Damian sat silently in the blood-covered valley, trying to calm himself down.

After several moments, once he had finally gotten used to the sight, he stood up.

Then, he began moving around the battlefield, picking up all the storage rings and valuables from the dead cultivators.

Although none of them were truly priceless, the amount itself could become quite staggering if everything was sold together.

After that, Damian began gathering all the corpses scattered around into one place with a disgusted expression. After all, they were all bloody as hell.

After a long time, he finally managed to gather them all together.

Once that was done, he used an ancient fire-starting method to light a fire and burn all the bodies.

Damian wasn’t kind enough to bury his enemies, and even if he did bury them, he was afraid that his traces might be found.

So it was better to burn them all and make it harder for others to investigate what had happened here.

Especially since he had just killed multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators at once.

Soon, after everything finally calmed down, Damian sat down briefly near the rocky cliff to rest again. After all, dragging those disgusting corpses around was no easy task.

Then, after a while, Damian finally stood up again and walked toward the glowing crimson herb.

The closer he approached it, the denser the blood-colored mist around the herb became.

Its crimson petals looked strangely beautiful under the dim forest light.

Damian carefully observed it, and soon, to his surprise, the familiar screen appeared again.

---

[Crimson Blood Orchid]

[Rank: High-Rank Profound Grade Spiritual Herb]

[Description: A spiritual herb formed within valleys soaked in blood Qi and dense spiritual pressure over long periods of time.]

[Effects: Strengthens blood, meridians, vitality, and physical constitution. Commonly used in Profound Grade body-tempering pills.]

---

Damian was surprised that the system could also give him information about herbs.

At first, he had hoped that the herb was a Noble Grade one, but after some time, he realized that if it really were Noble Grade, then...

The people here definitely would not have been merely low-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. Instead, they would have been middle-stage or even higher-stage cultivators.

Compared to that, a High-Rank Profound Grade herb appearing here was already valuable enough, and the fact that he had obtained it made things even better.

Soon, Damian carefully stored it inside his storage ring and turned deeper toward the forest once more.

Now that he knew he was stronger than before, strong enough to easily kill low-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators...

He grinned as he rested his hand on his sword. "Let’s go deeper. I need to at least bring home a Noble Grade herb."

---

Damian continued traveling deeper into the Black Mist Forest while remaining far more cautious than before.

The deeper he entered, the stronger the auras around him became, and even the beasts here were already at the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Fortunately, Damian no longer needed to struggle much against ordinary Foundation Establishment beasts, but he clearly understood that he was still far from being able to easily fight a mid-stage one.

Soon, Damian suddenly stopped moving after sensing several powerful auras nearby.

He carefully hid his own aura before approaching the area, and the moment he saw what was happening, his expression immediately changed.

There were over twenty cultivators gathered within a massive ruined rocky area, and most of them were unfamiliar to him.

Some of them even wore matching outfits or carried the same insignia, meaning they were from certain sects or cultivator families.

Their auras were also far stronger compared to the rogue cultivators Damian had met previously, meaning they were at least mid-stage or high-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Clearly, the treasures here were so great that they had attracted people like this, so Damian decided not to join in this time and chose to just watch.

---

One of the sect cultivators spoke coldly. "Our Azure Stone Sect discovered this treasure first."

A middle-aged cultivator from another group sneered. "So what? Don’t tell me you think this forest belongs to your sect."

The moment he said that...

BOOM!

Terrifying spiritual Qi erupted everywhere as multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators directly clashed.

The entire area instantly became chaotic. Meanwhile, Damian remained hidden while watching carefully.

He was currently shocked. After all, he had thought his current strength was somewhat decent, but after seeing this fight...

He quickly realized that he was still lacking greatly. These people clearly possessed far better martial arts and combat experience than him.

Then suddenly...

BOOOM!

A terrifying pressure suddenly descended from deeper within the battlefield, shocking all the cultivators there.

The next moment, one of the Foundation Establishment cultivators directly exploded into blood mist from a single strike by a newly appearing cultivator.

Damian’s eyes instantly shrank in disbelief. "The hell is this? How can a cultivator like him die in just one strike?"

This wasn’t ordinary Foundation Establishment strength. At minimum, it should be peak Foundation Establishment power, or maybe even... Golden Core Realm.

The moment Damian realized that, cold sweat instantly appeared on his face and back.

Without hesitation, Damian immediately began to retreat carefully. He wasn’t stupid enough to stay in a battle involving monsters like that.

But even while retreating, Damian’s eyes constantly scanned the surrounding battlefield.

Thanks to everyone focusing on the treasure in the middle and the chaos spreading everywhere, many cultivators had dropped their resources and belongings during combat.

Damian also noticed that some herbs in the outer area were quite good, so he decided to use his Thunder Qi to speed himself up.

While running away, he took all the fallen storage rings and the herbs that the cultivators had ignored before continuing toward the forest shadows once more.

Finally, after a while, he had run far enough and stopped while breathing heavily.

But before he could calm down, another explosion erupted behind him, forcing Damian to frown even more.

"Damn... that was crazy. Luckily, I already ran away. If not, I would’ve become a corpse. No, maybe not even that. Less than ashes."

Now, he had truly realized the reality that the cultivation world was far larger and more dangerous than he originally thought.

Then he laughed bitterly. "Looks like I was thinking too far ahead... Those MC novels were really trying to fuck me up."

He had always seen those isekai MCs or cultivation MCs gain power after being reborn and then dominate for a while.

But damn... He couldn’t even dominate for a single day.

In the end, Damian only sighed and returned. After all, he had already gotten enough herbs, and with his gift-return cheat, he could become stronger even without that precious treasure.