Chapter 205: Uncontrolled

~~~

Liu Jin flies over the countryside on Soaring Feather’s back. The Black-Winged Imperial Eagle lets out a fierce cry for everyone around to hear, his massive wings fully unfurled.

“You can stop now,” Liu Jin says, patting the bird’s back. “We do not want to be too obvious.”

Song Daiyu told Duke Lai that a giant eagle was seen flying east. Liu Jin does not intend to make a liar out of her. Whoever Duke Lai sends after him will find a trail to follow.

However, he cannot be too obvious. Soaring Feather being seen once or twice can be passed off as normal Spirit Beast behavior. More than that would be suspicious. Someone who did not allow himself to be sensed while hiding in Stone River City cannot suddenly start leaving clues everywhere. It might even prompt his pursuers to err on the side of caution and abandon the search. Liu Jin can’t have that. The more Duke Lai focuses on finding him, the smaller his odds are of noticing Song Daiyu smuggling Yi Jiao to Rumbling Thunder City.

By heading east, Liu Jin is making sure Duke Lai focuses in the wrong direction. It is one of the reasons he chose this path.

The other reason is…

Liu Jin’s eyes narrow as the Black Woods appear on the horizon. It is a massive forest that stretches for many miles and acts as a natural barrier between Duke Lai’s territories and the eastern border where the army is fighting General He’s forces.

The area had first caught Liu Jin’s attention while preparing for the trip to the Storm Dragon Empire. Despite its size, the Black Woods are not considered particularly valuable compared to other territories under Duke Lai’s influence. That is because the Black Woods are largely unexplored. Perhaps the people of the Storm Dragon Empire had once known everything about them, but constant civil war has a way of making knowledge fade away.

General Dan and Duke Lai might be content to let the Black Woods stay as a final bulwark against General He in case of an invasion, but Liu Jin has been talking to Fan Bingbing about the need to explore the Black Woods and other similar areas once they have stabilized the Storm Dragon Empire.

Right now, the Storm Dragon Empire is relying on its known natural resources, but that doesn’t need to be the case forever.

However, that is a subject for another time.

“Do you think you can maneuver between the trees safely?” Liu Jin asks Soaring Feather.

The sound he gets in reply is probably the closest an eagle can get to snorting.

With a beat of his wings, Soaring Feather rises even higher into the sky and takes careful aim. Before Liu Jin can say anything, Soaring Feather zooms down at well over the speed of sound. The sun vanishes in the blink of an eye. Soaring Feather passes through the thick canopy of trees without hitting anything. Right before they hit the ground, Soaring Feather seamlessly rises and lands on a branch without rustling a single leaf.

The smugness the eagle radiates as he glances back at Liu Jin should not be possible for a bird.

“A simple yes will do next time,” Liu Jin says. He hops off the eagle’s back and takes a look around.

Though the forest is mostly silent, Liu Jin can detect numerous creatures moving about. Most of them seem to be small, harmless critters, but there are also predators lurking in the shadows, observing them with wary eyes. The darkness provided by the dense foliage gives them ample camouflage.

If Liu Jin depended on his eyes to be aware of his surroundings, he would probably be a little worried. However, this is nothing compared to the room of the Reverse Tree.

“Since you flew us all the way here, I’ll hunt for your food today,” Liu Jin tells Soaring Feather as he takes a small but very sharp knife from his spatial pouch. It is the knife Meng Yue gifted him many years ago. Liu Jin had refrained from using it all this time, fearing its rarity would attract too much attention. However, there is little sense in worrying about that now.

Considering what he is planning, the knife might come in handy.

“Tomorrow, I expect you to pull your weight,” Liu Jin continues, earning himself an indignant look from Soaring Feather.

“I just got done pulling both our weights to get here!”

That seems to be what Soaring Feather’s eyes are telling him.

“Fair enough,” Lin Jin says, gazing into dense forest. He takes a single step which carries him all the way to the ground.

A gigantic bear, watching them from the shadows, jumps back, startled. It growls and rises to stand on its hind legs. Its size far dwarfs Liu Jin to the point the bear could swallow him whole. A swipe from its paw knocks down a nearby tree before it pounces on Liu Jin.

Liu Jin swings his knife.

The bear’s flesh is torn like paper before a storm. It happens so quickly that the bear does not even have time to cry in pain. One moment, it is standing. The next, it falls down, sending a light tremor through the surrounding area. Blood flows from its multiple wounds and pools around its corpse.

The other predators watching them wisely back away.

“That should give us some peace,” Liu Jin says before glancing up at Soaring Feather. “Well? Are you not going to come down and eat?”

The stunned look on Soaring Feather’s face almost makes him laugh.

~~~

The Black Woods cover a fairly vast area. Going through them is faster than trying to go around them, but by no means does that make the journey through the forest a quick one. If the terrain was free of obstacles, Liu Jin could cross it in under twelve hours. If he pushed himself, he could do it in four or three.

However, since it’s a dense, dark forest, it will take him about two days from start to finish. Not ideal, but still better than the alternative. Once he’s out of the woods, reaching his goal will only take a little more time. Hopefully, Song Daiyu’s information will prove reliable.

It has already been a full day since Liu Jin and Soaring Feather ventured into the forest. So far, it has proven nowhere near as dangerous as Liu Jin first feared. Quite the opposite, really.

Well, if he were as strong as the average soldier of General Dan’s army, this forest would be quite dangerous. Since he’s not, he can fully appreciate all it holds. Already Liu Jin has spotted quite a few plants that would fetch a good price if properly harvested. There is definitely untapped potential in the Storm Dragon Empire. It merely needs to be properly nurtured.

As he’s thinking that, multiple acres of the forest are annihilated in cleansing light.

The explosion is as sudden as it is violent. It rocks the entire forest and shines so brightly that Liu Jin has to cover his eyes. Animals of all sizes fall from the trees, and others flee their burrows. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast die instantly. Liu Jin feels countless Qi snuffed out at once.

He also feels the massive Qi of an Earth Realm cultivator blanketing the area, leaving no doubt as to who is behind the explosion.

Liu Jin is suddenly very glad he has been keeping his Qi low since entering the forest.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

The Storm Dragon Empire does not have many strong cultivators. That Duke Lai and Colonel Peng, both strong and influential men, are only in the Heaven Realm says enough. Furthermore, Liu Jin hadn’t sensed a single person above the Spirit Realm other than Duke Lai while in Stone River City. At the most, Liu Jin had expected a True Realm cultivator would be sent after him. Maybe more than one.

Liu Jin certainly hadn’t expected someone in the Earth Realm. Let alone someone whose Qi feels so obviously high-quality.

And dead.

Liu Jin narrows his eyes. It is faint, but the scent of death lingers in this person’s Qi. It is not as strong as the disciple of the Death Fashioning Scripture he encountered in the Dead Plains. Not even as strong as the scent of death in Duke Lai’s Qi. This Qi is…

Familiar.

“We’re leaving,” Liu Jin tells Soaring Feather. “You go south. Wait until you’re at least fifty miles away, then fly as high as you can and keep that altitude until you reach Rumbling Thunder City.”

Soaring Feather does not squawk or squeak. He merely looks at him in askance.

“I will keep following the plan,” Liu Jin says as though it should be obvious. Pre-empting Soaring Feather’s next question, he adds, “You’re not strong enough to be remotely close to-”

Liu Jin’s words are cut off by another explosion only a little smaller than the first one.

“To that,” Liu Jin finishes. “You’re not strong enough to be remotely close to that. Don’t worry about me. I can hide far better when I’m alone.”

Soaring Feather glares at him for that but still does as ordered. Liu Jin watches him go for a moment before taking off. He uses Art of the Roaming Thief to move through the forest, making a wide circle around the Earth Realm cultivator.

Another acre of the forest is blasted off.

She cannot keep that up forever, Liu Jin tells himself. Despite the quality of her cultivation, she is still an Earth Realm cultivator. Talented as she might be, the raw energy she has at her disposal is not much different from a “normal” Earth Realm cultivator if such a thing can be said to exist.