[Place: Sistine Continent, Dalmora Nation, Starlight Imperial Sect]

After Ling came out of the cafeteria, he took out the task paper and read it carefully.

“So first I need to go this place called Earthwin town and meet the mayor. This place is quite at a distance from our sect. Looks like it will take at least a day to get there! ” Ling muttered as he started walking towards the southern sect gate. A disciple who was standing far away from him started to walk in the same direction.

After fifteen minutes, he came near the southern gate. Right before the gate he came to a stop and glanced at behind. When he stopped a shadow instantly tried to hid itself behind a tree. 

Ling only gazed for a few moments before he spun around and left the sect. After that, the disciple who was following him came out from behind the tree. It was Bong Guhu. He also started to move behind Ling as his lips curled up into an evil smile as he brought out a sound transmission stone and said, “Brother Chenwayne, it seems like even the heavens are favoring us. He just left the sect to do a quest. ”

The sound transmission stone glowed with a bright light as a low voice came out of it, “Hehehe! Brother Guhu, you follow him. Don't let him out of your sight. I will gather others and will soon follow behind you. If this plan works, I will make sure to reward all of you properly.”

A greedy light gleamed behind Bong Guhu's eyes and he replied, “Rest assured brother Chenwayne! ”

…………

[Place:Dalmora Nation, Earthwin Town]

Ling travelled non stop for a whole day and finally he reached Earthwin Town. The town itself was not much bigger and it felt like a ghost town as Ling could only see a few people wandering around. Even when he was crossing the market place, he only saw fifteen or so people excluding the merchants. And most of the people he saw were Cultivators in just name as their level were only in Sky star realm.

He could also feel a few strong auras but he knew they weren't people of this town as they were following him since he left the sect.

Ling went straight to the Town Mayor's residence. After he entered it, he was led to a small room. He sat inside it and after five minutes the Mayor came.

The mayor was a pale looking middle aged man. Worry and anxiety could be easily seen on his face. After he took a seat right in front of Ling, he said “Young man, I am this town's mayor Bunjo Sui. You must be Shin Ling right? ” 

Ling nodded as a reply and then he said, “So what exactly is going on? ”

Bunjo Sui gave a deep sigh of resentment and despair as he said, “As you can see, my town is really a remote and insignificant area inside our nation. None of us are higher level Cultivators like you. But that was also the reason peace had existed here for so long….you see there's a forest named Burnwood, five kilometers to the west of this town. Our people relied on this forest to gather resources and hunt normal beast of lower tier. Although we would lose a few people in every hunt we did but still most of us would survive. But suddenly two months ago, our hunting team was completely wiped out. After that whenever we sent a team, they would never come back again until recently a man from the hunting team was able to come back alive with viscious injuries all over his body.”

Then Bunjo Sui looked down for a little before saying , “Although that man didn't survive. He told us before he died that a Heavenly Spirit beast had actually appeared inside the forest. And it was a powerful one at that! ”

Ling was looked unmoved till now but when he heard Sui said Heavenly Spirit beast, he was surprised as he hurriedly blurted out with a shocked expression, “Heavenly Spirit beast? ”.

Beasts were classified into three categories Normal beasts, Spirit Beasts and Heavenly Spirit beasts. Normal beasts and Spirit beasts were similar except for the difference that Spirit beasts could utilize only a little amount of Heavenly energy whereas beasts could not. But Heavenly Spirit beasts were completely different. They had more intelligence than normal beasts or Spirit beast and they could use Heavenly energy just like Cultivators. One could say they were the only existences who were the most closest to the ‘Beastmen’ species of Wild Heaven Continent. 

“Sadly..yes. And that's why we need your help. ” Bunjo Sui said as he handed out a map to Ling and said, “The location where the beast usually resides has been marked in this map. I hope you can take care of it…oh silly me! I forgot to ask you, from which Imperial Sect did you come from? ”

“I am Shin Ling and I hail from the Starlight Imperial sect. ” Ling replied politely.

“Oh! Now that's a coincidence! Our town's renowned doctor Mitra also hired someone from the Starlight Imperial Sect to do a task. She also came here just yesterday.  I believe her name was Xia Caihyi. Do you know her? ”

“No, I have never heard of her! ” Ling replied. 

“I see...you must be tired after all the journey. Do want to take a bath first or would you like to eat first? ” Bunjo Sui asked. He was showing the highest respect and courtesy towards Ling as for him, Ling was a mighty existence since Ling had come from one of the royal sects.

“I appreciate your offer but I am afraid I will have to turn them down! I will set out to do the quest immediately! ” Ling said as he stood up and gave a light bow of respect towards a senior.

“I see that you are really hard working! Very well then! I really hope you can succeed!” Bunjo Sui said. Then he showed Ling the way outside. After Ling came out of Mayor's house, he opened the map and looked at it. Then he closed it and started moving towards west.

……..…

[Place: Sistine Continent, Easter ends of Burnwood Forest]

Ling was walking on a wide craggy path. All the trees inside the forest were dark green and blackish green as if they were already dead. But what caused Ling to be shocked was that there was no deficiency of sunlight at all or there wasn't even any kind of pungent unpleasant smell coming out from them. It was pleasantly open as bright sunlight fell on the ground. Yet the ground and all the trees had a black and dark texture to them as if they were rotten and poisonous.

Five people were following him for a long time and Ling also knew that. He was patiently waiting for them to show their selves and his patience didn't go to waste. As Ling was walking, suddenly a bright golden beam came out from behind a tree and went straight for Ling's heart. 

Ling was prepared for something like this, he instantly moved sideways and the beam of golden light hit the ground.

Crack!

As it hit the ground a two meters long crack appeared on the ground. Ling slowly turned to look behind him as five people came out of the forest. 

“Hehehe! To think you will be able to dodge that! You sure have good reflexes! But you should have just gotten hit by that, at least it would have given you a short and painless death! ” Bong Guhu who was in front of the other four disciples said with an eerie grin on his face.

Ling shifted his gaze at him and said calmly in a flat voice, “I don't really get it! When did I even do something that you all are going this far? Specifically you and that girl named Chi Lu. I never even spoke a single word with you. Then why? ”. Then he looked at everyone present. 

Vanisha gave a long yawn and muttered in a dull voice as she rubbed her eyes, “Three Blue Star realm and two peak Yellow Star realm. Looks like they are done for! Uhh...I better sleep, it's so boring. ”. Then she lied on the ground inside the independent space and closed her eyes. 

Bong Guhu was slightly taken aback when Ling wanted to know the reason. It was true that they and Ling didn't have this much hatred whatsoever, but then he gave a cold smile and said, “To be honest…it's true that Chenwayne is going a bit excessive. I mean to kill a trash like you, he actually arranged the five of us. And as for the reason, heh I am afraid you don't need to know as you will be leaving this world soon!  ”

“Aren't you afraid if the sect knows about this….you all will be punished? ” Ling asked. 

“Heh! I can see you are quite naive! There is no way that the sect will come to know of this matter! And even if they do, without any solid proof, they will never take action. And also the sect rules clearly state that whatever happens to a desciple outside its territory, they won't bear any responsibility for it! Well that's enough chitchat! Now kill him! ”

As Bong Guhu said a disciple of peak Yellow Star realm dashed at Ling. As he came forward Ling remained unmoved and he wasn't even looking at the approaching enemy.

“This feels too familiar! ” Ling muttered as he remembered the day he was ambushed by Shangchen and others in Blackburn forest. Every bit of memory was still clear as glass in his mind. When the memories flooded his mind again, an uncontrollable rage grasped his heart as he clenched his fists tightly.

The disciple was only a meter away from him now. He gathered Heavenly energy on his hand as he formed a sharp blade with it and slashed it at Ling's throat. But then suddenly the disciple's vision blurred and he stopped moving. 

Thump!

He didn't even see when but Ling had already struck his palm at his chest. But rather than saying Ling attacked him, it was like he only pushed him a little with his palm. But the disciple didn't move. Ling retreated his palm and started walking towards the group as he said in a low bone chilling voice as his long hair covered the look in his eyes, “That's one! ”. As he said, the disciple who was standing like a statue suddenly fell on the ground as his pupils lost color and bloody foam gushed out of his mouth. Then his body violently shook before it stopped completely. He was dead!

The cold smile on Bong Guhu's face completely faded as a look of disbelief and fear grasped his soul. He involuntarily took a step back as he said, “You..wha…what did you do? ”.

But Ling didn't give a reply, instead his figure suddenly flashed and he rushed at their group. Almost in a breath, he covered the thirty meters distance between them and appeared right in front of another desciple who was at Blue Star realm. The disciple got panicked as he immediately summoned a sword but before he could even swing it, Ling struck a fist on his chest.

Crack!

The disciple was sent skidding on the ground like a broken blood bag as chest bones cracked into several pieces and blood spread everywhere from his chest. 

Bong Guhu was scared silly as his face became even whiter and pale than before, he growled like a rabid dog, “Ki…kill him together! ”.

As he said that, the other three disciples jumped at him together from three different directions.

But Ling was calm as ever as he took a breath and muttered, ‘Basic style: Shijian Quan’. And then in the blink of an eye, he struck the first disciple in the abdominal with his right fist. Then he spun around shot his left elbow at the second disciple's left ribcage. And right after that, he crouched a little as the third disciple swung an axe aiming at Ling's head. The axe missed his hair just by a centimeter as Ling was able to feel the air blowing against his hair due to the swing. And then Ling turned around sideways thrusted both his hands upwards from the lowered position which hit the disciple's throat and chest.

Dhoom!

Crack!

Sprat!

With three different sounds, the three disciples were sent flying in air with small blast of energies. As the three of them crashed on either ground or tree, all of them groaned in pain for a brief moment before they all stopped moving. This was one of the basic Martial arts skills which Ling had learnt from the Imperial Martial arts books. 

Basic Martial arts books were created for Body Cultivators who couldn't use Heavenly energy to cultivate Heavenly arts. Body Cultivators were symbols of raw power. That's why they cultivate basic Martial arts techniques as these combined with their raw strength made them a different kind of monster. As Ling also couldn't cultivate Heavenly arts, he decided to learn these things. Although he was unable to use them as effectively as a Body Cultivator could do, but still with his Void energy he was quite proficient in it. 

Seeing all this, Bong Guhu's face became ghastly pale. He started shivering in fear as he wanted to run away but he was unable to do so as he had no power left in his legs.

Then Ling turned and faced him. His eyes were still dreary and emotionless. Bong Guhu fell on his knees and started begging, “Oh revered one! Please forgive me! I...I was unable to see the revered one's true self! Please spare this insignificant junior's life! ”

Ling stood before him. He didn't look at him and said coldly, “Bong Guhu right? I must say that you are the naive one here! Why do you think he sent you and those other two jokers of you group along with some monkeys he hired? They already knew something like this might happen! That's why that Chenwayne and Chi Lu didn't come here themselves! ”.

When Ling said that, Bong Guhu's eyes were wide opened. He resented himself for listening to that bastard Chenwayne and regretted his decision of getting involved in this matter only for some money and profits.

Then Ling took a long breath and said with a dark smile on his face, “Unfortunately, I had given you all enough chances….and since you wanted to kill me then you shouldn't mind if I do the same to you, right? ”. As Ling said he lifted his leg and stomped Bong Guhu's head. Under the pressure of Ling's power, Bong Guhu finally realized why those other desciples were unable to do anything at all! His pupils shrunk to the size of needles!

Smash!

Ling crushed Bong Guhu's skull as it dug deep into the the ground and blood and broken fragments of skull came out of Guhu's head! 

All of them were dead! 

Then Ling searched their bodies and found some money and other things. He also found a sound transmission jade from Bong Guhu. He took it and stored it into his ring.

“Phew! Now I can finally focus on my task!” Ling said and started walking again.

—————

Note:Shijian Quan-> Time Circle