The heavy downpour left no room for silence.
Clouds roared overhead.
"Do humans… does their cultivation method restructure qi?"
"And beasts?"
He lowered his neck.
His gaze followed the fox's blood as it diluted into the newly formed puddle.
Arin's eyes narrowed slightly.
The image of the dead lion flashed through his mind as he straightened.
No way I'm eating that.
His gaze swept the forest.
Exhaustion crept into his voice.
"But all the other refinement realms are far away."
A familiar voice rang through his head—
but this time, it spoke with the tone of a royal butler.
[A true gentlesnake does not fear hard work.
Although I already knew this, it merely adds to the fact that you are a true scum of a snake.]
His eyes grew grim.
"Why are you speaking like that?"
"I had a rough day," he snapped. "So don't disturb me."
[Pff~ yeah, you truly were a wonder today.]
"Are you in the eighteenth century?" he muttered.
"Who even uses wonder like that… tch. I don't know how people speak anymore."
The realization dawned on him for a moment.
"I need to increase Kael's cultivation quickly.
I really need someone to talk to."
His eyes sharpened.
"Maybe I'm going crazy, talking to myself like this."
Suddenly, a sharp jolt ran down his spine.
The next instant, lightning tore down from the sky and struck the tree in front of him.
His focus snapped.
The tree erupted in flames.
His eyes marveled at the sight of the burning trunk.
"Man…" his breath came out exhausted.
"This view—the darkened weather, the wind… holy hell, this looks cinematic in real life."
The tree tilted.
Slowly at first.
Then it fell—fast—
straight towards Arin.
Arin just looked at it.
The moment slowed down.
He looked at himself.
Regular heartbeat.
Relaxed scales.
He closed his eyes.
It simply happened—
The burning tree fell down.
Arin's body simply broke through the bark.
His eyes slowly opened.
He sighed.
"Right, I have to get used to it"
Reality subtly settled down.
"Where even am i?" He thought to himself.
He gazed back.
Water slipped down from his shut mouth.
His voice–
Low.
Trembling.
"I see" he said.
He slithered back.
He stopped.
A picture of himself and his... Family.
A smile crept in.
Same thing.
Same place.
Just a different tone.
"I see"
... The stormy night passed into a sunny day.
Preditory eyes slowly revealed themselves.
Arin got up.
Sunlight pierced through his scales.
"~aahhhh"
…
The sun glowed brightly above the open grassland.
Its rays brushed against the cloth of a green tent.
The fabric shifted as a hand pushed it aside.
A girl stepped out.
Her hazel eyes squinted as she stretched her arms as far as they could reach. Ginger hair, braided along the sides, fell loosely over her shoulders.
Her lungs held air for a moment.
A soft beep escaped her as she held the stretch.
Then the air rushed out all at once as her body relaxed.
A voice cut through her release.
"The weather is alright today."
"Ah—good morning, Wei," she let out as half her body stretched backward.
The voice came closer.
It revealed a brute nearly twice her size, black hair tied into a ponytail, a crescent-moon blade resting against his back.
"Good morning, Xue."
Another voice cut in from ahead—a man, his hair falling far below his hips.
"Isn't it strange that we haven't encountered a single beast?" the man added.
Xue and Wei both looked at each other.
Their smiles sparkled.
They shouted in unison,
"Good morning, Shuo!"
The moment stretched far too long.
No response came.
Xue finally decided to cut the silence.
"Well, the scouts said there's no need to be wary of any danger."
Shuo suddenly turned back.
"Do you remember that young cultivator—what was his name? … Nemi?"