Huan Wei walked with his head bowed. He hadn't even managed to kill him. Now he would have to bring him money. Every road he passed, people stared at him. He had attracted a lot of attention in court yesterday. Everyone knew him now. There was no one in town who didn't know his face. The undercover work was over, it seemed. He guessed that at least after Huan Fu's words, no one would mess with him for a few days. Maybe he shouldn't go back home? Spend these few days in the forest and try to breakthrough to the Wanderer stage? If he could, he would be in the same stage as Huan Quon. Yet there was something he didn't know. Huan Quon had been in the Navigator stage for a long time, despite all his father's money. Maybe something else was needed to pass?
If he had a father, he could have asked Huan Chao, but there was no chance of help from that man. Besides, Huan Wei didn't want to ask him. He just wanted the man dead and out of his life as soon as possible. He hated his father more than he ever had. How could his family be the biggest obstacle in a person's life? Was Huan Wei being punished like this by the gods because of his personality? Was Huan Chao the punishment for his evil?
He thought of the gardener who burned to death in the silo. The man had done nothing wrong. He was just doing his job, but Huan Wei had killed him. "I was innocent in the beginning too," he said to himself. "So you don't have to have a crime."
It was a fact that in this world people stepped on each other to get higher. No one always rose by doing good things. Some were destined to be a stair step on the ladder. Why should he accept the worst fate? It wasn't wrong to try to rise. He didn't care if it was wrong. He would rise. There would come a time when people would be afraid to mention his name. When that time came, Huan Wei would no longer be the one walking nervously down the street. He would not be under the tyranny of his father, nor under the pressure of anyone else. He would be strong enough to do what he wanted, when he wanted. And then he would continue to increase his power. Huan Chao was talking nonsense. The person in the mirror was not a pathetic. He was just the reflection of someone who would become a god.
"You will all worship me," he said quietly to himself. He frowned at the people staring at him. "You will all pray to me and beg only me for power. I will be superior to all of you."
He passed through the streets. It seemed that the marketplace had not yet opened. People were still on the streets, so they had nowhere to go. Huan Wei thought. "I wonder if Huan Fu couldn't convince Shen Zou? Has the caravan packed up and left?"
Of course, there was nothing left to concern him in this situation. He had taken his pill and broken through the bottleneck. Probably Huan Hong's execution had not yet taken place. That was why the merchants were not setting up their stalls. Huan Wei put this out of his mind and started to check his surroundings. He wanted to make sure he was not being followed. It was hard to imagine what a man whose son was about to be killed would do. Perhaps Huan Kong would not listen to Huan Fu. Huan Wei did not want to be cornered in the forest.
He looked at the cut on his hand. He had cut his own hand trying to kill his father. He had forgotten to bandage it before he left the house. It was still bleeding a little. He pressed his cut hand against himself, putting some pressure on the wound. He hoped it would stop bleeding by the time he reached the forest. With people's eyes on him, he left the town. It seemed that no one was following. Still, he waited nearby for a while, just to be sure. In case of an ambush, he would run back to the town and go to one of the guards, but no one came. So he waited for a few minutes and then went into the forest.
He went to the places where he had set the traps. He kicked the ground and threw broken branches and dirt aside. "Damn it!" He was still very angry. He tried to calm himself down, but the anger kept coming back. Who did Huan Chao think he was? Huan Wei was a loser and Huan Chao was a genius? Or were all his meridians open, was he the avatar of a god? Who was he to speak so highly of himself? Wasn't he the one who would have starved to death if not for Huan Wei? He had probably forgotten what it was like to work because he hadn't worked in years. Yet he was still ungrateful. When he should have been grateful to Huan Wei, he kept on insulting him.
When Huan Wei came to the first trap, he saw that it was closed but there was no hunting inside. Cursing, he bent down and started to set the trap again. "Now the damn animals have learned to dodge the traps? Can today go any worse?"
After re-setting the trap, he walked to the next one, only to find that this one had been dodged in the same way. "Are you kidding me, is there a new species of animal in the forest?" Grumbling, he bent down and set this trap again.
Cursing, he checked the other traps, but they were all in the same condition as the others. Something had stepped on them all, but there was no trace of blood, no dead animal. "Now tell that to the bastard..." Huan Wei picked up the trap and angrily threw it a few meters away. Just as he did so, a piece of branch stuck in the trap fell to the ground. The young man saw it. When he bent down and picked it up, he saw that it was a broken piece of wood of medium thickness. "What?"
He went over to the trap he had thrown. After setting it up again, he picked up another branch. When he pressed the branch into the center of the trap, the trap suddenly worked and shattered the branch. Huan Wei slapped his hand over his own face. "Of course... Instead of attacking directly, they'll start with something like this. Huan Quon wasted no time."
At that moment he was convinced. Someone had entered the forest and made all his traps work for nothing. So no hunting would be caught in the traps. Huan Wei wouldn't make any money. No hunt, no money.
"But how did they find them all? I hid the traps well, even the animals didn't see them." Huan Wei thought. Then he looked around. Was someone watching him? Was he being followed by someone he couldn't recognize? Or had they gone straight into the forest and looked for his traps? He didn't know how they did it, but it made him uneasy. He didn't want to stay in the forest for long, but unfortunately he needed money. So he decided to set the traps deeper into the forest.
He went back and collected all the traps he had set. He put them on his back and started walking. He was moving as fast as he could. His goal was to set them far enough away that ordinary people couldn't get in. So he was going to set it in the area where he was training.
As he moved forward, he came to a strange area without realizing it. He slowly lowered the traps to the ground. All the trees in this area were dead. All their dried leaves were on the ground. There were too many leaves on the ground to see the dirt. When Huan Wei touched the dried trunk of one of the dead trees, the tree trunk fell over with a crackling sound. The uprooted trunk was shattered when it fell to the ground. It was as if it had been dry for years. Huan Wei was curious. Because he had been going in and out of the forest for a long time, but he had never seen such a place. If there was a dead zone like this on the road he always traveled, he would have seen it.
As he moved towards the other trees, he smelled a strong stench. He recognized the smell, but before he could tell what it was, he stepped in some kind of mud. He was ankle deep in mud. When he came back out, he saw the tar covering his feet. Then the campfire in the leaves caught his eye. This was where he broke through the bottleneck. The place where he had killed Huan Liwei and where he normally practiced. What had happened here?
He shook his foot, trying to clean it of tar. Then he looked around. He had an ominous feeling. This area was not normal. He could hardly feel the natural energy. An area about ten meters in diameter was literally dead. Huan Wei began to feel uneasy. He turned his head and looked around. There was no way something like this could have happened naturally. Or was it the impurities from his body that had caused it? Had the tar been absorbed by the soil and the trees fed on it? This could have happened. Because there was still a deep puddle of tar on the ground. Either way, Huan Wei didn't want to stay here. Something didn't feel right. This place seemed to draw him in. So he immediately took the traps and started looking for another place to set up.
From the moment he entered the area, his left hand itched. When he realized this, he looked up. Maybe an bug had bitten it? But when he looked, he could see nothing. There was no wound, no bite mark. The itching had already gone.
He set them again a little closer to the town, but this time he chose places where he had never set traps before. He also made sure the traps were well hidden. After memorizing their locations, he left. It didn't take him long to leave the forest. He was distracted by the dead area. Huan Chao was not even on his mind at that moment. "If that tar is so bad, maybe I can use it. I should take one of the empty liquor bottles and fill it with it."
With that thought in mind, he headed home. His father had probably left without clearing the table again. So it would not be difficult to find a bottle. In case of danger, he thought, he could use that tar as a poison. At worst, its bad odor and muddy consistency could distract his opponent and give him the time he needed.
So he quickened his steps and saw Huan Quon coming down the side street. He was starting to feel uneasy again. He turned his head away and sped up, hoping he hadn't seen him. It was probably Huan Quon who made someone use the traps. It was easy for him to send someone into the forest to do this. Still, Huan Wei didn't want to talk to him right now, but when he hears "Huan Wei!" called out from behind him, he had to stop. He turned his head towards him and waited. Acting no longer mattered.
Huan Quon calmly approached him. People were looking at the two of them. Huan Wei smiled and said, "Sorry, I'm in a hurry. It's better if we talk later." He turned away, but he had only taken one step when Huan Quon grabbed him by the arm.
"I didn't ask if you were in a hurry, I have something to say and you will listen."