As the convoy wandered the sun climbed higher, casting its light across the land. The convoy moved in a tight formation, each backed close together. Wu Zhe walked just slightly ahead but behind Lady Jue, his senses alert to every rustle of leaves, and all and every movement.
Couple more hours passed by. Occasionally, distant howls echoed through the trees, but the large group presence made the creatures hesitate. Lady Jue was at the forefront of the convoy, her eyes scanning ahead.
Wu Zhe’s thoughts drifted to how he could gain lifeforce with this many people around, he obviously wouldn’t take someone lifeforce with this many people around him. The breakthrough to the Qi Foundation stage he was large so he would have to make this hunt count.
Suddenly, the forest ahead changed color instead of that grey white it became more dark. The wind seemed to pause. Wu Zhe’s grip tightened around his sword, his eyes staying alert.
"Stay alert," the guide beside Lady murmured, his voice low.
"We’re nearing the end of the outer fringe of the Blighted Wilds... Watch out for cultivated beasts."
As the convoy moved shadows seemed to swift across the trees they passed, figures moving faster than the eye could follow.
Wu Zhe could sense the Qi radiating from the surroundings, tainted and twisted, like something alive yet deeply wrong.
The convoy pressed forward, its movement steady but tense.
But then...
A massive roar tore through the forest.
It wasn’t just loud. It was deafening.
Every head in the convoy snapped toward the source of the deafening roar.
Their eyes widened as the creature came into view, a towering, tree-like in a humanoid form, its body made of darken wood.
As it stretched its arms outward, it split into different roots that surged forward like spears. At the same time, the ground beneath them ruptured, thick roots bursting from the earth and barreling toward the convoy from all directions.
"An Elm!" the guide beside Lady Jue shouted, his face turning grim.
"Retreat! It’s at least at the Foundation Stage!" he yelled, frantically waving everyone back.
At that single order, the convoy fell into chaos. Eyes widened, and panic erupted, and soon they began to retreat, some maintaining formation, others breaking into a desperate retreat.
Lady Jue and the three cultivators stayed behind, covering the retreat. As the roots lashed toward them, the three drew their swords, Qi flaring along the blades.
With clean strikes, they cut through the incoming roots, severing them before they could reach the fleeing convoy.
"Retreat, M’lady!" one of the men shouted.
Lady Jue hesitated, her expression conflicted. But just as she turned to fall back...
Wu Zhe surged forward.
"Idiot! Don’t charge it!" one of the cultivators shouted, spotting the reckless figure rushing the creature alone.
As Wu Zhe charged forward, a thick root shot toward him, aiming straight for his head.
"Idiot!" another cultivator shouted, rushing in to help.
But before it could reach him he caught the root.
His hand, wrapped in Qi, clenched tightly as the force of the impact rippled through his arm. Then, he bent it wood bending, before snapping in half.
The three cultivators seemed to pause for a breath.
"Cultivator!" one of them exclaimed.
"Impossible... another cultivator?" Lady Jue murmured, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. She had always assumed the guilds in the civilian district were devoid of cultivators, never expecting one to be hidden among them.
"Help him!" she shouted, commanding the three cultivators.
"Yes, M’lady!" they responded, surging forward to support Wu Zhe.
"A Stage Nine!" one of them exclaimed, sensing the intensity of Wu Zhe’s Qi.
Shock flickered across their faces, but there was no time to dwell on it, as the roots surged toward them once more.
"Senior! I’ll cover the right, leave the rest of us to secure the convoy’s retreat!" Lady Jue shouted.
"Retreat?" Wu Zhe murmured, his voice low and calm. "There is no running, child."
He stepped forward instead, eyes fixed on the towering elm. He couldn’t allow such a valuable source of lifeforce to escape.
The cultivators’ expressions froze with clear shock.
"Senior! I understand you’re at the Ninth Stage, but this is a Foundation Stage beast!" one of them shouted from his left, swinging his sword at the encroaching roots.
"It matters not," Wu Zhe replied, continuing to surge forward without hesitation.
The cultivators froze, glancing at Lady Jue as if seeking her command.
"Help Sir Huang!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the tension.
As Wu Zhe closed the distance, the ground seemed to respond. Roots erupted from the ground in greater numbers, twisting and turning toward him. Two sets of six massive roots barreled straight for his path, each one thick and sharp enough to pierce a man.
Wu Zhe blocked, the four roots and as the two other roots were about to his his face, the cultivators arrived to his side slashing them.
"Don’t worry about the roots, Senior! We’ll cover you!" one of the cultivators shouted, deflecting the incoming roots with clean strikes.
"Mhm," Wu Zhe muttered, leaping into the air, soaring above the towering creature.
As he leapt, his foot propelled him forward like a missile, closing the distance to the Elm in an instant.
His sword, enveloped in glowing Qi, sliced through the roots that tried to block him, slicing them effortlessly. Nothing could stop his momentum.
Reaching the Elm’s head, he brought his sword down with a powerful strike.
A sharp, resonant crack echoed the air, the sound of wood splintering under overwhelming force.
Suddenly, the roots barreling toward him began to weaken and crumble, decaying as they fell lifelessly to the ground.
The Elm’s massive body split down the middle. Wu Zhe hadn’t managed a perfect clean cut, but the strike was enough to end the creature’s life instantly.
All the cultivators’ faces were filled with shock and awe. A stage-nine Qi Refinement cultivator killing a Foundation Stage beast was quite literally unheard of.