After Grey had put his useful things in his pouch, he unblocked the entrance and walked out. As his gaze darted left and right, he left the confines of the broken house and sped through the growing forest.
As he glided down the broken streets and weathered buildings, he caught sight of something and stopped.
He saw a dear eating the rocks of a building. The dear had a blood colored red coat of fur and teeth as sharp and menacing as wolves.
The dear stopped eating the weathered rocks and looked at him. Grey's breathing grew laboured when it looked at him. He sensed strong spiritual energy coming from the dear and the amount of corrosive substance in the air was astonishing.
Grey slowly moved his feet to walk away but the dear did not move. Instead it stood watching him walk away. When he was far away, he finally heaved a breath of relief.
This was the second Mutated creature he was meeting and the spirit energy fluctuations it gave him was enough to scare him.
Thankfully, it did not seem hostile and instead just watched him from afar. Now that he thought about it, it was the same with the leopard.
After an unknown time had elapsed, Grey rested against the side of a tree. Taking his water bottle, he gulped a large content of the bottle in one go.
He was pretty sure he was lost. He had lost track of the path and was moving towards the outer layer of the corroded zone.
Just as he was planning his next action, he heard a slight rustle in the bushes. It was not loud but Grey's ears caught it easily because it was very close to him.
He stood up warily and retreated for several feet. After he was thirty feet away, he opened his mouth and said. "Hello?" He was not even sure why he said that, it might've been a creature.
Grey was not sure if the thing in the bushes was human or not but then, he sensed a small trace spirit energy leak out.
The spirit energy contained malice and malignant intent, which made Grey stand on the defensive. He was thinking about retreating far away when a figure came out of the bushes.
He was a middle-aged man. His clothes were dirty and in rags, kinda like Grey's. His face was covered in dirt and mud but the evil glint in his eyes couldn't be hidden by mud.
He had a few wrinkles in his face and emitted energy fluctuations in the fourth level of Qi accumulation.
Grey should have been happy to see a fellow human, but the feeling this middle-aged cultivator gave him was strange.
That was when it clicked, the dark clothes. The malignant gaze. The evil aura... This person was a scavenger.
Scavengers were rogue cultivators who were not part of a sect or academy, and preferred to wander the earth.
They were all thieves, murderers and committed heinous crimes like rape and plundered from one another.
It seemed quite funny to put these type of people together in one place, but to control a scavenger one also needed to be a scavenger.
Only scavengers could be wary of each other and that kept the population in check. Although not every single one of them was wicked, the ones who retained their humanity could not be trifled with.
Scavengers camp were always located near corroded zones. Because corroded zones were an abundant supply of meat and other necessities.
The scavenger laughed loudly as he saw Grey's frightened expression. Suddenly, a dagger appeared in his hands from nowhere.
He smiled evilly as he spoke. "I'll make this easy for you kid, give me your pouch, and I'll let you walk out of here with your two legs."
He said and pointed at his Pouch. Grey's former surprised expression turned solemn. He did not feel intimidated by the scavenger's malicious aura.
After breaking through to the third realm of Qi accumulation, he could sense the depths of this cultivators power and felt that he could take him.
So instead of handing over his pouch, his hand moved to his side, where the knife was concealed.
Seeing Grey not moving, the cultivator thought that Grey was still frightened and spoke again. "Let me repeat. Give me your pouch and you can leave." Even more baleful aura emanated from him and a dark expression appeared on Grey's face.
'First a leopard, then a dear. Now I'm looking at one middle-aged fool.'
Grey didn't waste anymore time and suddenly erupted with his full power. He rushed at the cultivator as he sped up and crossed several feet in a couple of breaths.
The middle-aged cultivator smiled maliciously and rushed to meet him too. He held his dagger in his hand and when they clashed, a loud bang rang out and someone flew out of the dust.
Grey landed on the floor and coughed out a mouthful of blood. He looked at his arm with had a cut on it.
He looked at the middle-aged cultivator and saw his shocked expression as there was a crack in his dagger.
When he had both rushed out, Grey punched out with his right arm while his left arm held the knife.
When the cultivator sought to plunge the dagger into him, his left hand suddenly moved with speed and blocked the incoming dagger.
His knife bounced off the dagger but the cultivator used his palm to block Grey's fist and elbowed him in the stomach.
When he flew out from the dust, he coughed out a mouthful of blood as his face paled. He had not expected the full strike of a fourth level cultivator to hurt so much that his internal organs churned.
But he had fulfilled his aim and the scavenger's dagger was slowly shattering.
From the beginning, his aim had been to disarm the cultivator. He watched as the middle-aged man's expression changed.
He cleaned the blood from his lips as he circulated his cultivation base. The purple crystal had already started to heal him.
'Ah, so where were we...'
The middle-aged cultivator had a crazy expression on his face. "That knife cost me money. I'm going to cut you up." He roared and rushed towards Grey. His speed was even faster as he reached Grey in the blink of an eye.
Grey's expression changed but he could only bring his arms up to block. Then another bang rang out and Grey was flung away again.
His face was pale but this time he did not cough up a mouthful of blood. He smiled faintly as he brought his hands down.
The cultivator did not waste any time and kept rushing at Grey again and again and each time, a loud bang would ring out.
But Grey kept on smiling. Because as the cultivator was rushing forth, he was using spirit energy for every dash. Grey just wanted to tire him before he attacked.