The leader of their tribe had his hands clasped and below his chin. His ears were pushed back.
"Why did you trespass upon our territory?" His slit shaped pupils stared at Maxwell, trying to read him.
"I didn't know this was your territory."
"Then why are you here?"
"I'm here for a sect mission."
"What is the mission?"
"I can't tell you since I don't know if you're responsible."
"Tell us or we will have to kill you." He threatened Maxwell with his sharp killing intent that was like claws.
'He's rank 5 and if Arion is being obedient then he must be strong.'
Maxwell had already planned for this outcome on the way and realised revealing the mission was the only way out.
"I came to investigate the disappearances of people in this forest."
"You must have gotten something to prove that."
Maxwell nodded and brought out the small wooden card that had the mission engraved on it.
"Hmmm, this is real."
"See, what did I tell you?"
"Okay, you're free to go."
"Where can I even go? It's already dark and even the little light at the ground won't be there. I will be food in mere seconds."
"It was our fault, so as an apology you can stay here. We will also invite you to our night banquet."
"I'll gladly accept." Maxwell replied with a smile.
He left the town hall to look around their treetop town. After seeing Maxwell leave unscathed, the civilians weren't as hostile with some even approaching him. Three children ran up to him to make him play with them.
"Big brother, play with us!" They offered him their ball cheerfully.
"Everyone else keeps going on adventures and the others don't smile." Another chimed in, revealing that they were kept in the dark about what was happening.
"Sure, I'll play with you." Maxwell said while grabbing the ball. The children's guardians watched cautiously in case he tried to harm them in any way. By the time the children were exhausted, and it was time for the banquet, the audience to their games realised Maxwell was just a normal human child and that they had misdirected their rage.
"Big brother Maxwell, it's dinner time, come join us." The children called him as they ran towards the giant wooden table with tall wood stools all around it. They hopped onto adjacent chairs and left a seat in between them for Maxwell.
Soon the table was covered in a variety of fruits and delicious roast meat. There was a strong fragrance in the air that nearly made Maxwell drool. The beastkin, that Maxwell now knew were the Metal Claw Clan had much more sensitive noses and they were all drooling, ready to devour the food. The delicious fragrance came from a giant boar that had been roasted specially for that dinner. It was divided equally to prevent chaos.
Everyone waited for the Clan Leader to take the first bite before they commenced the meal. There was a lot of chattering going on while they ate, and it felt like Maxwell was sharing a meal with a giant joint family.
Slowly, others were warming up to him. Arion was enjoying it too with everyone offering him a multitude of food items. He was loving the attention he got from all the warrioresses that were treating him well.
Suddenly arrows came whizzing at them. Maxwell quickly cut down all the arrows aimed toward him and the children with his spear intent.
'An ambush in the town! How come they came unnoticed?'
The clan leader was visibly alarmed at how much they had infiltrated the village. The capable warriors immediately grabbed anything they could use as a weapon and protected the ordinary clan members. Maxwell dashed towards the bowman's rough direction and jumped on to a branch. He heard a very quiet noise of someone moving and stabbed the general direction of the noise.
"Tch, I was detected." A voice came from the darkness. Maxwell had only given a minor cut to the hidden person.
They stood face to face on a wide branch with their weapons out. His opponent was a Soul Transformation Realm short sword wielder.
'I have no chance of winning since he's on guard. I can't sneak attack him and win.'
Maxwell struck first with a stab at his shoulder. It was immediately parried away with immense force. Although Soul Transformation realm didn't strengthen a cultivator's body, their dantian would be much larger and they could use much more qi in every single action of theirs.
Maxwell had the advantage in reach with his spear and fighting skills but he was still doomed to lose. He continued attacking with a flurry of blows, leaving his opponent no opportunity to cross the large gap he needed to, to land a strike.
His opponent was blocking all his attacks with an impressive speed. In the middle of his flurry, Maxwell let his spearhead drop to ground before striking upwards at his opponent's hand that held the short sword.
'Shit.' The ambusher realised he had been caught off guard. He wouldn't get hurt from Maxwell's attack, but he was sure to lose his weapon.
The short sword fell out of his hand and off the branch to the town below. All around them there were weapons clanging against each other furiously. There were many shouts and screams everywhere.
"Kid, surrender and I can spare your life." A rough voice from the cloaked form threatened Maxwell.
"What? Surrender? You just lost your weapon to me."
"I wasn't taking it seriously; you think you can win if I use my qi?"
"We won't know if we don't try."
Maxwell went on the defensive and planted his feet on the branch. His assailant changed into a martial arts posture and rushed at Maxwell. Maxwell used his spear intent to give a hard blow to him, that would easily knock out a weaker opponent.
'He wouldn't expect that I have 2 variations of my own Spear intent, one that embodies the sharpness and piercing strength of a spear and another for the hard blows it can inflict.'
His assailant rolled off the branch and landed smoothly below. While falling he struck the branch with sword intent, cutting it clean. Maxwell propelled himself off the falling branch and landed a comfortable distance away from his opponent.
His opponent was getting annoyed that such a young boy was playing with him. He picked up his fallen weapon and then they started exchanging blows while running around as blurs. To the people watching while hidden it seemed like two blurs were clashing, causing sparks to fly everywhere.
Maxwell didn't care how much it hurt as he trusted his constitution to become stronger with all the injuries.
"You have impressive tenacity, do you want to join our organisation? We can offer you cultivation resources." His enemy offered him while their weapons were clashing against each other.
"No, I'll pass on that."
"We can offer you beautiful girls."
"I don't need that either."
'Huh, that doesn't work? He's a young boy and he should be at that stage of life; he can't be a big shot, can he?' Maxwell's response had confused his opponent who assumed they would work.
"Fine, since you reject my offer, die!"
Maxwell took the opportunity to use Dragon Devouring Spear 6th stance in the chance he got. A golden dragon charged at the enemy, trying to swallow him. His enemy sent a flurry of blades made of sword qi, cornering Maxwell. Maxwell's attack had gone through and injured him badly since his spear intent was incorporated into the attack. Maxwell couldn't dodge any of the attacks and braced himself with a shield of qi and was sent flying.
He came to an hour later, ready to fight. He quickly realised he was in an infirmary and calmed down.
"What happened?" Maxwell asked a person that seemed to be the town doctor.
"You hit your head against the ground very hard, it's quite astonishing that you woke up so fast with all those wounds too. You barely bled."
"How's the situation outside?"
"There were many injuries and some casualties. In the end we drove them off without them gaining anything."
"Phew." Maxwell let out a long sigh and sat back down on the soft white bed.
"Young man, you were quite heroic. I heard you fought off a Soul Transformation cultivator and managed to fend him off for 15 minutes without injury. You even stopped the children from getting hurt in the ambush."
"It was nothing that great, you exaggerate it."
"Now, don't be humble, there is nobody that can stand on equal grounds with such a large gap. You even gave him a deathly injury. We can't thank you enough."
"I'll accept your gratitude. Since I'm injured can I get someone to assist me in my mission?"
"You will have to ask the leader but I'm sure he will agree."
"Ok, thank you."