Flying over the forest within the mountain range on his truth-seeking orb, Cang Tian took note of the different cultivation levels between the opponents he came across so far.
'Hm, those wolves I fought when I first came here were around the 3rd level of the Elementary Profound Realm. That lizard was already severely injured but from the energy I saw flowing through its body, it was definitely at the first level of the Nascent Profound Realm. Lastly, those two cultivators were around the 9th level of the Elementary Profound Realm. All of them were defeated by me before I even started cultivating. It's strange…what standard of strength do I even compare myself to?'
Having taken the memories of both cultivators from the Profound Heart Sect several months ago, Cang Tian understood quite a few things about the cultivation world and how differing realms interacted with each other.
Defeating a cultivator one small realm above yourself was already considered a great feat. Only talented martial artists could achieve this.
Defeating someone several small realms above yourself would put one in the "genius of martial arts" discussions around one's city or sect. It wasn't a title that was thrown around lightly.
Harming a profound beast, even though it was already severely injured, that was one great realm above you would be considered impossible. Even among geniuses, such a feat would put one among the best of the best.
Then, what kind of "genius" would they classify Cang Tian as?
'I don't think I'm that good though. Maybe it's the unorthodox style of my abilities?'
As Cang Tian continued to deliberate about his abilities, he flew into the deeper part of the forest where the stronger beasts laid.
The moment he crossed the invisible barrier where the weaker beasts wouldn't dare intrude upon, he felt sudden fluctuations in the air.
WHOOSH!!
Before he could even turn his head, he felt his body being shoved off of the truth-seeking orb and caught in between what felt like two extremely hard clamps.
He was moving through the air so fast that he lost control of the orb, causing it shift back into it's natural form, ending with it falling to the ground.
"Tch!"
The creature that was trying to eat him was called a Heavenly Wind Eagle, a large flying profound beast that was a scourge upon cultivators and other beasts alike.
It would ride the wind and attack its enemies with incredible speed, often dismantling them into pieces before they even realized what had occurred.
This beast, just about to devour another little human that had foolishly wandered into its territory, found itself hard pressed to even crush the tiny being within its beak.
"Tch. You're too arrogant, beast."
Laying sideways in the beasts' maw, Cang Tian transformed his arm into a cannon and pointed it into the beasts' mouth, charging a powerful beam made of profound energy.
"Die."
BOOM!
Cang Tian shot a straight blast that pierced through the body of the Heavenly Wind Eagle, killing it midair. Transforming his arm into blades, Cang Tian cut off the beak of the beast, and free'd himself, falling to the ground.
The moment he landed, shivers ran through his spine as he sensed several snake like beasts slithering past him, each beast the size of a house.
He had no idea why they weren't attacking him, but he didn't dare move. Each of those beasts were equivalent to a cultivator of the 4th Nascent Profound Realm. Even he might not be able to survive this encounter.
'Could it be that they can't sense me?'
Sczzzzz….
The sound of the massive snakes moving was so quiet that Cang Tian almost doubted his hearing even though he could see them move. Judging from the direction they were going, it seemed that they were going to devour the body of the Heavenly Wind Eagle.
'Could it be that I'm too weak for them to even take me seriously?'
Unbeknownst to him though, the reason for this was because the ten-tailed beast within him was a creature that had already merged with the natural vital energy of the world, therefore it gave off the same sensations. It could not be sensed through traditional means.
So, as a result of the beast and Cang Tian completely becoming one, he, in turn gave off the same sensation as the vital energy of the world, shielding him from prying eyes.
When the snakes finally got far enough away, Cang Tian started to move through the tall bushes, heading in the opposite direction of the creatures.
'Yeah…there's a thin line between bravery and stupidity. I shouldn't attack in such disadvantageous conditions. Next time…I'll be more careful…'
Even though these were his thoughts, his legs took him in the direction towards the snakes.
Who was he trying to fool?
How could he take down the behemoth known as the Imperial Family? How could he sharpen his will and destroy any fear lurking in his mind if all it took was several dozen beasts to make him walk away?
Slow steps turned into a rapid sprint as he ran through the forest, hopping up tree's like a rabid monkey.
Using boosters that shot out of the bottom of his feet, Cang Tian flew over the snakes, flipped over and summoned a black rod in his hands, using the boosters to catapult himself towards the ground, upon the head of a seemingly unsuspecting snake.
BOOM!
Hearing the explosion from the impact, the other snakes turned towards the sound and immediately started slithering towards it with extreme speed, their gazes furious that someone else would dare intrude upon their territory.
When the smoke cleared from Cang Tian making his entrance, the scene before him caused a small smile to appear across his face.
"As I thought, you haven't cultivated to this level for nothing, beast."
Before he landed, the snake had turned around, opened its mouth and took the hit to its upper jaw, tanking it while effectively drawing Cang Tian into its mouth with ease.
With ridicule flashing through its eyes, the snake snapped its jaw shut, breaking the black rod and swallowing Cang Tian at the same time.
Just as the snake thought that it had devoured its prey, its eyes widened as blood started pouring from its mouth. In the next moment, a figure burst out of its stomach, covered in blood and guts as he landed upon the beasts dying head.
Cang Tian stood atop the beast, with long wooden tree branches and roots sticking out of his back.
This was the result of cultivating the [God Tree Revival Art] and complete fusion with the Ten-Tailed beast. His body had completely gained the traits of the God Tree within, granting him the ability to morph parts of his body into a tree and to summon trees in different forms.
Seeing this, the other snakes never stopped. They continued rushing at Cang Tian with a fervent gaze in their eyes, ready to devour the meal before them.
Like a madman, Cang Tian rushed at them, reinforcing his body with the Asura Path as he jumped into the crowd of beasts, his eyes focused on the obstacles in front of him.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The snakes bodies flew through the air as they combined their bodies and smashed into Cang Tian's chest, destroying the mechanical parts within his body.
"Urgh!!"
Getting sent back through multiple trees, Cang Tian back flipped mid air and landed on the ground, the force of the hit still pushing him back on his toes.
"Tch."
Seeing the beasts approaching rapidly, Cang Tian wiped the blood from his mouth and raised one palm facing forward , his gaze focused upon the oncoming onslaught.
They were coming from every direction, razing the trees, destroying weaker creatures in their path, some of them even spewing venom from their fangs towards Cang Tian in an effort to destroy him before they physically arrive.
But Cang Tian was focused. His gaze didn't waver. His stance was firm. His breath, calm.
Then, as the first wave of creatures arrived along with their terrifying venom streams, two words emerged from his lips.
"Almighty Push."
Immediately, every force that dared to strike against Cang Tian stopped, their bodies held by an invisible force that none of them could escape from.
In the next moment…
BOOM!!
Every creature, tree and even the air was forced back with extreme prejudice, destroying everything it came into contact with in the process.
This was the power of the Deva Path, one of the strongest paths of the Rinnegan. It allowed one to manipulate attractive and repulsive forces. It was a Path known and revered for its ability to cause severe wanton destruction.
Even after blowing the creatures away, Cang Tian didn't stop. His vision blurred for a split second, but he ran full speed at the first snake he saw that wasn't severely injured.
With as much power as he could muster, Cang Tian jumped into the air, turned his right arm into a wooden spear and plunged it into the body of a massive snake, staking it into the ground.
"Die!! Impaling Spear Tree Technique!!"
BOOM!
A feral shout escaped Cang Tian's mouth as several large trees with sharp pointed tips emerged out of the body of the snake, killing it and any unlucky comrades that happened to come too close.
BOOM!
Before Cang Tian could even move again, a massive red flaming claw slashed at him, blowing him away as blood surged out of his mouth.
Flames erupted over his body as he flew, burning the skin off his muscles within moments.
"Urghhhhh!!"
The creature that hit Cang Tian was called the Flaming Bone Tiger, a large creature with small wings and bones that grew outside of his body, along its jaws. Flames erupted from its every orifice in every waking moment, forming an intimidating image as it drew closer to Cang Tian.
Normally, when a beast like Flaming Bone Tiger intruded upon the territory of the snakes, it would've caused an all out war amongst them. But now that they had a common enemy…
The beasts growled slightly at each other and the Flaming Bone Tiger took the lead in the assault, it's incredible speed shocking Cang Tian the core.
"I will not fall here!"
Using the Preta Path, Cang Tian absorbed the flames to reinvigorate himself, ripped off his forearm and shot several hiking missles at th creatures, throwing them off their game.
Reattaching his arm, Cang Tian jumped through the smoke, clenched his fist and punched the incoming claw of the Flaming Bone Tiger with all of his strength.
BOOM!!
A deafening explosion occurred as the Flaming Bone Tiger was blown backwards on its hind legs, shock and fear starting to appear across its face.
How could a little tiny human match and eclipse it in physical strength?
Seeing the other beasts closing in again, Cang Tian rushed behind the tiger, grabbed its tail and smirked as he muttered, "Let's go for a spin!"
The massive Flaming Bone Tiger that subjugated beasts of all shapes and sizes, a hegemon in the Scarlet Dragon Mountain Range, was now being used as a melee weapon against the snakes.
With every swing, Cang Tian leveled parts of the forest as he used the body of the massive tiger as some sort of club while absorbing the flames the tiger emitted to power himself up.
Snakes, Iron-back wolves, Elder Scarlet Drill Lizards, all types of profound beasts were getting destroyed with every swing.
WHOOSH!!!
When most of the beasts were beaten back, Cang Tian threw the tiger dozens of feet into the air, causing an insane updraft of wind due to the sheer size of the beast.
Summoning large wooden spears in both hands, Cang Tian threw them one by one at the tiger, skewering it midair.
But, it wasn't dead. With the last dregs of its life, the tiger tried to charge a blast of flame within its mouth to incinerate the human before him, in an effort to drag him into the Yellow Springs with it.
"Begone, beast."
Cang Tian simply made a hand sign and muttered, "God Tree Revival Art: Cutting Sprigs Technique."
The spears, activated remotely, turned into branches that grew out of the tigers body, immediately killing it as it hit the ground.
If one looked closely, they could see the brains of the tiger hanging loosely off of one of the branches, painting an especially grim scene.
Noticing the death of the Flame Bone Tiger, most of the weaker beasts ran away in fear, but the stronger ones that had avoided the battle in the shadows licked their lips and came forward, ready to tear Cang Tian limb from limb.
Noticing the drastic increase in powerful enemies, Cang Tian got down into a low stance with both fists clenched and shouted, "Come!"
Cang Tian fought feverently and desperately for hours until nightfall came. The beasts had forced him deeper into the forest, and even now, under the bright light of the full moon, Cang Tian continued to fight, his gaze filled with power.
Standing in a massive clearing surrounded by beasts of all types, Cang Tian looked at each of them, the concentric rings in his eyes flashing as he raised one hand up to his side.
This was going to be his last move. If he failed to kill everything here, he would die.
His limbs had been broken, healed, torn off and reattached so many times that he had become numb to that kind of pain.
Now, it was time to end all of this.
ROARRR!!!
The beasts rushed at Cang Tian, sure that now would be the time that this terrifying human would die.
He had lasted too long. There was no way that he still had any power left.
Unfortunately, Cang Tian was like a well of infinite power waiting to be uncovered and unleashed on the denizens of this world. Beasts like this could not stop him.
[God Tree Revival Art: Great Spear Tree]
WHOOSH!
In less than a second, massive tree roots erupted out of his body and spread across the field like a rapid flood.
The roots crushed, tore, impaled and destroyed every beast they came across, quickly turning the area into a scene of horrifying wails and blood.
Nothing could survive this onslaught of destruction, this slaughter.
It only took a few minutes for the scene to become eerily quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of blood running down the roots, forming several deep pools.
Sitting leisurely against the massive tree that had formed behind him, Cang Tian looked at the destruction he caused and said nothing, a small smile forming upon his face.
He did it. He conquered his own fear and as a result, overcame seemingly impossible odds.
But, right after, the boy passed out in the pool of blood beneath him, the right side of his body still transfigured into the roots that caused this slaughter.
Unbeknownst to him though, his Profound Veins silently started circulating by themselves and started absorbing the blood around the scene of battle, powering him up.
At the same time, on the other side of the forest, a sixteen year old boy wearing red robes happened to find the truth-seeking orb that Cang Tian had lost, and by his own curiousity, stored it in a subspace for himself, thinking that it might be some great treasure.
When Cang Tian eventually finds him, who knows what will happen?