On one of the treetops, a young boy around the age of 17 sat quietly as he played with a red saber in his hand. The young boy's upper chest was bare, and there were several scars all across his body like decorations on his slim but extremely toned physique.
He was quite a big gangster on Earth. But one day, when he was drinking tea at an outdoor tea shop, a bullet pierced his heart and ended his life. Although it was painful in the last moments of his life, he still died with a smile on his face, as he had already expected such a day from the day he had stepped into the underworld.
What he did not expect was this transmigration, that too into the body of a person who died inside a dark prison cell. Anyway, due to his quick wittedness, he had used the artifact the original owners mother had left behind to teleport to a random destination and ended up being saved by the people from the Stone Fort Village.
Now, after 7 years, with the help of his cheat which he had awakened after transmigrating to this world, Leon was able to become one of the top hunters of the Stone Fort Village, with no worry for food and shelter.
"Little brother Leo, are you sure you can handle this?" a slightly dark skinned middle aged man with tribal tattoos covering his upper body said warily as he noticed the huge tiger sleeping on the ground.
Leon narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "Keep quiet, big brother. This is not my first time hunting one. Just keep this in mind, whatever happens, do not come down the tree without my signal."
The dark skinned man nodded as he sat back quietly.
Seeing this, Leon focused on the center of his brow. The next second, in front of him, a ancient book slowly manifested out of thin air. The book was multicolored with different colors pulsing on it like fireflies, looking quite like a mystical artifact from legends.
But the dark skinned man sitting next to Leon did not even glance at the book, as though he could not see it.
Leon also knew this fact, so he boldly willed in his mind, and the multicolored tome flipped open, revealing its first page.
[Primordial Law Codex - page no:1]
[Owner: Leon (Human)]
[Body Realm (Mortal): 8th Heaven]
(Life Essence: 204/800)
[Spirit Realm (Mortal): 1st Heaven]
(Soul Essence: 20/100)
[Elemental Grade: ???]
....
Leon just glanced at the page and skipped to the second page.
.....
[Primordial Law Codex - page no:2]
[Owner: Leon (Human)]
[Life Essence Points: 34]
[Technique: Ultimate Body Forging Sutra (Incomplete)]
(Completeness: 19%)
[Technique Grade: God]
[Technique Realm (Mortal): 400/400 (Perfection)]
[Note: Can consume other compatible, lower or similar grade techniques at perfection stage to repair the technique]
(Compatible Techniques: Berserk Monkey Palm)
....
"Next." Leon once again gave a mental command, and the next page was displayed.
[Primordial Law Codex - page no:3]
[Owner: Leon (Human)]
[Life Essence Points: 34]
[Technique: Berserk Monkey Palm]
[Technique Grade: 2 Star]
[Technique Realm (Mortal): 360/400 (Major Success)]
....
Leon pondered for a moment and commanded, "Add all the life essence points into Berserk Monkey Palm."
The next second, the page flickered and the content changed.
[Primordial Law Codex - page no:3]
[Owner: Leon (Human)]
[Life Essence Points: 0]
[Technique: Berserk Monkey Palm]
[Technique Grade: 2 Star]
[Technique Realm (Mortal): 380/400 (Major Success)]
Closing his eyes, Leon absorbed all the new insights that appeared in his mind and sighed. "34 life essence points, only increased the proficiency by 20 points. Even if I kill this tiger, it will not be enough to push this technique to perfection."
According to the Primordial Law Codex, the potential of a technique is divided into 10 stars, from 1 star being the weakest to 10 star being the strongest, and God tier is a level even above 10 star.
Leon's goal was now to complete his Ultimate Body Forging Sutra by merging low tier cultivation techniques into it, to see if it could offset the disadvantage caused by his crippled bloodline. After all, removing one's bloodline heart is equal to destroying one's cultivation path completely.
Although Leon was not sure what the negative side effects of this were, he was sure that it was not anything simple. In such a situation, the only option before him was to fill the gap caused by his crippled bloodline with various cultivation techniques.
Fortunately, his cheat could absorb the souls of the creatures he had killed as life essence points, as long as the heavenly laws of this world identified him as the killer of the creature.
"Big brother John, I am going down." Leon slowly stood up as he pulled out one more red saber from the scabbard on his waist.
Both the sabers had a blade length of 50 cm and the width was about 4 fingers wide, appearing quite thick and heavy.
With a beautiful swing, he held both the sabers in a reverse grip and directly jumped down from the 25 feet tree like an eagle.
"Bang."
"Roar..."
The tiger which was peacefully sleeping on the ground let out a startled roar when Leon landed on the tiger's back, nearly breaking its spine.
To make things worse, when Leon landed, he had activated the whip intent of the Ultimate Body Forging Art and directed all the force from the fall to his feet, which he discharged into the tiger's back upon landing.
Even then, the tiger did not fall as it lashed its claw towards Leon and shook him away from its back.
With his left hand still holding the saber in the back handed posture, he parried the iron like claw to the side before slashing the other saber towards the tiger's neck.
The tiger's eyes bulged as it opened its mouth to bite down on Leon's saber. With a fierce bite on the blade, it yanked it away from his hand before once again pouncing towards him.
But this time, Leon landed a Berserk Monkey Palm, and the life force inside his heart suddenly surged through his blood and condensed in his palm, strengthening it like iron.
"Bang."
The strike knocked the beast's head to the side, narrowly avoiding the bite. Without wasting time, Leon tossed the remaining blade from his left hand to his right and continuously hacked at the beast's neck, causing two deep wounds on its neck.
After making sure the wounds were fatal, like an agile monkey, Leon put away the saber in his hand to the scabbard at his waist and climbed back up the tree he was sitting on.
The middle aged man handed a wooden water bottle to Leon as he watched the tiger madly thrash around on the ground. It even landed a claw strike on the tree, shaking it all over.
"The information is wrong. The tiger is already at the first heaven of the Iron Realm," Leon said as he inhaled deeply to calm his nerves.
A tiger at the same realm is already way too strong for a human, much less a tiger that has broken through to the Iron Realm, which will be 10 times stronger than a tiger at the 10th heaven of the Mortal Realm.
John's expression changed when he heard this. "What?"
Taking deep breaths to calm his beating heart, Leon said solemnly, "It is fortunate that the beast has not yet learned any of its bloodline spells. Otherwise, the outcome would have been uncertain."
John thought about something and asked, "Are you saying the Human Alliance soldiers deliberately gave us the wrong news?"
Leon shook his head. "Cannot be sure. But they do have the motive. After all, if they directly tell us that it is a beast at the first heaven of the Iron Realm, who in their right mind will take up this task? But again, this tiger might not be the tiger they mentioned in the task, or there is also a possibility that the beast has recently advanced to the next realm by some stroke of luck."
John gritted his teeth in rage. "Bastards. They might have done it on purpose. After all, they have been taking credit for the beasts we hunt lately without even giving us the standard price for our efforts."
He continued, "Furthermore, it is said that the new squad leader is called Ans Frostwell. From the information I have gathered from the townsfolk, this guy came to the town due to a punishment transfer."
"Punishment transfer?" Leon raised a brow.
John nodded with a sigh. "Rumors has it that this son of a bitch molested an 8 year old little girl and caused her death. But since his father is a sergeant with considerable influence in the army, the news was suppressed and ultimately he got away with just a punishment transfer."
Leon's face fell when he heard this. After all, he also had a little girl at home, and the laws in the little tribal village, Stone Fort, were not even as strict as those of the town.
"Thud."
By this time, the tiger which had gone berserk fell to the ground weakly due to severe blood loss from the wound on its neck.
After waiting for some time, Leon and John jumped down from the tree. Taking his saber which the tiger had yanked away earlier, Leon ended its life with a stab to the heart.
Once they made sure the tiger was truly dead, John tied the limbs of the tiger to a bamboo pole. Supporting each end of the stick on their shoulder, they walked back to the direction of the Stone Fort Village while discussing matters regarding the soldiers of the Human Alliance.
Most of the time, it was John sharing gossip he had heard from the townsfolk when he had gone to the town to sell the goods from the village.
John was in charge of selling the goods the village folk collected to the Rose Valley Town, under whose authority the Stone Fort Village came. In a way, he could be called a successful merchant with a knack for forming allies and friends wherever he went.
After about 3 hours of walking, both reached the outskirts of the Stone Fort Village.