Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 87
Matt had returned to the hideout with some fruits and water in his hand. He placed the cleaver he had gotten and the two green fans that belonged to the woman on the side. He looked at the sleeping beauty and noticed that the makeshift pillow he created from his robe and leaves was to the side, so being the nice guy that he was, he tried to move it back under her head. That was when she woke up though, her face quickly switched from one of surprise to one of rage as he felt his nose get hit by her forehead.
Feng Liena noticed that she made a mistake as the moment her head connected with the 'pervert's' face, she felt like she headbutted a lump of spirit iron. He did get a bloody nose due to the hit, but she got a lump on her head as well. She fell back and finally noticed that she was covered in bandages all over, the wound on her thigh that the snake monster had bitten in was mostly gone.
"God damn... that hurts...what was that for?"
Matt wobbled back due to the sudden hit, his nose all red, luckily no bones were broken. Liena looked at the cave, her robe was to the side still covered in some blood but there were signs of it getting washed. She noticed the man's robe that was ripped all over, the bandages clearly came for that. There were some scattered fruits on the floor and she remembered that there was someone that looked like this guy back before they entered the secret ground. The gears started turning in her head as she looked at the situation, she moved her head a bit to the side, her mouth twitching between a smile and a thrown.
She slowly recalled what transpired yesterday, the snake bite, the goblin attack and the soothing voice that called out to her during the rescue. She then just moved her hands to her hips and started laughing.
"Oh ho ho, sorry there little bro. I thought you were just some pervert."
Matt looked at the woman that started laughing like some old man, blood was running down his nose. He was a bit surprised that she managed to injure him through the headbutt.
"L... little bro?"
Feelings one's age through their aura wasn't anything special, so the woman knew that the man in front of her was younger. She looked at her robes that were to the side, Matt didn't actually know how to wash things properly so he kind of soaked them in the river with not much success. Then set them to the side after drying them out with the use of his Qi abilities.
"Ah, could you turn around?"
He wanted to ask her some questions but then saw as she grabbed her robes from the side. Those robes were slightly torn up from the goblin attack. Normally he would be able to fix them in his crafting abode, but his system still wasn't letting him in there.
"Ah..sure..."
He nodded and turned around, wondering if he should just leave the cave but as he was about to do so, the woman started speaking.
"You were with one of the other clans right? What was your name again?"
Matt stopped in his tracks as the woman spoke, the rustling of clothing happening right behind his back. She had gone from hostile, right to being quite buddy-buddy, guess she liked to do things at her own pace.
"Yes, I'm from the Zhang Clan, the name is Zhang Dong..."
He didn't turn around, he already saw the woman naked so didn't really feel embarrassed or anything, just wanted to be courteous. The girl hadn't introduced herself yet, so he tried not to say her name that the system already showed him. He had a clear idea about Liena's capabilities, she might have been only in the late stage of core formation but she had a higher graded cultivation method.
"Zhang Dong... think I heard that somewhere... oh, you're that young brother that trashed all those clans single-handedly. Never liked those old coots, they always gave me those lecherous looks. You can turn around."
Matt craned his neck back, he had some questions he wanted to ask the woman. When he looked at her, she was just standing there and munching on a peach-like fruit that he found. He tried it out previously, it was quite rich in spiritual energy and was sweet. But as he was moving his hand up and opening his mouth to speak, Liena spoke up first once again.
"I must thank you for the timely aid, but I could have gotten away myself!"
Matt was holding his hand up high, his index finger outstretched as he wanted to say something but couldn't quite put his thoughts to words. His mouth opened but then closed again as he watched the tanned woman stick her chest out, proclaiming that she would have been just fine.
"Uhhh... s-sure..."
Matt didn't really know what to think of this person, he thought she would be the silent jade-like beauty type. Or maybe, some sensual older sister type. She felt a lot more chipper than he expected, it felt more like he was talking with a dude than a chick. She even started punching the air with her small fists, showing off her battle strength as wind elements gathered around that cute fist of hers. He thought that this lady would be a lot more violent after the first headbutt. Most of the time in novels, they would misunderstand the protagonist and start battling or calling them a pervert. This girl on the other hand after the initial misunderstanding caught on quite fast and figured out that he was the one that saved her. The problem was the little brother part...
"So you see little Dong, you just need to leave the rest up to big sis Liena. If you follow my lead, I'm sure we can get through this blasted forest in no time!"
*The hell, little dong?*
This needed to stop if it continued he would be a designated henchman of this older sister. He didn't really mind if she tagged along with him, but it would be another thing if it was he that would be tagging along with her. Soon enough, he would have to carry her stuff around and act like a retainer.
"Okay, let's get one thing straight Feng Liena. I'm no little Dong... I'm more of a Big Dong... no wait... that came out wrong. Let's just forget about the names."
He moved his hands over his chest and leaned back against the cold cave wall, making his face look solemn and all cultivator like. He tried furrowing his brows to look extra serious and menacing.
"I have been wandering around this forest for about a week now, you're the first person I've come across. Do you have any clues as to where we are? I think this might be part of the test that the immortal that made this place came up with, I reckon our clan members are in a different section taking part in a different type of test."
Feng Liena moved her thumb to her chin and looked with her eyes to the side as she contemplated. Matt looked at the woman, was that steam that was coming out of her ears? The woman wasn't much of a thinker, the old cultivator lady and her retainers did most of that, she only needed to cultivate diligently. So, she just stomped her foot on the ground making the rock below her shatter as she shouted out.
"Ahhh... who cares! We just need to beat up some beasts and move forward! Don't worry little Dong, I have it all figured out!"
She proclaimed her finger pointing at the ceiling as if she wanted to point it at the heavens. Matt realized that his first party member wasn't all that bright, he sure hoped that the woman wouldn't be a burden. Abandoning people wasn't his style, so he wondered what would be the best way to move forward. He tried asking about some other things, but the moment he spoke up...
"Miss Lien..."
"Big Sis!"
"Missus Lie..."
"Big Sis!"
"Lien..."
"BIG SIS!"
He dropped his head, the woman was probably used to getting called elder sister back in her clan. He wasn't sure why she was so adamant about giving up her title.
"Fine! Big Sis Liena... how about we travel together, I'm sure we can achieve more if we travel in a group. The elders from the other clans must be around here somewhere, maybe we can find them before those beasts get to them."
The woman crossed her arms over her own chest, copying Zhang Dong's way of standing. Though due to being quite stacked, her forearms squished into those two mountains making Matt's heart skip a beat. She nodded a couple of times while looking to the side as if she was considering his proposal.
"I agree, but on one condition!"
"Which is?"
"I'm the leader and you have to call me big sis~"
He wasn't sure why the woman was acting like a middle schooler but due to being an introvert he was getting tired of the prolonged conversation that was going nowhere. The woman didn't seem that stuck up, was she really the stuck up young Matriarch that denied any men that approached her. She sounded quite friendly, well besides the headbutt part, but that was an understandable reaction in that situation. He just shrugged and nodded at her request, he didn't really care about things like being 'Team leader' at least his new companion was cute.
The two people headed out, Matt constructed another water bottle so that Liena didn't have to drink from his. It felt a bit uncomfortable when he was making it as she kept staring at him when he was skillfully wrapping the vines around the bamboo bottle. Did this woman never go outside or something, she was like a little kid with stars in her eyes looking at the construction process.
They started running into more monsters as time passed, Matt could detect their life signals so after getting an okay from his new big sis he was now the scout. The woman didn't get to fight that much as Matt still wanted to get the points from the kills, even though they were minor.
There was another strange phenomenon that they came across. After killing some trashy mobs, they turned to spirit bubbles as always. Soon enough though, he felt a high concentration of similar energy particles. He looked at the spot it was coming from and could see a monster getting created or summoned in that spot. The fresh creature looked around and went on its way like it was a natural thing.
*They have a respawn time as well? So there is no way to kill them all?*
He wondered if the goblin town he previously cleared out would be populated again. This would be a good thing if he had time to farm for things like this high grade hatchet weapon. He took it with him not as a weapon, but as something that he could absorb later. The regular creatures only had lower graded gear with them, only the boss monsters had the good stuff with them.
While adventuring forward the two people spotted something, it was a giant pillar of fire just shooting into the air along with a gust of wind that indicated an explosion. The two looked at each other and quickly headed in that direction, it looked like other cultivators were fighting. They arrived at the spot after a couple of minutes only to find a charred corpse and gore bits all over the place. The torn-up robe had a familiar-looking emblem on it.
*Isn't this the emblem that pimp guy's ship had? Did he get killed, or was it another member from his clan...*
That person had more ships with him and back in the teleportation chamber, Matt made a mental note to count how many clans were participating. His clan took out just one spot, Feng Liena's took up two with the busty big sis here and with the baked potato granny that she came with as the second core formation expert. The red-haired male came with two other core formation cultivators which left him with three spots. The remaining spots were taken up by two other clans, with two spots each. The Zhang clan was considered the weakest from the point of these other clans as they only brought one core formation expert with them.
"That's one down...I hope we find the rest before these monsters get to them..."
The explosion was fresh, so Matt could sense a fight in the distance. He followed the energy reading quickly, hoping that he would be there on time.
Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 88
Matt slung the large cleaver weapon over his shoulder and headed out while Feng Liena followed after him. He could feel multiple beings in that area, they were mostly in the core formation. After the two arrived closer to the scene, they could see the battle unfolding.
The first person Zhang Dong saw was someone he was familiar with, he could see his name thanks to the system and it was Huo Qiang. It was the red-haired man that he saw before entering the secret ground. There was another person with him, an older looking gentleman with mutton chops that looked injured. He was wearing the same clan pattern on his torn up robe, it being of the same clan that the burly red-haired man belonged too. The two were standing back to back while surrounded by some monsters, it weren't goblins this time around but orcs. There were quite a lot of them and Matt could even see an ogre amongst the group. Most of the monsters were in the middle stage but there were some in late stages of core formation.
The two cultivators were both in the late stage of core formation, so all things considered they were quite strong. There were many green skins that were evaporating into dust after getting slain but they just kept coming at them. Matt wanted to jump in and help the two guys out, but when he looked to the side, his big sis was just scoffing and walking in the opposite direction.
"W-wait, where are you going? We have to help them..."
Matt asked while looking between the battle zone and the female cultivator that had furrowed brows and a rather cute frown.
"Pff, just leave those bastards be, we don't need to help people like them out."
The woman moved her face to the side, Matt caught on fast deducing that there must be some animosity between her and the people that were fighting. Though this didn't really sit well with him, the more party members they got the better their chances of survival would be. He was sure they could talk it out in the end, if not he could always show his hand to reel them in. He tried out some reverse psychology to get his team leader to follow him into battle.
"Ah, it's fine to be afraid elder sister. There are so many of those monsters, it's only natural that you are hesitating. Just leave this to your little brother, you can just watch from afar."
You could see the pink-haired girl fuming with rage the moment Zhang Dong insinuated that she was afraid of the monsters. He didn't stay long enough to hear her complain as there was no time, he just bolted for the battle area and felt that the lady followed behind him soon enough, at least she could offer him a bit of range support with those wind techniques.
The two fighters weren't aware of Zhang Dong and Feng Liena as they were fighting for their dear life. The two belonged to the Huo Clan, this was a fire element type clan with the younger-looking youth being the strongest son of the current clan Patriarch. The man next to him was one of his bodyguards that his clan sent out with him to this secret ground. The dark palm sect had requested help from them and promised riches and even cultivation resources if they managed to figure out the testing grounds. Being the proud clan that they were, the Patriarch decided to send quite a force consisting of the three strongest core formation experts from his clan beside himself.
They all miscalculated that the whole expedition thing was a hoax and that the dark palm sect didn't actually expect anyone to return from it. Being the stuck up clan that they were, they expected riches and an easy payout even though it was known that the previous exploration attempt failed. They naturally thought that the reason was that the people sent were just too darn weak, the Zhang clan was just a middle-sized clan and the Huo Clan was a grade above it in strength even before the previous one lost most of their fighting potential.
Huo Qiang was quite lucky in the beginning, he found one of his clan elders just a couple of days after being spirited away into the wilderness. After about a week they even found the second one as well, so now they were all together and fighting with the monsters in their own little group. But, the creatures just kept coming and coming. They had to constantly move and fight, the monsters were everywhere and they were getting harder to defeat the more time passed.
The life-saving trinkets and talisman started getting used up, they only had a few out the rest was locked in their storage rings. Soon enough they came across the large Orc tribe village, the three masters weren't that good at sneaking around so they were spotted by the green skins while trying to avoid the settlement.
The monsters poured in like moths attracted to the flame while the three tried to escape, but they found themselves surrounded. One of their clan members tried buying them some time so that they could escape. He burned his cultivation base making himself burst into a flaming inferno opening up a path for his two clan members to escape. The plan didn't work though as even though they managed to run away from that group another one was waiting for them around the corner and they were surrounded by them again.
"What's wrong with these beasts? Don't they fear death at all?"
The red-haired man said while the gauntlets that he was wearing on his hands glowed red. He delivered a devastating blow to one of the nearby orc's sending the creature flying back, it's head broken as its body collided with a close-by tree. The two cultivators were quite strong, but the monsters just kept swarming them not caring for their own safety whatsoever. The two men were getting tired slowly, their spiritual energy was getting drained as they landed attack after attack, killing the monster mobs one after another in quick succession.
"Young Master, you must save yourself. You are the future of the clan, you must not perish here!"
The mutton chop beard elder said, his fists were also covered by some kind of glove weapon along with his legs. From the way the two were carrying themselves, it looked like they were close range specialists. The older man had a robust build as well, his body was already battered and bruised from the prolonged fighting. He was tasked with protecting this young master of his, he was a one in a million genius of the Huo clan, his only fault was that he was quite the womanizer.
The elder was contemplating doing a suicide rush as the other clan member, but before that could happen he heard a strange sound coming from afar. It sounded like thunder and lightning, but there were no clouds above them. The monsters were focused on the other two cultivators so they didn't pay attention at the white-haired cultivator that was charging at them from behind, coated in lightning.
Zhang Dong burst to the scene, swinging the large goblin cleaver with one hand and his charged up sword with the other. Feng Liena just stood up on one of the large trees and started blasting the creatures with her ranged attacks, not keen on getting into a close melee fight.
The orcs finally noticed the other intruders as they were flanked by Matt's charge, he managed to decapitate a couple of them with his two-sword style that still needed some work. The Huo clan cultivators saw this as a chance and started battling their enemies with more vigor as some backup had arrived. They recognized the white-haired man from the clan assembly but didn't know why he was helping them. They were sure about one thing, this Zhang Clan Patriarch was a lot stronger than they had thought, by the way, he was cutting into those monsters, he must be in the great circle they thought.
"Thanks for the assistance brother!"
Huo Qiang shouted while charging up his fist, you could see small red dots gathering around the man's fist. The metallic gloves he was wearing were made of a silver looking alloy, they had various runic patterns etched into them and as he gathered the fire energies they gave of a crimson glow as well. He struck a nasty looking orc with an open palm strike, caving the monsters whole chest in and blasting it back into the orc group that was charging at them.
The fight continued, the bodies of the monsters continuously vanished with the help of the Zhang Clan Patriarch and his lovely helper that was pouting in the back. Soon enough the large ogre appeared, it went after the red-haired man while swinging a tree, using it as a club. Qiang's punch connected with the makeshift weapon, the tree catching fire and turning into a mass of splinters.
Mutton chops was doing a bit worse than the rest of the group, he was still in the late stage but if you ranked everyone here, he would be last in terms of spiritual energy. He was already battered as he and the other retainer were being overprotective of their young master and they used their bodies to defend him. He was about to get impaled by a similar-looking hatchet weapon that one of the orc warriors was aiming at his head, but just before it landed a wind blade came from afar and deflected the attack, this was enough for the man to land a killing blow on the creature that attacked him.
He looked in the direction the attack came from and saw the Feng clan matriarch, she was standing on one of the branches and looking quite haughty. The battle continued, the cultivators managed to wiggle out of the spot that they were surrounded. This gave them some leeway as they didn't need to watch their backs anymore and could unleash a wider range of attacks.
The monsters weren't letting up though, but with time they got whittled down by the combined might of the four cultivators that started working as a team. Matt looked at all the weapons that the monsters dropped, if he could just gather those up he might be able to reach the great circle with his body refining skill. Though he didn't really want to start absorbing it with people next to him, plus he would need to carry the pile of hatchets and strange-looking weapons with him.
*If it only didn't take so long to absorb one of these...*
"Well, if it isn't Feng Liena, have you reconsidered my proposal?"
Huo Qiang asked in a cheery tone as he walked over to the busty gal. Matt could see the woman's expression changing from a neutral one, to one of rage and disgust. He didn't know that a beauty like her could furrow her brows that much, that frown was quite impressive.
"I would rather marry a donkey than someone like you! How many concubines do you even have?"
Feng Liena stomped the ground while scoffing at the proposal, the red-haired man just looked at her and shrugged.
"Oh, just about ninety nine, you could be the hundredth one~"
He laughed to himself while looking at the woman whose face started going red, she was really fuming. She even took out her battle fans and went into a battle stance, the mutton chop uncle intervened putting himself between his young master and the woman.
"Halt, you will not harm the young master!"
A fight was about to break out, the old guy was taking his job very seriously and he would pounce on the young lady the moment she showed animosity towards his young master. Matt just facepalmed while looking at the scene, guess these people weren't good at working together. He raised his fist up into the air it crackling with lightning, he activated his avatar form on it along with his condensing skill. He didn't need to cover his whole body with the technique, being able to use it on separate body parts which cost him less spiritual energy.
He slammed his fist into the ground, making the group of three turn their heads. The slam caused the ground to shake, the residual blast kicked up a storm, the people using their forearms to protect their eyes from the sand that was blown up.
"Enough! Stop fighting, we need to work together to get through this... don't you get what this place is by now?"
Matt made sure to add some spiritual energy to make his voice sound extra menacingly, his fist glowing and discharging electricity into the surroundings.
The three people gulped a bit after witnessing the strike, they clearly knew that if something like that landed on them they would turn into meat paste. They realized that the white-haired man was clearly the strongest from this group, probably at the great circle of core formation.
"Little Dong... didn't know that you were this strong... big sis is impressed!"
Matt wanted to run up and bonk the pink-haired dolt on the head after hearing that, she kind of ruined his cool move with just a few words. He gave out a sigh and moved over to the group, he wanted to ask some questions and also force everyone to cooperate as he was still sure that this was a place where you couldn't just do things alone.
Chapter 89
In another place.
The Zhang Clan members approached the large fortress. The walls were immense making the cultivators feel like tiny ants, the moment they came close to the large gate it started shaking. The people took up their combat stance, ready for battle. The doors opened up from within, the loud creaking noises made some people from the group feel quite uncomfortable as they fought the urge to plug their ears up.
They thought that perhaps some enemies would burst through that door, but after they opened nothing but silence greeted them. Zhang Zhi waved his hand forward taking two squads with him, forming a small scouting party. The insides were quite barren, the cultivators couldn't feel any life coming from the surrounding.
The rest of the group slowly crept in, there was still a chance of a surprise attack coming like from those centipede monsters. Also, a boss monster might appear in that closed-off room, so they kept vigilant as everyone entered the large empty structure. The outside was quite basic, consisting of four walls connecting to four towers. Each wall had a large gate in the middle, it was made from some strange material and quite resistant. The fortress looked unsuspecting, the only thing out of the ordinary was the place it was in and its size.
The inside of the structure had an inner area, the structure looked like a smaller castle that was protected by more walls. The Zhang Clan members started looking around, they found barracks that had basic living quarters where they could sleep in. There was a kitchen area as well as a large well that was also close by, so they wouldn't run out of water anytime soon. The kitchen had a large storage area which surprisingly had some food in it, there were formations that kept it cool and from rotting.
Zhang Zhi and the other officers went into the castle-like structure, which had many smaller rooms and one larger hall. The moment the people walked in they heard a strange sound, green light filled their eyes as something appeared out of thin air. It was a miniature version of the fortress, just made from light. The people backed away, looking at the green projection, if Matt was here he would probably be able to figure this thing out as it was something a gamer would find interesting.
These old fashioned cultivators didn't know what they were looking at, there was a panel with some numbers in the corner. There were some blue dots spread out throughout the hologram, and there were exactly 220 of them. More people came into the room, in hopes of figuring out this strange spiritual treasure. The officers went closer, Zhang Jie was there as well and being quite curious she poked at the panel where the points were, this prompted it to glow and show her a tiny miniature version of a ballista with the number 25 hovering above it.
The people were surprised, the small siege weapon could be picked up by them but when they let it go it vanished and appeared back next to the display panel. After investigating more, one of the people dragged the weapon to one of the towers the hologram that was red started turning green for some reason. When he let it go, the weapon appeared to be stuck to the tower now. Soon enough a commotion could be heard outside.
"What's wrong? Report!"
A junior member appeared soon enough, it was a familiar-looking chubby fellow by the name of Zhang Hong.
"Reporting sir! Just a moment ago we felt a surge in spiritual energy by one of the towers and a crossbow like weapon appeared out of thin air!"
The foundation establishment elders looked at each other, then to the miniature version of the fortress. They quickly looked outside one of the small windows and could see the weapon now being placed on the tower wall, ready to fire and with some ballista bolts included. They tried repeating the process and managed to place another one of those siege weapons on a different tower. But when they tried doing it once more on the third one, they couldn't pull the small weapon hologram anymore.
"...Wasn't this number higher previously..."
Zhang Jie said while looking at the control panel, the number was, of course, the number of points they had for the building. They figured out that this number correlated to the one above the ballista, they had 15 points left and it cost 25 to build.
"But how do we increase this number now... and is there a use for those weapons out there..."
The people examined the siege weapon, it looked a bit strange in the way that it couldn't be shot manually. It was closed off and they couldn't insert any of the bolts that were lying next to it. Later on, the clan would find out how these tower defense items worked, but for now, they all headed inside.
Junior members were stationed on the walls and towers, but the whole fortress was just too huge so they had to spread themselves thin. This thing was clearly built for more than two hundred people to run, they needed at least a thousand people for it. The first night went by fast, nothing happened no monster attacks and no enemies in sight. The cultivators started wondering if the voice had something else in mind with the second phase. The elders were in the control room, figuring out the game like controls while the juniors looked at the gate opening and closing on their own.
Just as the next day was coming to a close one of the sentries noticed people walking towards them. Everyone peeked out from the safety of the fortress, they could see a small group moving towards them. The group was filled out by tanned ladies with way too much makeup, they looked disgruntled and tired. From the 220 strong group only about half of them remained.
"Open the gates, help the wounded!"
The gates were opened, the Zhang Clan was quite good at the healing arts and they also had various restorative pills. Their Patriarch ordered them to support the other expedition participants if it was possible. They were told to offer assistance, but react accordingly if the other clans or cultivators were hostile.
The dark-skinned females were on their toes as they saw the large gates opening and cultivators pouring out. They recognized them to be one of the people that came with them to the secret grounds, mostly due to the eye-catching gear that made them look like a bunch black power rangers.
"Don't worry, we are here to help, come inside of the fortress for treatment."
Zhang Jie said while moving in with her platoon along with a couple more. The Feng clan members looked at each other and nodded, there were a lot of injured among them. They thought that if the other clan was hostile, they wouldn't offer them any help in the first place and just slaughter them instead.
"The Feng clan offers their respect."
One of the older cultivator women bowed with cupped hands while all of them headed inside. Most of the deaths were from the Qi condensation members from the Feng clan. They went through a similar dungeon like the Zhang Clan, but they weren't prepared as well as them for the things that were inside. Somehow they managed to get to the boss room while using up quite a lot of defensive trinkets and losing some of their members on the way here. Some died to traps, some to the monsters that kept pouring in.
The last boss was a snake-like creature, spitting venom and thrashing its tail at the female cultivators. They managed to slay it with the help of some battle formations and treasures that allowed them to deliver an attack at the core formation level. Without the help of their treasures, they would have been wiped out by the strange-looking creature.
The Zhang Clan offered their help, placing the most injured people in the barracks while offering them their healing arts. They kept their pills to themselves, mostly worried that they would run out too fast if they used them all willy nilly. Luckily most of the cultivator women that survived to this point, weren't in critical condition. Most of them would recover in a couple of days, with some meditation and aid of the water-based regeneration healing arts that the Zhang Clan implemented.
As time passed more and more of the other cultivators started showing up, most of them being in a sorry state. Life in this world was harsh, most of the cultivators on top didn't really care about their weaker clan members. You really had to show that you were worth it, for anyone to throw a bone your way. The other way was through family ties, but even then the most promising offspring usually monopolized everything from his or her lesser siblings.
The Qi condensation members of this expedition were the most likely to be tossed aside. The losses were immense among that power bracket. Even though the Zhang Clan started off with the least amount of members of all the participating powers, they didn't lose anyone while the other people burned through their defensive and offensive treasures to survive their boss battles.
The most people belonged to the Huo clan though, they did have 660 members participating. Though their numbers were cut by more than half, one team only returned with about thirty members. If you did a headcount, there were 220 Zhang Clan members, 326 Huo clan members, 233 Feng clan members. From the remaining four participating parties, only one team from each returned amounting to about 250 members.
The moment that the last person set foot in the fortress, the people heard the strange robotic voice once more.
"Attention, the second stage will commence in exactly twelve hours."
"Please get ready for the first wave."
The message repeated itself for a minute before silence fell on the cultivators, everyone looked at each other a commotion ready to break out. What was that strange voice, what was the first wave? From their experience, they knew that it wasn't anything good.
The Zhang Clan members were the first group to arrive, so they explained a couple of things. The Feng clan members showed to most respect for the help, but the rest was a bit reserved. Everyone from the top cultivators gathered in the big hall with the hologram to discuss the next step. Everyone got clued in about the strange magical treasures, the clan also revealed that they thought that the blue dots were the people that were around the fortress. The other people were a bit suspicious that this clan with the strange-looking combat robes, was just revealing all of their secrets, but they were just following the instructions of their Patriarch.
"That is why I hope we can all work together, the strange voice said that something will start in twelve hours, we need to prepare and station our people on the walls."
Zhang Zhi chimed in, while some other older-looking cultivators contemplated their next move. There were too many separate forces here, no one knew if they wouldn't get stabbed in the back by the other people in this room if push came to shove. The Zhang Clan wanted to spread people around the walls to prepare for battle, they were the only force without casualties so they could head out at any moment.
"How about we station out people on the walls... we found a lot of bows and arrows stored in the fortress..."
The leading figure from the Huo clan was a grizzled old man, his beard was white and he had multiple scars on his face. His frame was imposing and he didn't look like someone that would follow orders.
"Don't think that just because you were here first, you can order us around. The Huo clan will wait and see what this 'wave' is, then we will decide."
He scoffed at Zhang Zhi, spitting onto the ground before turning his back and walking to the side. The other fire clan members came to their leader's side, they outnumbered the Zhang clan two to one with their foundation establishment elders so they didn't really fear them.
The leading person from the Feng Clan was an amazon looking woman, her midsection was covered by armor with her legs and arms exposed letting you see her bulging muscles. The brown skin just made her veins pop out even more.
"Well if it isn't old man Tao, don't mind him. He was born constipated like that."
She laughed out in a loud voice, making a lot of people uncomfortable in the room.
"But I agree, lets put our clan members on the walls and wait for this wave."
She gave Zhang Zhi a wink while licking her lips, the man felt a shiver run through his body when the almost seven-foot-tall woman did that. Though she seemed friendly enough and ready to cooperate with their members. Soon two camps formed before the first wave, one consisted of the Zhang and Feng clan, while the Huo clan absorbed the remaining members mostly by threatening them with sheer force.
"The first wave will commence in 5...4...3...2...1..."
The robotic voice proclaimed and almost instantly the cultivators could hear rumbling in the distance.
Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 90
Zhang Jie and her team were standing next to some battlements looking out into the distance. The woman was using a telescope-like treasure that let her see far into the distance. There was a lot of dust getting thrown up as something approached in their direction, after a moment some shadowy outlines could be seen.
"Those look like the beasts in that corridor."
Zhang Jie said while the monster outlines changed to actual beasts. There was a swarm of centipede monsters coming at them, they were gnashing their jaws with their feelers wiggling. The beasts were running at full speed and would soon arrive close to the wall that the Zhang Clan was occupying. Due to there being two factions in this fortress at the moment, the sides of the fort were divided. The Zhang Clan and the Feng Clan occupied the north and west area along with the two towers that were placed at the north wall. The Huo clan got the south wall towers.
The monsters were only charging at the north wall at the moment, but Zhang Jie didn't feel threatened as even though there were a lot of those insect monsters coming at them, they were quite weak.
"They are far weaker than the ones we met before... Line up at the battlements, bring out your ranged weapons!"
Zhang Jie shouted to her platoon while other team leaders did the same. The cultivators didn't only have bows and crossbows that they could use for range attacks. There were various treasures that allowed the cultivators to fire off their Qi that had more penetrative power than your typical arrows.
While the junior cultivators were waiting for the seniors to give them the signal to fire, something strange happened. The ballista that was placed on one of the towers started moving on its own. Zhang Liu jumped back in fright as the siege weapon turned in the direction of the monsters and started firing large bolts. The projectiles were like small logs and the moment they connected with the advancing monsters they blew them to bits.
"This weapon is reacting to the beasts..."
Zhang Jie was there when the ballista was placed on the wall, this made her realize its use. The other siege weapon was further away on the east wall, so only this one was firing. She decided to observe it some more while also giving the order to bombard the beasts with their ranged attacks. Various projectiles rained down on the monsters along with colorful energy-based attacks that some of the cultivators fired off.
The creatures were quite weak, each hit meant a dead monster that vanished into nothingness almost instantly after collapsing to the ground. These creatures were only at the Qi condensation first and second stage, so they were nothing more than target practice for the junior members. One of the senior members would probably be able to decimate these weak monsters on his or her own if they wanted to. For now, they remained vigilant as the beast tide continued and the monsters couldn't get closer than five hundred meters outside the fortress.
The ballista weapon continued firing, releasing a large bolt every ten or so seconds. Zhang Jie noticed another peculiar thing, the ballista bolts that were next to it started vanishing. The large ammunition evaporated into nothingness after a shot was fired. Soon there was nothing left and the weapon creaked to a stop and remained motionless. This prompted the platoon leader to frown, but she had thought about something and decided to put it up to a test.
"Peng, Hong... there were similar looking bolts in one of the rooms we searched, bring as many as you can carry over here."
She gave out the order, to the two that weren't really good at range attacking in the first palace. The macho and fatty nodded and bolted to the storage room where the ammunition was placed in. There was a peculiar thing about these bolts, they couldn't be placed in storage rings. The two juniors had the largest frames from the team, so they would be able to carry more of those mini log sized bolts.
Peng was carrying a bunch of them, propping them between his forearms and head with his arms raised in the air. Hong did the same, almost tripping on the way back. After the two were back, they just dumped the ammunition in the spot that the previous stash was in. The ballista twitched the moment the items were placed next to it and resumed firing.
Zhang Jie nodded as her theory came out to be true. She instantly assigned the two to restocking the weapon, though with only one of these ballistas on the wall there wasn't really a shortage of the bolts. The weapon also had a slow firing rate, so one person would probably be enough.
The first monster wave didn't take long, ending in under an hour after the last arrow impaled a monster in the rocky ground. The robotic voice soon announced that it was over.
"First wave complete...next wave will commence in twelve hours..."
Everyone stopped and looked out into the distance. They could see the monster tracks left by the centipede many small legs along with a lot of arrows loitered around the place. Only the north wall that the Zhang clan was occupying was attacked, but every cultivator in the fortress moved to see what the commotion was about.
Soon some people were dispatched to retrieve all the ammo that could be recycled or used again. Zhang Jie returned to Zhang Zhi to give a report about the self-working weapon and the reload mechanic that it was using. All of the top brass returned to the hologram room, they wondered if there would be some way to place more of those weapons on the walls. There was a tiny problem though, the not so friendly Huo clan was also there. The Zhang clan officers deliberated if they should share their intel with the other clan, but under the order of their patriarch that said to work with the other clans, they gave in.
"You can place weapons on the fortress with this magical treasure?"
The one speaking was Huo Tao, he wondered why the other clan was sharing this information with them. Normally you would hold such information to yourself to gain an edge over your opponent, or at least trade the info for something in return.
"Oh ho ho? Shouldn't you at least show some gratitude you old fart? We are giving you precious knowledge, how about you kowtow at least five times?"
The one walking was the large amazonian woman by the name Feng Daiyu, she was lazily sitting in one of the chairs with her legs spread apart and a cup with some alcohol in her hand.
"Shut your mouth, you she-devil!"
Huo Tao went red in the face spitting out some profanities at the well-built woman, that just looked amused by the man's outburst. After a moment she stood up, moving her neck side to side her bones and muscles releasing some cracking noises in the process.
"Ha ha, Want me to give you a spanking like last time? I bet the revered Huo clan would love to see their esteemed elder eating dirt~"
The woman laughed out loud while getting closer and closer.
"You just got in a cheap shot, this time it will be different."
You could see a large vein expand on Huo Tao's forehead, his hands showing fists as he waited for the woman to get closer. Soon the two were standing right opposite each other, the woman was taller than the scarred man but he was a lot wider. His frame was muscular and imposing, but the woman didn't seem frightened at all. She was showing her pearly whites, grinning from one side to the other while the other foundation establishment people around the room got sweaty palms.
The fight was about to commence but soon the woman and man that were staring daggers at each other felt a chill run down their spines. It was like some kind of beast was staring at them, making them unable to move.
"That's enough!"
The one shouting was Zhang Zhi, after all the training and all the improvements that the Patriarch made in the techniques he was practicing, his battle prowess was second to none amongst these cultivators. The two glanced to the side, the man was giving off an oppressive aura as he was grasping the handle of his sword.
"You might not like it, but we are here together. You heard the strange voice, there will be another wave soon and I bet there will be another after that one."
He slowly got closer and closer to the two fighting peacocks, he walked between them and then towards the large glowing map in the middle as he got their attention.
"We have to assume that the monsters will get stronger with time. I'm sure you know that our clan previously took part in this expedition right?"
Zhang Zhi turned around to face the two bickering parties, his brows unmoving as he looked at the two.
"We have been here for about two weeks now... but even in the previous expedition, our elder members only started dying after a month or so...you know what this means?"
Huo Tao glanced at the man in front and rubbed his chin.
"You're saying that they arrived here just as we did... and started faltering after a month's time?"
The man wanted to blame the failure of the previous expedition on the lack of strength, but the other cultivators had to be at least competent if they managed to get through that dungeon area. That boss monster that they faced wasn't anything to scoff at. Their clan didn't really have much information about the secret ground, the sect didn't give them much and the clans that took part in it previously were mostly gone. The time it took for the people to die didn't prove much, though it could be an indication of the increasing difficulty of the task.
"What if they left this place and just perished elsewhere?"
"That could be true, but what if they didn't and the monsters attack just continued? They are weak now, but what if something like that thing appears?"
By that thing, Zhang Zhi meant the boss monster that every clan fought. You could reason that if there were things like that hidden here, they could also appear at this fortress.
"I believe that the key to this is this magical treasure."
Zhi proclaimed while moving the attention from the people gathered in this room to the large hologram map. He noticed that the points went up by 50 after the beast wave ended and he could demonstrate by placing another ballista on a tower. Tao rubbed his chin even more after witnessing the siege weapon appearing out of thin air.
"If you are willing to cooperate, we will tell you what we know."
Zhang Zhi spoke, trying to hook the others in.
"Work together..."
The Tao members knew well that even if they battled it out, the losses would be immense even if they felt that they would win in the end. It wouldn't be bad to wait for now and gather more information about this place. They could decide later if they needed to cooperate with the other cultivators, there wasn't any bad blood yet either.
"We can assist each other for now... but I want some of those weapons on our side!"
Huo Tao proclaimed and got a nod of acceptance from Zhang Zhi, Feng Daiyu just looked at the smaller man and gave him a strange look. The man gulped a bit as he had the impression that he was looking at a beast that saw him as a juicy piece of meat, she even licked her lips. Soon everyone got clued in about the points and re reloading mechanic that the siege weapons had. After some time passed the second wave was upon them, the creatures came from another side of the fortress and had an increased number and strength.
Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 91
Back in the jungle area, the party of four changed to five after they came across a granny hiding in a hollowed-out tree stump. As they were walking next to the stump, she had noticed her Matriarch amongst the group which prompted her to peek her head out. This almost caused Huo Qiang to punch her as the granny's face was similar looking to a goblin female.
"Wait it's me Feng Maling! Stay your hand!"
The grandma shouted out while still being stuck in her hiding place, she wouldn't be able to dodge the incoming punch if Qiang went through with it. Luckily the man jumped back, looking to Feng Liena with question marks hovering above his head.
"Ohoho, you were fine grandma?"
Feng Liena acted a bit surprised that the elderly woman made it out alive in one piece, mostly due to the old woman having a cultivation base in the core formation middle stage. The woman was good at hiding though, even Zhang Dong didn't pick her up with his enhanced senses.
Matt squinted with his eyes as he looked at the old woman, she had really wrinkled up brown skin, which looked like the type of color you got from overusing spray-on tan. She wasn't very good looking and the smudged mascara that made her look like she was crying didn't help either. He had the urge to dump some water on the woman's face and rub that mascara off but held it in.
"Why wouldn't I be alive!"
The granny managed to escape the tree stump, on which her butt got stuck after trying to squeeze out. She rolled forward and quite smoothly landed on her two feet. Matt wanted to hold up a '10' number and clap his hands, the old lady seemed to be quite nimble even for her advanced age.
Feng Liena shrugged and stuck her tongue out at her clan member, the elderly woman shook her cane at the busty Matriarch. The cane and robe that the woman was wearing, made her look like some occult wizard. Matt didn't say anything just yet, as he just looked at the two women bickering. He wasn't sure what kind of relationship the two had, but it made them look like close family by the way they were interacting with each other.
After a moment of some back and forth between the two, the woman gave out a cough and looked at the cultivators around them.
"Little Liena, I see you are traveling with the Hou clan young master... and this is..."
Feng Liena immediately jumped in, moving closer to Matt and patting him on the shoulder.
"This is little Dong, my little brother!"
Gloom filled Matt's face at the mention of his 'little' title. He thought that the granny would talk some sense into the strange Matriarch but the woman just squinted at him, her hand moving to her cane as she got closer.
"Are you sure... he...?"
Feng Liena just stuck out her overdeveloped chest and did a sideways peace sign over her eye, then stuck out her tongue in a strange pose that Matt only remembered some manga or anime characters doing back in his earth days.
"The Zhang Patriarch... could you give me a moment with the Matriarch..."
The old lady asked while the three men looked at the Feng clan members with strange expressions. Matt watched as the two moved away from the group and behind some treas, he had question signs in his eyes not knowing what this was about. He sat down on the tree stump that the old lady popped out from and strained his ears, trying to listen in on the conversation the two women were having.
"... yes, it was just like in the ancient texts..."
He could hear the two talking, it was mostly the young lady saying something about some old scriptures.
"Oh? so he carried you like in the writings of the great ancestor? "
"Yes, yes... he even..."
Matt continued eavesdropping as Feng Liena recounted their first meeting, but he had no idea what these old 'texts' or this 'great ancestor' was. Supposedly his rescue was something that those texts were describing, or prophecizing but when he tried to listen in some more as he tried to figure the situation out a booming voice next to his ear almost made him fall down from his seat.
"Hey brother, I think we shouldn't stay here too long."
The voice belonged to his new self proclaimed brother Huo Qiang, the young master had apparently taken a liking to Matt after the rescue party. After some bonding time which consisted of constant battles against various fantasy-like monsters, he started calling him brother. He even offered one of his younger siblings as a concubine to bring their clans together, though his gyaru sis didn't take to that offer kindly and he had to pull the two parties apart again.
"Ah... sure, after they are finished talking let's move out."
Matt rubbed his neck slightly before standing up, he gave up on the idea of listening in to the conversation now as it seemed to be over. The two women returned, Feng Liena beaming with a smile while the lady looked at Zhang Dong with a mixed expression.
"If it is so... I approve."
Feng Maling cupped her hands and gave a bow to Zhang Dong, the man not really knowing what this was about along with the 'approving' part.
'What are these two talking about... am I missing something here?'
The two apparently came to some kind of conclusion during their conversation, something probably related to those ancient texts. He didn't really feel like those things were important at the moment, as there were still some people missing. From the ten core formation elders, five were here and one was dead. This wasn't as bad as it looked, but considering that if he didn't arrive to save them they would probably be all dead by this point, besides the granny that knew how to hide.
They all headed out, the granny was the weakest member from the group and was more a backline attacker compared to the men in the party. They decided to keep the two ladies in the back along with mutton chops elder, that Matt forgot the actual name of and was embarrassed to ask about again.
Soon enough they spotted another casualty of the secret ground they were in. It was a mangled up corps of an unknown cultivator, which left them with three more potential survivors. They decided to rest up for the time being, no one was sure how long they were here anymore the day and night cycles kept changing. Matt managed to shoo his big sis away, for the time being, telling her that she should take care of her grandma while he cultivates for some time.
She gave him a cute pout, then repeated the same motion she did the first time he saw her on the flying ship and stormed out. He gave out a sigh and squatted down on the floor, there were a couple of machetes and axes scattered around all in various grades of the earth grade. He was slowly absorbing the scattered monster weapons from the hunted beasts, he found them to be slightly less potent for the progression of his body refining skill than the ones he was able to make himself of the same grading.
'Maybe it has something to do with how they are made... I get fewer points for slaying these monsters as well."
His progress was slow but he was at about thirty percent now, soon enough his body art would pass his regular cultivation. The time required to advance his regular cultivation technique was just too much, so this was the fastest way to get results. His body was giving off a golden sheen, it illuminated the cave that he was sitting in the people outside could feel their 'team leader' cultivating inside getting goosebumps from the strange energy fluctuations the part of the cave he was in was giving off.
Back outside Feng Liena exited the cave passage that Matt was cultivating in and headed into a different section. They had found this monster dwelling not long ago and decided to settle in for the night after clearing out the creatures inside. The busty woman walked to a separate cave room, that the granny was sitting in a lotus position. She gave out a sigh and sat not so far away from her clan member.
"Were the texts wrong... I don't think he is willing..."
The old lady opened up her eyes and replied while still sitting in her cultivation pose.
"You must not doubt the teachings of our great ancestor young Matriarch."
Feng Maling was skeptical at first, but after seeing Zhang Dong's high cultivation and how he just bulldozed through monsters that she would have trouble fighting one one one, she believed that he would be a fitting partner for this young Matriarch.
"The teachings are clear, maybe you must create a new starting point as the text proclaimed"
The baked potato announced in a wise tone and shut her eyes as she tried to rest up, her Matriarch thought about a couple of things and came to some kind of conclusion before departing, her face showing an odd determination that didn't fit her current character.
"Yes, I will create a new opportunity!"
After a couple of hours, Matt was done with absorbing the weapons. His golden skin glistened even more and he was sure that he would be able to reach the great circle soon. He hopped back to his feet and stretched out, he was a bit sweaty so he decided to wash up by the spring, which was nearby the cave they were staying in.
While he was walking through the cave corridors he felt a life signal close by, it seemed to be Feng Liena by the Qi imprint. He wasn't sure what she was up to, but she was clinging to the wall waiting for something.
'Is she waiting for me? Guess I'll act surprised?'
He was bare-chested at the moment, so he put his robes back on even though he was still sweaty. He whistled a bit to himself as he approached the corridor in which his favorite big sis was waiting for him, wondering what this was about. At the exact moment that he peeked out from around the corner, the girl came rushing at him.
She had a very cutesy way of running at this moment. Her arms were pushing into her chest, with her forearms to the side. She was waiving them around with her feet shuffling forward at an amazing pace, this made her chest bounce quite a bit, thus successfully making Matt focus his attention at the display. She was holding a piece of flattened fruit in her mouth for some reason and running right at him.
"Oh no, I will be late...Kyaaaa"
She bumped into the large bewildered man in front of her, she bounced off of him and landed on the ground with the piece of fruit flying out of her mouth. Then she just sat there, her legs bent a bit so he kind of could see the part between them. Still, there was some cloth covering the important parts, this made him swallow hard before shaking his head and finally reacting.
"Uhh...Are you alright?"
He wasn't sure what to do as he kind of instinctively reached out to help her off the ground while trying no to look at her undies. Feng Liena blushed hard as she grasped his hands back, Matt could have sworn that he saw stars in her eyes the moment he reached his hand out to her.
"Oh silly me, I didn't see you there~"
She stood up from the ground and dusted her posterior off, but before he could ask more questions she said that she was in a hurry and had to go. The man just rubbed his head and shrugged, leaving afterward to get himself cleaned in the nearby spring. While he was out, his elder sister was contemplating her next move as this was just the beginning...
Unfathomable Senior
Chapter 92
Matt noticed that his 'sis' was acting even weirder than usual. She kept insisting that he eat some of the food that she made, though by the looks of it it just looked like some nuts and berries she found in the forest. She even tried feeding some of those berries to him, treating him like a baby.
"Say Ahhhhhh~"
Matt evaded the feeding attempt, the woman was holding some sticks that were used as chopsticks. He started seeing a pattern in this woman's actions soon enough.
'It's as if...'
She bumped into him with some food in her mouth, she tried feeding him some homemade food, she kept falling down while trying to act all cute for some reason...
'Aren't those just bad romance manga tropes... are those the secret texts ...'
The gears in his brain started turning, this would explain why the clan women all looked like Japanese gyarus. Maybe the old 'ancestor' was someone that actually lived there, maybe due to the total worship these cultivator nuts have for their ancestors they decided to copy her looks.
'Well saving a girl from bad guys is a popular trope in novels... those two did say that the way I carried her was important too..."
He wasn't sure what this woman wanted from him before, but now he had the reason to believe that it had something to do with romance. The things she did and the way she acted sounded like stuff a manga protagonist would do, the going to school and the two leads bumping into each other was a really old one at that.
'Why do these people have to take everything at face value...'
He wasn't sure how this female clan ended up with this mindset exactly, did their 'ancestor' play some kind of prank on them, or was it some kind of weeaboo nut instead. The woman even tried luring him into peeking at her when she was taking a bath, though he didn't take the bate and just evaded that flag the other day. He started getting worried, would she move on to worse tropes, like those bipolar ones and he would end up getting assaulted whenever he glanced at the girl's cleavage.
'I need to nip this in the bud otherwise, she might end up stalking me later on... or even turning into one of those murder heroines that stab people for looking at her love target...'
He wasn't sure how he should go about this, how do you explain to a cultivator bimbo that the thing she is doing is total hogwash? Would they be seriously offended if he told them that their ancestor was an idiot? Or that they just found her manga stash and interpreted it wrongly... maybe he could go with that angle.
'Ugh... I still hate talking to people...'
He groaned and palmed his face, contemplating on the bs that he should tell these two Feng clan members, would probably talk to the two at once otherwise they might talk themselves into some nonsense later when he isn't around. He found the two going through some large leaves, the elderly lady was pushing vines through it, it made the large leaf look like a green apron. The younger girl with the healthy tan was looking at some coconuts, Matt didn't really know where she got those from or what she needed them for either.
Matt loudly caught into his hand to get the two ladies attention.
"Could I have a word with you two, it's about your Ancestor and those ancient texts..."
The two women looked at each other, their brows furrowing as they stopped doing their preparations. The two just nodded at Zhang Dong and followed them into the cave, somewhere where the two Huo clan members couldn't hear them. The two then looked at the white-haired cultivator, that was standing to them with his back and looking slightly upwards, his hand resting on his chin.
"I overheard your previous conversation about your ancestor, Firstly, I have to apologize for eavesdropping on you two. Secondly, I think you are interpreting the teachings of the senior wrongly..."
He didn't want to talk while facing the two for two reasons, one he looked more mysterious that way and two he was bad at keeping eye contact and he might break character if they stared him down too much. The tranquil will technique didn't do much for his sweaty palms. First to speak out was the granny, giving off a somewhat grumpy and annoyed tone.
"You dare? How did our Feng clan wrongly interpret the teachings of old, the old texts have been passed down through generations, they have been throughout studied by the previous Matriarchs, are you saying that they were all wrong? Do you even know what the old texts are?"
The granny started getting quite angry, this man was saying that the old seniors were wrong. That they somehow translated the texts wrongly. She wasn't even sure if this man knew what the secret texts were, there was nothing like it in this world so she was skeptical of his knowledge, but then he spoke up.
"You might refer to the ancient texts as texts... but in reality, they are mostly drawings... with the writing portion placed in white bubbles of sorts... aren't they?"
The Zhang Clan Patriarch cut her off
The woman stopped, Feng Liena also looked curious. The ancient writings were in manga form, this form of art was something foreign in this kind of world setting, thus the two women were quite surprised as the man talked even more.
"Is it mostly about young teenage girls and boys, the girls wearing short skirts, everyone wearing a uniform and they seem to go to some kind of place of teaching where they spend time in a group between twenty and thirty, everyone having a desk..."
Matt wasn't doing much besides describing the usual high school setting that most of those manga's had. The uniforms varied but the school remained the same, there would always be some recurring things that he could mention while keeping the rest vaguer as he had no idea about the core characters in this story, but he was sure that the female lead was a gyaru.
"How could you know that... did you sneak into our clan and steal out secret writings!?"
The woman's eyes were turning bloodshot, even Feng Liena was looking strangely at Matt that didn't like where this was going.
"Nothing of the sorts, I've just come across similar secret writings in my travels, so I just thought I could offer you some insight into your own."
The two women looked at each other, Feng Liena nodded and replied in an uncharacteristic mild tone.
"Please continue."
Matt swallowed hard as this would be the point in which he had to explain everything to them.
"I also came in contact with similar secret writings, in it, there was a certain youth he was carrying a strange rectangle bag in his hand and rushing to the stated place where the was tough by his elders..."
"I wondered why the ancient elders created it, was there some kind of secret technique buried in the teachings? I wondered and then also tried following the instructions, but then I realized that it was mistaken!"
He grasped his fist tightly, looking at it for more dramatic effect.
"The seniors didn't want me to follow the secret texts literally, it was all a test! In reality, they wanted me to follow my own path. Pave it with my own two hands and awaken the greater Dao that slumbered in me..."
He moved his hands apart, the greater Dao of lightning radiating from his being as the two women gasped.
"So you see, I think your ancestor wanted someone from your clan to create their own way. Following into the footsteps of your seniors is a noble cause, but only when you follow your own Dao the real path will lay in front of you."
He wasn't sure what he was rumbling about, but the two women had strange solemn expressions on their faces. Was it working? He wasn't sure, but he at least hoped that Feng Liena would stop bothering him with her silly antics.
"Well, this is all that I wanted to discuss, maybe if you pave your own path you might awaken the greater Dao of wind, instead of using those derived techniques that you are cultivating at the moment..."
He quickly left the room, leaving them with some vague explanations hoping for the best, well at least it couldn't get any worse than this, right? Feng Liena stopped interfering with his affairs after that, mostly hanging out in the back with a complex expression on her face.
Later that day Matt relaxed and thought to himself about his surroundings and this secret ground. He had gotten used to life in this strange jungle, the monsters capped out at the late stage so he didn't have any problems with those. He was even able to defeat people of that level when he was at the middle stage mostly with ease. Time went by and they kept exploring, they even started drawing up a map on one large leaf so that they could keep track of the places they visited. They had to do this, as this place was highly disorienting and huge in scope.
Soon enough they came across the last survivors, though they wouldn't last for long as they were tightly bound up in spider webs. If it wasn't for Matt's aura detection capabilities he would probably think that the people inside those cocoons were already dead, but he could clearly feel life force radiating from them, though it was quite dim.
The young fire lord wanted to jump right in and trash those monsters, but due to the fiery nature of his attacks, they had to change plans. The webs were highly flammable, so one wrongly placed fire uppercut could incinerate the cultivators that were paralyzed in the spider webs. There were quite a few of those human-sized spiders up in the trees, the webs were spun all around them and one false move would alert those monsters.
Huo Qiang wasn't out of the loop though, it would be a waste to not use his skills that were clearly the bane of these spiders. They only needed to get the people out of there first. The plan was quite easy, the three men would distract the monster spiders first while the women snuck up to where the captives were.
It didn't take much to set off these creatures, as the moment they poked some of those webs and made some noises they appeared from the treetops. They were spitting venom at them, wiggling their spider legs in various directions as they came at the trio. Spiders always gave Matt the creeps, there was something deep down that made him fear that form even back on earth. This made him fight at a distance, firing off multiple Qi filled sword strikes that sliced and diced the large arachnids to pieces.
Zhang Dong didn't notice the looks the two men were giving him as they looked at his swordsmanship. The man himself got all of his skills thanks to the system so he didn't think anything of it but to the two the superb mastery of the art was mind-boggling. This man was about thirty years old and he had already mastered sword intent.
The system had a strange way of inserting the knowledge into his brain. It was as if an old pro boxer picking up some boxing gloves and throwing a couple of punches after years of rest. The knowledge and skill were there, but it took some time for all of it to come back to him. The techniques that he bought came with the required knowledge to perform them, the sword arts had a requirement of sword intent so after practicing for some time he naturally was able to use it.
This sword intent was the most basic one, but even then he would probably have some large sword sects trying to recruit him as a disciple if they knew that he was able to do that at such a young age. Matt knew that his fighting strength increased by quite a bit when he was wielding his sword, but he didn't really correlate it to the sword intent that let him chop up his enemies mostly in one clean cleave.
Soon granny baked potato sneaked up to where the cultivators were being held captive, she had quite a nifty technique to fade into the surroundings. Thanks to this she was able to cut up the web that the two were hanging from with the help of Feng Liena. They carried the two to safety while the men unleashed on the monsters. Huo Qiang unleashed his fiery wrath, setting everything ablaze around himself, the screams of the spider monsters could be heard almost instantly.
The spider webs were even more flammable then expected, thus the trees they were connected to them were quickly burning with them. The forest fire continued to burn, the spider creatures scattered escaping the flames the group of cultivators didn't give chase as the reason for the attack were the two wrapped up people.
After they brought them to a safer location they removed the white outer shell and saw two pale-looking men inside. Their veins were bulging out slightly from spots where the spiders injected venom into them. The elderly lady was handy for such occasions as she had extensive knowledge about healing. She found out that the two males were only paralyzed and should recover within the next 24 hours. The two were wearing a different kind of robe, making Matt think that they weren't from the same clan or party. Both of them looked to be in their late fifties with a cultivation level in the core formation middle stage.