Then, it all vanished. As if he came to a lurching halt, Alex felt his innards move along with the previous momentum, while his outer body had already stopped.

If not for the body cultivation, his organs might have popped out in different places.

”We’re here,” Shen Jing said and threw Alex down.

Alex quickly balanced himself in mid-air and flew. When he looked down, he could see nothing but massive forest that grew on flatlands and hills.

”Where are we?” Alex asked.

”This is the eastern forest,” Shen Jing said. “It’s a piece of untouched land that only the bravest of humans dare to come.”

The Dreaded Mountain range. Alex had read about it. People wanted others to know how terrifying this place was, so they named it such.

True beasts were common in many of the mountains, with existence of Saint Beasts not being very rare either.

’I am to train in such a place?’ Alex thought.

Suddenly, pressure gathered around Alex. Alex could barely ignore the aura and keep flying, but that was very hard for him.

”Not bad,” Shen Jing said from above him.

Then, A beast showed up below him. It was a massive bird that had red feathers and an Eagle’s head. Alex looked at the bird in fear and surprise.

Saint realm. This bird was definitely in the saint realm. It was only afterward that he got back enough of his wit to recognize the beast’s species.

’A Hotfeather Eagle?’ he thought in surprise. ‘Is this a coincidence, or did he know there was this beast here.’

”Pipe down,” Shen Jing said, putting out his own aura that suppressed the bird.

”You have barely entered the saint realm. Don’t show off just because of that,” Shen Jing said in a soft voice, but that sounded like a booming voice to the eagle.

It quickly kept away its aura and waited for Shen Jing’s words.

”This child will train in your mountain. You are not to interfere with his training,” Shen Jing said.

”Yes, senior,” the eagle spoke.

”Go, I won’t bother you,” Shen Jing said.

Seeing the opportunity, the eagle quickly flew back to where it had come from, leaving a gust of wind in its wake.

”I am to train here?” Alex thought, looking down at the massive mountain range. He could see the roaming beasts both in the air and on the ground.

Even from high up, he could tell they were strong. Very strong.

”Yes,” Shen Jing said. “You will have to survive in the forest, all alone.”

Alex nodded. That was expected from where he was. “Can you tell me why you’re helping me?” Alex asked. “Did the creator put you up to this?”

Shen Jing cocked his head to the side. “No. Why would the creator put me up to this? Are you important to him somehow?” he asked.

”Never mind then,” Alex said.

”Alright, come here,” Shen Jing called him. Alex flew back up to where Shen Jing was.

Suddenly, Shen Jing attacked. The attack was so fast that Alex couldn’t see it coming.

When it struck him on the face, Alex tumbled backward for a few dozen meters before coming to a halt.

The attack wasn’t very hurtful, but it did burn him a little on his face. Alex quickly turned towards Shen Jing and asked, “Why did you hit me so sud—”

He stopped. Something was wrong. He saw a golden light in front of him. What was that? Was he surrounded by a golden barrier?

Alex put his hands forwards to touch the golden barrier, but he couldn’t see his hands at all.

’What’s going on? And why is my face in so much pain?’ he thought. He tried to touch his face, but still, he couldn’t see his arms.

Alex blinked, and that did nothing to block the yellow light. Understanding of what was happening dawned on Alex as he quickly put his hands on his eyes, to cover the outside light.

He could still see the golden light.

There was no golden fog or barrier blocking his view outside. No, it was in his own vision.

Alex quickly sent out his spiritual sense and as expected, there was nothing outside. He then sent his spiritual sense into his eyes, and he could see a wall of Qi erected inside either of his eye sockets.

”What did you do to me?” Alex asked, horrified.

”You are going to train without your eyesight. With something so great as Spiritual sense, I can’t have you only occasionally using it. You should be constantly using it, and this is going to teach you regarding that.”

”Also, this is to make you stop relying on your mental attack to solve anything and everything. People have mental defense a lot more than you might think. It’s about time you start looking for other ways to defeat your opponents,” Shen Jing said. “Don’t worry about your eyes, I just have to remove my Qi and they will work normally again.”

Before Alex could even say anything, he felt something rip away from him. He put his hand out in horror, but before he could even grab onto them, his storage bags were ripped free from him.

Shen Jing grabbed the 8 or so storage bags Alex had, juggling them in his hand. “So many storage bags. You should learn to only take a couple of them with you. Not all of them,” Shen Jing said as he started looking into the storage bags.

Alex feared for what he may find, all those saint-rank ingredients. Was he going to get jealous of Alex and kill him to take them all? Was he going to take the sword instead? What about the books he had?

Just as he was thinking that, Shen Jing brought out the sword. He held it in his hand, his eyes shining with surprise.

”Damn, this is a good sword. Perfect craftsmanship,” he said as he looked at the edges of the sword. “It might actually cut me too,” he said jokingly, but that didn’t sound like a lie.

”This sword is a piece of art, and I love it. As such, you will not get to use this sword in this training,” he said and brought out another sword.

It was a True Mortal grade sword, with a black hilt, straight, golden crossguard, and a silvery blade about a meter long.

It was shorter than the Steel Sword he was so used to, but it was better than nothing. Actually, since it was a True Mortal sword, it was better than many things.

Unfortunately, however, it couldn’t compare to the nameless sword that Shen Jing had taken.

”Take this,” he threw the True Mortal sword towards Alex and looked back into his storage bag. After a while, he brought out the cauldron and threw it at Alex.

”I suppose an Alchemist must have his cauldron with him at most times, right?” he said and continued looking through his storage bags.

Then, he brought out a variety of different pill bottles. “Choose 3,” he said.

”What? Only 3?” Alex asked in surprise.

”Yes, now choose,” Shen Jing said.

Alex didn’t understand why he was only getting 3, but he chose 3 healing pills, each and every single one of them above 50% in harmony.

”Good,” Shen Jing said, passing along the 3 bottles while keeping the rest back in his storage space.

He brought out formations from the storage bag next, and this time Alex got to choose only 2. Shen Jing then finally gave him 20 True Spirit stones.

”Alright, time for you to go down and train,” Shen Jing said.

”Eh?” Alex looked at him with surprise and confusion as the sword, cauldron, 3 pills, and 2 formation plates hovered around him along with the 20 spirit stones.

”Can I get a storage bag to keep all of this?” he asked. There was no way Shen Jing was going to send him down to the beasts with all of these things floating around him, right?

”But I already did,” Shen Jing said with a smiling face, as the storage bags in his hands suddenly disappeared somewhere.

Alex checked himself and said, “I don’t have it on me though.”

”Then what’s that on your finger?” Shen Jing asked.

Alex looked at his finger and saw the golden ring with ruby on it. “The storage ring? I can’t access it yet. It’s apparently from someone really powerful, and it had his imprint on it.”

”Breaking through this would take me ages,” Alex said.

”Yes, but you have to start somewhere, right?” Shen Jing asked. “Well, it’s about time you start using it then. Unlock whatever small part of this you can access and store your items in there.”

”Now then, go on,” Shen Jing said.

Alex nodded. “Come on Pearl, let’s go,” he said.

However, Shen Jing put his hand on Pearl, keeping him in his robes. “You will train alone. I will help train pearl myself,” he said.

”What? Alone? For how long?” he asked.

”Until your body and Qi are equal,” Shen Jing said.

”Body and Qi are equal… that means until my cultivation base reaches True Lord 1st realm?” Alex asked.

”Yes, or more if you want. Also, you are not allowed to hide your cultivation base down there. If you hide your cultivation to sneak around the beasts, then I will come to beat you myself,” Shen Jing said, making Alex shudder a little.

Alex nodded. “Okay,” He said and turned around to look at the forest down below. For the foreseeable future, he was going to have to live here.

No, live was not the correct word. He would have to survive here.