Chapter 154: Fire Body

The group looked in front of them and saw the huge lake. The water glittered in the sunrays, the shining light scattered all around. The suns had already turned yellow and were about to sink in the distance. It's reflection looked beautiful in the lake. The one sun was sinking in the south-west while another was disappearing in the north-west direction.

"It looks beautiful," Noor murmured, and everyone nodded. Then the group sat at the edge of the lake and washed the dirt and sweat from their bodies. The water was warm due to the hot weather and two blazing suns.

After that, the group sat together and ate the food. They had stored meat previously, so there was no need to trouble themselves to hunt. Though fresh meat was better, the group didn't want to waste their time on such a trivial matter.

After eating, Ayaan went to check the area. He found some traces of the group and the hoof prints of the horses. That confirmed someone was here before them, and that must be the group of bandits. However, he was bewildered by these bandits. 'Why are they rushing at such a fast speed? Furthermore, why would bandits travel this long to rob or plunder? Aren't they afraid someone might find their tracks?' he looked confused and went to talk with others.

"Hmm, to know the truth we first have to catch those bandits," Leafwhisk replied, and the group again started their journey. The lake was huge, and they travelled for half an hour alongside it; only then they saw its end. As the group dashed farther and farther away amidst the towering trees, the lake disappeared in the distance.

The mountains stood in every direction, and the two yellow balls in the sky had disappeared. The darkness covered their sight, and Ayaan had to lead everyone. The Shadow City was not far away, and Ayaan thought they would spend their next morning in the city.

From time to time, some wild beasts would hinder their path, and Ayaan had to slaughter them. He also needed to be most vigilant at the moment, because his group was most vulnerable in the night. Only he had the ability to see clearly in the dark. Even Leafwhisk wasn't an exception who had crossed the barrier of the Embryonic Realm. Though she was doing better than others.

As they rode their horses in the dark, they saw the light in the distance. Ayaan halted and with him halted everyone else. They looked towards the light, deep in thought. He exchanged glances with everyone and nodded. This group could be most probably those bandits who had robbed and plundered that village.

Ayaan's group left their horses behind. So to not alert their enemies ahead of them. They proceeded on their silent feet, vigilantly, and alertly. They hid in between the copse of the trees and looked in front of them. Around ten tents stood at the side—the huge campfire burned, spreading yellow light in the surrounding. The boar hung at the centre to roast, as the pleasant smell wafted everyone's nose. The group of soldiers covered in armour was sitting around the fire, laughing, cursing, drinking.

"I hope the emperor will reward us for completing this task," said one of the drunk soldiers.

"I don't know why the Emperor wants that girl so much," another soldier said confusedly. "She is just a commoner. Why bother with her?"

"What do you know?" the man who looked like their superior chided the man. "The Emperor cultivates the fire attribute, and that girl had a Fire-body. Though I don't know what is Fire-body, I can tell you that it is very precious to the Emperor."

"So captain, does that mean this Fire-body is very powerful?" one of the soldiers asked with his shining eyes.

The captain shook his head. "I don't know. I have also heard this Fire-body for the first time and don't know much about it," he said. "As you know all the knowledge about cultivation has come from the higher world. We don't have much knowledge regarding it, we are just trying to uncover things piece by piece. The powerful sects might have information regarding it, and that's how our Emperor knows about this Fire-body. you know that every Empire is controlled by other sects. the emperor is just the front for them."

Everyone nodded after hearing their captain's explanation and stopped asking any more questions regarding the girl. The soldiers tore pieces of crispy meat out of the boar that hung at the fire and devour with the wine.

Ayaan heard their talk and understood what was going on. It seemed that there were no bandits at all, but a group of soldiers who had robbed and killed an entire village so they could kidnap a girl for their Emperor. The fury burned in Ayaan's eyes as he heard their laughter.

"What is Fire-body?" Ayan turned towards Leafwhisk as he asked. "Can you explain it?"

Leafwhisk gazed at one of the tents and explained, "There are three types of special bodies or Physics: Mortal, Immortal, Divine. Each type has three thousand special bodies, and fire type is one of them." 

Everyone nodded, though she explained in two sentences, everyone understood what she was trying to say. "So do any of us have a special body type?" he asked with some anticipation.

The lady looked at Ayaan and chuckled, "yes, Noor, Rebecca, and Isobel have a special body type. Don't you know what that Evolution Altar did to them? It gave them a special body."

The girls looked excited after hearing her. "Umm… So do I have any special body type?" asked Ayaan hopefully.

"Nope." She replied. "At least, I don't know if you have." 

Ayaan looked disappointed in hearing her. This special body looked cool, and he wanted his own special body. He sighed then asked, "so what are benefits of having these special body types?"

"Ohh they have their benefits. Like a fire body: the owner of a fire body could control fire better than anyone, he could grasp fire laws faster." She explained.

"What fire law? I heard the fire element, but what is the law?" Ayaan asked in confusion.

"Ohh, it's nothing, don't bother with it right now," replied Leafwhisk. "You will know about it when you enter the higher world. There is a long way ahead, and you are just learning to walk, if you try to run at this moment, you could hurt yourself."

Ayaan rolled his eyes at her explanation. "You said Noor, Isobel, and Rebecca have a special body. So why can't I see anything special about them? And what is the rank of their bodies? I mean Mortal, Immortal, Divine" he asked, other girls also turned towards her because they didn't feel anything special about their bodies.

"It is because your body type is in slumber, and your cultivation is too low to awaken them," said Leafwhisk nonchalantly. "You will awaken your special bodies slowly, don't worry about it. As for your type, don't bother with it right now. you will know them eventually."

Ayaan looked annoyed but he stopped asking questions, and everyone turned their attention towards the campfire once more. There were more than fifty people as they had previously suspected. However, there was no trace of the girl they had been talking about. They must have locked her inside one of the tents.

"She is in that tent," Leafwhisk pointed at one of the tents.

"How do you know?" asked Rebecca.

"There are some weeds inside the tent and through them, I can feel that girl inside." She replied and closed her eyes. Then opened them once more, and said, "there aren't any soldiers in other tents."

Everyone was amazed by her ability and glad that she had such an ability. It would make many things easier for them. "Should we attack?" inquired Ayaan.

"If Noor had more control over her Space Element, we could rescue that girl without even letting these people know. However, she isn't that proficient and doesn't have control over her element, so we could only slaughter our way," said Leafwhisk, glancing at Noor.

"It doesn't matter. If we could rescue that girl, I would still slaughter these people. They should be protecting the commoners in their empire, but they just slaughtered the entire village like weed and trash. They deserve death." Ayaan gritted his teeth, and others also shared the same emotions as him.

Ayaan looked at the soldiers and narrowed his eyes when he saw their captain. He was above the Embryonic Realm. "Can you handle them?" he asked to Leafwhisk.

"They are too many and all of them are embryonic realm cultivators. I won't be able to defeat them with my tree technique. If I want to defeat them, I have to use my full strength," replied Leafwhisk. Ayaan was surprised to know that she had still to use her full strength.

"You just use your tree technique and let us fight," Ayaan said. "If we couldn't hold them only then interfere."

Leafwhisk nodded and threw two seeds towards the campfire. No one realised that the two seeds sprouted and roots went under the ground, spreading in every direction like a spider web, and suddenly the ground started to tremble.

"What is going one!?" the captain shouted." Earthquake?" He looked confused.

Before anyone could understand anything, a huge root burst out of the ground, swinging in the air like a snake. "Ohh fuck!" cursed one of the soldiers. 

"Ready to fight!" the captain warned everyone as he brought his sword out of his sheath.