"Thank you, I will cherish it well," she said "But tell me… how were you able to see the root? Can you sense Qi?"

"That would be a secret and I really have told you many things right now," I said as I walked forward.

"Indeed, sorry for prying too much…" she said, "You are just too interesting." She said in a devilish smile as we walked forward.

I have to admit, her words made my heart flutter a bit.

"So tell me, where is that b.u.t.terfly you spoke about," I asked

"I was told by someone that there exists a lake close to the center of the forest. There are several moonstones there and today is a full moon, the resonance between those moonstones and the moon creates the perfect environment for a moonlight b.u.t.terfly to roam the place. My informant had told me that he saw several of them going about that place and I intend on getting my hand on one of them" she said.

"We are rather close to that lake though so we should walk in a slower and more confined manner, many beasts roam the place and it might get dangerous"

'It is rather strange that though I feel the presence of several beasts, they are all heading away from us…' said Nocturne.

"I thought this forest should be filled with monsters," I said

"Normally, yes. However, I bought this with me" she said as she brought a small black with several red lines. It looked like an ignited ember.

"This thing chases away lower beasts, its smell is strong enough that it gives them the feeling that a strong predator is nearby." She said then placed it back on her backpack

'That is indeed a good way to chase away lower beast, yet using it is the same as using a beacon that will summon stronger and more powerful beasts towards your location… said Nocturne

I remained silent the entire time.

Once we reached the clearing we saw an enormous creature that was floating around a huge colocation of stones.

It looked like a giant creature that had winges made of roots. Its body was rather small, almost resembling a human-made of roots while its wings looked like they encroached onto the skies.

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"That is the creature we need to hunt." She said

"Well, getting up there will be a huge trouble," I said.

"Not really. If we can't get there, we'll have it to come down to us." She said

"Hmm, I don't have any long-range attacks, but I remember your saint slayer ability can send waves of Qi to long distances… can they reach there?" I asked

"Yes, I can manage… however, killing that thing is not the problem… its actually getting away from here once we do so."

What do you mean?" I asked

"This ember is about to die down, thankfully the creature over there is not bothered by its scent otherwise it would have escaped or even worse attacked us. However once it goes off, the various beasts that were chased out will come back here and will probably hunt us down."

"Can't you light another one?" I said

"It won't work, it only works once on these monsters, using it a second time will be just wasting it, the effects will be much less potent by then." She said

Sigh, we should have brought more members.

"So while you are fighting that thing, I presume that I will be protecting you from the incoming monsters right?" I said as I understood her reason for bringing me with her."

"Right, I couldn't bring my servants because they will probably just leave me here to die. And I couldn't ask another house due to their affiliation with my brother. The rest of the houses are weak even if loyal to me. It only leaves you, from the House Ling who is affiliated to the king himself, and has a servant strong enough to defeat the princess." She said with a beaming smile.

'Sigh, I feel like I am being used.'

"Don't worry about compensation, I will give you half the spoils," She said with a wink.

You can't go against that.

"Alright let's see, how long do we have before the coal's effect ends?"

"About three to four minutes, I am glad we managed to get here that fast"

"I need just two minutes," I said as I sat down in the lotus position.

Closing my eyes and sensing the Qi around me I forced my pores to open and absorb the energy within the world. In doing so the whole world brightened up as various colors were visible around me.

With a strong vibration, the energy within me erupted as a strong pulse of Qi blew outwards.

I achieved a breakthrough to the fifth level. With it, my sea of consciousness erupted with energy as several parts of the enormous black sun were pulled apart from it.

Five in total. They were dimmer and less powerful than the central sixth one.

Opening my eyes I could feel six different new… things within me

One, on my forehead, one on each wrist, and two other on each thigh.

And the final largest one in my abdomen.

'What are these?' I asked Nocturne

'Congratulations, you have finished the preliminary refining of your fleshly body and now began with your preliminary refining of the spiritual body. The five different parts, head, arms, legs are your meridians, while the one in your abdomen is your Dantian, it serves to store Qi while your meridians serve to release it.

Now you will no longer need to use your breathing technique to circulate Qi around you, you may store it in your Dantian and exert it to your meridians for usage, however, don't do this right now, you need a lot of training before it.

Your physical body has not reached its most optimal condition for your current cultivation stage, feeding it less or sleeping less will not hinder you, however, I would advise you to eat more and train more, further refining your muscles and body," said Nocturne.

"You achieved a breakthrough? Congratulations. What level are you right now?" she said"

"Oh, I just reached the fifth," I answered

"The fifth?! You mean you defeated me while you were only on your fourth level… sigh, thanks for rubbing that in."

'Uh, but you asked...

"Anyway, we have something to deal with we can talk about this later." She said as she looked at the hovering creature.

"Once it begins attacking it will not stop until one of us dies. Make sure to not let any creatures get too close to us, I will be needing my wholehearted concentration to defeat this," Said Lady Lissandra

And just like that, various howls resounded throughout the forest where hooves and various beasts got closer to where we stood.

"Are you ready?" she asked

"Whenever you are." I said as I brought my weapon forward ." We were back to back, where one side faced an enormous b.u.t.terfly while the other faced numerous creatures…

How come a private discussion turned out to be something like this? But it doesn't matter when worse comes to worse I still have Nocturne to get me out of this mess… I hope.