Chapter 15
In the thick foliage of trees and shrubbery, where the sunlight was almost unable to reach the ground, a row of horses and carriages slowly waded through a small path covered in twigs and bushes on each side. In one of the carriages, five people were sitting quietly, minding their own business. Cherry Lao was invited to travel with other high-level cultivators, but she declined and decided to go with Shin Jiao and the supply group. To prevent getting into more trouble, although Cherry Lao's cultivation was high, she covered her face with a veil. Shin Jiao, on the other hand, was still weak, and the wound on his back was still healing. Like a truly normal mortal, his recovery rate was far too slow. Because of their constant travel, his wounds had never healed completely, but what befuddled him was that he could not feel any pain in them. It was as if his pain receptors in his brain were off, which was a little dangerous. But ever since they joined this group of supposed town defenders for the coming beast tide, his wounds were starting to get better.
"Shin, what are your plans when we arrive in town?" Cherry Lao asked in a low voice.
"Well, for me, I just wanted to settle down for a while in town, until I could find out what's wrong with me. How about you?" he answered in a low voice.
"I'll… I'll go with you…" she replied, but there was a hint of hesitation in her eyes.
Cherry Lao had discovered something in her cultivation. It seemed that she was unable to progress. It had been days now since they traveled with the caravan group, and she seemed to be stuck and unable to settle her mind. No matter what she tried to do, she could not concentrate on cultivating; it was like her heart was uneasy about something. So, without a choice, she decided to try and find out what was wrong with her mindset. In reality, she already had a clue, but she was unable to accept it and was trying to harshly deny it herself.
"Everyone, there is trouble ahead. Please be prepared," the driver said as the carriage stopped.
Inside, the people began to murmur and speculate on what was going on. Seeing that there seemed to be sounds of beasts growling and shouts of pain, each cultivator suddenly jumped out of the carriage. Not far from where they were, a deadly battle was ensuing. Cultivators and beasts alike were at each other's throats, while some of them were on the ground, either dead or barely living.
All of a sudden, the beasts noticed the newly arrived enemy. As they were wolf-like beasts, they had keen senses. So, a part of their group suddenly rushed toward the caravan where Shin Jiao was.
"Those are Wind Wolves! Be careful of their wind blades!" someone shouted from the group of cultivators.
Cherry Lao also walked out of the carriage and drew her sword, preparing to launch an attack with the rest of the group. As the man and beast clashed against each other, anyone could already see which group was at a disadvantage. Since Cherry Lao was already a Gold Core cultivator, she could easily take care of the wolves that were coming against her in just a single swing of her sword. Each time her sword struck, two to three wolves would be decapitated. Seeing the great disadvantage of their pack, a howl suddenly echoed through the air. This made the Wind Wolves suddenly withdraw back toward a rather larger wolf about two meters in height. Its imposing aura said that it was a Level 4 king beast.
If it were the old Shin Jiao, this creature would not pose a threat, but now as he stayed in the carriage, he felt a little helpless. If he could have his old BARRETT, it would be a cinch for him to kill it. But alas, he was not able to see it again, and he also forgot to ask Cherry Lao about it. "Maybe it was lost in the forest," was the only thing he could think of to appease himself. At the back of his mind, he was a little worried. What if someone found the rifle and discovered its use? Although the technology was hard to reproduce with the current crafting style of the world, it was still a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.
Cherry Lao calmly looked at the Wind Wolf Alpha with its imposing glare. All the cultivators in the area were also feeling tense and pressured by the aura emitted by both of them. Not far from where Cherry Lao stood, a very handsome young man was looking at her with great admiration and bewilderment in his eyes. It was like he was looking at a goddess, as his eyes sparkled like stars.
"Brother! Are you okay?" a beautiful young girl ran toward the young man with a wide smile on her face.
Then she noticed that her brother was looking dazed. She suddenly went near him and waved her hand in front of his eyes. Then, the young man was suddenly pulled back from his bewilderment.
"Oh… Little sister! Why are you here? You should go back to the carriage; it's dangerous here," the young man said to his sister, but his eyes were glued back to the figure of Cherry Lao.
The young girl then turned her eyes toward the direction where her brother was looking and found a young woman with a majestic and imposing aura, and she was suddenly taken aback. The aura the woman emitted was like that of her uncle in the clan, the right-hand man of her father. "But she is still very young and already very strong," she thought. Then, looking at her brother who had his gaze on the young woman in a trance along with other men in the group, extreme jealousy suddenly filled her heart. She could not accept that her elder brother had his eyes on another woman besides her. She only wanted her elder brother to only have her in his loving eyes.
She had committed countless atrocious deeds behind her brother's back whenever she found someone eyeing her brother. As a spoiled princess in their clan, she would always get what she wanted.
Now that her brother was looking at someone as if he was stricken in love, she felt angered, and a killing intent suddenly flashed in her eyes.
"Do you think that since you are powerful, I won't touch you? Dream on! I will do all I can to kill you, bitch!" she said in her mind as she started to plot something.
"Hey, little sister. You need to get inside now. The fight is going to start!" the handsome young man suddenly dashed toward his sister and quickly carried her inside the carriage, then closed it.
The young girl felt happy after being carried by her older brother in his arms.
Cherry Lao and the wind wolf beast king suddenly clashed against each other. As a sword and claw struck, auras whooshed through the air. Both seemed to be on par with each other, as none of their strikes had made contact yet. Shin Jiao was quietly watching from afar and shook his head. He noticed that although Cherry Lao's martial arts were powerful, according to Gubu and his experience, she had a lot of wasted movements. If polished, she could have ended the battle already after two to three clashes with the beast. So Shin Jiao decided that if there was a time, he would teach her and refine her martial arts and fighting style.
The other wolves and cultivators also began to attack each other, following the fight between Cherry Lao and the Wind Wolf Alpha.
Then after a flurry of attacks, Cherry Lao suddenly saw an opening and quickly stabbed her sword, hitting the Wind Wolf Alpha's neck from the front. Then she pushed it through and pierced its heart, which caused it to convulse and slump to the ground, dead.
Sensing that the alpha was now gone, the other Wind Wolves immediately retreated toward the forest with great haste, as if their tails were on fire.
"Yeah! We've won!" everyone shouted with glee, then their eyes drew toward the beautiful image of the young woman standing beside the dead carcass of a Level 4 giant wolf king.
Then she stretched her hand and gathered the carcass in her spatial ring, which made everyone gasp in amazement. As spatial rings are not a common accessory in this world, only those chosen few have them. This meant that Cherry Lao had a great background or was from a strong sect. So everyone was now looking at her with awe and respect.
The handsome young man suddenly ran toward her and cupped his hand with an excited look in his eyes and a wide smile on his face. He was trying to show his most dashing side as he glanced at Cherry Lao.
"Senior sister, this junior really admires your strong fighting power and skills. I never would have thought that a young and beautiful woman can be this strong," he said with a hint of admiration in his voice.
Cherry Lao just nodded in reply. Then, when she was about to turn around and walk back to the carriages, the young man quickly rushed and blocked her way.
"Senior sister, this junior's name is Jing Lei. I am from the Lei family of the town of Dis. It would be my pleasure to invite you for dinner," the handsome young man said after he introduced himself.
The young man had a dashing and sincere smile on his face as he looked at Cherry Lao with expectant eyes. He knew that with his family background, almost everyone knew their prestige in the town. And upon seeing the conflicted look on her face, he felt that he would be able to invite her to dinner.
"Why not? He's inviting us for a free meal, will you not accept?" Shin Jiao's voice was suddenly heard from behind Jing Lei.
"Shin, are you okay?" Cherry Lao suddenly said with a hint of worry upon seeing Shin Jiao walking toward them.
Jing Lei had a slight frown on his face but then smiled as he turned around. There he saw a young man in coarse clothing made of beast skin walking toward them. He then saw the girl he liked move close to him, and the look in their eyes showed that the relationship between the two was not simple.
"And who might this… you are?" Jing Lei asked but changed his tone in the middle as he noticed that Shin Jiao had no aura of a cultivator. Then a glint of craftiness entered his eyes, but disappeared almost immediately.
"Brother Jing, we accept your dinner offer. I am Shin Jiao and she is Cherry Lao," Shin Jiao cupped his hand as he introduced himself and Cherry Lao.
She didn't have any objections to what Shin Jiao had said. It would be good at least once that they could eat something other than grilled meat and dried rations.
All of a sudden, a young girl ran toward them and hugged Jing Lei and smiled coquettishly toward him. Then she looked at Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao with a knitted brow, but when she noticed that Shin Jiao was not a cultivator, a smirk appeared on her mouth.
"Brother, why are you talking to a lowly mortal?" she asked Jing Lei with an innocent eye.
"Sister Lyn, don't be like that... Don't disrespect our guest… I'm sorry for my sister's rudeness. This is my sister, Lyn Lei," Jing Lei reprimanded Lyn Lei.
"Sorry, brother," Lyn Lei said with teary eyes.
"Hais, don't be like that. Okay? We'll have a nice dinner today... I hope that you guys will enjoy the meal. Come with us in our tent," said Jing Lei as he turned toward Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao to invite them. He then held Lyn Lei's hand, and they walked toward their caravan.
"Yes, I will make sure that both of you will have an enjoyable last supper," said Lyn Lei to herself with a murderous glint in her eyes.
The supply team where Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao belonged, also camped out near the Lei's caravan group. They just watched with envy as Shin Jiao, a mere mortal, was also invited to the camp of the Lei's. Everyone in the supply team was aware of Jing Lei's identity. He was the young master of the Lei family and the first heir of their clan. So with that identity, they were showing respectful gazes toward the big luxurious tent surrounded by guards.
On a long wooden table lay a lot of different varieties of food, from exotic fruits to rare beast meat, which was prepared by an expert chef for cultivators' consumption. It is known that cultivators don't just eat anything as there are a lot of impurities in normal food. Although they can digest and absorb the food, it would always take a lot of time to filter the impurities and expel them. So most cultivators chose tasteless rations, as it was already purified or fasting pills. But Shin Jiao was different, as he had found a way to remove the impurities when he cooked his food; that's why Cherry Lao was also able to eat them with gusto. By using his control over elements, just like crafting, he could remove the impurities while preparing the meat.
On the long table sat four people. Shin Jiao just sat leisurely, admiring the mouthwatering food in front of him. While Cherry Lao had a cold expression, and since they were going to have dinner, she had already removed the veil covering her face. This, in turn, made Jing Lei unable to remove his eyes from her face, as he had never seen a girl as beautiful as her in his lifetime. This also made his sister, Lyn Lei, so furious that her face was seething red in anger, as she threw daggers in her gaze toward Cherry Lao.
Looking at the food in front of them, Cherry Lao suddenly felt a bad premonition. "What if the food is poisoned?" she thought. She would be fine, as Gold Core cultivators have the ability to automatically expel common poison from their body, but Shin Jiao would be in danger. So she looked at Shin Jiao and whispered.
"Hey, are you okay with eating this food? What if they put poison in it? Remember that your condition right now is that of a common mortal; will you be able to handle it?"
"Pfft! Ha! Don't worry, a mere poison? I have trained my body for years to resist any poison. So, it's fine," whispered Shin Jiao back with a smug look on his face.
"Braggart, whatever. If anything happens to you, I don't care. Humph," Cherry Lao murmured as she rolled her eyes.
And so the feast began.