As he glanced down, Nevas was jumping with amazing speed behind an incoming brown titan of a boar that was three meters tall without making the slightest bit of noise, whether it was sound, smell, energy, or whatever, one couldn't detect anything.
With another jump, he briskly disappeared from the boar's rear end and appeared several meters to his right.
The 9th Qi Condensation boar finally noticed something out of the corner of his eye and willed himself to turn around, but by then, it was already too late!
In the midst of his terrifyingly fast jump, Nevas conjured a grey symbol that was suspended in mid-air next to the boar. He quickly arrived at the symbol and landed on it, which managed to absorb all of his momentum without making any noise. He mustered every bit of strength in his tiny six legs, unfurled his wings, and kicked once again, this time jumping towards the slowly turning around boar.
Although the visual looked striking and impressive, the lack of any sort of sound made it seem incomplete and strange as it didn't follow what one might expect from seeing a sight like that.
However, Nevas didn't care. In perfect slow motion, his body was surrounded with grey energy, his dazzling wings surrounded his body, and a grin was plastered on his face.
He brandished both of his lethally sharp forelegs in an X shape in front of his face and circulated all of his Qi into them.
Then! A frightening sensation was felt by everyone present, but especially the boar. As a big curved X made out of deadly sharp light purple energy surrounded his small body and with a whoosh, made contact with the boar.
Unsurprisingly, the cut was perfectly clean as the body immediately fell in its place with a thud, and the head rolled a couple of meters before stopping.
Even though Lei Yan had already seen this exact scene repeat itself several times, his shock didn't diminish in the slightest.
'Good lord! That's so cool.' He joyfully thought at that, the stronger his precious underlings were, the stronger he indirectly was.
Still, something did catch his attention out of all that. The fact that Nevas's mastery over the new movement technique was clearly way superior to his, even though Lei Yan had learned it earlier.
'Could it be because he was more suited for it?' As he thought of that, he felt like it made sense. He knew that, for example, the Cultivation Arts that he was practicing could be given to other monsters, but their compatibility wouldn't be on the same realm as his. They would find it very hard to cultivate it to a very profound level, unlike him who was already making significant progress in the beginner level.
'Hmm, it does make sense after all. I received the egg and the movement technique at the same time, so probably it wasn't random as I initially thought. It's not like he's just way more talented than me or anything.' Reaching a satisfying conclusion, he smiled to himself.
Soon, they reached the end of the Red Minnerade Wetlands and entered a new forest region.
There were no more bodies of water here, even though the Red Minnerade grass could still be seen sparsely. There were new trees that were very tall, thin, and curved in the middle, making them look hunched back.
The tree bark was dark yellow, and the leaves were green.
When the group reached this region, a change occurred that was immediately noticed by everyone.
It was deathly still!
Other than the soft breeze that rustled the leaves of the hunched-back trees, there was no other noise. This change caught the group off guard, as the area they were just journeying through was abuzz with life, with every step they took, new creatures were busy surviving.
Lei Yan glanced up, and he could make out a very thin mist above the tall trees that reduced visibility even further. The rising sun was also finding it difficult to pierce through this mist.
When he looked in front of him, he could tell that the more they advanced, the dimmer it would become as the mist would thicken.
'This definitely looks creepy,' Lei Yan quietly thought to himself once he took all of that in.
Suddenly, a piercingly loud owl's hoot reverberated throughout the forest where they just entered, and then, he heard some noise coming from behind him.
He swiftly turned around to look, but he didn't see anything. Just when he was surveying the area that was previously behind him, he heard a strong rustling of leaves coming from the direction of the forest. Quickly turning around once again, he could see the faint shadow of an owl flying deep into the forest.
"But what made that noise behind me?" Feeling very alarmed by this unexpected turn of events, Lei Yan didn't know what to do with it. However, he quickly instructed everyone to slowly veer to the right.
The reason for that was because he heard the distant sounds of a body of water, and the two nymphs desperately needed to breathe; otherwise, they'd die. After all the trouble he went through to successfully hatch them, there was no way in hell he'd allow that to happen.
As the group slowly made their way to the right, which was essentially the west of the swamp, they found that the sparse red grass was no longer there, and the ground was also becoming more and more solid, unlike the muddy terrain in the last region that was filled with bodies of water.
Lei Yan stayed in the rear of the group, paying full attention in case the strange sound he heard before came back again. He knew that the sound wasn't just some random thing because the moment that piercing owl hoot resounded, the owner of the sound reacted in some way.
He quietly pondered over the possibilities of what happened, 'For something to follow me for god knows how long without me even me noticing, then it must be either very stronger than me or just slightly stronger but very proficient in stealth.'
He was more inclined to believe in the second possibility, which was why he wasn't too worried. After all, if it was really someone much stronger, why would it follow them and not act?
The only thing that seemed to make sense to Lei Yan was that it was a monster proficient in stealth, waiting for a good opportunity to strike, and he planned to give it one.
Soon, the group reached a very vast body of water that seemed to be moving slightly. Lei Yan wasn't able to see the end of it due to the mist that converged at the horizon. However, one thing was for sure; this body of water was very big.
'This is technically a river, right?' He pushed his senses to the limit, using everything he had: wind sensitivity, blood senses, and spiritual senses, and slowly approached an opening made by two big trees to see if there was anything dangerous in that river.
He even stopped using his wings and just walked step by step towards the edge. The moment he got there, he couldn't help but be slightly relieved.
There was finally life!
The river was bustling with life; there were all kinds of monsters inside – eels, crocodiles, fish, insects, toads, and much more. Yet, for some reason, he wasn't able to sense anything until he got very close to the edge of the river, which puzzled him greatly.
It was very deep, reaching more than 20 meters in depth, and it was filled with several plant species. Some grew on the edges of the river, and others at the bottom.
He gently circulated his Qi and made two bowl-shaped movements of Qi, carrying the two nymphs towards the river. The moment they were submerged, they jolted awake and used their wind powers to help them stay afloat.
Lei Yan could sense that they were nervous, just like when they were just hatched, due to the new environment. However, he knew that this was just a temporary pit stop because he could sense some terrifying monsters deep in that river. He definitely didn't want to let them stay here for too long.
Noticing the exhaustion on the other party members, he told them to rest a bit and take it easy for a while. Naturally, he wouldn't.
This was a new area, and there was no telling what kind of danger lurked in these parts.
Nevas climbed on top of a nearby tree and kept watch, as he had the same thoughts as Lei Yan. The others flew down and sat beside him.
Lei Yan and the rest of the group were joyfully resting and enjoying the faint rays of sunlight that managed to pierce through the morning mist. Naturally, he wasn't blissfully unaware, but he was still paying close attention to his surroundings in case whatever followed them acted, and especially the river.
He even sensed the existence of several Foundation Establishment creatures in different areas, which greatly shocked him. This was the first time in his life, or rather in this life, that he witnessed the existence of several strong monsters. In his memories, though, he had some recollection about the Red Marsh's sect master and several elders who were also terrifyingly powerful. It was said that even their mood unintentionally affected the nearby environment because they were so tuned in to the close-by heaven and earth's Qi.
As he observed the two nymphs hanging by the shallow water of the river upon returning from a brief tour, he noticed that one of them was clearly more inconspicuous than the other.
'Could it have something to do with the fact that each egg has a chance to inherit some of my abilities?' he mulled over. He deeply understood how broken that would be if the chances were very high.
'What if an insect got Swift Absorption? Could it even be granted?' To say he felt stumped by the whole thing would be putting it mildly. He wished for something like an appraisal or some system clarity, considering the gaming elements. But alas!
While pondering these details of his abilities, suddenly, he sensed a very powerful presence from behind him. When he turned to look, his blood ran cold.
A barefooted old man with small shorts and a t-shirt was observing them with an amused expression, as if he were watching a spectacle.
Witnessing this scene, Lei Yan, who had already danced with death so closely and so many times, quickly composed himself and acted.
He swiftly took out the peak Qi Condensation talisman of speed that he had obtained from Li Feng's ring and tore it apart.
However, before the energies within the talisman could even converge into mystical symbols and enter his body, he felt a shadow overhead. His eyes subconsciously glanced up, and in just this small fraction of a second, everything had completely changed.
Lei Yan felt as if he were carrying a ton of weight on his back, and his six legs were forcefully bent under the pressure. In both fear and puzzlement, he quickly circulated his Qi in an attempt to do something, anything. Before the Qi circulation could even start, however, it collapsed, as if obstructed by something foreign.
Although he understood the reason, he couldn't accept it easily, as that would mean his death or worse. He continued to try desperately, but to no avail.
Red Shadow, along with the mosquitoes and dragonflies, were in the same predicament, or even worse, as the weight had already managed to injure them in several places.
Amidst this desperate situation, Lei Yan heard a carefree voice, "Hahaha, you're still 100 years too young to escape from this old man, dragonfly."
As he glanced up, between the steel net's square gaps, he could see an old man looking directly at him with a smile.