Blood was dripping down from what used to be a chest cavity, but now a pool of blood and flesh.
Nero looked in contempt at the two brothers, "A mere Foundation Establishment Realm martial artist dares to challenge me. You're not worth remembering."
For someone like Nero, this fight wasn't considered anything but a waste of time and strength.
Nero suddenly slammed his brows. His voice icy cold as he thundered, "Who else is here? I can feel your presence so don't think you can hide."
A few seconds after Nero's voice fell, a white light suddenly enveloped the five petal blazing flower in his hand and disappeared afterward with the flower.
"You dare!" Nero roared and jumped into a group of dense trees.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. A second ago Nero was with the flower, and the next thing he knew, a white light shrouded it and disappeared with it, leaving him no time to react. Nero felt a slight Qi fluctuation coming from a group of densely packed trees. He guessed it came from the perpetrator so he went after it.
The perpetrator's speed was fast, but not fast enough. Nero could see a figure in a black robe dashing through the trees like a mad man.
"You're finished!" Nero roared and reached out to grab the man in the black robe.
However, a white light suddenly shrouded the black-robed man, turning his figure a bit hazy. Nero saw this and immediately knew what was about to happen. He quickened his steps and closed the gap between them. He grabbed towards the arm of the black-robed man gripping it firmly like a clamp… but it was too late.
The figure of the black-robed man completely turned hazy and disappeared alongside the light. Nero on the other hand still held unto the man's arm. Blood jutted out from the other end of it that connected to the shoulders. In that split second before the black-robed man disappeared, Nero had ripped off his arm in the bid to pull him out from the light that shrouded him.
"If I'm not wrong, that light contains the power of teleportation. I didn't sense anything coming from him, so it must be an item." Nero said solemnly.
A teleportation item is relatively useful in life and death situations. It can instantly transport one to either a fixed location or a random one far away from impending danger. Likewise, it is also something that no lone martial artist can easily obtain. A teleportation item can be considered a rare item. Even to those wealthy empires, they only have a few at their disposal.
Nero figured out one thing and was that these men that attacked him must have come from the same organization. He came back to where the bodies of the two brothers were and ran a quick search on them and their belongings. His eyes fell on what looked like a disc with patterns on it. Nero frowned.
The Qi he felt from the white light moments ago was emanating from this disc. This was without a doubt the same item that the perpetrator who took Nero's flower used to escape. An organization that can afford a teleportation item is no ordinary organization. However, this didn't matter to Nero.
The flower he just acquired was just stolen from him by these people. It didn't matter to him who they were or which power they belonged to. All he wanted was his five petal blazing flower back! Nero glanced at the arm he ripped off, blood poured from the wounded part.
"So they think they escaped me, hehe…. I'll teach them not to be arrogant!" Nero sneered and tossed the arm to the side.
He took hold of one of the discs and poured his Qi into it. In that instant, the patterns on the disc started to dance around like snakes, emitting a bright white light. In a matter of seconds, the white light completely shrouded Nero and his figure became hazy… he disappeared.
…
Nero arrived at a very dark place. The trees here were thicker than a water barrel and their canopies spread out for many miles. In front of Nero was a shallow river and after the river was a misty landscape. Nero looked around, a bit puzzled. He glanced at his map but couldn't figure out where he was.
Nero's map only contained the location of some wild beasts and some safe places. Although it contained the totality of the Rhedaia forest, only these few places were detailed; the rest were just blank. The map at this point was of no use to Nero so he put it away.
"These men are without a doubt from the same organization. If that is the case then I don't think their teleportation item takes them to any random location. However, I can't be too sure. I'll have to check it out myself." Nero said and closed his eyes.
After a few minutes, Nero suddenly opened his eyes.
"There you are." He said as he stood up. On the ground not so far from him were trails of blood.
He then walked towards the misty area past the river. He suddenly furrowed his brows. Something didn't feel right! Nero stared deeply at the floating mist like he was examining it. He took out the flesh of a beast he had hunted and throw it into the mist. Instantly, the flesh started to decay at a speed the eye can see.
"So it's poison!" Nero said, a bit surprised.
The clouds of floating mist turned out to be poison! Nero didn't appear to be afraid but instead… he was contemplating something. He placed his hand on the ground trying to sense the environment. His perception immediately spread out like wildfire.
"Mm?" Nero's eyes lit up.
He heavily punched the ground causing it to quake and cracks to appear, looking like spider webs. An explosive Qi erupted from his fist and sunk deeply into the ground. Suddenly a bright light shone, and a pattern appeared on the ground.
"It is a formation." Nero's eyes widened. "This formation is weak but I didn't expect to see it in this world. I can't jump to conclusions yet or it might cost me a lot. I still don't know the world I'm in. The martial artists of this world are quite formidable, I shouldn't underestimate them … any longer."
A formation that could create such a lifelike mist without giving off any clues of it being poisoned can be considered quite strong. It creates poison mist clouds that can restrict a martial artist's perception. Perception is more like a martial artist's instinct… a sixth sense that practically gives them a sense of their environment. When they get to the Divine Sea Realm, this perception develops into what is known as soul consciousness.
Soul consciousness is more formidable and powerful depending on how strong one was. When Nero released his perception, he directed it to penetrate the ground.