And I was back on the road. I mean walking through the thicket. The forest was nowhere near as grand as the Ancient Ironbark Timberland, but the thorny bushes and vines made the terrain just as annoying to traverse.

[Aaaah~ What a mess!]

Giving away the Spirit Rejuvenating Pill was a stupid move. It was worth way more than that bastard demanded and it was way too good for him, but it achieved one thing. It turned anger into greed.

I saw it on all their face. All eight Elders looked at that pill like hungry wolves would at a helpless lamb. Even the old woman who fainted at first. Her eyes shone the brightest.

I was forced to leave the hall with the promise of getting my map sometime later. And as soon as the doors closed, I heard the place explode into a heated argument. People were screaming and shouting over each other, and their wild Auras could be felt hundreds of meters away.

I just grinned and waited for my map. The Sect would be, from that day forward, destabilized completely. The little harmony they still had there utterly shattered with the introduction of that pill. If they were so animated for a few hundred Spirit Stones, that thing was worse for them than it would be for a drug addict to win a lottery.

No matter who got the pill in the end, the Elders were done. Especially the Ixiot guy. He would form so many grudges, that I seriously doubted he would be able to live much longer in that Sect.

But obviously, that wasn’t the full story. I was in danger too. No way they would just let me go after showing them such a treasure. Even if I tried to convince them I didn’t have other similar items, they wouldn’t believe me. Even if their Souls were telling them otherwise.

But clearly, that wouldn’t work. Because I had more items of similar value.

They just had to let me go to get a plausible deniability. The guys following me for the past day clearly understood that. They weren’t exactly inconspicuous stomping through the undergrowth.

I pretended not to notice and continued on at a moderate pace, giving them confidence in their mission, until we were far enough from their Sect’s territory, in the wilderness, and they felt it was appropriate to show themselves.

I counted eight shadows in the forest, some of them jumping past me, others taking a position to my sides and back. I was surrounded.

[So… You finally showed yourselves.]

We came to a stop at a small clearing, no doubt selected by them for better visibility and combat access. Eight members of the Joyous Weed Sect came to a stop, all of them at the peak of Golden Core, with each of them holding a Spirit Weapon, namely a spear.

“Don’t pretend you like you expected all this. It’s pathetic.” One of the men present said.

“Let him speak. It’s not like he will be doing it for much longer.”

It was a woman who spoke that time. She was dressed in a simple robe while the men had rough skirts made of leaves and bark.

I rolled my eyes, annoyed. [So? What do you want?]

“Oh, nothing much…” A guy said, twirling his hand and trying to act cool. “Just hand over everything you have.”

Before I could properly respond, a ninth person burst into the scene. Surprisingly, unlike the others, I recognized him. It was one of my personal guards, Daren.

“Stop! Don’t do this, you guys!” He shouted and tried to place himself between me and the other guys. It was kind of funny since I was surrounded, and he kept moving all around me with his hands spread wide in some feeble attempt to protect me.

I lifted an eyebrow in confusion. [What are you doing here?]

“What the hell, Daren! Go away!” One of the Cultivators angrily pointed his spear at the guy.

“It’s the order from the Elders.” The woman said. “Move aside or suffer the consequences.”

“Fuck you, Daren, you suck!” Another shouted.

“Go guard the swamp or something! Gosh!”

[Yeah! You tell him! Piss off, Daren!] I joined in the insults with a smile. He turned around, shocked.

“I’m trying to help you!”

[Why?]

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“Because…” He appeared confused himself. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem right. You already paid for the damage, and it was an honest mistake… Why would the Elders do this?”

I groaned. [Because they are greedy, obviously. It’s not like I didn’t expect this to happen. Listen, my guy… Could you just move to the side so I can kill these guys and be on my way? I’m kind of late.]

God knows what Elder Li and the Sect Master were thinking. As far as they knew, I lost to Elder De and was either captured or dead. Both options were bad. I also wondered what happened to Vilya. I still had to finish her treatment. And our training. It’s been a long time, and the wilderness wasn’t exactly enjoyable, even if I did get to participate in many battles.

“Get over here!” A guy grabbed Daren by the shoulder and yanked him back. I was once more alone in the middle.

“No, wait! You can’t do-“

A swift kick to the sternum blasted him back, and Daren groaned where he landed. With him out of the way, the rest of them came closer.

“Please, *cough* stop this…” Daren groaned as he dragged himself forward.

“Why do you insist on stopping us from killing this worm?! Do you plan on betraying the Sect?!” The biggest one there shouted and kicked him again.

“No… Even... Even if we aren’t friends, I can’t let you do this. We are from th same Sect, I can’t just… let you die.” Daren said with tears coming out of his eyes. Even as blood flowed from his mouth, and his shoulder appeared dislocated from the kick, he slowly crawled forward, grabbing a fellow Cultivator’s leg.

The man opened his eyes wide in shock and then exploded with rage. “You think… we are going to lose?! Eight against one?! With a full Realm separating us?!” He grabbed Daren by the throat and spun around, hurling him into the sky.

A few seconds later we heard the sound of broken branches and a muffled groan as he landed somewhere far away.

“There!” The man huffed, satisfied. “Now we can work in peace.”

“Finally. I thought he would never shut up.” The woman said.

“He seriously thinks we are going to lose?” Another scoffed.

[Well, lose it too broad of a term. You are going to die. Painfully. I would say slowly too, but I’m probably just going to cut you all to pieces.] I said and then grinned. [And then I’m going to eat you.]

I saw a few of them shudder, a seed of doubt sprouting in their hearts. I locked my lips and beamed wider. I saw them hesitate and nobody moved.

[So? Are you going to attack me or not?]

“Fine! Have at it!” A guy lunged forward with his spear with the intent to impale me. I moved to the side and intercepted his weapon. Giving it a quick twist, I snapped off the tip, the shaft breaking as if it were rotten wood.

The guy stared dumbfounded at his weapon and then frowned, throwing it away.

“Tsk. I knew they wouldn’t just give us a proper weapon.” He appeared to think it was a faulty weapon’s fault it snapped so easily. Let me tell you, it wasn’t. He was just too full of himself to realize that.

[Oh, your Sect is so poor they can’t even afford to give you a proper sword? Seems like the best they can do is give you a tip of the spear.] I made the small blade disappear into my storage ring.

“Laugh while you can.” The guy growled and took a small satchel he carried on his hip. Inside was a bright orange powder which he took and snorted like a vacuum. He then threw his head back and roared as his veins visibly expanded, and his eyes became red with bloodlust.

“Get him!” He roared and launched forward into a melee.

He was fast. His fist landed in a split second as he targeted my solar plexus. At the same time, the other seven thrust their spears at my weak points. Neck, eyes, knees, back, or in other words, what they thought were my weak points.

I chuckled as their attacks did exactly nothing to hurt me. Shadows of red scales flashed where I was hit, be it a weapon or fist, as Scales of the Earth, upgraded by Dragon bloodline, showed themselves in full force. Combined with the Ring of Warding granting me slightly elevated defense levels, they were never going to hurt me with that kind of attack.

And, of course, they didn’t attack just once. They delivered powerful blows multiple times a second, punching, stabbing, kicking, slashing… I simply caught the spears, one by one, and snapped them in half, taking the Spirit Metal tips as a trophy. They all disappeared into my storage ring.

The disrespect I was showing them by stealing their weapons mid-fight made them so mad. All of them took that same orange powder, becoming like crazy beasts as they attacked with Mystic Arts and Martial Arts, all of them achieving the exact same result.

Jack shit.

The woman took a momentary step back and began gathering energy in her fist as the others continued to attack and dance around.

“Move out of the way!” She suddenly shouted, and the other Cultivators jumped to the side, allowing her to deliver a devastating blow to my face. It actually managed to knock my head backward.

I caught her hand as she tried to pull back and wiped my aching lip. She almost hurt me.

[You punch like a girl.] I taunted.

“I am a girl!” She retorted as she tried to free herself from the vice-like grip holding her in place.

[Exactly.]

I retaliated with a fist of my own which immediately drew blood and knocked a few of her teeth loose. I then spun her around, using her to beat back two of her teammates.

“You bastard! Let her go!”

[Okay.]

I spun her around even faster and threw her at the guy. The two collided and she spat out blood. Then my eyes glowed and I cut them both to pieces. They died instantly.

The silence that came was palpable.

And then the first guy lost his mind.

“Aaaaah! You dare! YOU! DARE!” He roared like a madman and took a fistful of black pills from another one of his pouches, ready to consume them.

“Stop! Don’t do it! That’s too many!” His teammate tried to hold back his hand to stop him, but it was too late. He already swallowed them, and his skin suddenly turned black and began to crack, and blood began to leak through.

“OUT OF MY WAY!” The madman shoved his fellow Cultivator aside with such speed, that I could hear his ribs cracking. It was like a slap with the power of a MOAB. Or close to it anyway.

The guy disappeared from view, breaking a line of trees in his wake as he flew away.

“I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOUUUUUU!” The madman roared.

[Are you now?]

My eyes began to glow just as he jumped at me with a roar. He never reached his target. I cut him in half, and then in half again. I repeated that a few more times until I was sure he was really dead. Then I turned to the others.

They turned and ran, screaming. I released a few more blazing beams and returned the forest to silence.