Pursuers

After testing the string's properties, Minos tucked it away. As much as he wanted to train right now, the sect wasn't a good place for it.

He needed a lot of room if he wanted to properly utilize the string, and if other people saw him training such a strange technique, they would raise even more suspicions, which Minos had enough of at the moment.

He planned on taking a mission and training outside, but before that, he had to make a few more strings, after all, one was far from enough.

…

The rest of the day passed quickly as Minos was focused on creating more strings, finally ending up with ten of them, one for each finger.

With the day over, Minos quickly got to bed, before waking up bright and early to head towards the Mission Hall.

As per usual, people couldn't help but eye him as he headed into the Mission Hall, the curiosity being even higher this time as people began wondering whether Minos could pull off another miracle, some even making bets on it.

Once again Minos ignored them, taking another Three-Moon mission before leaving in silence.

This time Minos didn't leave the sect alone however, instead some shadowy figures followed out behind him in silence, doing their best to avoid alerting him.

Little did they know, with Minos's Heart Path, any attempt they made was futile, and he immediately pinpointed all his pursuers.

Controlling his horse, Minos veered off into the forest, purposely heading down an unpopular path that was usually empty.

His pursuers couldn't help but become ecstatic seeing the direction Minos was heading, quickly chasing after him into the dark woods.

It seemed no one was interested in attacking so close to the sect, so for the first few hours, Minos rode with no problems.

The light started dwindling as Minos got deeper into the forest, the massive trees blotting out the sky, leaving shadows on the trails below.

The occasional flicker of light that made it through the thick foliage was the only source of light this deep in the forest, but for cultivators, it was more than enough.

At this point, Minos was well beyond sect grounds, and his pursuers were clearly also getting comfortable, some pulling in closer, ready to attack.

"Come out, we've already come this far, you don't need to hide in the shadows anymore." Minos suddenly shouted, as he pulled his horse to a stop.

Some of the figures who were about to attack couldn't help but pull back, holding their breaths and hoping Minos was just bluffing.

But Minos just waited silently, having no plans of continuing until someone revealed themselves. After a few minutes of suffocating silence, one of the pursuers couldn't help themselves anymore.

"That's right, I followed you, what can you do about it?" A man said, as he slowly appeared from among the bushes.

"You must be one of the fools after my supposed treasure, huh?" Minos said with a snicker.

"Let me ask you, if I had a treasure that let me kill a Thunder-Stroke Wolf King that was only one step from the Inner Heaven Realm, what's stopping me from using it on you?" Minos continued with a loud laugh, causing some of the stupider pursuers to let out a cold sweat.

"Uhh, well, umm" The figure couldn't help but stutter as he looked around, before jumping back into the bushes and running for his life.

At this point, silence once again consumed the forest. Some people decided to leave as they realized the truth behind Minos's words, but most planned on waiting for a chance to fish in troubled waters.

"You people are starting to annoy me. If no one does anything, then I'll just go back to the sect." Minos said threateningly.

His threat finally managed to force another person out of the woods, but this person clearly wasn't as stupid as the first guy.

"Hehe, to think you could sense us following you. It doesn't matter at this point though, you're already too deep in the forest, your death is sealed." The figure said with an evil laugh.

"With just you?" Minos said, returning his laugh.

"Of course not! You other idiots, come out. There's no need to hide anymore, it's better we all just attack at once, may the best man win." The figure said, goading the other pursuers.

His words managed to work, and soon cultivator after cultivator began appearing from among the woods, slowing encircling Minos.

"Still laughing?" The figure asked with a grin.

"No matter how smart a monkey is, how can it lead hyenas?" Minos responded with another laugh, causing the figure in front to slightly clench his fist in anger.

Meanwhile, before the attack started, Minos took this chance to look around and memorize the people around. Of course the majority wore masks, so Minos could only try and remember their body shapes and other discrete features.

But this wasn't the main reason he was looking, instead he was keeping an eye out for the disciple behind his maid.

This wasn't too hard to do, after all, he was the only one who knew what Minos's 'treasure' was.

Most people scanned Minos's entire body as they looked for anything of interest, but one person instantly focused on his bracelet.

'Bingo' Minos thought as he thoroughly burnt this figure's shape into his memory.

"Since you all want my treasure so much, take it!" Minos said, as he took a random piece of jewelry off his body and tossed it in the opposite direction.

Naturally, most people weren't stupid enough to fall for such a cheap diversion, but it at least distracted them for a split second, letting Minos just barely break through the blockade.

"Quick, get him!" The figure at front shouted, causing the large group to quickly bolt after Minos.

As Minos ran, he began throwing random pieces of jewelry all over the place, causing his pursuers to falter.

No one really knew what Minos's treasure was, so he could have very easily slipped the real thing in among the fakes, simply waiting to escape before coming back and claiming the real treasure.

With this realization, some of the weaker pursuers decided to simply go after the jewelry, knowing they weren't strong enough to get involved in the main conflict, but also hoping maybe they would get lucky and find the real deal.

The crowd quickly began thinning as most people pursued this option, leaving behind only the strongest pursuers still chasing Minos without giving a beat.

Soon enough the crowd of a dozen dropped to only three pursuers, all three being at the late stages of Mortal Renewal.

Knowing he couldn't escape these three, Minos instead came to a stop in a small opening in the forest, the three figures also halting as they formed a triangle around him.

"You three are persistent, huh? Well then, I guess you really want this." Minos said, as he took the bracelet of his wrist, dangling on his finger.

"Don't be fooled, it's clearly another fake." The figure who initiated the chase said.

"Is it? Then I guess you'll have no problem if this friend over here has it then." Minos said, as he tossed the bracelet over to the figure on his left.

"Your cheap diversions wont work." The figure spoke again, but before his words could even leave his mouth, the disciple behind the maid lunged at the person beside Minos, slashing at him with all his strength.

The person clearly didn't expect such a powerful attack out of the blue, also treating the bracelet as a fake.

Fortunately his guard was already raised given the circumstances, so he managed to just barely raise his blade in time to parry the blow.

But despite blocking, he failed to put up enough strength in time, still taking a deep wound to the chest, only avoiding a lethal wound.

"What the hell are you doing?" He shouted, as he stepped back, clutching at his chest wound.

"Hand over the bracelet and I'll spare your life." The disciple said, as he pulled in closer for another attack.

Seeing how adamantly this disciple wanted the bracelet, he clutched the bracelet even tighter, beginning to think this really was the treasure.

Seeing this take place, the first figure also couldn't help but get closer, readying his weapon as he also began thinking the bracelet was extraordinary.

Minos took this chance to step out of the encirclement, the circumstances having quickly changed in a completely opposite direction.

Minos, who was originally the main target, suddenly became an onlooker, instead the person holding the bracelet becoming the new common enemy.

The three figures slowly walked around each other, before the disciple who first attacked once again took the lead, lunging after the weakened bracelet holder.

The bracelet holder was already wounded quite deeply from the previous cut, so he failed to put up much of a fight, being pushed back constantly before being struck down with a heavy blow.

His body collapsed on the floor, one step from death, but before the disciple could claim his reward, the first figure also jumped out, attacking him.

The two quickly got embroiled in another massive fight, but this time it was between equal opponents, letting Minos watch on with enjoyment as he snacked on some seeds he had stored in his spatial ring.