Chapter 41

"Are you in a hurry right now? We are out of hands", Sima Liuwen pitifully pouted his lips slightly, as if a scolded child. It can't be denied that he doesn't looks disgusting with his act, instead it is very alluring, specially how his eyes sparkles slightly. But, as someone who have experienced his strict leadership and cruelty, all of them, including Di Xueyan, want to vomit.

' Where was our cold blooded, heartless and cruel leader?', the nine guardians lamented in their minds.

" Sure, I am not really in a hurry right now, at most, the ancient black dragon still has ten years to live, though the earlier he is cured, the better, but who knows, what if there are destinies here in this vast forest? Aside from my usual hanging place in the cliff and here, I had never carefully scrutinized this place before", Di Xueyan tried to blink her eyes innocently, trying to cover up the funny thoughts she has about Sima Liuwen.

Everyone's lips twitch. They can't believe that she has the guts to say that she never carefully scrutinized the place before. Who is she kidding? She almost plunge the forest's population by half because of her training. All of them only have one though in their brain,

' Shameless'

' Extremely shameless'

" Then, it's settled. You will be assigned to investigate the people from black realm", Sima Liuwen grinned widely, ignoring the weird looks in front of him. He doesn't give a fuck about those looks, as he is happy that someone entered the trap.

Even him, is reluctant to deal with people in the black realm,thus it became a head ache when no one wants to volunteer to keep an eye on them. He knows that he can't deal with them himself as he is anticipating another powerful entities who are fast approaching from different realm. As he is the most powerful among them, only him can feel the ominous vibes.

With the thought of them, his face can't help but show some signs of grim, which instantly vanishes as he saw the understanding in the guardians' eyes as they shake therlir heads, trying their very best not to laugh, he knew that they misunderstood, but it is for the better.

Di Xueyan is maybe not that intelligent, but based on their laughing faces, she knows that she was somehow tricked.

And then it dawned to her.

" You cunning old fox! You just don't want to deal with them that is why you pushed the responisibilty to my shoulder!", she pointed her index finger while slightly blushing in rage. Sima Liuwen puts his hands up in the air, in attempt of surrender, while trying to supress his laugh. He can't possibly say that he is preparing for something, even if they know, they can't change anything.

" I'm just doing some division of labor as a leader", he righteously retorted, as if that was really the real reason.

" Everyone already has roles, so the black realm will be yours to investigate", Sima Liuwen smiles widely, while the look in his eyes is saying that the decision is final.

Di Xueyan just sigh exasperately, knowing that she can't do anything to change his mind.

" I don't know how to look for them", she said helplessly while staring at the nine of them one after another, pouting.

" Give me a cup of your blood, and I'll give you a device to detect them", Sima Liuwen said with a slight seriousness can be seen in his face, as if it is already time to talk for the real business.

Di Xueyan involuntarily feels like it is not a suggestion but an order. She unconsciously covered her wrist.

" Hey! Are you serious? That's a lot of blood. I think I will faint because of that. Can we try a half cup first? Hehe", she unconsciously suggested, forgetting the fact that she is not a normal human anymore but a cultivator. She had always been a person without blood before to the point that her anemia prevents her from donating to charities as she always wanted. Thus, even until now, she is slightly aversed with the topic about taking blood from her body.

As if she never was gravely injured before to the point of dying due to blood loss.

Sima Liuwen and the other guardians' faces turned blank.

" Seriously? It is just a cup compared to your escapades around the 4 kingdoms which made you suffer extreme blood loss more. Can you please, at least be rational?", Wu Xian rolled his eyes as an amused smile dances in his lips.

" [1] Sabi ko nga eh", she murmurs, earning many confused glances, which she just shrugged off.

" What?", Du Meng helplessly asked. They have always been confused at some of her words ever since they became friends. There are times when she is extremely irritated, she will just shout [2] 'yawa' very loudly in the cliff, or when she is surprised she will exclaim [3] 'tangna', and if they will ask what she meant, she will just say that it is not suitable for children.

" What I meant was that, fine... I'll give you some... Isn't it just a cup of blood?", Di Xueyan explained helplessly. She took a blade and Sima Liuwen gave her a cute little cup with an entricate soaring red phoenix design. She can't help but pause a little bit when she seems to saw the little phoenix's eyes made contact with hers, but shrugged it off as she thought that maybe it was just because she is slightly anxious.

She blankly slice her right hand and watches the strange crimson blood that looks like glistening under the light of the surrounding. She is uncertain if blood should looks like that or maybe it was just her imagination. She never saw the grave expressions in the faces of the ten guardians of the forest.

The ten, including Sima Liuwen, felt like kneeling when they saw the extremely crimson blood in slight golden hue, but has to act as if nothing is amiss. Some are already breaking into cold sweat, while others who have lower cultivation felt like they are about to vomit blood.

They are the majestic beasts of their own kind, but in front of the suppression of blood, they were reduced to nothing.

And the girl is even unaware of how the appearance of her blood affects them so much.

How annoying

Honestly, they never knew who she was when they became friends for almost a year. It felt as if there is an ancient artifact preventing her from disclosing her real identity. It was not until she shed blood when she was with them that they found out how superior the girl that they bullied before. Of course, it never affects the friendship they has, as if they discovered nothing and nothing changed.

Wu Xian made an eye contact with Sima Liuwen, pleading to take the hateful blood away from them. He cannot guarantee that he can sit straight anymore.

" Let me take this, as I have to refine your blood with the artifact first", Sima Liuwen calmly took the cup as if nothing strange is happening while Di Xueyan is already wrapping her wound after sprinkling a medicinal powder.

" Hmmm", she just replied casually as Sima Liuwen turns his back and strides deeper inside the forest.

Di Xueyan is not dumb. Actually, she trusted her gut feelings than her knowledge more. She knew that something is up with Sima Liuwen, that not only her, but also the guardian didn't knew.

She has been observing him since they started eating lunch as he always seems to stare in an empty space while frowning a little. That's how she knew that something is up, she just can't pinpoint it. She knew that all of them has their own little secrets, but she hopes she can share his burden, as his best friend.

She just continuesly watched his receding back thoughtfully until he is nowhere to be seen among the green bushes and huge tree trunks.

In a quiet white fog, a stunning figure casually strides in, donned in lavish red robes. The seductiveness of his eyes is very appealing as a slight smirk dances his lips. He narrows his eyes in a certain direction as his smirk deepens. He passed through the thick white fogs, but then he instantly vanished when he was about to arrive at the other end, as if he never entered in the first place.

A black shadow instantly flashed in the area where he was supposed to appear. The black robed man is maybe wearing a black mask covering his entire face, but the confusion and frustration in his eyes is so apparent. He decided to leave when he concluded that the sly fox is nowhere to be seen.

At the end of the cliff in the central zone of the Night Forest, a calm and serene air breeze passes through different directions. The cliff has no flunctuation, nor living being, thus, the scenery is very relaxing and enchanting.

But what can be seen in the eye is not always the truth. What others hadn't discovered yet is the strange phenomena in the bottomless pit and the end of the cliff.

Sima Liuwen stares at the abyss below the cliff. He looks at the far cliff parallel to the one he is in while heaving a deep sigh. He was already born when this piece of land was split up into two.

The central zone has always been a vast piece of land ever since primordial times, but now, it obviously became a very far parallel cliffs with a distance of a mile.

Sima Liuwen took the cup with Di Xueyan's blood. He watched as the entricate phoenix design is slowly being engulfed with crimson fire before it flaps it wings as if it is alive.

The seemingly endless dark bottom of the cliff slightly turns with a mixture of red and black.

Sima Liuwen took a calligraphy brush and dip it in Di Xueyans blood. He first drew an ancient text in circular motion, if Di Xueyan will see it, she will be excited as some characters are exactly the same with the characters in her little realm. He then forms a circle while the characters are dancing inside of it, as if the blood characters are living being, a very faint golden glow glistens under the glare of the sun.

Sima Liuwen drew another circle below the circular words, and wrote four characters. The whole diagram instantly shone brightly as he spills the remaining blood below the cliff.

He smiles bitterly at the thought of his act. He just hopes that it will be successful until the end. He pointed his right index finger in his temple and retracted it a little bit. A strange transparent green - like little thread exited his head. It wriggles its way out of the control of his index fingers but he already gracefull thrown it in the bottomless pit of the cliff.

He smiles slightly again and decided to go back. He already saved a drop of blood for the artifact that he said to Di Xueyan. He took a compass like brown artifact from his storage ring and dropped the blood. A red aura surrounded the compass, a sign that it recognized its owner, which earned a smile of satisfaction from Sima Liuwen. He casually walks back towards the ancient mystic tree as if nothing strange happened.

***

[1] it is a filipino expression used whenever you lose an arguement. It means between the lines of

' just what I told you' and ' I will do it'.

[2] it literally means ' demon'. It is obviously, a curse, a popular cebuano curse all around the country to be exact.

[3] it is a shortened word of

' putang ina mo', which means motherfucker.

It's honestly quiet uncomfortable to explain cursed words, eh? Ahahahaha it's very easy to say but hard to explain ahaahahahah. Well, at least for me.

Good day!!!!