Chapter 10: Realization and Objective.

In my current condition, never mind running, not even a simple walk was possible, with the heavy broken leg, and the oldness of this body's bones, I was nothing more than an appetizer for this creature. I had no way to escape, no way to beat it or hid from it. Death has raised its scythe and is preparing to lob off my head with it.

Death? How many times has it been now, from the time my kids threw me to my doom, to the cultivators who drowned me in a pool of poison, to the suffering I had at the hand of that poison. Death is easy, and it comes cheap, and now I was going to die, in a random spot, in a random place, facing a random creature. Death is easy, but at the same time, only those who surrender to it would die without fighting back. I may not be the most courageous of people, nor the bravest, or the strongest, but I had a will to survive, and a goal that I have just began achieving. I'm a cultivator, a weak pitiful, and dismissible cultivator in this world, yet I made it here, with my own effort and I will not forgive myself if I were to lose this life of mine due to some odd and random monster.

The wrath and refusal to accept such a meaningless death made these old bones of mine move, the leopard lunged at me only to find emptiness in the jagged and sharp claws of his. The creature growled as it turned, to find me half sprawled on the ground. I had rolled away, only it was barely enough for me to escape from the creature's claws but not enough to save myself from hitting my wounded leg against the ground. Pain assaulted me from all over my body, but I grit my teeth against it.

'Cry later, fight now!'

I locked my eyes to the slit pupils of the now enraged predator, it seems that it was annoyed that such an old weak prey managed to evade its initial attack.

There was no way for me to outdo the massive strength of such a large feline. But I didn't need to rely on muscles that have long since been weakened, nor fingers that were plagued with necrosis, or my body that barely had enough power to carry itself. I had a weapon, and I had to use it.

What better way than to use that than now? It's free practice. Correction, it's a practice that if I don't succeed in, I'll die.

A grin crept up my old face, and my heart began beating, thumping loud enough that I could feel it revibrating through my entire body and bombarding my eardrums.

Adrenalin rush!

I'm excited! It has been a while since I had ever been in such a good mood.

"Come at me kitty!" I spoke and the creature pounced at me as I just pushed myself from the ground, aided by the spear in hand to pivot my whole body away from the large cat.

I rotated the energy within me, creating a full circle before releasing it in a loud inhale then exhale of dark green fumes that shot out then spread like a fog in a misty forest.

The fog assaulted the tiger's nose than the rest of its body then spread along the area.

The tiger didn't even notice what was going on. Then came doubt.

Poison would need to slowly interact with the leopard's bloodstream before it could actually be lethal. And that could take from minutes to hours to days, depending on this creature's resistance.

If my poison was not strong enough to kill this thing then I'm beyond doomed. Still, I couldn't wipe that childish grin off my face. Even if I had to die here, I'll die fighting, I have become a cultivator, and all cultivators will one day meet with a crisis. This is my crisis and I have to survive it.

The leopard moved forward, yet the moment it placed its foot on the ground it wobbled, then it began sneezing.

The creature shook and shuddered as it wretched red disgusting liquid out of its mouth, its hair began to fall and its eyes began tearing blood. The leopard shook, howled in pain, and suddenly fell to the side, motionless as more of the green smoke penetrated through it and ate away it its flesh.

In seconds, the leopard husked over, his whole body drained from blood and muscle tissue as it transformed into nothing but brittle bones on skin.

It took me a moment to fully take in what just happened. The poison breath I just used, is surprisingly powerful, so powerful that it took down such a large predator in seconds.

This poison cultivation is not a hack, it's the real deal, to be able to handle such a large predator with such a lowly cultivation level…I can only think of one thing.

'OP'

I began giggling, I was funny, how far I had to suffer, and it was funny how things had turned, but the most hilarious was that I actually have value. And things could actually work out for me in the end. I smiled to myself as I picked up my spear and decided to continue heading deeper into the forest.

I looked behind me where Lucid Springs was, then I scoffed, I'm not going back, so why look in that direction.

Just as I was about to move, something shiny grabbed my interest, it was a red crystal that became visible after all of the leopard's skin had shrunken and tore.

I went toward it and grabbed the crystal, but the moment I did, green energy began evaporating from the leopard's skin and surged toward the hand grabbing the crystal.

The energy was domineering, tyrannical, and pervasive, it bore through my arm and continued doing as it pleases in my body. It felt painful, but a small part of me believed that this, whatever it was, was not harmful to my body.

Suddenly I felt something snapping, then the world turned white.

I woke up, later, hours at least as there was sunray going through the thick foliage. The time was day, and I had no idea of the exact moment, the sun was a little beyond its zenith, so it must be half an hour in the afternoon.

Looking around there was nothing different from yesterday, the corpse of the leopard was still lying peacefully on the ground. Something happened yesterday, but I had no clue what.

I got up.

I got up!

How did I get up? I thought. My leg was badly wounded, broken even, but now I'm fully standing up.

I removed the robe that was covering my right leg and noticed that the bone that was protruding from it had already mended back to its proper place.

Even more so, the pustules on my arm, the arm that I went to grab the crystal from within the tiger had lessened. They no longer were as large as baseball balls. But now, they were the size of peas. Still, they were disgusting to look at.

How did that happen? Could it be the crystal? I thought.

I pulled out the small crystal, but it was the same as yesterday, no change had happened to it.

'if I remember correctly, a green overbearing energy had penetrated my hand right after I went for the crystal. Could it be related to the poison breath? It shouldn't be, right?'

Without anyone of expertise to ask, I decided to leave this matter to undertake later. There was no need for me to worry about things I cannot explain, especially with my low cultivation level, and the lack of knowledge on how this world works.

All my life I wanted to become a cultivator, but I focused on that goal so much that I never thought about what to do when I become a cultivator.

I don't know any of the monsters or demonic monsters that live in this world, I don't know the geography of this country, nor do I have any knowledge about the powers that rule this place.

I need to set a goal for myself and then follow through with it. And my first goal is simple.

"I need to join a sect!"