Framed
Mu Yu’s team was on high alert for the next five days they spent in the forest. They had adapted to the animals’ nocturnal lifestyle. Nobody dared to answer nature’s calls on their own again. They had yet to encounter any elemental demons and hadn’t encountered another fiend despite travelling deeper and deeper into the mountain.
The forest seemed boundless. Forget ordinary humans; cultivators wouldn’t venture into the forest due to the difficulty of traversing it. At times, they had to scout for elemental demons from the sky, yet the overlapping tree branches would act as blockades.
“With the way we conspicuously entered the forest, any idiot would’ve gone into hiding, let alone elemental demons. I doubt we’ll find anything.” Hao Yingjun rubbed his thigh. “I feel I’ve lost a few kilos.”
“Great, you can roll instead of walking, then,” ribbed Hong Yan.
“You have a point. I’ll start exercising to shed the fat tomorrow,” Hao Yingjun responded with a cackle.
Mu Yu pulled aside a row of thorns and jumped over. “You said the same thing yesterday, Fatty. You really do lie without batting an eye, huh?”
“There are benefits to being fat, which include,” argued Hao Yingjun, before proceeding to imitate Mu Yu’s jump through the narrow gap. “Ah, I’m stuck again. Help a brother out.”
“Which includes getting stuck everywhere you go?” Mu Yu ribbed.
Mu Yu tried pulling Hao Yingjun to no avail. Thankfully, Hong Yan booted Hao Yingjun in his rear to get him through.
“Lovely kick. Lovely expression of love,” remarked Hao Yingjun, as he rubbed his behind woefully.
“God damn it, I stepped in dung again,” grumped Chubby. Surprised about something, he lifted his foot to check it out before looking around. “I think this is the same dog poop I stepped in on our first day in here.”
“What, the poop chased you?” Mu Yu chuckled as he went over to Hao Yingjun. Mu Yu found Hao Yingjun was right because Hao Yingjun’s previous footprint was left behind in the pile of fiend wolf faeces.
Xue’er wanted to take a look, but it was faeces, so she refused to violate her eyes and nose. She exclaimed, “Are you telling me we’ve returned to our starting point after five days?”
“Perhaps.” Mu Yu searched around nearby to find a destroyed spider web and the split insect carcass on it, confirming the assumption.
Hong Yan pinched her nose and glanced over. “No way. It’s been five days, and it still hasn’t dried?”
“That’s normal. There are no insects here, and it’s a moist area. When I take dumps, it w-”
“Shut up!” Hong Yan gave Hao Yingjun the boot.
“Mu Yu, did you notice anything on the way here?” asked Cheng Yan.
Mu Yu shook his head. He would’ve noticed anything unordinary if there was since he had the ability to connect with trees. He hadn’t noticed any changes to the trees around.
“Let’s check things out from above,” suggested Cheng Yan.
The others followed Cheng Yan up above the dense forest. They checked every direction and verified they really were going in circles somehow. They flew forward and came to a small creek. They found the ashes and remains of the fire they started a few nights ago. They wrongly assumed they had entered deep into the forest. The discovery bothered Hao Yingjun more than anyone.
“We’re stuck in a large formation,” stated Mu Yu, stern.
“Whose trap?” inquired Xue’er.
Mu Yu touched a tree; it was perfectly normal. He answered, “I highly doubt there’s anyone else who could control an entire forest of this size besides wood demons.”
Mu Yu wasn’t an expert on formations. However, he did know cultivators invented formations based on inspiration from elemental demons. The most commonly used formation was Cosmos Sleeve, the elemental-demons inspired formation, which pretty much every cultivator knew.
Noticing Gu Yitian peer behind them vigilantly, Mu Yu questioned, “What’s the matter?”
As a physical cultivator, Gu Yitian’s senses were more honed than others. Gu Yitian shook his head. “I can’t shake off the feeling someone is watching us. I’m sensitive to people watching me, but I can’t see who it is. I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination.”
Mu Yu also felt something didn’t sit right but not to the same degree as Gu Yitian. Mu Yu didn’t suspect somebody was watching them. Instead, there was a familiar aura calling out to him from somewhere. Despite Gu Yitian brushing it off, the team grew more vigilant. If they had been stalked for five days and didn’t notice their predator, they were up against something or someone troublesome.
They signalled with their gazes and began to scour the forest, hoping to hear a rustle or see a leaf move. Unfortunately, there was nothing suspicious.
“So, the most likely answer is some elemental demon is stalking us?” questioned Cheng Yan.
“And we’re certain it’s a wood demon. It might be manipulating the paths to take us in circles.”
Mu Yu leaned back onto a tree. Nothing within a twenty square metre radius was bizarre. That didn’t rule out the possibility the wood demon was outside of his detection range. Another question was is it was only trying to keep them away from the deeper section of the forest.
“So, is it confirmed there are elemental demons here?”
Xue’er covered her mouth.
“Let’s go along this small creek. That will prevent us getting lost, at the very least.”
Cheng Yan flew above the creek with the others following behind. The idea was to avoid going circles in the forest. Unfortunately, they could potentially miss elemental demons in the forest. The team didn’t notice a red firework far behind them in the sky when they flew up. It was a loud signal, but Mu Yu’s team didn’t hear it, either. It was unlikely anyone saw it due to the towering trees. Worse, it only lasted for fifteen minutes.
Mu Yu’s team sdn’t obstructed in the air, allowing them to move faster. They turned into the forest according to the creek. Approximately two hours later, Cheng Yan stopped.
“What’s the matter,” asked Hao Yingjun.
Tracing Cheng Yan’s line of sight, they saw the ashes of the fire they started again. Hong Yan htumbled, “Now the creek is playing tricks, too?”
“I’ve been paying attention to the direction the creek flows. It’s been flowing toward us. Somehow, we end up in the same place again,” noted Cheng Yan.
“Water demons,” quietly uttered Mu Yu.
“Shall we fly deeper into the forest from above before descending?” proposed Xue’er.
Mu Yu shook his head. “That’s pointless. While we’re fumbling through, there’s a fat chance we’ll end up in the same spot again.”
“Hao Yingjun, pass me the compass,” demanded Cheng Yan.
“It’s useless if there are metal demons around,” Hao Yingjun reminded as he handed over the compass.
“It would require a group of them to impact it. One or two won’t make any difference to it. Since I’m the most advanced cultivator among us, I’ll use my spiritual energy to protect it so that they can’t interfere with its functioning.”
Indeed, as long as the compass pointed south, they were heading in the correct direction and wouldn’t need to worry about a wood demon’s manipulation. Hence, Cheng Yan flew up to double check their location before coming back down. “We came through from the southeast. If we advance, it means we head northwest. We’re in the south, which means…” Cheng Yan pivoted to face the direction they needed to go.
Puzzled, Hao Yingjun asked, “We’re heading backward?”
Cheng Yan nodded. “The trees have led us astray several times now. If we cross this small creek, we’ll be on our way back to Crouching Dragon Mountain. We’ve actually crossed the creek without realising it. Consequently, the correct direction is the direction we came from.”
“Why would the ashes be on the other side, then?” queried Hao Yingjun.
“We started the fire with trees. Wood demons could fabricate a pile to fool us,” explained Cheng Yan.
“Okay, I’m confused,” commented Xue’er.
“Follow me,” Cheng Yan instructed..
Since Cheng Yan was the strongest amongst them, the team tacitly considered him their leader unknowingly. Plus, it was easier to follow him than try to make sense of all the directions.
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