Mage And Wolf
Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Chapter 72

I was only a few miles out when I realized just what the guard meant. The danger isn’t wildlife, it’s other people. Other cultivators to be exact. At first I caught a disgusting whiff of unwashed body and wrote it off as someone else on the road.

But an hour after I turned off the road and picked up my pace to a jog I caught the scent again when the wind shifted. Someone’s definitely following me. It’s only a few miles to the portal, at this pace I’ll be there in 5 or 6 minutes.

Concentrating on the Death Energy on the area I’m hoping to get a clearer idea what the situation is. Luck favors me and the wind shifts again, bringing 3 clear scents to my nose. All particularly rancid. Even feral rogue werewolves don’t smell that bad.

I stop in a clearing, waiting to see what they’ll do. My Goddess enhanced senses pick up 3 faint shimmers of Death Energy, so whoever these cultivators are, they’re murderers. Not that I’m in any pace to judge.

I can clearly smell them, but can’t see them without the shimmer of black energy sticking to them. It doesn’t seem like magic though, more like they’re channeling their cultivation to hide? I’ll have to learn that trick at some point.

Two have stopped, and the one on my right is slowly circling behind me. Time to make this fun.

"If you’re going to sneak up on a lady, learn to wash your arse first" I sneer and they all freeze.

"Seriously, I can smell you all from here. You might as well come out."

"It’s a bluff" I hear one in the woods whisper.

"Aye, Rupert has this". the other replies.

"Your mother named you Rupert?" I ask the one advancing "She really didn’t want you did she?"

This seems to have touched off a nerve. He’s no longer invisible and he’s running at me with a sword. He’s seriously fast, for a human. Maybe faster than I am.

I scream as if afraid now that I’ve seen him and the others laugh. His strides take him within two steps of me before he swings the sword.

Too late rookie.

I step forward, closing the gap and drive my claws through his chest coated in thick black energy.

"How?" he gurgles, his mouth filling with frothy blood before he collapses.

I draw my sword and motion at the tree line. "Are you coming out or an I going in?"

As I finish speaking a fourth assassin, infinitely more powerful than the others arrives in a flash. Nothing in my world moves that fast, even bullets would have a hard time catching him.

"You’ve all been caught and failed" a deep voice intones.

"What gave them away?" he turns to ask me, a light curious tone taking over his formerly serious demeanor.

"The smell" I tap my nose "I fear your disciples are allergic to soapy water" I rely with a mock sad tone.

"Not bad girl. Now that I see you with my own eyes, you’ve done some killing of your own haven’t you?" I laugh, if only he knew "I’ll make you a deal, live through this and I’ll take you in as one of my own. I personally guarantee you’ll make a fine immortal if you live another 20 years."

I don’t think denying him is actually an option. I’m not leaving here alone if at all. But the herbs need to get delivered.

"Come boys, let’s play in the woods" I call and dart off towards the cave with the portal.

We duck and weave through the trees, trading sword blows and kicks until the portal is under a hundred meters away. That’s when I make my move, hurling the herb box at the portal like I’m throwing it at stinky guy number 2’s head. He ducks with a laugh.

"Is that all you’ve got?"

The powerful one gives a snort of mirth "No, boy, she just finished her mission. Best be careful or she’ll kill you now"

Good, my guess was right and he’s not going to interfere.

The third one has hidden his presence again and is charging from the left. I parry his strike easily.

"Didn’t I tell you I can smell you coming?" I mock and he retreats.

I make to charge at him and I see Smelly tense to strike, a step left over extends his swing and leaves his neck exposed. A flick of my wrist and his head falls to the ground, staring back at his body with an expression of shock.

The last trainee makes to flee, obviously thinking it’s the smart move. He’s wrong.

"How dare you flee after exposing yourself and the sect?" The elder roars, blasting his body to dust with a bolt of what feels like his own internal energy.

My time is getting short, so I focus on sending a message to the Priestesses outside.

"I’ve sent back the herbs, but there’s an angry immortal here, so I won’t be returning at this time." I hope that sent.

"Understood Highness. Rest assured, we will hold our position here until your return. The herbs have been given to the Lycan Alpha and your Acolyte is safely in his care."

The Elder walks over looking me up and down. "Do you know what a devil cultivator is girl?"

"Devil Cultivator? Are you some sort of demon worshipers?"

He chuckles for a moment "No, it’s a term the respectable sects use to refer to those who will gain power by any means necessary. I think you might be just that sort, and so am I."

Well, I cultivate portions of the life energy taken from deaths around me, that’s not exactly respectable.

My expression tells him what he wants to know. "Perfect then. You’ll be my personal disciple. Grab the belongings of those idiots, they’re yours by rights. Then I’ll take you back."

I don’t really want to touch their filthy rags, but there’s some good weaponry and a ring with a black sword on it. Picking it up reveals is a storage ring. Not a great one, barely the size of a purse, but inside are some scrolls, pills and a porno mag.

Toss that trash out. Keep the pills and scrolls.

The body has nothing else but the odd grey martial arts robes he was wearing and a wooden token on a necklace. It reads ’outer disciple trial’.

The odd man hands me two more identical rings.

"The contents of the other bodies. I took the liberty of confiscating the erotic literature." I give him the side eye at the word confiscate, but thank him for taking the trouble on my behalf.

"So what sort of cultivator are you exactly? I don’t recognize that technique, and the energy feels strange."

"I cultivate Death Energy, along a physical cultivation path"

"A female physical cultivator? That’s both unexpected and extreme. As a rule all women go down the mystic path to keep their soft and feminine figure. And did you say death energy? You plan to kill enough people to fuel your path to immortality?"

Well put like that I do sound kind of extreme.

"I mean how many could it take, right? Fifty thousand cultivators or ten times that in magical beasts?" That was my best guess after calculating energy in the dungeons. Personally the Goddess had granted me a lot, but I need time to convert it.

The Elders mouth is hanging open at my casual words. "How could someone so cute be so evil? The disciples will never know what hit then" he mumbles to himself, not knowing I can hear him anyhow.

He raises his voice, now intending to be heard. "We’ll be headed to the Shadowed Blade Sect now, but it’s a few days travel. Do you have something more formal for our arrival, or should I get you some robes?"

I exert the little energy it takes to call forth my robes, hood down "how about these?"

"That’s an interesting trick. A bit unorthodox, but they’ll do. We’ll need to do a few exams to prove to the other elders you’re qualified to join the outer sect straight away. The part that trips most up is the requirement to have killed in cold blood recently, it serves as proof you’re not a light sect spy, but for you that wouldn’t be an issue even if my trainees didn’t volunteer."

I laugh but he continues "So tell me about your world? Demons came through before you, and I can feel it’s a world that limits the power level of the inhabitants."