Condemning the Heavens

The ground was littered with dust but also storage treasures. Xue Wei did not mind it and waved his hand, qi erupted from his body and dragged the storage treasures towards him where it landed in front of him, turning into a small mountain.

He quickly put them into his own storage treasure. Now was not the time to check their spoils of war.

Although the battle had been effortless, the fact that so many undead cultivators had appeared was a sign of something dangerous happening on the island.

Before going any further, Xue Wei checked his stock of soul calming pills. He had easily been able to connect the dots - the ones who entered the island without something to combat the fierce killing intent would end up as mindless undead, wandering the island and slowly lose all their soul power.

Some of the experts on the island had already turned to dust long ago, so storage treasures were randomly laying on the ground.

Knowing that he still had a few vials of the soul calming pills, he did not mind it too much. As long as he could get rid of the killing intent that was shrouding the entire island, they would at least not have to fear being made into the undead.

Xue Wei and his friends had their nerves stretched tautly. They understood that this island had to have other dangers than this killing intent and the risk of becoming undead.

They advanced further into the island and came across a withered, grey and dark forest. It stretched as far as the eye could see, and even when they walked by the side of the forest, they were unable to see the end.

Eventually, after walking by the forest for a long time, Xue Wei frowned. "The forest is likely to cover the entire inner island," he sighed when he realized that no matter how far they walked, they would still be seeing only forests on their side.

"I have a bad feeling about this dead forest," Hei Gou said tentatively as he looked into the forest, a bit of dread was in his eyes.

This forest was not giving out any feeling of killing like the rest of the island, but instead, it was silent. It was as if everything that entered became nothing - that no sound could penetrate the thicket.

It was as if, anything that entered was incapable of exiting again.

Xue Wei looked at the forest, but his eyes shone with determination. He was not going to cower in fear; he was going to give it all he could and not back down. If he died trying, he had no regrets.

It was not only Xue Wei who thought like this. When he looked at the others, although he could see worry and discomfort in their eyes, there was no regret, no backing down.

Sensing their determination, he felt proud of having exactly these people as his friends. They were not willing to give up, nor were they willing to let go of any chances. Although they knew that they would encounter danger, they refused to cower!

"Well then, no need to waste any more time considering," Xue Wei said smilingly, as he took a step forward, and the friends followed suit as they too stepped into the withered and dead forest.

As soon as they entered the forest, it felt as if they had entered another world. This world was utterly silent, not even a rustling of the branches could be heard.

This Thunder Twilight Zone was filled with lightning and thunder; winds were blowing all over the place, making it near impossible for these trees to stand still, and even less impossible for them to not rustle slightly.

But looking into the treetops above them, there were no signs of the wind reaching the trees. Nor were there any signs of life, but that had become normal on this island.

Even so, the danger Xue Wei felt after entering the forest was many times higher than it had been before. His nerves were stretched to their limits, his senses on high alert.

Although the forest felt dead, and although no signs of life could be seen, Xue Wei could sense that something was living in the shadows.

It was observing them. Every step they took was being followed closely, and when Xue Wei's eyes hardened as he started moving deeper into the forest, but all his focus was on the shadows.

He soon found that there were two types of shadows. One of the shadows was completely black. It was moving strangely, not retracting when the lights of the lightning descended from the sky. Instead, it kept stretching its shadow further and further towards Xue Wei.

"It is hiding in the shadows!" he called out and looked behind him, only to find that Luoluo was quite a bit behind, her face showing some discomfort and her body unable to move.

"It is the shadows," she said with a suppressed voice, "it got a hold of me," she continued.

Although she was in a horrible situation and unable to move even a muscle, she was not panicking. Her eyes were bright, and she was looking forward without hesitation.

Xue Wei paused before he rummaged through his storage treasures and picked out five small stones which he then passed on to one each.

As soon as they gained them, they activated the stones. These stones were ordinary stones, but they were inscribed. The inscription on them was explosive, and Xue Wei activated his first.

The inscription in his hand suddenly shone with a bright light. A light that forced away every shadow that had gathered around them. Even the shadows that had gathered around Luoluo vanished.

"We don't know how deep the forest is," Xue Wei said as he looked into his storage treasure and found that he had another twenty-seven of these illuminating inscriptions.

Although it sounded like a lot, it was not that many considering they were unaware of the length of the forest. Even when walking within it, they did not know if they were walking in circles.

As they continued forward, they found that the shadows had not truly retreated. They were staying outside of the light's circle and were waiting for another chance to return.

"They are likely soul remnants of the ones who died here on the island," Bai Tianyi said when he looked at the many shadows that were gathering just outside the light's border, but he still felt uncomfortable looking at them.

"The people who died had felt such extreme grief, resentment, anger, or other emotions that even after their death, some of their soul could not be erased, and some of their soul power could not be devoured by the evil spirit.

"As such, the result is that they roam the darkness and try to release the pent up frustrations and emotions that they consist of. If they are angry, they are acting in anger, attacking in the hope of releasing this feeling, if it is hatred, then they wish to destroy the world. It is hard to say what exactly is fueling each of these remnant soul fragments, but it is obvious that they are plentiful. Many have to have died on this island throughout time."

Xue Wei nodded his head absentmindedly. He was busy looking at Luoluo and ensuring that the shadow that had grasped hold of her earlier was no longer attached, that it had caused no damage to her.

"I think that the fake spirit is right," she said, not forgetting to insult Bai Tianyi while speaking. "The remnant soul fragment that latched onto me seems to have been filled with hopelessness. I could feel that it had no intention of attacking me, but wanted me to feel the pain of being abandoned. Feel how it was like to not even be able to fight for my life."

While thinking back on this, Luoluo shivered slightly, but Xue Wei gently patted her head. "The mindset might have entered your body and affected your mood," he said, "but that does not mean that it will stay. You can erase it easily if you do not let it take control of your feelings."

Xue Wei did not know about remnant soul fragments before, but he could guess how they worked.

They were fueled by emotions, not to mention some soul power, but they had limited quantities of both.

When the shadows decided to attack, they had to use the soul power they had stored up and kept through all the years of feeling. Sometimes these remnant soul fragments would evolve and start to consume the others, but that mainly happened for the hateful ones.

Although many hateful soul fragments existed on the island, only a handful of them had learned how to cannibalize the others.

Xue Wei looked at the shadows. Before they had seemed just like regular shadows, but now they were moving.

It was as if the outside of their light border was a big black sea. It was as if it was impossible to see through these shadows, and knowing that they had been seen through they did not even attempt to pretend to be a shadow anymore.

Instead they were stacked high on top of one another. Making a big barrier surrounding them, only the light could keep them at bay.

"Let us get moving," Xue Wei finally said through gritted teeth. He could see that the illuminating inscription on his stone was already starting to diminish, and he knew that although he had quite a few, they might not be able to last all through the forest.

None of the others said anything as they also began moving forward. They were walking in darkness; it was utterly impossible to see which direction they were taking.

Everything had descended into silence; even the group did not speak; all eyes were on the many remnant soul fragments that had surrounded them.

As soon as one illuminating inscription died out, another was turned on. The advancing shadows would retreat once again, and wait, bide their time, for when Xue Wei and his friends ran out of these illuminating inscriptions.

The group continued forward. Although none of them were masters at geography, and although it was impossible for them to see more than a yard in front of them, they had a basic understanding of their own movements and knew that they were more or less walking in a straight line through the forest.

Each illuminating inscription lasted for as long as it took an incense stick to burn. It was not a long time, and the forest was vast. After walking for some time, they had already used ten of the illuminating inscriptions, and there was still no signs out of the forest.

Here and there, they had come across some storage treasures on the ground, and not wanting to be wasteful, Xue Wei had picked them up and placed them in his own storage treasure. He did not have the time to look at them, but he could still gather them for later. Managing the household was not an easy task, and providing these friends with resources was a costly endeavor.

No one commented on this behavior of Xue Wei. They all felt that it was reasonable of him to take the loot. He provided them with items, so they obviously would give all their findings to him.

After twenty of their illuminating inscriptions died out, they finally saw the trees thinning in front of them. The shadows started to diminish in numbers, and the forest seemed less frightening, but something told Xue Wei that this part, although seemingly the most secure place in the forest so far, was the most dangerous one.

Not waiting for the others to stop up and catch their breath, he started walking again, this time at a rapid pace so that the others had almost to run to catch up.