My Will Rules Another World

Chapter 7: Preparing to Depart

Sunlight spilled over the land, bathing the Demon Beast Forest in its glow.

In one corner of the forest, on the open ground before the waterfall, the little kitten dodged streams of water dragons shooting out from the river beneath the falls. The water‑dragons flew fast, yet the kitten was swifter still. There were simply too many of them, and eventually one struck home.

When the clearing fell quiet, a one‑meter‑wide water sphere hovered in mid‑air, trapping the kitten at its center. The beast remained calm inside the water, for this was an ordeal it endured nearly every single day.

Ever since Ling Feng had learned to manipulate water elements the same way he wielded fire, such scenes had become routine. At first he could never catch the kitten. Now he managed to trap it inside water almost every time, calling it training to help the kitten overcome its fear of water.

The kitten was no longer afraid of water. It no longer suffered discomfort submerged as it once had. It had mastered restraining its fire elements so they would not leak out, removing the elemental conflict underwater — though its full power remained sealed away. The kitten had made astonishing progress. It could now hold its own against Level‑9 magical beasts, so long as it did not face water‑attribute mages. It would soon evolve to Level 9. Once that happened, its fiery transformation would function even underwater, boiling away all surrounding water.

A figure gradually emerged from the now‑calm river. It was Ling Feng. Within the water, he could unleash his water‑element power at its peak.

Using his own methods, Ling Feng could shape and direct water however he wished. He favored forming it into dragon shapes for attacks. He could conjure nearly any form, though everything remained translucent water‑blue. If only he could alter their color, he could use them as perfect shadow clones. Water elements in the air were less abundant than in the river, yet he could still create more than a dozen water duplicates of himself. Even so, he felt content; happiness came from being satisfied with what one had.

He walked up to the floating water orb and smiled.

“How is it, kitty? Impressed by my water‑attribute magic?”

Trapped inside the water orb, the kitten nodded hastily. It knew perfectly well the human would not release it without some show of approval and would make it suffer otherwise. After a whole year together, it understood Ling Feng quite thoroughly.

Ling Feng absorbed the water sphere into his body. He pulled cooked fish from his spatial pouch and gave it to the kitten, which perched upon his shoulder.

Ling Feng fell silent for a moment. He patted the kitten after it finished eating, gazed up at the sky, and spoke.

“Kitty, I will make you a full fish feast today. Tomorrow I am leaving this forest. You will need to look after yourself from now on. I will definitely come back to visit you someday.”

The kitten stared up at Ling Feng in confusion. It could not grasp his words, yet it sensed the sorrow in his tone.

Ling Feng took a deep breath and steadied his mood.

“Kitty, let’s go hunting.”

The kitten answered with a short “meow”.

At that meow, they set off to hunt. The magical beasts of the Demon Beast Forest were about to suffer once more. Over this past year, Ling Feng had constantly sought fights against high‑grade magical beasts alongside the kitten. His strength bore no resemblance to the weak man he had once been. By the continent’s ranking standards, he was now an Intermediate Sword Saint, yet his martial skill let him stand evenly against even Advanced Sword Saints.

His Proud Dragon Art had reached the fifth layer. He realized his earlier predictions had been inaccurate. Past the fifth layer, breakthroughs no longer depended purely on accumulating sufficient battle qi. Progress required deeper comprehension of the Proud Dragon Art itself, bringing qualitative changes to the power. He no longer circulated cultivation non‑stop all day long, for that would only slow his advancement. He now meditated whole‑heartedly on the Proud Dragon Art only each night.

Of course, Ling Feng had gained far more over this year. His mastery of fire elements allowed him to smelt nearly any material in this world and forge all kinds of weapons. Building upon that power, he crafted a super‑alloy scabbard for his blade Blowing Snow.

Even drawn in its scabbard, Blowing Snow looked like an un‑sharpened blade. No one could tell that an invincible weapon rested inside. In combat, Ling Feng skillfully combined slashing strikes from the sword with defensive blocks from its scabbard. It was a martial art rooted in Earth‑born fighting techniques, utterly different from the combat styles of this world.

Ling Feng also forged throwing daggers. Could they be Little Li’s Flying Daggers?

Exactly. He had been inspired by the legend of Little Li’s Flying Daggers. With his brilliant mind, he could calculate trajectories to guarantee hits, nearly matching Li Xunhuan’s famed reputation — Little Li’s daggers never miss their mark. He had smelted these throwing daggers using gold coins from his spatial pouch; every throw literally cost him gold. He also crafted several special‑purpose super‑alloy daggers.

Furthermore, Ling Feng could condense ice throwing daggers out of water elements. He even invented a water‑attribute spell that unleashed over a thousand daggers at once. Though each individual projectile lacked the power of a single heavy dagger, the spell worked devastatingly well against swarms of foes. Countless magical beasts within the Demon Beast Forest had perished beneath his daggers.

In terms of magic, Ling Feng could wield nearly every elemental type, casting them through his own unique methods. He could infuse elemental power directly onto Blowing Snow. Wind element paired perfectly with his movement arts. His speed now surpassed even the kitten’s. Few people across this entire world could match him in pure swiftness.

Wind magic also granted him levitation. Ling Feng had practiced floating in mid‑air. As long as his stamina held, he could draw on inexhaustible wind elements to stay aloft. His personal record was floating for half a day. He could also fly across very long distances.

For earth element, he mastered only a handful of applications. Drawing inspiration from the stone‑skin enchantment, he coated objects to boost their hardness, most often reinforcing Blowing Snow.

He also shaped earth elements to build stoves, used fire elements to smelt pots, employed water elements to wash ingredients, and then cooked meals with flame. If mainstream mages witnessed him using high‑order magic for cooking, they would be utterly stunned. Knowing he first unlocked magic just to roast fish would make those rigid magicians want to kill him for disgracing magic itself.

After Ling Feng and the kitten returned from their successful hunt, Ling Feng summoned fish with water magic, gutted them with his throwing daggers, and began stewing them in a pot using his elemental cooking tricks.

Eager to prove its usefulness, the kitten lent its own fire to heat the pot. Ling Feng steadily pulled out bottle after bottle of seasoning from his spatial pouch — all gathered and processed deep within the Demon Beast Forest.

His spatial pouch was now stuffed with seasonings, monster cores and preserved food. All the old worthless junk had long since been burned for firewood. His weapons were kept inside his ring, while Blowing Snow hung at his waist, just like warriors in ancient China.

When the fish stew was ready, Ling Feng gave the entire pot to the kitten. He roasted a piece of magical beast meat for himself and watched the kitten feast on the delicious fish. Ling Feng worried about what the kitten would eat once he left. Its palate had become far too spoiled; it would refuse everything except fish cooked by his hands.

Ling Feng had considered bringing the kitten out of the forest, yet he refused to drag it away from its home. He could not act selfishly merely for his own attachment.

He had planned to leave three months earlier, but the kitten had refused to go with him. Hoping to improve the kitten’s odds of surviving on its own, Ling Feng had stayed behind.

Over those three months, he trained the kitten deliberately. Only recently, satisfied that it could defend itself, did he resolve to depart. By Ling Feng’s standard of self‑sufficiency, no magical beast in this part of the forest should be able to hunt it. He had forgotten that the kitten had belonged here long before, and how desperately he had once fled from it. Concern had clouded his judgment.

Once their somber dinner ended, Ling Feng returned to the cave to rest. He pondered where he would travel tomorrow. Should he head north to see the orcs? Journey south to seek the phoenix? The west also sounded appealing. For now, he ought to avoid the east. He did not know how to face Long Tian’s family. Long Tian had countless enemies. Apart from his worthless cronies, no one in Tianxiang Imperial City had held any fondness for him.

Sigh… If Long Tian had not been so obnoxious, none of this would have happened, and Ling Feng would never have ended up inside this body. He thought back to the four conspirators who had schemed to murder Long Tian through manipulation. The princess had even stooped to using her charm. If the Long Clan had not wielded immense influence, and if Long Jue did not command fierce loyalty from many brothers — including the reigning emperor — Long Tian would have been torn to pieces long ago. In truth, Long Jue doted on him so largely because the Long Clan suffered from a severe shortage of heirs.

Thinking of the princess and her co‑conspirators, Ling Feng realized the Long Clan would uncover the truth sooner or later. To keep those four people safe, he needed to travel to the Tianxiang Empire. Once he returned and took possession of this identity, the whole affair would be buried.

Therefore, Ling Feng decided he would set out east toward the Tianxiang Empire tomorrow. Fortunately he planned to go there; otherwise, those four conspirators would surely lose their lives.