Lin Xin stood in his place for a while, he wasn't sure if his current strength would be enough to defeat the creature in front of him.
"So this is the challenge that I must overcome?" He said while looking unbothered, even the being that brought him there was surprised, she knew very well he was bluffing.
Not giving him time to think much longer, the creature lunged at him with full strength, Lin Xin dodged the attack area quickly.
"It appears that his attacks cover a wide area, but are not fast enough." He thought to himself, if he could beat it in speed, he would have the upper hand in this battle.
He moved to the left and tried to outmaneuver the large beast due to the sheer difference in size, for a while it proved effective, that is until the beast started adapting to his speed and began predicting where his next move will be.
Lin Xin, seeing that his current tactics are not working, decided to go for a change in plans.
"If it adapted to me, it means that I must finish this quickly before it becomes too hard for me to win, but how could I penetrate it's thick skin...."
Just as he said that, he noticed a rock that had a strange shape.
"With enough speed and strength, this can inflict some damage on it, I will look for an opening when it attacks."
As the battle went on for much longer than Lin Xin anticipated, the opening he was hoping for didn't reveal itself, while the fight itself became gradually harder as time went on, he was nearing his current physical limits.
As he was dodging the constant attacks from the beast, one attack hit him, it threw him so far it almost broke all of his bones, he was coughing blood at that point, it was starting to become more evident that this is a battle he couldn't win.
Still, he gathered the remaining strength he had within him to finally get back on his feet again, the beast looked surprised, it thought that he was killed by that direct hit, but he wasn't.
"Staying on the defense has brought me nothing so far, if I want to win, I must attack with all that I got."
He felt a surge of power within him, he didn't know where it came from, maybe from him forcing his meridians beyond safe limit, but he remembered that he promised himself to not let himself be defeated or be a subject of fate again, this was his only chance to win.
He used all his strength to sprint forward towards the beast, even if he died with it, he'd be content with that death, but he was not planning to die now, or any time else.
He dodged multiple attacks as he used the objects scattered across the battle field to gain height so he could reach the beast, as he finally got close to it, it released a strong roar that made his ears bleed, however, he believed that this was his only chance to ever get close to it, he was targeting the beast's heart, his speed due to the free fall made him able to land one decisive hit before its' claws hit him, blood spilled everywhere.
He was knocked back by the monster as it was losing it's balance from the strike, he laid on the ground, he could only watch what was happening as his consciousness was slowly fading out.
After what seemed like a while, he opened his eyes again, the monster was already dead by then, yet he was still there with no sight of the being that summoned him there, his body was still weak from the fight, so he couldn't get up yet, he felt the voice in his mind again.
Lin Xin, you did well.
You shall be rewarded for your effort.
"What reward...It better be worth the trouble."
I shall give you the sovereign's left eye, you'll discover its power soon enough on your own, Farewell.
As she said that, he felt everything around him change, he was back again at the temple where he was in before all of this happened, yet he still had all his injuries, he sensed the Qi of two people outside, although weaker than his, he was still in no condition to fight anyone in his current state.
He suspected this to be something used to control him in the future, but he wasn't sure yet, what reason would she have to be generous towards him? He was not sure, but his mind wasn't able to think clearly at that point.
He used his Qi to enhance his stamina for the current time, however, he was risking the chance of his Qi running out before he was able to get back home, but it was still better than staying where he is.
Slowly, he made his way out of the intricate maze like structure of the ruins, he was back again outside, where the body of He Yifan was.
He took a few looks at him.
As he made his way back to the city, he still felt the Qi of people nearby, he knew if they wanted to pick a fight with him then they'd have done that before, after 30 minutes of walking, his Qi was beginning to run out, he didn't want to run the risk of using all of it, so he collapsed on the ground, at the outskirts of the city, he wasn't far from it, but he wasn't close.
He lost his consciousness once again, for much longer this time.
After a while, his vision was blurry.
He felt movement nearby, it was also warm, he could tell there was a camp fire in front of him, and the silhouette next to him wasn't clear yet, so he closed his eyes again.
[After 2 days...]
His eyes began opening slowly, he found himself staring at the moon, he was thinking to himself how beautiful the moon looked that night.
He tried getting up, his body still felt weak but there was no time to waste.
"You shouldn't be up yet, your wounds are still healing." Without looking at the source of the voice, he looked at himself and noticed the injuries he had wrapped in bandages.
"Still, being able to live through all of those injuries is beyond me, I thought for sure you'd be dead when I found you at the forest, but I noticed that you was still breathing." Lin Xin finally lifted his head up to see who was talking to him, it turned out to be a female that seemed younger than him.
"Thank you stranger, I will never forget your kindness towards me, I'll be forever indebted to you."
"But still, I shall depart now, if you ever run into any troubles in your life, be sure to find me, my name is Lin Xin, I live in the city to the south of here, farewell."
He could finally walk normally again, however he felt much lighter this time, it seems that his strength grew while he was resting, he was interested in figuring out what the eye he got was, but now was not the time, getting back home was his priority.
After a short while, he was finally back again into the city, he felt the Qi of numerous people at once, they seemed to have different colors, green, red and yellow.
He couldn't make out what they were supposed to mean yet, but it was interesting to figure out later.
On his way there, he met one of his classmates who recognized him, it was marun, a foreign student who came from another kingdom if he remembers correctly...
He didn't notice her at first, she approached him waving her hands.
"Lin Xin! It's been a long time how are you." He noticed that she was in a good mood, however, he didn't have much time to spare for her, he decided to greet her back then leave.
"Hello marun, it certainly has been a long time but I'm fine thank you, how have you been?"
"I'm struggling a bit with my work and the academy, but I'm still trying to do my best, how about you? I know you're much smarter than you say you are haha."
"I'm actually beyond average, but it seems like things just go my way, I look forward to seeing you in the academy." Lin Xin said.
"Me as well! I'll see you tomorrow, bye Lin!" She ran off with a smile on her face.
He stared at her with the same expression on his face, he was tired of everything by that point, he walked back home, uninterested in anything happening around him.
He was unable to understand the events of the 2 days before, why was he targeted for this? The eye of the sovereign....he needed to decipher it, maybe the academy's library holds some clues to understanding it, but for now he needed to know who were the people that he sensed near him at the forest, someone was very clearly spying on him for reasons unknown to him.
All that meant that his life was about to get even harder, but he didn't grieve or lament, he knew that the stronger he got, the more trouble he was going to have to face, he was determined to forge his path forward, his will growing even stronger.
"I need to learn how to refine objects into Qi pills, it would be a waste if I forgot about that."