Daily life of a cultivation judge

As he made his way to the forest, he avoided places with large human presence to avoid dragging them in case there were more of the black-robed individuals after him or to avoid more of their cohorts in the off-chance that they had hid themselves with the public in anticipation of if he were to escape.

After circumventing and redirections, after half an hour he finally reached the outskirts of the Silver scaled oak forest. It was already dark by the time he reached it. The moon was already overhead and the forest had a chilly wind flowing through and out of it, accompanied by the sounds of insects.

Lai Lei didn't have the time to cautiously evaluate his surroundings as he immediately plunged into the welcoming darkness of the forest as he headed in the direction of the cave Jiaying had told him about.

Hu Jiaying was a roaming inquisitor who had teamed up with Yang Qing, Xia Boqin, and Kang Huilang during the entrance purple grade test. Since Lai Lei was from the same year as her and had been one of the few who passed the test, they ended up being friends throughout their Institute days and continuously kept in touch despite the demanding schedule of the roaming inquisitors who were in constant deployment for months on end.

In one of their conversations, Yang Qing in typical fashion mocked her in glee for having a worse schedule than him and even bragged about at least being able to sleep in comfort. Not willing to lose out, Hu Jiaying, ended up mentioning the hidden abodes littered all around the continent, that roaming inquisitors could use. She went into great detail about a few of them of which the one in Silver scaled oak forest had been one of them.

Lai Lei decided he would try to get in touch with the Order headquarters once he was at the abode. The abode was filled with protective formations that could shield him from even a domain expert, and it had a powerful communication talisman built for emergencies that was anchored. 

As he couldn't afford any sort of delay in his escape, he opted to only stop and make a call once he was at the abode, which till now he wasn't sure if his gold eagle medallion would work or if there were other mechanisms. He could only hope the medallion work as his spiritual qi was quickly depleting, his injuries from the explosion were not light, to say the least. He could feel cracks within his meridians. If he was forced to overexert himself one more time, the cracks would spread to his dantian and trigger an implosion, which was why he was desperate to reach the hidden abode.

He smoothly traversed through the forest without so much as bending the grass despite the speed he was traveling at. The forest was filled with large canopies that added darkness to the region, however, there was dim glittering lighting around the forest courtesy of the silver-scaled oak tree that looked like pieces of the moon sculptured into trees. The forest had a few of them spread widely about, hence the name. They pulsated with a gentle white glow that went on and off as if in rhythmic breathing along with releasing a chilly white mist.

The trees seemed to add a sense of mystical beauty to the forest, that complemented the silence of the night perfectly. It could be considered a tranquil place to rest at if one didn't care about the spirit beasts that inhabited the place which was why it had little human presence.

Lai Lei had already been detected by a few of them, especially with his bleeding body, however, they avoided him due to the pressure he was releasing, and also the speed with which he was traveling made it difficult for them to catch up with him. Lai Lei was able to cover a lot of distance unhindered thanks to this and he was soon just about 10 kilometers away from the area Hu Jiaying mentioned.

However, with the luck he had, he managed to attract the attention of a customer who was undeterred by the pressure he was releasing and his speed didn't seem to be an issue for it.

"At the state I am in, figures even a late-stage core formation ash cinder wolf would try its hand.." Lai Lei said with a bitter smile appeared on his face.

In front of him was a massive wolf the size of a rhino. It had a beautiful silver-white fur that made crackling sounds like that of burning flames every time the wind brushed on it. Its red eyes were currently colored with unrestrained greed as it eyed Lai Lei's body more specifically, the blood that was still dripping from his wounds. 

Its greed was insatiable as it saw the droplets. Lai Lei wasn't too surprised as his blood even though it was extremely thin, still contained traces of the kirin, a mythical creature. His blood was akin to an irresistible monumental treasure to the ash-cinder wolf.

"I have one shot at this.." thought Lai Lei as he relaxed his body and made a mental calculation of the remaining spiritual qi and the state of his body. He couldn't afford to overexert himself, which was why he didn't even bother to unsheath his sword. He barely had the strength to use it fully, he could only rely on his hands.

A silent confrontation ensued between the two as they eyed each other waiting for the opportune moment. After circling Lai Lei for a bit, the ash cinder wolf seemed like it couldn't contain itself as it ferociously lunged toward Lai Lei. Its pelt burned with a blue flame, adding a metallic hue to its fur. The blue flame absorbed spiritual qi which it instantly refined to strengthen its coat along with improving its body aspects such as strength, speed, and awareness.

A malevolent grin appeared on its face when it saw Lai Lei's weak gait, along with his trembling body. It judged clearly Lai Lei was on his last legs. However, despite Lai Lei's weakness the ash cinder wolf was not about to underestimate him which was why it triggered its highest flames which were the blue flames, that boosted its abilities to the highest peak. It only used this form against those at the peak stage of the core formation realm, the ones it was not sure it could defeat easily and it had judged Lai Lei to be one such worthy foe. 

It aimed to destroy Lai Lei in one move to avoid any latent threats. With a speed that did not match its body, it blurred into a blue streak, and in an instant, its canines were already at Lai Lei's neck. Victory was in sight, however, before it could even register anything, it felt one of its canine shatter followed by a sudden sharp pain to the roof of its mouth, and in the next second, it felt a sense of tiredness and everything went blank.

Its monstrous body fell immediately along with Lai Lei who dragged his arms from his mouth as he held on to a canine tooth that was the size of a dagger. He was breathing heavily as he weakly got up.

"The survival instructor said the liver and the gall bladder have wood properties with healing properties.." he tiredly muttered to himself as he traced the massive body of the ash-cinder wolf whose blue flames were receding. 

He traced a line on its abdomen and once he had confirmed he had the right spot, he used the tooth like a sharpened dagger to carve an opening after which he immediately plunged his hands with eyes closed seemingly sensing for something.

"There.." he said as he immediately pulled out his arm from the ash cinder wolf's gut and out came a silver smooth fleshy substance. With zero hesitation, Lai Lei immediately swallowed the substance and immediately started running with the same intensity and desperation he had before.