Claude's dantian continued to absorb the spiritual energy from the surroundings for eight whole hours before the energy completely finally ran out, and as soon as it did, a bright light burst out of Claude's body as he yelled out in pain.

BOOM!

The bright light was so powerful that it shot through the clouds and into space, like a sky beam, and the air surrounding it began to swirl around the giant beam violently. Claude continued to be enveloped by the bright light, as a thin layer of mist shed out from his skin, instantly evaporating once it lost contact with his body. 

After a short period of time, the bright light gradually faded away, leaving a tired and sweaty Claude gasping for air.

"Hhh… hhhh… hh.." Claude was exhausted, and a brilliant smile was plastered on his face. "Finally… I've done it! I've reached third rank of the sky realm!"

BAM!

As soon as he finished speaking, Claude stumbled backwards and vomited a mouthful of blood as he crashed violently to the ground.

"Bleugh.. That was definitely not good for my body!" Claude wiped his face as he let out a bitter and exhausted chuckle. He clearly wasn't in his best shape right now. Skipping over multiple ranks is such an intense and excruciating process that it would undoubtedly put a strain on one's body. 

Only master cultivators could skip multiple ranks and not be thrown off by the huge exhaustion of energy on one's body.

Both mentally and physically exhausted by the whole ordeal, Claude decided to spend the day inside the Gryfino forest itself in order to regain his lost spiritual energy. He slowly recovered his internal exhaustion throughout the day, which was spent with him simply staying in one spot, motionless, and not exerting any energy. By the time the sun had set and the night came, he had mostly recovered.

"It's extremely late.. I should probably return to the academy as soon as I can!" Claude muttered softly as he realised the situation, and turned back to head towards the academy.

Right then...

"Ha, ha, ha! There's nowhere to hide, Miss Elizabeth!" 

"Hmm?" Claude, who was about to leave, stopped in his tracks when a loud and arrogant voice drifted into his ears, which made him furrow his eyebrows.

Now that he was a cultivator in the sky realm, Claude could hear sounds and noises coming from far away with ease. 

This particular noise seemed to be coming from about a few miles away from the location where he was standing, so he decided to check it out as he was intrigued.

He dashed forward, heading in the direction from where he heard the voices with great speed. 

Five miles away from the spot where Claude was standing, around a dozen men were standing while grinning maliciously, surrounding a young woman who was clenching her bleeding c.h.e.s.t, gritting her teeth as she did so.

A man dressed in luxurious clothes licked his lips as he spoke, "Miss Elizabeth, you can continue to antagonize us and die, or you can give us the White Dragon's tooth, and we'll let you live. I'm sure you're a sensible individual, so why don't you just give up the tooth?"

"Did he say that this woman had the 'White Dragon's tooth' on her?" Claude, who was hiding up in a tall tree about five hundred meters away to avoid being spotted, was watching the intriguing conversation taking place in front of him with attentive eyes.

Although the real Claude who was the original owner of his body wasn't too knowledgeable about the political side of the cultivation world, he was interested in the much more intriguing mythical side of it, and he would often go into the public libraries and read about various stories about rare and magical items that are hidden deep inside the forests with interest.

One such story was about the White Dragon, which was an extremely rare spiritual beast that was supposed to have gone extinct about a hundred years ago. The White Dragon was a hybrid breed, which was said to be born from the mating of a Pegasus, another rare and mythical creature, and a dragon. The White Dragons, who flew in groups, were said to have flown away from a magical place called the 'Floating Island', which was said to be located near the Indus Ocean, although no actual proof of the island existing is present. 

The group of White Dragons were then believed to have landed within the Gryfino forest, making the forest its new habitat. Although at that time, the Gryfino forest were ten, maybe even a hundred times larger than it is currently, and it was inhabited by various spiritual beasts who were far more dangerous than anything that exists in the present time.

The myth of the White Dragon was a story told by the Arakins, a barbaric tribe who were the original inhabitants of Argria. Only a few tribesmen were said to have seen the White Dragon, but according to the story that was told by the Arakins, one of the tribesmen - a crazy man of sorts - apparently challenged the White Dragon upon seeing it, and after a long and arduous fight, he was said to have beaten the White Dragon, and pulled off one of its teeth and made it into his weapon.

After holding the teeth in his hands, the tribesmen said that he had undergone intense changes, even altering his personality as a result of it, although the story doesn't go into detail about the changes brought to the crazy man. 

The story ends with the crazy tribesman suddenly disappearing from the tribal village one day, and even though the tribesmen searched everywhere for their hero, he was nowhere to be seen.

Although the old Claude was interested in such mythical stories, the current Claude who was the new occupant of this body wasn't exactly fond of such folklores, and had completely discarded it in his mind, giving it no second thoughts at all.

Well, at least until now.

"I would have never imagined that the story of the White Dragon, which the previous Claude was so fond of, was actually true!" Claude remarked as he observed the injured woman and the man who spoke just now, with intrigue on his face. "Are they telling the truth?"

He was however, not planning on revealing himself as of right now, which would result in gaining the attention of these people and inviting unwanted trouble, especially when he wasn't sure if it would be worth such a hassle. For now, he was planning on simply observing the situation, and figure out what was happening.

The wounded woman stared at the man wearing expensive clothes with hatred in her eyes before snorting, "You really think that I'll just hand the White Dragon's teeth to you people? Why don't you kill yourself? Maybe then I'll consider it."

"Miss Elizabeth, why on earth are you making it so hard for us? We are both part of the Azure Lion clan. Although we are not considered friends, and we have only spoken to each other on very few occasions, I do believe that you are someone who could understand the situation that they're in and respond rationally. Please, do not not make this any more worse. Just tell me where the White Dragon's tooth is, and I'll let you live." A man wearing expensive clothes spoke out.

The woman, Elizabeth, took a look around her, scanning her surroundings. With so many strong people surrounding her who could easily kill her without spending too much time, she began to laugh maniacally, "You really thought I'll fall for your bullsh*t? I'm not an idiot! I know that you're not going to let me go, Endre! You betrayed the group and murdered them all, and you expect me to just believe that you'll let me live? Even after I've seen you kill my friends? You know that the moment our clan figures out about your betrayal, they'll hunt you down and torture you. I'm sure letting me go will only seal your death, so why on earth do you think I'll believe you?"

"Haha, I told you; I knew you were a sensible person who could understand the situation that you're in." The man in luxurious clothes, Endre, laughed, acting casual about the whole thing, and snapped his fingers. Right then, one of the men came forward, holding an unconscious young girl in his arms, causing the initially hatred filled eyes of Elizabeth to turn into that of horror. The man brought the young girl next to Endre, who placed his hand on the girl's shoulder and said with a cold smile, "And now, as a sensible person, I believe you know exactly what the situation is. Give me the location of the White Dragon's tooth and trust my word that I'll let Gina live, or stay silent and I'll kill the two of you. Choose wisely."

"You piece of-" Elizabeth gritted her teeth in anger, and after looking at the young girl's face, she opened her mouth and reluctantly said, "I hid the tooth six miles north of here, on Ravenhawk mountain, inside a hollow Greywood tree."

"Ravenhawk mountain..." Claude muttered to himself as he shifted his gaze towards the mountain she was talking about, and a smile appeared on his face as he dashed off.

He wasn't sure if the woman was telling the truth, but if there was a chance that she was, he would want to get there first before Endre's henchmen do!