Chapter – 166 - Hanging Forest - The Forest of Wandering Souls

"It....It disappeared!"

Two pairs of eyes turned simultaneously, widening in confusion and disbelief. Under the oppression of these four eyes, a young girl slowly blinked her eyes open, shifting uneasily as she sat cross-legged on the cold floor.

"What do you mean? Has it been placed inside a storage space? Even if the storage space has special barriers, focus a bit. These barriers should not be able to stop your special perceptions."

"There....there is no barrier. There is no storage space either. It just disappeared....suddenly..."

"How can such a large chunk of rock simply disappear from the middle of a city?!"

The young girl almost jumped in fear as the other woman seemed to have lost her cool. The only man in the room resigned himself to staying quiet. He didn't want to get caught in this woman's line of focus.

The older woman looked extremely annoyed, deep lines creasing her otherwise smooth forehead.

"Are you saying someone with an inner space has taken that rock?"

"I....I don't know what happened. I had been keeping my senses on the alert around that place, and I have not sensed any other person entering or exiting those two rooms. And I could clearly sense the rock....till it suddenly disappeared. It was like a moment before I could still feel it, and then a moment later it was no longer there. Not even inside any of the storage spaces of those five people."

The older woman squinted her eyes, clearly thinking of something. Slowly she leaned back into the chair, a sharp glint passing through her half closed eyes.

"Someone who can hide their aura even from you....must be at least two levels above you...or they have a very unique body condition. But someone with such high level of cultivation is interested in that large chunk of rock?...This is becoming very interesting...."

The man who had till now been keeping a low presence, could no longer stay quiet.

"Ahem.....so, what exactly is that piece of rock? Why are we trying to track who is showing interest in that chunk of stone?"

"That is not a chunk of stone.....it seems to contain something very precious."

"But I have seen that rock....I even carried it while returning. It doesn't even have any energy. Nor does it contain any precious mineral or ore...what the heck is it?"

"Even I am not sure.....but Master thinks it is very important. He is using it as a trap. I only know that we are to follow whoever buys it from Mission Hall."

"But if it has disappeared then....do we keep following those five men?"

The older woman fell silent for a while, contemplating the scenario. Finally she turned towards the younger girl.

"Go over to the clan with Altruseo. Stay hidden and make sure not to catch unnecessary attention. Even if it is a spirit or a ghost, there will be some remaining aura. Memorize it. Both of you will seek out the aura and follow the person. I will wait here till our senior brother arrives, and hand over following those five men to him, then follow behind you. Stay very alert. Someone who can hide their aura from you, is probably not an easy opponent."

The younger girl stumbled as she hastened to stand up. The man sighed inwardly, then caught her by the back of her collar and dragged her off. It was not her fault for being so scared. The older woman had a habit of venting her frustrations on her subordinates. He managed to get away with it because of their personal relations....the poor girl had to bear the brunt of it.

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Three days later, a massive convoy of more than 500 cultivators reached the entry to the Hanging Forest. Though the convoy was divided into numerous smaller groups, and they were separated from each other, they were still moving at a similar speed and in the same direction.

This caused all the paths from Falanderie City to Hanging Forest to be overly crowded, the inns in every small city on the way were full to the brim, and restaurants and shops were running low on food and other stocks.

These cultivators were on a mission set by the Gavarnum and the Major Clans and Guilds of Madsa-Tamu. Hence their arrogance was overflowing in all direction. Normal cultivators of these smaller cities could hardly stand strong before them.

It was only at the entrance of Hanging Forest that the convoy came to a complete halt for the first time.

This forest was named such for two reasons.

The first was because of the tree which made the majority of the forest. It was named Landani Amarugus. This forest was home to a strange mineral found in abundance below the surface soil. The Landani trees, which grew absorbing this mineral, were very large, with long and twisted trunk, and a huge canopy of branches at the very top, growing like a mushroom cap. Landani literally meant 'In-the-air-tree' or 'Hanging-tree', and Amarugus was a term for 'root-tunnel' or 'root canopy'.

But the most interesting were the roots. The roots were very long and completely straight, and only the lowest part of the root was actually connected to the ground. The rest of the root grew like multiple pillars, straight out of the ground, and the actual tree grew at a great height above the ground, balanced on top of these pillar-like roots.

And the path through this forest was through these root tunnels.

This mineral reacted with some specific elements in the tree, creating an anti-gravity force, which caused all the trees to move upwards into the air. Though the mineral had little to no effect on humans or beasts, the roots and trunk of these trees could be used for creating special armors and weapons, also tools.

Travelling though these strange root-passages, Rihanna stared at the trees floating high above her head suspiciously. These trees were gigantic. She didn't want to think about what might happen if the minerals in the soil suddenly lost their effect, or disappeared. All the people happily meandering through these root passages would be instantly crushed to a pulp if these trees lost their lightness!

"Ha-ha-ha.....you don't need to be so cautious. These trees have been here for hundreds of thousands of years. They will not fall just because we are passing through."

Rihanna turned to glance at Uncle Yaoi blankly. Uncle Yaoi felt speechless at the hidden contempt she didn't even really try to hide in her eyes. 'Just-because-it-hasn't-happened-doesn't-mean-it-can't' was what he could read all over her face. He sighed, wondering what could possibly make such an innocent looking child so sarcastic!

"So what's the other reason?"

Artreya was half leaning over his Sarang Hound, excitement for gossip written all over his face. He called it 'Information-collection', but Rihanna could not be persuaded that it was only his love for gossip. Even Uncle Yaoi chuckled glancing at the way Artreya was literally hanging outwards towards him.

"Ghosts.....or spirits of humans and beasts."

Artreya looked scared stiff whereas Rihanna merely raised an eyebrow. Ever since she somehow landed in this world, she had come to believe in a number of things which she had bluntly discarded as 'superstition' before. Glancing at the cross-legged Apu floating all around the convoy, just above the heads of the hundreds of people, and invisible to all except herself, she sighed inwardly. If spirits could exist, what was so strange about ghosts!

"Is it because of this strange chill inside the forest?"

They had noticed a visible drop in temperature as soon as they entered the forest. Though as cultivators, they were not easily affected by changes in temperature, still, the chill within this forest did not seem normal. It had a bone-chilling effect, wherein the cold energy entered the body and stuck to the bones and muscles, refusing to budge easily.

Uncle Yaoi had told them about the various problems they were sure to come across during their travel, so they were well prepared. Still, they couldn't ignore the light sensation of morbid-ness hanging in the chilly air of the forest.

"Hmmm.....this forest has a far lower temperature than other forests. Also the dense foliage of the trees allow very little sunlight to enter the forest, with the forest remaining dark and dim even during the day. The dim light, dense forest, low temperatures and damp ground make it the best place for abandoned or lost souls to gather. Many of them are vengeful due to the way they died, or they carry the sadistic memories of their life before death, hence the forest feels rather grim and a heavy pressure can be felt throughout the forest."

Rihanna and Artreya looked around, half expecting to see some of these lost and vengeful souls blocking their path. Artreya did seem to catch a glimpse of something.

"Look! Are those bats up there?!.....They are really large bats!"

Uncle Yaoi pointed at the mushrooming branches of the trees surrounding them.

"Those things which look like large bats hanging upside-down from the branches....they are the vengeful souls. Sometimes they look like dead people hanging from those branches.....thus it is called Hanging Forest. we have to stay together and move fast during our journey through this forest. Though these souls cannot directly cause us any harm, they are capable of absorbing our life essence. If we stay here for too long, we might lose all our life essence. We can start aging or even die in our sleep."

As the trio moved forward, weaving their way through the massive roots standing like a wall all around the paths inside the forest, Rihanna glanced through the opening within the multiple roots crisscrossing around them. The small gaps allowed people to see the forest beyond the root-passages. Just like how Rihanna could see Zenoba and his team following them at a distance.

This forest had a controlled amount of light, was very dense and had a dark and gloomy ambience. The perfect set-up for an ambush. Zenoba was definitely planning on using the ambience for his purpose. Rihanna pursed her lips. She had to find the right moment to strike, and she had to strike first. She wasn't going to give these people a chance to prepare for her ambush.