Chapter 20
It was another sunny day near the boundary of the outer layers of the Daemon forest. The area nearing the borders of the outer layers of the endless forest is not too dense as the trees and shrubberies are wider apart. But the road is still filled with danger from both beast and humans at the same time. Bandits would sometimes rob and pillage passing carriages of hunters and medicinal plants harvesters. And no matter what the town of Dis do, they seem to be unable to get rid of these scum.
In a small valley still hundreds of miles away from the town of Dis, sounds of sword clashing can be heard. A group of around 20 people is chasing and fighting against 2 people, a young woman, and a young man. This is Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao who continued to travel slowly towards the town of Dis.
When Shin Jiao fainted while receiving the information from the silver colored pages, Cherry Lao saw that the pages actually turned into dust. So after she explained what happened, Shin Jiao tried to remember any information but to no avail. It was like there is a gray area in his mind that no matter how hard he tried to access or think about it he seems to not get anything. So without a choice, they just forget about what had happened and thought that maybe it's just some trap set up in the papers.
The only thing that Shin Jiao discovered within himself is the feeling that his body became light and his reflexes became faster. He doesn't understand what's going on, as he still can't get the status of his dantian and so is unable to use the energy in them. But his body felt like it has been upgraded to another level. Of course, he didn't tell this to Cherry Lao as he himself can't explain it yet. Then after resting for a day, they decided to continue on their journey.
Now, the 20 people chasing after them is actually a group of bounty hunters who at first belongs to 3 different groups of people. But come to an agreement because even though they have 2 gold core members but they are unable to defeat Cherry Lao as they found her martial art skills and use of cultivation energy is too scary and precise.
In their travel and the constant life and death encounter with beast and bandits. Cherry Lao was able to discover a way on how to precisely control her cultivation energy and apply the proper amount of force in her every attack. Even her spiritual sense was slowly becoming refined that she could almost gain an understanding of domain through them. But since she is still at the primary stages of the gold core, her energy is still not enough to break through the barrier of understanding domains. But with this enlightenment fighting against multiple opponents is not that hard for her and since her cultivation seems to be not improving no matter how hard she tried to cultivate, she decided to go with finesse and precise control. Along with her starting stages in sword heart, she became like a shadow of death in a fight.
"Shit! Boss Lee, this woman is hard to deal with. It's like she is just toying with us. If we keep on fighting like this all of us will die in here." A man in his 30's wearing a red robe with a fire insignia which belongs to the Fire dragon mercenary shouted.
The boss Lee he is calling is a fat middle-aged man holding a large flat saber. All of the 20 people have wounds all over their body while the two people they are hunting are still in their clean clothes and no damage received.
The group was ganging up against Cherry Lao but they are still unable to hurt her. Flying swords and spells bombarded her location and even without using her energy as a shield she would just leisurely blur every now and then and escape unscathed from their barrage of attacks. But unknown to them she would sometimes get scrape every now and then with some small debris. But thanks to her robe with is enchanted with a layer of protection, she appears unhurt. But this is unacceptable to Cherry Lao because she is a very competitive woman, she can't accept being hit. And so she continues on dodging while feigning an attack so that her opponent won't get weary that she is using them as her sparring partners.
"Arrggghhh. Brothers! This mortal is not normal. Please help!"
Suddenly, the group heard a blood-curdling shout and was interrupted. Then they saw their comrade who is a primary-stage spirit refining cultivator on the ground with a missing right hand. He is the one who volunteers to kill Shin Jiao because he is the weakest among the group as none wanted to waste their time facing a mere mortal man.
"Hmmm… this is too weird. Before, I clearly had a hard time dodging attacks from level 2 beast and almost unable to penetrate a Qi shield and would rely on the sharpness of my weapon. But why is it that his movements seem to be too slow. Maybe humans are truly weaker than a beast, this is the only explanation." Shin Jiao thought as he just stood in place looking like in a daze.
Upon seeing one of them in that state the group became alarmed. How could a mere mortal injure a spirit refining realm cultivator? The situation was too absurd and seems unreal, as in their eye mortals are just punching bag and meat to the grinder easy to be killed. But now seeing that one of them is down on the ground with a missing arm, everyone became weary of him.
"You two take him down!" Boss Lee shouted and pointed at two of his subordinate in the late-stages of spirit refining realm.
The two men quickly dashed towards Shin Jiao brandishing their words. One of them chopped towards Shin Jiao's head and the other one forms a seal and conjure a fireball and throw it towards Shin Jiao's body. Upon seeing his two opponents Shin Jiao didn't relax and put up his defenses as he held his sword in front of him in a fighting stance. He is not confident to face two spirit refining cultivators with such dense Qi.
Then he saw it again but this time he really noticed that something is up and that he had gained some weird ability. He is now seeing two human figures moving in very slow speed, like a movie where everything is in slow motion. Upon seeing this his heart began to relax and smiled.
Upon doing so Shin Jiao face became pale and terror-stricken because they suddenly moved too fast for him to see. Luckily his reaction was also quick and was able to evade the blade moving towards his head. But the fireball grazed his shoulder and burned part of his clothes. Then he staggered and felt the heat and pain on his right shoulder. After their initial attack, the two didn't stop. The one with the sword launched a quick slash towards Shin Jiao's waist, aiming to cut him in half. While the other one chanted some words and took out a fire talisman. Upon seeing this and feeling the pain on his shoulder, Shin Jiao became vigilant. Then once more he finds the movement of the person with the sword became sluggish.
A sudden realization enters Shin Jiao's mind. He now has an inkling of what his skill is and how to use it. All he has to do is focus on an enemy and their movement will become sluggish. With this Shin Jiao became confident in facing the two cultivators. If he didn't have this skill he would have a hard time facing the two of them. If it's just one on one Shin Jiao has the confidence to at least win, though judging from the skill of his opponent in handling his sword he is more proficient than Wolf and although his cultivation level is lower his speed is faster.
After seeing his two opponents' second wave of attack Shin Jiao decided on a plan quickly as he didn't know how long he can see their movements in slow motion.
Then Shin Jiao moved as he evaded the blade by shifting to his left and throws a punch towards the man's chest. After that, he quickly ran towards the other one who is chanting a fire spell. He needs to quickly stop him as judging by the spiritual energy being emitted by the talisman, it's a trapping spell. When he reached the man he hands chopped his neck but because he was unable to judge his speed and the force. The man's carotid artery was cut and blood started to flow out of his mouth.
His movements were like a blur to the people seeing the fight. And all they saw was the man holding a sword flying like a cannonball with a trail of blood and the man chanting suddenly collapsing and bleeding.
"What the hell did you do?" Boss Lee suddenly shouted in anger.
Shin Jiao was dumbfounded upon seeing that he accidentally killed the two who attacked him. He didn't exert much effort and just attacked like normal. What he didn't know is that the speed of his movement was added to his strength and then invisible energy covered his hand on impact, which protected his skin and bones from breaking from the impact and recoil.
On Cherry Lao's face is a beautiful smile as she felt a sudden surge of happiness upon seeing Shin Jiao's fast movements and power. Any girl wanted to find their man strong and capable. So she felt truly happy, but then her heart would always ache at the knowledge that no matter how strong or skillful Shin Jiao is, he is still a mortal and had a very short lifespan. Upon thinking on this she discovered that her heart would ache and her mind would be filled with anxiety. Then a sudden realization made her want to tear up, as no matter how she denies it, what she realized was the truth.
"This... This is the reason why I can't focus on my cultivation? Do I have to make a choice? But…" she thought as sadness began to fill her heart.
The rest of the bounty hunters became a little scared. Then they tried to reconfirm the aura in Shin Jiao's body and saw that there is no spiritual fluctuation. This made them confused and scared at the same time.
"We… We must kill the mortal first! Attack!" Boss Lee shouted as he waved his sword and covered it with ice.
"Die!"
The rest of the people suddenly moved at the same time and their target is Shin Jiao. This made Cherry Lao woke up from her deep thought. She also jumped and dashed towards the nearest guy, and this time her goal is to finish them as they are now a threat to Shin Jiao. But before she could get close to the guy a sword flew towards her which blocks her path. Then the man wearing the robe of the Fire dragon mercenary which seems to be their leader stood in front of her.
"Miss Cherry Lao, I can't let you interfere with them. I will be your opponent." He said.
Cherry Lao sneered at the man as she didn't think twice and hacked towards his head. The man quickly dodges downwards but a part of his hair was cut.
"You damned bitch. How dare you sneak attack me!" he suddenly shouted.
"This is a frontal fight, you block my path so I must kill you. What nonsense are you spouting?" she nonchalantly said as she changes her sword position and stabbed towards the man.
The man used his spiritual Qi and made a barrier to protect himself from the incoming sword. But before he could react he suddenly feels that something is wrong as he didn't feel or see any collision with his Qi barrier. Then a cold voice was heard behind him.
"This is a sneak attack."
This startled him and then found a bloody sword tip protruding out from his chest. The man's vision suddenly becomes dim as his life force started to ebb away.
After killing her opponent, she spread out her spiritual sense and her face suddenly had a shock expression. She quickly turns around and saw the rest of the people on the ground either dead or barely alive. She could not believe what she is seeing as Shin Jiao is also on the ground panting heavily.
"Shin, are you okay?" Cherry Lao quickly rushed beside him.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just too tired to move. I guess this is the after effect of using my strength."
"Are your… strength back?" she asked with a little hesitation as she was once discouraged by his answer.
And truly once more she felt discouraged and helpless upon hearing his calm response.
"No… Not yet. I don't know what this is, but I will try to find out."
"Okay, we need to leave this area now. We don't want to have another group to find us. It would be more troublesome." Cherry Lao said as she walks towards the rest and finished those who are still alive, took their bags, and burn them to ash.
That night, they once again stayed in a man-made cave. After dinner, Cherry Lao seems to be a little unsettled which Shin Jiao noticed.
"Cherry, is there something wrong?" Shin Jiao asked as he sat beside her.
She just lowered her head and didn't answer. Seeming in a deep contemplation which Shin Jiao didn't disturb. After a few minutes, Cherry Lao bit her lips with her eyes a little moist. Then she looks at Shin Jiao with melancholy in her eyes.
"Shin, do you… do you love me?" she asked.
"Of course… We have spent a lot of time together. And in those times, I have learned to love you deeply. Why? Are you doubting how I feel? He, he… If you want we can…" Shin Jiao replied with a slight teasing.
"Shameless… You… I'm serious here. I think I found out why I can't progress with my cultivation." She said with a little resolution in her gaze.
"Really? What should we do then? I know that your dream is to be strong and someday become an immortal. I will do all I can to help you." Shin Jiao excitedly said.
"The reason why I... my progress is stagnant is... because… of you…"