Jason shook his head as he tried to forget about that terrifying experience, 'Why didn't I just reincarnate as a plant!' But when he thought about it, being forced to work for an ancient evil or getting peed on and eaten by wild animals every day, which was better? Definitely working for the ancient evil, right?

He knew he would soon reach the outskirts of this area of the forest by relying on his newly gained map, and soon enough he could hear human voices.

Moving closer for a better look, he squinted his eyes and could see a young group of five battling with a massive bear. Using the strength of the beasts he and Mo Zuo had encountered as a reference, he guessed that this bear was most likely in the Core formation stage! 

He was impressed that they could hold on while fighting a beast that strong, but they seemed to be slowly losing the battle.

There was a burly guy with a large shield that he empowered with earth Qi, he did his best to distract the bear, while two of his companions launched attacks from the side.

A lady with a wooden staff summoned vines from the ground and used it to tie down the movements of the bear, and her teammate kept launching water attacks at the bear kebear's it constantly confused!

This was quite an effective formation, and Jason commended their teamwork! But he could clearly see the burly man with a shield could no longer hold on, and the attacks of his companions were getting weaker with time!

Jason smiled and stuck a fist in the ground, 'Time to go save the day.' And with that he lifted his fist from the ground, and a sizeable earth gauntlet had covered it! Jason currently possessed the body of an Earth Serpent, and its natural ability to manipulate the soil was remarkable. Jason clenched his fist and got used to the feel. 'This body has a lot of recovering to do.' 

He slowly walked out of the trees to where the battle was going on, instantly causing the team to be on guard and that slight moment of distraction was all it took for the ferocious bear to break out!

The bear looked quickly for the weakest link, seeing a single person it turned towards Jason, but its instinct warned it to stay away! It looked around and then pounced at the two support members that had greatly hindered its mobility.

The bears strength was mostly physical, sure enough if the bear attacked, it would leave the two ladies as mashed potatoes! With the two of them gone it would be able to easily deal with the other members.

Jason smiled as he noticed the bear's intention, he saw the tank of the team rushing to intercept the bear, but he was way too slow. Jason was the nearest to the ladies, so he leapt in front of them, and with his powerful right hand (Author: He was single what do you expect) he launched an attack at the bear. The fist quickly connected with the bears head and landed a solid blow!

The bear shook it's head in confusion as it was dazed by the sudden attack! Furious it was about to slam its massive paws on Jason's head.

Jason looked up at the bear, his iris turned an earthy brown and the slit-like pupils appeared once more as he leaked a bit of the desolate beast aura in him.

The bear instantly froze, as its instincts kicked in once again, and it instantly turned and ran away at top speed! 

Jason smiled and then turned to face the members of the team, but was surprised to see awkward looks on their faces.

Save for the two girls whose faces showed relief, the other team members had a pained look on their faces.

"Aren't you meant to thank me?" Jason asked slightly annoyed.

"Thank you? You let the bear get awa..." One of the hatchet wielders wanted to say before he was interrupted.

"Sorry, don't mind my mindless teammate, we are very grateful to you for saving our lives." The lady who controlled vines bowed her head slightly and responded with a meek tone.

"How important was the bear?" Jason asked curiously.

"Senior, this is a bit... confidential." The lady had a struggling expression as she answered him.

"Why are you bothering with him? Lets go!" Another male on the team yelled impatiently.

Jason was a bit surprised, he had just displayed power superior to the bear, but these set of people didn't even show a bit of fear when facing him, and they still wanted to chase after that bear!

The vine lady put on a gentle smile saying, "Thank you for your help senior, though I can't repay you now, in a few days please come to the number one medicine sect, and ask for Lei Huan!" She bowed and went to meet up with the rest of the team, the water caster also bowed towards Jason and walked off.

Jason stood there and watched them walk away, due to his new body his hearing was enhanced and he could catch some of the conversations they were having.

*

"Why did you go through all that stress? You'd have been fine even without his help!" He heard the rude man who used blades say.

"Manners, it's all about manners! He used his strength to save us, and we didn't even have to use a protective talisman. They aren't cheap you know." The water caster lazily berated the blade wielder.

*

Jason nodded his head as he heard this, 'Just as I expected they must be from quite powerful sects, that explains why they showed no fear when interacting with me.'

Jason put the matter that had just happened to the back of his mind, and continued heading towards the  exit of the forest.

Surprisingly it wasn't called the rainbow forest here, and Jason could understand, this part of the forest lacked the wide variety of medicinal herbs found in the other area, it was more green.

He took one last breath of fresh good air and finally stepped out of the forest. Without the shade of the trees, he was able to fully feel the sun and it was scorching hot! 'In the core of this district is where I would find the first piece huh?'

A few moments later, Jason had reached the closest city, there were two strong sects located in just this area, while back on the other side of the forest, only the Mo clan ruled there. Jason assumed the power levels on this side of the forest were probably much higher! 

'The Sky realm was the peak back there, what's the peak realm going to be here?' Jason asked around for a good inn, with really soft beds where he could spend the night. 

Sadly people misunderstood him when he kept stressing on the 'softness' of the beds and assumed it was some code. He ended up being directed to brothels over and over!

Defeated he finally decided to enter a brothel, it seemed inns were quite scarce in this city. The pink light giving off by the pink paper lanterns, the scented candles and the vast amount of young masters, Jason smiled and quietly mused, 'typical xianxia brothels, I wonder if I'll end up fighting over a young master's girl or something....' 

---

Back in the Mo clan...

Several days had passed since the Earth Serpent escaped, following its tracks, it seemed to have headed deeper into the forest and vanished! But there was still a lot of activity, as the Mo clan and Ji clan had partnered up and begun excavating the ruins 

At first no discovery had been made, but on the sixth day, a team from the Mo clan had discovered a strange cube room! A few tests were done and they discovered that this cube could warp time flow, time sped up by as much as 10 times if you stayed within.

Mo Zhu the head of the Mo clan was ecstatic on discovering such a great treasure! The cube room was littered with all sorts of research paper, so it seemed the cube room was where the heretic sect came to brainstorm!

Ji Yao had been trying to broker a deal concerning the usage of the cube room, but Mo Zhu had proven extremely stubborn.

Mo Zhi on the other hand was very excited, his son Mo Zuo had broken through to the Qi foundation stage and truly awakened his bloodline! 

But Mo Zhi had some slight worries, the strength of a bloodline could be seen by how much the cultivation and strength is increased on awakening. 

But Mo Zuo's awakening was by less than 9 small cultivation stages, an amazing result, but Mo Zhi had expected a higher cultivation jump...

Putting this small matter to the back of his mind, Mo Zhi went to continue the preparation for Ancestor Ji's healing.

---

Mo Zuo and Ji Yan had gone on several more adventures after their last fiasco, none of then were as dangerous as the previous one, but they still found a great number of rare herbs and treasures. 

"We are pretty rich right now you know? Who knew getting money was so easy!" Ji Yan had a gleeful smile on her face, she started thinking of all the things they could buy!

"Well, my clan normally takes 45% of the rewards obtained from the forest by normal mercenaries and the likes. But our special identities protected us from the exploitation." Mo Zuo calmly explained to Ji Yan, "45% may seem a lot, but the amount of effort we take in monitoring and protecting this area of the forest, the 45% is a bit cheap."

Ji Yan nodded her head as she subconsciously rubbed her full storage ring, imagining 45% of the contents taken away slight horror shone on her face. 

Mo Zuo looked at the storage ring on Ji Yan's face enviously, he had requested one from his father Mo Zhi, but Mo Zhi was too busy handling the Ji clan matters.

So Mo Zuo had to constantly carry his spoils back to his house in a very large sack! Worse was how he had to stuff his gains in the ceiling of his roof, night after night! Buying a storage ring was his number one priority right now.

As he and Ji Yan strolled back to the Mo clan, he noticed some of the guards harassing a skinny figure. In fact he could even recognise some of the guards, they were the ones who were chasing me when I first arrived in this body! 

He felt a bit annoyed seeing those guards, now that he had gotten stronger, it was about time he disciplined these disrespectful guards. Looking at the pitiful man being harassed by the guards, Mo Zuo decided to stand up for him.

"Why are you harassing this innocent citizen?"

"Young master its not like that..." One of the guards tried to explain.

Another guard chuckled and laughed, "Let this 'innocent citizen' go, you heard the young master!"

The 'innocent citizen' looked at Mo Zuo in shock, without even thanking him, the 'Innocent citizen' fled as fast as he could!

Mo Zuo furrowed his brows as he began to sense something was wrong. He looked at the guards for some explanation, but saw one of them shake his head in pity, some of the other guards were even secretly laughing at Mo Zuo.

"Young master... that 'innocent citizen' was spotted leaping out of your roof." A guard said.

"Ehn?!" Mo Zuo said utterly shocked!