1 Prologue: Encountering the Daoists of the Otherworld (part 1)

What lies between the lands of humanity and demons is the Barren lands of the Great Human-demon War. Given a name like that, it was a land of parchedness, desolation and emptiness.

It was a wasteland longed riddled by the ruins of the great human-demon War that had happened more than five-hundred years ago.

If an observer were to see its lands for the first time, he would be able to see many areas of high-level magic oscillations, giant crevices that were deep as sea trenches, incomplete ancient skeletons lying everywhere on the ground and humongous craters of tens of meters deep in depression wherever he turns his head to look.

And yet, those sightings were just the tip of the ice-berg of what truly devastated this entire landscape.

And in the middle of those desolate planes that were devoid of natural life, a girl was running in the middle of the night.

The blonde girl looked young, almost fifteen, she wore a casual linen dress of an average woman under her pretty face, yet, her clothing was torn to look shredded, and her pretty face was dangerously bleeding red by the forehead.

Her expression was pained, troubled, terrified, but she did not stop running. Knowing why as she was being chase by two figures in the distance behind her.

There were two black-haired men whose age looked like they were in their middle-twenties, were chasing her in the speed comparable to leopards.

The flaming red robes with an intense flame patched as its symbol that they wore, fluttered endlessly in the speeding wind as they attempt to catch up to the running girl.

Compared to the girl who looked out of breath and was about to faint at any moment, the two men didn't look like they weren't going to get exhausted for a long time as it was apparent in their stoic expressions.

"Stop running!" One of the men shouted. "Surrender now, little girl! Your fate is already sealed! You might as well end this farce and save your energy!"

"It's useless, brother Wu. They don't understand our language!" His companion interrupted.

"They don't understand us, yet we keep them as our slaves alive? That's no different than a flame cultivator refining a magic item of the water attribute. It's totally meaningless." brother Wu couldn't help but complain.

"It's totally useless to keep them as our slaves but the energy the people in this world possess are incredibly suitable for us cultivators to refine as magic items. If I had the time, then perhaps i could capture a few slaves and refine them as my new set of flying swords. Yet..." His companion sighed.

"Yet, we were ordered to keep them alive and transport them to the Celestial Dao world all in one piece. Brother Wu, what do you think the elders of the Intense Flame Sect's purpose for gathering them?"

"I do not know the what they plan to do but I think they are going to refine the slaves to further enhance the sect's matrix formation, cultivate more magic items to arm the entire sect's populace or perhaps they could be forging new types of pills with the slaves as the ingredients." Brother Wu conjectured.

"Hmm, it could be one of them or maybe all of them or maybe even none of them because they aren't doing any of them at the moment." His companion said as he rubbed his chin. "But one thing remains clear, the elders are indeed planning something big if they are going to need five hundred of these slaves."

Brother Wu nodded in agreement and he puts his focus back to the girl they were chasing.

Their distance shortened. And eventually, it got short as a single meter. As the two men drew near, the girl's face expressed her panic. Then, out of her panic, she put her hands in prayer and muttered something incoherent.

"Be careful, brother Wu. She's using this world's strange techniques again." His companion said worriedly.

"I know." Said brother Wu. Looking wary.

After muttering, she puts both her palms up and shouted "Water Ball!"

And then, as if some magical mechanism was activated, a ball of water had suddenly appeared above her palms. Appearing clear, pristine and pure bluish like the original form of water.

The sight of this magical phenomenon had made the two men frown. They distance themselves out of wariness. As for the girl, she was even worried even more so as her expression betrayed her exhaustion.

But facing this window of opportunity, the girl did not hesitate to initiate retaliation. She turned around with swiftness to face the two men head-on and threw the water ball like she was just throwing a light ball.

"Watch out!" Brother Wu exclaimed. Their hands then formed incantation gestures. And just like that, another magical phenomenon comes to light.

Appearing before each of the two men was a long sword made of intense burning flames. Exposing distinct and solid entities just like a real sword yet it felt hot like the scorching sun, they held those swords with true swordsmanship and set themselves to parry the incoming water ball.

"Tssss!" A loud sizzling sound echoed as their two swords and the water ball. And abiding the laws of nature, water and fire could not coexist properly, thus eventually, one of them had to evaporate to gas.

The swords made of flame evaporated into nothingness while as the water did the same. Yet, the two showed stunned looks for a fraction a second whilst the girl held despair in her eyes upon seeing her attack greatly negated.

And then, brother Wu laughed coldly. "Her power has dwindled greatly! Brother Chen, there is nothing to fear anymore!"

"Hahaha! little girl, you've been causing us great trouble for chasing you around. Surrender now! You've got no other choice left!"

As they spoke, the girl was filled with terror. She turned around and ran once more but she was just a bit too late. Seeing her making another run for it, Brother Wu harrumphed coldly. And the next second, the girl was pounced by him without her noticing it.

"NO! LET ME GO!" The girl cried. She was instantly terrified being held down to the ground. "Please don't hurt me! I promise I won't ever run again!"

"Shut your trap, you wretch!" Brother Wu scolded. "I don't even understand what you're saying in the first place. So, why are you even trying to plead!"

After saying that, he lightly taps the girl's forehead with his finger. Instantly, as if done with magic, she fainted to unconsciousness.

Now that she wasn't struggling anymore, the two men sighed in relief as the burden they felt was lifted away.

Brother Chen picked up the girl and straddled her over his shoulder. They were just about to leave the scene when suddenly, they heard a young taciturn voice of a male right behind them.

"I hope you're not going to take advantage of an unconscious girl in the middle of the night. That would be very uncouth as guests of this world."

"Who's there!" The two men were instantly wary as their instincts alerted them. They turned around with menacing looks and stances preparing for battle, only to see a black-haired youth standing casually, looking indifferently at them with his crimson-colored eyes and arms behind his back.

He appeared out of the blue, wearing a red striped three-piece suit-wear under a crimson black suit jacket under his young, healthy-looking, taciturn face that looked pale under the dim moonlight.

Looking at this youth who seemed harmless and lost, the eyes of the two men instantly narrowed as they were suddenly struck with realization.

"He spoke... we can understand what he spoke..." Brother Chen muttered under his breath. This was truly a shocking discovery for both of them.

Ever since they came to invade this world, they've been able to differentiate Friend from Foe due to how contrasting their own cultures and traditions were to each other as they were from different worlds. Thus, anyone and anything that was not speaking their language was instantly recognize as their enemy the moment they spoke.

However, just a moment ago, they had heard their language being spoken, casual and fluent by this youth before them who doesn't seem to be a person from their world as they judge his appearance and formal-looking clothes.

So instantly, they immediately deemed him an enemy to be wary with. As for the youth, he didn't seem to care whether he was treated as a friend or a foe. He only looked indifferent with his gaze focus on them as if he was gazing at a small painting.

As the two men were caught aware, they also realize the value of such a person before them.

Ever since they invaded this world and dominate its people to slavery, they have been troubled over the diverse language the people of this world speak. Thus, making it difficult to relay orders to them.

They've also thought about learning the language of this world but it was nigh impossible to do it due to how difficult it was to both decipher and interpret the language of this world.

They've also thought about teaching the people of this world their language but they've barely scratched the surface and it might take years before one of the slaves would emerge to translate orders.

Looking at the youth, he was indeed a local of this world just by judging the way he dresses. Yet, this fellow before them could fluently convey their language perfectly as if he had studied it in their world for a long time.

If they bring this youth to the elders, surely, they'll be rewarded greatly for their efforts.

"Hahaha... young man, don't be resistive and come with us! If you dare be annoying then I'll cut your limbs off!" Saying so, the two men gave him scorned looks for his misfortune and unleashed their unruly auras that had terrified the mortals of this world.

The aura of a Foundation Formation Cultivator!

No mortal has been able to withstand such sheer presence of an individual wielding true strength without fainting in pure shock.

However...

"Hmm? What did you guys do now? Did you somehow unleash a coercion spell without my notice or is it an innate ability of you fellows have from the otherworld?"

Yet, face with such suppression that would have made a strong man keel over to the ground, the youth remained composed with his voice betraying his interest.

The two were shock. To be able to withstand the pressure their cultivation levels emitted without shrinking a bit... there could be two explanations; either the fellow before them was a complete idiot or he was much stronger than them in terms of battle prowess and experience!

The two dares not to guess it was the former and immediately concluded the latter. They dare not underestimate this world after what they experience so far.

After all, they were in a different world. Everything in this world was way too different from their world be it culture, tradition, species, or even natural theory. They didn't even know if it was safe cultivating here knowing that there was no spiritual energy in this world to replenish their exhausted Qi.

Hence in this moment, the scene was rendered silent. Leaving the youth's question unanswered.

"Let's call an elder to deal with him at once!" Chen had judge that they could possibly not deal with such a person who could remain compose under both their suppressions of their auras and decided that it was best to let someone much capable to handle this as they thought that the youth before them might be even more stronger than both of them combine.

Brother Wu nodded in agreement. He whipped out an item from his storage ring and held it in his hand.

Upon seeing this item, the youth raised his brow in interest. From what he could observe, it was a dull looking glass orb in the size of a big pebble that was being taken out.