Chapter 137: Long-term Investment

"What are you waiting for? Cut them down one by one, leave only one alive!" shouted Veera, vicious light flickered through his eyes.

Ayaan looked at the people and his face turned grave.

"Leave those two to me, you can handle those guards," said Leafwhisk, relieving Ayaan's worry. He was troubled due to those two people, other than them, he could handle anyone present here. 

At this moment, Veera took out a spear and Bara unsheathed his sword, pointed them towards the unwelcome guests. 

"Surrender, or it will hurt," sneered Veera at them.

"Hehe, I am not interested in man, and have no intention to make you hurt, sorry," hearing his words, a few chuckles sounded from beside him.

However, it seems some people didn't like his words.

"Die!" shouted Veera and sprinted towards the Ayaan with his spear in hand.

Alas, before he could reach Ayaan, a tree grew out of the ground in front of him and blocked his path. At first, the tree was only as thick as the waist of the full-grown man, but in just a moment, it thickened around the size which would need, at least five to six people to cover the trunk of the tree. 

Just when everyone thought that it was enough, the tree started to develop green tentacles; starting at the thickness of a finger, they gained the girth of a man's arm. The tree wasn't much high, just around the height of a two-story building, but it was enough to cover most of the area with its tentacles and fight with the majority of the people. After developing the tentacles, the tree leaves appeared on the green branches, forming a tree crown.

The tree covered the moonlight, forming a huge gigantic shadow, which fell over the guards, filling them with dread and anxiety.

Everyone looked at the tree full of tentacles with shock and fear. Dumbstruck expressions appeared on Ayaan and other's faces; they couldn't move until a shout came, "What are you doing? Go get them, we will escape when we have a chance."

"So that tree is your doing?" asked Ayaan vaguely.

"Of course, I am a wood cultivator after all — a wood fairy," said Leafwhisk proudly, but then, thinking about something she shut her mouth, alas, it was already too late.

"What?! Aren't you the Spatial Element cultivator? You took Noor your student because of that, what are you talking about, now?" questioned Ayaan suspiciously, his eyes sharp.

"Cough, I was about to tell you guys…"

"That you aren't a Spatial Element Cultivator?" sneered Ayaan.

Now he thought about it, Leafwhisk never used the Spatial Element before. 

"Well, I wanted to get close to you people, so I tried to con you guys by becoming a Spatial Elemental Cultivator. When you guys evolved inside the altar, I knew what elements your bodies have, Ayaan was the only exception. So at that time I took out a book on the theory of the Spatial Element and pretended to be reading it." as she explained her face turned red, not daring to look at the people around.

"Boom!"

"Clang!"

From not far away, a sound of battle came, the fight had already started and the guards and the two men were battling with the tree which Leafwhisk formed. Ayaan became more and more surprised as he saw the power of the tree, it could hold its own against so many people; since there were two mighty warriors amongst them, it was rather admirable.

"Anyways, let's settle this matter first. We will talk later," sighed Ayaan and went to fight with the three ladies, leaving the boy in Leafwhisk's protection.

Immediately, the number of guards started to drop one by one. Ayaan and his companions killed a man with each strike, no matter how they tried, no one could block their attacks.

When Veera saw the situation turning grim, he looked at Bara and said, "You fight here, I will go, handle that brat."

Bara looked at him and nodded, trying to fight with his all effort with the tree. As Veera sprinted towards Ayaan, a cold glint flashed in his eyes and he changed his direction, speeding in another direction with his full speed.

"Veera!" shouted Bara indignantly. Still fighting with the tentacle tree, his eyes turned red when he saw his companion betraying him amidst the battle.

"Hmph! You lowly commoner dared to sit side by side with me, you must be punished with death. Hahaha, yes, must be punished with death," laughed Veera maniacally when he saw the lowly guards which mostly came from a commoner background dying miserably.

"Veera, you traitor! You coward!" shouted Bara with hatred.

"Haha, curse all you want, in the end, you are still going to die… Pttff,"

Suddenly, Veera vomited a mouthful of blood, leaving everyone stunned. He lowered his head and saw a long arrow had penetrated his heart; the blood continuously fell out of his mouth, he looked at his murderer but couldn't see his/her face. The darkness descended in front of his eye and fell on the ground with no life in his body remaining.

"I hate betrayers and you dared to do such a thing in front of me," Leafwhisk lowered her bow and sneered at the corpse who was just laughing at his companions for making them fool.

She again knocked the arrow in the bow and pointed towards the Bara; surprisingly, there was no fear on his face when he looked at the arrow, ready to penetrate his heart.

"Oh? You looked rather fearless," asked Leafwhisk with interest, seeing his fearless face.

"Can you let my companion go? You can kill me if you want," after a long silence, the man spoke, and his word came out as a surprise for everyone.

At this moment, Ayaan and others also arrived next to Leafwhisk; they had finished one of the groups which belonged to Veera, now only Bara and his subordinates remained.

"Well, it's not the matter of whether I can or can't let your companion live. It's about what I will receive in return," proposed Leafwhisk.

"I am ready to give you my head," replied Bara with a determined face.

"No commander, if you are going to die, we will die fighting!" retorted one of the guards.

"I am not gonna run away like a coward, I will die on the battlefield," another soldier said.

"Shut up!" shouted Bara, "Do as I say, it is my command. Do you get it!?"

No one replied.

"I said: do you get it, bastards!?" shouted the man one more time.

And again, there was no reply, making the situation rather embarrassing for mister commander.

"Drop this drama, and what would I do with your ugly head, anyway?" chided Leafwhisk, "If you can leave your status as the commander and work for us, I will let every one of your companions go."

"Intolerable!" shouted a guard.

"Who do you think you are to say such a thing to our commander? We will die, but never betray someone who gave us food at the time we needed," roared another man.

"It is just death, we will die, then,"

"Shut up!" roared Bara at his subordinates. Looking at Leafwhisk he said, "I can't do such a thing, can you change your request, will do anything other than betraying my sect."

Leafwhisk didn't reply to the man and turned towards the guards, sneering, "Loyalty? If it wasn't because of your commander's loyal and clear heart, I would have killed him long ago. He is worth it because he is brave and could give up on his life for his companions.

"You are shouting about food which your sect has given you. However, tell me, why don't they give the same food to the beggars on the road? Why did they give you that food? Because you are worth it, they would use you as they want; at their single command, you will die, without their permission, you don't even go out to see your family. 

"They will rape your daughters, sisters, and mothers in front of your eyes — because they are superior — and you have to endure all the humiliation. You are nothing but cannon fodders for those big sects, nothing more than pawns, which could be sacrificed anytime. Have you ever thought about what will happen to your family? Or do you think your superior will take care of your family? 

"Ahh, you know what? Maybe you are right. They will take care of your family, but how? That is another matter altogether."

Leafwhisk every word made these guards heart throbbed with anxiety as they imagined such scenarios, looking at their faces, Leafwhisk curled her lips and said to her companions, "Let's go. We are leaving."

The lady placed her bow and arrow inside her space ring, and in front of stunned eyes, everyone walked away; the large tree withered, turning nothing but a husk. 

Bara looked in the direction where Ayaan's group disappeared, deep in thought.

…

"Why did you let them go? At least, we should have killed that commander," asked Noor, after those guards disappeared from their view.

"What do you know? It is called a long-term investment," Leafwhisk curled her lips in an amusing smile, leaving everyone confused.