Damian left the city and headed toward the Black Mist Forest.

Even though the previous owner had gone there multiple times before, this was still the first time for the current Damian.

Fortunately, he was still only in the outskirts of the Black Mist Forest, so the beasts here mostly had the same level of power as Qi Refining cultivators.

"Perfect. This place will be great for testing my strength and getting used to my power as a cultivator."

He then took out his sword, but upon looking at its condition, Damian sighed once again.

The original owner had mostly spent his time wasting money, showing off, and chasing women, so of course, his sword was not that good. Still, it was better than nothing.

Damian stood there and tried to recall the memories of using the sword, doing his best to follow the same movements.

Then suddenly, a large wolf with dark fur appeared from the bushes and growled deeply at Damian.

Damian quickly recognized it as a Black Fang Wolf, a Qi Refining realm beast.

He grinned as he raised his sword. "Perfect. Let me use you as my training partner."

The wolf stared at Damian hungrily before suddenly lunging toward him aggressively.

Damian let his body move on instinct, and with one slash, he directly cut the wolf’s body in two.

He was quite surprised by the result. "Is it really that easy? The difference between realms is much greater than I thought."

But he didn’t let himself get arrogant, because although the fight had been easy, he could clearly feel how rough his swordsmanship actually was.

Against weaker opponents like this wolf, he could win easily, but against other cultivators, especially those within the same realm... he began to shudder just thinking about it.

"Let’s be careful. After all, I’m not a real cultivator yet. I’m just a normal person who got transmigrated here. With my cheat, that could change later, but for now, let’s just stay cautious."

---

Damian continued moving deeper into the forest, and unlike other Foundation Establishment cultivators, he was extremely cautious, always observing his surroundings. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Over the next few days, he encountered multiple demonic beasts, and fortunately, they were still only Qi Refining realm beasts.

Using his crude swordsmanship and higher realm, he easily killed all of them and kept their corpses inside his storage ring.

Aside from the beast corpses, he also gained many other benefits, especially fighting experience, because at first, he had still been somewhat nervous during battle.

Now, after fighting numerous beasts, his confidence had grown, and he had also become more accustomed to his body and the spiritual energy flowing inside it.

But he also realized one unfortunate thing. His swordsmanship was really terrible, so he decided to get a more decent sword technique later.

This became even clearer when he accidentally met a Foundation Establishment realm demonic beast in the forest.

It was a massive snake over ten meters long, and when he sensed its aura, his entire body suddenly shuddered.

But after his confidence had grown, he still steeled himself and tried to strike it once. To his surprise, his attack couldn’t even alarm the snake.

At that moment, he finally understood clearly that although he was considered strong in this small city, he was still bottom-tier compared to other cultivators within the same realm.

From then on, Damian became even more cautious while exploring, not wanting to suddenly die before he could properly enjoy his new life.

Eventually, after several more days, Damian finally encountered another group in the forest. The group consisted of seven cultivators.

All of them looked exhausted, as if they had just gone through a big battle, but Damian still remained cautious.

The first thing he did was sense their cultivation realms, and when he realized that all of them were only Qi Refining cultivators, he finally decided to show himself.

After he appeared, they immediately became cautious, but upon sensing Damian’s Foundation Establishment aura, their expressions suddenly changed.

One of them, a skinny young man, quickly cupped his hands and bowed slightly, prompting the others to follow.

Damian simply nodded, acting like a strong cultivator. "Don’t worry, you can rest easy around me. I’m not a demonic cultivator."

Upon hearing this, all of them sighed a little in relief, though they were still cautious, as anything could still happen in a place like this.

Damian didn’t care too much about their wariness and went straight to the point.

"Why are all of you still wandering around this area? Doesn’t the deeper area have better resources?"

The group exchanged nervous glances before the skinny young man stepped forward and answered bitterly.

"Esteemed Senior, it’s not that we don’t want to go deeper, but the deeper area has already become complete chaos."

Damian narrowed his eyes slightly. "Explain it to me. What exactly is happening in the deeper area?"

The young man swallowed nervously before continuing.

"More and more Foundation Establishment cultivators have arrived recently in the deeper area, and not all of them are rogue cultivators."

Damian raised his eyebrow upon hearing this and prompted him to continue.

The young man nodded and continued, "Apparently, the treasure inside is much more valuable than expected, so even sect disciples and some cultivator families have set their sights on it."

He then raised three fingers. "In fact, because of this chaos, three Foundation Establishment cultivators have already died, so..."

He frowned and glanced at his teammates. "So, of course, Qi Refining cultivators like us don’t dare to join the competition."

Damian frowned upon hearing the young man’s words. Three Foundation Establishment cultivators had already died.

He was one of the bottom-tier Foundation Establishment cultivators, so if he rashly joined in, his fate would most likely already be sealed.

Damian could only sigh before asking again, "Then what are you all doing here?"

This time, the skinny young man smiled awkwardly. "The treasure this time is great, so we believe that the surrounding area may also have some good changes."

He looked back toward the deeper part of the forest. "So rather than joining the chaotic battle, we decided to try our luck in the surrounding area."

Damian thought for several moments, as what these people said was indeed logical.

Rather than joining that harsh battle, it would be better to try his luck around the outer area.

Damian looked back at them. "If that’s the case, thank you for the information. How about I join you all? I also think I don’t have much of a chance if I go deeper."

Upon hearing this, the group was surprised, and then they quickly looked happy.

After all, having a Foundation Establishment cultivator with them would greatly increase their safety and also their chances of getting something good.

The skinny young man smiled and extended his hand. "Welcome to our group, Senior. My name is Kellan."

Damian only nodded as he greeted the skinny young man’s hand and told them his name. "Damian."