Damian once again entered the Black Mist Forest alone, and unlike before, his mentality was completely different this time.

Previously, he had moved cautiously through the outer area while constantly worrying about every beast he encountered.

But now, he wasn’t nearly as cautious since his strength had increased, and that could clearly be seen from the way he killed the beasts.

Several beasts came at him, including Black Fang Wolves, but Damian easily slashed them apart with his sword.

In an instant, their bodies split in two before dropping to the ground, and he hadn’t even used his Thunder Qi.

He didn’t even bother picking up their corpses because his target today was the great treasure hidden in the deeper area. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

---

Damian had been rushing forward for a few days when he suddenly narrowed his eyes after hearing voices nearby.

He directly headed toward them, and unexpectedly, he ran into Kellan’s group once again.

The moment Kellan saw Damian, he was also surprised and immediately smiled. "Senior Damian! What a surprise to meet you here!"

The other cultivators in his group also looked relieved that the person they had encountered was actually Kellan’s acquaintance.

Damian simply smiled after seeing Kellan. "Looks like we’re pretty damn fated. I never thought we’d meet again in such a short time."

Kellan laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, honestly, I didn’t expect to meet Senior again here either."

Then Kellan suddenly looked around cautiously before asking in a quieter voice.

"Senior, do you want to join us again? We’re still searching around the outer region."

This time, Damian shook his head. "Not this time. I already had a breakthrough a few days ago, so I’m planning to head deeper into the forest."

The moment Kellan heard that, he immediately frowned. "Senior... the deeper regions are still extremely dangerous right now."

Trying to stop him, he quickly explained further. "In the two weeks since we left, five more Foundation Establishment cultivators have died. The chaos has become even worse than before."

The others’ expressions also changed after hearing what Kellan said, but Damian simply smiled. "Don’t worry too much."

He lightly tapped the new sword hanging at his waist. "I’ve changed quite a bit recently, so I want to try going deeper."

Then he casually added, "And even if things become too dangerous, I can just run away."

Kellan noticed that no matter what he said, Damian wouldn’t change his mind, so he could only sigh helplessly.

He still felt somewhat worried, but at the same time, he could sense that Damian’s aura had truly become completely different compared to before.

Finally, Kellan could only nod. "Alright then. Just be careful, Senior. I hope we can meet again."

Damian also smiled back. "Yeah, I hope we can meet again too. Goodbye."

After that, Damian turned around and continued deeper into the Black Mist Forest alone.

Meanwhile, Kellan silently watched Damian’s back before sighing once more. "I just hope you know what you’re doing, Senior."

---

Damian continued moving deeper alone while remaining fully alert to his surroundings, as this was his first time going this far into the forest.

Suddenly, he stopped walking when a loud hissing sound came from nearby. The moment he turned around, his eyes widened in surprise.

It was a massive dark-scaled serpent, the same Foundation Establishment Realm beast he had encountered two weeks ago.

Last time, he couldn’t even cut or damage this serpent at all, but this time, he wanted to try again.

"Let’s see if I can damage you this time... or even better, kill you."

The serpent immediately sensed Damian’s hostility the moment he unsheathed his sword and directly went for the kill.

Its massive body was surprisingly fast as it rushed toward Damian, charging at him with its head.

But unlike before, Damian remained calm and instantly dodged the serpent’s first attack.

Thunder Qi specialized not only in destruction but also in speed, so Damian’s movements had become much faster than before.

Now that the huge snake head had slammed into the ground after missing its attack, Damian immediately used the chance to counterattack.

He directly swung his sword and slashed violently against the serpent’s scales.

CLANG!

Just like he expected, he actually managed to damage the serpent’s scales this time, even shocking the beast itself.

"As expected. Even though your scales are hard, my sword is a much higher grade than your body."

The serpent roared furiously as it finally realized this human was dangerous.

It instantly swung its massive tail toward Damian, but Damian quickly jumped backward before finally releasing his Thunder Qi into his sword, making it crackle with lightning.

Damian raised his thunder sword and looked toward the snake with a wild grin.

He directly rushed forward before jumping into the air, pointing his sword straight toward the snake’s neck.

The serpent quickly tried to block with its tail, but Damian suddenly stepped on the tail itself and jumped even higher.

Finally, he landed directly on top of the serpent’s head and viciously stabbed his sword downward.

The blade easily tore through the serpent’s scales, causing blood to continuously burst from its head.

The serpent let out a painful roar while violently shaking its body, desperately trying to throw Damian off.

But Damian didn’t care at all. He only tightened his grip on the sword before pushing the blade even deeper into the serpent’s head.

The serpent realized that shaking its body wasn’t enough, so it tried slamming its head into nearby trees to crush Damian along with it, but Damian had already expected that.

At the very last moment, he used all of his strength and forced the sword even deeper into the serpent’s skull, finally ending its life.

The huge serpent’s corpse crashed heavily onto the ground, and for a brief moment, the entire area became silent.

Damian, on the other hand, breathed heavily from both excitement and exhaustion. This was the first time he had experienced such a truly tough battle.

Looking back at the giant serpent corpse, he couldn’t help but grin widely. "Hahaha... I really have become stronger."

He quickly stored the serpent’s corpse inside his storage ring, as Foundation Establishment Realm beast materials were extremely valuable.

After storing everything properly, Damian looked deeper toward the Black Mist Forest once more.

At this moment, he could clearly tell that this time, he might truly be able to gain incredible resources from the chaos within the deeper regions.