Chapter 23: Following a Group of Three

I didn't sleep but entered a meditative state that worked similarly to sleeping. Nothing strange happened during the night, which was great. However, as morning broke and the sun blazed in the sky, I heard voices!

The voices came from outside my cave, but it seemed like they were moving toward it. With quick movements, I left the cave and hid in the nearby area.

The campfire had extinguished during the night, but its remnants were there.

"Are you certain there's something like that in this place? It sounds like a fairy tale!" a female voice echoed in the distance.

"Trust me, alright? I heard from trustworthy sources that there's an inheritance in the deeper parts of the forest."

I was hiding behind a tree. My robe concealed my cultivation, and my agile body, thanks to my buddy Big T, was more than enough to keep me hidden.

The dense forest, filled with large trees and bushes, also aided in my concealment.

"Someone slept here recently," a man said, crouching and touching the remnants of my fire.

He looked around, attempting to spot the cultivator who had slept in that cave—me—but found nothing. Of course, he wouldn't find me. I was superior, and he looked foolish.

I analyzed the group: three cultivators consisting of two women and one man. They were all dressed in the same blue robe adorned with a symbol on the chest. It was evident that they belonged to the same sect and had formed a group to explore the area.

The male cultivator also had a sword behind his back.

Their cultivations ranged from the eighth layer to the ninth. The two girls were in the eighth layer, while the man was in the ninth.

They appeared young and naive, discussing an inheritance or something of the sort. If I didn't possess my knowledge about cultivation worlds, I would dismiss it as mere nonsense. Why would there be an inheritance in a place like this?

But with my knowledge, the possibility of an inheritance seemed likely. It was common for inheritances to be found in seemingly ordinary places, often stumbled upon by the main characters (MC). The group before me could either be the protagonists or me.

Regardless, I had to follow them. It was an opportunity I couldn't afford to miss. They scanned the surrounding area a few times, only stopping when they realized no one was there. At least, no one they could detect.

And so, the process of stalking began! To be honest, I wanted to venture deep into the forest, strip off my clothes, and battle the beasts like a barbarian, pushing my cultivation to the next two layers that I lacked.

Following a group of three teenage cultivators wasn't exactly what I had envisioned when entering the Dark Wood Forest. However, if it led me to some kind of inheritance or at least something useful, then it would be fantastic!

The idea of what I would find in said inheritance was what kept me going because, for God's sake, what a bummer. Those young cultivators only talked about useless things, like how the forest was scary and their boring time in their sect.

I couldn't bear that for too long. Thankfully, they stopped at a waterfall. I believed it was for resting purposes, but apparently, that was not the case.

"Is this the inheritance area? But how can no one have found it till this point?" one of the girls asked.

She was right. The whole location was just too obvious, and the number of cultivators who went to Dark Wood Forest to train was massive. There was no way no one found the inheritance. I heard their conversation with one thought in mind: imagine if the guy said the inheritance was behind the waterfall in a cave.

That would turn out to be the most cliché thing ever.

"There's no way he will say that," I murmured.

I saw the man pointing toward the waterfall, and his next sentence made me want to drown myself in that lake under the waterfall.

"The inheritance is behind the waterfall in a cave. It's a well-hidden place, so it makes sense no one found it," he said.

It makes sense no one found it? Everyone there must be stupid, then! That was the most obvious place to put things. Heck, every single RPG game had a chest behind a waterfall, and they called it a secret chest even. What a stupid title.

Anyway, I endured following them for almost an entire day, so I wouldn't stop there. They were about to enter the inheritance, well, that's if there was any inheritance there to begin with.

"But before we enter," the man said, turning around, "Can you please show yourself?"

I wasn't expecting that. I had concealed myself well behind the trees, with no Qi emanating from my body. It was almost impossible for any of them to notice my presence, yet the man somehow did.

"Wait... Could he be bluffing? I read once in a novel where someone does this kind of shit. Let me wait here..." I thought to myself.

The man kept calling out, but he didn't move, only staring at the surrounding area. The two girls with him couldn't understand what was happening.

"Brother Ye Hu, what are you doing?" one of them asked.

Ye Hu scratched the back of his head. "I was just ensuring no one was watching us. Apparently, there's no one here. Let's move."

I was freaking right! That man called Ye Hu was smart to do that. He gained a few points in my personal assessment.

They went up the waterfall, leaping through the water, presumably entering a cave or something similar.

It wasn't an ideal spot for me. The water blocked my view, and I was certain they could see me from there! Getting closer to them proved to be even harder.

Nevertheless, I tried circling around the area, utilizing the bushes and trees to remain hidden. While they had to use the regular path to climb, I had the power of Big T, allowing me to jump and ascend the waterfall with ease!

They saw nothing, and in no time, I was inside, gazing at the three of them sitting in front of a door.

"How can we open this..."