Dark Forest Banditry

Nightfall hit and Zhou Ying opened his eyes. Fourth level of the Elementary Profound stage was just attained now and the boy can feel an increase in power, however minute it was. Profound energy circulated just a little bit faster and Zhou Ying's Profound Veins were just a little bit wider.

From turning the trash in his body into useable energy, there was almost an accident where his body exploded from the sheer amount that forcibly widened his veins.

"Ha." It would've been laughable if his new life came to an abrupt halt from a foolish accident like that.

Zhou Ying stretched his body after dropping to the grassy ground. There were no longer any beasts around him, which means the nocturnal creatures are going to be hunting. What's fortunate is that Zhou Ying judged there to be less nocturnal beasts than diurnal beasts in this forest because of a lack of sound. He placed his ear to the floor and sounded out very dampened footsteps in the distance.

During this time, he should look for a source of water. Even if there are less beasts out, the danger could be even greater. The light from the moon and stars were greatly covered by the thick plant life, creating cascading darkness in the cultivator's surroundings. Potential venomous beasts would be concealing themselves well, so Zhou Ying needs to keep watch.

He has the benefit of having an abnormal amount of experience dealing with the wild nature of places outside civilization. By keeping his steps light and methodical, and reducing his breathing to a minimum, he's achieved maximum alertness while setting an efficient pace.

Every five minutes, Zhou Ying dropped his head to the floor, hearing out any nearby presences to avoid bumping into them. "Hm?" The sound of the footsteps sounds like people.

At least four people in the distance.

Should he trail after them? If they're this deep in the forest then it's worth checking out other cultivators in the area. Zhou Ying could be a vulture that hangs around potential corpses to loot, or he could analyze competition.

The boy grabbed the dirt from the ground and smeared it all over his body, grass and all, to mask his scent. He then lightened his steps even further while heading off into the direction where he heard human steps.

During his walk, Zhou Ying clutched his stomach, feeling hunger pangs. "Wait, but I ate...?" He then realized he turned all the food into energy while practicing is Profound Art. He circulated all that energy through his body, to his Profound Veins and then repeating that motion without actually letting the food rest in his stomach. Esoteric Depths was a ridiculous thing that left an all or nothing dilemma.

Simply put, Zhou Ying forgot about that. "I'll just have to hunt more then." He shook his head and went on.

There was no point in lambasting himself for making a mistake. All that matters is making up for the mistake itself and taking care not to repeat it in the future. Self-flagellation is a useless endeavor that only offers comfort to masochists.

Putting his head to the ground one last time, Zhou Ying decided he's gotten close enough to those he's tracking down. After a momentary gesture of contemplation, he took to the trees again and watched for snakes with great concern.

Like a wild child accustomed to forests, he leapt from branch to branch with a monkey's agility. He grasped at what looked like vines and squeezed his hand until something popped.

"These snakes would only be dangerous to those who're inexperienced." It's also telling that other nocturnal beasts haven't been going after Zhou Ying.

With the group of cultivators still surviving in this forest, it's enough for the boy to infer that the group is indeed experienced in traversing forested regions at least. Before he does anything, he needs to analyze their strength.

Zhou Ying bit into the slithering animals he squeezed to death and turned their corpses into energy. Blood sprayed onto his face and dripped from his lips, making him appear slightly devilish. Not even the gallbladder was spared from the snakes.

He thought to himself for a moment, energy swirling uselessly in his body, before spontaneously tackling a profound entrance and forcing it open with the energy generated. He has some lingering memories of doing something like this before, so it felt natural to break open some of them.

A few careful minutes was all it took to avoid permanent damage. "From five to eight means I'm still below the average." There was no look of satisfaction or disappointment on the boy's face, only acceptance and a fervor pushing him to do more.

"I should be able to open up to fifteen entrances with my meager understanding of Esoteric Depths." This was the thing that made him sigh the most.

With the brutal damage to his soul that left it as a mere fragment, his great attainments and mastery with Profound Arts were reset. His comprehension that he should've had previously were wiped away, forcing him to comprehend what he learned once again. Unfortunately, he's not even sure how much he excelled in this field of cultivation. He could only pray his hazy memories don't leave him stumbling too much in the dark.

With thoughts of the future in mind, Zhou Ying used his understanding of Esoteric Depths to control the fluctuations of his profound energy. Though he couldn't remove all the shifts, most of them were dampened. Along with that, the boy seized control over his heartbeat and lung contractions with his profound energy and nearly became a walking dead man.

He then dropped from the trees after eliminating more snakes before creeping up on a camp. Thin wisps of smoke was rising from a recently extinguished campfire and there was a man standing guard around tents. At his hip was a sword.

"Elementary Profound Realm level eight?" It's enough to make a person laugh. Zhou Ying just found a person to rob.

He casually snuck up behind him and reached around his face, like a shadowy snake leaping from the darkness. Zhou Ying's right hand covered the man's mouth and nose, and his left arm applied an increasing pressure to his neck until he stopped struggling. It was a mere seven seconds, but it could've been dangerous enough to wake his companions.

The man was far more powerful than Zhou Ying, yet he was defeated in an instant. It was a perfect sneak attack that left him panicking once his air circulation was cut off.

Zhou Ying kept his ears out for any movements and didn't allow his alertness to dwindle when there was no sound made. He slowly bent down and began rummaging through the man's clothes.

Zhou Ying noticed a strange symbol embroidered on the man's clothes. The shoulder had a silver eagle, which actually represented the Xiao Sect's Branch Sect in the area, but the robber didn't know who they were or what their symbol actually was.

So, they didn't even enter his mind. Zhou Ying clutched something in the man's clothes and pulled it out.

He raised a brow at a collection of pills in a pouch. He doubted the man would have dangerous pills considering his level of cultivation and the pill didn't give off the scent of something overbearing, so Zhou Ying snatched the pouch. Not only did he roguishly steal those pills, he took the sword off the man's body and went further into the camp.

Zhou Ying became a bandit in the night and rummaged through bags laid out. He couldn't take everything because of the fact that some people were sleeping with pouches inside their clothes and he couldn't carry all these bags back.

What he did was stuff as much usable stuff into one bag and sling it over his shoulders. He walked out of the camp with an apathetic look on his face while making plans to down pills like water.

Zhou Ying took the rest of the night to leap branch to branch tens of kilometers away from the camp until he was satisfied they wouldn't be able to track him down relatively quickly.

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"Our food?! Hey, some of our pills are gone too! What the hell is going on here!" The rising sun beamed down harshly at a shouting youth. His other companions' faces were darkened by their poor fortune.

"What a good junior brother Bai we have here to watch over our stuff." The cultivator held back angry laughter as he launched a kick into the man's side, forcing a yelp from him.

Junior brother Bai became wide awake as he was greeted to very colorful expressions from his companions. "Why did you hit me?"

"Are you going to ask why when you didn't even do your job correctly?!" Bai felt wronged. He then remembered that somebody assaulted him last night and knocked him out, but he couldn't even see his attacker's face.

A bitter smile rose its way onto his expression. "Senior brother Fu, I was knocked out last night. Also, didn't have everything taken."

The fact that Bai talked about the stuff that wasn't taken made Fu's face turn even blacker. He kicked his junior brother again and again to vent his frustration.

Bai was pissed. 'Does this fucker really not think I'll have it out with him right now?!'

His profound energy and might may be lower, but even a clay doll will get angry.

Just like that, a retaliation occurred and the training mission had to be cancelled early with a scolding from an elder awaiting the group when they returned without hunting an appropriate amount of beasts.

This would also be the start of a particularly interesting rumor. The story of a thief who robs those who dwell in the Dark Forest during nighttime.

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Naturally, the one who reaped the rewards was busy napping on a tree with his overfilled bag sitting on his chest. Zhou Ying's expression wasn't peaceful; a nightmare was disturbing any semblance of inner peace.

He was eventually woken up by sunlight breaking through tree leaves and shining on his eyelids.