Author's Note: For a deeper reading experience, you may enjoy listening to any " Epic Fantasy music" while reading this chapter.
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The Great Forest did not welcome intruders.
The tribe avoided its heart, choosing instead the long, winding routes that skirted its outer veins—
paths carved by fear, caution, and generations of bitter survival. Even so, the forest pressed in on
them, branches clawing at the air, roots coiling like sleeping serpents beneath their feet.
The warriors moved ahead in disciplined formation.
Steel rang against claw and fang as the first wave of beasts descended.
A grey wolf lunged from the underbrush, its hide mottled with scars and moss, eyes burning with
feral hunger. It never reached the civilians. A spear pierced its throat mid-leap, pinning it to the
earth. Blood sprayed across the leaves.
To the left, a crimson snape—its scales glowing faintly red—whipped its tail through the air, splitting
bark and sending splinters flying. Two warriors intercepted it, shields raised. The impact threw them
backward, but before the beast could advance, an elder's staff came crashing down, crushing its skull.
Ork's followed—hulking figures with twisted frames and crude weapons, their roars shaking the
forest floor. They charged without fear, only instinct. The warriors met them head-on, blades
flashing, bodies colliding in brutal, breathless exchanges.
Behind them, the civilians were kept tightly clustered.
Grandma Lu moved among them, steady despite the chaos, Aya held close against her chest. Her eyes never stopped scanning—watching, calculating, protecting.
Blood stained the ground. Breath came ragged. Still, they advanced.
Each step forward was bought with pain.
As they pressed deeper, the forest grew unnaturally quiet.
Too quiet.
The warriors felt it first.
A chill crawled up their spines. Hands tightened around weapon hilts. Eyes widened.
"Stop," one of them whispered.
In an instant, the formation shifted.
Shields locked. Spears angled outward. Swords raised.
The elders reacted just as quickly, spreading out, forming a defensive arc around the civilians. Muted
chants began, threads of qi weaving into a protective barrier—thin, strained, but vital.
Elder Tao, one of the 3 elders of the tribe voice cut through the tension, low and grave.
"This presence…" He narrowed his eyes. "It's at least a red—no… a golden-tier presence," he said in a low voice.
The warriors stiffened.
In this world, beasts were classified by many traits—size, ferocity, lineage—but among mortals and
cultivators alike, the core colour was the clearest measure of danger.
From weakest to strongest, beast cores were divided into distinct hues:
Blue, Green, Orange, Golden, White,Lucent, Crimson, and finally… Dark cores.
Each step upward was not a mere increase in strength, but a leap in vitality, intelligence, and
brutality.
The words landed like a weight.
Lio, one of the 5 warriors swallowed hard, glancing toward the darkened depths ahead.
"A golden core," he said, voice tight. "We did everything to avoid the horizon of the Great Forest…
and yet."
Dian, a warrior clenched his jaw. "Until now, we've only faced blue and green cores. A golden… this is troublesome."
Fear crept in, silent and suffocating.
Elder Han stepped forward, his staff striking the ground once.
"Steady yourselves," he said calmly. "Fear will kill you faster than any beast."
Grandma Lu loosened Aya's grip slightly and drew her sword.
The blade whispered free of its sheath.
Then—
From the pitch-black between the trees, something moved.
A massive shape emerged, hunched and broad-shouldered, its skin rough like stone soaked in rot. A
troll—medium-sized, yet towering over any man. Its eyes glowed dull gold. Wounds marred its
body… wounds that were closing even as they watched.
Regeneration.
The warriors did not hesitate.
They charged.
Spears struck first, piercing flesh, driving deep—but the wounds knit together almost instantly. The troll roared, swinging its arm like a battering ram, sending three men flying.
Shields slammed into its legs, staggering it just long enough for swords to hack at its knees. Blood flowed… and then reversed, crawling back into torn flesh.
"Hold formation!" Tsar roared, forcing himself upright after being thrown aside. "It's only a partial golden core! Drain its vitality—its regeneration will fail!"
The warriors obeyed.
They attacked relentlessly.
Steel clashed against flesh again and again. One man lost his shield, another his footing. An ork
corpse was hurled aside as the troll advanced, trampling over everything in its path.
An elder leapt forward, staff blazing with qi, striking the troll's spine. The impact cracked bone—but
the creature howled and backhanded him into a tree.
Civilians screamed.
A wolf lunged from the side, aiming straight for them.
Grandma Lu moved.
Her sword flashed.
The wolf fell in two clean halves.
She stepped forward, planting her feet, her blade humming as qi flowed into it—not her own alone, but reinforced by the elders behind her.
The air screamed.
A sword wave tore through the clearing, a crescent of compressed force that ripped into the troll's chest, cleaving flesh and injured its core.
The creature staggered.
Its regeneration faltered.
The warriors surged.
Blades plunged deep, again and again, until the troll collapsed with a final, rattling groan.
Silence followed.
Heavy, broken silence.
They extracted the core—a dull, fractured gold—and distributed its essence and absorbed through circulation. Fatigue eased. Wounds closed partially.
They moved on.
Then after a while—
Elder Han stopped abruptly.
His eyes snapped upward.
"There is someone above us."
Grandma Lu followed his gaze.
For a brief instant, reflected in her pupils, she saw it—
A shadow.
Humanoid.
Watching.
"What… is that?" she whispered.
Far enough, beyond mortal sight—
Yuan Li steadied his breath as the strange scripture's energy settled within him. Xu frowned, testing his circulation. Su Mei pressed a hand to her chest, sensing for abnormalities.
"This thing," Fang Lei muttered, "it didn't harm us… but I don't trust it."
Ji Han nodded. "We leave. Now. Report everything."
They turned—
And the world collapsed.
An overwhelming pressure crushed down on them, forcing all five to their knees.
Yuan Li gasped, sweat pouring. "What—what is this—?"
Ji Han gritted his teeth, pushing himself up inch by inch.
Xu roared, veins bulging as he forced himself upright. "Show yourself!"
The sky rippled.
A figure appeared.
He stood upon the air itself, clad in luxurious robes that flowed like liquid night. Long black hair
cascaded down his back, unmoving despite the violent qi storm around him. His eyes glowed with
cold, blue yet terrifying radiance.
Qi wrapped his body like mist evaporating from water.
In his hand—
A sword.
It radiated monstrous intent.
Ji Han's body went rigid.
His breath stopped.
"S… Sword Supreme Shen Rui," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.
The name alone plunged the clearing into deathly silence.
Before them was no ordinary cultivator.
Shen Rui—Great Elder of the Eternal Sword Sect, the second-strongest sect in the Eastern
Regions, a High ranked Sect whose influence stretched across countless territories. A single
command from him could shake nations, and a single sword strike could erase clans from existence.
Among sword cultivators, strength was divided into ranks.
Infant.
Intermediate.
Advanced.
Knight.
Grandmaster.
Sword Master.
Sword King.
Sword Supreme.
Sword Sovereign.
Sword Monarch.
Sword Emperor.
Beyond even that existed a rumoured rank—the Divine Rank—spoken of only in ancient records. No one had ever reached it. Many believed it to be nothing more than a legend.
And yet—
A Sword Supreme already stood at the absolute peak of the cultivation world.
A single Sword Supremes existence possesses the power to annihilate hundred Sword Kings
with a single slash.
Yuan Li, Xu, Su Mei, Fang Lei, and Ji Han felt it clearly now.
They were not standing before a man.
They were standing before death itself.
Fear, raw and absolute, seized them.
They bowed, coughing blood under the crushing pressure.
Shen Rui's presence alone eclipsed mountains.
"What gives Your Grace reason to be here?" Ji Han asked, head lowered, sweat dripping.
"Hm," Shen Rui murmured. "It seems I was late."
Su Mei trembled. "What… what do you mean great elder.?"
"There was trouble," he said calmly. "This forest interferes."
Yuan Li's pupils shrank.
Almost instinctively, his gaze shifted toward Ji Han.
At the same time, Ji Han turned to him.
No words were exchanged—but the same thought surfaced in both their minds.
Did he… come from the Great Forest?
Yuan Li had waited in the market region for months in pursuit of the treasure. During that time, he had heard countless whispers—rumours spoken only in hushed voices.
The Great Forest.
A forbidden land said to be ruled by a Mythical beast, home to ferocious creatures far beyond the
reach of cultivators. High-level beasts roamed freely within, and even those surpassing the
High level were rumoured to lurk in its depths.
To enter the forest was to invite death.
To cross it… was unthinkable.
And yet—
Shen Rui stood before them, his robes spotless, his aura calm and unbroken.
He had not gone around the Great Forest.
He had passed through it.
A chill ran down Yuan Li's spine.
If this man wished it… none of them would leave this place alive.
Shen Rui's eyes narrowed.
Qi surged.
Now at the Great forest, which was unexpectedly… drenched in blood.
Beasts lay dead—low, high, and beyond. Some twitched in their final moments. Others lay in pieces, annihilated beyond recognition.
Then—
The tribe.
Screams echoed.
"Why—why did this happen?!"
Bodies lay scattered.
Warriors. Elders.
Blood soaked the earth.
The forest watched in silence.
And somewhere above—
The destiny made his move.
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Author's Note:
Thank you for reading.
If you enjoyed this chapter, consider leaving a comment or adding the novel to your library.
The journey has only begun.
◆ This work is an original story by Zümrüt . Unauthorized reposting is prohibited