The Geared Immortal

New Journey: Chapter 3

/*unedited*/

In the depths of the night, the whole forest outside of the small walled village of Xiling turns eerily silent. It seems that even the sound of any small creatures was chased out of this area. Many of the villagers this time is half-sleeping like the way always do since these things started. The undead beasts seem to prefer attacking the village in the middle of the night so everyone is already anticipating carnage to occur once again tonight.

Before resting inside the wagon, Shin Jiao was able to talk to some of the villagers in the area and discover that what he was thinking was correct. Due to a lack of spiritual stones and supplies, the cultivators have resulted in absorbing the core of the undead beast.

They discover that absorbing the chaotic Qi may be hard but their cultivation rise is truly fast, but of course, the danger is there. Yet many still delve into absorbing the cores because they wanted to fight and protect their family and their home.

Shin Jiao can now deduce that absorbing the undead core may have its effects but it is still dangerous. He wanted to try and do some experiments on this matter but this is not the right time and the right place. At least in the previous fights, he already gathered enough undead cores to test, and maybe he can gather more tonight.

He can feel the changes in the air as if an ominous event is going to happen. Not only him but also the people inside the wagon feels the same way too.

"Mommy, I'm scared." little Hao Fu muttered in a low voice while holding tightly on her mother's robe while digging his head in her mother's arms. For him, that is the safest place in the world right now.

"It's okay Hao'er mommy is here. Mommy is going to protect you okay?" Ling Ya said while hugging her son tight giving a flow of warm Qi and calmness to the small boy.

Right beside her Jin Fu showed a loving smile to both his wife and son. His temperament shows overflowing confidence in his ability to protect them both.

As time ticks by, a mist began to cover the surrounding forest which added to the eeriness of the surrounding especially to the cultivators which patrol the top of the wall. From there they can see the thick black mist slowly covering the woods of the forest making it almost invisible to the naked eye.

As time ticks by the people inside the village became to grow restless. They know that the time for the undead beast horde to attack is here once again. Though they have been safe so far after the wall was constructed but every now and then some random beast would enter the blockade and the walls then attack the people inside the village.

"The time has come, master Ling, you should stay here. This place is safe because we have already set up a small formation here. If we only have an array formation expert we could have formed a defensive array to protect the village. But alas, we have none…" the village chief said as he walks out of the village hall.

After the village chief left, Bibao Ling slumped to the chair while sighing heavily. He didn't expect that the danger for his journey this time would be this grave.

"Sir Ling, we will try our best to protect you and this village. But… If we can't then our only option is to escape." The man standing behind him said.

This man is his personal guard captain which was assigned to him by the president of the association. He is a very loyal man and a strong cultivator. He comes from a renowned clan from the empire's main city, Xi city. He has been serving Bibao Ling for 2 years now and is considered as a very trustworthy subordinate. The only downside is his cultivation which seems to have regressed due to an injury he has suffered in one of their travels.

Right now he is stuck in the middle stages of the gold core realm, and his progression becomes really slow. Even though this is the situation and there are others who have higher cultivation than him, he was still chosen by Bibao Ling to be the captain. This is due to Bibao Ling's trust in him and his own loyalty.

Xubai Ju is the name of the personal guard captain of Bibao Ling. Among his subordinate he is known as, Tiger Ju. Though he is stuck in his current cultivation, no one can beat him. Even those that are in the late-stages of the gold core realms. Xubai Ju is very proficient in using Qi spells and his well-known move the Dragon thunder breath was considered as an ingenious technique for combining the Qi energies.

This thunder blade is a combination of wind, water, and fire Qi condensed on his blade and when released would burst out a long strand of lightning damaging multiple enemies in from of him. That's why he is considered as one of the top 500 swordsmen in the Xi city.

After hearing the words of Xubai Ju, Bibao Ling felt his confidence was boosted. He knows the strength of his guard captain and he is confident that he can protect him.

"Umm… I put my life in your hand captain." Bibao Ling said as he closes his eyes.

He didn't want to sleep or rather couldn't sleep in this kind of situation.

…

Meanwhile, outside the village of Xiling, a tall shadow of a man wearing a hood is currently standing atop a hill as little distance away from the forest.

A clear view of the small village far down below can be seen from this vantage point. Behind the tall man stood three more people and each of them are wearing black cloaks which covered their whole body. The only thing visible is their glowing eyes which if one would closely look seemed lifeless and dull. But the aura surrounding them seems vigorous and wild and every creature which could see and feel this aura would feel Goosebumps covering their backs.

"Xiling village… it's time to collect your due." The man said in a raspy and spooky voice.

The man slowly extended his thin hands and then gestured like he is grasping the small town up ahead in his hands and slowly squishing it.

He stayed in this posture for a while and after some time; he slowly retracted his arm turns around and walks towards the darkness.

…

Shin Jiao carefully observed his surroundings feeling a little fidgety. He didn't know what to expect as his mind is focused on his excitement to collect more materials to gather in researching for the cause of the undead beast.

Necromancy, in his young age Shin Jiao has liked a character in-game which can summon his own army. The character is a necromancer, a person who has the power to make their own armies out of the corpses of others. In that game, the character was too awesome that he clashes against many players who wanted to kill the character.

It was a long fight, although the game character died but still the fight lingered in Shin Jiao's memory and liked it.

This situation he is right now is like that game. But he is one of the players and is going to hunt the necromancer. But what made Shin Jiao excited is the prospect of learning and getting the knowledge of how necromancy works in this world.

While contemplating Shin Jiao noticed the young woman beside him move closer a little bit, and then she whispered something.

"I don't think we can face this danger head-on. If I were to decide I would retreat and hide. I can feel a very strong and ominous aura outside of the village." The young woman with the beast-man aura whispered.

"This is a work of a devil cultivator." a rough voice suddenly rang on Shin Jiao's ears.

Everybody in the wagon turns their heads towards an old man wearing a white cultivator's robe. This old man seems to have the highest cultivation in this wagon. Though he is low-key yet Shin Jiao has already observed him for a while now. He is wearing a white cultivator's robe and a wooden cane with a green gem embedded at the top end.

"Senior, are you sure? Maybe it's just a natural phenomenon?" one of the sisters who had an unnatural thing inside her body worriedly said.

"Little Chuan I'm sure about this." the old man replied.

"I think we forgot to introduce ourselves to the new person." Suddenly the young woman next to Shin Jiao said with a bright expression, it was as if she remembered something very important.

"I'm Lily Chen, nice to meet you." she immediately said as she looks at Shin Jiao.

"That's Senior Jugs, the wise old man of our group. These two beauties are Chuan Tang and Beiwei Tang, and of course, you know about elder Jin's family… That big guy over there is Bok Du, a proud warrior. And these two are his friends…" Lily Chen introduced.

Shin Jiao cupped his hands and nods towards the rest of the people around the wagon.

"Greetings! I'm Shin Jiao and I came from the town of Dis." Shin Jiao introduced.

Upon hearing him the rest of the people in the wagon showed an interesting expression. Right now there is a huge rumor which is circulating in the empire. This is due to the traveling merchants spreading some fantastical place within the borders of the town of Dis.

"Really? You're from the town of Dis? Then… then you know about the news?" Lily Chen immediately showed an excited expression as she grabs Shin Jiao's arm.

"Eh?! Umm… What news do you mean?" Shin Jiao suddenly showed a confused expression.

He truly didn't know what she is talking about as he has spent many months away from the town of Dis and the underground base. What Shin Jiao noticed is that, even though the atmosphere at first felt really gloomy but upon his mention of the town of Dis, everything seems to have livened up. So this made him feel really curious about what happened in the town in his absence.

"It seems that you didn't know." Lily Chen said with her excitement being doused.

Everyone around Shin Jiao also showed the same expression. Then suddenly the young boy grabs Shin Jiao's clothes and tugged on it.

"Big brother Shin, if you are from the town of Dis you should know about the many new artifacts that they have in there right? I wanted my dad to buy me one of those things they called the phone. I heard that it is expensive but I want to have one." The little boy explained excitedly.

When Shin Jiao heard this, his expression suddenly changed.

"How come that the phone has reached even in this faraway place?" Shin Jiao thought.

"Haha… Little Hao'er that artifact is not available in the town of Dis anymore. And you can't even use it outside of the town. It is only usable in the town and within a certain area of the Daemon Forest. But I agree that the artifact is really amazing, you don't need to spend your Qi just to use it." the old man they call Senior Jugs said while waving his hand.

Then suddenly a familiar object appears on his hand. Shin Jiao knows what it was as he was the one who designed it. It was the most basic model of a mobile phone they used in the underground base. What surprised him is why the old man in front of him has a phone.

"Wow, I didn't know you have it with you Senior Jugs. I wanted to have one for myself; I want to learn how they were able to make these things. Plus I heard that this is crafted by mortals which made is so amazing." Beiwei Tang said with glistening eyes.

"Haha, you're right this thing has been with me for a week now and I have tried to learn something from it." Old man Jugs said as he slowly scrutinized the phone in his hand.

Then he waves his hand to hide it into his spatial tool.

"Senior, can I see it please?" Beiwei Tang suddenly said coquettishly while grabbing the old man's hand.

"No, I can't. This is a precious artifact that can be of great value in improving our crafting techniques." He said while patting the young woman's head.

Shin Jiao on the side just watches the exchange of the two as Old man Jugs pacify the curiosity of the people around him.

"I promise you that the kingdom of Wu will be able to produce this kind of artifact and many of our people will be able to enjoy it, not just the people in the town of Dis." Old man Jugs said with a hint of pride in his heart.

Old man Jugs is a cultivator who belongs to the kingdom of Wu. He travels all over the land to discover, help, and even find ways to improve the kingdom of Wu. In his travels, he discovered a lot of mysteries and things, but none has bested what he saw in the town of Dis.

When he arrived in the town he saw many cultivators especially the beast hunters holding something on their hands. And he discovers that the tool cost around 100 low-grade spirit stones. Now, this price is already too high for a common cultivator, but for those hunters, this is good enough. The tool they called the phone is very essential when they are inside the Daemon forest as everyone would always expect the unexpected. But with the phone on hand, they can immediately communicate with other people even those that are currently in town.

The wide range of use of the phone made the lives of the people in the town of Dis more comfortable and efficient. So he immediately bought a pair of these things and began to do his own research on them. As soon as he opened the small tool he was dumbstruck at what he saw. Complex lines and runes are written on a thin board, and it contains many components that work in tandem with one another. Even after spending the whole day in researching he could not even get any leads on how it works, except for the thing that's called keypad which is a very simple mechanism.

This became a challenge to him and truly became obsessed with learning the secret of the small tool. He then immediately sets out back to the Wu kingdom so that he can present this news and gather all the best crafters they have so that they can copy and duplicate the technology.

That was a month ago.

As the people inside the wagon began to relax and have a calm atmosphere, a loud sound coming from a horn echoed through the village.

"What is that sound?" Beiwei Tang muttered as she lets go of the old man's hand and showed a serious expression on her lovely face.

"It's a warning; I think the undead beast tide is coming." Jin Fu said as he looks at the rest of the people inside the wagon.

As if with a tacit understanding the group nods their heads and began to materialize suits of armor covering their bodies. Shin Jiao's jaw almost dropped upon seeing this scene. He didn't know how it happened but upon seeing the cool appearance of the people around him he was taken aback. Even the small boy is wearing small silver armor and a helmet on his head.

This is the first time that Shin Jiao has seen this as even in the town of Dis, most of the cultivators there don't wear armors. They just have those scrolls for shield and the Qi field protecting their bodies.

"You look dumbfounded; this is your first time seeing this kind of armor right?" Lily Chen said with a teasing voice.

"These are called spiritual armors we always have them in our bodies, and would manifest at will. It's a simple artifact that the Roc's eye merchant has discovered. This also came from the town of Dis… But I guess you didn't know about this either." She said with a smile.

Shin Jiao's mind suddenly went blank. He began to worry about the situation in the underground base. These things are part of the secret of the underground base and only his shadow army is supposed to use them. Although what these cultivators are wearing is just one of his crudely designed prototype, but still it is strong enough to save their lives.

Shin Jiao didn't have time to ask any question as to the expression of Jin Fu suddenly changed. He's always calm and composes expression suddenly turns into shock and then serious.

Everyone saw this and felt a little worried.

"Master Jin, what's wrong?" The silent Bok Du asked upon seeing the reaction of Jin Fu.

Bok Du knows that nothing can faze the calm expression of this man. Only when a troublesome situation occurs will his expression change. After traveling for many weeks now, they almost already knew each other's abilities and Jin Fu can be considered at par with Old man Jugs when it comes to ability.

"This is not only an undead beast horde attack, but they also seem to be hiding something within their ranks and I can feel it's power. Everyone we have to get there and help these people, or else everyone in this village with die." Jin Fu answered as his gaze turns to his wife and child.

Ling Ya held her husband's hand and nods her head.

All the people in the last wagon immediately disembark except for Shin Jiao, Lin Ya, and the little boy. But the rest of them didn't mind this. They are not sure if Shin Jiao is strong or not, and they didn't want extra baggage just in case he is a weak fighter.

"Let's have fun!" Bok Du smiled as he immediately rushed to the gate.