Chapter 30 - Traps

"Please, Cultivators," The East District Administrator cupped his hands in front of the forest. Several soldiers were around, showing that they had surrounded the forest.

Xiao Jun nodded his head. Although he was annoyed that he couldn't use these soldiers as cannon fodder, he could only advance forward. 

Even if Li Xue had gotten stronger, she wouldn't be able to break through multiple times in a short amount of time. That was why he brought these people. He would definitely defeat Li Xue with numbers.

"Let's go." Xiao Jun waved his hand, signaling his people to enter the forest.

On the other side of the forest, Hao Yu had also reached the forest. As expected, even though the forest had been surrounded, it was hard for them to completely cover the entire forest with the number of soldiers. 

Even though it was small, the forest's circumference was still above more than three kilometers. Despite using a hundred soldiers at once, each soldier had to be stationed thirty meters away from each other. 

While the sky was clear and the visibility was infinite, there were a few weird edges that covered people's eyes. Hao Yu took advantage of it to sneak in.

Inside the forest, Hao Yu pulled out his bow and muttered, "Cultivators don't know about this, but there are three things you need in order to kill your enemies. You might have one of them, Strength. But you need the harmony and the terrain. And I'm the one who has it. Let's see how far a mortal can go against a cultivator."

Hao Yu and Xiao Jun ventured into the forest at the same time. However, the challenge they faced was extremely different. Hao Yu had been creating everything inside this forest. Due to the location, the size, and no presence of spiritual beasts, Hao Yu could work on everything in this forest.

After all, no one would pass this forest over the main road. The size wasn't big enough to stop anyone, and the lack of spiritual beasts was good for the city. This way, no one would even bother coming into this place unless necessary.

In the past six months, Hao Yu might not have done anything related to cultivators. But he had prepared everything he could, and one of the deeds was this forest.

As soon as Xiao Jun reached far enough that not a single soldier could be seen anymore, he said, "Be careful. There is a chance that Li Xue is hiding somewhere."

The other cultivators nodded their heads while taking out their weapons. One of them stepped forward and slashed the vines so that they could go straight.

On the other hand, Xiao Jun didn't know where he should go. He could walk straight to the center of the forest, but there was no way Li Xue would be hiding there. At the same time, exploring this forest would take a lot of time.

"Senior Brother, should we go on top of the tree?" One of them asked while pointing up, thinking it would be easier to find Li Xue from there.

Xiao Jun thought for a moment and said, "Two of you will be surveying the area from up there."

Two 7-Star cultivators were chosen, and the last 7-Star had to resign to his fate as the one at the very front. The two 8-Star Experts were protecting Xiao Jun on the left and right side.

"What can you see from up there?"

For a cultivator, reaching the top of the tree only took a single leap. However, they realized something concerning when they looked down. 

They had a hard time finding anything on the ground. The forest had been covered with thick bushes and vines. They had to peek through the gaps if they wanted to find someone on the ground.

In other words, the only thing they could easily find was a presence on top of the tree.

"This is…"

"Senior Brother. It's almost impossible to find anything from up here. The bushes and vines are too thick."

Xiao Jun frowned, wondering how he ended up with these two pathetic people. At the same time, he contemplated what he was going to do.

"You two stay up there. There is a chance that Li Xue is hiding on top of the tree. You are going to look out for her from up there."

Although he wanted to berate these people, his pride didn't allow him to stop. Ultimately, he waved his hand, asking them to continue.

The group continued moving forward. They were careful as they didn't know where Li Xue was. However, they had one advantage. The fact that Li Xue was using a sword meant Li Xue had to engage them in close combat. In other words, as long as they put up their guard all the time, Li Xue had less chance of assassinating them.

"There is nothing here." One of the 7-Star cultivators shouted. He had been informing Xiao Jun about the situation every five minutes.

"We don't need you to report if there is nothing. Just continue, or Li Xue will use your voice to find us!" Xiao Jun shouted back, his tone cold.

The cultivator could only shut his mouth and continue, albeit that was something he shouldn't do. After all, the moment he leaped to the next branch, he heard a sound that wasn't supposed to be possible in this dense forest.

Creak! 

Snap!

"!!!" The cultivator widened his eyes. When he looked to the side, the branch was actually about to snap. Due to the addition of his weight and momentum, the branch snapped. "NO!"

He instinctively shouted as he fell to the ground.

"What?" Xiao Jun gritted his teeth, following the direction of that voice. The branch didn't follow him down. Instead, it was still barely hanging on top of the tree.

At the same time, something felt wrong. Even though the guy shouted when he fell, there wasn't a single noise coming from him.

A cultivator could easily survive from that fall, but when Xiao Jun reached him, he witnessed something he didn't expect.

The 7-Star Expert that fell earlier had been impaled by multiple spikes hidden underneath the bushes. They impaled his head, throat, chest, and all over his body, giving him no chance to say anything in his dying breath.

By looking at the position of the spikes and the branch, there was no way it was a natural phenomenon.

In other words, someone had prepared traps inside this forest.