Bai Hu scattered the ashes as he had before, sighing at the lack of leads they have towards why there were demonic cultivators in the Spirit Sect's domain while Zhang Yun Guang continued to complain.
Under normal circumstances, disciples of other sects are unable to enter another sect's domain, even if they were a part of the same faction. Sometimes, events or joint missions require such acts, but there was no explanation as to why demonic cultivators were in righteous territory
At this moment, Cheng Xia put away the recording jade which will submit all the information they gather from this expedition to the sect. They are able to send all the recorded information at any time, and responses are received within 3 days, more if the distance was very great.
"At this point, we can only continue on and keep gathering information. This matter may be greater than we initially thought, and decisions should be made by the elders"
Bai Hu and Zhang Yun Guang nodded in agreement. Their mission has yet to fully start as they have not yet reached the Hei Long Province, where their duties await them along with an investigation of the missing disciples.
If the appearance of demonic cultivators in their domain was not a mere coincidence but rather a scheme of the demonic powers, then mere Foundation Establishment cultivators like them could not do anything about it.
At the same time, it was also a great opportunity to gain large amounts of merit, for discovering any scheme, big or small, would boost their value in the sect.
The trio decided to stay the night to take a proper rest, as a month of nonstop travel drained them mentally and wore down their bodies. In any case, they were very close to their destination, Black Dragon City, and a day's rest wouldn't hurt.
They had been lucky that no particularly strong magical beasts had attacked them in the Grand Beast Forest, which was odd to say the least, but Bai Hu simply thought his luck had turned around for the better.
The night went on in silence, as each of the three young men recovered their wits in their own ways.
Meanwhile, several dozen miles away, a group of robed figures gathered on the grassy plains, shrouded by the night. An aura of death surrounded them, causing the greenery around the group to wither and dry.
"2 of our groups have perished," a wrapped voice said. It was unclear who in the circle of robed cultivators had said that.
"Cause of death?" another seemingly said.
"Foundation Establishment cultivators, seemingly at the early stage with 3 being present at both scenes"
"...Ignore them, their numbers and strength is of no threat to us"
Moments later, the robed cultivators scattered, leaving no trace of their existence except for a large circle of dead grass.
The next morning, Bai Hu continued on his journey with his companions, once again making smooth progress. Their journey, which should have been longer and much more perilous, was instead mostly smooth sailing.
There were no particularly strong beasts that got in their way, much to their surprise, and even the 2 groups of demonic cultivators had not posed much of a threat.
Zhang Yun Guang had initially predicted a slightly longer journey, as well as a high possibility of running into higher level Second Stage magical beasts. And yet, all they had encountered were weaker Second Stage beasts, not enough to threaten their lives.
Which was odd, given the terrifying reputation of the Grand Beast Forest which is known to bury the prospects of so many Foundation Establishment talents. Their relatively peaceful journey was definitely out of the ordinary.
However, their job was to investigate the situation in the Hei Long Province and perform their sect duties there, not to scout out the Grand Beast Forest. No matter how abnormal the danger zone had been, as long as it didn't affect them, there was no need to interfere needlessly.
Their travels had been smooth to say the least, and thanks to Bai Hu's superior Divine Sense, they were able to make quick progress, no longer needing to tread carefully as he looked ahead and ensured the way was safe.
The wind glided softly through their robes and hair as their flying treasures left multi-colored streaks of light across the grassland. There was essentially nothing in their way, save for the vast fields of grass.
Suddenly, Bai Hu stopped abruptly in the air, prompting Cheng Xia and Zhang Yun Guang to stop as well.
Zhang Yun Guang furrowed his brows in worry, as his Divine Sense could not stretch as far as Bai Hu and thus could not see the cause of their stop.
"What is it?"
-
Clang!
"Watch out to your left!"
A flurry of earth spikes shot towards a young woman donning a set of purple robes and hair.
The woman had a panicked look on her alluring face. Quickly forming a hand seal with both hands, she stomped the ground with one foot.
"Rise!"
The surrounding grass around the woman twisted together and grew at unnatural speeds, thickening like thick tree roots. A thick green wall formed between her and the earth spikes.
Bang!
The barrage of attacks was stopped, but that did not improve her situation in the slightest.
Out in the open grassland, a group of 5 Qi Gathering realm cultivators were being surrounded by 7 demonic cultivators of similar strengths. The orthodox cultivators seemed to come from differing backgrounds, however none seemed to possess any solid backing, appearing to be rogue cultivators.
Not that it would help their situation, as no backing could help fight off demonic cultivators without being present at the scene. Exhausted and nearly devoid of qi, they were sitting ducks waiting for the much more prepared demonic cultivators to kill them.
The demonic cultivators circled the group of rogue cultivators like hawks, or a pack of hyenas cornering their prey. Their magic treasures gleamed with vicious light, howling with ghoulish shadows.
The difference was clear, with one side at nearly full capacity while the other was nearly drained. There was really only one outcome from this situation.
The demonic cultivators suddenly made hand seals in tandem, chanting obscure noises that spewed out in black mist.
Alarmed, the rogue cultivators raised their magic treasures and attempted to muster the last of their qi reserves.
Whoosh!
With a wave of their sleeves, the demonic cultivators sent waves of billowing smoke towards the rogue cultivators.
One young man grit his teeth and raised his sword magic treasure, intending to clash with the incoming smoke. Several others adopted similar mindsets, while others like the purple haired woman took a more defensive approach.
With a shout, some of the rogue cultivators attempted to clash with the smoke head on. The smoke wrapped around their magic treasures like dark tendrils, sucking up the cultivators' qi.
Screams rang out as they fell to the ground, clutching their rapidly shriveling bodies until no moisture remained.
As for those who chose to defend, the smoke wrapped around their qi barriers, unable to get through, though it was certain that those barriers could not withstand the onslaught for long.
One of the demonic cultivators snarled, "Give up now, you'll die less painfully that way"
Crack!
One of the rogue cultivators couldn't hold on any longer, their qi barrier shattering like glass, bringing their numbers down to just Three. Redoubling their efforts, the demonic cultivators gathered their strength to bring down the last rogue cultivators.
Crack! Crack!
"AHH!"
"Argh!!"
The other two rogue cultivators died, crushed under the weight of the black smoke, leaving just the purple haired woman.
Sweat trickled down her brow as her outstretched hands maintained her protective barrier. The qi was thinning at a rapid rate, and her vision was diminishing with the increase in smoke outside of her barrier, until everything was covered, plunging her into a world of darkness.
When there seemed to be no hope left, commotion outside her barrier startled her. Explosions rang out, followed by screams...
-
Boom!
A black spear shot down from the sky, piercing the skull of one of the demonic cultivators. The young man's skull exploded like a watermelon pierced by a ballista bolt, scattering chunks of flesh in all directions.
The other demonic cultivators looked on in horror as one of their companions died so suddenly, unable to piece together how such a thing had happened. Looking up, their eyes bulged with fear at the sight of 3 young men flying in the air, their auras clearly at the Foundation realm.
They all had the same thought then, ""RUN!""
Before any of them could turn their heads however, Cheng Xia had already made his move. In a flash, he appeared below with his sword drawn horizontally.
Whoosh!
Bai Hu descended to the ground and swept away the black mist with one wave of his sleeve. He turned his gaze to his side, where the battered and kneeling figure of the woman was.
"Are you alright?"
Slightly dazed, the woman took a moment to gather herself before she smiled, "Yes..."