Infinite Forest

The Infinite Forest is a dark forest in the St. Ancestral Mountain Range, while not fully explored, the people of Glory City never actually ventured too deep and only hunted around the edge of the forest.

"At most we'll stay for a couple of hours, I've already sent a message to the other so if they don't see us return before sundown they will send a party to search for us, alright?"

While Shin could fly with his Blood red wings he was still a bronze rank and to fly for long distances would use too much soul force, this was why they were walking right now and for the whole trip Naoki has been repeating himself on what Shin should do and what he shouldn't.

'Well, I should be grateful that he already let me go out in the forest like this.'

Since he was a kid Naoki has always been the one to worry more about him than anyone else and thanks to the low difference in age Shin has always thought of him as a worrying older brother.

"... And if you see a plant that has small red spot you shouldn't touch it as it has small amount of ven-"

Shin turned to him questioning why he stopped talking but soon reached for his sword as he saw Naoki take out his sword and look to their left.

"There are about a dozen Bronze Rank demon beasts coming in this direction, prepare yourself."

And just with that short sentence Naoki's whole demeanour changed as he glared at a seemingly random direction, it didn't even take a minute for Shin to hear the sound of a demon beast running in their direction.

*Roar!*

With a deafening roar a couple of adult sized apes jumped down from the tree branches and landed a couple of meters in front of the two.

"They are Gold Skinned Apes, they have great strength and speed, be careful!"

Saying so, Naoki's appearance changed as his figure started to be covered in a deep black smoke.

"I'll hold the rest so that you can fight them one on one."

The black smoke immediately jumped toward the apes as it binded all of them blocking their movements.

"Don't underestimate their defense and their speed."

With those last words he seemed to disappear from the world as his figure disappeared and at the same time one of the apes freed itself from the bindings, obviously it was freed by Naoki but the beast didn't need to know that.

'Sudden Flow!'

Not waiting for the ape Shin slashed out with his sword, a red arc of energy following the sword as it successfully crashed on the ape's chest, Shin could only look in disbelief as the ape grinned at him the smallest scratch on his chest.

Stepping back Shin had to quickly bring up the sword as the ape's fist struck the flat part of the blade, the impact sent vibration along his arms as he felt a small metallic taste in his mouth.

'This is just a Bronze rank beast!?'

Shin couldn't even scream in indignation as another fist was already descending on him.

'Reverse Flow'

Right as the fist was about to hit him Shin twisted his body sliding right under the arm of the ape as his sword sliced the bottom part of the arm leaving a red pulsing energy, the Ape quickly retracted its fist as it felt almost half of the energy he put on its fist come back and impact right where the sword slashed.

Reaching the Ape's back Shin didn't stop his attack as his sword continued to slice the Ape's body from it's arm to its torso up until reaching it's back, the wound was still small and neglectable but the force impacting on each part it's body was enough to stun the ape for a second.

Rotating his body his sword did a full circle, slashing the ape back but it wasn't enough, Shin pointed down with his sword before slashing upward and soon following it with a downward slash. The Ape didn't even have time to scream as its back was barraged by a series of strikes.

The Akagawa Sword style wasn't a simple sword style, each move that one could learn was just the introduction to the style, if one wasn't able to completely master each and every move until they could do it unconsciously then they would never have truly touched upon the real Akagawa Style.

As Shin got ready to slash again the Ape's body shone in a gold color as a small thin shield made of energy covered its entire body.

"Huh?"

Shin looked in astonishment as his sword got stuck in this thin shield, the ape grinned as it swung its fist gritting his teeth Shin let go of the sword before jumping back.

Looking up, Shin looked at the ape hitting his chest in a demonstration of its power, the sword still stuck behind its back.

'Well this is troublesome.'

Taking out the halberd from his spatial ring Shin recoiled at the weight before steadying his breathing.

'I still can't control this much weight… I'll have to finish this soon or at least retrieve the sword!'

The ape rushed forward as Shin held the halberd horizontally with both hands before swinging horizontally.

'Flowing river.'

The halberd flew horizontally as a crimson arc followed right behind, the ape had just the time to put its arm in front of itself in protection as the arc, that now grew double in size, impacted on his arms throwing off its balance.

'A chance!'

Rushing forward Shin swung the halberd again this time aiming at the Ape legs and as the Ape was falling it didn't have the concentration to keep its own protecting skill so the golden shield failed as the halberd's blade approached.

The Ape let out an agonizing roar as the halberd cleanly cut through the legs separating them from the body. Lifting the halberd in the air Shin didn't hesitate before bringing it down, killing the Ape.

*Thump*

Letting the halberd go Shin released a breath he was holding, his force was still too low to use the halberd because of that the time he could use it without any problem was reduced and even if he used it for a short amount of time he would still feel exhausted right after.

Looking up Shin could see Naoki slowly walking toward him, behind him a tens of other dead apes and from the wounds they all have been killed with a single sword strike.

"Well fought Young master!"

Shin could only smile, by the time he barely killed two Ape Naoki already killed more than a dozen and all of them in a single sword strike.

'So this is the difference between Bronze rank and Black Gold Rank'

Shin knew that nothing good would come out of him comparing his strength with a Black Gold rank but he couldn't help himself watching the scene in front of him.

"Young master is almost at the Silver rank right? You would soon start cultivating the True Blood River Cultivation technique right?"

The True Blood River Cultivation technique that Naoki was talking about was actually the second part of the cultivation technique and the most important part that one had to train with.

It was thank to this that the Akagawa Clan Ancestor was able to become such an important figure in the past, this second part unlike the orthodox cultivation technique would let the cultivator not only absorb Soul force but also temper it to increase not only quantity and quality but even other aspect of it making one own Soul Force more pure and powerful than normal cultivators.

"Mh, as soon as we return I will have to ask Uncle Daisuke for the cultivation scroll…"

Nodding his head Naoki then started to skin the Apes as Shin helped him, while both the clan and themselves weren't poor in demon spirit coins it didn't cost much to work a little to gain a few more.

'I can use the coins earned from this to help the other young disciple of the clans… or we could start to use it as a fund to use when hiring external cultivators.'

While the Akagawa wasn't short of manpower, if they could use some external help to do the most troublesome job then it would be more beneficial both for them and for their reputation with the normal citizens of Glory city.

After finishing scavenging the apes the two continued walking and came in contact with a few more demon beasts that were quickly dealt with by Shin and Naoki with the latter taking care of the stronger ones.

Looking up, Shin had to avert his eyes as he saw the sun shine mighty in the sky indicating the middle of the day.

"We should start to head back."

Hearing Naoki words Shin had to regretfully agree, while cultivating safely was good he felt that only in battle he would be able to actually improve his cultivation.

"Let's just run all the way back, it will be a great way to train your stamina."

Saying so he went ahead by jumping on a tree branch and as his feet touched the branch he seemingly flew over it as he was already in the air heading to another branch.

Seeing this Shin couldn't help but again compare his speed with Naoki's own, out of all of the Great Elders Naoki has always been the fastest and even with his lower cultivation both Daisuke and Taishiro had to take him seriously in a fight of speed.

'As soon as I return I will ask him to lend me a movement technique and study it.'

Just like there were different Cultivation techniques there were other techniques that could be learned and a movement technique was one of these types and just like the name implied they would let a cultivator implement various movements and use of soul force to increase one's own speed.

"Young Master when we return would yo-"

Naoki's voice suddenly got cut off as a bright azure light crashed on his body.

"N-Naoki!?"

Stopping on a branch Shin looked in the direction where Naoki was sent flying as he saw him fly through the forest with an azure demon eagle soon following him.

'Black Gold Rank!?'

Shin could only look as the two soon disappeared in between the various trees but before Shin could start to chase them his heart sank as he heard the fluttering of feathers behind him, glancing back he saw a single golden feathered demon eagle looking straight at him.

Man and Beast looked at each other for what Shin felt like years but instead was a couple of seconds.

With a screech the eagle spread out its wings and as if that was a signal SHin jumped from the tree branch toward land and started running but with a quick look behind he could see the eagle not giving up and flying in between bushes and tree branches trying to pursue Shin.

'Just our luck in finding these two demon beasts!'

Trying his best to lose it, Shin started to run in a zigzag pattern but soon had to give up as he saw the eagle nimbly following right behind him.

'It's strength is the peak of Gold Rank, the only reason why I am alive is thanks to how difficult it is to fly in the middle of the forest but unless I find Naoki I don't have much time.'

Biting his lip Shin started moving all the soul force in his body to stimulate the muscle of his leg as any sort of boost in his speed would be more than helpful.

Jumping over a fallen tree trunk his eyes widened as he saw a big fall as he reached the end of the cliff or more like a colossal ravine that extended for thousands of meters it was so big that it couldn't even qualify as a ravine.

'So my options are either try my luck by jumping or fight a gold rank demon beast?'

It was such an easy choice but even as he made it he didn't know whenever to cry or laugh, he looked back as he saw the eagle finally reach him but its vision soon was covered by the vision of rocks as he fell inside the ravine, he obviously decide to try his luck since he had a way to fly he would simply hide a the end of the ravine and then later fly up and either search for Naoki or return to glory city in the hope that Naoki already returned back to the city.

*Caw!*

Looking up he saw the eagle float over the edge of the clif before looking at Shin and pondered whether to continue pursuing or not.

Not taking any chance Shin turned over toward the ground before sprouting his wings and used gravity and his soul force to launch himself toward the ground but right before reaching the ground he turned his body horizontally floating at high speed toward the forest at the end of the ravine.

'Ok in retrospect I should have also thought on how to land…'

Putting his arm in front of himself, Shin braced for impact as he crashed against a small tree completely breaking it and continuing in his fall until he felt the stinging pain of his body hitting water at high speed.

Above the ravine the eagle looked downward at the ravine, not daring to go down. Demon beasts, unlike humans, had better perception and natural instinct and right now those two were screaming inside the demon beast not to go down and avoid that place at whatever price.

Looking for a couple seconds the eagle scoffed before turning around and heading back.

…

Opening his eyes Shin couldn't move as he felt a great pain on both of his arm and his whole back, who both took in the full impact of the fall.

Looking around he couldn't help but sigh, he was now inside a cave, it seemed that when he fell he landed on a lake at the end of the ravine and somehow ended up in an underground cave.

Circulating his Soul Force he first tried to recover his condition and after a couple of minutes he recovered enough to move his limbs.

"Never going to do that again…"

Still feeling sore Shin looked at the water current at his feets, the water was too violent and powerful even in his top condition to swim through it and exit outside would be difficult let alone right now where he had about 40% to 30% of his total strength.

"At this point the only way is to go deeper…"

Turning around he could only sigh as he saw the dark and long corridor of the cave.

'At least there is wind coming from the other side.'

Changing into some dry clothes he started walking deeper inside while holding his sword at his hips with his right hand on the handle ready to take it out at any moment.

A short chapter after a long break… sorry… to be fair the first week I didn't have time since I was working then I had a writer block since it has been so long since I wrote something, then I started reading Martial World and got to caught up in that along with new ideas taken from that novel I had to change a couple of thing for the future of the mc powers.

Anyway sorry that it took so much to post this new chapter and hopefully I'll make a new one soon enough. Thanks for the support and for waiting, see you later!