Xiao Feng stood in the clearing, mouth still hanging open as the mysterious female cultivator disappeared between the trees. His mind was a mess of thoughts.
"Idiot? Did she just call me an idiot?" he mumbled as he ran a hand through his messy hair. "I just tried to help her!"
He kicked a small rock, wincing when his injured leg reminded him it was still very much wounded. Great, now even his leg was against him.
"Who does she think she is anyway? Zandeya?"
The name slipped out before he could stop it. Zandeya, the ice-cold beauty from his favorite female actor and idol back on Earth. The memory brought a sad smile to his face.
"Not even close," he corrected himself with a sigh. "Zandeya would've at least thanked me before insulting me."
He was so caught up in his thoughts, muttering to himself about ungrateful women and missed opportunities, that he didn't notice the danger until it was too late.
A low hiss made his blood freeze.
Xiao Feng slowly turned around and immediately wished he hadn't. Blocking the path ahead was a massive lizard, its hide gleaming like metal in the dappled sunlight. Its yellow eyes fixed on him with hungry intent.
"You've got to be kidding me," he whispered.
The beast was huge, at least ten feet from snout to tail. Its scales looked like overlapping plates of armor, and its claws left deep gouges in the earth with each step.
An Ironhide Lizard. First-tier, third stage.
Way stronger than me, At least a stage higher than me and a dark beast at that!?.
"Nice lizard," Xiao Feng repeated the same thing he told the wolf unconsciously, taking a careful step back. "Very nice lizard who doesn't want to eat the already beaten-up human, right?"
The lizard's tongue flicked out, tasting the air. Like it was tasting his fear.
"Guess not," Xiao Feng sighed, gripping his staff tighter. "Why can't I ever meet herbivores in this stupid forest?"
The lizard charged.
Xiao Feng barely had time to dodge, rolling to the side as the beast crashed past him. Pain shot through his injured leg, but adrenaline pushed it away. He scrambled to his feet, spinning to face the creature as it turned for another pass.
This time, he met it head-on, striking with his staff. The metal rang against the creature's hide, but the lizard didn't even flinch.
"Oh come on!" Xiao Feng cried as he ducked under snapping jaws. "That was my best shot!"
I really need to learn cultivation techniques!
He backed away, mind racing. The lizard was too strong, its hide too tough. His staff might as well have been a twig for all the good it was doing.
The beast circled him, tongue flicking in and out, as if savoring the moment before its meal.
"I refuse to die right after being called an idiot," Xiao Feng declared, though his voice shook slightly. "That's just too pathetic for a reincarnation story."
He charged again, feinting left before striking at the lizard's eye. The beast was faster than it looked, twisting its head away and slamming its tail into Xiao Feng's side.
The impact sent him flying. He crashed into a tree trunk, the air knocked from his lungs. Pain exploded across his ribs. Definitely broken again. Just after I managed to heal it cultivating the last three days.
"Okay," he wheezed, struggling to stand. "Not my best plan."
The lizard advanced slowly now, sensing its prey was weakened. Its jaws opened, revealing rows of jagged teeth.
Xiao Feng tried to lift his staff, but his arms felt like lead. This was it. Not even a week in the Demon Forest and he was already lizard food right after escaping being wolf meal.
"Some main character I turned out to be," he laughed weakly, his heart heavy.
The lizard lunged.
In that final moment, as death came for him, something strange happened. The staff in his hands suddenly felt warm. No, not warm, but slightly hot.
Xiao Feng looked down to see the ancient engravings on the metal beginning to glow with a soft golden light. The light spread, running up his arms like living veins, seeping into his skin.
Power. Raw and ancient power surged through his body, filling every cell, every pathway. His pain vanished, replaced by a rush of energy unlike anything he'd ever felt.
"What the—"
The lizard's jaws were inches from his face when Xiao Feng moved. Not the desperate scramble of before, but a fluid, perfect motion. His body seemed to know exactly what to do, just like before.
He stepped aside, the lizard's teeth snapping on empty air. Then, with a strength that shocked even him, Xiao Feng brought his staff down on the creature's head.
CRACK!
The sound echoed through the forest. The lizard stumbled, dazed but not defeated.
Xiao Feng didn't wait. The power coursing through him felt amazing, intoxicating.
I feel like I am at the peak of the world. Arrogance! Pure arrogance!
He spun the staff in his hands, the weapon suddenly as light as a feather, as much a part of him as his own arm.
"My turn," he grinned maniacally.
He struck again and again, each blow finding a weak point in the lizard's armor. Between scales. Behind the jaw. Above the eye.
The beast roared in pain and fury, thrashing wildly. But where before Xiao Feng had been too slow, now he was a blur, dancing around the massive creature with impossible speed.
"I don't know what's happening," he laughed out like a maniac as he dodged a desperate tail swipe, "but I like it!"
With one final, powerful strike, Xiao Feng drove his staff into the soft underside of the lizard's jaw sending a rippling wave through its body damaging it organs inside. The beast shuddered once, then collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Silence fell over the forest.
The golden light faded from the staff, and with it, the surge of power that had filled Xiao Feng's body. Exhaustion hit him like a wave. He fell to his knees, gasping for breath, his whole body trembling.
But he was alive. He had won.
"What... just... happened?" he panted, staring at the staff in his hands.
The engravings were dark once more, just simple markings on metal. But Xiao Feng knew for sure now that this was no ordinary weapon.
"First you help me kill a wolf," he whispered to the staff. "Then you save me from a lizard that should have eaten me for breakfast."
He turned the staff over in his hands, searching for any clue, any explanation.
"What are you?" he asked. "And more importantly... what am I going to name you?"
A cool breeze rustled the leaves around him, for some reason his brain was filled with dopamine rush making Xiao Feng grin like a maniac despite his exhaustion. He was alive, and he had just killed a beast one stage above his cultivation level.
Maybe he was cut out for this main character business after all.
He just needed to figure out what the hell this weapon was first.