The Legendary F Rank

Haru's tone was something that they weren't used to and it scared them, it took a moment for them to build the courage to speak.

"Y-yeah. If you just follow this path there is a town at the end of the road. But if you keep walking for half a day you will arrive at Aslon City. It's one of the major cities in the Kastron Star alliance." The older of the two replied as she clutched the younger girl close to her to keep her safe.

"Thank you. Do you know if there are places to stay? My friend is injured and needs somewhere to rest for a while." Haru explained as he wasn't sure why Hong Xia couldn't move and he needed time to figure it out.

"You're friend? I didn't see anyone with you? Where are they?" The woman asked with a confused expression. 

Haru paused for a moment as he realised that anything could have happened to her as he had just left her on the ground unable to move. 

He suddenly took off running but as he began to move he noticed something strange. Everything around him began to lose colour as he felt a strange pressure in his head. He found it strange but it wasn't enough to worry him as he ran back to see that Hong Xia was still on the ground.

But as he began to approach her he realised that she was no longer breathing. Haru panicked as he stared at her laying on the ground.

Suddenly the colour of the environment began to return to its usual vibrant colour as Hong Xia's breath returned as a gust of wind shot out in all directions from where Haru was standing, alerting Hong Xia that he had returned. 

"How did you get here? I didn't sense you at all!" Hong Xia exclaimed as she didn't understand what had just happened. 

As she looked at Haru she couldn't sense any Qi at all but for some reason, his whole body continued to glow a slight golden colour as what looked like a faint aura surrounded him from head to toe. 

"I ran here. But I'm unsure of what's happening. When I saw you I thought you were dead. You weren't breathing… Is it possible that the time had stopped around me? Or did I run here so fast that it just seemed like time had stopped?" Haru thought to himself as he was still unsure of what was happening.

Although he couldn't sense any Qi he was certain that his cultivation hadn't disappeared completely since his strength and speed had seemed to increase by dozens of times since coming to this world.

And by the fact, one of the men had made a comment on his cultivation stage there had to be something that he was missing. 

But he wasn't sure if the planet he ended up on was used to seeing people from the lower realms. If he openly admitted that he wasn't from their world he wondered if they would see him as an alien and try to capture him to perform experiments like they would do back on earth.

"Is that even possible? No one can stop time can they?" Hong Xia asked with a look of concern painted on her face as she awaited Haru's response.

"I'm not sure. I've never been to another world like this before. But I guess we will just have to find out." Haru said as he bent down to pick Hong Xia up into his arms.

"What are you doing!? Put me down at once! Don't touch me, you weirdo!" Hong Xia shouted as Haru held his arms beneath her legs and back. 

"Do you want me to leave you in the forest then while I set out looking for a town to spend the night in?" Haru asked as she stopped complaining and accepted her fate, knowing that she wasn't capable of moving on her own.

"Fine, but if you touch me anywhere else I will kill you as soon as I'm able to move again!" Hong Xia threatened as Haru began to walk back toward the clearing in the trees which was a little harder as he tried to make sure that he didn't bump into any trees with Hong Xia in his arms which proved much more difficult than he originally thought it would be as the trees were densely packed together.

Once he made it through to the clearing though he saw the woman and the girl looking around in the trees nearby as it seemed as though they were trying to locate something.

Haru watched for a moment before speaking up.

"Did you lose something?" Haru asked as the woman flinched slightly upon hearing his voice.

"Oh, you came back. I just lost a necklace that's all. It's in the shape of a cross and has a red gem in the middle of it. It's a family heirloom so it would be a shame if I lost it forever." The woman said as she turned around to see Haru was now standing with a woman in his arms and began to stutter as she wasn't sure what was going on.

"Oh, is this the friend you were speaking of? She's very beautiful. You two make a good couple." The woman said with a smile as she seemed to misunderstand their relationship by how Haru was holding her. 

Hong Xia looked confused as she didn't understand what the woman had just said. 

"Oh, it's not like that. We're-" Haru began to speak but was cut off as the woman became excited.

"You don't have to explain. I was quite the catch when I was younger too. My husband I would often go into the forest to-" The woman began to talk with a blush on her face before she too was silenced by the younger girl she was with.

"Found it!" The girl yelled as she reached forward and pulled out a necklace like the woman had previously described and then held it up in the air for everyone to see.

"Great work! We can finally head back home now." The woman said with a smile as she seemed to forget about what she was previously saying now that they had gotten their necklace back and Haru watched on in confusion as Hong Xia whispered to him.

"Hey, what language is that you're speaking? I have never heard anything like that in my life. Are you actually some kind of alien, like these people?" She asked with a suspicious look on her face.

"Don't worry so much. It's one of the universal languages they speak in the upper realms. I will give you a book to study once we find somewhere to stay. But technically we are the aliens here. So try not to speak unless we're alone. You never know what they might do to us when they learn that we're not from this world." Haru explained quietly as the older woman put the necklace around the girl's neck and walked back over to Haru.

"Excuse me sir, but do you mind if I ask why you still have your aura emitting? If you head into the village like that they might get the wrong idea and think you are out to kill someone." The woman explained as Haru looked down at his chest to see that the golden glow was still coming from his body and assumed that was what she was talking about.

"Oh, sorry. I just broke through to the Profound Life stage. I'm not sure how to stop it." Haru explained and hoped that it wasn't too hard for her to understand.

But upon hearing what he said she smiled slightly.

"That's understandable. My father was the same when he broke through a few months ago. But it's the same as cultivating really. Imagine the true Qi surrounding your body is the same as regular Qi and try to absorb it." The woman explained while Hong Xia looked at the two of them with distrust as she wasn't sure what they were talking about. 

'True Qi? So this is what true Qi is?' Haru thought as he remembered that the reason for cultivators being rejected by the universe once they reached the nascent soul stage was because all the Qi in their body would slowly transform into True Qi which was a more potent type of Qi that was only found in the middle and upper realms.

It helped the people of the upper realms grow stronger with its added potency and that was why Li Jun had warned him to gather sufficient strength before heading there. If he fought with someone at the same stage as him from the upper realms as a regular cultivator he would lose before the fight even started from a lack of strength since they didn't cultivate the same power.

So that is why he continued to cultivate without breaking through during the manifestation stage when his soul ocean accidentally flooded, causing him to gather as much Qi as possible without being forced into the next stage.

Haru quickly worked on gathering the true Qi as he visualised it returning into his body and forming a golden core within his body where his dantian was.

Haru's body felt hot as the True Qi began to circulate through his meridians and veins for the first time and he quickly realised the difference between being a cultivator from the lower realms and one from the upper realms. 

"Yeah just like that! It usually takes people a couple of hours to get the hang of it. But it's not that hard if you have a good understanding of Qi.

Would you like us to guide you back to the town? We have to head back home anyway so you could come along and stay in the town for a few days?

We're having a banquet tomorrow. It would be great if you could come along so I can repay you for the trouble we caused you.

Those men are most likely going to regroup and come back in bigger numbers after they explain what happened. But I promise you that as long as you are within the walls of the town that no harm will come to you." The woman explained as it seemed as though Haru had poked a dragon by standing up to those men.

But little did they know that up until recently Haru had a dragon residing within his soul. If they wanted to come looking for trouble he would show them the meaning of pain as he didn't feel any kind of attachment to the people of this world.

To him they were alien and he wasn't sure what their morals were as a civilisation. If they turned out to be bad he wouldn't have a problem killing them without mercy as he was done with sitting idly by and waiting to be attacked first. That was why Suyin died and he wasn't about to experience that again.