“It’s nothing special,” the man’s lips twitched as he answered carelessly, “If I wanted to take your Xumi Ring, do you really think you could stop me?”

“You can give it a try,” Andrew Brooks frowned and replied coolly.

“Why would I try? You haven’t offended me,” the middle-aged man spread his hands, looking completely unconcerned. “I never bully people for no reason… Even when I ask a first-level Wandering Immortal like you for food, I pay with spirit stones.”

“I’m second-level now, okay?” Andrew Brooks muttered in protest, but after thinking about it, realized that against someone this strong, there really wasn’t much difference between first and second level.

At this moment, he finally remembered a question. “What level are you, anyway?”

“Ninth-level peak, stuck there, can’t break through to Spirit Immortal no matter what,” the middle-aged man sighed and answered blandly.

Much later, Andrew Brooks would learn that in the Immortal Realm, asking someone about their cultivation level was rather taboo—just like asking someone on Earth how much money they make. If you’re not close, it’s prying.

But right now, he didn’t really understand, so he let out a curious “huh.” “Trying to break through from ninth-level Wandering Immortal to Spirit Immortal… Don’t you have your family’s support?”

The rule in the Immortal Realm was that once you became a Spirit Immortal, you were qualified to establish a cultivation family. For someone at ninth-level peak like this man, the family would surely invest heavily in him. Once he broke through, they’d gain a top-tier combatant.

“I’m a rogue cultivator,” the man replied blandly, glancing at him again. “You clan disciples have no idea how hard it is for us.”

“I’m not a clan disciple,” Andrew Brooks couldn’t help but protest—if he were, would he be out here doing missions, getting bullied by everyone?

“At your age, only second-level Wandering Immortal? No way you’re from a sect,” the man shot him another look.

“I’m a rogue cultivator too, just ascended a few days ago,” Andrew Brooks took out his jade token and gave it a shake.

“Oh?” The man glanced at the token, then, intentionally or not, swept his gaze over the Xumi Ring on his hand.

Andrew Brooks picked up his wine cup and took a sip, shooting him a sidelong glance, saying nothing more.

“Heh, so you really did get greedy,” the middle-aged man chuckled, then shook his head. “I really shouldn’t… But I’m curious, do you really think you can keep your Xumi Ring safe in front of me?”

“I wouldn’t recommend you try,” Andrew Brooks answered seriously. After all, there was a nuclear bomb in his Xumi Ring.

The middle-aged man was stunned for a while before nodding slightly. “True, people from the lower realms aren’t necessarily easy targets. The lower realms have turned the Fenghuang Realm upside down more than once… For you to have such a rare Qi-path cultivation method, you must have quite a background.”

“The lower realms can cause chaos in the Immortal Realm?” This was the first time Andrew Brooks had heard of such a thing.

“You’ll find out in the future,” the man didn’t want to say more, just gave him a meaningful look. “There’s nothing the great world doesn’t have… You have your trump cards too, don’t you?”

Andrew Brooks was taken aback, then started to consider—should he ask about things related to Earth?

If he could find some immortals who had ascended from Earth, he’d have someone to rely on.

He was still hesitating when the middle-aged man stood up, waved his hand to put away the unfinished horse meat into his storage pouch, and turned to leave at a leisurely pace. “The life of a rogue cultivator is too hard. If you have any connections, young friend, you’d better find a way into the system.”

Isn’t it because I have no connections? Andrew Brooks pulled a wry face, picked up the storage pouch on the ground, and went into the patch of “artificial grass,” sitting quietly in meditation.

At dawn, he finally sent his divine sense into the storage pouch and found inside a mid-grade spirit stone, more than twenty low-grade spirit stones, a few bottles of pills, a longsword, and a long saber.

The rest were a few sets of clothes, pots, bowls, and other daily necessities.

Turns out murder and arson don’t necessarily make you rich, Andrew Brooks curled his lip.

Back on Earth, he hadn’t interacted much with people, and no one had discussed cultivation with him. He had read some xianxia novels, though, and in those, killing someone and snatching their storage pouch was like grabbing a mountain of gold—anything you wanted, you’d find.

Believe everything in books and you’ll be misled. He composed himself, planning to check if the big guy in the water from yesterday was gone, and maybe catch a couple more fish. Suddenly, he noticed an unusual silence all around.

Something felt off. He focused carefully—there was no trace of the Iron-armored Tiger or the other person’s presence at all. That wasn’t right.

He cultivated through Qi, and was especially sensitive to changes in aura. Yesterday, he could always sense those two—their auras were weak, but he could still feel something odd.

But now, he really couldn’t sense them at all, which meant something had changed.

He couldn’t help but raise his guard—out here in the wild, he was just a lowly second-level Wandering Immortal.

Before long, a rustling sound came from the distance. Peering through the grass, he was overjoyed: it was Thunder Deer!

Eight Thunder Deer strolled over leisurely—a stag, three does, two half-grown deer, and two fawns. It looked like a family.

Chapter 8: Monster Snatching

The leading stag was proud and alert, glancing all around as it cautiously approached the riverbank.