Rotell's boots slammed against the uneven and tangled forest floor. She stumbled as broken roots and loose earth shifted beneath her feet. Every step sent a wave of pain piercing through her battered body. Her broken arm hung uselessly at her side. At the same time, blood slowly dripped down her delicate fingers and stained the thick foliage below.
Boom!
Behind her, the forest exploded as an enormous shadow rose and roared, vibrating the air!
Without slowing down, she peeked over her shoulder and grimaced.
Several massive trees violently bent, eventually collapsing, then burst outward before snapping apart as the enormous shadow crashed through the dense canopy.
Shutter!
Rotell returned her gaze to the front, her pace picking up.
The ground trembled beneath the massive serpent's weight.
Hissssssssss!!
The sharp hiss echoed from behind, yet the vibrations beneath her feet made it feel much, much closer. As she ran, branches whipped against her face while the thick foliage clawed at her clothes. Dense vines tangled around her boots, nearly sending her crashing into the dirt, but at her level, such things were little more than an inconvenience.
Rotell gritted her teeth, forcibly circulating the spiritual energy within her body. As she exerted herself, she began to pull away. She endured the pain silently while leaping over a collapsed tree that was thicker than a house.
BOOM!!
In that instant, a large tail slammed down and obliterated the place where she had just been. The deafening crash rang out behind her as the enormous, heavy body smashed through the trees. Rotell finally risked another glance, but—
Her pupils contracted!
The gigantic serpent wasn't chasing her like a predator hunting prey; instead, it looked more like a natural disaster chaotically rampaging through the forest, and coincidentally, it just so happened to be rampaging in her direction.
Its massive body bulldozed through the landscape uncontrollably, tearing apart trees, crushing stone, and uprooting entire sections of the forest as its dark scales flashed between the collapsing foliage. The dense vegetation concealed most of its body, but that only made it more terrifying. Each of its movements shifted the surrounding forest floor, revealing just how unimaginably long the creature was.
Rotell's breathing trembled.
Fight?
Impossible!
The pressure radiating from this serpent alone made her instincts scream danger! This was a fifth-order Magic Beast, but it had to be nearly at its peak!
How did this happen?
She gritted her teeth.
She only had one option; she knew it!
Run!!
She could only pray she found somewhere to hide before the monster cornered her completely.
-
Woosh!
After an unknown amount of time, Rotell threw herself behind a collapsed stone wall and rolled violently down through a tangled mass of exposed bushes. A few sharp shards of wood scraped across her cheek while loose dirt and dead leaves spilled over her body. She pressed herself flat against the damp earth and stopped moving, holding her breath.
BOOM!!
The forest shook again.
It was a more distant sound…
Despite the distance, dust still drifted from the cracked stone overhead.
Rotell narrowed her eyes as a few small pebbles bounced down beside her face.
Gritting her teeth, Rotell quickly smeared some wet mud across her exposed skin and through her torn clothing. Mixing dirt with the blood covering her hands, she roughly spread the mixture across her neck and hair before stuffing a few handfuls of damp leaves into her collar and around the narrow openings of her clothes.
After that, she stopped circulating spiritual energy entirely.
This was a hasty decision, one that she knew she had to gamble on!
Soon, there was only silence.
With the loss of her spiritual energy, pain slowly flooded her body. Those on the immortal path absorb the natural energy of Heaven and Earth, which is distinctly different from spiritual energy. This did not mean that they did not use spiritual energy, because these two things were not mutually exclusive. Spirit Stones contained small traces of elemental energy, along with larger amounts of spiritual energy and natural energy, which was commonly referred to as Mana. Through the application of the Will of any individual, one can manipulate spiritual energy to carry the natural energy of Heaven and Earth, then use it to refine the body. In other words, the natural energy of Heaven and Earth could strengthen anything it is infused into. But without the presence of spiritual energy, the 'absorption' of the natural energy of Heaven and Earth would pause. This didn't mean that the body would weaken; it was more like the equivalent of constantly feeling like one was holding their breath. In addition, they would not be able to utilise the innate regenerative properties of the natural energy of Heaven and Earth to heal their injuries, thus, Rotell's current state…
Her broken ribs throbbed violently, while her damaged leg trembled beneath her own weight. She slouched down. Without spiritual energy, even breathing became difficult in her current state.
Rotell held her breath as blood began to pool at her feet.
The forest beyond her hiding spot shifted.
There was a moment of silence.
Then, after who knows how long…
Scrrrrraaaaaape—!
A horrible scraping noise echoed through the greenery as something massive dragged itself across a stone patch somewhere nearby. The sound was slow, heavy, and uneven, like a mountain grinding against itself, sending shivers down your spine.
Several distant trees suddenly snapped, causing Rotell's heart to jump.
—Hisssssssssssss…
The serpent's hiss faintly echoed through the forest, distant yet close enough to make her skin crawl.
Drip!
A cold bead of sweat rolled down Rotell's cheek and fell into the dirt beneath her chin. Her heartbeat began to pound painfully in her ears.
Ba-dump, ba-dump!
Soon, the vibrations slowly weakened…
Rotell's eyes narrowed slightly.
It… lost her? Has it gone away? Why…
Her expression shifted.
It would seem… her guess was correct!
The huge serpent did not hunt through smell or sight; it seemed to be tracking the several sources of spiritual energy in the surroundings!
What a dangerous creature!
This idea had come to her while she was running. When she forcefully circulated her spiritual energy, the beast seemed to have an easier time locking onto her location. However, the moment she fully suppressed her aura, the serpent's movements became uncertain. She had seen it firsthand, so now that she was in a state of complete self-suppression, she should be fine—at least for now.
Rotell frowned deeply.
Her situation was still incredibly grim, because now she understood what she had to do. She needed to escape and create some distance, but she couldn't use any healing arts, and she couldn't circulate her spiritual energy.
Although her body was still that of a cultivator, starving it like this would undoubtedly damage it…
She would need to endure her injuries naturally and move through this deadly forest like a wounded animal for the next few hours, but if she made even the slightest mistake…
That thing would find her again! She had no doubt!
Rotell sighed.
It would seem as if tonight was going to be long…
* * *
Turning back the clock—
Bang-bang, bang-bang-bang!
A crimson light violently crashed down the cliffside, smashing through the trees before stopping on a large stone, eventually slamming into the forest floor with a heavy thud.
For several seconds, the large woman simply lay there, half-buried beneath loose rock and shattered branches as dust drifted through the air. Her eyes slowly opened, slightly unfocused. She frowned, then pushed herself upright before violently coughing.
The first thing she did was look up toward the massive cliffside that led to the plateau far above her head. She had just fallen a long way down…
Before she had a chance to think—
Rumble!
A distant explosion echoed through the forest.
Cirsen frowned.
She turned, and far away, beyond the swaying treetops, an enormous shadow slowly moved across the horizon. Trees collapsed one after another, and the entire forest trembled beneath the creature's weight. Cirsen's eyes widened. She wanted to stand up, but she stumbled forward a few steps before suddenly collapsing to one knee. Pain shot through her foot. Looking down, she discovered that her ankle was bent at an unnatural angle beneath her set of heavy red armor.
There was a pause…
With a flicker of light in her eyes, her innocent expression slowly fell away, replaced by something far more serious and mature.
"…Tsk!"
She grabbed the broken limb with both hands.
Crunch… Crack-crrrk! Pop!
The guttural sound of twisting flesh and snapping bone echoed through the forest. The concealed ankle beneath the red armor was forcefully bent back into place, slowly forcing itself to return to normal, albeit in an extremely unnatural way. Her muscles twitched violently, and veins bulged along her neck, but she didn't even groan.
Cirsen exhaled deeply and slowly stood back up as though nothing had happened.
She stamped her foot a few times, then nodded.
"Good enough," she muttered.
Another distant boom echoed somewhere across the forest, and Cirsen looked toward the moving shadow in the distance.
Her eyes narrowed.
"…That little girl better not die before I get there!"
After finding her spear, she adjusted it on her back. Cirsen immediately began moving through the forest, heading directly toward the distant destruction.
* * *
Rotell slowly crawled through the forest.
The woods had finally fallen silent. Rotell remained hidden beneath the foliage, her body pressed tightly against the damp earth. Her muscles trembled from the strain, yet she didn't dare to stop, not even for a second.
Rumble!
The sound was much more distant now, but she could still tell that the creature was still searching.
After a moment…
Silence!
Rotell suddenly paused. She frowned. A full minute passed, then another. Only after several more minutes had gone by did she finally allow herself to exhale. The serpent was still moving away, but she felt deep down that something was wrong. This was her instinct as a warrior.
Rotell carefully pushed herself out from beneath a large root, then looked around slowly. Every movement sent pain through her broken ribs and down her spine, but without spiritual energy circulating through her body, she could only endure it naturally.
Even standing felt exhausting right now.
Her eyes immediately swept across the surrounding terrain. She had reached a boundary line in the woods. Ahead lay the path where the serpent had previously passed through.
The forest ahead was ruined and crushed flat. It was an abrupt, violent change. All the trees had been cleared out—either completely crushed or uprooted—leaving behind only a deep trench carved through the earth. Broken earth and shattered trees littered the ground, while a small trickle of water flowed down and filled the center of the depression.
Rotell narrowed her eyes.
Her mind turned, quickly considering her next move.
She muttered a few things, her fingers flexing and unflexing.
Good! This kind of destruction would help conceal her own trail.
Rather than heading deeper along the serpent's path, she immediately moved in the opposite direction. Her pace was slow and deliberate as she carefully stepped across the disturbed terrain, placing her trembling feet only where the earth had already been destroyed. She left no unnecessary tracks, and she made no noise. Every few steps, she stopped completely and listened, making sure that the sound of the serpent was still fading. She could hear the distant forest creaking softly in the wind.
Rotell's grip tightened around her sword.
She pressed forward.
After a while, she reached a stretch of a shallow forest stream. Without hesitation, she stepped into it and slowly trudged forward, allowing the current to wash away any traces of her blood and scent.
Several minutes later, she quietly exited the water.
After that, she doubled back.
Rotell intentionally circled through the damaged terrain one more time before changing directions completely. In her mind, the danger didn't just come from the snake, but from the other participants in this trial as well. One could never be too careful.
If the serpent really tracked her through her spiritual energy, then she would force it to blindly search this entire forest!
With eyes full of impatience, Rotell crouched down and placed a palm to the ground, leaving a mark before moving on with a sneer.
* * *