Ah?

The tree spirit was surprised! What's happening? They seemed so hostile!

“Eh? Isn’t this just a brat!? Heh. He looks pretty cute too.” One of them eased his stance and taunted lecherously.

“Hah! He’s not even wearing anything! He probably escaped the group they caught today!”

“Don’t blame him, he looks so weak maybe the boys were too rough on him!”

“ Arhh..!!” The tree spirit was confused and couldn’t understand what they were saying, ‘escaped’, ‘rough’? He tried to speak, but he found that he was not used to pronouncing the language.

“What’s going on! What are you lazy bunch gathering there for!?” A burly man shouted from a short distance, angered that his subordinates were slacking off again.

“Boss! We’ve found an escapee!” One of the men exclaimed.

“Hah? Then what are you dallying around for? Lock him up with the others!” The buffy boss ordered then left. He was in the middle of a talk with someone and was irritated that they were disturbed.

“Yes, boss!” The bunch of unruly men exclaimed then smiled with their penetrating gaze full of lust. They were lucky that the boss didn’t notice the boy’s looks. They could have their fun after they brought him back…

At the same time, the tree spirit was uncomfortable under their gaze. Why were they looking at him like that? He felt a strong feeling of disgust. Moreover. What did they mean by locking him up! He didn’t even do anything wrong!

AH! It can’t be because he didn’t have any clothes!? He knew humans were picky about that kind of stuff, but he couldn’t do anything about that! He literally came from the ground! Where was he suppose to get clothes!!!!!

He tried flailing about in gestures trying to explain that it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t have any clothes, and that they shouldn’t lock him up because of his unlucky nudity!

The bandits thought he was just being anxious and was terrified to go back. They laughed and one grabbed him forcefully by the arm.

“Heh heh. Don’t flail about! We are bringing you back to have some fun.” One of them said tauntingly. The men broke out in laughter.

He didn’t like the way they dragged him and resisted at first, but they did say ‘fun’ that’s a positive word, right? Maybe they are just a bunch of eccentric humans? But the way they said it was… really weird. He didn’t like it.

They dragged him towards a shack where some wagons were parked by. The tree spirit glanced inside with his spiritual sense. And was shocked. There were humans m-mating! Why were they bringing him there!

In the shack, the strong musky and pungent odor wafted across the room. There were injured and malnourished naked humans mating with some burly men! The humans being done seemed to be in severe pain and some even struggled.

Just as he was shocked stiff. They pushed him in harshly and shut the door behind them. The tree spirit fell and landed on the ground from the force.

He scuttered to stand up! These humans were so rude!! He wanted to run out of this place! He didn’t want to mate with these weird humans!!!! Is this what humans do? They are so disgusting and vulgar! Urg... The smell! He hadn't smell much since he'd gotten a nose, but this was awful! He unconsciously covered his nose.

Just as he tried to leave, the men that brought him there took out some unsightly organ that resembled a reddish root.

“Suck.”

The tree spirit was appalled!! What the F***.

He instinctively evaded that disgusting human. He refuse!!! NO thank you!

Just then, another human tried to grab him. But he was so done with this group of humans and dodged to the side.

The bandits were not angered by this, they liked feisty ones that they can enjoy breaking.

They just laughed and tried to force the boy down and show him his place!

The tree spirit just dodged their advances and calmly walked towards the exit. Weird humans! Dirty humans! Disgusting humans! He cussed in his mind. What an unscrupulous bunch!

No matter how much the bandits tried to grab him, the boy just seems to vanish before they could touch him and reappear at the side. What an annoying brat! They tried to surround him and took out their weapons.

“Hah! You’re going nowhere! Brat!”

Coldly glancing at the humans who still have their dirty thing out, the tree spirit just raised his foot and kicked them.

The bandits that were kicked flew and smashed through the front door, they then slammed against the traveling wagons outside and caused the cloth that covered the entrance to tear.

The humans inside screamed at the sudden impact. They were all locked in metal cages and appeared ragged, and malnourished. Their eyes were wide in shock as they suddenly saw a small boy beating up their captors!

The tree spirit was beyond annoyed and just beat up whichever human that came too close. His movements were simple but were infused with strong spiritual force. The bandits that were hit could feel their bones shatter after each impact.

“ **** ! He knows how to use spiritual energy!” One of the bandits realized the cause of the boy’s abnormal strength.

“Quick! Call the boss!” Only the boss and a few other division leaders were cultivators, the rest were normal martial artists. They took pride in their leaders’ skill, they were one of the best in the vicinity which is why they could reign havoc in the nearby towns!!

The tree spirit decided that these were bad humans, he just remembered that the old man from the sect did say those unlawful bandits that kidnap humans were bad and immoral and should be taught a lesson.

“P-please! Help us!” One of the injured humans called out from within the cage. The tree spirit just finished trashing the bandits that were still there and looked over at the weaker humans. He broke the lock by smashing it within his hands and they hurriedly scatter out. Some just ran away, some went to help the humans inside the shack.

But alas this was their base, after all, reinforcements quickly gathered and surrounded the escapees and the shack.

A division leader nearby soon arrived. Pathetic. The low-level subordinates were too weak!

He thought that the kidnapped adults broke out and started retaliating, but it was just a child! A small boy that looked no older than 13!! He was in charge of keeping the kidnapped in-line if the boss knew about this, he’s screwed!

The division leader took a step forward and suddenly appeared in front of the boy. He grabbed him by the neck and lifted the boy in the air. He wanted to take a closer look at the troublemaker.

The tree spirit was stunned, this human moved too fast! A cultivator!? He quickly tried to kick the man in the chest and smashed his fist against the arm that held him up.

The force of the impact forced the man to loosen his grip, he coughed a few times. He didn’t expect the boy to be so strong. He miscalculated.

“****.” The man brandished his sword and infused it with spiritual force of his own.

The tree spirit noticed his actions and worriedly took a sword from an unconscious bandit. Before he could mimic the stronger bandit, the man sped towards his side and stabbed in his direction. The tree spirit barely evaded, and the sword sliced through the top layer of his flesh.

He hissed in pain, and quickly covered his frame in a layer of protective spiritual energy. The stronger bandit continued his attacked and the boy got better at dodging them, the occasional graze just slid off his skin due to the protective layer.

Each time the tree spirit tried to attack, they were easily countered. His rough and simple moves were too predictable and naïve. All he had was strength but neither skill nor experience in combat.

The tree spirit was getting worried until he’d thought of an idea.

Dodging another attack, the division leader managed to land a kick that sent the boy crashing into some barrels and equipment.

“Hah. Not bad for a small kid.” The man said as he got closer.

“Get some restrictive shackles!” He commanded the spectating bandits that had finished rounding up the escapees.

He went and tried to pick the boy up, thinking that he was injured by the crash. Just as he did, the sword in the boy’s hand flew and stabbed towards him. He reacted quickly and the sword had only grazed his shoulders.

“Still have some tricks up your sleeves? But that isn’t enough-“ Another sword flew towards him, aiming for his vitals, and another and another… Even the swords from the other bandits flew from their grips and attacked the man.

The boy stood up and commanded them simultaneously. He had a thousand years of practice at levitating objects and he was going to show it.

Just as sword stabbed through the back of his thigh, another sword glare appeared and blocked another sword aiming for the man’s vitals.

“B-boss!” The burly man from before appeared and commanded the other bandits to relocate. He was going to deal with the troublemaker.

“Scram.” He growled out. An injured man is a burden.

Noting the new threat, the tree spirit swiftly aimed the swords at the burly human and attacked.

The burly human released a strong and oppressing spiritual force and wielded his machete to cut down the swords. Each sword shattered in mid-air from the impact, but the tree spirit could still control the individual shards and propelled them towards the man. But they just bounced off his skin!!!

With an advantage, the burly man closed in on the boy and punched his abdomen. He was too quick for the boy to dodge. The tree spirit coughed from the impact and was disorientated. Before he could clear his head, he was restrained with some spiritual shackles.

They were special and could prevent the shackled from using any spiritual force. It was a grade 10 shackle with grade 12 being the highest.

The burly man landed a few more kicks on the boy to vent his anger. He’d never thought to use such high-grade shackles on a mere child, but his spiritual energy was ridiculous! If he could somehow make use of him…Of course, if he couldn’t, he’d just kill the little guy.

“Take him to the guest room! …And give him some clothes!” The burly man commanded before leaving.