A short while later, he was cautiously roaming the eerie forest of the corroded zone. He glanced at the sky to the red clouds that offered no warmth at all.
Instead, everywhere was cold and chilling with even some areas of the corroded zone covered in fog. But he didn't dare linger near there. From his memories, the creatures that roamed the fog far outclassed him.
He shook his head subtly and continued on his way. A few minutes later, he stumbled upon the underground burrow of a rabbit.
The rabbit was at the entrance, looking around warily as it ate the grass from the forest floor with its sharp teeth that seemed to be meant for eating meat instead.
This rabbit was in the second level of Qi accumulation. With his strength he would have no trouble with catching it whatsoever. But he was still cautious and watched patiently from the side.
Eventually, feeling that nothing was wrong he silently pulled out a knife from his pouch and attacked the rabbit running as fast as he could.
The rabbit, as if sensing his approach suddenly raised it's head and made to run into the burrow. However, Grey was faster than it and he had not been far away from the burrow anyways, so he gripped the ears of the rabbit while attempting to cut it's neck.
His knife slid off the fur of the rabbit, not seeming to have damaged it. Grey's eyes contracted and he paused for a second. But that second was enough for the rabbit to release itself from his grip and bit down on his arm hard.
He flinched at the sudden pain and dropped the rabbit. The rabbit bared it's blood soaked teeth at him before dashing into the burrow as fast it could. In the next moment it was gone.
Grey was still stunned. A rabbit that was supposed to be weak and easy for him to kill had almost killed him instead.
The bite had sunk in deep into his arm. Blood slowly flowed and dropped to the soil. There was a weird expression on his face.
He had not expected that to happen at all. He took out a small rag from his pouch and cleaned his wound. Still with a dazed expression on his face.
'Now I can see why the previous Grey struggled to survive. Even the weakest creature could not be underestimated.'
The creature had bitten him and it was taking a long time to heal. The blood around the wound had even turned black.
'Poison?'
It seemed like the rabbit also was poisonous. He shook his head as he sat down by the side. Well hidden from the abominations that roamed the forest.
'I have to up my game if I want to survive here...'
After his hand had completely healed. He stood up from his hiding place and dashed in the direction of another hunting ground the previous Grey had discovered.
He also had a feeling that weaker Mutated creatures came out to feed in the daytime while the stronger ones fed at night.
Although that did help to some extent, there were still some strong creatures and bizarre existences that could kill him even if it was not time for them to hunt.
Shortly, he saw another creature again. But this time it was a bird perched on a low branch of a tree.
His eyes focused on the bird as he tried to evaluate his chances of successfully killing the bird. Sadly, his chances were zero.
The bird was in the fourth level of Qi accumulation and it's build made him guess that it was made for flying fast.
The bird had a weird color of brownish Grey and it's beak was deformed and pus dripped from it. It's head was bald and its eyes were burning crinson, making it look unappetizing as well as scary.
'Who would want to eat that. I would rather search for rabbits.' His eyes drifted away from the insidious creature and his body swayed away.
Plus it was at least four feet tall. He doubted he would be able to kill such a fiend. He sighed and continued searching.
Several hours later, the corroded zone had gotten much colder and of course he had yet to find anything small enough for him to hunt.
Anytime he stumbled upon a stronger creature his figure would sway like a falling leaf and he would be gone.
Even though the sun could not be seen due to the red clouds, he could feel that it was a little close to noon.
He had wasted his entire morning and yet had been unable to catch anything. He decided to rest for a while and catch his breath.
While doing so, he went through the memories of the previous Grey. And as he did, his eyes widened in shock and he hurriedly pulled on his sleeve to check on his wrist.
There, he saw a small black dot. It could have passed for a mole because of his its small size but Grey knew it was anything but a mole.
This small dot on his wrist was called the decay point. Since the arrival of God, the entire world and spirit energy had been tainted by Corrosive substance. Cultivating absorbed the spirit energy in the world but doing that also meant absorbing the corrosive substance from the air.
Grey had only broken through a few days ago and the spirit energy he could absorb was not much, so his decay point was not big and not potent.
It could not kill him either. But as he grew in strength, the corrosive substance in his body will continue to accumulate and he would either die or Mutate.
Of course there was a way to neutralize the corrosive substance within the body. Consuming a special pill would remove most of the corrosive substance in his body but would not completely cure it.
Grey sighed in relief and decided to cultivate. The stronger he was, the longer he lived. As he sat down and the image of the Sky mist cultivating technique entered his head, spirit energy began to flow towards him and he absorbed it.
He could feel his body completely filled with spirit energy as it swirled within him. Soon, he entered a semi-conscious state and did not wake up until after a couple of hours.
As his eyes opened, he felt refreshed and the accumulating fatigue that was building up within him dispersed.
*Sigh*
With that, he stood up and sped away in a direction. His gaze calm and so focused that it seemed almost cold.
Cultivating freed up the mind as well so he felt like he had just woken up and could face another day.
While he was not paying attention, he heard a sound and a viper the size of tree trunk sprung at him from no where.
Grey was a bit surprised but was quick enough to dodge the attack and launch one of his own. His right hand disappeared and appeared again with a knife which he did not waste time in stabbing into the viper.
The viper was in the third level of Qi accumulation but his knife managed to pierce it's skin and stab into it.
The snake reeled and turned around to strike him again but he evaded it and punched with his right hand.
He pulled out the knife that was still stuck within its flesh and stabbed it again.
The snake was furious and lunged at him again so fast that his eyes could not follow.
Almost
He threw his body to the left and managed to evade being crushed by the snake, but his arm was still bitten and it drew blood.
Holding back a pain grunt, he forced his body to move quicker and stabbed the snake on its head. A loud hissing sound could be heard followed by the sound of the thrashing until it slowly grew silent.
Grey tiredly rested by the side of a tree trunk and looked at the snake lying dead on the ground. Then took a look at his bleeding arm.
The wound was not deep but his blood was turning black. 'Dammit... What's the matter with all these creatures having poison.'
He gritted his teeth in pain before cleaning up the shallow wound. After dressing up the wound, he glanced at the snake and thought about leaving since the fight was over.
But an inner voice suddenly reprimanded him. 'Where are you going? Are you just going to leave precious meat behind...'
Now that he thought about that, this was fresh meat right in front of him. How dare him think about leaving it behind.
'But I don't know how to cook snake meat.'
But determining that issue could be taken cared of later. For now he had to fill his stomach which had been craving food since yesterday.
Picking the snake up and putting it on his shoulders, he retraced his steps and thirty minutes later, he was in his broken house.
He dropped the snake meat unceremoniously on the floor and stared at it in disgust. Just thinking about eating this thing have him the chills but the hunger in his stomach made him grit his teeth and take out his knife.