Chapter 442 Dark Hour

"What a shame that such a great treasure is in your hands," Ai Li said as she pulled her hair back.

I sighed as I was steering the hovering board.

All four of us were now riding on the hovering board, cruising through vast distances in little to no time. Sadly, I've yet to finish fixing this damn thing since the moment I stepped into this planet, so our speed was pretty damn slow compared to the hoverboard's speed. Yet this is far better than trekking half the damn planet on foot.

The trip would have taken us years if we were to keep moving on foot. But we didn't have a choice at first since the first part next to the academy was literally a giant forest that extended to the high heavens and had monsters and beasts that could fly and pick us apart if we were to use this slow ass board.

Still, currently, in the open fields there weren't many beasts that roamed about, so it was far safer and faster to move on the hoverboard.

But, god damn these annoying kids.

"It should be an honor to have lady Ai Li compliment your treasure, you should probably gift it to her," the guide said.

"I would appreciate if you kept your mouth shut, as a guide I'd be embarrassed to even speak after what you did earlier. Also, I'm not gifting shit," I said.

"It's not like I'm going to take it, I'll give you adequate reward, I come from a noble clan, we're not petty thieves," she said.

"And I said, I'm not selling, not for gold not for anything, so just keep quiet, we still have some ways to go." I sighed as we kept moving and heard nothing but the mumbling of the three behind me.

'Why the hell am I stuck with these idiots, if it wasn't for the sect master's request to have them accompany me for 'safety' I'd have gone alone. AHHH. I'm too old for this shit,' I sighed once again as we continued our journey.

A couple of weeks later, we arrived in a new region, the whole area seemed to be brimming with Qi. The terrain had changed from open fields and lakes to a lush green mountain range that seemed to extend forever.

You could see beasts and creatures roaming about without a care in the world while many smaller animals ran away as we zoomed past them.

"Let's slow down, we're at the demon territory," the guide said.

And for the first time in a while, I agreed with him, from here onwards, it's enemy territory, and we'll be needing to abide by the rules that the sect master had mentioned.

"Wrap the white scarf over your arms, we'll be moving on foot soon," I said.

It didn't take a long while before we entered a red forest that seemed to have nothing but trees with red leaves.

It looked ominous yet serene, and not before I could even alert everyone, I shocking sound wave burst out, rippling through space like liquid water, coming toward us with incredible speed.

I stomped on the hoverboard's defensive paddle that shot up a giant barrier which nullified the soundwave but not the shock.

The blast destabilized the board and we were going down at neck breaking speed.

"HOLD ON!" I called as I tried to steer the hoverboard as much as I could, while the trio, surprisingly didn't shout, scream or yelp, as they braced themselves for impact.

Steering the hoverboard was almost impossible, and if not for my full understanding of the tool I made, we'd have crashed face first, breaking a few bones would be the least of our worries.

I pressed on the gas further accelerating the hoverboard, and thankfully before it went into full throttle, I managed to balance it and had it skid a bit above ground level before it stopped after the engine completely shut down.

The three disciples could not brace themselves fully and were ejected out from the hoverboard tumbling several feet on the ground while I barely managed to keep my foot steady.

"Ouch," groaned Ai Li who fell on her behind while the other two seemed to have had a great encounter with the dirt, face first of course.

"Can't you drive any more carefully? You almost killed us," she said.

"And you will definitely kill us if you keep talking, we're in foreign territory, and we were attacked by a powerful beast, if I were you, I'll keep my mouth closed. I said as I inspected the hoverboard.

I opened the hatch that protected the engine and cursed. The entire circuit was fried, with too much damage, and to fix this, I'll need several days, not to mention the damage it took from earlier. This is no longer usable for now.

"We'll move on foot, our transport method is unusable," I said as I sighed once more. I placed the hoverboard back in my holding bag and looked around.

I didn't dare use my Divine Sense, beasts in these areas are sensitive to it, and I wouldn't want to be found first.

"Keep a close watch of your surroundings, you, the guide, do you know where we are?" I asked.

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"Yes, we're at the entrance of the Blood Forest, the Demon Sect is just behind it," he said.

"I suppose you can navigate us through this forest?" I said.

The guide hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes, I can."

I frowned. This is strange, how would he be able to navigate us through a forest that he came to for the first time? Unless... no, I'm overthinking, it takes a great deal of time and effort just to get here, and there is no way the sect would allow a disciple to travel this far. No matter, he probably has a map of this area.

"Do you have a map I suppose?" I asked.

"Yes, here," he said and presented me with a small map that seemed to have been a few centuries old.

I looked at the map and at my surroundings and took me a decent time before I managed to pinpoint a few landmarks in the distance and give an accurate positioning to our location, but even after fully knowing where we were, I gave the map back, "I can't make heads or tails of it, you'll be our guide then," I said.

"Then why ask for the map if you can't even read it, are you trying to look smart?" Ai Li said.

"..."

Thankfully I managed to hold back a spree of not-so-nice words by sheer will.

"R-right, I'll see what I can find," the guide said and looked at the map rather half-assedly.

I didn't miss that though.

"We'll move from here," he pointed in a general direction.

"I'll lead the way, " the guy who lost his own beast said, "After all, I'm good at scouting..." he said.

"Right then," I sighed "Lead the way then." And then we followed.

Several hours later, darkness began falling and we needed to find shelter. Since we couldn't move in an unknown forest at night we had to lay low.

Fortunately, not before the carpet of the night completely fell, the scout came back, "I spotted a large cave not too far from here, we can rest inside it." he said.

At least you're useful. As for the rest of them, they're nothing more than heavy baggage.

Sometime later we were inside the cave, it was pretty large for a random cave in a forest, and wasn't that bad for a resting point.

"I'll keep a watch out, you three should meditate for the rest of the night and recover," I said to the group since they looked out of it. We haven't had a good rest in weeks and today seemed like a good day to have some time off.

After all we don't know what is hiding in this forest, since the moment we walked in, there were no critters, and no creatures moving about. But just as the moon hung low, and the night was in its darkest hour. The sound of the beasts began echoing through the forest. Mighty, strong, and frightening beasts.

They're out to hunt, and it would not be wise, to make oneself a prey at this dark hour.