Mystic Eyes: My Eyes Steal the Laws of Cultivation-Chapter 301: Hunt

The first days inside the Pocket Realm were a constant test of endurance and adaptation for everyone.

Kyrian advanced alone through the ancient forest, moving like a silent shadow among the colossal trunks. He did not sleep for long periods, only brief meditations of one or two hours at the top of tall trees, where he could observe the surrounding terrain. The rest of the time was pure hunting.

On the second day, the beasts were still relatively weak. Wooden wolves at the 6° and 7° stages of Qi Liberation appeared in packs. Spiked boars and vine serpents were common. Kyrian eliminated them with brutal efficiency, barely needing to draw his sword. His ancestral sword intent cut through reinforced bark as if it were paper. Each victory added points to his leaf. The golden rune shone brighter and brighter against his chest.

On the third day, the scenario changed.

As he moved away from the initial arrival zone and approached the central region of the Pocket Realm, the beasts became visibly more powerful. Their bodies were larger, the bark harder, and the Qi cores denser. A colossal black wooden bear at the peak of Qi Liberation forced him to use more strength than expected. Kyrian needed three precise strikes to destroy its internal core.

Even so, he did not stop advancing.

He hunted calmly, as if he were at home. He observed movement patterns and identified weaknesses in the wooden joints. The more he killed, the more he understood the beasts were not independent. They were living extensions of the will of the central core. When one fell, a faint wave of green energy returned to the forest, as if the dimension itself recovered part of its strength.

On the fourth day, Kyrian felt a much stronger presence.

He was running through a deep ravine, giant roots hanging like ancient ropes, when a roar shook the entire area. The ground trembled. Spiritual birds flew in panic.

Kyrian stopped at the top of a thick root and looked down.

A Titanic Wooden Serpent rose from the bottom of the ravine. Its body was as long as a suspension bridge, covered in scales of black bark and bright green. Qi crystals pulsed along its spine like living veins. Its eyes were two spheres of pure emerald, filled with primitive intelligence and hunger.

4° stage of the Core Formation Realm.

Kyrian felt the oppressive pressure of the beast. It was the strongest creature he had encountered so far.

The serpent detected him immediately. Its colossal head rose, wooden tongue vibrating in the air. With a fluid and terrifying movement, it attacked.

Kyrian jumped from the roof at the exact moment the serpent’s head collided with it, exploding the ancient wood into splinters. He spun in the air, drawing his sword from the spatial ring in one clean motion.

The blade met the serpent’s skin mid-flight.

The impact was violent. Kyrian’s sword left only a superficial cut, tearing off splinters of bark but not penetrating deeply. The serpent roared in pain and fury, its long body lashing like a living whip. Its tail swept through the air, forcing Kyrian to dodge at high speed. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He landed on another root and quickly analyzed.

’The defense is high. The core must be protected in the center of the body. I need a concentrated attack.’

The serpent did not give him time. It coiled and lunged again, mouth open, revealing green crystal fangs dripping with corrosive plant venom. Kyrian ran along the ravine wall, using the roots as support. The serpent pursued him, destroying everything in its path.

He counterattacked.

His sword intent exploded in a pale green arc. The blade cut through the air and struck the serpent’s neck with full force. This time, the bark cracked. Green Qi gushed from the wound like blood.

The serpent howled and twisted its body, trying to crush him against the wall. Kyrian jumped, landing directly on its scales. He ran along the colossal body, sword in hand.

The beast writhed violently, trying to throw him off. Kyrian drove his sword into its flesh to maintain balance and continued running toward the head.

When he reached near the skull, he concentrated all his sword intent into a single point.

"Break."

The blade descended like a green lightning bolt.

The sword pierced through the reinforced bark, directly stabbing one of the crystalline eyes. The titanic serpent convulsed in agony. Its entire body trembled, roots bursting from the ground around it in a final frenzy.

Kyrian did not stop. He pulled the sword out and struck again, opening a deep cut in the creature’s skull. The Qi core, a pulsing green sphere the size of a fist, was exposed.

With one final clean strike, he destroyed it.

The titanic serpent let out one last distorted roar and collapsed, its gigantic body crumbling into dead wood and dry bark.

A huge amount of green light flowed into Kyrian’s leaf.

The golden rune now displayed 874 points.

Kyrian stepped down from the beast’s body, breathing in a controlled manner. He cleaned and stored the sword back into his ring.

"4° stage of Core Formation..." he murmured to himself.

"The beasts are getting stronger as I move toward the center."

He looked in the direction he imagined to be the core of the Pocket Realm. The density of Qi increased the further inward he went. That meant stronger beasts... and soon, other cultivators.

So far, he had not encountered any participants from other domains. They were probably still in the peripheral zones, hunting weaker beasts and adapting. But Kyrian knew that would not last. The more points someone accumulated, the more attractive they would become as a target.

He kept advancing.

In the following days, the pattern repeated. He hunted nonstop. He faced packs of increasingly organized beasts. He encountered a group of Wooden Eagles at the 3° stage of Core Formation that attacked in coordinated formation. He destroyed a nest of Vine Spiders at the 5° stage. Each fight forced him to use a bit more of his real strength.

His points rose constantly.

Kyrian did not feel real physical fatigue, his body was accustomed to much more.

In a clearing illuminated by rays of sunlight that managed to pass through the canopy, he stopped to rest briefly. He sat on a root and observed the leaf in his hand. The golden rune shone intensely.

He imagined that Mo Tianhai and the others were also progressing. Probably hunting in a group, covering each other. It was the safest method.

But Kyrian preferred it this way, alone. Without needing to worry about anyone’s safety. Without needing to split points. Just him, the forest, and the beasts.

He stood up, stretched his shoulders, and continued running deeper inside.

The closer he got to the center of the Pocket Realm, the more he felt that something was changing. The Qi became denser, more hostile. The trees seemed older, more conscious. And somewhere ahead, he already imagined he would encounter the first cultivators from other domains.

The true hunt, between humans, would probably happen in the coming days.