond simply cursed at her in Swedish with a smile on his face.


    "Huh?"


    She was naturally taken aback since she had no idea what he just said. Not only that, but the language he just spoke was something she had never heard before.


    "I just said that you have beautiful eyes in Swedish."


    The maid blushed a little and decided to shut up. She had already said more than she should. Questioning Raymond more would only displease her master, and to be quite honest, she still wanted her life. Since this bum seemed to at least know his place, she decided to let him off. Raymond had no problem saying something so shameless out of nowhere. There was no point in antagonising anyone here, that would only make things more troublesome. If the maid knew what he had actually said, she would probably not decide to shut up.


    "That language seems pretty unusual. This country you''re from, Sweden was it? It''s pretty far from here right?"


    The old man decided to speak up. He was getting more and more interested in this young man in front of him. The language he just spoke was very foreign, even to him, which meant that the country he was speaking about should be very far away, maybe even on another continent altogether.


    "Yeah, to be quite honest, I''m not entirely sure where we are right now, but it''s a country situated far north. Even if I spent my entire life walking, I would never arrive."


    Technically, he wasn''t lying. There was no way for him to walk back to his old world after all. Although he wasn''t actually sad, the desolate look in his eyes worked wonders to make him seem pitiful. When the only noticeable characteristic about him, his glimmering golden eyes, suddenly dimmed, he looked like he was reminiscing about something really sad.


    This naturally made the mood a little gloomier, no one was sure what they were supposed to say as a response. This was the kind of reaction Raymond wanted. Although he didn''t want to take advantage of other peoples'' feelings, he wanted to ensure that he lived for now. Making himself seem pitiful would deter most people from easily feeling animosity towards him.


    Like this, the trip continued on for almost an hour before they all stopped to let the injured guard rest for a while. After resting for a little while, they resumed their trek through the woods. On the way, they ran into multiple demonic beasts, that were all taken care of by either a guard or Talia herself. This was the first time Raymond had seen a cultivator in action, and it was quite the wondrous sight.


    Through some prodding, Raymond also learned a little about the levels of demonic beasts. Unlike cultivators, the demonic beasts'' cultivation system was pretty simple. First of all, they were classed by numeric ranks, with the lowest being a rank 1 demonic beast. They were then further classified into three grades: low, mid and high grade. A low-grade rank 1 demonic beast was equivalent to the first three revolutions of body refining, whilst a mid-grade rank 1 demonic beast would be the equivalent of the three middle revolutions of body refining.


    What further awed Raymond was that Talia could easily take care of low and mid-grade rank 2 beasts on her own, which meant that she had completely surpassed the body-refining realm altogether. Watching these people easily surpass the limits of the human body, achieving superhuman feats made Raymond more and more excited. In the future, he would also be able to achieve similar feats, and if his system was as amazing as he thought it would be, then he would probably be way more powerful than just this.


    After almost 3 hours of walking non-stop, they had finally managed to leave the forest. The forest he had just been in was called the Wise Willow Forest, and it was a fairly popular spot for low-level cultivators to temper themselves. They left the forest just in time to see the sun slowly set over the horizon. Raymond was entranced by the beautiful image, and his anxious heart slowly settled down. Soon, he would be able to get into town and leave these people behind.


    No matter what, he was uneasy. It was hard to stay around people that could easily kill you with a snap of their finger, especially if they have unknown intentions. After only walking for a few minutes on a narrow dirt road, the group could see Greencrest City in the distance. Or to be more precise, they could see the 4-meter tall walls, as well as the alchemy tower that seemed like it was trying to pierce the sky.


    The alchemy tower was something that you could find in most developed cities, and their influence reaches far and wide. They are the number 1 supplier of medical pills and cultivation pills in all of the northern continent, much less the Herus kingdom. Since they had already arrived at the city as promised, it was time for them to walk their own ways.. On the outside, Raymond looked a little solemn, on the inside, however, he was in a great mood.

 Chapter 6 - Greencrest City!

    Even though they could see the city, it still took them around 5 minutes to arrive before the gates. This was a small town, and the security wasn''t the greatest, you could basically enter as long as you didn''t look suspicious. Raymond''s eyes darted around to all the people he passed by, and he instantly noticed that almost all of them were armed in one way or another. If they didn''t have a weapon themselves, then they were accompanied by someone who did.


    This confirmed Raymond''s earlier suspicions about this world, at least partly. It was obvious from just a glance that this world was a place where the law was far from omnipotent. If you think about it, in a world where cultivation is widespread, stopping crime and violence would be way too hard. When cultivators with superhuman power and strength flooded the streets, maintaining public order would be hard.


    "I guess it''s time for us to bid farewell. I''ll see you around Raymond!"


    Talia seemed a little disappointed, she had grown used to this mysterious youth''s presence for the past few hours, it would feel a little less intriguing to travel without him.


    "Yeah, thanks for helping me out and taking me along. I''ll definitely repay you in the future!"


    No one really took Raymond''s words too seriously. He had no cultivation at the age of 16. That either meant that the place he was so far from civilisation that they didn''t know about cultivation, or that he simply didn''t have any talent. Of the two, the latter was more likely, but no one said it out loud so as to not embarrass him. Raymond could naturally tell what they were thinking after observing their expressions, but he didn''t take it to heart. He knew what kind of future he would have; his favours would probably be worth their weight in gold in the future.


    After bidding farewell to his helpers, Raymond received a token before he went his own way.


    When he had walked out of earshot, the old man who had given him the token suddenly muttered to himself.


    "I look forward to what kind of future awaits you, young man."


    The only person who heard the old man''s muttering was Talia, and she was too shocked for words. She had no idea what he meant by that, was there more than met the eye to Raymond? This was something she wouldn''t be able to find out until much later.


    The first thing that Raymond decided to do after entering the city was to clean himself up. Although his appearance wasn''t his number one priority, he at least wanted to be presentable. If he didn''t look presentable enough, he would only attract unnecessary trouble if he tried to enter any of the more upscale establishments.


    Dressed in rags and covered in dirt, the first clothing store that Raymond went to wouldn''t let him enter at all. He wasn''t stupid enough to wave around all of his money out in the open without the strength to protect it, so instead, he just went to a store that was a little shabbier. This store wasn''t as big or grand, but it didn''t discriminate and it had a good reputation within the city.


    The interior of the store was mostly made out of reddish-brown wood that had been carved exquisitely to create a special aesthetic. The counter at the front was simple and straightforward, and behind it was a mature-looking lady. Raymond caught her looking at him, and he slowly and calmly walked up to it.


    "Hello, welcome to Greencrest''s Delight how may I help you today?"


    Raymond was a little unsettled by the lady''s business smile, but he tried to not mind it.


    "I''m looking for some new clothing, and access to the spa for two hours please."


    "Ellie! Guide this young man to the male clothing section, then bring him back here if he finds something he wants."


    "Yes ma''am!" The young lady that answered seemed pretty young, and her childish actions elicited a chuckle from Raymond.


    With the help of the young shop assistant, Raymond quickly picked out a few pieces of clothing that were ready-made and fit his size. More high-end clothing would be tailored to him personally, but Raymond couldn''t be bothered about that right now, he wanted to spare his wallet as much as possible. After paying for the clothes and two hours at the spa, Raymond was set back a single gold coin. And for that prize, he also got himself a nice backpack that could contain some clothes and supplies.


    The spa in Greencrest''s Delight had a lot of different services, but Raymond was mostly interested in the bathhouse. It obviously didn''t work exactly the same as the ones back on earth, but it was honestly an even better experience. The water was infused with spiritual energy and cleansed Raymond''s body of dirt way better than a shower on earth would, even with the best shower gel and shampoo.


    After cleansing himself completely, Raymond looked like a completely different person. It was also at this time that Raymond actually got to see what he currently looked like in one of the mirrors. The first thing that drew his attention was his eyes. His golden eyes were completely different from his last life. His other features were pretty similar to his last life, he had just become more... handsome.


    Raymond was a little confused. He was sure that he was in a younger version of his own body at first, but now, it was quite obvious that he had been wrong. After pondering about it for a while, Raymond came up with a theory. He was probably in a younger version of his own body like he originally thought, but when his talent was upgraded, so was his body. Maybe this was the reason his appearance had changed a little?


    Either way, the change wasn''t bad. It would''ve been worse if his talent upgrade had made him uglier instead. Since the change could only be called positive, Raymond soon forgot all about it. The only thing it did was arouse his curiosity for a bit. Something with more priority in his book right now was to take full advantage of the two hours he had in here.


    With nothing else to worry about, Raymond submerged himself in the hot spiritual water that they offered for recreational purposes. Raymond just laid there, relaxing, floating about and just enjoying himself in general. Putting on a tough front is something that was necessary, but now that he could actually relax, he felt way better.


    Time passed rather quickly as he was enjoying himself, and he soon had to leave the spa, but not before putting on his new clothes. Clad in a rather simple yet comfortable black and white training uniform, Raymond felt refreshed and left the establishment. On the way out, the mature lady at the front desk caught a glimpse of him, and she smirked to herself.


    "I knew that he had potential. Finding diamonds in the rough are my favourite passtime."


    No one but herself could hear her faint muttering, but letting someone shine truly is a different way to enjoy life.. The entertainment of a regular worker can sometimes be just that, pure and simple.

 Chapter 7 - Future Plans.

    Out on the streets, Raymond was walking around aimlessly. He was currently pondering his course of action. The first thing to do was probably get himself a room at an inn for now. The sun had already set, and the moon was high in the sky. Although it created a beautiful image, Raymond was too tired to appreciate it. Now that he had cleaned himself up a bit, Raymond carried himself with more confidence than before when he approached people to ask for directions.


    "Excuse me, do you have a minute?"


    Seeing a polite and handsome young man talk to her, the middle-aged lady Raymond had approached was a little taken aback.


    "Sure, if it doesn''t take too long."


    "I just arrived here today, and I need to find a place to sleep. Could you recommend an inn to me?"


    Raymond always had a gentle smile on his face when he talked, creating a sense of ease in the middle-aged lady.


    "Oh, that''s easy, if you follow this street that way, you''ll find the Brown Bear''s Inn. Although it''s not the most luxurious, it''s pretty cheap."


    "Thank you for the help."


    With a sunny smile on his face, Raymond politely said his thanks, before he went on his way. He had a silver coin left after spending some money on clothes, which he promptly tossed her way as thanks for the help. The lady was completely dumbfounded, was this young man some kind of rich young master? What kind of person would give away a silver coin to someone after asking simply for directions? Although she was surprised, she was naturally delighted. Most people would probably be delighted if they had a similar encounter.


    Raymond didn''t really care about a single silver coin, and he was thankful for the help. He would''ve felt a little rude if he asked for help and gave them nothing in return. Spreading positivity at the expense of practically nothing seemed like a good deal to Raymond, and it''s something he would''ve certainly enjoyed if people did to him in his past life. He had no interest in being a hypocrite. Since he abhorred people who just took without giving anything in return, he would make sure to not become like that himself.


    Maybe it was natural for most people to be selfish, but Raymond didn''t really share the sentiment. With his mood high, he walked leisurely towards the Brown Bear''s Inn. Although it was already evening, the city was still full of life. Many stalls along the road were still manned by people looking to earn a little money, with lanterns glowing softly accompanying them. The atmosphere was pretty quiet and serene, even though the foot traffic was still fairly heavy. Maybe it was out of mutual respect for each other, but not many people were loud when it was dark out.


    Raymond wasn''t sure exactly why, but he really enjoyed himself just walking around. There were no judgemental looks, no rude people bumping into him without apologising, no looks of scorn as he passed by. When he was younger, Raymond was almost scared to go outside. It didn''t matter who it was, they didn''t need to even know who you are, they would still judge you. Just from the way you look and the way you dress, they would decide your worth.


    This world was a bit more straightforward. Maybe it was because of cultivation itself, but here, anyone you find on the street could be a master in disguise. Judging every single person passing by could easily land you in trouble if you looked scornfully at the wrong person. Raymond enjoyed the relative peace and quiet, but he knew, however, that this was only how it was in certain parts of this world.


    His old world sure was more judgemental in nature, but it was also more peaceful in comparison. Here, a war could easily start between different countries or martial institutes for various reasons. There were also numerous demonic beasts roaming about, some of which could decimate entire cities on their own.


    After walking for around 15 minutes, Raymond could see a wooden 3-story building on the left side of the street. The atmosphere outside of the building was pretty bustling, with a fairly steady stream of people both entering and leaving. The lights on the ground floor were all lit, and outside the double doors at the entrance, a signboard with a brown bear on it was lit up by the lanterns hanging at its side.


    Raymond didn''t waste much time getting himself a single room, which he promptly entered after having a meal. Sitting atop the stiff mattress of his bed, Raymond gathered his thoughts. After his hunger was satiated, his mind felt a little clearer than before. He had gathered a little information whilst walking around the streets, as well as when he was eating in the diner below.


    The first thing he had sorted out was the worth of money in this world. The coin with the lowest worth was the bronze coin. After that was the silver coin, which was worth 100 bronze coins. A gold coin, however, was in turn worth 100 silver coins. After figuring this out, Raymond realised what kind of money he had been walking around with all this time. 399 gold coins was all he had left, but that was the equivalent of 3,990,000 bronze coins!


    Considering that the meal he had eaten earlier didn''t even cost 20 bronze coins, Raymond was baffled. The fortune he possessed was something that most ordinary people would never come across in their entire lives. Raymond also realised just how much money he had spent on the clothes he had bought earlier. They had cost him 99 silver, and that was only for 2 changes of clothes and a backpack to carry them in.


    His mind swirled with thoughts, but Raymond managed to calm down rather quickly. His first priority was to gain wealth. With wealth, he would in turn get better talent, and later down the line, he might also have other uses for it. However, talent would be pretty pointless if he didn''t put it to good use. To cultivate, Raymond would need both cultivation techniques, as well as resources.


    There was only one place to go if he wanted to get both at the same time, and that was a sect. A sect is a little like a school, except that it teaches cultivation techniques and martial arts. Unlike conventional schools, graduating from a sect is but a pipe dream. If you join a sect, you usually join it for life. If you were strong enough, the sect would hire you as a deacon or an elder. If not, then you could only work for them, and earn them resources, as payment for them teaching you.


    Naturally, the rules differed for every sect, and every sect also had different amounts of power. Some sects were more focused on swords, whilst others were only interested in alchemy. If there was one thing that all sects had in common, it was the system by which they were ranked.. Sects were ranked from rank 1 to 9, with 9 being the weakest.

 Chapter 8 - A Dilemma.

    The kingdom that Raymond was currently in was called the Herus kingdom. The Herus kingdom was a small kingdom located in the southern reaches of the north continent. Because of its relatively small size, there weren''t many powerful cultivators, and definitely not any big sects. The biggest sect could barely be qualified as a rank 8 sect. This sect was known as the Silver Sword Pavilion. Other than the Silver Sword Pavilion, there were 3 other rank 9 sects.


    These 3 sects were the White Deer Palace, the Burning Flames Sect as well as the Roaring River Society. The names of the sects often contained a trace of their direction of cultivation. The Burning Flames Sect was a sect that focused on fire-related arts and techniques, whilst the Roaring River Society cultivated water-related arts and techniques. Compared to the other two, the White Deer Palace was a little special. Most cultivators had an affinity with one of the four common elements, water, wind, fire or earth.


    The White Deer Palace was a sect with a focus on the wood element. This element was a bit rarer, and therefore, fewer cultivators had an affinity with it. If they only had wood element techniques, then they would probably not even be a rank 9 sect, since they would have too few disciples. Since that would be stupid, they also had many techniques of different elements, with their better techniques mainly being wood related. Their supreme technique was a wood element technique for example.


    Compared to the other 3, the Silver Sword Pavilion was a little more special. Instead of having a specific element, they were looking for cultivators with talent in the way of the sword. Since the sword was a common weapon that a lot of cultivators used, they naturally attracted a lot of different cultivators from all over the place. Their elemental restrictions were softer compared to the other sects, but your overall talent had to be higher as a result.


    Their name came from their sect masters most famous technique, which was the core technique of the sect. When the sect master slashed out with his sword, anyone standing in its way would be cleaved in two by a pure silver radiance. After inquiring about this information, Raymond was currently pondering. The night had long passed, and the sun was already up in the sky.


    He had never really thought about what kind of sect he wanted to join, which was also why his choice was rather easy to make. Since one of them was obviously stronger than the others, Raymond was going to try to join the Silver Sword Pavilion. He wasn''t sure if he had any talent in the way of the sword, but the only way to find out was to try.


    If it turned out that he actually had a talent for the sword, then his route for the future would be set. With his goal set, for now, all Raymond had to do was find out how the Silver Sword Pavilion recruited disciples. After asking around for a while, Raymond''s countenance had visibly darkened a fair amount. The Silver Sword Pavilion only recruited disciples every three years, and the last recruitment was half a year ago. This meant that if he wanted to be recruited the normal way, he would have to wait for two and a half years first.


    All the sects in the Herus kingdom would recruit disciples at the same time every three years, it was like a form of "friendly" competition between them. This meant that Raymond was pretty much out of luck without any sort of connections. Luckily for Raymond, there was still one more way to get recruited by one of the 4 sects. Every year, a tournament would be held in most major cities throughout the kingdom.


    This tournament was held to find talents among the many rogue cultivators out there that had missed the opportunity to get recruited earlier. The only criteria to join this tournament is to be below 18 years of age and to be above the 3rd revolution of body refining. The next tournament was to be held in 6 months, which gave Raymond plenty of time to reach these criteria.


    The only problem was that Raymond had no martial arts or Cultivation arts to practice. Even if he did have a cultivation art to practice, he would have to be able to reach the 3rd revolution of body refining in 6 months. And that was just the minimum requirement. To actually get recruited by one of the sects, he would need to get a good rank as well. This meant that he needed to reach even further on the path of cultivation.


    Raymond pondered for a bit, before he decided to go out for a walk. Going out for a walk was naturally not just to enjoy the fresh air. Since he was unsure about what kind of choices he could make, asking around was probably the best choice. Maybe he could buy cultivation arts somewhere? He wasn''t sure, but he still had plenty of money. Staying a night at the Brown Bear''s Inn, excluding food cost him 10 bronze coins. If he lived fairly frugally, he would probably be able to spend at most 2 or 3 gold coins in 6 months.


    Whilst always keeping a bright smile on his face, Raymond asked around the city''s marketplace, and he was able to gather some information without a problem. To learn a cultivation art without joining a sect wasn''t that hard, the only real problem was money. In Greencrest city, there was only a single establishment that sold cultivation arts, excluding the auction house.


    That place was the Profound Secrets Trade Guild. If you wanted to buy something expensive or cultivation related, this was the place to go. Not only did they sell martial arts and cultivation arts, but they also sold all manners of jewellery and artefacts. Raymond couldn''t ascertain a clear price for the kind of techniques he wanted, but he wasn''t too bothered about it. All he needed to do was go there and look for himself after all.


    The Profound Secrets Trade Guild was close to the centre of the city, almost right next to the city lords mansion. Since that was the case, it was really easy to find the way. After a few minutes of casually walking around whilst taking in the different sights the city had to offer, Raymond arrived outside the Profound Secrets Trade Guild.


    The magnificent five-story building towered over all the other buildings around it, and its exterior was lavishly decorated. Just from looking at it from the outside, Raymond could almost feel a sense of intimidation. This establishment mostly catered to cultivators and descendants of powerful families. If he was to enter here, Raymond needed to be careful. One wrong step might end in calamity. If there was one thing to console him, it would be that he had a pretty good amount of wealth with him. People shouldn''t think he was a beggar at least.


    With a deep breath, Raymond calmed down his beating heart.. With a refreshing smile, he pushed open the double doors to the lobby and entered with confidence.

 Chapter 9 - Profound Secrets Trade Guild.

    Raymond was surprised by the rather subdued decoration of the lobby. Compared to the lavish decorations outside, the decor they had chosen to have in the lobby was a little more tasteful. Raymond felt more at ease thanks to the decor, and he walked up to the front desk to make his inquiry.


    "Hello there, how may I help you?"


    The young man at the front desk looked rather ordinary, but his polite smile created a sense of comfort in Raymond.


    "Hi, I''m looking for cultivation techniques in the mortal realm."


    "Mortal realm techniques can be found on the 3rd floor. Do you need someone to guide you?"


    "I think I''ll be ok, but thanks anyways."


    Although Raymond naturally wanted a better technique than something in the mortal realm, he was also realistic. He knew that he could probably not afford anything better than a technique in the mortal realm, and to be honest, he wasn''t even sure if he could afford a technique in the mortal realm yet. His budget was around 350 gold coins, the rest he wanted to keep to fund his living and daily needs.


    Raymond calmly and quietly walked up the wide dark-brown stairs that led up to the third floor. On the way, he had only passed by a single person, which was an indication of what kind of business this place was. What they lacked in quantity, they made up for in quality. Raymond thought that it was pretty refreshing to be in a store that was pretty much empty, but he didn''t think too much about it.


    The third floor was pretty spacious, and it had plenty of different sections, two of which were the martial arts section, as well as the cultivation art sections. Raymond decided to start with the cultivation art section since it would be the foundation of all his future operations. If he didn''t have any cultivation, then it didn''t really matter how profound his martial arts were. No matter how skilful a punch was, if there was no power behind it, it would be useless. Unless you faced off against another mortal of course.


    Glancing around at the prices of the cultivation arts, Raymond quickly realised his limitations. The few cultivation arts that were high or even top-grade mortal arts were all priced in the thousands. This was naturally way out of Raymond''s budget since he only had around 350 gold coins to spend. Since that was the case, he was restricted to low and mid-grade mortal arts. And that was only if it was one of the cheaper mid-grade mortal arts too.


    After looking around for a while, Raymond found a few choices to pick from. These were namely the Blue Wind True Art, the Fierce Flames Cultivation Art as well as the Deep Earth Scripture. These three were all mid-grade mortal arts, and all of them cost around 250 gold coins to purchase. If he wanted to buy a cultivation art with a rarer element, he would have to cough up more money, which was something Raymond didn''t have.


    Out of the three, Raymond was leaning more towards the Blue Wind True Art. The Deep Earth Scripture was too focused on defence, which didn''t really suit Raymond''s style. The Fierce Flames Art was instead a bit too ordinary, and a bit too volatile. The Blue Wind True Art focused a bit more on speed, and compared to the other two, it was a bit more sophisticated. This meant that it was probably a bit harder to learn as well, but Raymond still decided to go with it in the end.


    After choosing a cultivation art that seemed suitable, Raymond just needed to choose a martial art or two before he was good to go. To Raymond''s surprise, he found out that the price of martial arts skills were a bit cheaper than cultivation arts. With that said, he still couldn''t afford even a high-grade martial art skill. Since Raymond had set his sights on the Silver Sword Pavilion, he felt that it was probably a good idea to choose a martial arts skill for the sword.


    After looking around for a while, Raymond only managed to find a single mid-grade mortal sword art that seemed to fit his needs. A lot of the other sword arts were either incomplete or had other problems. The mid-grade sword art that Raymond had found was called the Azure Wind Sword Art. Maybe it was because it seemed compatible with his cultivation art, but Raymond had a feeling that choosing this sword art was going to be a good choice.


    The price for the Azure Wind Sword Art was only 50 gold coins, merely a third of the price for a mid-grade cultivation art of similar quality. With 300 gold coins of his budget gone, Raymond looked around a little more before finally choosing 2 other techniques. The techniques were both low-grade mortal realm techniques, namely the Basic Fist Art and the Basic Footwork Technique. Since they only cost him 10 gold coins each, Raymond felt like it was worth it to buy them.


    He would have a very imbalanced strength if all he had was a single sword technique and cultivation art. What if his sword was destroyed, or if he was in a situation where he couldn''t use it, was he just supposed to die then? Footwork was also necessary for Raymond to be able to dodge and retreat if necessary.


    With his choices made, Raymond walked to the counter that was located right in the middle of the third floor. Manning the desk was an older man; he had an unfathomable aura, and Raymond had a feeling that he was stronger than he looked. The old man seemed a little disinterested in Raymond, maybe because he could see that Raymond had no cultivation. Having no cultivation at all at the age of 16 could only mean that he was either too poor to cultivate, or that he was crippled.


    Since Raymond looked well-dressed and polite, the old man assumed that he wasn''t poor at least, which most likely meant that he couldn''t cultivate. If he could cultivate, then he would at least be at the first revolution of the body-refining realm, no matter how talentless he was. Raymond could see the slight dismissal in the old man''s eyes, but he didn''t take it to heart. He had lived an entire life being judged and scorned, one more time wouldn''t hurt him.


    "I want to buy these four books."


    Without wasting any time, Raymond just put the four books he had chosen directly on the counter. Since they were all just copies, he just needed to pay up before leaving with them. The old man was a little taken aback by his frankness, but Raymond could see a hint of appreciation in his eyes. Maybe it was because he had to deal with a lot of different people all the time, but the old man had gotten used to the arrogant behaviours of the various young lords and masters who came here to buy techniques.. This young man had still been relatively polite, even though the old man had initially dismissed him a little, which was admirable in the old man''s eyes.

 Chapter 10 - A Taste Of Cultivation!

    The techniques cost Raymond a grand total of 320 gold coins, and after spending them, he only had about 79 gold coins left. Although it sounded like a meagre amount in comparison, it was still quite a lot of money. For a normal family, it would be sufficient for years. After leaving the Profound Secrets Trading Guild, Raymond decided to find himself a sword. Since he didn''t have much of a budget left, Raymond decided to just get himself a normal iron sword, or at least something of similar quality.


    He had heard people mention artefacts here and there, and after inquiring, he knew that they contained immense amounts of power. A person with an artefact fighting a person without one would most likely win. Much like techniques, artefacts could be divided into a few different levels depending on how powerful they are. These levels were: Mortal, Spirit and Magic artefacts. The only real issue was the cost. For now, a normal sword would have to do.


    Getting a normal sword wasn''t too hard, and Raymond just walked into the closest blacksmith that he could find. There, he found a refined black-iron short sword. After swinging it around a little, Raymond found himself growing fond of it. Although it was very heavy, and just swinging it around a little tired him out a lot, he still bought it. His strength was bound to grow a lot when he started cultivating, so getting himself a heavier sword now would save him from the hassle of buying another one later.


    The blade of the sword itself was a dull black, and it was about 60 centimetres long. The sword didn''t have any real guard, and the blade was double-edged. On the handle hung a small red tassel. Maybe it was there to improve the handling of the sword, or maybe it was just there to look good. Either way, Raymond didn''t really care too much. At least it looked good. The sword could basically be considered a quasi-mortal artefact, which meant that it wasn''t quite a low-grade mortal artefact, but it was still way better than any ordinary sword.


    Since it wasn''t a low-grade mortal artefact, it only set Raymond back 5 gold coins, which was a little more than he had originally intended. Raymond was very satisfied with the purchase, and he felt a great deal of security upon finally obtaining his very own weapon. With excitement, Raymond made his way back to the Brown Bear''s Inn. It was finally time to start training! Raymond''s heart couldn''t stop beating when he thought of the strength that he wasn''t far from obtaining.


    When he entered his room, it was in the middle of the day, and the warm rays of sunlight that shone upon the floor illuminated all of the visible dust particles in the air. After sitting down comfortably on his bed, Raymond opened up the book containing the Blue Wind True Art. The book wasn''t that thick, as it only contained two volumes. The first volume was regarding the body-refining realm, whilst the second volume was about the spirit-refining realm.


    Since it only had two volumes, the highest realm that Raymond could reach was the peak of the spirit-refining realm. But for now, that was more than good enough. By the time he had reached the peak of the spirit-refining realm, Raymond was pretty confident that he would''ve obtained a better cultivation art. Since he hadn''t even entered the path of cultivation yet, Raymond just decided to read the volume regarding the body-refining realm. There was no point in reading the spirit-refining volume until it was time for him to cross that threshold.


    The Blue Wind True Art had detailed explanations of how to start cultivating, and its contents quickly captivated Raymond. The first step to cultivating was to sense the natural spiritual energy that existed between heaven and earth. This step was usually a good indicator of talent since the time spent was very indicative of future achievements. The less time it took to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the more talented the cultivator was.


    Raymond took a deep breath, and then calmed down as much as he could. After clearing his mind and closing his eyes, he tried his hardest to perceive the spiritual energy in his surroundings. This process took a while, but Raymond was patient, and after trying for almost an entire hour, he could finally sense the small amount of spiritual energy that was contained within his room.


    After finally sensing the spiritual energy in his surroundings, Raymond was ecstatic. With excitement filling his heart, Raymond tried to absorb the spiritual energy into his body through the absorption method of the Blue Wind True Art. Maybe it was supposed to be easy, or maybe it was because of his talent, but Raymond noticed that the spiritual energy in the air seemed rather eager to enter his body.


    After entering his body through his pores, Raymond guided the spiritual energy into his body''s energy channels. Every cultivator had 27 different energy channels in their bodies, divided into groupings of 3. A 1st revolution body-refining cultivator only had access to 3 energy channels that formed a singular energy cycle. A 9th revolution body-refining cultivator, however, had access to 9 different energy cycles, that all connected with each other into one big system. This made the difference in strength between the 1st and 9th revolutions of body-refining immense.


    Before completely forming the first energy cycle, a cultivators body would be unable to replenish the spiritual energy it had expended on its own. This meant that a cultivator would have to sit down and recover their spiritual energy on their own in the beginning. Raymond didn''t think too much about any of this right now, as he was more focused on filling up his first energy channel with spiritual energy.


    To Raymond''s astonishment, it only took him two hours to fill up the first energy channel to the brim with spiritual energy. However, he also noticed that not all the energy channels were the same size. The first energy channel was the smallest, and each subsequent energy channel was bigger than the other. This meant that Raymond''s cultivation speed would be faster in the beginning, to then slow down as time passed.


    But this was something that Raymond had basically expected to begin with, so he wasn''t very disappointed. The only thing that disappointed Raymond a little was that he couldn''t make the spiritual energy in his energy channel leave his body. This was naturally because he was still in the body-refining realm, and making the spiritual energy leave the body was something that was only possible later on.


    In the body-refining realm, the spiritual energy in the cultivator''s energy channels could only be used to strengthen the body. First of all, it would slowly strengthen the cultivator''s body over time, but it could also be used to rapidly increase the cultivator''s strength for a short period of time. This, along with a suitable martial arts skill, could increase a cultivator''s combat strength immensely.. This was something that Raymond was excited to try out, but for now, he was more focused on filling up his next energy channel.

 Chapter 11 - The Swing Of His Sword.

    Raymond''s patience was pretty good, but it wasn''t omnipotent. After another four hours of cultivating, he had managed to completely fill up his second energy channel, successfully going one step further on the path of cultivation. If he wanted to fill up the last energy channel, Raymond would have to cultivate for at least another six hours. After already cultivating for six hours in a row, Raymond''s body was feeling a little numb from sitting in one position for an extended period of time.


    The sky was getting darker outside, as the sun was setting over the horizon; it was getting late. Raymond was filled with energy, a sort of energy he had never felt before. Perhaps it was because of his cultivation session, but Raymond already felt stronger than before, and he had a feeling that he would become a lot stronger as soon as he mobilised the spiritual energy in his energy channels.


    Since his concentration was already wavering, Raymond decided to do something else for now. He could continue cultivating in the morning. Since the inn he was staying at had a courtyard that he could use to train his martial arts, Raymond decided to check it out. After stretching his body for a bit, he left his room with newfound vigour.


    After he arrived at the courtyard, he noticed that it was almost completely empty. The only people there was a couple that was sitting on a bench, chatting, as well as a middle-aged man that was just sitting by himself, with his eyes closed and a dull sword resting in his lap. Raymond found himself a spot where he promptly sat down and opened the book containing the Azure Wind Sword Art. The contents in the book were intriguing to Raymond, and he was quickly engrossed in reading it.


    After reading it for a while, Raymond felt like he had learned a lot. The most important part when learning a martial art is how you''re supposed to apply force and use your muscles, but another part that baffled Raymond a little was the application of spiritual energy. A misconception that Raymond had gotten about the body-refining realm was quickly corrected upon reading the intriguing sword art.


    Raymond had thought that a body-refining cultivator''s spiritual energy couldn''t leave their body, but apparently, that wasn''t exactly the case. It was true that they couldn''t fire off spiritual energy attacks through the air, but they could actually imbue an item with spiritual energy as long as they were holding onto it. A body-refining cultivator''s spiritual energy would almost instantly dissipate if it travelled through the air, but as long as it travelled inside of an item, it was fine.


    Raymond felt like he had gotten a grasp of the basic moves contained in the sword art, and he picked up his sword. He instantly noticed that the sword felt a little lighter than when he had bought it, which naturally delighted him. He felt like the decision he had made was correct, even though it was still a bit too heavy for optimal use. If anything, Raymond just saw it as a challenge that he needed to overcome. If he learned to use the sword with a sword that was too heavy, perhaps his control would get even better in the end?


    With a determined gaze, Raymond stood up from the ground and began swinging his sword. As soon as he swung his sword for the first time, the middle-aged man suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were an ominous blood-red colour, and after seeing Raymond swing his sword, he merely scoffed before closing them once again. If Raymond had seen this middle-aged man''s little episode, he would''ve surely wondered if there was something wrong with him.


    As time passed, Raymond''s moves were getting faster and faster. After swinging his sword for more than an hour, Raymond''s arms were so sore that he would''ve normally stopped ages ago. The weird thing was that Raymond seemed to have grasped something, and the swinging of his sword seemed to follow a peculiar rhythm. The sound of his sword slicing through the air was pleasing to the ears, it was almost like a musical piece, brimming with poetic beauty.


    This state he was in didn''t last for much longer than half an hour, and even though he wanted to keep going, his body practically collapsed. There was no way he could keep training. Since he couldn''t move anyways, he immersed his mind in the feeling of epiphany that he had just experienced, and he tried his best to grasp whatever he had just experienced. Like this, the only two people in the courtyard had their eyes closed, with a sword by their side.


    The couple had originally been captivated by the poetic sound of Raymond''s sword, but after he collapsed in exhaustion, they snapped out of their trance and quickly left in befuddlement. The only people left were Raymond and the middle-aged man. Raymond''s mind had entered a trance-like state, yet his thoughts seemed strangely clear. This state only lasted for around half a minute before it disappeared, but when it did, something strange happened.


    The wind in the surroundings suddenly stirred, creating a current above Raymond''s body. The leaves on the trees and the blades of grass on the ground seemed to sway in unison, creating a picturesque scene of harmony. The middle-aged man that had been meditating silently once again opened his eyes, but this time, he had a weird look on his face.


    The state that Raymond was in was something that almost all sword artists dreamed of, and if he knew, he would surely be amazed. The middle-aged man wasn''t shocked by the phenomenon itself, since he had experienced similar things himself before. What really shocked him was the fact that Raymond was the person that had created such a phenomenon.


    When he had seen Raymond swing his sword earlier, he seemed like a complete beginner. It was obvious that he had never swung a sword in his life before. But now, just after an hour had passed, the kid had somehow comprehended sword force, how sick was that? It would normally take a swordsman years of effort to comprehend sword force, even geniuses would take months or weeks at the very least. But an hour? That was just absurd.


    After a few seconds, the raging winds calmed down, and the courtyard returned to total silence. It was at this moment that Raymond finally woke up. With a dazed look on his face, he looked around. He was completely out of it, he had no idea what had just happened, but he had a feeling that it was amazing somehow. His exhaustion was still there, but it had faded a little bit, so he decided to get some rest for now.


    He could think about the complicated stuff later. With exhaustion written all over his face, Raymond dragged his tired body back to his room, leaving the middle-aged man standing in the courtyard all alone. The middle-aged man followed Raymond with his eyes for a while, before he snapped out of it.. After pondering for a while, a weird smirk emerged on his face.

 Chapter 12 - Strange Dream.

    After getting into his room, Raymond just collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep. That night, Raymond had a peculiar dream. In the dream, Raymond could see himself from a third-person perspective, much like that of a movie. With a shiny silver sword in his hand, Raymond was leading an army of more than 5000 cultivators who were fighting against a large number of demonic beasts. With a swing of his sword, hundreds of beasts fell to the ground, dead.


    When he looked around, Raymond saw a world that was on fire. The ground was littered with corpses, and the blood formed rivers along the ground. Before he could get time to digest what he had witnessed, Raymond woke up. With fine beads of sweat lining his forehead, Raymond was practically panting when he woke up. Disturbed by the state he was in, Raymond tried his hardest to calm down.


    It took him almost an entire minute before his heartbeat went back to normal, but his mind was still disturbed. With a lot on his mind, Raymond decided to take a shower, he needed to get rid of the sweat after all. The cold water was like a bright ray of sunlight, dispelling the darkness in his mind. He had finally managed to calm down. The ominous dream was something that Raymond had no way of understanding, for now, so he decided to "forget" about it until he could properly digest it.


    Since he had managed to calm down, Raymond decided to cultivate for a bit, and strive to break through to the 2nd revolution of body-refining as soon as possible. He had already filled two of his energy channels to the brim, so the next step was to fill up the third energy channel. This process was both slow and boring, but Raymond had long prepared himself. He knew that the path of cultivation was both long and arduous.


    To fill up the 3rd energy channel took Raymond a total of 6 hours of just absorbing and guiding spiritual energy. Needless to say, this was beyond boring, but Raymond still persisted. The only thing he needed to do now before he could break through the 2nd revolution of body-refining was to connect all of his 3 energy channels together. After connecting all of them together, his energy would revolve around his 3 channels, and in turn, give birth to new spiritual energy when he used up his reserves.


    This process was highly dependent on comprehension as opposed to the talent of the body, which was why it didn''t even take Raymond an hour to complete it. When he had created his first energy cycle, Raymond felt a sense of accomplishment. Now that he had reached the peak of the first revolution of body-refining, Raymond decided to train his martial arts. After sitting down for so long, his body had long turned stiff; he needed to stretch his legs a bit.


    When he grabbed hold of his sword to walk out, Raymond could feel a strange connection to it. To explain it would be difficult, but he felt like the sword was a part of him, a little like a lost limb. He wouldn''t feel complete without it. To Raymond, this was a strange feeling. He had only started practising with the sword the day before, did he really need to feel incomplete without it? Something was strange, and Raymond didn''t know what it was. He could pretty much guess that it had something to do with the strange situation that happened the day before, but that wasn''t really a hard conclusion to come to.


    With doubt on his mind, Raymond walked out to the courtyard once again. This time, he was going to focus on training his Basic Fist Art and Basic Footwork Technique. Even though they weren''t supposed to be his main techniques, he wanted to at least train them to the rudimentary realm. Martial arts skills could be trained to different levels of mastery, and these were named: rudimentary, intermediate, advanced, perfection and transcendent.


    To reach the rudimentary level was just to get a grasp of the technique, and be able to use it in battle. In comparison, the transcendent level was something completely different. To reach the transcendent level, a cultivator would first have to train his technique to perfection, and then go one step further. At this level, a casual attack would transcend the limits of the technique''s power, evolving into something completely different altogether.


    Before training the Basic Fist Art and the Basic Footwork Technique, Raymond tried swinging his sword for a bit. After using a few moves, Raymond was baffled. It seemed like he had already reached the intermediate level of mastery the day before, even though he had only trained for an hour. Not only that, but his sword had a peculiar swiftness and sharpness to it. This made his technique even more powerful than it should be at the intermediate level.


    What Raymond didn''t know was that he had managed to achieve enlightenment the day before. If other cultivators knew of this, they would probably wish him harm out of pure jealousy! Receiving enlightenment is something that most cultivators only get to experience at most once in their lifetimes. To receive enlightenment the first time he ever swung a sword... just the notion itself was absurd.


    Although Raymond was a little confused by the whole situation, in the end, it could only be a positive thing. Since he now had an idea for where his mastery was with the sword technique, it was time to start training his other techniques. Since he already had one method of attack, Raymond decided to start training the Basic Footwork Technique first.


    The manual containing the Basic Footwork Technique was a lot easier to understand than the Azure Wind Sword Art, and Raymond grasped it almost immediately. Putting down the book, he picked up the Basic Fist Art and read through it as well. Like the Basic Footwork technique, the Basic Fist Art was also easy to grasp, and after reading through it once, Raymond had already formed an understanding of it.


    Without wasting any additional time, Raymond started to train both of the techniques at the same time. The most important part of the Basic Footwork Technique and Basic Fist Art was stability. There were no fancy tricks to learn or anything like that. They were both very straightforward. Because of their straightforwardness, they were relatively easy to understand and practice. The only "difficult" part was how to use your muscles, but compared to the Azure Wind Sword Art, Raymond found it pretty easy.


    After half an hour had passed, Raymond was still shuffling around the courtyard, throwing out punches whenever he saw fit. Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, and his limbs were starting to feel sore, but he kept going anyways, he felt like he was pretty close to achieving the rudimentary level of mastery for both techniques. To his astonishment, that last little push he needed ended up taking half an hour more.


    But in the end, he managed to break through to the rudimentary realm for both techniques.. With a satisfied smile on his face, Raymond looked up at the sky. His journey in this world had just begun!

 Chapter 13 - Greencrest City Library!

    With a satisfied smile on his face, Raymond went back up to his room again and took a shower. After washing away the sweat, Raymond decided to take a stroll around town. He could cultivate more if he wanted to, but Raymond didn''t want his entire life to just be cultivation session after cultivation session. He didn''t mind cultivation itself, but he wanted to relax and enjoy himself a bit too, if not, what''s the point of living?


    Walking around the marketplace, Raymond bought a bunch of different snacks and foods from stalls along the way. Some of them tasted absolutely delicious, whilst others tasted pretty bland. Raymond enjoyed a lot of taste, and bland food was almost a sin in his book, which is why he decided to buy himself some spices that he could always carry with him. If he encountered food without taste, he could always spice it up a little himself right?


    Luckily for Raymond, the prices of spices were pretty cheap. Compared to his old world, where some spices were worth their weight in gold, here, they were all pretty cheap. This was mostly because there was an abundance of them, and people didn''t really use them that much. After supplying himself with a few different spices and condiments Raymond was at a loss. He didn''t feel like going back to cultivate just yet, but he was also unsure of what else there was to do.


    He was a man from the 21st century, after all, he was used to the vast amount of entertainment that was only a few clicks away from him. To be in a world without phones, TVs or the internet is less glamorous than it might seem sometimes. If there was one hobby that Raymond had, that he might be able to keep doing in this world, it would be reading. He was unsure about the level of literacy and how widespread literature was in this world, but since he didn''t know, he just needed to find out.


    Plenty of big cities had libraries, and although Greencrest city wasn''t the biggest, it still had a library. After getting directions, Raymond noticed that the library also seemed to be located close to the city lord''s mansion. Maybe it was a coincidence, but Raymond was pretty sure that most of the important establishments were close to the city lord''s mansion. As for why, he wasn''t completely sure yet.


    It would naturally be convenient for the city lord and his people if every major establishment was next door, but to keep it that way, the city lord probably had to pay some kind of price. What Raymond didn''t know was that he was only half right. The city lord did give them some minor benefits, but it was also because the city lord was strong. Which place would be the safest if the city was attacked? Next to the nearest expert of course, and the city lord was the strongest expert in the entire city.


    The public library was a little hard to find, at least harder than Raymond had expected at first. The reason it was a little hard to find was because of Raymond''s expectations. He was expecting a large and grand library that would be easy to spot. What he didn''t expect was that the library only had a single floor, a pretty small one at that. Raymond still tried to be optimistic about the whole situation, but after entering the library, his expression darkened.


    The shelves were covered in dust, and the air was pretty stuffy. To be able to read the books, Raymond had to pay for a token that he could use to access the library. With it, he could read as much as he wanted inside of the library, and he was also allowed to borrow a book at a time. Although it wasn''t the best, at least he could still find something interesting to read.


    It became pretty apparent that the literacy level of this world was a bit behind when Raymond went around and looked at the different books. Most of the books related to martial arts in one way or another, whilst the others had a lot to do with more simple and mundane stuff. Raymond thought that it might be because the library wanted to cater to ordinary people that couldn''t understand more difficult concepts and more complicated literature. But after seeing the amount of dust that had accumulated over time, it was obvious that most people simply weren''t interested in reading.


    If they had time to read a book, then they had time to either train or earn money. This was the mindset that people in this world usually had. Then again, maybe this all just applied to this particular city, Raymond had no way of being sure yet. That isn''t to say that there were absolutely no interesting books at all because after looking around for a while, Raymond still found a few that piqued his interest. To begin with, he picked out a novel that he could bring with him when he left, as well as an encyclopedia on demonic beasts.


    Next to one of the few windows in the library stood an old wooden table and a few chairs. Taking a seat, Raymond was quickly engrossed in reading the encyclopedia on demonic beasts. Even though the book was a factual book, and it wasn''t really made to be interesting, Raymond found it fascinating. I mean, who wouldn''t find it fascinating to learn more about the myriads of different beasts and species that existed in the world?


    Time passed quickly whilst he read, and before he knew it, 3 entire hours had already passed. Although he felt that it was a bit of a bummer, Raymond left the encyclopedia behind for now and left the library. There were a few other interesting books that he wanted to read, but for now, he decided to just borrow an interesting novel. Since he was going to spend a lot of time cultivating, he wanted to have something fun to do in his downtime.


    According to the librarian, he could borrow the novel for a month before he had to return it, and the later he returned it, the more he had to pay. If it was way too late, his token would be revoked too, but Raymond wasn''t planning on that anyway. In the worst-case scenario, he wouldn''t be able to access the library. Since he would still be able to use libraries in other cities, Raymond didn''t really think too much about it. He wasn''t going to stay in this city forever anyways, it was just a temporary stop.


    His topmost priority was to get into the Silver Sword Pavilion through the tournament that would be held in half a year, but there was nothing stopping him from attending the tournament in another city. For now though, Raymond just wanted to get more familiar with this world and get stronger gradually whilst doing so.. The only cultivation criteria he had to meet was to reach the 3rd revolution of body-refining in 6 months, but Raymond wasn''t satisfied with just participating in the tournament. If he was going to participate, he had to place in the top ten at the very least!

 Chapter 14 - 2nd Revolution Of Body-Refining.

    After getting back to his room, Raymond sat down on his bed to cultivate. When he tried to open up his 4th energy channel, he noticed that it had grown noticeably harder than before. He speculated that the reason he had a hard time opening it was that opening up the 4th energy channel would mean that he had broken through to the next realm. Breaking through to the next realm would obviously be a little harder.


    With that said, opening up the 4th energy channel was still not much of a bottleneck, all Raymond needed to do was to keep trying to pry it open using the spiritual energy that was stored in his 1st energy cycle. Thanks to his talent, he only spent around 2 hours opening up his 4th energy channel, successfully breaking through to the 2nd revolution of body-refining. What shocked Raymond was that upon breaking through, his body seemed to have strengthened considerably, even though his spiritual energy remained the same. The strength surging deep within his body made him even more motivated to keep going.


    With a satisfied expression on his face, he was about to continue cultivating when a putrid smell assaulted his nose. Looking down on his body, he noticed that he was covered in small amounts of black filth. This black filth was some of the impurities that were stored deep inside of his body. When breaking through certain cultivation realms, the body would sometimes be cleansed of such filth. He had heard about this process before, but he didn''t think it would happen to him this quickly.


    With a disgusted expression plastered on his face, Raymond quickly took a shower, trying his hardest to scrub it all off. With a little hard work, he was soon cleaner than ever, and he could get back to cultivating again. Filling up the 4th energy channel would naturally take some time, but Raymond decided to start cultivating now, rather than putting it off until the next day. After cultivating for close to 4 hours in complete silence, Raymond was getting exhausted. At this point, the moon was already out, and the daylight was long gone. To Raymond''s surprise, he had already managed to completely fill up the 4th energy channel.


    With a helpless smile, Raymond lit the light standing on his bedside table and angled himself so that he could read without problems. His vision was better than before, and he could definitely read without a light on, but he wanted to make it comfortable for himself. What was the point in straining his eyes just so that he didn''t need to turn a light on? With some excitement, Raymond read his novel for close to an hour before he turned off the light and went to bed.


    The novel that Raymond was reading was actually pretty interesting. Compared to modern literature, the writing wasn''t the best, but the story was captivating and interesting, with a plotline he had never seen before. Although he could probably read the entire thing in a sitting or two, Raymond wanted to spare it for later, and he set up a rule for himself. This rule was to read for at most 2 hours per day.


    The next day came quickly, and this time, Raymond woke up a little later than usual, perhaps because he went to sleep a little later than usual. After stretching himself, Raymond got himself some breakfast and went out to the courtyard. He noticed fairly quickly that his body felt a lot lighter than the day before. This was naturally thanks to both his breakthrough, as well as his cultivation technique.


    The wind element was known for its speed, sharpness and how unrestrained it was. This made it a great element for sword practice, which was also why Raymond was so set on buying the Azure Wind Sword Art from the Profound Secrets Trade Guild. Just thinking about the sword made Raymond excited, and his heart started beating faster than before.


    Listening to his heart, Raymond picked up his sword after finishing his breakfast, and he started practising. Since he had learned a footwork technique the day before, Raymond incorporated it into his sword practice. This made his practice way less static, and he got more and more used to using his body after his recent breakthrough. Compared to the day before, it was harder for Raymond to work up a sweat, but since that was the case, he just trained for a longer period of time.


    Like this, 2 hours of training quickly passed by, and Raymond was finally starting to get exhausted. The training was pretty fruitful, and Raymond felt like he wouldn''t be far off from a breakthrough in his techniques if he kept practising for a few days. This day, Raymond noticed a middle-aged man who was meditating on a bench not far from him. If this was all, then Raymond wouldn''t care too much about it, but this middle-aged man was a little peculiar.


    The first thing that Raymond noticed was that the middle-aged man was obviously watching him, with no intention of hiding it from him. This made Raymond particularly uneasy, but he wasn''t going to stir up any trouble. Since this middle-aged man could look at him without a care in the world, Raymond felt like he was probably a bit too strong for him to take on. He could also feel something in his soul slightly quivering when looking into the middle-aged man''s deep red eyes.


    Since that was the case, Raymond decided to just leave a little earlier than he had wanted to. His mood for training was ruined, and training when he was in a bad mood would just yield mediocre results at best. Since he couldn''t keep training, for now, Raymond decided to go to the library he had found the day before. He was going to live in this world for the foreseeable future, perhaps even for the rest of his life, so it was paramount for Raymond to be knowledgeable about his surroundings.


    He started with reading the beast encyclopedia, but after reading it for a while, he also started reading a few books on geography and the like. After reading for a few hours, Raymond had gotten a better overall picture of his surroundings. The kingdom he was in was called the Herus Kingdom, which was a small kingdom on the north continent. Greencrest city was located in the southern reaches of the kingdom, whilst the capital was further north, practically in the middle of the entire country.


    This info might come in handy later, but for now, Raymond was more interested in the forest he had woken up in a few days prior. The forest was called the Greencrest forest, mostly because of a specific tree that grew in the forest. It was because it was located next to this forest that Greencrest City had gotten its name. Greencrest forest was rather big, and it extended into a few of the surrounding countries. The thing that piqued Raymond''s interest was that it was practically a treasure grove.


    Cultivators from all around would venture into the forest to try their luck. There was only one thing they were all after, money!

 Chapter 15 - Two Weeks Later.

    Obviously, most cultivators wanted to get their hands on as many resources as possible, but to Raymond, money had an entirely different meaning. Instead of furthering his cultivation, Raymond could use this money to enhance his talent. In the short term, it might not do that much for him, but in the long run, it would be way more beneficial. The only real problem with going into Greencrest forest was that Raymond wasn''t strong enough.


    With the strength he had right now, he might be able to defeat one of the weaker species of low-grade rank 1 demonic beasts, but that was about it. If he wanted to have some degree of safety, Raymond wanted to at least break through to the 4th revolution of body-refining before going into the forest. And to break through to the 4th revolution of body-refining, Raymond reckoned that he would need to spend at least 2 weeks cultivating, and that was just an estimate. He still wasn''t sure how much harder it would be to cultivate in the future.


    Through the books, Raymond also learned that the forest was divided into different zones. The first zone, which was basically the outer rim of the forest, was fairly harmless. In this zone, cultivators would be hard-pressed to find a single rank 2 demonic beast. In comparison, the 2nd zone was a lot more dangerous, and it was in this zone that Raymond had woken up in. In the 2nd zone, rank 2 demonic beasts were abundant in numbers, and if you were really unlucky, you might even run into a low-grade rank 3 demonic beast.


    Last but not least was the 3rd and final zone, this zone was also commonly referred to as the death zone by cultivators that lived around here. Most people were not brave enough to venture into the death zone, but out of the few that did, almost 90% didn''t return alive. Some people claimed to have spotted all kinds of things in the death zone; one cultivator even claimed to have seen a rank 5 demonic beast, the Frostflame Demonic Ape.


    Through these texts, Raymond also learned that not counting the low, mid and high grades, there was another grade of demonic beasts. This grade was the top grade, or more commonly referred to as the paragon grade. A paragon-grade demonic beast was something that was hard to come across, and if you did, there was only one logical thing to do: run! A rank 1 paragon-grade demonic beast would be something that only the strongest of 9th revolution body-refining experts could handle.


    To Raymond, all of this information was certainly useful, and it strengthened his resolve to get stronger. Just thinking about all the different types of demonic beasts out there that could easily take his life almost made him shudder. Raymond was destined to be powerful, he knew that much, but to realise this destiny, he needed to work hard. Which was exactly what he was going to do. With a determined expression on his face, Raymond quietly left the library, his goal to break through to the 4th revolution of body-refining!


    ...


    With a loud shout, Raymond swung his sword heavily, stirring the winds in his surroundings. He was finally done with his training session, and he felt like he was beginning to get close to another breakthrough. If he made another breakthrough in his sword art, Raymond would have managed to reach the perfection realm of mastery. For only two weeks worth of practice, his achievements would baffle most. Although his sword mastery was close to perfection, his other martial arts were a little lacking in comparison. His Basic Footwork Technique had managed to reach the advanced realm just the day before, which wasn''t too bad, but his Basic Fist Art was still stuck in the intermediate realm of mastery.


    Although it was a little disappointing, Raymond didn''t feel down because of it. These past two weeks had been hectic, and most of his time had been spent on cultivating rather than practising martial arts. After cultivating for 3 and a half hours, Raymond would practice his martial arts for an hour, before taking a break by going to the library or strolling around the city. After having some fun, Raymond would practice his martial arts for another hour, before rounding off his day with another 3 and a half hours of cultivation.


    This had been his routine for the past two weeks, and it had brought him splendid results. Cultivating for 7 hours in a row would be tedious, but breaking that time in half and cultivating once in the morning, and once in the evening was way more doable. Like this, Raymond''s cultivation had leapt all the way from the beginning of the 2nd revolution to the beginning of the 4th revolution. Not only that, but he had already filled his 10th energy channel with spiritual energy, which meant that he was already working on his 11th one.


    The Raymond from two weeks ago would probably not be able to touch his sleeves at the moment. With satisfaction apparent on his face, Raymond left the courtyard of the inn. On his way out, he snuck a glance at a middle-aged man that was sitting on one of the benches with both of his eyes closed. Raymond still had no idea who this middle-aged man was, but he would always show up at least once a day, occasionally glancing in Raymond''s direction.


    Every time he did, Raymond could feel his hand holding the sword tremble, and a cold shiver would run down his spine. It was like being eyed by a prehistoric beast, a sort of feeling that was hard to describe. In the beginning, Raymond wanted to confront the man, and ask him what he wanted, but after some consideration, he realised that it was probably not the best idea. Before he grew strong enough, Raymond would make sure to stay away from trouble, especially when he could feel how scary the middle-aged man was from a single glance.


    After finishing up his practice, Raymond took a shower before he left for the library. On the way there, he bought himself some snacks and something to drink, which he would enjoy whilst reading. As per usual, the library was empty when he got there, not a single soul seemed to have an interest in reading here, but to Raymond, that was almost like a blessing in disguise. Since he was all alone here, he could relax a bit without caring about his image at all.


    As he read through a few books on spiritual herbs and items that were worth a considerable sum of money, Raymond pondered a little to himself. Although he had gotten way stronger in these past two weeks, he was still unsure if he should head into the Greencrest forest yet or not. On the one hand, he wanted to grow stronger as soon as possible, and to do that, he needed resources.. But on the other hand, he also wanted to just train in peace until he was even stronger since that would provide him with a lot more security.

 Chapter 16 - Preparing To Head Out!

    After some deliberation, Raymond made up his mind. Although he was still unsure of whether it was a good idea, he was going to do it anyway. He had already lived one life where he was resigned to live in mediocrity, he had actually gotten another chance at life. Something would have to be wrong with him if he didn''t even try to live a little differently this time around. The worst thing that could happen was that he died, and since he had already experienced it once, he wasn''t too scared of it.


    Having made up his mind, Raymond decided to buy a few necessities before he set off. When he looked at his status to make sure how much money he needed for his next talent upgrade, he noticed something peculiar.


    [Host]: [Raymond Dawson]


    [Race]: [Human?]


    [Age]: [16]


    [Cultivation]: [Body-Refining: 4th Revolution] (11th energy channel)


    [Skills]: [Basic Fist Art, Basic Footwork Technique, Blue Wind True Art, Azure Wind Sword Art]


    [Talents]: [Moderate Wealth Mortal Body] [Sword Force: Beginner]


    [Wealth]: [73 g]


    In his talent column, he noticed something unfamiliar. [Sword Force: Beginner], this was something that Raymond had never seen before, but he already had an inkling about what it could be. After practising with his sword, Ramond had noticed that his sword seemed to be sharper and faster than it should be. This feeling had been with him ever since he had his little epiphany two weeks ago, but he never expected that he had unlocked a new talent.


    [Sword Force: Beginner]


    [A swordsman''s most feared weapon is his comprehension of the sword. Sword force augments the user''s attacks to various degrees depending on which type of sword force he has comprehended.]


    [Comprehension: Blue Wind Sword Force]


    Looking at the description provided by the system, Raymond felt his mind clear up a little. It wasn''t like he had unlocked another talent unique to the system like he had originally thought. Instead, this talent was something that any swordsman could comprehend if he was talented enough. After seeing the type of sword force he had comprehended, Raymond also felt like it was natural. He was practising a sword art related to wind, and his cultivation art was the Blue Wind True Art.


    He could also infer that the augmentation to his attacks brought by the sword force was the increased sharpness as well as the increased swiftness. The only thing Raymond wanted to know now was how to train this sword force. Since the talent seemed to be something passive, Raymond wasn''t sure how he was supposed to train it. Using it was something he did all the time subconsciously, so that was probably not it.


    Since just sitting around pondering about it wouldn''t really help anyone, Raymond decided to think about it later. It was probably wiser to inquire about this sort of information instead of trying to figure it out by himself. To do this, Raymond started by going to a place he had recently found, the information guild. After reading in the library for more than 2 weeks in a row, Raymond had noticed that a lot of things that he was curious about didn''t exist, and in that case, the only thing he could do was to go to the information guild.


    The information guild was a place that sold information, quite simple really. This information could be practically anything, even if they didn''t have it, they could get it pretty quickly as long as you paid them enough money. Although the place was convenient, Raymond didn''t really need to go there often, since he could find most information that interested him in the library. Although he was just about to go and get himself some supplies, Raymond decided to satisfy his own curiosity first. Who knows, maybe the information on sword force would be more useful than he thought?


    The information guild''s building was actually one of the few important buildings that weren''t located right next to the city lord''s manor. Maybe it was because of its rather remote location, but the building itself was a rather dilapidated wooden building. The building only had one story, but what baffled Raymond was the fact that it was way too small. Considering how many records and stuff they needed to have stored, there was no way for it all to fit inside such a small house, especially when you consider that the lobby took up about half the floor.


    Raymond guessed that they probably had a basement of some sort, but that was merely speculation. The service wasn''t the best, but at least it was adequate, after waiting in one of the smaller rooms at the back for a while, a man wearing a white mask walked in. After sitting down opposite him, their small exchange started.


    "What kind of information are you looking for?"


    "Sword force"


    "Oh, and what kind of information regarding sword force?"


    Raymond was pleasantly surprised since it seemed like this man knew what sword force was. This meant that the talent might not be that obscure after all. This in turn meant that they definitely had this information at hand.


    "How to use and train it."


    "Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced?"


    The information was always divided into different tiers. Depending on which one you got, you might not get what you are looking for, but this way, it was a bit easier to be frugal if you only wanted basic information.


    "What are their prices?"


    "10 silver, 1 gold or 10 gold respectively."


    "I''ll go with the intermediate one then"


    "Wait here for a sec."


    The man quickly left the small room, and Raymond was left on his own. He was already used to this, but the first time he was here, he was a bit confused. He didn''t even understand what the point of the small rooms was before he thought about it for a bit. Obviously, information could be sensitive, and if a customer wanted to inquire about someone else''s private information, for example, things could quickly get out of hand. What if someone who knew that person was also in the lobby when you inquired for their information? Needless to say, things would get messy.


    After sitting on his own for about two minutes, the man returned with a wooden tube in his hands. After Raymond gave him a gold coin, he received the tube and quietly left.


    "Pleasure doing business with you!"


    "Likewise."


    After getting what he came for, Raymond decided to buy what he needed for his trip, before he returned to the inn once more. Although he was eager to try his strength and earn some money, he would rather research his own power a bit first. There was no point in knowing his enemy if he didn''t even know himself. From what he had gathered, sword force was a mysterious power, but Raymond felt like there was more to it.


    There was no way it was just a passive power, there had to be a way to stimulate it somehow.. How else was it supposed to be trained? With plenty of thoughts on his mind, Raymond sat down on his bed, popped open the wooden tube, and retrieved the parchment inside.

 Chapter 17 - Heading Out!

    The parchment didn''t contain much text, but luckily for Raymond, it contained exactly what he was looking for. To begin with, the parchment contained information on the different realms of sword force. According to the parchment, there were only two realms of sword force, at least if you don''t count the small grades such as low, mid, high and perfect. These two realms were sword force, as well as sword momentum.


    After reaching perfection in sword force, reaching sword momentum would be the next step forward, however, this small step was harder than reaching the perfection of sword force from scratch. According to the parchment, the main use of sword force wasn''t the passive enhancement, but rather the active use of it. This was exactly how Raymond had guessed, and luckily for him, the parchment also told him how he was supposed to stimulate it.


    Sword force was a power that originated from the soul itself, and this was also the reason why it was invisible to the naked eye. To use this power, and to strengthen it, Raymond had to communicate with the sword within his soul. This sounded pretty abstract, and to some people it was, but to Raymond, the process was pretty straightforward. The only reason people had a hard time mobilising the power of their souls, as well as communicating with the sword within it, was because they lacked talent.


    If you had a strong soul, to begin with, these things wouldn''t be much of a problem. Raymond could figure out that his soul was stronger than most, but he wasn''t completely sure why. The only thing that he could think of was his transmigration, as well as his inherent talent. What Raymond didn''t know was that both of those two guesses were actually correct. The biggest reason why his soul was strong was because of his transmigration. To arrive in this world, his soul had to go through numerous trials and tribulations, which directly strengthened it several degrees.


    The god of wealth''s physique also strengthened his cultivation talent, and this included his soul. Raymond was pleasantly surprised by all of this since sword force was supposed to be something that was really strong. With another trump card in his arsenal, Raymond was even more excited to head out into Greencrest Forest to temper himself. Before he left though, he went to the courtyard a final time to test out the power of his sword force.


    Standing out in the grass, he slowly entered a strange state whilst he mobilised the power of his soul. When he swung his sword like he usually did, the power was completely incomparable to before. Not only was the power almost an entire 50% stronger, but the sharpness and swiftness were on a completely different level too. To Raymond, this was more than a pleasant surprise. He didn''t expect that the power of sword force would enhance his strength by an entire 50%.


    He also realised that this power wasn''t infinite, it was taxing on his soul. But it would last him at least 10 minutes, which was more than enough to work as his trump card. According to the parchment, this power would completely transform into something way more powerful when he reached the sword momentum realm. Raymond couldn''t even begin to imagine what kind of enhancement that would give his strength, but he was excited nonetheless.


    With some more reassurance, Raymond decided that now was a good time to head out. Sure, he could wait until the next day just so that he could be out earlier, but Raymond didn''t really care too much about that. The trip to the forest was fairly short since it was just next to the city, but Raymond always kept his vigilance up. The outer rim of the forest was fairly harmless for most cultivators, but Raymond was still careful.


    He was here to get some battle experience, but the battle experience would do him no good if he had to die for it. With that in mind, Raymond slowly started to explore the forest. Every now and then, he would hear and see people fighting with rank 1 beasts, but he kept his distance. Although he would love to help people if they truly needed it, with the strength he had right now, he was in no state to help anyone else but himself.


    Soon enough, Raymond could hear some movement not far from him, and before he could think too much, a beast slowly entered his line of sight. This beast, or wolf rather, had spotless white fur, and a weird green mark on its forehead. After reading the encyclopedia of demonic beasts, Raymond was pretty confident in his knowledge of demonic beasts, and he could immediately tell that this was a young gale wolf.


    Luckily for Raymond, this gale wolf had barely matured from a cub, otherwise, he would be in a lot of trouble. Most gale wolfs would become high-grade rank 1 upon reaching adulthood, with some even going one step further, becoming paragons of rank 1. This young gale wolf could barely be considered to be mid-grade of rank 1, which meant that it was on pretty equal grounds with Raymond.


    Raymond looked at the gale wolf, which started to aggressively growl at him as soon as he was spotted. Since it didn''t seem very friendly, Raymond slowly pulled out his sword and got ready to fight. The young gale wolf seemed to be even more agitated by this action, as it immediately leapt into action. Raymond made use of his Basic Footwork Technique to instantly sidestep it without issues.


    Whilst sidestepping the gale wolf''s attack, Raymond also made use of this opportunity to send out his own. The sword in his hand slashed out without any problem, instantly heading for the wolf''s neck. The gale wolf wasn''t able to comprehend what happened, as its head was instantly severed from its own body. The cut was neat, but even so, some blood still splashed on Raymond''s face.


    Raymond just stood there for a while, staring blankly at his own hands. Surprisingly, he didn''t feel any guilt after killing the wolf at all, the only feeling in his heart was surprise. He didn''t expect to kill it with a single attack. According to their realms, their strength was supposed to be pretty similar to each other. This made Raymond frown. Either he was stronger than he realised, or this wolf was just weak. Either way, he didn''t feel satisfied by this fight at all.


    To think his first fight in this world would be so anticlimactic. Raymond could only helplessly smile to himself. After wiping off the blood on his face, Raymond quickly spread a powder over the gale wolf''s body. This was a pretty common powder that most cultivators used since it could erase the scent of blood. The reason they wanted to erase the scent of blood from a demonic beasts carcass was naturally that they didn''t want even more demonic beasts to come knocking on their door.


    Gale wolves were known for their beautiful and spotless white fur, which could be sold for a decent amount of money.. With that in mind, Raymond decided to take some with him to sell when he went back to town.

 Chapter 18 - Greencrest Forest.

    Since the fight was anything but satisfying, Raymond decided to keep going. Since he could kill a mid-grade rank 1 demonic beast in one attack, when he wasn''t even using his full strength, Raymond was filled with confidence. His combat power was probably at either the peak of the mid-grade or maybe even in the beginning of high-grade of rank 1. To achieve this level of combat power after only having been in this world for less than three weeks, Raymond felt a sense of accomplishment.


    Although his cultivation talent was granted by the system, his comprehension was his own, and without it, his combat strength would be way lower than it is now.


    Since Raymond had decided to keep going, he left after harvesting some more materials from the gale wolf. He couldn''t take everything with him, but it would be a waste to just leave it all, so he took some of the more valuable parts with him. The most valuable part was naturally the demonic core. Demonic beasts didn''t use energy channels to cultivate in the same way cultivators do. Instead, they cultivate their demonic cores.


    Since the demonic cores were the source of their cultivation, they naturally sold for a lot of money. Although Raymond was a little excited at first, he quickly calmed down. The demonic core of a mid-grade rank 1 demonic beast was naturally not worth that much. Compared to the demonic core of a rank 2 demonic beast, the difference was like the difference between heaven and earth.


    After wiping off the blood on his sword, he returned it to its scabbard and went on his way.


    Since he decided to go deeper into the forest, it didn''t take long for Raymond to stumble upon another demonic beast. This one, however, was a little different. The demonic beast was a twin-headed demonic cobra. If that was all, Raymond wouldn''t care too much, but what surprised him was the fact that the cobra was guarding something. Raymond wasn''t sure what it was, since he could only feel the spiritual energy fluctuations from the cave it was resting in front of.


    Even though he didn''t know what it was, Raymond was sure that it was something valuable. Not just anything could give off such serious spiritual energy fluctuations. The twin-headed demonic cobra was a high-grade rank 1 demonic beast, and Raymond wasn''t sure if he could beat it in a fight. Even if he wasn''t completely certain that he could beat it, Raymond still wanted to give it a shot.


    Right now, the twin-headed demonic cobra was sleeping. This meant that Raymond could gain himself an advantage if he played his cards correctly. His first idea was naturally to ambush it, but Raymond didn''t have any appropriate techniques for that. To approach it silently, he needed a more profound footwork technique, or maybe even something that existed for the sake of assassination. As he was pondering, he suddenly realised something.


    The cultivation technique that Raymond was practising was the Blue Wind True Art, and if he incorporated it into his Basic Footwork Technique correctly, his footsteps would practically be silent. Although he couldn''t manipulate the wind in his surroundings, Raymond could still manipulate it as long as his body was in direct contact with it. The only real problem was that Raymond had never tried this out before.


    If he was successful, he would be able to land a fatal blow on the cobra before it could even react. The most annoying part about twin-headed demonic cobras was the fact that they had two heads. To kill the snake, one needed to chop off both of its heads. This is naturally a lot more annoying than just cutting off one of them, but luckily, if you managed to cut off one of the heads, at least the cobra would grow weaker.


    This was because the cobra had two demonic cores, one in each head. This meant that as long as you cut off one of the heads, the cobra would lose half of its energy reserves. Not only that but it would also be disoriented easily.


    With his plan clear, Raymond steadied his breath and cleared his mind. The spiritual energy in his body started to slowly circulate in his body, before going to his legs. Normally, the Blue Wind True Art didn''t have a way to muffle the sound of footsteps. What Raymond was currently doing was something that was way harder than he realised. Raymond was using his understanding of the wind element to "create" his own technique.


    This was something that was only possible because of Raymond''s sword force. Sword force was a power of the soul, and with it, he could utilise some of the power of the universe. This was something that only cultivators with profound cultivation bases could do. The only difference was that they didn''t need to use a medium to do it, they could just do it normally. What Raymond was doing was basically just taking advantage of his Blue Wind sword force to use the power of nature.


    The normal way to do something like this was to get a good understanding of the concept of wind, upon which you could use the wind however you wanted. This was naturally really hard, and it worked for the other elements too. Raymond had actually misunderstood how powerful his cultivation technique was. Because of its name, he had assumed that it would grant him some control over the wind, but that wasn''t actually the case.


    The Blue Wind True Art was only a mid-grade mortal realm art, after all, there was no way it could have such exaggerated powers.


    Raymond had no idea that he had actually done something so outrageous. He didn''t even notice that he had subconsciously stimulated the power of his sword force. He was more focused on the twin-headed demonic cobra. Slowly but surely, he made his way over towards it. He had already drawn his sword since the friction generated from drawing it out of the scabbard might attract the cobra''s attention.


    When he was only a step away from the cobra, Raymond swung his sword! This was the strongest attack Raymond could unleash without using his sword force.


    Before the attack could reach the cobra, it abruptly woke up. Maybe it heard the sound of the sword cutting the air, or maybe it felt Raymond''s killing intent, perhaps it was simply the power of its animalistic instincts, Raymond wasn''t sure. What he did know was that cobra was desperately trying its hardest to dodge Raymond''s attack, and it succeeded, albeit not completely.


    The sword descended too fast, and although the cobra dodged with all of its might, Raymond still managed to cut off one of its heads. The cobra screeched in pain and quickly slithered away from Raymond before he could react. After regaining its bearings somewhat, the cobra stared Raymond down whilst hissing at him. Although it had lost one of its heads, and half of its spiritual energy, the cobra was still confident in killing Raymond.


    This human in front of it was neither weak nor strong, which meant that the cobra should be able to kill him without problems!

 Chapter 19 - The Unique Fragrance Of Green Spirit Grass.

    Since it had lost one of its heads, the cobra''s strength had dwindled to the peak of mid-grade rank 1. With his sword grasped tightly in his hand, Raymond felt a great amount of courage in the face of the ferocious beast. After looking at it from up close, Raymond noticed how huge the cobra truly was. He wasn''t able to see it clearly from a distance, but from up close, he guessed that the snake must have been at least 8 meters long. Not only that, but it was also wider than Raymond''s thigh.


    The massive snake hissed at Raymond before it instantly went on the attack. The cobra lunged at a speed that most would find frightening, but Raymond was calm. Seeing the poisonous fangs heading straight for his neck, all Raymond did was swing his sword. The collision brought about by the swing of his sword sent the cobra flying backwards for more than a meter. The cobra seemed bewildered by this result, as it didn''t expect Raymond to be so fast. Raymond wasn''t about to let this opportunity slip by, and he immediately went on the counterattack.


    With a large stride, Raymond swung for the cobra''s head, upon which the cobra seemed to regain its bearings. To Raymond''s surprise, the cobra didn''t even attempt to dodge his attack. The sound and feeling of cutting into the cobra''s flesh didn''t appear as Raymond expected. Instead, Raymond felt like he had just tried to cut a piece of sheet metal. The cobra''s scales shined with an eerie black light, and Raymond instantly realised his foolishness. Naturally, he wasn''t the only one who could utilise his spiritual energy in this fight.


    Since his attack failed miserably, Raymond''s defence was left wide open. The cunning cobra seemed to have anticipated this, as it lunged for Raymond''s neck once again. Since there was no way for Raymond to bring his sword back to guard in time, Raymond did the only thing he could; he threw a punch. An uppercut hit the cobra right on the chin, and its mouth was forcibly closed. This bought Raymond the time he needed, and he used it to swiftly retreat a few meters.


    Because of his awkward position, as well as the fact that the punch was thrown with his left arm, the damage of the punch was limited. The only thing it did was piss the cobra off even more.


    Both Raymond and the cobra had a short staredown before their battle resumed. Raymond knew that a normal attack probably wouldn''t be able to wound the cobra, and since he didn''t want to prolong the battle, there was only one logical thing to do. With a peculiar glint in his eyes, Raymond slowly raised his sword above his head and waited patiently.


    The cobra was vigilant; it thought that Raymond was about to attack. To its surprise, Raymond just stood there, calmly. The cobra was confused for a few seconds before its rage took over. This human had cut just off one of its heads, and now it was just standing there, waiting for death? The cobra was confident that the human wouldn''t be able to harm it, no matter the angle of the attack.


    Once again, the cobra lunged forward at a frightening speed. Raymond''s expression was still abnormally calm, and it didn''t look like it would change anytime soon. When the snake was within striking distance, Raymond simply swung his sword downward. This simple strike was faster than anything Raymond had ever done before, and the cobra had a hard time reacting to it. Instinctively, it managed to mobilise its spiritual energy to harden the spot where the strike would land just in time.


    The cobra was sure that it had just won the fight, and it had already imagined the taste of Raymond''s corpse in its mind. The sad thing was that this thought would be the last thought the cobra would ever have.


    Before the cobra could react, Raymond''s sword sliced through its scales without any resistance. The cobras last head was sent flying into the air, ending the small scuffle. Even Raymond himself was a little surprised by the power of this strike. His plan was initially to stimulate his sword force to the point where he could injure the cobra. From there, he could either try and exhaust it to death, or even run away if he needed to.


    Apparently, that wasn''t needed. When he stimulated his sword force fully, the power that was generated was simply absurd, allowing Raymond to slice through the cobra''s scales without issues. Stimulating the sword force like this granted Raymond immense powers, but it was also equally taxing, and Raymond wasn''t sure if he could do it more than 3 times at full power. The recovery of the sword force was also something Raymond didn''t know much about, which was why he needed to use this power sparingly.


    As he was thinking, a sweet fragrance drifted out of the cave the cobra had been ardently guarding. Raymond had nearly forgotten about the cave altogether, but after smelling the fragrance that was coming out of it, Raymond decided to go take a look. After entering the cave, the fragrance only became stronger, and Raymond started to feel a little weird, almost... refreshed.


    After going a little deeper, Raymond saw a few green stalks growing on one of the cave walls. This spiritual plant was something that Raymond had seen before. Not in real life of course, but he had seen it in the compendium of spiritual plants in the library. To his knowledge, this should be a few stalks of Green Spirit Grass.


    As Raymond walked closer to pluck it, he could feel a soothing feeling originating from his soul. Sensing this feeling, Raymond thought about the introduction to Green Spirit Grass in the compendium. According to the book, Green Spirit Grass was an important alchemical ingredient. With it, a qualified alchemist could create a True Soul Pill. This was a very rare pill that could enhance a cultivators soul.


    Since he felt his soul being soothed, Raymond was sure that this was the Green Spirit Grass he had read about. After he realised this, Raymond was beginning to get a little excited. A stalk of Green Spirit Grass was worth 100 gold coins! And in front of him, Raymond counted four stalks. This meant that Raymond had just stumbled upon 400 gold coins! If he counted in the demonic cores he had gotten earlier, Raymond had already crossed the halfway point to his next talent upgrade!


    With plenty of care, Raymond plucked the four stalks of Green Spirit Grass and put them in a jade box that he had bought earlier in the city. Jade boxes were excellent for preserving the quality of spiritual plants, and without one, there was a high chance that the spiritual plant would degrade or wither on the way back to the city, even if only a little.


    Although he didn''t expect to run into such an expensive spiritual medicine, Raymond had still prepared a jade box that could contain spiritual plants, just in case he was lucky. To Raymond''s delight, his investment actually paid off.. If he had found this Green Spirit Grass without anywhere to put it, he would''ve truly cried.

 Chapter 20 - Trouble.

    After organising and putting all of his gains into his backpack, Raymond started pondering a little. He had two options to choose from currently. He could either go back to the city and sell what he had gathered before it became dark, or he could keep going, in hopes of finding something more valuable. To Raymond, the decision seemed pretty easy to make. He didn''t want to bite off more than he could chew, so for now, he decided to return. He really wanted to get some more combat experience, but that could wait until the next day.


    When he was just about to leave, he could hear the sound of footsteps, and when he turned his head to the side to look, an arrow whizzed right past his right cheek, drawing a neat line of blood. Raymond was both confounded and alerted. If he didn''t turn his head, that arrow would''ve hit him squarely in the face. Trying to ascertain the position of the archer, Raymond noticed three people walking towards him.


    One of the men looked at the archer with a disdainful look on his face.


    "Huh, come on man, how could you miss a stationary target like that?"


    Incensed, the archer instantly started berating him. "Shut up man, if you didn''t walk ahead like that, he wouldn''t have turned his head you fucking idiot!"


    "What did you say?"


    The man walking in the middle, presumably their leader, suddenly interrupted their heated discussion. "Both of you shut the fuck up, you can fight all you want later, but don''t mess this up."


    "Yes, boss!" The two men both replied in unison.


    Trying to ascertain their cultivation levels, Raymond''s expression became darker. The two dudes who were arguing were both in the peak of the 5th revolution of body-refining, whilst their leader was in the middle of the 6th. This lineup was something that would normally easily deal with a 4th revolution body-refining cultivator, but Raymond wasn''t exactly normal. The three of them had arrived just in time to see Raymond emerge from the cave with the Green Spirit Grass in his grasp.


    They also saw the dead twin-headed cobra on the ground, but since Raymond was unscathed, and since he was only in the 4th revolution of body-refining, they assumed that he had either ambushed it or that someone else had killed the beast. There was no way for someone at the 4th revolution of body-refining to kill an adult twin-headed cobra without injuries.


    "Kid, although I''d usually just take your valuables and let you live, that won''t be possible today."


    "Just stand there quietly and let us take your life."


    The cruel words of the boss echoed in the forest whilst Raymond was quietly observing them. The words of a mere bandit weren''t enough to unsettle Raymond, instead, his expression just became colder. Although he had never killed anyone before, there had to be a first time for everything right?


    The boss noticed that Raymond wasn''t responding, and he instantly lost interest. "Who wants to do the honours?"


    "Let me deal with him, I like the look in his eyes." The man who had been at odds with the archer earlier responded with a creepy look on his face.


    With his sword drawn, he started walking towards Raymond at a moderate pace. Because of the short distance, he arrived within 5 meters of Raymond in just a few seconds. When he was just 3 meters away, Raymond suddenly sighed.


    "What? Did yo-"


    Before the man could finish his mocking sentence, he noticed that no words were coming out. As he looked down, he saw a large hole in his throat. Blood was pouring out profusely, but instead of feeling pain, the man only felt sheer terror. His life was slipping away from him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He didn''t even notice when Raymond had appeared in front of him, but that was the last of his problems right now.


    Whilst he was busy trying to cover the hole in his throat, Raymond had already arrived in front of his accomplices. The look on their faces was both of shock and pure anger. They had just seen their comrade being stabbed in the throat, and in their experience, they knew he was done for the moment Raymond took his sword out.


    Raymond''s speed was definitely his strongest trait, along with the sharpness of his attacks, but even so, the boss could keep up with his speed. Although Raymond had initially been aiming for the archer, the boss stepped in front of him, protecting him in the process. Raymond was surprised, but he took advantage of the opportunity and slashed out with his sword. The attack fell short by a significant margin, which surprised the boss, did this kid just miss that badly?


    Whilst he was thinking, he could feel a warm and wet substance hit him straight in the eyes. There was still some blood left on Raymond''s sword, which he made use of to blind his opponent by flicking it in his eyes.


    With the boss temporarily blinded, Raymond took the opportunity to finish off the archer beside him. Since the boss was temporarily blinded, he wasn''t much of a threat, but the same couldn''t be said for the archer. The archer''s original attack almost killed him, so there was no way he was going to give him another chance to finish him off. The archer had originally felt a little smug after his boss stepped in, expecting the kid to be finished off in just an instant, but to be safe, he had prepared an arrow just in case.


    To his surprise, his boss was suddenly blinded, and the kid took the opportunity to attack him. Since he had nocked an arrow, he just let it fly in Raymond''s direction, hoping for the best. Raymond was prepared, and he dodged it to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, the arrow was still a bit too fast, and it lodged itself deep in his left shoulder. The pain didn''t come immediately because of the adrenaline rush, and Raymond swung his sword with additional ferocity.


    The archer who saw his arrow hit Raymond''s shoulder was originally happy, at least until his head was severed from his body.


    The boss had already wiped off the blood in his eyes just to see this scene unfold. Before Raymond could recover, he unleashed all of his strength and lunged at him with his sword. Raymond could barely react and put his sword up to defend in time, but the impact sent him flying backwards for more than 5 meters.


    The boss didn''t intend to let Raymond recover, and he instantly followed him with his sword raised high. Raymond''s mind was unprecedentedly focused as he was whistling through the air, and he saw that he was heading straight for a tree. A thought appeared in his mind, an idea. It was now or never. He manoeuvred his body so that his feet landed on the trunk of the tree.


    With his sword in hand, he pushed off the tree with all his might and clashed swords with the boss. A high-pitched sound echoed throughout the forest, and a head was sent flying through the air....

 Chapter 21 - Troublesome Undercurrents.

    After managing to finish off all three of them, Raymond sat down against a tree and panted heavily. The pain in his left shoulder was practically unbearable, and pulling out the arrow made it even worse. Although it was painful, Raymond simply gritted his teeth, applied a cheap medical ointment he had bought to staunch the bleeding, and bandaged it up to the best of his ability. After calming himself down and gathering his thoughts, Raymond stood back up again and walked over to the bodies of the three people he had just killed.


    Although he had killed them in self-defence, the thought of ending someone else''s life was pretty sickening. Luckily for Raymond, he had a strong soul, and he managed to get over it somewhat by justifying his actions to himself over and over again. Even though his mental state was still pretty bad, at least it wasn''t bad enough to keep him from moving around.


    After looking over their corpses for a little while, Raymond managed to find something interesting. Except for the money they had on them, which was around 300 gold, Raymond noticed that they all had a wooden token in their possession. These tokens were exquisitely carved with a black sabre on the back, creating an ominous image. Since he couldn''t feel any spiritual energy from the tokens, Raymond guessed that they were used as some kind of identity proof, probably belonging to some organisation.


    This was naturally bad news for Raymond since it meant that he had probably stepped on the toes of some kind of organisation. From the ominous-looking tokens, Raymond concluded that it was probably for the better if he got out of here quickly. He had no real tools to get rid of the bodies, but luckily the forest was teeming with demonic beasts which would do the job for him. Before he left, he kept one of the tokens with him, whilst he discarded the others. When he arrived in town later, he could have the token investigated.


    Without wasting any more time, Raymond quickly left the scene of slaughter behind, hoping that nothing troublesome would come out of the whole situation. The night was still young, but Raymond had no other interest than returning home right now. The wound on his shoulder felt a little better, but the pain was still there, and it was slightly unbearable. Luckily for Raymond, he only encountered a single demonic beast on the way back, and since it was only low-grade rank 1, he managed to finish it off without aggravating his injury much.


    The city was still lively despite the darkness of the night, but Raymond didn''t really feel like appreciating it right now. After returning back to his room, Raymond just laid down on his bed and fell asleep in a matter of seconds. Both his body and mind were truly exhausted right now; this was one of the most eventful days since he had come to this world. What he didn''t know was that elsewhere, trouble was already starting to brew.


    ...


    On an outpost located a few hours away from Blackridge Mountain, a burly man was sitting in his tent. The burly man was feasting on a large spread of different dishes, as well as indulging himself in the sweet taste of his wine when one of his subordinates suddenly burst into his tent. Although it would normally be safe to assume that the man would be angry when someone disturbed his meal, he knew that his subordinates wouldn''t dare disturb him without a reason.


    "Boss, Jason''s team seem to have encountered some kind of trouble!"


    The burly man frowned heavily. "Explain it to me properly."


    The subordinate was still a little flustered, but upon hearing his boss talk, he calmed down a little. "The two members accompanying Jason had their tokens destroyed. Although Jason''s token is still intact, the fluctuations seem off, it seems like he has entered Greencrest city on his own."


    The burly man pondered for a little while. This was a troublesome situation. His expression became a little darker as he was thinking, and the pressure he exuded became heavier and heavier until his subordinate could barely breathe.


    "Get two teams to investigate, send one of them to where the two tokens were destroyed, and send the other team after Jason. I don''t think I need to tell you what is going to happen if Jason turns up dead."


    "Yes sir!"


    The subordinate quickly scrambled out of the tent, scared that his boss would take out his anger on him. Although this burly man might not look that extraordinary on the surface, to his subordinates, he was both their spiritual pillar of support, as well as an object of fear. In this outpost, he was the only cultivator who had stepped past the body-refining realm after all. He was someone who had stepped on the path of spirit-refining!


    ...


    The next day, Raymond woke up feeling sore. The exhaustion of his body was more serious than he thought, but it was a testament to how much he had experienced the day before. After freshening himself up, Raymond immediately left for the market. Although he would usually cultivate in the morning, today he had a few things he needed to do before that. The first thing he did was sell everything he had gained the day before to the Profound Secrets Trade Guild.


    After everything was sold, Raymond found himself with exactly 822 gold coins in his possession, which meant that he wasn''t far off from upgrading his talent once again. The next thing on the agenda was to investigate the token he had found the day before. To Raymond, this was of utmost importance. He needed to know what kind of people he had messed with, and if they had a way to find him.


    After arriving at the information guild, Raymond was once again led into a small room, where a man with a white mask soon entered. After sitting down opposite him, the exchange officially started.


    "What kind of information are you looking for?"


    This time, Raymond didn''t say anything, instead, he just threw the token in his hand to the man with the white mask. Raymond noticed immediately that the man with the white mask had a weird look in his eyes when he received the token.


    "5 gold coins." The man stated a price directly, instead of usually listing the prices of the different tiers of information.


    "Alright"


    Although he was a little confused, Raymond still handed over the 5 gold coins and waited for the man to come back with his information.


    After getting the information, Raymond returned to the inn where he promptly opened up the container and took a look at the parchment inside. After reading through it, Raymond quickly got up from his bed, destroyed the token in his hand, and left his room with all of his belongings. According to the information, this token could be used to track the members of the Dark Sabre Gang, which meant that someone was currently on his tracks!


    Although he felt stupid, Raymond quickly calmed down and decided to do the only thing he could currently do; Run!

 Chapter 22 - On The Move!

    Raymond had assumed that the token was only some sort of identification, and he had been half-right. The token was indeed used as identification, but it also contained a sliver of profound energy. This profound energy was something that Raymond had no way of sensing, which is why he had assumed this token to be something normal in the beginning. Now that he knew that the token was something extraordinary, it was only natural for him to destroy the token, and to get as far away as possible.


    The Dark Sabre Gang was a gang that had hundreds of members, and the members that Raymond had killed was only ordinary ones. This meant that he had managed to make hundreds of enemies that were on par with the 3 bandits that he had killed the day before. Not only that, but the Dark Sabre Gang had 10 lieutenants, a vice leader and a boss. Each lieutenant had 3 squads under them, with the squad leaders being in the 9th revolution of body-refining.


    The lieutenants themselves were even scarier, having actually broken through the body-refining realm completely, and taken the first step on the path of spirit-refining. As for the vice-leader and the boss, they had gone even further, with the boss being at the 7th step of spirit-refining. A person with such a realm would naturally not care for a regular underling, but Raymond wasn''t going to risk his safety to stay in a city that he barely had any attachment to.


    Before leaving, Raymond bought himself a map of the Herus kingdom and started travelling to the north. Right now he was in Greencrest City, which was practically as far south as you could get in the Herus kingdom. According to his knowledge, there was a total of 12 provinces in the Herus kingdom, each with its own local capital. These provinces were ruled by the city lords who resided in these provincial capitals.


    Such a position naturally came with a lot of power and resources, which meant that not just anyone could become a city lord over a provincial capital. That meant that the 12 city lords were all people trusted by the royal family, and they all had a cultivation that was at the limit of the spirit-refining path. As for the realm beyond the spirit-refining realm, Raymond had no idea what it was, since it was something that only existed in the royal family, as well as the sects.


    The Dark Sabre Gang was naturally not something these provincial lords could tolerate, but since they were not operating within their sphere of influence, at least not on the surface, they didn''t bother with them. This was naturally because they would suffer a lot of losses if they did so, and the losses might even outweigh the gain. Such an operation was not in their best interest. However, in the provincial lords'' territory, the Dark Sabre Gang had to be a lot more careful.


    Since that was the case, Raymond was planning on moving to the closest provincial capital. If the Dark Sabre Gang even had to be careful in the provincial lords'' territories, then wouldn''t they have to be even more careful in the capitals of these territories, the lords'' actual residence?


    The closest provincial capital to Raymond was Kredon, and it was also where he was currently headed. The only real problem was that Raymond had left in a hurry before knowing where he was going. If he had planned ahead a little, he would''ve bought himself a horse. Without one, it would probably take Raymond around two weeks of travel to arrive, and it might even take longer depending on how fast he walked.


    Although he was a little discouraged at first, he was also determined. Going back now would be risky, and Raymond didn''t enjoy taking risks. When he had left the inn, Raymond had told the owner that he was heading into the forest again. This was just in case he was asked or interrogated by the members of the Dark Sabre Gang. Maybe he could throw them off his tail a little bit.


    The road to Kredon was long and winding, but there were plenty of people who came and went. One thing that almost all of them had in common was that they were travelling in a carriage or on a horse, there was barely anyone who would travel the entire way on foot. Raymond felt a little awkward every time someone passed him by. He had asked a few people if he could pay them to hitch a ride, but even though he was polite, no one wanted to take the risk.


    The reason was fairly obvious, Raymond was a young man with a sword strapped to his waist. He looked like he was from a wealthy family, yet he was travelling by himself on foot. Although most people couldn''t quite put their finger on it, they knew that something was a little off, and no one wanted unwarranted trouble. Raymond felt a little helpless, but he could understand where they were coming from, especially since most of them had little to no cultivation. No one would invite a wolf into a den of sheep.


    Raymond could only continue his journey on foot for now. Since he had been in a hurry, he didn''t prepare anything beforehand, this meant that he had to sleep on the ground most of the time. His cultivation time and martial arts practice was also cut down by about half, but he still persisted every day. This journey was neither long nor short, but it was not the greatest, Raymond was clear on that much.


    ...


    Next to a small creek, a young man was patiently waiting for his clothes to dry. His expression looked a little haggard, but the look in his eyes was spirited, and also somewhat fierce. This was Raymond, and he had been travelling alone for the past two weeks. In the beginning, the journey was still somewhat bearable, but in the past two weeks, he had experienced a bunch of unpleasant things.


    Because he was travelling alone, two separate groups of bandits had ambushed him, but he had managed to dispose of them all. Because of this baptism of blood, Raymond''s sword seemed sharper than before, as it contained a sliver of killing intent that wasn''t there before. The difference between a swordsman who only trains for fun, and one who trains to kill is immense, and this was something that Raymond had experienced first-hand.


    After two weeks of continuous cultivation, Raymond had managed to completely fill up both the 11th and the 12th energy channel with spiritual energy, which meant that he had reached the peak of the 4th revolution of body-refining. To his disappointment, Raymond had noticed a slight slowdown in his cultivation speed. Thankfully, he had finally managed to gather enough money to upgrade his talent once more, which would hopefully solve this slight predicament.


    According to his estimations, Raymond was only a day''s walk away from Kredon, which would have a suitable environment for him to upgrade his talent in safety.. He had learnt from his past mistake, and he was not interested in leaving himself defenceless in the middle of nowhere.

 Chapter 23 - Kredon!

    As Raymond walked on the road leading to Kredon, the number of people surprised him a little. Although he had expected there to be more people, since it was a provincial capital, he had still underestimated the number of people in this world. Not only that, but the cultivators that he bumped into here were of a higher calibre altogether.


    To enter the provincial capital, one had to prove their identity, and since Raymond didn''t have any identification, he got some papers issued. To call them papers would honestly be a little flattering. In reality, he was basically just given a small piece of parchment with his name and origin on it.


    Compared to Greencrest city, entering Kredon was like entering an entirely different world. The roads were made of actual brick tiles, and not just dirt. The bricks used were completely different from the bricks of Raymond''s original world, and they were a lot sturdier. Their colour might be a dull grey, but their properties were great and they were fairly cheap for that matter.


    The houses were not just made of wood either, although a lot of them still incorporated plenty of it into their design. Buying a house here would probably be at least three times more expensive than in Greencrest city, and that was only a conservative guess on Raymond''s part. Much like when he entered Greencrest city for the first time, Raymond decided to clean himself up before he did anything else. He was eager to upgrade his talent, but there was no hurry.


    After getting a bath and buying some new sets of clothes, Raymond finally looked presentable again after about two weeks of looking like a vagrant. His outfit this time was a white martial outfit, with loose-fitting sleeves. The sleeves also had beautiful flower patterns embroidered on them, making the whole outfit look less bland. Coupled with his fairly handsome countenance and piercing golden eyes, Raymond could be described as pretty handsome.


    Since he looked presentable enough, Raymond went to the marketplace to get himself some information that would come in handy. He started by looking for the Profound Secrets Trade Guild since it was the biggest trade house in this city as well. After selling some medicinal plants and stuff he had gathered on the way to Kredon, Raymond had finally amassed a grand total of 1046 gold coins. With this money, Raymond got himself a sumptuous meal to celebrate his arrival in this new city.


    After that, he found himself a new inn to stay in for the time being. Both his body and his mind were extraordinarily exhausted, and even though he had planned to just relax a bit, he immediately fell asleep as soon as he laid down on the bed. The soft comfort of the bed was just too strong after practically sleeping on the ground for two weeks straight.


    When Raymond woke up from his slumber, it was already dark outside, but at least he felt refreshed. With surging excitement, Raymond looked at his status for a little while.


    [Host]: [Raymond Dawson]


    [Race]: [Human?]


    [Age]: [16]


    [Cultivation]: [Body-Refining: 4th Revolution]


    [Skills]: [Basic Fist Art, Basic Footwork Technique, Blue Wind True Art, Azure Wind Sword Art]


    [Talents]: [Moderate Wealth Mortal Body] [Sword Force: Beginner]


    [Wealth]: [1046 g]


    After focusing on the talent column, Raymond could see his talent pop up.


    [Moderate Wealth Mortal Body](0/1000)


    Raymond didn''t even hesitate for a second to spend almost all of his savings to upgrade this talent.


    [Moderate Wealth Mortal Body](1000/1000)


    As he noticed his money quickly disappearing, Raymond braced himself for what was to come. A strange force that seemed to come straight from heaven and earth itself entered his body through his pores. Unlike last time, Raymond could tell that this energy wasn''t spiritual energy this time, it seemed to be from a much higher origin than that.


    Although the energy seemed gentle in nature, the brutal pain it brought with it was something else entirely. Raymond could only grit his teeth in excruciating pain as the energy slowly but surely reconstructed his body once more. After the energy had reconstructed his body a few times, Raymond could feel all of it travelling from his body up to his eyes where it lingered for a moment.


    Before he could even be confused, a burning pain appeared in his eyes, and this time, Raymond was truly on the verge of screaming out in pain. His pain tolerance was higher than before, but this amount of pain that almost no one would be able to bear. Like the rest of his body, the energy seemed to break down and reconstruct his eyes. The biggest difference was the amount of energy, as well as the amount of pain, but Raymond felt like something more was happening.


    He couldn''t quite put his finger on it, but this reconstruction felt like a massive qualitative change.


    After more than half an hour of extreme pain had passed, the talent upgrade was finally over. As soon as the pain faded, Raymond collapsed on the ground. He had been holding on purely thanks to his willpower, and now that it was all over, his body couldn''t take it anymore, it needed rest. Other than rest, his body also needed to replenish its nutrients, but Raymond had no way to worry about that until he woke up.


    ...


    When Raymond woke up, he was surprised to find out that around 36 hours had passed, and the sun was already high in the sky. His stomach rumbled with pain and hunger, and Raymond went down to the lobby to order enough food for two families. This was barely enough to appease his agonising hunger, and everyone who saw him eat a mountain of food on his own looked at him with strange gazes. At first, Raymond thought that it was because of how much he ate, but after he stopped eating and was just walking around, he still got the same strange gazes.


    When he stopped to look someone in the eye to ask them why they were staring at him, the person seemed to be in a daze, almost hypnotised. Raymond feared that something was wrong, and quickly went back to his own room. When he was back in his room, the first thing Raymond did was check out his status.


    [Host]: [Raymond Dawson]


    [Race]: [Human?]


    [Age]: [16]


    [Cultivation]: [Body-Refining: 4th Revolution] (12th energy channel filled)


    [Skills]: [Basic Fist Art, Basic Footwork Technique, Blue Wind True Art, Azure Wind Sword Art]


    [Talents]: [Superior Wealth Mortal Body] [Sword Force: Beginner] [Heaven-Piercing Eyes]


    [Wealth]: [46 g]


    Looking at the different columns, Raymond quickly noticed something that was completely new. In his talent column, there was a new talent called [Heaven-Piercing Eyes]. Since he had a talent related to eyes, Raymond guessed that something must''ve happened to them. Something about him had attracted people''s attention, and since the only recent change was his talent upgrade, it had to be this talent related to his eyes!


    Since he had a mirror in his room, Raymond quickly walked over to it to see if he really looked any different and the result actually surprised him a little.

 Chapter 24 - Heaven-Piercing Eyes!

    Raymond''s eyes were still a shiny golden colour, but an interesting change had occurred. Atop his golden irises, a purple hexagram, surrounded by weird runic symbols was shining with a peculiar light. Seeing his strange and almost demonic-looking eyes, Raymond was baffled. Although he had expected something to be different, this was a little too exaggerated, right? Taking a look at his status again, he focused on the Heaven-Piercing Eyes.


    [Heaven-Piercing Eyes]


    [The eyes of the Supreme Overlord. Allows the user to see through truth and falsehoods. Can channel soul power as a medium of attack or distraction.]


    The eyes of the Supreme Overlord, who was that? Raymond had no idea, he had never heard of such a character, but considering the name, he was pretty sure it was someone extraordinary. Raymond wasn''t completely sure how to feel about this talent yet. The effect seemed great, and it could certainly be one of his trump cards, but it was a bit too conspicuous.


    Anyone who saw his eyes would either fall into a trance if they were too weak, or they would probably covet them. They were a pair of supreme eyes after all, which cultivator would not want them for themselves? If only he was a bit stronger, then he wouldn''t need to worry about such things at all. Raymond felt like he was in a bit of a pickle.


    There was no way he was just going to go outside before he could fix this. After looking around the status screen for a while, he concluded that there was no more information there for him, and there was no way to disable this talent he had been given. Even if he could disable it, he probably wouldn''t want to do that either, his vision had become way better after all. This was a qualitative improvement that was hard to come by, and if he concentrated, he would probably be able to see the wings on a fly that was more than 20 meters away.


    Since the description mentioned how soul energy could be used as a means of attack, Raymond tried to supply his eyes with some soul energy to see what would happen. To Raymond''s surprise, his vision became even better, and he could even see some of the spiritual energy in the air, albeit faintly. This gave Raymond an idea, which he promptly decided to try out. He took out a bit of fabric from his backpack and promptly ripped off a piece of it.


    After tying the fabric over his eyes, Raymond noticed that he could see through it faintly. His test wasn''t over, however, as he tried to supply his eyes with some soul power. After they were supplied with soul power, Raymond could see through the piece of fabric as if it wasn''t even there. His vision now was comparable to how it was before he received the Heaven-Piercing Eyes. To Raymond, this felt great, since he could hide his eyes without issues.


    He would naturally not wear a blindfold when he was by himself or when he was out hunting and exploring, but when other cultivators and humans were near, he could put one on to hide his eyes. Although this was a pretty crude method, it was only a temporary measure. In many novels that Raymond had read, bloodline powers were highly sought after, and in some of them, bloodline powers could be transplanted into others.


    Since he wasn''t sure how it worked in this world, Raymond felt like it was better to not take any risks until he could make sure. Although the piece of fabric was enough to hide his eyes, for now, Raymond wanted to buy something that could hide his eyes a little better, and hopefully look a little more convincing. No one would be convinced if he told them he was blind when he only had a random piece of torn-off fabric covering his eyes.


    When he was just about to leave, Raymond suddenly had another idea. The power of his eyes could be enhanced with soul power, and although he didn''t know how to attack with them yet, he was sure that there was a way. The description told him that much after all. What Raymond had just thought off was something that wasn''t stated in the description, but it was worth a try. The power of the eyes stemmed from soul power, and so did Raymond''s sword force. What if he tried to channel his sword force into his eyes?


    It was a pretty absurd idea, but since sword force was a power that came from the soul, it was worth a try right? Without wasting a second, Raymond sat down on his bed, eager to try it out. After closing his eyes, Raymond focused on the feeling of using his sword force and guiding it to his eyes. Without much success, Raymond was a little disappointed, but he didn''t give up. Something he didn''t think of was that he had always used sword force through a sword, to suddenly use it without one would obviously be hard.


    Since that was the case, Raymond picked up his sword and tried once more. This time, the sword force resting within his soul was finally stirred and moved according to Raymond''s wishes. After channelling the sword force into his eyes, Raymond focused on the cupboard in front of his bed, with the intent to attack. To his surprise, as well as his disappointment, the air in front of the cupboard was slightly stirred. Although the attack itself worked, it was practically useless.


    Before he could feel defeated, Raymond realised he was still wearing the blindfold. Maybe it would be different without it on? After taking it off, Raymond tried the same move once more, and this time, the air stirred again. Compared to the first time though, this was way more violent as the air stirred and condensed into a wind blade that cut the cupboard. Although the cut was pretty small, it could definitely slit someone''s throat unsuspectedly. Raymond found it hard to believe that it would work on a cultivator though, but he wasn''t disheartened.


    As long as he elevated his soul power and sword force, Raymond was sure that his eyes could become a lethal weapon in his arsenal. The more he used it, the more Raymond came to appreciate the sword force he had attained. Not only was it very lethal, but it was also very versatile. He would have to put even more focus on his sword practice in the future. In the two weeks it had taken him to come to Kredon, Raymond''s cultivation wasn''t the only thing that had a small breakthrough, his martial skills had also increased.


    Not only had his Azure Wind Sword Art taken that small step to achieve perfection, but his Basic Fist Art had also reached the advanced realm. His Basic Footwork Technique was still stuck in the Advanced realm, but at least it had some small improvements.. The next step forward for Raymond would be to achieve the Transcendent realm in his sword art. And who knows, maybe he could even achieve a breakthrough in his sword force while he was at it?

 Chapter 25 - A Peculiar Encounter.

    Before doing anything else, Raymond decided to go and buy something better to cover his eyes with. After looking around for a while, he settled on a black headband made out of some sort of exquisite fabric. Normally he would''ve paid a little more attention, but after using sword force through his Heaven-Piercing Eyes, he was mentally drained. This type of exhaustion was way worse than physical exhaustion since it was hard to do pretty much anything normally, but Raymond tried his best to hang in there.


    After buying himself a couple of meat skewers at a stand along the road, Raymond walked to the only park in Kredon. This park was pretty big, and since it was situated a bit further into the city, Raymond had to walk for a while to arrive there. Along the way, he got plenty of curious glances and looks. It wasn''t often you saw a blind man walking the streets, especially not someone as young as Raymond. What was even more perplexing was perhaps the relative ease he walked around with.


    After realising that he was a cultivator, most curious passersby just attributed his strange behaviour to the wondrous world of cultivation. There were people out there that could destroy mountains with just a punch, was a blind man walking normally really that weird in comparison? After walking for a while, Raymond arrived at the park, where he soon found himself on a bench.


    Basking in the sun whilst eating lunch, Raymond was in a good mood. He needed some time to relax. All of the tension and stress from fleeing Greencrest city wasn''t gone yet, and that, coupled with Raymond''s awakening just now was really taking a toll on him. Now that everything was over, he needed to relax his mind and body, and what better way to do it other than basking in the sun?


    The day slowly passed whilst Raymond was just sitting in the park by himself, staring into the sky. Anyone that passed by and saw him would surely think that he was a bit strange. A blind man sitting by himself, staring at the sky and smiling, what kind of weird scene was that? Unbeknownst to them, Raymond wasn''t blind, and he was certainly not just staring at the sky for no reason. To be more exact, he was looking at the trees. To be even more specific, he was watching the wind as it swept by, rustling the leaves on the trees.


    As he watched the wind, Raymond entered a weird state, and if anyone could see his eyes, they would notice that the strange runes on his irises were glittering with a faint and mysterious light. The real change was taking place in Raymond consciousness, the domain of his soul. The small pool of sword force that had been resting here was growing larger and larger until it had eventually doubled in size.


    After it had enlarged this much, the sword force started condensing itself until it was about 25% smaller. In the end, the amount of sword force Raymond had increased by about 50% and also became about 50% stronger. This was a massive difference, and when Raymond soon returned to normal, he instantly noticed this abnormality. To think he would gain another epiphany after just observing the wind for a while, was this thanks to his upgraded talent? Or was he just lucky?


    Raymond wasn''t sure, but he was still pleasantly surprised. After taking a look at his status, he noticed that his sword force had upgraded into [Sword Force: Intermediate]. The power of the sword force was excellent, and Raymond''s general power benefited a lot, even though it was just a jump in a minor realm. Overall, Raymond''s strength was increased by at least 50%, and that was if he didn''t factor in his eyes. After he learned how to make use of his eyes correctly, Raymond was sure that he was going to become even stronger.


    As Raymond was thinking to himself, he noticed that someone was approaching him, or to be more specific, they were approaching the bench he was sitting on. The person approaching was a young man with a peculiar temperament. To Raymond, this young man looked like he was someone extraordinary, yet the young man seemed to have no confidence in himself. But Raymond wouldn''t judge, maybe it was just a facade, either way, it had nothing to do with him.


    The young man didn''t really take notice of Raymond, and just sat down next to him absentmindedly. Now that he was next to him, Raymond noticed a few more things about the young man. First off, he was only in the 2nd revolution of body-refining. Considering the fact that the young man looked to be around 16 or 17 years of age, such cultivation could only be described as trash in a big city like Kredon.


    The clothes the young man was wearing were all of the highest quality, and Raymond guessed that this young man came from a noble background. That only made his cultivation seem even more trash since he would have access to a lot more resources than normal people, yet his cultivation was still barely normal. Whilst Raymond was busy pondering, the young man next to him was also observing him.


    The young man had chosen to sit down next to Raymond on a whim, it was the closest bench to him after all. After sitting down, he noticed this seemingly blind young man. Although a young man being blind was a little unusual, it wasn''t that weird. What made the young man perplexed was this blind young man''s cultivation. Although he was only in the 4th revolution of body-refining, he almost seemed stronger than someone at the 7th revolution, at least if he only judged by his aura.


    "You seem to have company."


    The young man was surprised by Raymond''s sudden words, and he didn''t seem to understand what he was talking about. Just when he was about to ask him, an annoying voice interrupted him.


    "Well well well, if it isn''t young master Garrett. What a coincidence, to think we would run into you here."


    "I doubt it''s actually a coincidence, what do you want Sylas?" The young man seemed annoyed by the young man named Sylas.


    "I don''t understand what you mean, I was just taking a walk, am I not even allowed to talk to you?"


    The sarcastic tone of his voice was grating to the ears, and anyone who heard it would get annoyed.


    "How the supreme genius of the Garrett family has fallen. From the peak of the body-refining realm to the bottom, what a sad existence you have become."


    "You''re not any better Sylas, when I still had my strength, you wouldn''t even dare look at me you piece of shit." The young man of the Garrett family was becoming more and more annoyed the more Sylas spoke.


    "I''m sorry to interrupt you guys, but do you mind?"


    Before things got too heated, Raymond suddenly spoke up, disrupting the scene.. To Sylas and his two friends that could only be described as henchmen, this was a weird turn that they didn''t expect.

 Chapter 26 - A Fallen Genius.

    "What did you just say?"


    Sylas wasn''t sure if he had heard correctly, was this blind weirdo actually trying to but into their conversation?


    "I guess I need to put it in a way you can understand. Fuck off!"


    Along with his statement, Raymond completely released his sword force. The oppressive might originating from his soul made Sylas and his henchmen shiver. Although their cultivation realms were similar, the pressure that Raymond was exuding was something that none of them could resist. This was mostly because it was a pressure that originated from his soul, something that these young men hadn''t started cultivating yet.


    Although Sylas wanted to say something, the pressure on his soul was too intense. He merely cast a hateful glance at young master Garrett before he signalled his henchmen to leave with him. In his haste, he didn''t even try to gauge Raymond''s cultivation level. Someone who could exert such heavy pressure was obviously an expert. He was not someone Sylas could deal with, and definitely not someone that young master Garrett could mingle with.


    "Thank you for helping me out, how should I address you?" Young master Garrett inquired pensively. He had been dumbstruck at first, but after processing what had just happened, he was quick to show his appreciation.


    "Don''t worry about it, you can just call me Raymond."


    At first, Raymond only told them to fuck off because they disturbed his good mood, but after thinking about the situation for a little bit, he noticed a few interesting points. This young man seemed to have "lost" his talent. A fallen genius was one of the most common tropes in cultivation novels, and to Raymond, this young master Garrett seemed like a typical protagonist.


    It wouldn''t do him any harm to befriend him when his talent was still lost. Raymond didn''t really have any friends, either way, he could use someone to spend his time with. If this young master Garrett''s talent returned in the future, Raymond would gain a strong ally, and if he didn''t, Raymond didn''t lose anything. Making a few enemies in exchange for a friend didn''t really matter to Raymond. He was sure that he would be able to surpass every single cultivator in this city in the future anyway.


    "My name is Spencer Garrett, but you can just call me Spence if you''d like."


    "Ok then Spence, do you mind telling me who I just offended?"


    Spencer seemed a little taken aback by Raymond''s attitude since he thought Raymond would be more aloof and cold.


    "As you probably know, there are 3 prominent families in Kredon, namely the Garrett family, the Powell family, as well as the Baxter family. The guy who was harassing me earlier was Sylas Powell, and he is the son of the second elder of the Powell family, as for the other 2, they are nobodies."


    Raymond didn''t respond for a while, and just let the information sink in for a second. Since he had offended the son of the second elder, he could expect to get trouble coming his way, and depending on how he chose to take care of it, he might end up offending the second elder directly. There was only one thing that bothered Raymond a little.


    "This second elder, do you know which realm his cultivation has reached?"


    "If I''m not wrong, then he should''ve reached the 4th or 5th step of the spirit-refining path. I can''t be completely sure though."


    Although cultivation of the 4th step of the spirit-refining path was enough to kill Raymond in one move, there was no way the second elder would get involved over something like this. The only time the second elder would step in himself was if Raymond killed his son or something similar, which he had no intention of doing. The only real revenge he could expect at this point was the petty revenge of a young man in the middle of the body-refining realm.


    He might use his influence to hire a warrior above the 7th revolution of the body-refining realm, but Raymond wasn''t particularly scared.


    Spencer had expected Raymond to be a bit flustered after he mentioned the cultivation of the second elder, but after seeing his calm and composed look, Spencer couldn''t help but admire him. Even if he was relying on his own backing to not be scared, that paired with the imposing momentum Raymond displayed earlier was enough to earn Spencer''s admiration.


    RUMBLE!


    Whilst they were both absorbed in their own thoughts, Spencer''s stomach suddenly rumbled intensely.


    "Sorry about that, I haven''t eaten yet. Do you want to go and grab a bite? Take it as my repayment for your help." Spencer was a little embarrassed, but he also saw this as a great opportunity.


    "Sure, I''ve got nothing better to do either way." Raymond was still a little hungry, so he had no reason to decline.


    Spencer was happy that Raymond accepted his invitation and he led the way in high spirits. Along the way, they talked a little and both asked a few questions. Even if it was only a little, they became a little closer through their interactions with each other.


    After a little over an hour later, Raymond was back in his room again.


    With a full stomach and a relaxed mind, he laid down on his bed for a while and organised his thoughts. After talking and hanging out with Spencer for a while, he noticed that their thoughts were a little similar, and they hit it off quite well. Raymond wasn''t great with friendships, since they had all ended in failure, but he was willing to give it another try in this world.


    The only real thing he needed to do now was cultivate and train his martial arts. As long as he kept breaking through his realms and surpassing himself, he was sure that there would be a place for him in this world. He felt like he needed to set a goal for himself and train hard to surpass it. There was a little less than 5 months left before the tournament, and since that was the case, Raymond decided that his goal was going to be that he needed to reach the peak of the body-refinement realm before the tournament.


    It had taken him a little over a month to reach the peak of the 4th revolution of the body-refinement realm, only a step away from the 5th revolution. To reach the peak of the 9th revolution in another 5 months time didn''t seem that absurd to Raymond. If anyone else could hear his thoughts they would surely think there was something wrong with him. To climb a revolution each month on average was simply absurd, but if it was Raymond, then it was definitely possible.


    No matter how much harder it got the further you walked along the path of cultivation, Raymond was determined to overcome this goal he had set for himself.. If he couldn''t even do that, then what was the point of reaching for the top? Raymond had great ambitions, and he was dead set on realising them, otherwise, he would let down whichever god it was that had sent him to this place.

 Chapter 27 - A Month Later.

    The gentle sun rays of a late afternoon shone directly on Raymond''s face, enveloping him in warmth. Raymond was not only basking in the sun, but he was observing the wind. At this point, this was a part of his routine. After he had exhausted himself from cultivating, he would sit in the park and observe the wind. Every now and then, Spencer would come by, and they would have some fun in the city.


    Raymond was beginning to enjoy his life in this new world, and his cultivation was steadily progressing forward. After an entire month of practice, Raymond strength had taken a large leap forward, and he was beginning to become more and more powerful. Not only had he just broken through to the 7th revolution of body-refining, but Raymond had seen breakthroughs in all of his martial skills as well.


    The only martial skill that didn''t reach the transcendent realm of mastery was the Basic Fist Art.


    The only thing about his cultivation that was a little disappointing was his sword force. Although he had pondered on it for an entire month, his sword force was still stuck in the intermediate realm. Although that was the case, he had at least further refined it, and he wasn''t far from a breakthrough. All he needed was a moment of realisation.


    The biggest leap in Raymond''s strength was actually from his understanding of the sword itself. With the help of his transcendent mastery in his sword technique and his intermediate realm sword force, Raymond had created a simple sword move. This move looked peculiarly simple on the surface, but it was Raymond''s strongest move he could currently use. The only downside of the move was that it drained both his mental and physical stamina.


    One thing that Raymond had noticed as he was cultivating was that his cultivation speed had slowed down significantly. It had taken him a month to reach the peak of the 4th revolution, and now it had taken him a month to reach the beginning of the 7th revolution. This cultivation speed was significantly slower, and it would only get even slower in the future. This was also after Raymond had upgraded his talent once. If he didn''t upgrade it beforehand, it might''ve taken him two months instead of one to reach the 7th revolution.


    His money was also slowly running out, he only had a little more than 20 gold left. This money would last him a while, especially if he used it sparingly, but Raymond didn''t want to live his life sparingly anymore. His goal was to live somewhat comfortably in this life, which meant that he needed both strength and money. Thankfully, these goals didn''t seem that hard to achieve for Raymond, all he needed was time. With time, he would steadily grow stronger. With time, he would accumulate more and more money. And luckily for him, time was something he had plenty of, at least for now.


    Now that his money was starting to run out, Raymond was ready to earn himself some more. Just cultivating peacefully was nice and all, but Raymond knew that he needed experience in actual combat as well, otherwise he would just be like a flower in a greenhouse, not able to face the harsh winds of the real world. Although there were plenty of opportunities outside of the city walls for adventure, Raymond decided to take a more steady approach.


    Next to Kredon''s bustling marketplace was a building that was the target of many rogue cultivators, the mercenary association! The mercenary association was a place where people could commission other rogue cultivators to work for them. It was often used by merchants and some larger families without many experts of their own to hire guards and escorts.


    Although the chance of getting lucky and earning a lot of money was smaller whilst doing an escort mission, Raymond wanted to play it safe. He didn''t even know his real strength anymore, and he felt like it was safer to test his limits if he was surrounded by people that could help him out should he need it. There was also a chance for Raymond to make some connections, no matter how slim that chance actually was.


    The only real requirement to becoming a mercenary was to have a clean criminal record as well as have cultivation of some degree. Even a 1st revolution body-refining realm cultivator could become a mercenary, but no one would want to hire them. Although he was a little hesitant at first, Raymond decided to just go for it. The last time he had explored the Greencrest forest on his own, he had gotten incredibly lucky and made a fortune, but he was also forced to flee the city because of the enemies he made. Making a steady income through mercenary commissions seemed like a better idea for now. He couldn''t always get lucky.


    When Raymond walked into the mercenary association, he got a few weird looks as always, but it wasn''t too bad. The receptionist was a pretty lady that was in her twenties, and when Raymond walked up to the counter, she instantly initiated a conversation.


    "Hello, how can I help you?"


    "I''d like to register as a mercenary."


    The lady seemed taken aback by Raymond''s request. Raymond couldn''t really blame her either, it wasn''t every day you saw a blind man register as a mercenary.


    "I don''t know your situation, but you should probably reconsider kid. This is no playground."


    The gruff voice of an older man interrupted their conversation, and Raymond promptly turned around to look at him. After looking at him for a few seconds, Raymond knew that he didn''t mean any harm, he was just trying to be helpful. Raymond didn''t exactly blame him, this old man didn''t know that he could actually see after all.


    "Thank you for the reminder, but I''ve already made up my mind. I''m more useful in a fight than you''d think."


    "Alright, good luck on the assessment."


    The man didn''t seem convinced by Raymond''s statement, but he also knew that it wasn''t his business in the first place, so he simply turned around and walked away with a sigh. As he walked away, Raymond noticed that he had a bronze-coloured badge with 2 stars on it sitting on his chest, but Raymond wasn''t sure what it meant.


    "Normally I''d ask you to fill out a form, but since you can''t do that, I''ll just fill it out for you, is that ok?"


    "That''s fine."


    "Name?"


    "Raymond Dawson"


    "Age?"


    "16"


    "Cultivation?"


    "7th revolution of body-refining."


    The receptionist was suddenly taken aback. "7th revolution of body-refining? And you are just 16?"


    "Yeah." Raymond wasn''t perturbed by her questioning.


    "Wait here for a minute."


    The receptionist stopped asking questions and took the form she had just filled out and ran off somewhere. Raymond felt a little baffled by the treatment, but he just found somewhere to sit down and waited for a while. Soon, the receptionist returned, followed by a middle-aged man in black clothing.. On his chest was a silver-coloured badge with a single white star on it, it was quite similar to the badge the man from earlier had worn.

 Chapter 28 - Mercenary Assessment.

    The man stared at Raymond for a while with an inquisitive look; was this young man really in the 7th revolution of body-refining?


    "Your name was Raymond right?"


    "Yeah."


    "Good, come with me, I''ll assess you personally."


    The voice of the man was both rough and imposing, but Raymond didn''t care much for it, it didn''t really bother him. This man was exuding a powerful air. Powerful to the point where Raymond just assumed that he had broken through from the body-refining realm and into the spirit-refining path.


    The man led Raymond into a large and empty training hall on the other side of the building. The hall was spacious and the floor was made out of a dark grey wood, presumably a type of wood that was as hard as steel. The walls were lined with racks containing all kinds of weapons, everything from swords and sabres, to spears and halberds. One thing these weapons all had in common was that they had dull edges, they were not really meant to harm anyone after all.


    "Pick a weapon of your choice so we can begin the assessment."


    Although he said that, the man was certain that Raymond was going to pick a sword, he had a sword on his waist after all. Raymond played around with the sword for a little while before he picked up a rather ordinary short sword. The sword was not too long and not too short; it was neither too light nor too heavy. It was just about right.


    The man watched Raymond with interest as he waited. A young man at the age of 16 had broken through to the 7th revolution of body-refining. This was the cultivation speed of a genius. However, those "geniuses" usually relied on their family''s resources to achieve such a speed. This young man in front of him was just a blind rogue cultivator, or at least that''s what he was on paper. The rough man had no way of knowing if Raymond actually had some sort of background.


    "Since you''ve picked out your weapon, let''s begin the assessment!"


    Raymond was a little taken aback by the rough man''s voice that resounded in the empty hall, but he quickly regained his composure.


    "Alright, what are the rules?" He inquired pensively.


    "Just attack me in whichever way you want, if I feel like your combat ability is on par with your cultivation, then you''ll pass."


    Raymond felt like this "assessment" seemed a little carefree, but since it benefitted him, he stopped thinking about it.


    "Ready when you are."


    "Just come at me kid!"


    Since the rough man was ready, Raymond started attacking him immediately. His sword cut the air at an immense speed, yet strangely, there was almost no discernible sound. This was because Raymond had reached the transcendent realm in his Azure Wind Sword Art. His sword was a master of the surrounding wind, meaning it created no resistance at all whenever he swung his sword. Since there was basically no air resistance, the speed of Raymond''s sword had become a lot faster than before.


    The rough man seemed a little surprised by Raymond''s unexpected speed and ferocity, but he had no trouble whatsoever dealing with him. Raymond had already shown that he had enough strength, but the rough man didn''t say anything. He wanted to see how far Raymond could go, maybe he had a few tricks up his sleeve.


    Whilst the rough man was thinking to himself, Raymond was beginning to set a plan in motion. Since he didn''t know how much strength he needed to show, Raymond was planning on using everything except for his sword force. If he still couldn''t pass the assessment after that, then he would consider using his sword force. For now, he wanted to be a little cautious. He had previously made some enemies, so keeping a card up his sleeve seemed like a wise move.


    Whilst the rough man effortlessly defended against Raymond''s attacks, Raymond was preparing to use something he had learnt in the past month. His eyes that were covered by the headband started to glow a little brighter, and the purple hexagrams started pulsating with a peculiar rhythm. The rough man suddenly felt like something was wrong, but he didn''t know what it was. His senses were telling him that something was wrong, yet he had no way of seeing what it was.


    This strange feeling was certainly annoying, but after a little while, he paid it no further heed. In front of him, Raymond suddenly retreated a few meters and raised his sword up high. Gripping it hard with both hands, Raymond took a deep breath before he suddenly lunged forward with extreme speed! The sword travelled in a horizontal arc, going straight for the rough man''s neck.


    Although it was certainly a fast attack, the rough man had no issues blocking the attack, but just before the attack made contact with his sword, the rough man felt a sense of impending danger. Subconsciously, he spread his spiritual energy defences across his entire body. A split second later, the two swords made contact with each other, but the expected collision never happened.


    The rough man had no time to be surprised as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. As he skidded backwards across the floor, he noticed that his shirt was somewhat torn and that he had a large red mark on his stomach. Although the rough man was unsure of how Raymond had done it, it was a fact that he had managed to injure him.


    "I don''t know how you did that, but you pass."


    "If you head over to the receptionist again, she will show you the ropes."


    "Thank you for your guidance." Raymond gave the rough man a slight bow before he promptly left.


    As he was walking to the reception, Raymond reflected a little on the fight he had just had. What he had used at the end of the fight was one of the ultimate moves of the Azure Wind Sword Art, the Subsonic Pierce! Although the move was certainly very fast, there was no way a cultivator in the spirit-refining realm wouldn''t be able to dodge it. Since the Subsonic Pierce was a thrusting attack, how come the rough man saw it as a horizontal slash?


    That was where Raymond''s Heaven-Piercing Eyes came into play. Earlier in the fight, Raymond had stimulated his eyes with the help of his soul power, effectively confusing his opponent by creating an illusion. This was a move that Raymond had worked a lot on in the past month, and it was surprisingly effective. Although it didn''t make Raymond stronger or faster, it was one of his most lethal weapons.


    Especially if he fought an opponent that was of a higher realm. If it was a real fight, Raymond would''ve imbued his Subsonic Pierce with his sword force as well, which could easily kill a cultivator in the spirit-refining realm if they were not careful.. Happy with the effectiveness of his newly invented attack, Raymond walked over to the receptionist and told her about the results of his assessment. The only thing left to do now was to accept a mission and earn some money!

 Chapter 29 - Becoming A Mercenary.

    Unfortunately for Raymond, there were a few more steps left before he could start earning money. First of all, he needed to be briefed on the rules of the mercenary association. Luckily, the rules were simple, what the employer said during the mission was a priority, but if it was something outside the stated terms, the mercenary could choose to not comply, especially if it was something that went against common morals or if it threatened the mercenary''s safety.


    The mercenary would receive a part of the commission before going on the mission, but the bulk of the money would be received upon completing the assigned task. One of the more important rules of the mercenary association was that every mercenary could only receive missions according to their actual rank. Even if your strength surpassed your rank, you could only accept missions belonging to your rank.


    The ranks were divided into silver and bronze as far as Raymond knew. In more developed countries, he was sure that there were more ranks, the mercenary association stretched across multiple nations after all. The bronze rank was equivalent to the body-refining realm, and to further divide the ranks, different levels of the body-refining realm corresponded to the number of stars that were on your badge.


    Someone who had a 2-star bronze badge was someone who was in the middle of the body-refining realm, meaning someone who was in the 4th, 5th or 6th revolution of the body-refining realm. Since Raymond was in the 7th revolution, he was given a 3-star bronze badge which gave him sufficient authority to take on a lot of missions. The only people with higher authority were people who had a silver badge, people who had already stepped onto the spirit-refining path. Naturally, they were highly sought after, but they were also equally as expensive, meaning that the 3-star mercenaries were usually the ones with the most requests.


    Since Raymond was pretty eager to find an interesting mission to undertake, the receptionist showed him the mission board where people posted their requests. Since he was a 3-star bronze rank mercenary, he naturally looked at the missions suitable for his rank, and there was honestly a great deal of them. He was a little surprised, but after looking around for a while, he found a few that seemed pretty interesting.


    Almost all of the missions were escort missions, but a few of them paid a lot more than the others. After seeing who the employer was, it was easy to see why. The employer who paid the best was a scion of the Baxter family, one of the three biggest family''s in Kredon. The mission was fairly simple, they just needed to protect the Baxter family''s cargo until it reached a neighbouring city, after that, they would follow and protect some other cargo on the way back.


    Such a simple mission would at most take a week, and the pay for a 3-star mercenary was around 150 gold. Finding such a lucrative job was hard, but it was definitely accompanied by some danger as well. Since the Baxter family''s goods were worth a fortune, it would naturally attract unsavoury fellows who coveted it. If they were brave enough to attack the cargo of the Baxter family, they were bound to be strong, which is why many people abstained from taking the mission.


    Raymond wasn''t really scared of a little danger. Although he had chosen to be a mercenary instead of blindly adventuring into the wilderness on his own, it was not because he was scared, but more so because it was a steady source of income. It''s not like he could rely on getting lucky in the wilderness all the time. It was better to earn money steadily first, he could naturally explore the world as much as he wanted later.


    Without hesitation, Raymond picked up the mission and went over to the counter again.


    "I''ll take this one."


    Seeing Raymond nonchalantly bring over one of the papers from the mission board, the receptionist almost started laughing.


    "You didn''t need to bring it with you, other people need to be able to take the mission too you know?"


    Raymond was a little taken aback, but after realising his mistake, he started laughing.


    After sorting everything out, Raymond quietly left the mercenary association. On the way out, he realised that he had made a blunder, but luckily the receptionist didn''t notice. Raymond was supposed to be blind to the outside world, yet he had picked out a mission on his own as if he could actually see. He didn''t think it through, but he could''ve easily aroused some suspicion because of his carelessness, this was something Raymond needed to reflect on.


    Then again, if she had asked about it, he would''ve just said he picked one at random. Now that he pondered a little upon it, maybe the receptionist was a little bit of an airhead. She had jokingly admonished him for taking the mission note of the board down, but if he didn''t do that, how was he supposed to find a mission on his own, since he couldn''t read because of his blindness? The whole situation was both a little funny and a little weird.


    There was not much time left in the day, and Raymond was getting a little hungry. Since there were two days left until the mission, Raymond had plenty of time to spare, so he decided to treat himself to some good food. Whilst he was out and about, he learned a little more about the Baxter family, for example, which family member was in charge of this escort mission.


    To Raymond''s surprise, the person in charge, or rather the people in charge, were two young masters of the family. Chloe and Christopher Baxter were siblings from the same parents and they had a great relationship. Not only that, but they were both talented cultivators that could be considered the future of the Baxter family. Since that was the case, the family invested a lot in them, and this escort mission was merely one of the many opportunities they had to learn.


    They would naturally have their own guard with them, which was dispatched from the family. This made the trip a lot safer since they would never know if someone wanted to harm two of the family''s most talented youngsters. Normally, the guard that the Baxter family dispatched for these escorts was at the peak of the body-refining realm, but the word on the street was that they would be accompanied by a cultivator of the spirit-refining path.


    To Raymond, this was pretty intriguing news, and he looked forward to the mission a little more. Since they would be accompanied by a guard in the spirit-refining realm, Raymond might even get a chance to see him in action. Even though Raymond had fought with the silver-rank mercenary who was in the spirit-refining realm, it was not like he actually showed any of his powers, so Raymond had no real idea of how strong he was.


    With some excitement for his first mission, Raymond went back to the inn for the night and got some sleep.. By the time the mission started, he wanted to be well rested.

 Chapter 30 - First Mission.

    Before Raymond knew it, 2 days had already passed by, and it was the day of his first mission. Whilst he was walking towards the designated meeting point, namely the market, Raymond couldn''t help but feel a little nervous and excited. This was his first mission, so he didn''t want to mess it up, but more than anything, he was a bit apprehensive because of his eyes. He just really hoped that no one would bother him about it, and that he could complete the mission in peace.


    In the market, a large number of mercenaries were gathered next to a rather long line of carriages. These carriages were naturally filled with a large number of resources, and they were all marked with the insignia of the Baxter family. Next to the carriage in the very front of the line stood a refined middle-aged man. The man looked like a scholar, and he was holding a registry. Next to him was a large banner with the Baxter insignia on it, as well as the word "Registration".


    Raymond saw a few mercenaries walk up to the man to register themselves, and after observing for a little longer, he walked up to the man who was speedily jotting something down in the registry. When Raymond was about 10 meters away from him, the man seemed to have sensed him approaching, upon which he turned around to face him. After seeing that Raymond was just a blind young man, he frowned slightly, but after spotting the 3-star bronze rank mercenary badge that Raymond was wearing on his chest, the man was a little baffled.


    He would normally not show as much emotion on his face, but since Raymond was blind, he didn''t bother masking his emotions. Raymond was a little amused by his antics, but he didn''t let it show on his face, he just had the same gentle smile as always. The refined man quickly composed himself, and his expression became indifferent in a heartbeat.


    "Name?"


    "Raymond Dawson."


    "Seeing as you are a 3-star, you can go over to young master Christopher and he will assign you a duty." After saying his piece, the man pointed Raymond in the direction of a handsome young man that was surrounded by a few mercenaries.


    "Thank you for the help."


    Raymond thanked the man politely and walked over to Christopher at a leisurely pace. On the inside, he was a bit surprised that the man didn''t question his combat ability at all. To the outside world, Raymond looked blind after all, wouldn''t it be normal to question the combat capability of a blind man?


    As Raymond approached young master Christopher, he received plenty of gazes; some curious, some a little peculiar. What made Raymond a little surprised was that none of them seemed hostile or anything of the sort. After observing a little bit, Raymond noticed that some people originally looked a little arrogant or disdainful, until they laid their eyes on the badge on his chest. Maybe this badge he received carried more weight than he had originally thought?


    What Raymond didn''t know was that most people saw a mercenary badge as an ultimate guarantee of a cultivators capability. If you were walking around with a 3-star bronze rank mercenary badge on your chest, then it was guaranteed that you were in at least the 7th revolution of body-refining; there were no exceptions to this rule. Even if you could beat someone in the spirit-refining realm whilst you were in the body-refining realm, there was still no way for you to get a silver badge without breaking through first. This was how it had always been.


    As Raymond approached him, Christopher noticed him pretty quickly. It was hard to not notice him when almost everyone turned their heads to look at him as he walked. Christopher was quickly intrigued, much like everyone else that saw Raymond pass by. It was hard to not be intrigued by him. A blind young man with a gentle and refined temperament, he seemed to almost exist in a separate universe all by himself.


    "Hey kid, over here!"


    One of the mercenaries by young master Christopher''s side called out to Raymond, just in case he didn''t know where they were, the young man was blind after all. Raymond simply had the same mysterious and gentle smile on his face as he walked over, this time a little faster than before. When he was just a few steps away, he simply stopped dead in his tracks and maintained a polite distance.


    "What''s your name kid?" The same man from before asked with a mild tone.


    "It''s Raymond Dawson."


    "Where are you from?" This time, young master Cristopher was the one speaking.


    "I''m from a country far up north called Sweden, but I doubt young master has ever heard of it."


    "Sweden... you''re right, I''ve never heard of such a country before. What made you become a mercenary?"


    Raymond was a little taken aback, was there any other reason than money that led people to become mercenaries?


    "Money." He responded without thinking too much about it.


    After hearing Raymond''s nonchalant response, Cristopher started laughing. It wasn''t often that people were so honest with him. He felt like it was a nice change of pace.


    "You know what, I like you, you''ll be a part of team 1. Your job will be to guard the most important carriage of them all."


    "The most important carriage?" Raymond was a little confused. He''d never have thought that he would be assigned such an important job on his first mission. The only thing that confused him was this important carriage, what about it made it more important than the others. As if he could read Raymond''s mind, Cristopher answered his questions before Raymond could even ask them.


    "You''re probably wondering why there''s a carriage that is much more important than any of the others right?"


    "Well, the reason is naturally that my sister and I will be riding it."


    A little taken aback by his response, Raymond almost started laughing. Luckily he was able to restrain himself, but it was easy to see that his smile was a little brighter than before. He wasn''t really sure about this young master yet, so laughing in his face was probably not the best idea until he knew more about him. Either way, Raymond had just managed to get himself a great opportunity.


    Although the payment of a mercenary was decided beforehand, if a mercenary made outstanding contributions or did something else worthy of merit, he could get paid extra by the employers.


    Since the employers decided who to pay extra, or even if they wanted to do it at all, getting close to them was like a shortcut to success. From this small interaction alone, Raymond had gotten an image of what kind of person Cristopher Baxter was. He seemed like a nice guy. He didn''t put on any airs, he didn''t seem that arrogant, and he didn''t look down on Raymond because he was blind.


    Naturally, there was still plenty of time for Raymond to observe Christopher more closely, and he could make a more accurate judgement later on.

 Chapter 31 - Leaving Kredon.

    The captain of team 1 was also the strongest cultivator on this trip, a 2nd step spirit-refining cultivator. The man himself was called Ryan, and he was a cultivator from the Baxter family. He wasn''t blood-related to them, just hired by them. If anything, he could be considered a guest elder of sorts. His mission this time was both to keep the supplies safe, and even more importantly, to keep Christopher and Chloe safe.


    Ryan was already in his fifties, and even though his physique was still in great shape, his hair was slowly starting to become white. His facial features were just as ordinary as his simple attire, the only real thing that stood out about him was his eyes. His eyes were slanted and exceptionally ferocious; he could probably scare a child into tears by just looking in their direction. This ferocious look was in stark contrast to Raymond''s gentle temperament, creating an interesting dynamic when they stood next to each other.


    Other than Raymond and Ryan, team 1 only had 3 other members, but they were all pretty ordinary. Although all three of them were 3-star bronze rank mercenaries, none of them was higher than the 8th revolution of the body-refinement realm. Although there were plenty of experts at the peak of the body-refining realm, they were all evenly spread out across the different teams. Team 1 was already more than strong enough, they had an expert in the spirit-refining realm after all. If that wasn''t enough to stop an enemy, then a few body-refining experts probably wouldn''t help much.


    After all the mercenaries had been divided into their respective teams, all the carriages started slowly moving, leaving the large city of Kredon behind. Whilst he walked, Raymond was busy observing and feeling the wind as it carresed his figure. He wasn''t too focused on observing his surroundings, which might seem a little foolish, but he had his reasons.


    The biggest reason was just the fact that he was walking next to a spirit-refining realm cultivator. If he couldn''t sense someone attacking them, then the chances of Raymond sensing it before him was even lower. Since he had nothing better to do, Raymond just maintained a decent level of vigilance, and used the rest of his attention on comprehending the evasive wind that was always present around him.


    Maybe it was because of his sword force being born from a sword art that was related to the wind, but Raymond had mistakenly assumed that he needed to observe and comprehend the essence of the wind to help his sword force transform. What he didn''t know was that his steady comprehension of the wind element was starting to culminate into something different, something that would come to reap him many benefits in the future.


    In the carriage next to him, Chloe and Cristopher Baxter were leisurely chatting with each other when Chloe suddenly mentioned Raymond.


    "I saw that you assigned someone interesting to team 1."


    "Right? He seems to be a noble hailing from foreign lands, but I quite liked his temperament. I''ll introduce him to you later."


    "Yeah yeah, do whatever you want."


    ...


    Night came faster than Raymond had expected, and the entourage settled down to set up camp. Maybe it was because he had been so preoccupied with his own thoughts, but Raymond felt like the dull journey had been surprisingly smooth. The city they were headed to was called Bluemont, and it was only a 3-day long journey to get there. So after just a day of travelling, they had practically come a third of the way already.


    "Oi kid, fancy seeing you here!"


    Whilst Raymond was absorbed in his own thoughts, a somewhat familiar gruff voice brought him back to reality. In front of him, Raymond saw an older man with a 2-star bronze badge on his chest. Before he could get a word in, the man kept talking.


    "To think you would be stronger than me as well, truly the new replacing the old."


    "No need to call me kid, the name''s Raymond, what about you?" With a chuckle, Raymond introduced himself politely.


    "My name? People usually just call me old man or Owen, you can call me whatever." The old man smiled a little, enjoying Raymond''s surprisingly refreshing attitude.


    "I''ll just call you Owen then if that''s fine."


    Before they could get more familiar with one another, the sound of a bell resounded throughout the camp, signalling that it was time for dinner. When he smelled the fragrance spreading throughout the camp, Raymond could hear his stomach rumble in protest. Because of his absentmindedness, he hadn''t eaten anything the entire day, so he was practically starving.


    "Hahahaha, let''s go get you something to eat before you pass away kid."


    "I don''t think I''m the only one who needs to eat right now."


    "I-"


    Before the old man could respond, his stomach suddenly growled. Silence ensued for a few seconds before they both laughed it off and went to get some food. As they ate, plenty of mercenaries approached them from time to time and chatted with them. Old man Owen was someone with a lot of friends and connections, most mercenaries knew who he was. Raymond was a little impressed with his extensive network.


    "Dawson! Come over here for a sec!"


    Just as Raymond finished eating, he heard Ryan calling him from across the camp. Although he was surprised, he quickly went over, Ryan was one of the only people he could consider his superior after all. Walking in the direction of Ryan''s voice, Raymond could see him sitting next to a small campfire, with a youth on each side of him.


    Raymond already knew that one of them was Christopher Baxter since he had seen him earlier, but the other youth was a woman, which made her identity easy to guess. The only young woman who would be protected by Ryan was Chloe Baxter! Raymond assumed that they had called him over because they wanted him to do something, so he stopped a few meters away, and awaited orders quietly.


    "No need to be so stiff kid, young master Christopher wanted to see you." Ryan''s voice boomed.


    Although Raymond could almost feel his ears ringing because of Ryan''s loud voice, he turned to "look" at Christopher.


    "You can sit down Raymond, we just called you over because we were bored."


    "Because you were bored?" Raymond didn''t quite get what they wanted with him.


    "We just want someone to talk to, no need to worry too much about it."


    Although he was still a little confused, Raymond sat down on the other side of the campfire. Soon, they all got to know each other a little better, and they started talking about all kinds of things. Dreams for the future, why they cultivated, if they had someone they liked, even their childhood. There was a lot to talk about, and Raymond was surprised that they treated him like a friend, and just told him a lot of things about themselves.. Raymond naturally shared what he could to, whilst altering his story a little, since he wasn''t actually from this world after all.

 Chapter 32 - Conflict Arises.

    After they had been talking for quite a while, Raymond suddenly asked a strange question.


    "Why me?"


    "What do you mean?" Cristopher replied.


    "Out of all the people here, why did you choose me?" Raymond questioned once more. He was flattered that they seemed to enjoy his company, but he couldn''t help but feel a little suspicious. What made him so special?


    "This might sound a little weird, but it was mostly because of our interaction earlier, as well as the fact that you''re blind."


    "The fact that I''m blind? What does that have to do with anything." Raymond was confused.


    "We''ve tried to make friends with people before, but they usually all end up lusting after my sister. Since you can''t see her, there''s no chance of you staring at her like a creep at least."


    After hearing Cristopher''s reasoning, Raymond was dumbfounded. Of all the possible reasons why they had chosen him, Raymond didn''t expect it was because he was blind. After thinking about it for a while, Raymond could understand their plight. Chloe Baxter was a rare beauty, after all, her exquisite facial features coupled with the deep emerald eyes of the Baxter family was enough to captivate most men, but the real problem was her figure. Although she was barely an adult, her figure would arouse the desire that most men have inside them.


    Raymond had to admit that she was beautiful, but he wasn''t interested. He had been in a few relationships in his past life, and they all ended in some form of misery. For now, he was more interested in getting stronger, things such as love could wait.


    The atmosphere became a little awkward after Cristopher''s explanation, but it soon returned to normal, and they talked for a little longer. Eventually, Raymond went back to the spot where he had set up camp and cultivated for the night. The next day, they set off for Bluemont once again. On the way, they were attacked by demonic beasts every now and then, but Raymond just saw it as practice, he needed all the combat experience he could get after all.


    Since he didn''t use his sword force, Raymond didn''t stand out that much. Although he was still showing battle prowess above his cultivation level, it wasn''t too shocking. Plenty of young geniuses could fight above their level after all. Raymond somewhat enjoyed fighting, much to his surprise. Maybe it was because his past life had been rather uneventful, but there was something special about putting himself at risk and fighting with his life on the line. The adrenaline and excitement were on a completely different level.


    After they had been travelling for almost the entire day, something unexpected happened. Blocking the road was a large group of people. The weird thing about it was the way they were dressed. All of them were dressed completely in black, with hoods covering their faces. All of their black robes had an insignia on them depicting a bloody star. To Raymond''s surprise, the group didn''t attack them, they just stood there, emitting an eerie aura.


    "I don''t know what you guys want, but you better get the fuck out of our way!"


    The eerie silence was instantly disrupted by Ryan, who completely released his imposing momentum, trying to pressure the people blocking the road. Unfortunately for him, it didn''t really work, and the people in the black robes just stood there in silence, waiting. What were they waiting for? That was a mystery for now. Raymond was on high alert, and he made use of his excellent soul power to power his eyes.


    As he was inspecting his surroundings, he noticed something strange. Whilst some of the mercenaries still had their weapons sheathed, others had already drawn their weapons. If that was all, then there wouldn''t be anything strange to take note of. The real strange part was the way they moved. Raymond didn''t know how to put it into words, but he felt like something was up. Just when he was about to consult Ryan about his findings, a few muffled screams interrupted him.


    Behind him, almost half of the mercenaries had attacked their comrades, effectively destroying any order they had. The sound of blood splattering and people dying was all Raymond could hear, and he was instantly disoriented. When he looked a little closer, he could see that the traitorous mercenaries had distorted expressions, with a hint of madness concealed within their gazes.


    "What the hell is going on?"


    The distraught voice of Ryan brought Raymond back to reality, and he quickly drew his sword from its sheath. Taking a look around, he saw that old man Owen was in the middle of a battle with two mercenaries that were crazily trying to kill him. Without an ounce of hesitation, Raymond ran straight into the battlefield, killing any mad mercenary that stood in his way. When he arrived next to old man Owen, he only used a single sword strike to take out the two mercenaries he was fighting with.


    "Are you alright old man?" Raymond asked with concern.


    "If you hadn''t come, I would''ve probably been a goner, I owe you one kid." Old man Owen replied, slightly out of breath.


    "Don''t worry about it, are you hurt anywhere?"


    "Nah I''m fine, just a little out of breath."


    "That''s good then, let''s regroup with captain Ryan for now, I''m not sure how to proceed from here." After making sure that old man Owen was fine, Raymond urged him to go over to captain Ryan.


    Now that all hell had broken loose, he wasn''t sure how to handle the situation, so he presumed it was better to leave it to a professional.


    "All available mercenaries, gather around the young master and miss!"


    Captain Ryan''s voice boomed throughout the chaos, giving any lost mercenary an immediate goal. People who had survived quickly flocked around the carriage at the very front, including Raymond and Owen.


    "No matter what, our priority is to protect the young master and the young miss! I don''t care if you kill your enemies as long as the masters are safe! Understood?"


    "Yes sir!"


    The mercenaries had regained their bearings, and they were all ready to fight to the death. After the earlier chaos, only 11 mercenaries were left alive, excluding Raymond and Owen. To their dismay, they had enemies on 2 fronts, and they were heavily outnumbered. The mad mercenaries had naturally taken some casualties in the earlier fight, but there were still around 14 of them. The men in the black robes were the only real variable here, since there were at least 30 of them, and they all had unknown strength.


    If it turned out that none of them was in the spirit-refining realm, then it wouldn''t be that big of a problem, but considering the planning that must''ve gone into this attack, Raymond thought that it was unlikely. Whilst he was trying to understand the situation a little better, a raspy voice broke the silence that had ensued after Ryan''s orders.


    "Attack..."


    Although it was oddly quiet, the voice seemed strangely overpowering, and on a spiritual level to boot. This small indication was enough for Raymond to understand that his worries did not go unfounded, the enemy was in the spirit-refining realm!

 Chapter 33 - Crisis!

    The revelation that one of the robed men was in the spirit-refining realm didn''t really shock Raymond, but it sent a shiver down his spine nonetheless. Since the enemy had come prepared, this mission was practically doomed, however, Raymond hadn''t given up just yet. He knew his own strength, if he made use of all the strength he had to launch a sneak attack, he had a shot at injuring, or maybe even killing someone in the spirit-refining realm.


    Fighting people in the body-refining realm was a piece of cake, but doing it while looking for an opportunity to ambush a spirit-refining realm cultivator would prove to be quite challenging. Before Raymond could spend too much time brainstorming a plan, the battle had already started. The robed men were the first to arrive, and the clash proved to be devastating. Their martial arts were not only strange but also cruel.


    At first, he was only fighting one of them in a one versus one, but after quickly getting rid of his opponent, Raymond was quickly surrounded by at least five of them, eager to avenge their fallen comrade. Raymond kept his cool, but even though his strength was great, he was still a little inexperienced. As time passed and swords clashed, Raymond was soon covered in injuries. He had managed to kill two of his opponents, and the pressure on him had lessened significantly.


    Whilst Raymond was trying his hardest, the mercenaries around him were beginning to falter. Since they were outnumbered, all they could do was try and hold out for dear life, but even that was starting to get harder as time passed. Every time a mercenary fell, the pressure on the rest intensified even further. No matter how strong Raymond was, he couldn''t get rid of more than 20 cultivators in the body-refining realm all by himself. If he was at the peak of the body-refining realm then he might''ve had a chance, but unfortunately, he was only in the 7th revolution.


    No matter how dire the situation was for them, the real battlefield was still the battle between the spirit-refining cultivators. Almost every single mercenary had bet on this fight with their lives. If captain Ryan lost the fight, then they were truly doomed to die. Although the mercenaries bet their lives on the fight, it didn''t look like anyone was going to win anytime soon. It was more likely that the mercenaries would be exhausted to death before captain Ryan could eke out a win.


    It was at this point in time that a turning point of the battle arrived in the form of Cristopher Baxter. Although he was supposed to be protected, he decided to join the battle in a moment of impulse. Although his strength was great, half of the robed men immediately abandoned their fights and surrounded him. Cristopher quickly realised his mistake, but no one could help him, since their hands were still full with their own opponents.


    "Young master!"


    Raymond knew that if Christopher died, the fight would take a disastrous turn. Although his strength wasn''t important, they would immediately lose all of their morale if Christopher died, maybe captain Ryan would even give up and just save his own skin by running away. No matter what, young master Christopher could not die here! Trying his hardest to think of a solution, Raymond soon came up with an idea. Although it wasn''t that feasible, he had to give it a try. If he succeeded, he might be able to turn the whole situation around!


    Without wasting any time, Raymond raised his sword up high and sprinted to Christopher''s side. A robed man tried to interrupt him, but Raymond swiftly delivered a subsonic pierce straight through his throat in response. In less than two seconds, he had already arrived next to Christopher. The robed men didn''t immediately attack, since the first person to attack would probably just end up dead under Raymond''s quick sword.


    Christopher was grateful for Raymond''s timely assistance, but before he could say anything, Raymond whispered in his ear.


    "No matter what happens, just stay here okay? I''ll show you something interesting."


    Christopher nodded in response, despite not having any idea of what was going on.


    Raymond simply stood up straight with an enigmatic smile on his face, before he immediately stimulated his soul power to the limit. The purple hexagram in his eyes started glowing softly, emitting a strange charm that most people would find intoxicating. A strange power with Raymond at its centre diffused into the surroundings, influencing every enemy without their knowledge.


    Taking two steps forward, the robed men lost their cool and instantly attacked Raymond. Without losing his composure, Raymond softly swung his sword at his incoming adversaries, or at least that''s what it looked like on the surface. The three enemies running at him from the front were instantly decapitated, their heads soaring through the air. Blood splattered on Raymond''s face, but he wasn''t fazed, instead, he quickly broke through the encirclement and ran away.


    The move he had just used was one of the ultimate moves of the Azure Wind Sword Art, the Edge of Ruin! The meaning of the name was quite simple, any enemy who stood in the way would face ruin! The other robed men were a little dazed by the attack, but they quickly regained their bearings and chased after Raymond.


    "Don''t let that Baxter bastard escape!"


    Left standing on his own was Christopher. While the robed men chased after Raymond, it seemed as if they had completely forgotten about him. Not only that, but one of them even shouted as if they were chasing him, and not Raymond.


    "What the actual fuck?"


    ...


    The battle between the spirit-refining cultivators was still ongoing, but it had been in a stalemate for a while now. Ryan tried his hardest to gain an advantage, but every time he thought he found an opening, he would suffer a fierce counterattack from his opponent. Whilst their fight was going nowhere, Ryan was getting more and more anxious, if he couldn''t defeat his opponent quickly, then young master Christopher and young miss Chloe would undoubtedly die.


    Whilst Ryan was caught up in his own thoughts, he heard a commotion approaching quickly. When he turned to look, he could see Raymond being chased by a throng of enemies. Although he was baffled, he didn''t move to help Raymond, since he was occupied with his own battle right now. To his surprise, the robed man he was battling seemed oddly concerned about what was going on.


    Wasn''t their target the scions of the Baxter family? Why would he care about a random mercenary? That created another question in and of itself, why were all of the robed men chasing Raymond? Had they given up on killing Christopher and Chloe? Or had they already perished...


    As the thought crossed Ryan''s mind, he shuddered. If that was the case, then he would have to flee before he was caught by other members of the Baxter family.. Ryan was only an ordinary mercenary after all, there was no way he could handle the wrath of the Baxter family if he failed his mission.

 Chapter 34 - Turning Point.

    Casting a glance towards the carriages, Ryan was dumbfounded. Cristopher was just standing there, in the open, dumbfounded. Their gazes met for a second, and they could see the confusion in each other''s eyes. However, since his young master was still alive, Ryan still had a chance to turn this around, and he quickly focused back on his opponent. As he saw the enemy being even less focused than himself, Ryan''s eyes lit up. The spiritual energy around him slowly gathered into his large broadsword, waiting for a chance.


    ...


    Raymond looked like he was running for his life, but in reality, he was simply hiding his strength. His plan required the opponent to underestimate him, if that didn''t happen, then his plan would be doomed. As he approached the robed man in the spirit-refining realm, Raymond could see how unfocused he was on his own fight, Raymond seemed to have captured all of his attention by simply running towards them.


    When Raymond was within ten meters of them, the robed man subconsciously turned towards him, preparing to make a move. It was at this moment that Ryan finally made his move. He had been accumulating power for a while now, and since his opponent showed him an opening, he had to take it! As he swung his massive sword, a compressed wave of brownish-yellow spiritual energy flew towards the robed man.


    This was the reason why enemies in the spirit-refining realm were so scary, as they could emit their spiritual energy outside of their bodies and attack from a distance.


    The robed man seemed to finally wake up as he sensed the sword attack travelling towards him through the air. With extreme speed, he swung his sabre, creating a blood-red wave of spiritual energy to face Ryan''s attack. Although the attack was swift, it wasn''t strong enough to compete with Ryan''s attack. It clashed with Ryan''s attack and delayed it for a split-second or so, but it was ultimately shattered in the end.


    Although it had only delayed Ryan''s attack for a split-second, that was enough for the robed man to reinforce his spiritual energy defences a little. Raymond was a little fascinated by the sight of the blood-red spiritual energy that coated the robed man''s body, but he didn''t let it distract him. Ryan''s attack clashed with the robed man''s defences on his chest, and after a slight struggle, it pierced through, creating a nasty gash across the robed man''s chest.


    Just a few meters away, Raymond''s eyes flashed with a mysterious glint, before he rushed out with his fastest speed. The robed man was enraged by his injury, and all he could see in front of him was Ryan standing a short distance away. Without wasting any time, the robed man''s body was once again covered in a red glow, and he dashed out to fight Ryan. The robed man''s speed was way beyond Raymond''s wildest imaginations, and he missed his window to attack.


    With a bitter smile, he started fighting the other robed men that had been following him, but this time, he executed his footwork to the fullest, practically running in circles around them. Without committing himself fully to the fight, Raymond focused on dodging and counterattacking, whilst keeping some of his focus on the battle between Ryan and the robed man in the spirit-refining realm.


    With a roar, the robed man went nuts, crazily attacking Ryan with all he had, his blood-red sword slashing at a speed invisible to the naked eye. Ryan tried his hardest to defend, but since he was using a greatsword, his speed was a lot slower than the robed man, and he was hard-pressed to just defend. Thankfully, Ryan''s defence was great, and he was fine for now, but if things dragged on for too long, his defence might start cracking.


    The robed man''s situation was even direr, as he had a gaping hole in his chest. If the fight dragged on for too long, he would start losing strength because of blood loss; he might even bleed to death directly. Because of his dire situation, and partly because of his cultivation technique, the robed man practically went mad. The longer they fought, the crazier his attacks became. He fought as if he had nothing to lose, and his speed increased even more as a result.


    Ryan''s injuries started slowly accumulating, and after they had been fighting for almost 5 minutes, they were both running out of steam. Ryan was covered in blood and ghastly-looking gashes, his face showed traces of fatigue, yet his eyes were unwavering. The robed man was losing strength by the minute, but he had clearly come out on top in this fight. With a crazy look in his eyes, he was convinced that he had won, all he needed to do was finish off his exhausted and battered opponent.


    Ryan wasn''t just sitting around waiting for his death either. He knew that his opponent was looking to finish him off, and the next attack would decide who lived, and who died. Since that was the case, he was trying his hardest to adjust his mind to its best state, and he willed his body to move as he pleased for one final attack. The robed man started cackling as he watched Ryan struggle to put himself together for their final exchange.


    As he cackled, blood-red spiritual energy kept gathering in his body, exuding a terrifying pressure. After a few seconds, the pressure disappeared, and the robed man looked like a normal man for a few seconds. As if to mock Ryan, the pressure exploded out again, but this time it was further amplified two or three times. Although what the robed man had just used was a secret technique with some scary drawbacks, he didn''t care. As long as he won this fight, he would be satisfied as long as he kept his life.


    In the distance, Raymond saw that the fight was about to end, and his chance had finally appeared. Without much further ado, he made short work of a few robed men and left the remaining ones in the dust as he ran off. After arriving fairly close to Ryan and the robed man, Raymond stopped in his tracks. He didn''t want the robed man to notice him since that would ruin his entire plan. Instead, Raymond lifted his sword up to about his hip with the tip pointing forward, and he lowered his body to reduce his profile.


    In this strange stance, Raymond just stood still, quietly and patiently. As he waited, he could feel the wind caress his skin, and he felt his heartbeat speed up. The robed men he had left behind earlier were closing in on him, but Raymond didn''t feel any nervousness or anxiousness, he simply ignored them completely, and waited for the perfect opportunity. For this one moment, he had accumulated all of the sword force he could currently muster, this was all or nothing.


    As he was waiting, he felt a change ahead of him; he saw his opportunity to strike! Just when one of the robed men was about to attack him, Raymond sped off again. This time he ran with a speed so swift that it looked like he almost disappeared!

 Chapter 35 - Strike!

    The robed man was putting more and more pressure on Ryan as their fight continued, and soon enough, Ryan faltered. The robed man saw this opportunity, and he got ready to deliver his final strike. What he didn''t know was that he wasn''t the only one who saw this opportunity. Raymond had seen that Ryan was about to lose, and he instantly attacked, leaving afterimages behind him as he ran toward the robed man.


    The robed man was too preoccupied to care about his surroundings, so he didn''t see Raymond approaching until it was already too late. The second he swung his sword with all of his strength, he felt his spine shiver. Danger. Unprecedented danger was approaching him at an incomprehensible speed. Looking around, he managed to see Raymond approaching him, but this small gesture would come to spell his eventual doom.


    Ryan was no pushover, and he was already ready to unleash the last of his strength. Seeing Raymond approaching, he didn''t think much of it. That was until he noticed the robed man diverting his attention to Raymond. As soon as he did, he mustered his strength and instantly attacked. His broadsword shone with a bright brown light as he raised it up to his waist with both hands. After accumulating all the earth spiritual energy in the surroundings, Ryan slashed out horizontally with his sword, creating a massive amount of sword energy that headed straight for the robed man''s head.


    The sword energy might not be comparable in quality to something like Raymond''s sword force, but the sheer quantity alone was sufficient to make up for it. The robed man was quickly brought back to his senses by Ryan''s attack, and he was faced with a choice. Either he could try and deflect Ryan''s attack in time, and hopefully stop Raymond''s attack afterwards, or he could try and dodge it and counterattack.


    The smartest option would normally just be to dodge and then counterattack, but Ryan''s attack was more complicated than it seemed on the surface. The oppressive earth spiritual energy in the surroundings bore down on the robed man''s body, and he could hardly move his body. Since that was the case, the only thing he could do was deflect Ryan''s attack, and hope for the best. His entire upper body was shrouded by a slight red light that quickly converged in the sword in his hand.


    After mustering the last of his energy, the robed man met Ryan''s attack head-on. The clash of energies stirred up their surroundings and swept the wind away. The wind that was swept away seemed to strangely flow in the same direction, but neither the robed man nor Ryan had energy enough to care about it.


    It was at this moment that Raymond finally arrived. The wind had gathered around his sword as he stabbed forward, aiming straight for the robed man''s head. Although the attack was both fast and violent, it was deathly quiet, and unless the robed man had good enough danger perception, he wouldn''t even have noticed the attack. Luckily for him, he noticed it and raised his sword in an attempt to block it. When his sword was in a position to receive Raymond''s attack, he felt like something was wrong.


    The sound of flesh being torn apart could be heard.


    The robed man looked down, only to see a sword deeply embedded in his chest. His ghastly eyes wandered to Raymond''s face, a dumbfounded look on his face. Raymond responded to this look by twisting his sword into the robed man''s heart, tearing it apart completely. The attack didn''t stop there, as Raymond''s sword force rampaged in the robed man''s body, destroying anything in its way.


    The robed man had still not given up completely, and he reached out with his hand, aiming to grab Raymond''s throat. Raymond had been vigilant this entire time, and he swiftly backed off, leaving the robed man to his own devices. The robed man was on his last breath, and he quietly looked around. They had come here to complete a fairly simple mission. All he needed to do was stall an opponent in the spirit-refining realm. Everything had been going according to plan until this blind brat showed up!


    That was right, he had been completely fooled! He had thought that Cristopher Baxter was the one approaching him, but he could clearly see that it was just a blind youth instead. Had their plans been leaked? Was it truly a coincidence that the enemy had someone so skilled in illusions on their side? Was it not a plot at his life, to fool him into a false sense of security?


    "I commend you, Baxter bastards. I didn''t expect to end up dead in your hands today, but I hope you know that this isn''t over, THIS WILL NEVER BE OVE-"


    Thud.


    The sound of the robed man''s head hitting the ground interrupted his grand speech. Ryan couldn''t be bothered to listen to his nonsense, so he simply beheaded him. Raymond''s attack had basically crippled him and left him defenceless anyways, so he couldn''t resist it at all. Raymond was a little intrigued by the robed man''s reaction since it implied that there was something bigger at play here. For now, Raymond stopped thinking about it, since they hadn''t handled the situation at hand yet.


    Although he had basically exhausted all of his strength, Raymond was still vigilant, there were plenty of enemies left. Ryan saw how tense he was, and the exhaustion that was obvious for all to see.


    "Relax a bit kid, I''ll handle the small fries, you''ve done more than enough."


    With a pat on his shoulder, Ryan left Raymond all by himself, and he left to clean up the battlefield. Raymond inspected his surroundings a bit before he heeded Ryan''s advice and sat down on the ground. The soft grass was nice to the touch, unfortunately, it had become ruined by the blood of Ryan and the robed man. Raymond couldn''t be bothered enough to care if his clothes were stained by blood at this point, he just tried his hardest to clear his mind.


    As he looked ahead, he saw Ryan enter the fight, completely destroying any opposition that came his way. Blood and limbs flew through the air, and Raymond could almost feel the discomfort of the wind. A single punch from Ryan could cave someone''s entire chest in, killing them instantly. This was what a true disparity in strength meant. It was a scene of carnage, but Raymond still watched. He didn''t need to watch, but he did so anyway. This carnage was the result of weakness, and it was something that Raymond never wanted to experience.


    He burned the image of such carnage into his mind, vowing to himself to become stronger. He wanted to control his own fate. He wanted to be strong enough to live however he wanted. He didn''t want to bow down to others or to be at their mercy.


    Slowly but surely, something within Raymond started to change, as for whether this change was good or bad, it''s hard to say, only time will eventually tell.

 Chapter 36 - Damage.

    Ryan quickly cleaned up the remaining robed men, but the damage dealt to the mercenaries was extensive. More than half of the hired mercenaries were dead, and if not for Raymond, there would probably be even more casualties. After recollecting himself for a while, Raymond started looking around the battlefield, looking for a familiar figure. Looking around, Raymond wasn''t able to find who he was looking for, and a bad premonition quickly brought him back down to earth.


    Within a few seconds, Raymond had arrived at the battlefield, and he anxiously looked around until he found a sorry figure. Walking over, Raymond looked at the older man lying on the ground in front of him. With a sword piercing his heart, the man had a terrified expression on his face. No matter who you asked, they would tell you that this guy had definitely not passed away in peace, if anything, his death looked quite dreadful.


    "Old man Owen..."


    As he stared at the blood-stained face of Owen in front of him, Raymond was at a loss. He didn''t really know Owen well, they had only met a few times after all. But the old man had still looked out for him, and Raymond had warmed up to him a little. To think someone he had taken a liking to had just passed away in the blink of an eye. Raymond felt an array of emotions brewing deep in his heart. More than anything, he was angry. He was angry at his own incompetence. If only he was stronger, he could''ve prevented this whole thing without anyone having to die.


    As he was sinking into dangerous thoughts, his sword force activated on its own, permeating into the surroundings. The sword force seemed agitated and a little different. Compared to his usual sword force, the sword force that Raymond was currently emitting was filled with a murderous aura. This was the birth of Raymond''s killing intent, something Raymond had never felt before. The thought of slaughtering all of the robed men that had been captured briefly crossed his mind.


    As the thought crossed his mind, Raymond soon realised his naivety. He wasn''t incompetent at all. Considering the time he had cultivated, he had been doing quite well, it was just an unfortunate situation. Being angry at himself wouldn''t help, instead, he redirected his anger to the people who had caused this whole thing in the first place. If he ever came across any of them in the future, he would kill them on sight! Killing all of the robed men they had captured would have the opposite effect of what Raymond wanted. If they interrogated these robed men, maybe they could get some information on the organisation behind them.


    Not far away, Ryan was watching Raymond with interest. The situation was unfortunate, but Ryan didn''t console Raymond or try and comfort him, he had been through similar things in the past, it was better to just leave Raymond be. Although he was impressed with Raymond''s strength and sword force, he was still trying to keep it together. Maybe his young master could recruit Raymond into the family, if that was the case, then there was no need for him to be too eager.


    After a while when everyone had recollected themselves, it was time to leave. It wasn''t like they could take the bodies of the deceased with them, so they had to give them a quick burial. Although it wasn''t a proper burial, it was better than leaving their bodies out to be eaten by beasts. With heavy hearts, they started their travels again, hoping to get to Bluemont as fast as possible. They didn''t travel far before night arrived and they set up camp again.


    Because of what had happened earlier, the mood was sombre, and the atmosphere was quite awkward. Raymond was especially affected, as he didn''t really talk with anyone at all. Christopher had originally wanted to invite him to talk, but after being informed of the situation from Ryan, he decided against it. Raymond needed space, he could talk with him after they had arrived at Bluemont and he had settled down a little.


    Something that no one seemed to notice, Raymond included, was that the air around him was beginning to slowly change. Raymond''s sword force was essentially a power that came from his soul, and since it was slowly undergoing change, it naturally meant that Raymond himself was going through a change as well. If anything, the reason his sword force was undergoing change was because of the change to Raymond himself.


    Before, his sword force had been swift and sharp, but in a sense, it had also been rather soft. Raymond himself was still new to cultivation after all. He had neither battle experience nor profound cultivation, so his state of mind was easily influenced by new experiences, such as loss and anger. His sword force was becoming sharper and more powerful by the second. It was essentially being transformed by Raymond''s killing intent.


    As night arrived, most went to sleep, whilst others had to be on watch duty. Raymond himself wasn''t in the mood to sleep or cultivate, so he simply sat down on a small hill, and watched the stars. It was a beautiful night, the perfect antithesis to such a horrible day. If there was one thing positive about this new world he found himself in, Raymond thought it had to be the beautiful nature that was practically untouched. Compared to his previous world, where seeing the stars in the sky could almost be considered a luxury, this world had a lot more to offer.


    With that being said, this world was far from perfect. Because of the nature of this world, a lot of horrible things happened all the time. A single demonic cultivator could obliterate a city on his own, massacring countless people. As he watched the stars in the sky shining, the dark thoughts in Raymond''s mind slowly went away. A newfound thirst and passion for strength replaced them. In the future, he wanted to be strong to the point where something like this could never happen to him again.


    This tightness and pain he felt in his chest was something he never wanted to feel again. With determination to get stronger than ever before, Raymond started cultivating. He didn''t care about where he was at all, he simply started cultivating. He couldn''t be bothered to hide in some tent just to cultivate. His senses were greatly enhanced whilst cultivating anyway, so if he felt someone approaching, he could just stop immediately.


    After around an hour of cultivating, Raymond felt someone approaching him. Feeling a little surprised, Raymond promptly stopped cultivating and waited for whoever it was to arrive. A few moments later, Raymond could see the graceful figure of Chloe Baxter walking towards him, and he became even more surprised. Out of all the people he had expected, she was probably on the bottom of the list, since her brother had stated just the day before that she disliked men after all.


    Even if he was supposedly blind, he was still a man, right? Raymond didn''t know how to feel, but he didn''t have much time to think before Chloe arrived.