Chapter 201: Hospitality At Its Finest

Fwip!

Fwip!

If you've lived long enough in the Lower Plane, you wouldn't overlook the 'fwip' sounds that you hear in an enclosed and dark space. Listen to the expert, those sounds are arrows, whizzing through the wind with enough power to graze or puncture someone's skin. In the Lower Plane, a normal arrow wouldn't hurt someone as strong as me but judging from the sounds, I know they're a different kind. These arrows are imbued with Qi Energy, and if they were to hit me, they might as well kill me.

"HEY! What are you doing!" White shouted as he waved his arms. An arrow almost hit him by the legs and he barely dodged it.

"Who's there!" A gruff voice of a man suddenly erupted out of nowhere.

"It's me White! Maximilian White!" White desperately called out as he cautiously walked forward.

Because of my enhanced eyesight, I was the first one to see the settlement a few hundred meters from us. The settlement actually stood in the middle of the valley, with fences and outposts made out of some kind of bamboo. It was the shabbiest shelter I've ever seen but I'm not complaining. As it stands right now, this is probably the last settlement that existed in the Middle Plane.

Just what on earth happened to this place?

"White? White?!" The man with the gruff voice exclaimed before whooping for joy. "HEY, GUYS! WHITE IS BACK!" He exclaimed.

In total, there were five people who were watching from behind the fences and outposts, keenly observing the valley for movements. They were doing a bad job at it though since they fired arrows at us. If they had better eyesight, they would've known earlier that we were actually humans.

Those five people didn't hesitate to rush to our aide while wearing the happiest of smiles. I can't believe that they were the same people who were firing arrows at us a few seconds ago.

"Gando, Raluf, how are you doing?" White asked. After cupping his hands towards them, he gave the two of them a huge hug. "I thought I wouldn't get to see you again! And now here I am, less than two weeks later."

"That was faster than expected, how did it go? Did you find the mysterious power? Or... is the Lower Plane already done for?"

The man called Gando was a sinewy old man with beefy arms and legs. It was obvious that he's a tank, or a berserker, or both. His beard touched his stomach and his hair touched his neckline, making resemble a Viking from the Lower Plane. If I remember, the Vikings are experts when it comes to the Summoning Element and the Water Element— well, as if that knowledge is useful right now.

"No! As a matter of fact, they've got plenty of shelters there! Even though they're relatively weaker than us. For five years, they've survived one Rush Hour after the other and they even have the time to relax, having tournaments and contests with each other, having zombie subjugation competitions, and even having auctions! Compared to us, they're doing rather well down there." White continued, and then he bit his lips. "If only all of us could descend down there and reside there."

"It's only a matter of time before they end up like the Middle Plane— that is, conquered by these zombies. If we don't destroy the Black Spirit Sect once and for all, then we're all doomed." Raluf commented. "Let's head to the settlement, you look tired."

"How are Zenith and Laila? Are they doing okay?"

"Yeah, your grandmother is taking care of them while you're gone. And we also drop by to give them some food, just in case. We wouldn't want you to return and find out that they were starving." Raluf responded.

"Thanks, you too, appreciate it. By the way, meet my new companions, these are Tang Yongrui and Natalia, a Sect Master and his disciple from the Lower Plane." White gestured towards us.

Natalia and I cupped our hands in response.

Compared to Gando, Raluf was a lean man slightly shorter than me, he's about six foot one, which is, yes, shorter than me. But other than that, he's a lot stronger. While Gando and White only had one Original Qi Core, this Raluf had three. And furthermore, he's already on the Heavenly Plain Realm.

The skies were already greyish but it darkened even more as we proceeded to the settlement. We later learned that that phenomenon marks the time of night. Natalia grabbed me by the edge of my robe, tugging at it as she nervously glanced around. In an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people, I'm sure she's feeling rather nervous.

"It's fine. White and these guys can be trusted." I told her as simply as I could.

"How do you know that?" Natalia asked.

"It's just one of my special skills— well, not really. Now that I'm in the Transcendence Realm, I can sense the intent of anyone I come in contact with. And I could tell that these guys don't mean any harm."

"Oh, okay. If you say so, Sect Master." Natalia nodded but she still held on to my robe to feel secure.

Once we got to the entrance of the settlement, two guards who are at least in the Heavenly Plain Realm walked towards us and examined us. White reassured them that we are important guests and that we won't harm the settlement but even still, their gazes were filled with disgust.

"Che~ why'd you bring someone who's only in the Transcendence Realm?"

"Yeah, as if their strength would be of use to us. You just brought more mouths to feed, White. So much for coming back." The other guard muttered underneath his breath. I could've sworn that he said it in a volume that would make us hear it clearly.

There was nothing left to be said.

<Skill: Time Stretch activated>

Before the man could tell what's going on, I stretched the hundredth of a second into a minute. With that kind of a stretch, one would think that I stopped time but not really, anyone who's three or so realms above me would be able to see my movements as clear as day but these guys, they're all too inexperienced. And Time Stretch actually costs a considerable amount of Qi Energy so I can't use it willy-nilly.

I did figure that using it now would be satisfactory for both Natalia and me.

While everyone seemed to stop moving, I slowly crept towards the guard, grabbed him by the right arm, and brought that arm behind him. After doing so, I kicked him behind the knee to make him fall forward.

<Notice: do you want to deactivate your skill?>

<Yes/No>

When I deactivated my Skill, the man was forced by his momentum to go down to the ground. I then pinned him down and used my Killing Intent Skill on him. The cultivators around us who were underestimating us didn't even see what happened— except for White, of course, I know he could tell what was happening since his eyes were following my every movement when my Time Stretch Skill was activated.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, friend. You may be stronger than me but I'm a Sect Master from the Lower Plane. A higher realm of cultivation is nothing in the hands of a fool." I told him as I got up. "I hope you will understand, I wanted to prove a point that we're not just 'mouths to feed' just like you stated. And that girl? Yeah, her, she's stronger than me. I should warn you earlier before you provoke her even more."

"YOU! You're courting death!" The guard exclaimed as saliva sprayed from his mouth. And there he goes, saying the most cliche line of all time.

His hands were suddenly covered in a black flame and a pillar of the same flame rose from my feet.

<Skill: Blink activated>

Before the Pillar of Black Flame consumed me to my bones, I managed to dodge it. I knew from the legends that the Black Flame is a very special flame that could consume anything in its wake. This guy— he's really determined to kill me! If I were a split second too late, I would've been consumed, even my ashes would've been consumed!

Scary!

<Skill: Time Stretch Activated>

This time, I stretched a hundredth of a second into five minutes. I then went behind the man and cut off his arm using my maxed-out Swordsmanship Skill. Even though I was just using a normal knife, imbuing it with the Dark Element was enough to cut clean through it. It's as if I was cutting butter.

<Notice: would you like to deactivate your skill>

<Yes/No>

When I appeared in front of everyone a hundredth of a hundredth of a second later, I was holding the guard's arm in front of me. "That element of yours is dangerous, were you really trying to kill me? So much for the hospitality, huh." I called out, pitying the guy.

I mean, guys like this are the first ones to die when it comes down to it. Seriously, how could he have survived this long.

"My... MY AAAAAARM!" The man screamed as he held the stump of his arm. "MY AAAAARM!" He repeated.

"T-t-time and Space! He's got the Time and Space as his element!" The other guard exclaimed as he stepped back and cupped his hands towards me.

Now that's more like it. Seriously, these guys need to learn a thing or two about welcoming visitors. Had I been someone else, they would've been dead right on the spot.