For three whole days and three nights, Xu Zifan's consciousness was blurred. He was in so much pain that he could hardly feel any pain at all, and he couldn't feel anything at all, just like he was on his deathbed.
Of course, he didn't die. After the pain subsided, he was given a completely new body, perfectly proportioned and full of power, with his meridians widened to twice their original size! This was equivalent to doubling his combat power. In battle, when others exhausted their spiritual energy, he would have plenty of spiritual energy to continue fighting because his meridians were wide enough and contained enough spiritual energy.
The sudden doubling of spiritual power resulted in Xu Zifan experiencing a surge of energy as soon as he regained consciousness—a sign of advancement! Ignoring everything else, Xu Zifan quickly sat up cross-legged, focusing intently on his breakthrough. His mental state had been honed to a formidable level through countless transmigrations, and now, breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage was completely unimpeded. He used his cultivation technique to guide the chaotic spiritual power within his body into his dantian, which swelled to bursting. Then, a profound feeling washed over him; the spiritual energy in his dantian condensed into a spiritual liquid, which then coalesced into a miniature version of himself—his Nascent Soul was complete!
However, he had not yet fully absorbed the enormous spiritual energy from the spiritual fruit. The spiritual energy continued to flow into his dantian to nourish his nascent soul. After Xu Zifan broke through to the nascent soul stage, his cultivation level continued to rise until he reached the mid-nascent soul stage before stopping! He exhaled lightly, slowly opened his eyes, and felt that his senses and divine awareness had been further strengthened. He also felt more powerful in his body. The mythical feats of overwhelming mountains and seas in the stories he once knew could now be moved by him with a wave of his hand.
This was Xu Zifan's first advancement since transmigrating, and the feeling was incredible, almost addictive. He clenched his fist, got up, cleaned himself, changed into clean clothes, and asked, "[Shaohua, how long has it been? What's going on outside?]"
[Shaohua: A month has passed since you consumed the spiritual fruit. There have been guards at the cave entrance the whole time. They say most people in the forest have left, but each faction has left one person to continue exploring. There are no cultivators above the Golden Core stage.]
[It seems we can't stay in this forest anymore, let's go somewhere else.] Xu Zifan put on his cloak and hat, and as soon as he left the space, he waved to knock out the two people at the cave entrance. Then he ran out of the cave and released his divine sense. He found that the range of his divine sense was now three times larger than before, and he had a complete understanding of the situation in the entire forest.
He quickly left the forest, avoiding anyone. With his mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, no one there could rival him, and he could fly away without anyone catching up. However, it was better to avoid trouble altogether, and it was best not to even leave a trace. Even so, the title "Cloaked Man" still spread, because no one could find him. The only strange person without a name or surname was Xu Zifan, who happened to be not far from the cave when he fought the level seven demon beast.
That day, the female cultivator from the Seeking Immortals Sect felt that Xu Zifan had looked down on her, so she deliberately spoke out about him afterwards, saying that he was the most suspicious person. However, no matter what, Xu Zifan had already left, and anyone who tried to find something in the forest was destined to waste their time.
Xu Zifan then went to the more dangerous Boundless Forest. This area is generally only frequented by disciples at the Golden Core stage or above for high-level missions. Danger and opportunity coexist here. Besides forests, it also contains swamps, misty forests, and the Ghostly Cry Cave. The most dangerous part is that this forest is inaccessible by sword; if you encounter any danger and need to escape, you can only run on your own. Many cultivators have died here.
Xu Zifan felt he had room to act as a final safeguard, so he could be bolder. He needed to quickly find opportunities to improve his strength in order to complete the mission. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if Huo Chongjun had any problems and died. He would have to defeat Huo Chongjun fair and square.
The original owner had been here before, but only fought monsters and collected rare herbs on the outskirts; he hadn't ventured deep into the area. Now that Xu Zifan had arrived, he spent his time searching for high-level monsters to hone his combat skills while simultaneously collecting herbs and refining pills. He was busy day and night for a hundred days straight, only occasionally sitting down to read the books that Shao Hua had scanned, trying to learn more about various aspects of this world.
The outside world's discussions about the "cloaked man" and the spiritual fruit quickly faded. Both the man and the fruit had vanished without a trace, leaving little room for further discussion. The people in the forest also gradually withdrew, ceasing their search for Xu Zifan and the spiritual fruit. Xu Zifan encountered many people in the boundless forest. After learning that he was called the "cloaked man" by outsiders, he discarded the cloak and took a disguise pill every three days. Because the cultivators entering the boundless forest were all of considerable strength, Xu Zifan inevitably met some directly. When they introduced themselves, he said his name was Xu Yizhi.
Most of these encounters were casual acquaintances, and Xu Zifan had no intention of making friends with them. However, he did encounter several people with ulterior motives. These included rogue cultivators, elders of small sects, and arrogant disciples with high talent from large sects. Some wanted to steal his things, some were just watching to pick up the scraps, and some wanted to interfere and share the spoils. Xu Zifan dealt with all of them. Gradually, some people outside also heard of the name "Xu Yizhi" and knew that there was such a formidable rogue cultivator in the Boundless Forest.
That day, Xu Zifan was searching for herbs as usual when he suddenly heard screams and curses. He scanned the area with his divine sense and discovered a man and a woman running away from the vicinity of the Misty Forest. A woman was being held captive by a male rogue cultivator, who was trying to steal her storage ring. Xu Zifan frowned. He recognized both the male cultivator and the woman. The male cultivator was the one who had tried to steal his things three days ago, but had run away after losing to him. The woman was a female cultivator from the Hehuan Sect he had seen at the Dao Couple Ceremony; her name seemed to be Shi Yunxuan. He even seemed to recognize the woman who had just escaped; she was probably Shi Yunxuan's senior sister from the Dao Couple Ceremony, though he couldn't remember her name. He remembered Shi Yunxuan because of the smile that seemed to see through his pretense back then.
Xu Zifan leisurely dug out the medicinal herbs, cleaned them, and put them into his spatial storage, not intending to meddle. That woman was perceptive and quick-witted; she might see through something, so it was best to keep his distance. Xu Zifan turned and walked in the opposite direction. A moment later, he heard running footsteps in the distance behind him. It was Shi Yunxuan, having broken free from the male cultivator, heading this way.
She ran from one direction, but before she had gone far, Shi Yunxuan fell to the ground, and then the male cultivator grabbed her angrily.
"You bitch, you dare bite me? You're asking for death!" The male cultivator slapped Shi Yunxuan across the face, grabbed her hair, and said, "Don't all women in your Hehuan Sect like bedchamber matters? My cultivation is higher than yours, it's your good fortune to cultivate with you, and you still dare to run away?"
"Let me go!" Shi Yunxuan channeled her remaining spiritual energy into an attack, shoving him aside. She scrambled to her feet and ran for her life. Her divine sense detected someone ahead, and she cried out urgently, "Help! Help me! Help!"
"Where do you think you're going!" The male cultivator pounced and pinned him to the ground, ready to do whatever he wanted. "Your fellow disciples gave you to me in exchange for their escape. Blame them if you want, hahaha."
Xu Zifan frowned. He thought it was just a robbery, but he hadn't expected it to involve sexual assault. What had the man from the Hehuan Sect done to deserve this? He couldn't possibly be interested in just any toad. Xu Zifan turned back and unleashed a ball of lightning at the male cultivator. The man quickly dodged, and the lightning ball struck the ground, creating a crater large enough for two people to fit inside. Xu Zifan went to help Shi Yunxuan up and found her severely injured and nearly unconscious. No wonder she hadn't been able to fight back earlier.
He looked up at the male cultivator with a cold expression, "Aren't you going to get lost?"
Shi Yunxuan immediately grabbed his arm, glared at the male cultivator, and shouted, "Kill him! If you help me kill him, I will repay you tenfold or a hundredfold in the future!"
Xu Zifan looked at Shi Yunxuan and saw that her face was full of humiliation, but even more so, she was furious, her eyes seemed to be spitting fire. The male cultivator was also furious that his good deed had been ruined. Hearing this, he sneered, "Kill me? I'm afraid this pretty boy next to you can't do it. Xu Yizhi, mind your own business. Leave her here, and I won't hold it against you."
Shi Yunxuan suddenly turned around and looked at Xu Zifan, "Are you Xu Yizhi? I've heard you like collecting herbs and refining pills. Please help me kill him, and I'll give you countless elixirs and miraculous medicines. Kill him!"
Xu Zifan moved her hand away and leaned her against a tree. He stood up and attacked the male cultivator without a word. The male cultivator, having suffered two losses at his hands, was filled with hatred. Having just acquired a magical artifact, he was not afraid of him at all and directly met his attack. Shi Yunxuan was dazed and felt like she was about to faint. She took out a dagger and cut her arm, instantly regaining her senses. She took a few breaths, gripped the dagger tightly, and stared intently at the male cultivator.
The male cultivator was at the mid-Nascent Soul stage, as was Xu Zifan, which explained why he wasn't particularly afraid of him and was still resentful of his previous defeat. Xu Zifan hadn't used his full strength before, and he wasn't using it this time either. He could fight demonic beasts without holding back, but against humans, he had never personally killed anyone, nor had he encountered a situation where killing was necessary. He was simply acting out of injustice, so naturally, he had no reason to kill them all. The most dangerous thing about having great martial power is reckless disregard for human life. He hadn't yet experienced the struggle of whether to kill or not, so he hadn't thought that far ahead. Therefore, Xu Zifan only had a slight advantage, and the fight was considered evenly matched.
As Xu Zifan injured the male cultivator and kicked him to the ground, Shi Yunxuan seized the opportunity to leap forward, channeling her newly recovered spiritual energy into her dagger and plunging it directly into the male cultivator's head. She looked at Xu Zifan and shouted, "Quickly destroy his nascent soul, or he will definitely seek revenge!"
Xu Zifan frowned. Seeing the male cultivator's nascent soul burst from his body and flee in panic, he threw his Xuan Iron Fan and shattered it. Shi Yunxuan finally breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground. Xu Zifan walked to the male cultivator's side and had Shao Hua scan his entire body. They found five storage rings, many spirit stones, eight magic artifacts, several types of pills for healing and several for cultivation, as well as demon cores, demon beast pelts, herbs, and other valuable items. This man liked to rob other cultivators; this was probably where he got all this stuff.
After catching her breath, Shi Yunxuan turned to look at Xu Zifan and asked, "You didn't originally plan to kill him? Why?"
Xu Zifan gave him a strange look. "He didn't do anything to me, so why would I kill him?"
Shi Yunxuan narrowed her eyes and scrutinized him. "Then why did you kill him after his nascent soul left his body?"
"If you kill him, he will definitely regard you and me as enemies. Since we have already made enemies, we must eliminate any future troubles. Are you going to let him go and make enemies for yourself?" Xu Zifan squatted down next to her and showed her the pills. He picked out a few bottles from the pills he had found and threw them to her. He also returned the storage ring that the male cultivator had just stolen from her and got up to leave.
"Wait!" Shi Yunxuan's voice weakened, weak and helpless, "I...I can't hold on anymore, save me..." She then fainted.