Tree God’s Path

At the base of a small mountain, a group of people could be seen eating and chatting merrily. This was Alexander's team, which had set out to hunt the beast of White Stone Mountain earlier. They had paused here to rest and prepare for the upcoming trek.

Alexander and Sylvia were talking and sharing their food with the guards. They asked about the guards' experiences with hunting and camping, which the guards happily shared with them.

Sylvia asked Bertram, "Uncle Bertram, I remember you were a hunter before becoming a guard for our family, right?"

"Yes, I was indeed a hunter back then," Bertram replied.

"Then quick, tell me, have you encountered a 'ferocious beast' before?" Sylvia excitedly asked.

"We only had a few encounters with ferocious beasts back then. When we encountered one, we always escaped as fast as we could," Bertram replied.

"Actually, not all ferocious beasts are really that strong. As you know, they are beasts that evolved from monster beasts. If a Tier 1 monster beast evolves into a ferocious beast, it would still be at Tier 1. A beast's tier and class are different things. That being said, a Tier 1 ferocious beast is still stronger than a Tier 1 monster beast," Bertram continued to explain.

Alexander listened and thought to himself, "So a beast's tier is similar to a cultivator's cultivation level, while its class represents its talents or attributes. That makes more sense."

"Then tell me, have you encountered beasts with a higher class and are more dangerous before?" Sylvia continued to ask.

"I haven't encountered beasts of a higher class before; usually, they don't stay in these areas, instead they should be in the 'Great Wilderness,'" Bertram responded. He then paused for a moment before continuing with a grim expression, "However, I did encounter creatures more dangerous, but they aren't beasts, they are worse."

Hearing this, Sylvia perked up, eager to listen, while Alexander felt shivers run down his spine.

"Humans. While beasts kill for food or to protect their territories, humans might kill for the most twisted reasons. There are certain cruelties only humans are capable of committing," Bertram explained, as if recalling something.

"If you ever travel or meet humans in the wilderness, be extra vigilant. People don't usually show their darker sides in villages or cities because laws protect these places. But in the wilderness, even those you thought were saints can turn out to be the real devils," he added with a stern, warning tone.

*****

Inside the camp, Leofric was discussing plans with Sir George and a scout.

"My lord, we have two routes available: one goes through the mountain ahead, while the other circles around it," the scout said.

"Which route takes the shortest time to travel?" asked Leofric.

"The one that goes through the mountain would take about two hours to cross, while the one that goes around will take five. However, the former is difficult to travel; it's steep and covered with weeping oaks with low-hanging, thick branches. Moreover, people usually avoid this path and call it the Tree God's Path," the scout replied.

"Hmm? Why so?" Leofric asked with a confused expression.

"Due to the low-hanging branches, people previously hired some cultivators to cut down the branches blocking the path. However, they all suddenly disappeared. There are also some reports of the woodcutters disappearing in that area. People believe the place is protected by a Tree God, punishing anyone who cuts the trees. However, those who just pass through rarely encounter mishaps," the scout explained.

Leofric furrowed his brows. The shorter path held unknown dangers, but taking the longer route meant reaching White Stone Mountain by dusk. Fighting the bull-horned dire wolf in the dark would be risky. However, if they waited until tomorrow, the cunning beast might notice them and escape under the cover of darkness.

He went silent for a moment, then made his decision.

"We'll take the shorter path through the mountains. If we delay any longer, the beast might escape. It took us nearly a week to track it down, and no one knows how many more victims there will be if it gets away this time," Leofric declared.

"Also, inform everyone to be very careful when passing through Tree God's Path. Dismount if necessary, and avoid touching the trees as much as possible," Leofric added.

Sir George and the scout then left to relay Leofric's orders.

*****

"Everyone, get ready to depart. We will be going through the mountain trail. Also, do not break a branch or even touch the trees along the path." Sir George conveyed the orders to everyone.

The group packed their belongings and mounted their horses. Alexander and Sylvia shared a horse, riding on Bolt's back, ready to set off.

Led by the scout from Leofric's camp earlier, the party departed to traverse the mountain path. Along the way, Alexander and Sylvia were talking with each other.

"Brother, I heard from the scouts earlier that we'll be passing through a very dangerous area called the 'Tree God's Path,'" she said excitedly.

"And why are you excited about that?" Alexander asked, glancing at her skeptically. He wasn't sure which donkey kicked this little girl's head, to get excited when they're about to pass through a notoriously dangerous area.

"Brother, we might see some powerful beasts there. Isn't that awesome?" Sylvia replied with a grin, her eyes shining brightly.

Alexander could only sigh in frustration. His little sister definitely had more than just a few loose screws in her head. "This is definitely not how a little girl should think, heck, no human should even think this way," he thought to himself.

After a few minutes, they were nearing the Tree God's Path. Some oak branches hung low, blocking the way. The larger knights and guards had to dismount their horses to avoid hitting the branches.

As they progressed, the trees became even denser, and the branches were even larger. This time, everyone has already dismounted their horses, except for Alexander and Sylvia. Bolt was still a young horse, though he is a bit bigger and sturdier than normal Northern Iceland Horses his age, he was still a tad shorter than the other older horses they were bringing. Additionally, Alexander and Sylvia were still growing, so their shorter heights allowed them to pass through the branches just by leaning slightly forward.

As they went deeper, Alexander noticed small white dots of light moving around his navigator. Initially, he dismissed them as insects. However, as they advanced, the number of dots increased to thousands, if not tens of thousands. That's when he realized something was truly amiss.

He looked around him but didn't see anything, that's when he thought to look up. Initially, he also saw nothing while looking up. However, when he continued to focus his eyes, and tried to spot any movements. Then he saw them—faint, ghostly silhouettes drifting above the canopy. Thousands of them. Maybe even more.

He couldn't stop himself from exclaiming in shock.

Leofric noticed this and asked, "Hmm? What's wrong, Alexander?"

"Father, what are those things flying above us?" Alexander asked, his voice filled with fear.

Leofric glanced upward. At first, he saw nothing, but after concentrating, he also noticed the small flying silhouettes. His expression froze, and fear spread across his face.

Those who heard their conversation also looked up, but they couldn't see what the father and son saw that caused such fearful expressions. Even Sylvia tried to look up to see what they were looking at, but also couldn't see it.

"Everyone, stay silent and do not circulate your spirit energy. Be extra careful not to damage the branches of the trees," Leofric instructed in a grim voice.

"Father, what are they?" Alexander repeated, his voice tense.

"Those are bone-eating ghost wasps," Leofric replied. "They don't usually attack humans unless provoked."

Hearing the commotion, everyone else began looking up, but no one besides Alexander and Leofric saw the wasps.

"Everyone, move swiftly and quietly. We need to get out of here fast," Leofric instructed the still-confused guards and knights.

Everyone moved forward and arrived at a huge clearing. Instead of relaxing, Alexander's and Leofric's expressions grew even more grim. Above them were tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of those wasps, flying dangerously close to their heads. This place must be the center of their nests. One mistake, and they could be eaten with no bones left.

The others began to slow down, feeling relieved, but suddenly heard Leofric's stern voice: "Move!"

Everyone jolted and picked up their pace again.

After traversing the Tree God's Path, Alexander and Leofric finally sighed with relief as the wasps were no longer in sight. Leofric began to explain the previous situation to everyone.

"We just passed through what might have been dozens or even hundreds of nests of bone-eating ghost wasps," Leofric said.

People who knew what those wasps were, gasped in shock at how close they were to death in there.

"These wasps have transparent bodies, making them nearly invisible. They also fly silently. The only way to see them is by using your soul sense, but you need a strong one to do so," Leofric explained.

He glanced at Alexander as he spoke, causing the latter to panic slightly, thinking he was caught.

Leofric then said, "Alexander, your soul talents must have awakened after your congenital condition was healed. This is a great turn of events for you. Soul Sages are very rare, but they're in high demand due to their unique skills."

Alexander had been racking his brains for an excuse, but his father provided one that was surprisingly close to the truth. He only needed to play along.

"Indeed, Father. I also felt it. I think that's also the reason why I could detect natural energies already and start to cultivate." Alexander said seriously.

"That's wonderful news! I hope you can break through soon and officially become a cultivator," Leofric said joyously.

Sylvia, who was behind Alexander, began pouting, clearly in a bad mood. They had passed through and encountered such "wonderful" creatures, but she hadn't been able to see them. She thought it wasn't fair.

Leofric then went forward to touch one of the branches of the weeping oak trees as if to feel something.

He then called Sir George and said, "I think I know how the Tree God's Path came to be. The branches of this oak are extremely hard due to traces of earth-type natural energy. Bone-eating ghost wasps love places with high earth-type natural energy. The cultivators people hired must have tried to use spirit energy to cut the branches. When passing through a nest of those wasps, there's one crucial rule: never use spirit energy, or they'll see you as a threat and eat you till no bones are left."

Leofric then spoke in a low voice, audible only to Sir George, "We need to find a way to drive out these wasps later. I suspect there might be an earth-type energy vein beneath us, given the size of this forest and the number of wasps we encountered."

Sir George was surprised by Leofric's revelation. He nodded in agreement afterward.

The party continued along the route and eventually reached the foot of another mountain. This mountain was almost barren, with few trees growing near its peak. It wasn't very tall; they could reach the summit in about an hour. Large, broken white stones were scattered across the landscape, and similar stones could be seen all the way up to the mountain's peak.

They had finally arrived at their destination: White Stone Mountain. This was where the ferocious beast lay hidden. The real hunt was about to begin.