When a few more tree monsters appeared, Huan Wei immediately grabbed his daggers. Wasting no time, he rushed towards one of them and, after avoiding its claws, thrust the daggers into its head.
The creature made a high-pitched sound and took a few steps back, while Huan Wei was impaled by a few thorns on his back. The young man reached behind his back and pulled them out.
When the creatures swung their hands, their arms suddenly extended, reaching all the way to the young man. Huan Wei raised the daggers to defend himself. He blocked the attack, but the force of the blow caused him to be dragged.
He narrowly avoided falling to the ground because of the branches he tripped over. The creature whose head he had attacked didn't seem to be dead either.
"These are some kind of plants. Penetrating wounds don't seem to have a lethal effect."
Huan Wei took a step back with one foot and stood firmly on the ground. He replaced one of the daggers and picked up his broken sword.
When one of the creatures reached out its arms again to attack him, he first blocked the attack, then grabbed it by the arm and pulled it to him. They looked like things born from trees, yet their feet were not steady on the ground.
The tree monster suddenly started flying towards the young man. It was clearly not expecting anything like this.
Huan Wei swung his sword at the creature's neck and severed its head. The body that fell to the ground began to tremble and took root into a new sapling. The young man wanted to take the loot, but the others would not leave him alone.
He rolled around to dodge the successive attacks of thorns. There were still two more monsters. They were attacking him from a distance.
He went behind a tree. The thorns coming at him were embedded in the trunk of the tree. He had to get closer.
His energy was circulating in his body. He wished he knew a fire technique now. He could ignite them and watch them run left and right in agony.
He noticed movement in the tree against which his back was leaning. It seemed to be leaning against a tree monster instead of a tree. He immediately took a step away from it and severed its neck with his sword. The broken sword was wearing more and more.
Seeing them coming out of other trees, Huan Wei realized that this was going too far. He could not cope with so many. He crushed the head of the creature at its base and took the pale green crystal from it. Then he started to walk away.
He had gone only a few meters when he realized even more clearly that his decision had been right. A new monster appeared, twice as tall as the others. Its branches were much thicker and darker. It was clear that Huan Wei could not defeat it with physical strength. There were more and more smaller ones too.
The young man ran away. A few of them tried to chase him, but Huan Wei was faster than them. Soon the distance grew and they stopped following him.
The young man found a quiet place. There was a small pond in front of him. The water was clear. It didn't look very deep.
He checked the surroundings carefully. He paid special attention to the trees. After making sure there were no natural monsters nearby, he sat on a rock at the bottom of the pond.
He raised his hands and looked inside them. He could feel the energy coursing through his body. "This is... Much better than taking pills," he said to himself.
Fighting had mobilized his Qi. The flow in his meridians raised his cultivation. He felt like he was almost at the Wanderer stage. This feeling was wonderful.
"My soul could not destroy it because it was not an energy that suddenly entered my body. If I have a few more battles like this one, I can try to break through without pills."
He bent down and drank some water from the pond. It was midday. He wondered how far he had come in the Bright Forest. He was probably in the outer section of the Southern Bright Forest. He didn't know how many days it would take to get to the middle section.
It was good that he was still not hungry. Still, it would have been nice to eat a few things. That was one of the good things about the Bright Forest. Huan Wei could see a fruit tree in almost every direction he looked.
After washing his hands and face, he cleaned his weapons. He wanted to rest for a while. Then he could set off again.
After a few seconds of waiting, his thoughts began to invade his mind. This made him give up resting. Without realizing it, he was becoming more and more like his father. Huan Chao was drinking to quiet his mind. Huan Wei chose to be busy with something.
He started moving forward again. His eyes were constantly scanning the surroundings. He saw a small gazelle. And many different kinds of birds in the trees.
Nature didn't seem to have much trouble with monsters. After all, there must have been something alive here all the time. But the tree monsters had only appeared when Huan Wei arrived. They had ignored the other animals.
The young man picked up a sturdy stick and proceeded to cut the weeds blocking the path with it. As he made his way through the outer section, the grass grew taller.
Huan Wei did not want to be ambushed by a monster lurking in them. So he kept one hand on the hilt of the dagger.
After a while, he noticed a stone altar among the trees. On the altar were many valuables. And a pile of money...
The mossy stone altar was surrounded on one side by branches. The tree branches were curled up as if they were making a statue. When Huan Wei got a little closer, he saw that there was almost several gold pieces of silver on the altar. His eyes were wide open. There were also several necklaces, rings and brooches. All of this was enough to buy a rune-paved weapon.
Huan Wei immediately approached the altar. He read the words engraved on the stone.
"Ouyang Luli's Altar, Divine God of Silent Nature. May nature guide you."
He took another look at what was on the stone altar. "To rob the altar of a god... I'll probably be cursed." Then he started stuffing the lightly weighted items of high value into his pockets. "My life is already shit. How much more cursed can I be?"
He took the most valuable pieces with him. He didn't have a storage ring. So he had little space. A few pockets couldn't hold everything that was here.
As he took things from the altar, the branches behind the altar slowly began to retreat. This did not go unnoticed by the young man.
He jumped back and drew the daggers. He swallowed as the branches slowly left the altar. He had always thought he was cursed, but he had never believed he would actually be cursed. He didn't think the gods could have that much influence on the mortal world.
Then he felt a pain in his shoulder and back. When he peeled off his clothes and looked at his shoulder, he saw that the area around where the thorn had been was reddened. It was stinging and itching. The young man was also starting to feel nauseous.
"Great..." he said to himself. "Ignore someone when he need help, yet curse him when money is taken from your altar. Fuck you all!"
The young man staggered away from the altar. Body Tempering had also increased his resistance to poison. Maybe that's why he hadn't felt the effects of the poison until now? Was he really cursed this time?
He threw up on one side. When he wiped his mouth and got up, he was sweating. He walked away from the altar and back to the pond. First he washed his face. Then his wounds. When he realized this was not going to work, he undressed and got into the pond.
He washed his whole body thoroughly. He didn't know how to heal the poison in his blood. And what it would do to him.
When he got out and put his clothes on, he felt a little better. But his shoulder and back were numb. It was very difficult to move his arm. Still, this gave him some relief.
"Huh, it's nothing lethal. Yet I can't go the rest of the way with one arm."
At first he thought about waiting here. Then he thought about the first time he decided to stop here. "Forget it. I'm going."
He started walking again. He still felt a little nauseous. But it wasn't as bad as before. And thanks to what he had gotten from the altar, he would be a rich man when he got to Broken Mountain Town. He just had to get out of the forest.
He walked forward and passed by the altar. Inwardly, he paid Ouyang Luli compliments, full of respect and love. "Fucking god..."
He walked past the altar for a while. Occasionally he stopped and checked the surroundings. He had to avoid the natural monsters.
Soon he heard the sounds of fighting coming from beyond the tall grass. It did not sound human.
Huan Wei bent down a little and walked quietly through the grass. He could smell bad odors. Something was badly rotten.
When he calmly poked his head out of the grass, he saw a boar. Almost as big as a man, this boar seemed to be covered in metal armor. All its skin was covered with scales and shining. Its two long tusks were covered in blood. Surrounding it were the corpses of many natural monsters.
Huan Wei immediately realized that this thing was beyond him. Even Huan Chao probably couldn't cut its metal scales. Looking at the corpses around it and the fact that it was still standing, it was very strong.
The young man slowly went back into the grass. He had to get away from there. He couldn't let this thing notice him.
As he walked away in silence, one of the jewelry he had stuffed in his pocket fell on one of the stones on the ground. The sound of their clash caused Huan Wei to look up at the sky with eyes screaming a thousand curses.
At the same time, the Iron Boar also heard the sound and turned its head in that direction. Huan Wei could hear it slowly approaching. It must not have seen the young man because of the grass in front of him.
Huan Wei had given up on the idea that the gods had no influence on the mortal world. Ouyang Luli had literally cursed him.