The snake hissed for a moment and fell to the ground dead. Ning pulled out the spear and blood gushed out of the wound.
"Damn, that took way more out of me than I would've expected," he thought. He had never expected that fighting a 1st Foundation Establishment realm monster would be that difficult to win against.
"I need better techniques. The ones I currently have don't suit my cultivation base," he thought. While the One True Sword Strike and the Revolving Spear art were good techniques, they had a lot of things holding them back.
Ning had gotten them for very cheap, whether it be with Energy or with Gold Cons. So now that he was at a level that he was, he couldn't afford to fight with these cheap techniques.
"Sigh, I guess I have to wait until the system comes back. When exactly is it coming back? I've lost count of the days," he thought.
He started putting all the snakes into his storage bag. There were over a hundred of them and it took him some time.
He then proceeded to pick up all the fruits from the tree. The Emerald Mangoes should be able to earn him a lot of points.
Once he was done with it all, he checked the talisman for the points and he smiled.
********
"I… I have no words."
"Truly Magnificent. That— That's a strong participant for sure."
"Did you see how he used both a sword and a spear at the end?"
"Damn, I wish I knew how strong those snakes were. At least 5th Qi condensation realm right?"
"A few of them should be very weak. 1st or 2nd realm actually. Did you see how easily he kicked and they died?"
"Well some of them could fly, so they must be around 6th realm in general."
"I think the blue one was in the 8th realm at the very least, If not the 9th realm."
"What island is that disciple from? They must be truly proud of him."
Due to the fact that there were so many snakes in a single spot, the audience seemed to have gotten the wrong impression that the reason it was a hotspot was the quantity of the beasts and not the quality of them.
Dion, Yelca, and the rest of them were watching the screen in the air with massively wide eyes. They knew how strong Ning was, so when they saw him struggling, they knew that the beasts were strong.
"Woah, Doctor Ning should have stopped being a doctor and just joined a sect as a normal disciple. He would've been a direct disciple by now," Dion said.
"I wonder why he decided to become a doctor when he had so much talent," Yelca wondered.
"Well, either way, he is great. Although… where is he now? He is gone from the screen," Gion said.
The group looked back at the screen but Ning was gone and they couldn't find him anymore. So they focused their attention back on the screen at a different person whose current state interested the rest of the group.
********
Ning walked out of the forest and into a small grassland that lead to another forest. However, this grassland had really tall grasses and giant rocks in the middle as well as a few trees scattered everywhere.
The sun was down and the visibility was low, but as a cultivator of both Body and Qi, Ning had no need to worry about vision.
He walked into the grassland with a few different things on his mind.
For one, he was confused as to how there was a sun in a realm that was supposed to just be a separate dimension. That did not make sense to him unless to him.
Also, he couldn't figure out why no matter how much he walked, he didn't see the edge of this secret realm.
"Is this really a secret realm that is just a small hidden dimension? Would it not make sense that it's just a different land on Kumia just connected through the portal?"Ning wondered.
"No, but that is wrong as well. The sun is exactly where it should be on the Hub island. If it were anywhere else the angle and direction would be different, as well as the placement. So we should be exactly where we were in the arena, but yet somehow… not?" Ning couldn't understand what was going on.
He thought for a bit more, but his knowledge of secret realms and dimensions and universes was very minute, so he decided to give up on making sense of his situation.
Instead, he just focused on finding the beasts and ingredients as per usual.
Ning saw a flower next to the giant rock using his divine sense. He could also see a bunch of 2nd Qi condensation realm worms hidden on the ground.
He knew exactly what type of worms they were so he stepped onto their ground without hesitation. The worms immediately walked out of the dirt thinking he was prey due to his low cultivation aura.
As such, they fell into his trap. Ning didn't need any weapons for these lowly worms and easily finished them off by just stomping on them.
He kept their corpse in his storage bag and picked up the flower as well. Once he was done there, he decided to move again.
"Oh," he thought as he turned around his head. Out in the distance, he could see two people, a boy, and a girl, both wearing different colored robes following a wild horse with a bloody back.
The horse was in fear and desperation as well as blind rage due to being injured. It suddenly saw Ning and ran towards him.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Ning still had his aura hidden for the most part so the Horse might have seen him as an easy target.
However, before the horse could even reach him, Ning took out his sword swiftly and sent out a small slash at the horse's head and it immediately died, while its body, still with its momentum, slid on the grass until it came near Ning's feed and stopped.