Unlike the others, the star did not radiate any wisps or streaks of energy. Instead, the star was a condensed black star with red lights akin to a red aurora. It gave off an aura of evil and murder which could stifle Ye Tian if he had been there in person. As Ye Tian closely observed the star, he noticed that there was actually a void between this odd star and the other stars as if the others were afraid.

Ye Tian hesitated but reached out anyways towards this star which caused a thread of energy to be extracted and absorbed. Instantly, there was regret towards this action as the pain began to rack his mind.

The pain swore to tear the body apart bit by bit with what felt as if knives were being repeatedly stabbed and twisted in the muscles. The throbbing headache only intensified the sensitivity with every quickening pulse.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Ye Tian’s mouth was wide open with the tissues almost tearing from expanding too much while his eyes were bulging and turning to white.

It wasn’t just pain but also other emotions that were jammed into Ye Tian’s brain at random. There was hatred that wanted to burn everything and anything that was around. The sorrow that could make one dig out their own hearts from misery. The unexplained horror and anxiety which suffocated the body by making the heart stop.

Time passed by the minutes which seemed to stretch on like hours.

Eventually, the mind-bending pain stopped, and a body was left floating with despondent and lifeless eyes. Clarity and life would slowly fill the eyes again which was responded by twitching of the body.

It finally stopped… I don’t ever want to experience that ever again.

Ye Tian looked at his body which had a faint wisp of the same energy from the star.

It had accepted him.

He then looked towards the star with a newfound fear. There was no anger. No one could still be filled with thoughts of resentment after that treatment. Only time would heal this trauma that the star had handed out.

Ye Tian’s breaths quickened and sweat formed at the thought of taking another strand of energy from the star, but cultivation was an arduous journey. Ye Tian was not willing to stop here, so he pulled energy from the star again but without punishment this time.

***

“Ahhh… That was refreshing. I broke through to blood stage!” Nan Feng cheerfully laughed.

Yu Ling smiled, “Me too.”

“Huh? What’s wrong with you Ye Tian? You look pale,” Nan Feng noted upon seeing Ye Tian weakly standing up while trembling slightly.

“Y-You guys d-didn’t feel any p-pain?” Ye Tian stammered while still clearly shook from the earlier experience.

“No, well, I got pulled into a series of illusions where I helped a bunch of elderly. Hehe, their treats were quite delicious. It’s too bad it was an illusion,” Nan Feng drooled while recounting.

Yu Ling shivered before speaking about her encounter, “I got dropped into a frozen abyss where I persevered for a while.”

Ye Tian composed himself before speaking, ”Looks like everyone got different stars with different trials. What kind of stars were you guys compatible with?”

Nan Feng started, “I felt a strong attraction to this yellow, golden star that was really warm and comfortable.”

“Mine was a light blue star that was really beautiful with clear, ice crystals everywhere that reflected resplendent light.”

So Nan Feng is sort of like a paladin while Yu Ling got the ice attribute? Assuming that the compatible stars choose based on nature then what was mine about? I’ll have to see if I can experiment with this scripture in the future.

“What did you get Ye Tian?” Nan Feng asked.

“I’m not sure. It looks black-red and caused me a lot of pain, so it better be good,” replied Ye Tian. “Anyways, the ritual can last 6 nights, so we have 5 more. I think we should go get more resources during the day, so we can keep cultivating every night. Let’s go to the Shattered Hearts Forest that’s north of the city.”

Nan Feng was worried, “Are you sure? You think we are ready?”

“Yes, I’ll go get more stargazing flowers. We should also go repair our robes for one spirit stone and the cloak for two.”

I’ll go check on Lu Yin to see how he’s doing and let him know I’ll be gone.

***

Knock! Knock!

He’s not here? Did something happen to him?

Ye Tian couldn’t help but feel worried, especially after the recent event of a nullified marriage. With the firm resolution of possibly being beaten up, Ye Tian climbed over the walls to find an empty courtyard with empty rooms. There was no one here.

Even if something happened, I am still too weak right now. Hopefully, he will be back when I get back from my trip.

After that, Ye Tian met up with the other two at the city gates. The bustling streets almost made Ye Tian want to stroll around to see what was around. There were times when Ye Tian did, but he could never get enough of the lively atmosphere. It provided a simple, worldly joy that a person like him, who was always fighting and sparring, yearned for after a tiring day.

The petite, white-robed Yu Ling carried a hint of innocence that misled people from her true occupation. Nan Feng looked like an honest and friendly big brother when placed next to Yu Ling. Sometimes, Ye Tian couldn’t even figure out from sight if the trio were just a bunch of adolescents out for fun or to kill.

The trio then left the city wall, which was around 10 yards tall, for the Shattered Hearts Forest.

It was a forest filled with demon beasts. There weren’t any demon beasts in the other forests since the empire would naturally purge them so that traders could walk around freely. Although this granted safety to bandits, the mortality rate of mortals would skyrocket if the demon beasts were left around. However, there were still occasional, rare demon beasts that mutated from normal beasts which could result in danger for nearby mortals.

Most demon beasts were pushed out to zones that were guarded by the military. There were many beneficial reasons for this such as training dummies or harvesting cores, but the truth of the matter was that humans lacked the power or didn’t want to pay the price to destroy the center of these zones which were strongholds created back during the ancient times.

In the final years of the ancient war, the most powerful and intelligent demon beasts, who saw that humanity was going to be the new rulers of the world, created extremely powerful fortresses by using the bones of their ancestors, and the demon beast experts went into seclusion within these fortresses in order to defend and nurture their vestiges of the demon beast race.

Most of the experts died off and there was a pattern of the demon beast race growing but also having weaker experts. One accepted reason was that there was not enough stimulus for growth within that confined space. Others suggested that the inbreeding was weakening their bodies by diluting the bloodlines. Ye Tian guessed from his former knowledge that, in all likelihood, it was both.

***

On the dirt road amidst the forest, a long line of covered wagons trod with occasional shaking from the unrefined road with countless, tiny rocks that obstructed the wheels. The oxen, similar to Hao Nan’s horntail ox, pulled multiple wagons at once. For the number of wagons, there were comparatively fewer people than the wagons.

At the forefront, a long-haired lady, with mint green hair, wore embroidered, light green robes and rode on an ox. From behind her, a female servant in similar clothing leaned over the wagon’s edge.

“Miss, we’ve been traveling for a long time. I think we should take a rest and eat lunch.”

The lady with green hair looked at the sky before replying, “Okay, little Hua.”

The caravan soon came to a stop and everyone set up camp by the side of the road for rest. As the servant named little Hua set up a campfire, a plump, middle-aged man walked over to the two, “Young miss of the Ethereal Wind Conglomerate, it is truly an honor to be accepted into your caravan for this journey.”

The lady with mint green hair smiled, “There is no need for thanks. We’re all merchants here, and there is more protection in a pack.”

“Haha, indeed, these times have had more bandits around the area. Those noble scum only count their money from taxes and leave us all to fend for ourselves."

The servant smiled at the cordial conversation, “Miss, I will go get some water from a nearby stream for the stew.”

The lady with mint green hair nodded before going back to talk to the man. The servant was about to walk into the forest when she saw a pair of bright, huge eyes staring back at her from the bushes.

“I heard the prices fo-”

The man’s words were suddenly interrupted by a scream from the side. Everyone turned to see little Hua, who had fallen on her behind, with a monstrous, green wolf around 12 feet that was walking out of the forest. No, it wasn’t just one. It was an entire pack of 4 wolves.

“No! Little Hua!”

The lady rushed to pull the servant away first while the middle-aged man yelled for the guards. The guards quickly ran to the front to protect the rest of the group from the wolves. However, the guards would not make it to Little Hua’s side in time.

Just as the first wolf leapt on Little Hua, the wolf was punched away in midair by the Miss. She then swiftly pulled Little Hua away from the wolves before retreating to the guards’ positions.

“Stay back Little Hua!”

The plump, middle-aged man’s voice came from afar before throwing something, “Miss! Here’s your sword! Catch!”

“Thank you!”

The Miss let out a breath of relief as now she could display her full might, “The two qi stage guards will each take one wolf with the assistance of the other guards! I’ll take the other two!”

The Miss was now left with the two wolves.

“I’m seriously going to kill you guys,” muttered the Miss.

The two wolves roared in response while shooting out multiple blades of wind at her. The miss ran up to the wolves while dodging the blades. Soon, she was right in front of the wolves and slashed out at the limb of a wolf who leaped back to dodge.

She missed.

Beside her, the other wolf opened his mouth and released a shockwave. Feeling the impending danger, the miss retreated and stiffened at the hole caused by the blast that was released. The two wolves seemed to grin at her troubled expression.

By the side, the other guards weren’t doing so well either. Even though the qi stage warriors were keeping the wolves busy, the other guards left marks that were grave enough to be called critically injured on a human, but the wolves’ massive sizes made the wounds look like small cuts.

At this moment, more wind blades were thrown at the Miss than the previous time’s wind blades. She realized that the wolves were just testing the waters! Now, the miss was left on the defensive as she constantly dodged and blocked the wind blades. Suddenly, one wind blade deviated from the miss’s direction and went towards one of the caravans.

‘That’s the caravan which Little Hua retreated into? Oh No! The rank one inscriptions on the caravans won’t be enough to protect Little Hua!’

There was nothing that could be done as the Miss took the punishment of a wind blade for being distracted.

Ting!

‘What?’

A hooded figure in a green cloak had stopped the wind blade with a sword.

The ol’ save the damsel in distress eh? Good thing I rushed forward first at hearing the noise ahead.

Two other figures in similar wear leapt out of the forest. The trio then rushed towards the two wolves occupied by the soldiers. If the trio had decided to take one wolf then everyone would be left in a stalemate. The lady with green hair could barely handle the two wolves, but she just needed to hold on a little bit longer until the other wolves by the soldiers were dealt with.

The qi stage guard, in metal armor, wrestled with the wolf through the focal point where two paws met with a blade.

Nan Feng leapt up with his huge broadsword pointing downwards which lay the wolf’s head. The wolf hadn’t noticed Nan Feng and wouldn’t care about another ant anyways.

The huge broadsword dug right into the wolf’s head and through its chin. The blood dripped onto the face of the guard who had been wrestling under the wolf’s paws.

By the side, Ye Tian and Yu Ling slashed the limbs of the wolf thus immobilizing it. Soon, the wolf fell to the countless beatings of the guards.

The battle swiftly ended after the two qi stage guards were able to assist the mint green-haired lady.