As he stepped into the outskirts, the atmosphere shifted.
Behind him stood Xiongwei, the fortress that guarded the Great Luo from the Blighted Wilds.
Ahead… was exactly that.
The Wilds that the city was guarding.
The plains in front of him stretched outward like a barren expanse, the soil was dark and cracked as if it had long since withered away.
Not a trace of green could be seen, small ash-like particles drifted in the air around him.
Everything here was wrong.
The trunks twisted unnaturally toward the sky, their branches thin and jagged, while the darkened wood and silver leaves gave them a presence that felt deeply unsettling.
Wu Zhe's eyes narrowed slightly as he took in the scenery.
"So this is the Blighted Wilds…"
Without another word, he pushed his horse forward.
The further he rode, the weirder things became.
The faint sound of wind blew, but it didn't sound right, it sounded like something else entirely, it sounded like the distant screech of hundreds of voices, quiet yet impossible to ignore once heard.
Soon, he reached the edge of the forest.
After a brief pause, Wu Zhe dismounted his horse, leaving at the edge of the forest as he went in.
Approximately Twenty minutes later..
"I should've brought a guide… someone who knows their way around this damned forest," he muttered, feeling lost. He hadn't seen anyone, or anything, since entering.
"HELPPPP!" Suddenly, a voice pierced through the silence, the sound of a man screaming for help.
Wu Zhe crept closer to the voice, not running, but moving silently toward the noise.
"Help! Anyone!"
"Ha…" The man groaned. He wasn't running, he was limping. Both of his feet seemed injured by bites. It was a miracle the man could still walk.
"Is this how I die…" the man cried, limping and screaming at the top of his lungs.
"What do you need?" Wu Zhe asked, appearing from behind the tree in front of the man.
"HA! A-a person! Help! Please water!" The man's face lit up upon the sight of him.
"No," Wu Zhe said flatly.
"What?" the man froze.
"Please! I'm dying!" the man shouted, emphasizing the word "dying."
"I don't care." Wu Zhe replied, then suddenly lunged at the man.
"What are you doing?!" the man shouted, seeing Wu Zhe charge at him.
SHK
The man instinctively raised his hands to protect himself, but felt nothing. Lowering them, he looked around in confusion, only to spot Wu Zhe behind him, his sword cleaving a wolf's head.
"Thank you!" the man breathed, realizing Wu Zhe saved his life by killing the wolf that was about to attack him.
"Sir! Can you please ta—"
SHK
Wu Zhe's sword flew straight into the man's head, wedging itself in the man's skull, splitting it.
"Goodness, you talk far too much," Wu Zhe muttered, annoyed, as he walked toward the man's body to retrieve his sword.
As soon as he grasped the hilt, he began meditating, using his devouring arts. His mind buzzed as memories flooded in all at once.
A memory first surfaced from the wolf.
A robed figure stood in a clearing, his face hidden by shadows. The air around him felt heavy and suffocating. Wolves circled him in silence, their eyes dull and stripped of thought. With a single lift of his hand, they stilled completely. They moved only when he willed it, like puppets dragged by invisible strings.
Then the memory shattered.
Another took its place, this time from the human.
The man stood with three companions at the forest's edge, laughing, weapons slung casually over their shoulders. It was meant to be a simple hunt for easy coin.
As they ventured deeper into the trees, a pack of wolves burst from the silver bushes. At first, they weren't fazed. They knew how to deal with such beasts. Wolves would retreat once wounded.
But these were different.
More and more wolves emerged, far beyond anything they had ever fought or even known of. These wolves threw themselves onto their weapons without fear or hesitation. They had no instinct to flee, only a relentless drive to kill. The groups confidence quickly turned into panic as the beasts fought to the death.
The memories faded, leaving Wu Zhe standing over the two corpses. He remained silent, pondering the memories he had inherited.
"Someone is controlling these wolves? Intriguing…" Wu Zhe muttered, as he rubbed his chin.
Fourteen minutes later.
"ROARRRRR!"
A deafening roar tore through the forest. Wu Zhe leapt onto a tree, leaping from branch to the other branch toward the source of the sound. When he finally arrived, he didn't immediately intervene, he simply observed.
Wu Zhe's eyes enveloped with Qi spotted three cloaked figures surrounding a bear, with corpses of dead wolves scattered around it.
All of them had cultivation bases, the three cloaked figures all had realms in the third stage of Qi Refinement. The bear, however, was only at the first stage of Qi Refinement.
"Ha…" one of them muttered, a note of annoyance in his voice. "This damned bear killed all the wolves we had!"
"It's fine, senior sister," another said, shrugging. "Those wolves were useless anyway. This bear is far more valuable, sacrificing them was worth it."
"I… I guess," she muttered reluctantly, eyes flicking between the bear and the wolves.
In perfect unison, two of the cloaked figures hurled talismans toward the bear. The talismans hovering mid-air, glowing for a moment before unleashing chains that shot out like lightning, wrapping tightly around the bear's limbs, neck, and torso, holding it in place
The bear roared and thrashed violently, its massive claws raking the ground as it tried to break free. The chains clanking with every movement of the bear, but the chains held firm.
Two of the cloaked figures circled the bear, extending their fingers toward the chains. Their fingers glowed as they poured their Qi into the talismans, reinforcing the chains that pinned the bear in place.
One of the men walked forward, taking out a small, wriggling insect with a smirk. Trying to push it into the bear's gaping mouth.