Chapter 533: To be Tailed
As they left Skydragon Fortress, Hui Yue and his friends flew with their fastest speed towards an area on the map named the Eagle Cry Forest. Their speed was astonishing, and within seconds Skydragon Fortress was completely gone from their sight as they flew towards the forest they had seen on the map.
Although forests were quite dangerous when it came to possible bandit attacks, Hui Yue did not feel that this forest was likely to contain many God ranked bandits. The path they were taking to Youdu was completely devoid of any nearby immortal cities. They were going to travel through the mortal Netherworld as it was likely to be safer.
Their first stop and goal for the day was to reach Eagle Cry Forest where they would sleep for the night before continuing their journey. By traveling during the day and pausing to rest at night, it would take them three months to reach Youdu. At that time they would still have two months in the capital of hell before the trials started.
Hui Yue's face twisted slightly as he looked behind him, "It seems we are still being followed." He said indignantly, and his eyes grew cold as his killing intent rose.
"Perhaps we need to make the mortal Netherworld the final resting place for whichever expert is following us," he said. His words caused the others to feel a chill in their heart, but Huli and Cai Jie both had cold expressions on their faces as they nodded their heads.
"Right now they can't catch up with us. Our speed is relatively fast, but who knows when the ones behind us are going to no longer just follow behind but actually plan to do something? I will never give them the chance to kill even one of us!"
Hui Yue was determined. Everyone present was a dear friend of his, and they had all sworn blood oaths to follow him. Since they had shown their trust to him, it was only natural that he was going to do his very best to be a responsible leader.
"Let’s first reach Eagle Cry Forest," he said. "Then we will set a trap for our dear followers."
While they were flying Hui Yue was considering what he could do to trap these experts, and from time to time he would experiment with his soulforce. He would cover himself with it, and suddenly the ones present could no longer sense his presence. His power was the same, and his appearance was the same, but the aura he emitted was completely nonexistent when covered by his soulforce.
There were different ways to sense someone. If they were to withdraw their aura, one could not sense them unless they used soulforce or a specific technique relying on a minor dao under the dao of the wind.
Another option was to withdraw one’s aura but to do so would require energy. At first, Hui Yue did this, but after realizing that the tailing experts were still capable of sensing them, Hui Yue did not spend energy on this and instead used it all on flying.
Using soulforce was different. Soulforce was a completely different kind of energy and it was not needed for flying. IF he used it to mask himself, he guessed that no one would be able to sense him, not even if they were using soulforce themselves, that was unless they were much stronger than Hui Yue when it came to their use of soulforce.
The more he experimented, the easier it was for him to use soulforce. After experimenting on himself, he also started to cover Huli who was flying his side. After spending most of the day, Hui Yue learned that he could stretch his soulforce and cover himself, Huli, and Cai Jie for a period of time. However, the consumption rate was really quite fast. In such a state, he could only hold out for three-quarters of an hour before he had to stop and restore his soulforce.
"I think I have a plan," Hui Yue said with a smile causing all the others to gather closer to him to hear what he had to say. It was indeed a good idea to get rid of the people following them as soon as possible, and the fact that Hui Yue had already thought up a plan was enough to make everyone excited.
Telling everyone the plan, soon laughter and excitement rose from the group of Gods. All of them felt the urge to fight.
Having traveled all day in almost the opposite direction of everyone else on their way to Youdu their travels had been filled with laughter and conversations. They traveled and met no danger or other cultivators while traveling to the forest.
They reached Eagle Cry Forest with no problems, and as Hui Yue swept his soulforce over the entire forest, he was stunned to see that the king within this forest was not a Saint, as he had expected, but actually a group of three beast God ranked cultivators.
Knowing that they were entering the territory of a group of Gods, Hui Yue instantly led his own party towards their lair.
"We have no bad intentions," Hui Yue transmitted his voice to the lair the moment he felt the Gods stirring and flying towards them. When they arrived three Primordial Immortals, who were looking very nervous, stood outside their lair looking at this incoming group of Gods. Their followers were all lined up and standing orderly, but not even one of them looked comfortable as this group of Gods appeared out of nowhere.
"I apologize for our sudden intrusion in your territory," Hui Yue said politely as he cupped his hands and bowed slightly to the three Gods.
"We came to meet you because we plan on spending the night in your wonderful forest, and tomorrow we will, unfortunately, use your grounds to slay a few Gods who are tailing us."
Hui Yue did not ask for permission to do this. He could have executed these three Gods as easily as waving his hand. But he would rather have a friendly relationship with these Gods of the Netherworld that lived here then take the chance of offending them by having a massive battle in their territory without telling them first.
Hearing these words, the three Gods heaved heavy sighs of relief and nodded their heads eagerly, "Feel free to use this forest as you see fit!" One of the Gods said instantly while he felt relief so deep that his bones went soft.
"If you wish we would love to welcome everyone as our guests tonight and hold a great banquet!" A second God said, but Hui Yue had to regrettably shake his head.
"Although I would love to take you up on your offer, I do not wish to involve you in this. Allowing us to use the forest is already enough," he said with a smile and afterward turned to leave.
The moment they vanished into the sky, the three Gods all took a deep breath and looked at each other with relief surging in their eyes. Two of them had revered Hui Yue while the third had said nothing, but was now frowning.
"The one who spoke was seemingly their leader, but he did not seem to have a very strong aura. How could he be their leader?" The third person said with surprise in his voice but the two other just shook their heads, "There could be many reasons..." The oldest of the three said. "He could be a young master who has gone traveling from a great sect or family, and in that case, it is only natural that he has brought a few protectors with him."
"Another reason could be that he knows a technique that hides his true aura to make people underestimate him. He was without a doubt the leader of that group, so it only makes sense that he is either the strongest or a young master they all revere."
"What does not make sense is that he has appeared here of all places. We are very close to the mortal Netherworld, and there are very few Gods in this place. Almost every God in this area is like us who are getting by while trying to comprehend the dao before we enter an immortal city." Saying this, the oldest expert frowned while the two others just shook their head and shrugged their shoulders.
"Perhaps he was on a mission to kill a specific God who had done something against their sect. After killing that person, this group of Gods are now being chased?" The youngest beast theorized with excitement. Although he was a God, he had always lived within his home and had never left. To imagine the outside world filled him with anticipation. Was it not because his brothers had once before entered the immortal cities and learned the hard way that they were weak, then he would have long ago left the confinement of the Eagle Cry Forest.
"Why did we not accept their invitation?" Shen Wei, the jackal, asked curiously but Hui Yue just shook his head.
"These Gods have been here for a very long time already," Huli answered instead. "They have been living here from when they were born up until now. I don't know if they have ever even left this forest, and such Gods deserve respect. They have managed to become Gods without the resources of a sect or family supporting them. If we were to accept their invitation, our fight tomorrow would be at their place. Then even if we were as careful as possible, their home would inevitably be destroyed. That is not how I would repay a host. The best thing we can do is leave and do as little damage to their territory as possible."
Hearing Huli's explanation, Shen Wei nodded his head. The words made sense to him, and he realized he had indeed not thought it through.
"Well in that case what is our plan now?" he continued to ask, and Hui Yue, hesitating a little as he scanned the area with his soulforce, finally answered him. "We will head to the very edge of the forest and set up camp for the night. The people following us are around a hundred kilometers away so they should be at the entrance to the forest. I don't know if they will spend the night catching up to us or if they will keep their distance. It seems to be just two people," Hui Yue said as they looked for a place where they could land.
It did not take them long before they found a small stream next to the edge of the forest and they all flew down to the ground. The bull vanished into the forest to hunt for meat while Hui Yue sat down and spread his soulforce out to scout their surroundings.
As he sat down, his tranquil face turned rather ugly. He soon felt that these two people he had felt at the very edge of his reach were not the only one following them; behind these two was a third person.
The two people continued to catch up until they were around fifty kilometers away, then they stopped their pursuit and came to a standstill.
Behind these two the third person who was flying rather slowly kept inching close to their location. He continued until he was only ten kilometers away from them and his boldness made the killing intent within Hui Yue flare. He could not wait to show them that they were not as unaware as they seemed.
"Tomorrow will be interesting," he said with a voice dripping with an urge to kill. He just so happened to be in need of a stronger soulforce and to do so he would gladly say yes to any soul that threw themselves at him.