A shadow through the sharp branches, sliding between trees with a nonchalant dexterity. The thin branches of the crooked tree rustled quietly as the shadowy figure crossed the crooked forest in the middle of the darkness. The constantly moving figure was the old man that had managed to successfully escape the grounds of the Jianshen Imperial Domain.
He was currently coursing through the abandoned Porcupine Forest. His nerves, tense and highly focused. Especially since he discovered that the imperial descendant he had escaped with was suddenly revived.
The surprise that had electrified his soul when he noticed the small cadaver recover color left him gasping for breath, needing at least a few minutes to gather his calm.
If it wasn't for their current dangerous location and the fact that soldiers were following them, he would probably have stopped his escape, celebrating the joyous event.
Sadly, his mind couldn't help but think about the resentment that was lingering in the imperial mansion of the Sheng Family. Disgust and hate flashed in his old iris from time to time, but he repressed that feeling to the best of his capabilities.
From the moment he knew that the newborn young prince was still alive, the energy that moved his limbs spiked as he did his utmost in crossing the dangerous forest. The danger zone had been named after the sharp and pointy needle-like branches that were on the trees of the porcupine shaped forest.
The old man had specifically chosen this odd location for his escape route due to the fact that large number of units would have trouble following him here. They would most likely lose a large amount of time due to the sharp branches that blocked the majority of the paths in the cursed forest.
Even esteemed Spiritualist would have trouble following him, unable to even fly above the trees as they would be constantly attacked and harassed by spiritual creatures.
Spiritual Beasts were a sort of cultivating lifeform that the Spiritualist relied upon when it came to their own cultivation. Be it for the gain of material to cultivate or for resources to enhance their crafts, the Spiritual Beasts were an important necessity for the growth of every spiritualist.
Rare were those that had completely separated their path of growth and development from the Spiritual Beasts of the continent.
The Porcupine Tree forest was but one small of part of a massive expanse that represented a well-known no man's land for every empire that existed inside the Portalia Continent. Inside of these diverse and varied biomes could be found a near-infinite number of Spiritual Beasts that made up a complex ecosystem where the hierarchy was defined by the strength, bloodline and cultivation of the spiritually awakened creatures.
In front of the old man, named Wang stood several large-sized trees that would need a group of five strong men to circle around them. Among one of the sharp like twigs hid two deadly-still gray pair of eyes that blinked quietly in the darkness.
This Spiritual Beast was a dangerously discreet snake named the Sword Rat Snake due to the fact that they mostly hunt small rodent creatures in a quick and spontaneous constriction.
Their hunting movement was nearly instantaneous, specialized on surprising and taking the life of most of the victims it attacks with the darkness characteristic it had acquired through the development of its spirituality.
Sadly for the case of this Sword Rat Snake, the beast was facing an Old Wang that was far too used to the creatures that lived inside Porcupine Tree. The eyes of the experienced man instantly caught the hiding cold creature's sharp gaze.
Calmly, his hand moved the moment the creature's eyes blinked before moving. He simply swatted the flying sword shape the creature had transformed into when it pounced on him.
The rigid sword-like body of the Sword Rat Snake was turned into soft noodles that hung meekly on several pointy branches of the somber colored tree it had used as a cover. Confusion flashed on its rocky eyes as the spiritual energy Old Wang had sent through his body had shaken it into complete stillness.
The action was done in one swift and connected motion, with the old man completely forgetting the creature and never looking back at it after he crossed the Sword Rat Snake's territory.
He stepped through the deadly-still forest with ease, giving the impression that his legs were calmly walking inside of his backyard. With every single one of his steps turning his surroundings into a dense gray blur, he was crossing large distances in short bursts of time.
His experienced gaze could see through all the lesser creature's traps and attacks, the sharp branches that blocked his path didn't hinder him in the very least as he would seamlessly phase through them like a ghost.
The sleeping young prince didn't sense anything despite the ridiculous speed attained by the old man. It was as if the nascent toddler had regained his life the moment Tim's soul had taken possession of the dead baby, although he couldn't explain the situation and only called it a miracle due to the body possession that instantly took place without any release of energy. Old Wang accepted the event with new-found hope and continued executing the escape plan.
He moved with the fluidity of a ghost, the direction of his steady steps was leading to an area on the other side of the no man's land. Now that the mission of taking care of the young prince was his, the place he was fleeing toward was a backward county of the weakest empires and was far from the eastern Jianshen Empire.
A calm and quiet place where the young prince would be able to safely grow and develop himself, without fearing any changer from his family's past.
The journey turned up to be far longer than Sheng Wang had expected. As soon as he left the dark forest of Porcupine Tree, his speed dropped sharply due to the change of the area surrounding him. The rocky ground turned into a musky and warm humid swamp that forced him to focus on where to place his feet to avoid losing further time.
The escape path picked by the experienced Old Wang was chosen with utmost care, crossing several deadly area in order to leave as little track as possible for his pursuers.
From time to time, he would fake a few footsteps and small marks that could mislead those that dared to follow him. The direction where these traps lead was directed at the lairs and habitat of dangerous Spiritual Beasts that the old man had detected during his speedy journey.
Old Wang only stopped after crossing more than dozens different areas. Currently, his tired body was trembling slightly as his bent body was ascending a sharp and steep slope.
The old man was forced into climbing the unsteady surface, while making sure the young baby on his back wasn't falling anywhere. The drop in speed was due to the fact that he was crossing a vast chain of humongous mountains whose peaks extended past the clouds and continued rising beyond.
The rocking terrain standing in front of him had to be crossed safely for the pair to access the other side of the no man's land. Starting here, Sheng Wang stopped focusing on the area behind him as he knew that he had to raise his focus when crossing the current terrain.
The natural demarcation extended for several hundred kilometers, it was formed and shaped by the earth through hundreds thousands of years and had served as natural boundaries between the empires for eons. It also represented a vast and precious natural habitat for strong Spiritual Beasts. Usually, these type of intelligent creatures were sentient and had developed an intellect and a social structure nearly similar to humankind. Either lived by themselves in a solitary exile or in small family-like groups.
Thankfully, Sheng Wang didn't sense any spiritual energy in the surrounding area as he continued a slow ascension to cross the white valley. The wind hitting his clothes forced a bone-chilling coldness to spread around him, this forced him to direct some of his spiritual power on himself and on the baby hanging on his back.
The split of focus didn't seem to affect the experienced spiritualist as there wasn't any change of expression whatsoever. His face, unfazed by the cold atmosphere, and his legs never coming to a stop even here.
The area surrounding the pair changed quietly with the ascension of the chain of mountains. Soon, the terrain around them had turned completely white as the cold wind was accompanied with small snowflakes that circled around Old Wang's figure.
It was in the middle of the ascension that the newborn young prince finally opened his eyes from his night of profound sleep.
Tim's vision was blinded by a pristine white color that shook his awakening consciousness, the flashing colors burned his iris and forced him to release a small sound from his throat.
"What…" he thought quietly as he groggily lifted his small hand to rub his eyes. He couldn't help but feel comfortable inside the warm blanket as he snuggled deeper in Old Wang's back while looking at the area surrounding the pair. The pure sunlight that was reflected on the white snow turned into a heavenly canvas in the eye of the reincarnated drunkard.
For the entirety of the journey, he didn't have any memories of his past life surfacing. For the current Tim, what he was living was akin to an intense dream. He didn't realize the entirety of the event that had recently taken place.
The serene scenery calmed his mind and it was only after a few minutes passed that he noticed a strange phenomenon around him.
His eyes followed a small snowflake dancing in the air, looping and twisting as it drove with other icy powder-like crystals through the sharp air currents of the valley. Tim's eyes couldn't help but follow the dancing flakes in a trance and before long Old Wang noticed the scene and couldn't help but release a low chuckle inside of his gray beard.
The pair advanced calmly in complete silence as the rustling wind that had a strength of dozens of kilometers smashed around them without producing any reaction. The strong wind that should have washed their eardrums was fully blocked by Old Wang's barrier.
"Strange, how come it feels like I'm sitting inside a building. This doesn't feel like we are in the middle of a small snowstorm." He thought calmly as he couldn't help but feel that the surroundings of the old man was probably influenced by him.
"How is he able to do that?" he questioned himself quietly as fatigue washed his soul.
"Was I reincarnated in a fantasy world?" his last thought flashed before he once again lost consciousness.
Tim wasn't able to acquire any answers to his questions due to the intense fatigue that once again washed his weakened soul and forced him to sleep. He didn't even notice that shadowy figures were appearing far in the distance, too tired to fight back the dizzying wave of comfort that was forcing his eyes to close.
He didn't know if it was because he was reincarnated as a relative of the old man or because he was in a baby's body. But Tim felt strangely at ease with his body resting on the large muscular back of the old man.
Thus whenever the wave of sleepiness appeared, he would just follow its call and didn't try to stay awake.
His current behavior was completely different from the last years of his life on Earth. The sleepiness wasn't really something that bothered him, it was on the contrary a sensation he enjoyed a lot and reminded him of the appeasing sleep he had gone through during the soul transmigration.
Old Wang's body tensed and turned rigid the moment he felt that the baby had fallen asleep. A serious expression flashing on his face as he looked at the approaching figures in the distance that quickly turned from small dots into dashing ghosts. The white ghosts crossed the distance and arrived to his position in what felt like single breath.
The experienced Old Wang only had the time to take a single step and move the baby from his back to a secure position before he felt a sharp gust of wind rushing at his back.
A violent wind formed by spiritual energy brushed past Sheng Wang, the ghostly figure that produced the elemental reaction appeared as it came to a stop and faced the pair of weak-looking humans.
Before long, silent poofs resounded around the old man as he was surrounded by a group of heavy furred creatures that were ready to pounce at him.
The tall creature stood proudly on four solid limbs with large paws that hid sharp claws and opened jaws that showed large rays of serrated teeth.
The heavy creatures didn't leave any footstep on the snow, its fur released a coldness that seemed to suddenly raise the temperature surrounding it.
A silent bark was released by the large wolfs as they threatened to pounce toward the old man at any moment. The large sets of glinting canines released a deadly coldness that crystallized the atmosphere surrounding it and formed crystal-like icicles that surrounded its head and formed a hardened surface around the dire beast's head.
The Dire Icewolf readied itself for the attack and began moving the elemental spiritual power it possessed to prepare its attack.
However the moment it put strength on its powerful limb in an attempt to pounce at the old man. The spiritualist named Sheng Wang moved right before the Dire Icewolf he was facing.