10 Chapter 10: The Ryu Forest And My Wolf (2)

Once again Hajimi was traveling into the depths of the outer layer Ryu Forest alongside him this time was not Lin Tatsuo but Akio Soju another expert on the same level as him. Well not particularly it was not clear who exactly was stronger. Hajimi Tatsuo was different…

A variant so to speak because not even his father can explain where Hajimi got his skills from even he believed that his son met with a fortunate encounter. His temper was truly weird when he was in his village or with friends he was calm and peaceful. When he encountered enemies though, a need for prayer is eminent, not for him but for his enemies. Even if you were a cultivation level higher than Hajimi you may still lose the battle, because he has this uncanny knack to notice minute details through battle, In other words he could predict the movements of his opponents.

Hajimi did have a lucky chance somewhere and benefitted greatly. All because of the experience of being blasted away during his brother's birth Hajimi's temperament changed drastically. He began to train every day and take every mission from the family he could. Even going so far as to dare to slaughter groups of bandits that besieged the family's traveling caravans heading to Sakura City. It wasn't until he slaughtered a bandit group called the silver raiders that he became infamous. On that day Hajimi Tatsuo killed over thirty men and finished off the leader in a surprising fashion using a wide range battle skill to raze the road to ash more than half were in the qi condensation stage and the rest were early foundation establishment.

After slaying ten foundation establishment warriors, something even the patriarch Haru could not do. The surrounding clans and bandits did not dare to cause any trouble for the Tatsuo clan which directly made it easier for them to acquire wealth on their route. After all even in a cultivation world killing one or two people of the same cultivation was hardly something that happened every day. Only apex cultivators could do such a thing when everyone got word it caused latent fear. Which in return allowed the clan to afford and purchase more items for the martial way in safety and while it wasn't much they were still able to acquire rank one spirit herbs and the occasional spirit pill to further boost their cultivation.

Akio Soju and Hajimi were both moving at a steady pace into the forest while the rest were a couple paces behind. Wind ruffling the leaves all around and night quickly approaching, the silver moonlight cascading down on to everything causing the leaves of the trees and vegetation to sparkle unceasingly.

Akio Soju was truly careful around Hajimi, ever since he had heard about the destruction of the silver raider bandits he had wanted to confirm with his own eyes why Hajimi was so powerful since Dreston from the Gallic clan believed it to be related to a treasure. After all what kind of treasure can allow someone to slay multiple foundation establishment experts? He truly wanted to ask but he knew better, asking someone about their treasure was the same thing as asking for someone's life in the martial world therefore he kept quiet about it and instead decided to speak about something else.

"Hajimi do you know why hordes of cultivators are running to Yellow Dust Valley?" Hajimi raised his eyebrows in surprise without even turning his head. "No" Akio Soju continued "There is a demon invasion up north and all cultivators who are capable are heading there to fight them off and earn merits." Hajimi was shocked, just this information alone confirmed some suspicions in his heart about what had happened years ago in the clan and why there was such unrest around Sakura city every time he had traveled there in the past.

"Demons, I've heard things here and there but I never actually believed the rumors to be true. I tend to only put belief into things I can see with my eyes "Akio snorted "A double edged sword. If you only heard word of mouth that your clan would be slaughtered would you still only believe until you see it" Hajimi's face became all the more serious as he abruptly stopped in front of a crystal clear lake that spanned at least 100 miles and stared down Akio, "Brother Akio, be absolutely careful of the things you say in front of me there are few things I care about and my family is at the top of that list." Akio shrugged it off I'm only pointing out the problem in your thought process better someone tells you know than to learn the hard way right, never-mind lets continue."

Just as Akio and Hajimi were about to take off they were suddenly flanked by ten rank four wolves which is the equivalent to about 10 early foundation establishment cultivators. Six wolves rushed Hajimi and the remaining four attacked Akio soju. "Just this? Brother Akio how about we continue our chat later, I'm going to play these pups to death." Hajimi grinned and licked his lips a loud laugh boomed through the clearing.

"Looks like there will be enough demon cores and materials to make me a good amount of wealth when I get back to Sakura city." The heat in the air began to condense rapidly only this time there was also cold mist slowly rising…

Meanwhile travelling next to Lin Tatsuo, Haruki was walking not too far away from Ayumu soju. Akio Soju's guards decided that it would be a better job to protect them both from harm together rather than remain as two individual groups. Leaving two youths walking side by side Haruki was taller than Ayumu but not by much both of them were handsome in their own rights it was just that Ayumu looked just as dark as his older brother, that expression on his older brother was fine but on his face it was just ridiculous he was only four years old, he was too young to have such an unapproachable demeanor.

Haruki was enjoying the night stroll many of the smaller demon beasts were avoiding them, when out of nowhere Haruki started feeling an intense throbbing coming from his body. Haruki fell to the ground clutching his head in agony, Lin Tatsuo was by his side in no time he placed a hand on Haruki and sent his spiritual sense to investigate. "Young lord are you ok?" Haruki was not in pain but the attractive force was just getting stronger and stronger. "What is doing this? Something seems to be calling me, omg I have had enough of the surprises, I just wanted to see what the hell the forest was about!" Lots of things were going on in Haruki's mind about the situation but he still responded calmly. "I am fine Uncle Lin" (Immediately Haruki decided that he must get down to what that weird reaction was, He was going to go to the source of what's pulling him.

Lin Tatsuo let out a breath of relief for if anything happened to Haruki on his watch the consequences would be something he couldn't bear. Yet all things don't always go as planned Haruki was already planning on how to escape. Ayumu noticed some weird things also and decided to keep an eye on Haruki after all most of the other kids his age cower around him but surprisingly this Haruki kid was basically treating him like air.

While moving forward howls began to rip through the night once again and this time they were truly surrounded. Sounds of howls and fighting were coming from up ahead, due to being behind by a few paces only the guards could see what was going on and only Haruki could sense the details of everything with the aid of his Higgs boson. Lin Tatsuo and the guards were all staring ahead, ready to get into formation at any second. Even Ayumu Soju was slightly paying attention, Haruki on the other hand already knew wolves were approaching and was simply awaiting the opportune moment to escape "Now is the time!" Haruki dashed out from the group of guards followed closely by jumping into a bush close to the clearing.

Yet what was a foundation establishment expert? He noticed when Haruki was gone the second his presence was erased. Which was due to the properties of the Higgs boson god particle its very foundation of existence was above divine grade how can he hope to find a Haruki Tatsuo who did not want to be found. Right after Lin Tatsuo began to go mad the soju guards were also frightened and bewildered because Ayumu was gone also, and unfortunately at this moment they couldn't divide their attention! Because about twenty wolves were surrounding them they were all rank one & two while not too strong the sheer amount was enough to deter them for a while.

Haruki was moving away from the clearing extremely fast weaving in between the many trees in the forest. Haruki began climbing the trees like a monkey, "I have to get to high ground." Haruki was extremely fast, the speed he used to catch his brother was already sufficient to show how fast he was, he could quite literally at four years old move fast enough to rival a peak 7th level qi condensation warrior and this did not come from nowhere this was also accredited to the Higgs. Due to its symbiotic nature it felt a need to have a strong host so that it can survive in this climate while it struggled for spiritual energy and intelligence. Over the last 4 years Haruki Tatsuo's body was becoming increasingly stronger owing to the Higgs Boson.

Once Haruki reached a considerable distance he began to survey the land and monitor the throbbing coming from his body he rotated in a full circle and found that the throbbing was the strongest when he faced a ravine closer to the western edge of the lower layer. Haruki paced back and forth on this tree branch thinking about whether he should take the risk or not, this trip already turned into something he couldn't handle. Then the crunching of a leaf broke him out of his thoughts, a small person was walking towards him, as he got close Haruki saw that it was Ayumu. "How did you even?" he snuck up on me with my spiritual sense? Haruki was bewildered and rightly so.

Ayumu Soju was quietly watching Haruki's every move, very surprised at the fact that he was so fast and crafty, he even seemed to know exactly where to step to move faster and where to grab to swing himself up to the highest branch. He couldn't help but be envious. "I should really be asking you that question? How did you get out of there without alerting qi foundation experts and foundation establishment experts?"

Haruki simply snorted "Why is that any of your business? I have something to do anyway, move aside" Ayumu didn't budge, he stood right in front of Haruki blocking his way forward "I'm coming with you." Haruki was starting to become annoyed "Seriously I liked you better when you didn't say shit." After thinking about the situation Haruki ended up changing his mind. "Well fine then." Haruki Tatsuo smiled, Haruki thought to himself that a little scapegoat is definitely welcome in this situation, especially when he was unsure of how things would turn out. They then began their descent down the tree. After gathering their items Haruki & Ayumu began heading deeper into the forest their journey so far was quiet and without incident.