Ch 17 – Coincidence? I Think Not!

'Freedom! Civilization! Humans!' Kaleido's heart thumped and he approached the guard post in the far distance with hurried steps.

The paved dirt road, the stone lamps, and the other humans walking toward the same guard post he was nearing; all of those 'normal' sights made him exhilarated as his breathing accelerated from his turbid emotions. To him, the young 15-year-old boy who has been all alone inside a random forest for weeks, seeing humans made his lonely heart get messy.

He approached the paved dirt road with swift steps. Getting in line with the other humans, he looked around the area with curious eyes but held in his bubbling questions. All around him, there were many figures similar to him wearing cloaks and such that hide their appearances.

On the other hand, some were part of trading caravans, with tons of mortals and Gu Masters mixed among them. Some were mortals, some were not, some rode on carriages or horses, while others can be seen to have walked here on their bare feet.

"So this is Lo Clan City, grandpa?"

Kaleido heard the voice of a young boy behind him and turned his head and saw a duo that caught his attention. One was a young boy with black hair and blue eyes, wearing a tight-fitting white martial robe and white bandages wrapped around his forearms. On the other hand, there was an old man right beside him with white hair and beard, and an astute pair of decrepit eyes.

While the young boy did look extraordinary at first glance, the old grandpa instead had a more distinct look for Kaleido. 'While it may be concealed to normal humans, with my experience and amplified spatial awareness, I can still feel his hidden Rank 3 aura!'

'So this is what they meant when hidden dragons and crouching tigers are everywhere! Even a random grandpa is actually a Rank 3 Gu Master! Sigh, if only I also have a powerful grandpa, then I would be able to quickly deal with my lack of knowledge about this world.'

"Yes, this is indeed Lo Clan City. You know, your grandpa used to stay here when he was wandering in his youth all around Central Continent. I can still remember…"

'Lo Clan City…' Kaleido recalled the city's name and flashes of information appeared in his mind. With the help of Jie Clan's books and scrolls, he kind of knew general info about Lo Clan City.

Lo Clan City is the city of the super force of Central Continent—Lo Clan. They are a clan specialized in the use of qi path Gu Worms, a path that has slowly been on the rise due to the influence of a certain legendary Rank 8 Gu Immortal.

That Rank 8 Gu Immortal was the founder of qi path, a man who was at the forefront of leading humanity to fend off the barbaric variant humans of this world. Though his given name may be unknown, he was widely renowned as Grand Qi Origin!

Even Kaleido, an ignorant fool, knew of his existence through the help of the scattered information he received from the now-destroyed Jie Clan.

Though Kaleido's knowledge was still veiled and covered in mysteries full of myths and legends. The only real proof of Gu Immortals' existence for Kaleido was the existence of Grand Qi Origin.

As he waited in line for some time, when he was near the front, he heard the shout of the guard guarding the guard post.

"If you want to enter here, you'll have to pay 1 primeval essence stone!"

"What?! But why did those guys didn't have to pay-"

"Hmph, say that to the higher-ups then!"

Observing the two near him, Kaleido also can't help but curse and thought: 'Greedy bastard. From his aura, he's a Rank 2 Gu Master, and it seems like he likes to extort some money from lone cultivators like that guy. He has the backing of the Lo Clan City behind him, meaning he doesn't need to fear any sort of retaliation and gets to earn money!'

Kaleido instantly assessed the situation, showing his genius in clear display. Sighing and cursing his bad luck at encountering a money-grubbing guard, he resolutely turns around and also blamed himself for this situation.

'If I prepared primeval essence stones in advance, then this wouldn't have been a problem.' Kaleido walked away from the guard post and back towards the forest, disappearing from the view of the others. 'It seems like I'll have to rely on myself and produce my own primeval essence stones.'

As to why Kaleido didn't try and negotiate with the guard, he was more than wary of any conflict happening and it might result in a commotion happening. Kaleido didn't want anyone's attention to be placed on him, so he'd rather spend some time and create primeval essence stones himself than needlessly risk causing problems for himself.

Retreating into the forest, Kaleido disappeared with a flash of black light, only to appear more than a thousand steps away in the next instance. There, he crouches down on the ground and sat on the grassy floor, leaning his back onto the trunk of a tree and letting out another sigh.

"There's no use in complaining. More actions, less talk," Kaleido muttered to himself and recalled the contents of a book he read before with crystal clear quality.

Primeval essence stones are the general currency of Gu Masters. Primeval essence stones are not only the currency of Gu Masters but are also a helpful cultivation resource for them. It can be absorbed and turned into primeval essence in the aperture, then it can be used to fuel the nourishment of the aperture walls, and quicken one's cultivation speed.

Kaleido knew the value of primeval essence stones and couldn't help but notice his own foolishness and naivety. Of course a guard would bully the weak, he had already experienced the cruel nature of this world many times already in the short span he was here, so he can't help but chuckle at his own lack of wisdom.

Shaking his head, he sits in a lotus position and closed his eyes. But before he started to create primeval essence stones, his body seemed to disappear from the spot as the usefulness of Formless Barrier Gu shows once again. Not only can he use it to replicate telekinesis, but he can also even use the property of space to warp light around him, vanishing his physical body from the naked eye as if he was invisible!

Next, he also activated Spatial Domain Gu, amplifying his spatial awareness to another level to the point that he felt like he can see everything around him with his own eyes.

Feeling that this was enough preparation, he moved his consciousness towards his aperture and stared at the translucent sphere filled to the brim with green copper primeval essence. Using his mind, he controlled the primeval essence and dragged it outside his body, and slowly gathered it into a lump.

In the air in front of him, the primeval essence stone slowly came into being. From a small sphere, it slowly became a solid gray stone the size of a duck's egg. With a thud, it fell to the ground and Kaleido opened his eyes.

Stretching out his hand, his eyes glimmered and observe the primeval essence stone he held with interest. The stone felt smooth to the touch and was quite light, unlike what you would expect from something of such high value. Tossing it up and down, he nodded his head and placed it inside his space bubble before continuing to create more primeval essence stones.

One, two, three… More and more primeval essence stones were created by Kaleido in rapid succession without pause. By the time he stopped, there was already a small pile of more than ten primeval stones in front of him, each seemingly shining with brilliant light that showed their value.

'Nearly 30 minutes and I only managed to make this much, huh? My technique and finesse really are crude.' Kaleido stretched his body and was about to stand up when all of a sudden.

"Mengyao, stand back!" A hoarse voice shouted out from nowhere and Kaleido saw a green streak of qi shot at the tree right beside him. Of course, Kaleido had his spatial domain already set up, so he saw that green streak of wind qi coming from a mile away.

In the distance, three figures came into his view and they rapidly approach where he was at. Two of them were the previous duo he saw, while a scarred-face man wearing large green robes chased them as a veil of wind qi surrounded his body, boosting his speed to a scary level.

"Grandpa!" The young boy called out in worry, but the old man waved his hand and earth qi burst out from the ground, carrying the young boy away from the vicinity between the two experienced fighters.

"I told you to run away, Mengyao! This here is the Fierce Wind Demon, Wan Fan! Having you here would only endanger your life, trust in your grandpa that this demonic path fiend would be taken care of!" The old man responded while slamming both of his palms onto the ground.

From the ground, pillars of earth surged towards the Fierce Wind Demon.

In response, Wan Fan laughed and waved his sleeve, shouting with glee and anger: "Lei Xue, you dare come back here! Have you already forgotten about your betrayal?!"

"Though that doesn't matter, because having you here is like serving your life on a silver platter!" Fierce Wind Demon Wan Fan charged forward and sharp blades of wind qi rushed forward, cutting everything in its way, including the pillars of earth that shot out from the ground.

The two fought in a breathtaking manner. Both executed techniques and combat skills far beyond the skill level of Kaleido, giving him a deeper insight into the fight between two Gu Masters.

Everything around the two was destroyed and broken down. Trees were cut by sharp blades of wind, and the ground was distorted in all sorts of weird ways, all while the two fought fiercely against one another.

But while that was indeed happening, Kaleido saw a weird occurrence that was starting to happen more and more at a higher frequency.

'Why are their attacks coming my way?!'

Kaleido waved his hand and blocked the attacks with his Formless Barrier, and due to that, the warped light all around him is starting to revert back to normal. As he blocked another attack, his invisibility was finally broken and his appearance was instantly seen by the two Rank 3 experts.

"Hmm?" Wan Fan paused and the old man did the same.

Seeing Kaleido appear out of nowhere, the two were on high alert, especially when the two haven't even once sensed Kaleido's presence throughout the entire fight.

"Who are you?" Wan Fan asked as green wind qi gathered around the palm of his hands.

Seeing that he was noticed, Kaleido instead sighed and a dangerous thought appeared in his mind: 'This… Isn't this too unlucky on my part? Rank 3 Experts like them coming towards the place I was peacefully creating primeval essence stones, and even having their attacks shoot onto my general direction, this is just like back when beast emperors attacked me!'

Kaleido seemed to have seen through a small part of the veil covering his eyes, and dense killing intent leaked out from his eyes. Before the two can even respond, two Gu were used in tandem as Kaleido shouted in his mind: 'Killer Move—Displaced Slash!'

Two void black lines that cut the very fabric of space appeared on the bodies of the two Rank 3 experts, shocking them. But it was too late, their bodies were sliced into two, and they fell to the ground as blood pooled around their bodies.

And that gruesome scene was seen by a pair of blue eyes hidden in a bush, quaking and shaking in fear and anger.

'Grandpa!' The hidden Lei Mengyao saw his grandfather whom he loved dearly be cut into two equal parts by the mysterious cloaked figure in the distance. Killing intent and anger bubbled inside him, as he swore with gritted teeth: 'Grandpa! I swear to the heavens that I will avenge you!'

"Unfortunately for you," a voice suddenly called out from behind him and he turned his head, only to be greeted by a pair of heterochromatic eyes colored white and black. The figure smiled amicably and continued: "I'm a paranoid fool who is more than willing to kill young boys hungry for revenge."

Slash.

A head rolled to the ground.

Just like that, Kaleido disappeared and left without a trace. Not even the bodies of the three people he killed can be seen, leaving only the slight traces of blood as evidence of what happened in this random part of the forest.

AN: This chapter has 2173 words.

Your author is now under the weather. Why did I have to get sick just before the exams!

Another thing, your author's girl voice is as good as ever even after weeks of not using it. You can see what I sound like on Twitter by the way if you didn't know @NoNameDeityWN.

Remember to like, subscribe, and ring that bell to not miss a chapter.

(December 28, 2022 – 398th day of writing)