Figures were rushing across the forest, with two of them clearly leading the rest as they weave all around, seemingly all moving towards one direction.
Among the inconspicuous bunch, a young man was staring at the two in front, seemingly trying to look at something that is clearly not there. However, in the eyes of the young man, a semi-transparent golden screen is displaying basic information about the two.
[Name: Huo Chen]
[Age: 19]
[Affiliation: Myriad Flame Sect]
[Cultivation: Intermediate state Core Formation Realm]
[Physique: Blessed Flame Body]
[Stats]
[Strength: 24 innate strength]
[Agility: 19 innate strength]
[Intelligence: 19 innate strength]
[Stamina: 21 innate strength]
[Vitality: 21 innate strength]
[Aptitude: Low Quality Celestial Level]
[Name: Bing Xue]
[Age: 19]
[Affiliation: ??? (Increase the understanding of True Sight Technique to advance level to reveal information)]
[Cultivation: Intermediate State Core Formation Realm]
[Soul: Ancient Frost Soul]
[Stats]
[Strength: 19 innate strength]
[Agility: 22 innate strength]
[Intelligence: 22innate strength]
[Stamina: 19 innate strength]
[Vitality: 19 innate strength]
[Aptitude: Low Quality Celestial Level]
Seeing the numbers in his screen, Wu Xiaotian sighed in relief as the thought that he encounters a troublesome matter disappears in his mind. Not to mention that the two of them was weaker than him in base stats, he can even bring himself to fight against the monsters in the cave with higher stats than him without using any techniques and only using foundational skills, so dealing with the two of them should be an easy thing to accomplish.
However, he still doesn't let his guard down and continues being lowkey in order to avoid being spotted, completely merging with the mob as if he's also just a random cannon fodder.
After a couple of hours of running, they eventually got out of the forest and was surprised by what they saw. A giant golden palace that seems to be so out of place for the desolate land outside the forest, surrounding it is a gigantic transparent barrier that ripples every time the people on the outside tries attacking it, their attacks completely dissipating, the barrier sustaining not a single scratch at all.
Seeing the approaching people, the ones attacking the barrier eventually stops and approaches the two people in front.
"Are there any progress?" the lady named Bing Xue, asked as she approached one of the people attacking the barrier, a young lady about the same age as her, the lady's appearance just slightly below her.
The lady hearing this, shook her head as she replies, "There's none at all Sis Xue, the barrier won't even budge even if dozens of peoples simultaneously use high level techniques".
While disappointed with the answer, Bing Xue still expected pretty much the same result, so she just ignores the bad news, and comforted the other young lady that it is fine.
Meanwhile, Wu Xiaotian was completely in trance as he scans all around the barrier, studying the runes glowing on the ground as someone hits the barrier, he gradually starts to understand how the barrier works.
'The one who did it must be one hell of a master, well, at least in the mortal level' he thought as he continues observing the rune formation, spreading his senses so that he could see the whole picture, committing it into his mind so that he could study it later.
'Fortunately, no one notice my senses anywhere' he said in relief, wondering why is that so. After recalling a specific line in the Myriad Talent Compendium, stating that cultivators only start strengthening the soul at the Soul Formation Realm, he thought that it makes more sense now.
'Well, given how I've always cultivated the soul even at the Body Tempering Level, it all makes sense that they can't notice my sense given the difference in our soul is' Wu Xiaotian thought to himself as he once again marvels at the absurdness of his talents.
"Alright, since it is already getting dark, we will stop trying to break through the palace's barrier for now and recover qi for tomorrow, everyone, please head back" Bing Xue decided to call it a day and pulled back all her forces from the barrier, creating a campsite just near enough to observe all that is happening to the barrier.
Seeing the other one does so, the red-haired young man, Huo Chen also pulled his people back from the barrier and set up a camp just beside Bing Xue's, the lady seemingly a bit against it but did nothing as she couldn't do anything given that they're about the same in terms of strength.
Huang Xie, already tearing his façade off starts bootlicking one of Huo Chen's close aides, hoping that the talented young man would forgive him, and maybe even give him a reward if he tells him about how Wu Xiaotian comes out of the cave that spew out that terrifying energy wave.
Wu Xiaotian however, seems to already forget about the hypocritical young man as he decides to distance himself from both of the groups, barbecuing the meat he got from the monsters in the cave.
As the meat gradually cooks, the aroma from the mixture he cooked it wafted out, the direction of the air carrying the fragrant smell towards the all-women groups' camp.
Smelling it, the ladies' mouth began to water, some of them, approached him as they were craving some real food similar to what the forces, they're in were serving them, clearly unaware of how to cook.
"This fellow cultivator, would you be kind enough to share some of your food with us?" one of the ladies that approached Wu Xiaotian smiles as she said to him, smiling widely as a flower like scent starts coming out of her.
Smelling the oddity, Wu Xiaotian immediately recognizes it as a seduction technique, and a pretty high level one at that. Given the effect of the Extreme Origin Transcendent Soul, he wasn't even affected by the technique, but he pretended to do so in order to prevent drawing in attention.
"Y-yes young lady, here, you all can try out my cooking…" Wu Xiaotian faked a blush as he hands out the food towards the ladies, even going as far as making his hands shake to make him appear more panicked.
Seeing the combination of the panicked look combined with his extremely handsome appearance, the ladies couldn't help but start having some thoughts imagining themselves doing things with the young man.
If only Wu Xiaotian can see their thoughts, he would immediately stop the act and start wreaking havoc just to stop these ladies from thinking about anything further.
Sadly for him though, he has yet to acquire an ability to read minds so while he thinks that there's something odd about these ladies' gaze, he just dismissed them as some form of attraction given his appearance.
The few ladies that approached them gradually settled and sat down in a circle around the food, eating happily as they enjoyed the view while teasing him.
The other ladies that refuse to swallow their pride was jealous as they saw their companions playing around with such a handsome young man, meanwhile the guys at Huo Chen's encampment were staring daggers at Wu Xiaotian, their heart burning with jealousy watching him getting surrounded and teased by multiple beautiful ladies.
This wasn't any of Wu Xiaotian's concern though as he just thought of how he should make these women leave as he doesn't want to draw any more attention than he currently does, attention to him that will only increase even more as the two the seems to act as the leader of the all-women group approaches him.
"Fellow Daoist, since you already cooked for some of my companions, how about you cook the meal for our whole camp as well?" speaking in an arrogant tone, the lady beside Bing Xue said while looking down on Wu Xiaotian, as if her words are something that is meant for him to obey.