Kaeln stood upright as he watched the newcomers' approach, Su Yao stood right behind him.
The sounds of rustling leaves being brushed away and grass being stepped on grew closer while a group approached.
Kaeln watched them closely; he gauged the group as much as he could. He noticed that, despite the dark scene, they had noticeable lights; a few of them with fire attribute energy forming balls of fire on their hands, however very small.
"Hm, perhaps they do not wish to attract surrounding beasts. I hesitated to light a fire for that very reason, but we needed it for the food…"
Soon, a group of five guys, all above the age of twenty appeared in his line of sight,
Yet, Kaeln diverted his gaze from them and look far behind the group instead.
His golden colored irises had a tinge of crimson that blazed around his pupils.
Around five minutes of distance away, he could see more people approaching at a steady pace; there seemed to be more than ten mercenaries excluding the ones in front of him.
" This might get out of control… why is there so many people around suddenly?" Kaeln furrowed his brows, pensive.
" Hey brat! I'm talking to you, seems like you kids have found a nice settling place in this dreadful forest. Hehehe..."
At the forefront of the group of five, a one eyed middle-aged man shouted at Kaeln. Only a few steps separated them.
"Ho!?"
The one eyed man exclaimed loudly as he noticed gorgeous Su Yao behind Kaeln.
He licked his lips fiendishly and cackled like a jackal eyeing its prey. The four men around him all looked particularly outlandish and also eyed Su Yao with a similar, foul look on their faces.
Su Yao, noticing the vile gazes suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. Despite being able to tell the cultivation of those guys, and knowing they were of no threat to her, she felt insecure. She couldn't help but hug her body tightly and take steps towards Kaeln, hiding her body behind his tall frame.
"What vile gazes!" She thought
…" The young maiden mused in her mind.
Why are these men eying me in such a disgusting manner!? It's the first time I've felt so uncomfortable"
The annoying noise of the hyenas like laughs and Su Yao's sudden change finally made Kaeln pay attention to the people in front of him.
His face was mostly expressionless but conveyed a slight amount of displeasure. When he noticed how these bandits' looking men were eyeing the young sect Saintes, his annoyed expression turned cold.
It was his first time facing such a situation; « are people like this outside of the back mountain? » he thought.
« No… most people I met seemed to be righteous. These ones must be a minority; the worst types of people. »
He gave the fiend looking man a meaningful, cold stare. Being young and not having been an outsider much, he was experiencing how people were outside the sect for the first time.
"What are you looking at boy!? Better watch how you look at your superiors or you might accidentally lose your sight."
One of the other bandits saw Kaeln's cold gaze and commented with a haughty tone. The man had a tall frame, but a very skinny body coupled with a sickly face marked by greenish eye bags that gave his eyes an eerily sunken look. A long green metal pole was attached to his back.
Just like him, every member of the group had a steel weapon on their bodies. Each weapon gave off a slight spiritual pressure.
Kaeln only gave the skinny man a glance before looking at the leader.
" What do you want? You're not welcome here, please leave." he said softly.
The one eyed man heard that and lifted his brows to look straight at Kaeln, who was also peering right into his eye.
The two looked at each other for a whole minute as the atmosphere turned colder and colder with each passing second.
The one eyed man didn't say anything, but a light flashed in his eyes as he turned his head towards the others. With a batting of his eyelashes, he seemed to give the others a signal.
The four immediately grabbed their weapons respectively.
"Kla-ka-ka, I'm going to enjoy you totally, little girl!" Sickly tall man grabbed the metal pole on his back and prepared to pounce while looking at Su Yao.
Not far away, Thorin and the others saw the scene and expected a battle to erupt at any moment.
Just as Thorin and Tang Hao were about to engage, Raizel grabbed them by the shoulders.
"Wait, guys, look over there." Pointing a direction opposite Kaelen's place, Raizel calmly said.
The two turned where he pointed and a giant three headed shadow could be seen looming a hundred feet away.
The sight horrified Tang Hao who jumped in fright: "By the sacred ancestor, what the f*ck is that!?"
Thorin also took a deep breath, and turned back to look towards Kaeln: "Do you think we should notify Kaeln of the beast? He seems pretty focused on them; he might not have noticed it yet."
Raizel didn't immediately answer but looked far behind the mercenaries that Kaeln faced. He could see a dozen or so people walking towards where they were.
'Though those mercenaries are somewhat weaker, there's a few strong ones amongst the people behind.' He thought.
"Seem like things are about to get pretty interesting" Raizel smiled as he mumbled.
Kaeln was still eyeing the five intruders slyly.
"Their strength is pretty low, withing gold to black gold Innate Spirit levels. It's not going to be an issue. The ones that worry me are the people behind me. I don't know if they are part of the same group."
Kaeln was in his mind while the men prepared to attack.
"Die!!" The one eyed man lounged forward with a heavy blade. A sharp blue aura tainted its edge exuding a mighty pressure.
a light flickering in his eyes, Kaeln lifted his right hand as dark golden solar flame covered his palm.
Just as he was about to wave his hand in an attempt to riposte, a soft yet commanding voice rang within a hundred feet.
Near footsteps came along the voice as the group of dozen were within a dozen feet away from Kaeln and the five mercenaries.
It was a much more heterogenous group then first five men who all looked looked like savage bandits. This group was composed of 20 some year olds mostly. Powerful auras could be felt emanating from a number of individuals.
At the lead was 25ish year old woman and similar aged man. The woman was quite tall, at around 1,80m, she wasn't much shorter than the man beside her who was similar to Kaeln in height.
"Who are you guys, we don't want any trouble, but it seems you can't keep your members in a leash…" Kaeln retracts the golden flame from his palm while saying.
The woman and man both looked at the valiant looking young man. Both being much more powerful than the five mercenaries, they could easily sense Kaeln's cultivation level and true strength, which left quite shocked,
The two exchanged glances as a light flashed in the man eyes.
The woman turned to face Su Yao who hid closely behind Kaeln.
"We mean no harm. I apologize in those fives' behalf; I promise I would reprimand them if they caused you any trouble." She chuckled and softly said,
".."
Kaeln did not immediately respond but surveyed their group as he counted the people and gauged their strengths from up close.
He could easily tell the two on the front were the most powerful,
"Those two are past Innate Spirit Realm and have reached a strong level in the Intent materialization realm- and they're not the only ones, there are a few others." Thinking, he swiftly looked at the back of the group and saw a gorgeous azure carriage complete with golden accents, A jade phoenix symbol hung at the top front end of the carriage. Inside, Kaeln perceived three powerful auras, two seemingly at the Intent materialization realm and one that seemed to be about to breakthrough, what shocked Kaeln was that the one that was still in the Innate spirit Realm seem to exude a pressure much more powerful then the other two,
"I wonder who's in that carriage..." His eyes paused towards the direction of the carriage for a while, a hint of wariness in his eyes.
The man and woman at the front of the group both smiled as the man stepped forward.
He walked until he was in front of Kaeln, seeing him up close, Kaeln could say that he was handsome man. He had a tall slender figure with waterfall like black hair and a heroic demeanor that made people look positively at him.
The man extended his hand firmly with just smile on his face.
"Hello, junior brother. My name is Qiang Jun, I am a student of the Coiling Dragon Imperial Academy's Hidden Dragon Pavilion. I can tell you are an extraordinary junior; can you tell me who you are?" The man said.
Although he dislikes the way the mercenaries behaved, Kaeln wouldn't disrespect someone who treated him with civility.
He relaxed his brows and shoulders; the tense atmosphere seemed to ease with him, as he lifted his hand to shake the man's.
"Hello, senior brother. This Junior's name is Kaeln Sun blaze. I am a sec- "As he was introducing himself, Kaeln suddenly realized that it had been a year since he joined the sect, .
"Hm?" The man lifted his eyebrow in surprise.
"I am a second year student of the Free Immortal Sect. Behind me are my friends from the same sect." Kaeln ended his sentence,
"Ohh… the Free Immortal sect you say." The man named Qiang Jun nodded in understanding. It didn't surprise him that the boy in front was from a prestigious sect at all. Not to mention the Free Immortal sect is on par with Coiling Dragon Imperial Academy in terms of the geniuses they foster and overall prestige.
He turned towards Thorin and the others who were approaching. "Hm… these are all strong juniors. Heh? Isn't that." Qiang Jun looked at the others and his gaze paused at Tang Hao and Xue Qing,
He jumped in fright and quickly bowed. "This disciple sees the third prince and the maiden Xue Qing." He greeted me quickly.
The woman behind also quickly came forward and did the same.
The other members of the group, as well as the five mercenaries, immediately started mumbling.
"there's no way, what are the third prince and his cousin doing in the inner circle of the Western Wilderness without any guards?" Someone said.
"What!? The third prince and his cousin!!?" The one-eyed mercenary's eye widened in shock and his back began to sweat.
Tang Hao and the rest arrived beside Kaeln, the former seeing the man and women at the front couldn't help but be startled.
Seeing everyones reaction, Kaeln was taken aback. "Heh… that chubby fellow has this much effect on people?" He couldn't help but be amused a little as he chuckled.
It must be said that having lived with Rai and old Dai for most of his life with little to no outside, he's a bit unaware of the customs of regular society. Thus, the prestige of an emperor is still foreing to him.
"High power individuals usually exude an aura of power and dignity, so I can guess they have a high status even though I don't think much of it... However, brother Hao doesn't exude that type of aura, he projects an approachable and accessible energy thats enjoyable for people despite his status- scoff." the corner of his lip curved up and a small light of appreciation flashed in Kaeln's eyes as he gazed at his royal friend.
"Oh, it's brother Qiang and sister Lan, long time no see." The chubby prince had loss a bit of weight the past months and looked abit more his status. He smiled as he waved.
"You know them?" Raizel, who stood on his left side asked.
"Yes, senior brother Qiang and senior sister Lan are very popular students at the imperial academy. Since the academy is directly linked to the imperial palace, I would often see disciples of the academy. And my older brothers are students at that place so whenever I see them, I must go there. Qiang Jun in particular, is my second brothers' friends so we know each other."