The Forest of No Return.
This was the most dangerous place in the Heishi City region.
This ancient forest had been in existent for countless years, it was full of demonic beasts and venomous insects. Those that went in, rarely made it out.
Arriving at the Forest of No Return, Li Fuchen didn't have any hint of hesitation and went right in.
In the deepest parts of the Forest of No Return, 7 constables were carefully and thoroughly searching the forest.
The constables' main job was to capture criminals of the city.
Of all these constables, the weakest of them was at least at the second level of the Origin Realm, and the strongest was at the fourth level of the Origin Realm.
"Sixth bro, do you think the city lord is making a fuss out of nothing? Isn't it just a murderer? Why do we need to enter the Forest of No Return to capture him? Wouldn't it be fine to wait for him to exit the forest, then capture him?" The youngest of the group complained.
The one called sixth bro, replied, "Are you stupid? Don't you know what our city lord hates the most?"
"What does he hate the most?"
"The humiliation of woman. This Jiang Dahai raped and killed Merchant Wang's precious daughter, and that crossed the line for the city lord."
Another tanned, middle aged constable quickly added on, "What's more, Merchant Wang gave word that, whoever captures Jiang Dahai will be awarded 50,000 gold coins. Even after splitting it among us, we will still each have almost 10,000 gold coins."
"Hehe, I'm just grouchy, but isn't the Forest of No Return dangerous?" The young constable scratched his head while giving a silly laugh.
Patting on the shoulders of the young constable, the tanned constable was about to speak, but his eyes suddenly widened covering his neck and fell.
A sharp arrow unknowingly pierced his neck, fresh blood sprayed from the back of the neck, covering the ground in blood.
"Be careful!" Sixth bro sternly ordered.
Shoo!
An extremely sharp noise broke the silence and another constable fell.
"Quick, manifest your qi."
As sixth bro revolved his cultivation technique, a layer of pale blue qi came from within to cover and protect his body.
Hearing the order, the other constables each had their qi glowing on their body
Bang!
A third arrow was shot, but fortunately the constable who was hit had protection from his qi and the arrow didn't manage to penetrate his body. But the force of the arrow was too strong and caused him to puke a mouthful of fresh blood, sustaining serious injuries.
"This scheming Jiang Dahai. Seems like we belittled him, when in the city, he didn't utilize his full strength." Sixth bro coldly said.
The force of an arrow relied on the bow-bearer.
Generally, if the difference in cultivation wasn't too far apart, the archer wouldn't be able to penetrate or even seriously injuring an Origin Realm martial artist. Mainly due to the distance, the qi that's projected onto the arrow would lose its efficiency as the arrow traveled.
Clank!
Sixth bro slashed at the direction of the incoming arrow, splitting the arrow apart with his sword.
Soon enough, Sixth bro found an abandoned bow, it was obviously a makeshift bow that was impromptuly strung together.
The bow frame was shaved from a piece of ironwood and the bowstring was made from a vein of a demonic beast.
This type of makeshift bow generally didn't last long. A real bow required many crafting processes.
Having a bad premonition, Sixth bro quickly headed back.
In the empty space in the forest, a formidable middle aged man beheaded the young constable with a single blade. Around the man were two other fallen corpses.
In just a short period of time, of the seven constables, five were dead, one was seriously injured. Only Sixth bro was left unharmed.
"Bastard!" With bloodshot eyes, Sixth bro roared.
Jiang Dahai gave a grin, "Since the moment you gave chase, you were all dead men. Don't worry, I will not kill you quickly. I will hang you up on a tree, and slowly let your blood flow dry. The bugs here love to dig into fresh wounds."
This Jiang Dahai was never satisfied serving under another one.
Merchant Wang thought saving Jiang Dahai's life would make him be grateful and serve him as his servant. But Merchant Wang was wrong, absurdly wrong.
But Merchant Wang's daughter was indeed beautiful, with silky skin and tender flesh. It was a pity though that he didn't get to play with Merchant Wang's wives.
***
There were plenty of poisonous bugs in this deep forest.
As he paced through the Forest of No Return, Li Fuchen would release his qi force time and time again to kill the approaching bugs.
These poisonous bugs were basically Class 1 low-tier or mid-tier poisonous insects. They had weak battle strength, and were weak enough for Qi Realm martial artists to kill easily.
But as long as a poisonous insect had a grade. They carried a strong poison. Once bitten, even Origin Realm martial artists would feel the pain.
But an Origin Realm martial artist can't be constantly manifesting qi, as it would expend too much qi.
Li Fuchen naturally wasn't worried about the bugs biting through his skin. He just didn't want any poisonous insects landing on his body.
Some insects produced a type of horrid goo, once stuck on, the smell would linger for days.
Unknowingly, Li Fuchen arrived at the deeper parts of the forest.
"There is a footprint here."
Li Fuchen had stunning eyesight which could easily spot slightly indented footprints. Following the tracks, Li Fuchen gradually approached the venue of the battle.
"Stone Rend Sword Style!"
Sixth bro was a fourth level Origin Realm fighter and wasn't lacking in battle prowess at all. With a single slash from the Stone Rend Sword Style, the dominating power could easily split apart a giant boulder.
As he leapt high into the air, Sixth bro cleaved down at Jiang Dahai.
"Since you are going to become a dead man soon, I shall let you witness my true strength."
Jiang Dahai's qi presence began to swell, his qi strength increased from the fourth level to the fifth level of the Origin Realm.
Clank!
Jiang Dahai struck his sword onto Sixth bro's snow steel sword.
Pfff!
With a mouthful of blood spurting out, Sixth bro was forced back.
"Fifth level of the Origin Realm?" Sixth bro was in disbelief.
Every single level's difference during the Origin Realm, had a substantial gap. Unless one cultivated an extremely high graded technique or martial arts, they would not be able to exceed the difference in levels.
Jiang Dahai laughed, "That's right. I am not a fourth level but fifth level Origin Realm fighter. I practice a peak-tier sword art, Heavy Peak Sword Style. How will you even compete with me?"
In small cities, a peak-tier sword art was basically the rarest sword art. And it was of pure coincidence that Jiang Dahai managed to procure this sword art manual from a cavern.
Sixth bro's face went blank, but he didn't admit defeat yet, "Even if you kill me, there will be stronger constables who will come and capture you. You will never escape."
"Don't worry. After killing you, I will escape to other regions. Or do you mean the claws of the Cang Lan Sect stretches into other regions?" Jiang Dahai gave a cold snort.
Within the Cang Lan region were many criminals who escaped to other regions. Similarly, criminals from other regions escaped here to the Cang Lan region too.
The Cang Lan region was governed by the Cang Lan Sect and naturally other regions were governed by other sects.
Chasing criminals in another sect's region was always a sensitive issue. Miscommunications were bound to happen and once there was any conflicts, wars may break out between sects.
"Escaping to other regions, huh? May I know which region that would be?"
A clear and crisp voice echoed from within the forest.
"Who!"
Jiang Dahai got a fright and shouted in anger.
"Cang Lan Sect's inner sect disciple."
A shadow flashed by, Li Fuchen then appeared on one of the huge trees, without any sound or presence.
"Cang Lan inner sect disciple?" Jiang Dahai's eyes shrank.
If both Origin Realm martial artists were equal in level, the difference would be drastic, as Cang Lan inner sect disciples practiced the most elite techniques and martial arts.
Under the circumstances of having the same level, a Cang Lan inner sect disciple could instantly kill another Origin Realm fighter.
After realizing that Li Fuchen was only at the second level of the Origin Realm, Jiang Dahai then laughed, "Just a second level of Origin Realm and you dare to expose yourself. You really are seeking death."
Cang Lan inner sect disciples were formidable. But a pity, Jiang Dahai was three levels stronger than his foe. This wasn't the Qi Realm, but the Origin Realm. Three levels was an enormous advantage and hard to overcome.