I was truly heart broken.
If I had gotten the inheritance from that powerhouse, I may have been able to help my sister in her cultivation.
She isn't talented, less so than even me.
But unfortunately, things don't always work out.
I understand Ji was attempting to help us, and while it is true we didn't understand the true intentions of that spirit..
I wish I could have still clung to that bit of hope that presented itself before me.
I hope the sect isn't too harsh in punishing him, Fang Wei was furious.
Even now, he refuses to speak to him.
I turned my head and looked at Fang Wei, his eyes were darker than they've been and he seemed like he was ready for the mission to be over with.
I don't know much about his background, but he may have needed those techniques more than I did with how he's acting.
As we had just barely reflected on the conflict, something odd happened.
"You there! Stay right there!" A voice shouted in front of us.
The voice terrified me.
We had been spotted, and we did not recognize the voice.
There was no good answer as to who this was.
Nobody ever ventured into these forests without a reason.
"Who's there?" Wujin Ji shouted towards the direction the voice appeared from.
My heart dropped and chills erupted throughout my entire body as 10 people emerged from the distance.
They were wearing long Crimson robes with a forest painted onto them.
It was clear, we were dealing with the demonic sect.
—-
"Put your hands up and we won't kill you immediately!" One of the demonic sect members demanded as he held out his sword.
Wujin Ji, Lu Changsheng, and Fang Wei had no choice but to obediently do as they were told.
If they had the ability to confront this many people with two of them being novices, then Fang Wei would have to be a core disciple!
"There was a strange fluctuation of qi in this area, tell us what you have done!" The demonic sect member demanded, his red hair blending in with the horrific surroundings.
"If we were to tell you, would you allow us to survive?" Fang Wei asked straight away.
This single question meant a lot and caused even Wujin Ji's heart to pound heavily, anxious of the answer.
"Of course you will brother! Just like how all of these junior brothers survive!" Another demonic sect member chuckled as he patted one of the tree's.
A sap poured out of the tree and a muffled crying was heard.
"D-does that mean all of these trees.." Lu Changsheng felt a lump in his throat.
"That's exactly right! This place used to be a barren wasteland before we moved in! Every tree is special as they are foolish sect members who stumbled their way into our forest!" The demonic sect member smiled wickedly.
"B-but.. that means you have been here.."
"Exactly! This has been our sect's home for centuries! The formation was convenient, but its running out of power, the trees are a nice source for it!" The demonic sect member did not withhold any information.
Why hold back when he can twist the emotions of these dead men in front of him?
They will soon lay here eternally as a tree or the forest!
"Tell us or don't tell us, we will know after you are made into a sapling! You know, each of these trees had unique background, but they all begged for their lives in the end!" The red haired man erupted into laughter as he decided that talking was over.
"Capture them." The red haired man said casually as they were soon began to approach the three.
Wujin Ji was desperately thinking of a way out of the situation, anything he could use! Whether knowledge of this world or the last, but nothing came to mind!
It was then that an illusion appeared nearby of a man in an ancient robe and Wujin Ji smiled.
"Hey aren't you going to help us?" Wujin Ji shouted to the illusionary man who then cracked his head to meet Wujin Ji's call!
The illusion dissipated and a black mist erupted out, a cold strong presence emanating from it.
"Shit, this kid called out to the void beast! We've got to go!" One of the demonic sect members screamed.
"Don't think you've escaped us for a second, whether you die from the void beast or from us, we will harvest your soul!" The red haired man screamed as he ran away with his group.
"Let's go!" Wujin Ji yelled as he began to run desperately and the two followed suit.
"You saved us Ji!" Lu Changsheng yelled out in-between breaths.
"Yeah.. I hate to admit it at this point, but you did a good job." Fang Wei said reluctantly.
"I recognize this route over here, we can quickly make our way back to where we started." Fang Wei pointed and Lu Changsheng's eyes beamed.
"Do you truly want to leave with nothing?" Wujin Ji replied to their surprise.
"Well, we would have had something if it wasn't destroyed by you!" Fang Wei shouted back with anger in his voice.
"Yeah yeah, but I mean something that is ACTUALLY beneficial!" Wujin Ji yelled back.
"You want us to run from both threats and disregard mission orders in attempt to find an item that we aren't even looking for? Yeah, no. You can come back on your own time!" Fang Wei said as he ran towards where they came from.
"I hate to say it Ji, but he's right! We have to leave with the information, its too valuable and clears up many misunderstandings of the location!" Lu Changsheng shouted and Wujin Ji frowned.
"Fine. But I'm coming back here after I breakthrough a bit!" Wujin Ji promised to himself and the three rushed towards the destination.
As the three of them made their way to the entrance portal, the red haired man was waiting by himself.
"Did you truly think I wouldn't know where you had entered my forest from?" The red haired man laughed.
"Idiots! I alone will receive contribution for turning you brats into saplings!"
The man then began to erupt with his qi, revealing his power at the middle foundation establishment realm!
"Run through the portal when I tell you to!" Fang Wei looked at Lu Changsheng and Wujin Ji with a deep resolution in his eyes.
"We won't leave you here to die!" Lu Changsheng said, denying him.
"Do as I say! If the sect doesn't receive this information, then there will be more unnecessary deaths!" Fang Wei shouted angrily.
"No, he's right Fang Wei. I had worried he was in the core formation realm, if it's just this much, we should be able to handle him!" Wujin Ji smiled.
"That's not possible! You are crippled and he is a peak qi refining!" Fang Wei shouted as he erupted with his qi.
He was at the early of foundation establishment, which was strong compared to the two of them, but not as powerful as the man before them.
"Just give me some time, use your Talismans and artifact Chang and help Fang Wei!" Wujin Ji shouted as he entered the familiar pose that Lu Changsheng had once saw.
"I understand!" Lu Changsheng said as he drew his sword.
He was frightened, but he believed in Wujin Ji!
Fang Wei sighed and accepted the situation.
"You finally done saying your prayers? Let's get this over with!" The red haired man shouted as he cut his wrists and blood spilled out.
The blood then floated in place and changed forms into spears.
He then shot them out with high speeds aiming at Lu Changsheng!
Lu Changsheng raised a talisman and it quickened his space shortly, allowing him to dodge and then the talisman dissipated.
Boom!
The spears hit a tree causing it to erupt in blood and a strange black liquid.
Lu Changsheng eyed the damage in shock.
Foundation Establishment is no joke!
Fang Wei rushed forward and began to summon water orbs and shooting them forward!
The red haired demonic sect member easily evaporated the attack by shooting our searing hot blood towards them, but Fang Wei did not stop shooting!
Lu Changsheng used this momentum to slash forward with attacks, imbuing qi in just the precise areas he needed, but each attack was easily blocked or deflected!
Wujin Ji furrowed his brows as he continued to summon Qi and condense it into his hands.
The red haired man summoned more and more blood spears, shooting them out towards each of the two.
Lu Changsheng barely dodged each attack utilizing his Talismans, but the last spear had used the last one he purchased.
"Those damn merchants, if they hadn't swindled me I wouldn't be out of talismans!" He shouted internally as he turned to look at Wujin Ji.
Wujin Ji's power was surging stronger but he was clearly not ready.
Fang Wei noticed the fearful expression that began to erupt on Lu Changsheng's face and he sighed.
Fang Wei took a pill out of his pocket and bit down.
It was then that Fang Wei's power surged stronger, reaching a realm that was very close to the middle stage, but not quite there!
"Senior Fang!" Lu Changsheng shouted in surprise as he saw what just happened.
It was not uncommon for these types of pills to be used, but it was also only used in last resorts.
The side effects were serious and the pills themselves were worth a fortune!
Fang Wei then rushed forward and summoned water onto his hands as if they were gauntlets.
The demonic sect member smirked and accepted the hand to hand combat, opting to float blood spears behind him and use them as extra strikes.
However, he was soon shocked to see that the water on Fang Wei's hands were not so easy to disperse as before.
"What is this?" The man asked as they traded blows.
"This? I'm imbuing my life force into these orbs!" Fang Wei shouted as he began to push back the cultivator in front of them!
"Senior Fang!" Lu Changsheng shouted again and ran forwards, refusing to be useless.
Wujin Ji rolled his eyes at Lu Changsheng while he was channeling power.
The repeated shouting of Fang Wei's name was a bit ridiculous..
"Die you fly!" The demonic sect member yelled and shot out two spears at Lu Changsheng!
Lu Changsheng's face went pale as he had no way to block his attack!
It was then that his belt burst forward, shielding him and then disappearing, simultaneously, his pants truly did fall, revealing his under garments!
The demonic cultivator was momentarily shocked by the scene in front of him and faltered for a second, this gave Fang Wei time to use an attack!
"Now!" Fang Wei shouted as he moved his orbs from his hands to the demonic cultivator's hands and legs blocking him from being able to move!
Wujin Ji then moved his palms forward, erupting a devastating qi blast towards the chest of the demonic cultivator!
"Shit!" The demonic cultivator shouted as the beam pierced his chest, killing him instantly.
This time however, because Wujin Ji properly channeled the attack, he did not collapse, and the beam managed to deal much higher damage!
Lu Changsheng embarrassedly picked his pants up and shouted "We did it!"
Fang Wei then ceased his qi channeling and appeared to age a bit.
"Good work you two.." He said and walked towards the portal.
The two followed, exiting the Crimson Forest.
A figure watched as they left and smiled. It was the man who had taken care of a tree previously..
"At least today I don't have any more trees to have to nourish.." He mumbled and left.