Ning kicked the horse while keeping away the sword and checked if the horse was really dead. It was beyond a shadow of a doubt, dead.
He checked the horse and realized that it was a Nether Spirit horse. These horses were known for their strong body and affinity to cold and dark places.
It must've remained in the cold forest all the time, but the two people must've found it and attacked it until it was here.
"Well, not like it could've survived that much longer with its 5th Qi Condensation realm cultivation base," Ning thought.
The two people reached Ning and stopped in front of him. The boy and girl were both older than Ning in age but their cultivation base was nowhere close.
"I'm sorry I killed your beast; it was trying to attack me and I couldn't see any other way out of it. You may take its body if you want to," Ning said.
The lady suddenly snickered while the man started laughing out loudly. "You don't have to lie brother. We saw the horse fall to the ground on its own. It died due to the wounds we inflicted on it. You don't have to try and take advantage of the situation to make yourself sound better," the man said.
'What?' Ning got a little confused. 'Did they not see me attack the horse?' he thought. Now that he thought about it, the horse did block their vision. So they didn't see him take out a sword and keep it back in.
"Yes, young man. Are you trying to impress me right now? You should at least make sure that you are strong if you want to lie like that," the girl said.
Ning was done with them. "Whatever, just take your horse and leave. I don't want to deal with you two anymore," he said and started to leave.
"Ah, so rude," the girl said.
"Hey, you wait. Apologize to us," the man decided.
Ning stopped in his tracks and looked back, "Do what?"
"Apologize to us. You were rude right there," the woman demanded.
Ning felt the situation a little amusing. These people who were barely in the 7th realm of Qi Condensation wanted him to apologize.
"Very well. I am sorry," Ning apologized with a bow.
"That's more like it. Now you may leave," the man said.
"Sure, but before that. It seems that you don't want to horse so let me take it," Ning said and swiftly stored the horse before either of them could even react. He immediately turned around and started leaving.
"What the hell? Where do you think you're going?" The woman shouted prompting the man to react.
"You dare!" the man couldn't believe what had just happened and shouted. He took out a sword and slashed at Ning.
Ning had his divine sense active, so he just stepped to the side and caught the blade from the top before it even reached the ground.
He pulled it out of the man's hand and without hesitation swung back. Before the sword could even reach the man, however, the talisman on his chest lit up and blocked the attack. However, at the same time, the man disappeared as well.
"Oh, so that's what happens when you are about to receive fatal damage, huh," Ning spoke out loud.
The lady dropped to the ground seeing the man get taken care of so easily. Ning finally stopped stifling his Qi flow and his cultivation aura came back to normal.
As the lady sensed the aura increase, she knew she was in deep trouble. She and the man had accidentally found trouble with one of the strongest people in the competition.
"P-p-please forgive me. I— I didn't know you were…" she tried to speak but the fear and despair wouldn't let her.
"Sure, I'll forgive you. I killed the man, but you are a lady, so you can go," Ning said with a gentle smile. The lady smiled and started thanking him, but then Ning's face changed.
"Wait a second. Isn't that a little sexist of me? Attacking a man, but letting a woman go. If it were anywhere else, it would even be considered rude, wouldn't it?"
" And you just showed how much you disliked it when people were rude," Ning said as his smile came back on his face, except this time it didn't give hope to the lady. Instead, it gave horror.
"Besides, you might think I'm trying to impress you by letting you go. You don't like that either right?" Ning's smile was ever so big.
The woman started shaking and immediately stood up to run away. Ning just watched her leave. He looked at the sword in his hand while shaking his head and grabbed the sword like a javelin.
He then aimed directly at the lady and threw the sword at her with the full strength of his body cultivation. The sword flew through the air just like an arrow let go from a bow.
It accurately landed on the woman's running back, but before it could even touch her, a protected barrier appeared from her talisman and she disappeared.
Ning thought about the current situation and just shook his head.
He wanted to go pick up the sword but it wasn't worth it. The sword wasn't even a spirit artifact, so he just left it there.
He looked at the sky, It was already past evening, and was night now. So, he decided to stop hunting and searching for the ingredients for now.
After fighting all day, his Qi reserve was low. He was also close to a breakthrough so, he wanted to get there as soon as possible.
So, he took out a spirit stone and sat on top of the giant rock next to him in a mediating position. He slowly breathed and started sucking in the Qi from the spirit stones and condensed it into his Sea of Qi.
He was a few days away from breaking through and thus cultivated throughout the night.