A Man's Insanity: A Changing World

The Rank 6 cultivator crashed through tree after tree, trunks splintering like kindling under the force of impact. When his body finally slammed to a stop, he dragged himself up, blood trickling from his lips.

"You—" he spat, wiping his mouth. "Who are you? Why side with Tzu Yu?"

Zuh didn't answer. He simply lunged again, silent as a shadow.

The cultivator jumped backwards and moved his hand forward, and a gust of wind came out and pushed Zhu Qil backwards.

However, Zuh Qil landed against the trunk of a tree and lunged forward again. The cultivator he was fighting against had brownish skin and it could be seen that his skin wasn't natural, meaning that this was a defensive method the cultivator was using to parry the attacks of his opponents.

He lunged forward again right as his feet landed against the trunk of the tree.

Zuh Qil saw the incoming gust of wind and reacted instantly. Instead of touching the ground, he drove his fist downward—not to strike, but to unleash a concussive blast of air pressure. The force kicked him into a midair spin, narrowly evading the slicing wind attack. Momentum carried him past the attack, closing the distance with his opponent once more.

The rank 6 cultivator couldn't react in time to launch another attack and attempted to dodge by jumping backward. However, his right leg - already severely injured and bleeding heavily - refused to cooperate. He hadn't noticed the wound earlier because during the intense life-or-death struggle, his body had instinctively tapped into its reserves, granting him a burst of temporary strength and numbing the pain.

"Hmm,"

Zuh Qil was about to punch him in the head.

The Rank 6 cultivator's pupils contracted, raw terror flashing across his face. He tried desperately to raise his arms in a futile block—

Crack.

A sound from the left. Zuh Qil's attack veered mid-motion. Instead of striking, his hand grabbed the cultivator's shoulder, yanking the rank 6 cultivator forward like a human shield while using the momentum to propel himself aside.

The move saved him.

A crimson blade—hiltless, gleaming like a shard of blood—speared through the space Zuh had occupied a heartbeat earlier. But the redirected momentum left the Rank 6 cultivator off-balance, his torso twisting just enough that the blade meant for Zuh's heart instead went through the rank 6 cultivator's left lung.

A gurgle. The cultivator slumped, skewered by the weapon intended for his Zuh Qil.

Zuh landed on his feet and looked in the direction of the noise, only to see another rank 6 cultivator.

The cultivator, who was pierced, activated a Ka and began to heal himself, while the one who attacked hurriedly moved in front of the injured cultivator to defend him. It could be seen that even though the rank 6 cultivator was injured by his own companion, both the attacker and the attacked didn't muse over it and continued with the best solution that could help with the current situation.

Zuh Qil also didn't wait for his enemy's response and pounced on the enemy.

Meanwhile, the rank 7 cultivator was running with all his might. He was going around randomly. The reason was that the vines were coming out of the ground to strike him dead consistently.

"Hmm, why isn't he dead yet? At this rate, he will run away. If this happens, my chances of escaping will decrease. Even though it will just be a chance, I cannot allow it," Yang Zhai muttered.

Even though he couldn't see from this far as to what was happening, he could tell that the rank 7 cultivator was still alive, otherwise, the sleeping tortoise would have already started attacking the rank 6 cultivators.

"No other way left, I will need to make it furious,"

As such, he used the Earth Capture Ka and began to dig a deep pit below the sleeping tortoise's front legs. The sleeping tortoise also seemed to notice this as he began to move away from the place.

Yang Zhai didn't stop there. He continued digging deep pits wherever the sleeping tortoise moved. Though the creature shifted positions, its tail remained buried in the ground.

"Still not furious enough? Fine..." Seeing the tortoise's lack of extreme reaction, Yang Zhai changed tactics.

This time, he dug directly around the tortoise's tail.

Screeeech!!

Yang Zhai's eyes narrowed. "Hmm? What's happening? Since when do tortoises screech? No... this isn't good. I might have triggered something dangerous. I thought I knew everything about sleeping tortoises?"

The piercing screech echoed through the forest.

Instantly, the entire ecosystem reacted. Birds took flight in panic while beasts fled in all directions. Howls, screams, grunts, and roars filled the air as the forest erupted into chaos.

The rank 7 cultivator froze as the attacking vines suddenly retreated. Then the screech reached him.

"No, I need to get out of here. This can't be good..."

He channeled his kas at full power, maximizing his speed in a desperate attempt to escape the forest.

"It was all a trap! We never should have come here. We should have realized—if a mere child could infiltrate our stronghold and steal the unique torus right before our eyes, he was never normal to begin with. The moment we entered this forest, our deaths were guaranteed!" he shouted while running.

"What's happening now?" the rank 6 cultivator muttered as the screech echoed around them. The three rank 6 cultivators stood back-to-back, forming a defensive circle against Zuh Qil.

Despite Zuh Qil not using any cultivation techniques, his sheer combat prowess made him a formidable opponent, keeping the trio on constant guard.

Then—

The entire forest trembled violently. The ground split apart, massive sections of earth heaving upward like angry waves. All cultivators lost their footing as the terrain itself seemed to rebel against them.

The ground erupted as countless vines burst from the torn earth, spearing through everything in their path. One rank 6 cultivator, too slow to react, was impaled by six or seven vines simultaneously - one piercing clean through his skull, killing him instantly. The other two cultivators barely dodged in time, as did Zuh Qil with his lightning reflexes.

Meanwhile, Yang Zhai remained unharmed, perched atop the sleeping tortoise's massive shell. While the ground around him split and heaved violently, the earth directly beneath the tortoise remained completely undisturbed - a lone island of stability amidst the chaos.

As for the rank 7 cultivator, he was the one being attacked directly by the sleeping tortoise. If others were being attacked by ten to eleven vines at once, he was being attacked by more than fifty at once.

!|!*****!*****!|!