Come All of You

He had not slept all night. Yet he felt neither insomnia nor hunger. As he watched the fire dance through the night, he thought. He had decided that he should not suffer the absence of a man he had never trusted all this time. Even when Huan Chao had first protected him, Huan Wei had not trusted him. Why should he be sad now?

When he was able to think rationally again, he realized that he had to find a way out of this forest. The Bright Forest was not a simple place. Once away from the campsite, he could encounter many natural monsters.

Under normal circumstances, he would have planned to go completely incognito. But he didn't need that now. Even though he still hadn't chosen a path, he was able to fight back thanks to his Body Tempering. Now he could think about fighting. He could pierce their thick pelts with his weapons.

He left the still burning fire there and stood up. Involuntarily he looked at the rock where the names were carved. But that didn't last long. He was going to start a new life. The Earth was full of countless opportunities. Who knows what would come his way? All he had to do was to leave the forest.

He looked in the direction he and his father had come from. He couldn't go back to Bitter Sea Town. He knew that beyond the Bright Forest was Broken Mountain Town. But he wasn't sure how far it was. The journey could take weeks at best. Maybe if he traveled along the very edges of the forest he could outrun the powerful natural monsters. He was no longer afraid to fight the weak ones.

He strapped his broken sword to his waist and put the daggers in their places. The extra weapon didn't hurt anyone. Who knew what he would face?

As the sun illuminated the forest, he turned his back towards Bitter Sea Town and started walking. At the same time he was checking the surroundings.

All the flowers in the campground were withered. This caught his attention. The trees had shed their dry leaves.

Huan Wei bent down and picked one of the dead flowers. He was looking at the trees. He had seen this before. The place where he crossed the bottleneck and entered the Traveler stage was like this.

The words of Yuchi Meizhen and Huan Manchu came to mind. Was this place also turning into some kind of Corrupt Area?

He took a deep breath to confirm this. But his lungs didn't burn. His eyes didn't hurt. There was no uncomfortable pressure in the air.

"Is this about me?" he thought. He could call the first one a coincidence. But the probability of the same thing happening twice by coincidence was not very high. It was also unlikely that someone who had not yet chosen a path could cause such things.

"Something must be wrong on this side of the continent. It seems to be something much bigger than me."

With these thoughts he left the campsite. He still felt bad. He had convinced himself that he shouldn't feel this way, yet it was very difficult to make it a reality. Sometimes his mind went silent, he only heard the sound of his footsteps on the leaves.

A few times he saw the animals. But they ran away from him. It was a miracle that he had never seen a natural monster.

He thought of the demon in the cemetery. The natural monsters had run away from him. Maybe they had been scared away by the Corrupt Zone that had started to appear in the campground?

He looked at his left palm. He saw that the wound was completely healed. It should have healed when he did the Body Tempering. His body was more than an ordinary human being now.

As he walked through the forest, he wanted to pick some of the plants he saw. He didn't know what they were, but he was sure he would need money when he reached Broken Mountain Town. Huan Chao had taken all the money from Huan Kong for himself. So the young man was broke.

He cut a few of the brightly colored herbs that looked valuable with a dagger. Even though it was empty, he still had Huan Liwei's pill pouch. He put the herb in it. He picked a few more different plants.

"Well, even if it brings a few copper coins, it will save the day."

It took him a few more minutes to make his way through the forest. Then he found the first danger. He drew his daggers when he heard crackling sounds. He immediately turned toward the sound. It was coming from the tree opposite.

Soon a camouflaged creature appeared, leaning against the tree. It looked like a humanoid being whose body was made entirely of branches. It even had leaves in some places. In place of eyes, there were only beam of blue light.

Huan Wei gripped his weapons tighter in the face of this creature he was seeing for the first time. As the creature stared at him, there were still crackling sounds coming from its body.

Suddenly it started running towards the young man. Its forward stabbing hand, like a sharp spear, pierced the wind and extended towards Huan Wei. The young man dodged the attack with a sudden reflex.

He raised one of his daggers and stabbed the creature's arm with all his strength. The dagger came out the other side, shattering the branches, causing the monster to make a painful sound. It withdrew its arm and threw sharp thorns towards Huan Wei.

The young man tried to avoid them, but he couldn't dodge them all and one of them stabbed him in the shoulder. The thorn, about eight inch long, was almost halfway into his shoulder.

Huan Wei raised his hand and immediately pulled it out and ran towards the monster. The fact that he could easily stab it with his dagger showed that he could kill it with his current physical strength.

The tree monster attacked the young cultivator as it came towards him, stretching out its arms again. When Huan Wei ducked to avoid it, he dropped one of his daggers and grabbed its arm with his free hand.

The arm he was holding tightly was ripped off with a single attack. A pained sound came from the beast.

The young man didn't want to take a chance with this monster he didn't know what it was capable of. So he put down his other dagger, picked up its severed arm and swung it with all his strength, hitting it on the head. The monster fell on the grass.

On the ground, it attacked once more with its thorns. This time the young man reacted earlier than before and dodged them all.

When he got to the creature, he lifted one foot and pressed it against its back, preventing it from getting up. Then he bent down, grabbed its head and started pulling.

Trying to get up, the tree monster tried to grab his hands. Yet before it could, Huan Wei twisted its head left and right, cracking the branches. Then he pulled even harder, causing the branches that served as joints to break. When he severed the creature's head, he lost his balance and sat on the ground with the head in his hand.

The beast's body on the ground began to shake violently and many of the branches that had spread from it stuck into the ground like tree roots. Leaves were growing all over it.

The young man looked at the head in his hand. The light from the eyes had gone out. Then, looking through the eye hole, he noticed something inside the head. There was something green inside, albeit dimly colored.

As the creature's body transformed into a tree sapling, he carefully tore the head apart and picked up the green-colored stone inside. It was the size of a grape. He didn't know what it was, but it was sure to be worth money.

After throwing it into the pouch, he realized what he had done. "I killed a natural monster," he said in amazement. A smile appeared on his face. "With my bare hands!"

He laughed as he looked at the shattered branches. Killing a natural monster in the Bright Forest... A week ago, Huan Wei could only dream of it. Now he felt what it meant to be strong. This was tremendous.

There was hardly any fear in him at that moment. He looked at the new world differently. He was no longer weak. Maybe he wouldn't have to make extravagant plans for everything. He no longer thought he would die in a difficult situation. Now he was strong too.

"Hahhahhahhahhahhahahhahhah!" He laughed out loud. When he heard another cracking sound, he turned his face towards the tree from which it came. He was not afraid. On the contrary, he was eager to enter this battle.

"Come!" he shouted towards the tree. Another tree was beginning to make a sound. He turned towards it without breaking his smile.

"Come all of you!"