First step completed, hunting beasts
Long Hao wasn't in the mood to play around with these people; they had kept coming back over and over for the last year and either bullied him or took his cultivation resources, he had tried to fight back, but his cultivation was too weak to do anything about them and only lead to him getting a bigger beating.
This started happening to him around a year ago, and he was helpless to do anything; eventually, even the newcomers started to bully him and take his resources.
He didn't know why but whenever he cultivated, most of the qi he had gathered would be drawn into his bloodstream and vanish; his cultivation speed was multiple times slower than others with the same aptitude as him, and now that his resources were getting plundered his cultivation speed kept dropping even further.
(Changed cultivation roots to spiritual roots since it sounds better)
*****
Long Hao could be seen happily leaving the servant's quarters; he felt thrilled because he had just broken through to the third stage of body forging realm; he felt like his hard work was finally paying off, although it took him seven years to achieve what others might do in one he wasn't discouraged at all if anything it made him work even harder.
He believed that although he was slower than others, he could eventually catch up if he had enough time.
As he was about to reach the foot of the mountain, he could hear what sounded like screams.
He ran over to see what was happening, only to see a woman with her clothes torn and a man on top of her about to molest her.
His and the woman's gaze met, and she gave him a pleading look; before he could process anything, his body had already subconsciously moved and struck the man on top of the woman leading to the man getting knocked out.
This was where his troubles started; the person he knocked out was Ye Xianya, the son of one of the elders within the sect.
After waking up, Ye Xianya was thoroughly enraged and swore to get revenge; the only real reason Long Hao was alive was that the sect strictly forbade its members from killing each other.
This was a heaven-sent opportunity to the servants who wanted to latch onto Ye Xianya's thigh and soar; beating up a loser with no potential at the third stage of the body-forging realm to curry favor with Ye Xianya was the easiest way for them to do so.
From then on, his life became hell; he was constantly beaten and had his resources stolen, making his already slow cultivation speed become even slower.
*****
Gu Lingxin could be seen sitting in a pool of translucent water which shone with a bright luster, the pool was originally one meter sixty, but now it was slowly being absorbed.
He had come to this place mainly for this pool; he wasn't going to take all of it since if he did, then fate would give Long Hao some different opportunity which would change the future he knew about; rather than that, he'd use this opportunity against Long Hao.
Slowly sitting there, he cultivated until there was only one meter forty left of the water before getting up and storing twenty centimeters worth of water in his system inventory.
As for the inheritance? He doesn't care about it; only two things could happen if he wanted it; either he manages to get it and once again changes fate and gives Long Hao, or he isn't even qualified to get the inheritance and wastes his time.
He had only taken a quarter of the water because it wouldn't directly cut off Long Hao's opportunity and also because it was just the right amount to take so that it wouldn't allow Long Hao to awaken his medium-grade bloodline fully; as for storing the water, he naturally had his plans for it.
[Host has hindered one of the protagonist's opportunities:
+ Two hundred fifty luck
+ Five hundred luck points.]
This water truly was something only a protagonist could find since, even after absorbing only a small amount, his cultivation experienced a breakthrough once again.
Having finished what he had come for, he decisively started to make his way back.
He slowly climbed the ravine, grabbing the rock's edges to try and get up quicker; although he could easily force his fingers into the wall to climb, he didn't want to leave any traces that a human had been here previously; he also wasn't worried about falling, with his cultivation even if he fell head first he would at most be knocked out for a while.
Having finally managed to climb back up, he made his way into the forest so that he could train his sword art and also hone his instincts.
As soon as he entered the forest, he could feel an overbearing presence as well as the much thicker spiritual qi around him; making his way through the forest, he was looking for a beast that he could use to hone himself through battle.
Remembering that he had forgotten his ghosts, he decided that he'd get his ghosts to bring back all the herbs they'd collected; he found a cave and decided to wait inside.
Quickly making sure there wasn't any beast inside, he moved in and practiced some basic sword moves while he waited for his ghost slaves.
After ten minutes of waiting, all the ghost slaves had come back with a decent harvest; he quickly put all of it inside his system inventory and got ready to leave the cave; he still hadn't given up on finding a beast to fight.
Slowly making his way out of the cave, he could feel the cold air slowly brushing past his face; he took in a deep breath and was about to step forward until he suddenly heard a roar that shook all the nearby trees and even pushed him back slightly.
Looking to the left, he could see a bear slowly walking towards him with a murderous glint in its eyes.
Getting ready to fight, Gu Lingxin quickly took out his sword and waited for the bear to move; he didn't notice when but the bear that was initially four meters away was now right in front of him while swinging one of its claws down at him, making him feel an overwhelming pressure.
Quickly rolling to the side, he barely managed to escape the claw strike; he quickly stood up only to be greeted by another claw; once again, rolling to the side, he barely managed to avoid it.
Getting up and hiding behind a tree, he could feel the bear slowly closing in; all of a sudden, he heard something cutting through the air, and he knew his plan had worked; he jumped away from the tree only for it to be smashed a second later by a massive claw, making use of the broken bits of wood and dust as cover he infused spiritual qi into his sword and swung it upwards towards the bears extended front leg, swiftly cutting it off.
A bestial roar resounded throughout the forest again, yet it was one of madness and pain this time.
The bear had lost one of its forelegs, yet this wasn't the end; it slowly stood up on its hind legs and once again swung its front claw at him, but it was too slow; quickly dodging the bear's claw, he sent some qi into his feet and ran to the side of the bear that was missing a foreleg, with a quick stab from it's blindside the sword pierced the bear's heart, swiftly killing it.
The bear swayed for a while before dropping onto the ground, lifeless.
Storing the bear's corpse in his system inventory, he decided it was time to return to the sect; before leaving, he sent ghosts into hiding near the ravine so they could inform him of whatever happened there.
Ripping the teleportation talisman, he was once again in a familiar room.
Taking out all of the herbs the ghosts had gathered, he decided it was time to put Ye Chen's alchemy skills to good use.