LingYue greeted the Elder before quickly exchanging for the Demonic Demeanor Transformation Art as he then made his way out of the Thousand Eyes Hundred Ears Library.
He hadn't gone far as he noticed a slight malicious intent targeted towards him as he felt their gazes hidden amongst the shadows.
1. . 2. .3. . .4
He slowly counted the Spiritual fluctuations he felt as they followed him.
Xiao LingYue slowly relaxed as the strongest Spiritual fluctuations he felt were only that of the lower Meridian Opening Stage similar to him, while the other three ranged from the 6th realm of The Body Tempering Stage to the Half-Step Meridian Opening Stage.
He wondered if these four had found out he was injured from the test of Hollow Heart Peak as he slowly weaved through the cult as he made his way towards the more lonesome and seldom lying visited areas.
Soon LingYue was at the rear exit of the Cult which faced an expansive forest.
This forest held an eerie glow as the trees reached to the sky as if they were sinners reaching for salvation. Their greyed arms stretched upwards as their darkened nails pointed to the skin.
This forest was known as Repentant Ghoul Forest and held within various Yin-oriented plants as well as wild Gu and Ferocious beasts.
Every year hundreds of disciples would vanish forever within these thickets. . .
LingYue quickly darted into the forest as he weaved amongst the trees as he sensed the four disciples following him quickly as their speed increased.
A sneer soon formed along his lips as his eyes glanced behind him, his spiritual fluctuations slowly vanishing as he hid amongst the thick foliage.
Certain skills from the mines still came into play as hid his aura while lying in wait, his eyes narrowed as a sharp glint quickly flashed within them.
The four disciples soon made their way to his vicinity as they glanced around with furrowed brows.
"Where the fuck is he?! How can he just up and vanish?!" The Body Tempering Stage disciple exclaimed as they were clearly more worried than the Meridian Opening Stage young man.
His hair was jet black with brown eyes and refined scholarly features, and his robes were of black and white, denoting that he was a disciple of the Carefree Valley.
His eyes turned to look at the Half-Step Meridian Opening disciple beside him as he nodded.
The Half-Step Meridian Opening disciple returned the nod as he began to make multiple hand seals before an insect similar to that of a weird mixture between a centipede and a mosquito slowly crawled out his mouth.
It had a half-meter-long body with hundreds of legs and a long syringe-like proboscis like that of a mosquito paired with multiple cicada-like wings.
This was his Vital Gu, The Corpse Vore Centipede; a needed component of the Phantom Gu Valley which complements their cultivation method but also increased their battle strength.
Suddenly a stake-like piece of metal pierced the Corpse Vore Centipede's head! The strength of the blow blasted its head clean off before lodging it within the body of the Body Tempering disciple.
The blood from the Corpse Vore Centipede was highly toxic, so shortly after getting injured, the Body Tempering disciple's body began to be filled with Corpse Qi as his wound became necrotic.
Everything happened so fast the other disciples were stunned, they quickly hid behind trees as the body tempering disciple fell over as he gasped while the Half-Step Meridian Opening disciple faced the backlash of his Vital Gu dying and began to cough litre after litre of black blood.
The blood he continued to vomit alarmed the others as they contained small pieces of flesh, which seemed to be the eggs and larvae of the Corpse Vore Centipede.
The smell of the Blood began to waft throughout the forest as the sounds of roars from ferocious beasts quickly began to get closer.
The sounds of trampling and running were like a drumbeat in their heart, the incoming sounds were like the advance of an army as they rushed towards their direction.
The Carefree Valley disciple cast a glance at the two injured parties before leaving while the last peak Body Tempering Stage disciple followed along hurriedly.
LingYue dashed out as two glints were seen as his blade swung, activating a trace of Spiritual Qi within his martial movement!
[Wrathful Wraith Stance!]
[Beguiling Ghost Blade 3rd Movement: Hundred
Phantoms Conquer The City!]
An eerie spectacle appeared as the vague image of a Ghostly General overlapped with his body. His blade swung downwards as if he directed his undead troops to slaughter the city.
Two heads spun as they flew upwards, blood spraying; whipping the incoming beasts into a frenzy as they increased their speed.
LingYue grabbed the two storage pouches along with the two heads.
Held by their hair, the heads dangled as blood continued to fall from their necks as he leapt from branch to branch in pursuit of the other two.
Soon he could see them in the distance as he sheathed his saber before throwing the Jadeite Thorns!
SNAP!!
DING!!
Hearing the rushing of the wind, the Carefree disciple turned and parried the stake-like hidden weapon with his fan but the other disciple wasn't so lucky.
His inattentiveness caused the thorn to sink straight into his knee from behind.
Crippled by the thorn, his momentum sent him tumbling as he squealed, the thorn tearing his leg apart in the fall.
In pain and now crippled fear inundated the disciple as he began to howl and beg between the cries of pain.
The Carefree disciple's face was covered in disgust at the exhibition this disciple was currently showing.
But before he could once again flee, the rustling of wind was heard again as he parried with his fan once more, only to realize it wasn't the metal stake that was thrown earlier but two heads, they had hit his fan simultaneously covering him in the deceased blood.
As the heads fell to the floor their eyes were wide open their pupils were grey and their expressions were full of fright.
The Carefree disciple looked at himself covered in blood as he noticed what was wrong, his eyes shot open as fear struck his heart, his head tilting upwards to the shadow above him with a saber in hand, the ghastly red eyes staring down at them as his body began to tremble.
His body wasn't trembling due to the fear, but due to the mass of flesh that was coming from between the trees, ferocious beasts and wild Gu of all shapes and sizes ran rampant towards them as sweat soaked his back and time seemed to slow.
Beasts and Gu alike launched themselves into the air as they all competed with each other to get the food first.
The stench of the beasts' breath assailed his nostrils as his gaze shifted upwards once again and all he could think to himself was.
'Why did I take this fucking Jo. . . . .'
Limbs were torn as the scent of blood spread in all directions, LingYue watched with the slight smile he always has when humans die, before slowly leaping from tree to tree to make his way back to the Cult.