Scarlet Emperor Followers

The four of them ran swiftly, climbing the slope through the woods until they reached the summit. From their high vantage point, they could observe the movements in the surrounding forest.

Ren Mian glanced at Ji Xinghuo.

Only after seeing him nod to indicate it was safe did she say, "Stop here. Recover your strength."

"Whew..."

Chi Zhonglin set his heavy backpack on the ground. Panting heavily, he cursed, "Have those Forest Patrol Clan people gone insane? They attacked us for no reason."

"Nothing strange about it. They might be Scarlet Emperor Followers." Ren Mian's expression was grave.

As she spoke, she took out a small plant and planted it in the ground. It rapidly grew into a lush cluster of leafy vegetation. The green leaves glowed and scattered light over their bodies, immediately refreshing their spirits and easing their exhaustion. Their depleted stamina also began recovering rapidly.

This was not the first time Ji Xinghuo had seen this plant. It was called Millennial Green.

Besides restoring stamina and relieving fatigue, Millennial Green could also treat minor injuries. It was practically an essential plant specimen for every Plant Witch.

"Scarlet Emperor Followers..."

Though Chi Zhonglin enjoyed the pleasant feeling of his strength returning, his face showed no relief. "Damn it! The Forest Patrol Clan members I met before were all friendly. I never thought they would worship the Scarlet Emperor too and become heretics."

Ji Xinghuo and Jiangnan Caiyi did not look well either.

The Scarlet Emperor was a Star God.

Within the Star Realm existed great beings who wielded supreme power. The alien races called them Star Gods, worshipped them devoutly, and became their followers.

The power of the Star Gods was mythically immense, reaching the heavens and earth, beyond imagination! The powers controlled by the Star Gods varied, some stronger and some weaker, but four were universally acknowledged as the strongest, most terrifying, and most ancient. Their followers were scattered throughout the Star Realm, their fame was known to all, and their faith had even seeped into the Milky Way, where they had hundreds of millions of followers! These four Star Gods were revered as Astral God-Lords.

The Scarlet Emperor was one of them.

The Scarlet Emperor's full honorific was the Slaughter Flame Scarlet Emperor, and he had countless other divine names.

God of War, God of Wrath, Lord of Madness, Blood Drinker, Destroyer, King of Slaughter, and so on. Those were merely the more famous ones; among many Astral Alien Races, he had hundreds of other titles.

The Scarlet Emperor's power ranked first among the God-Lords.

He possessed an endless thirst for battle and slaughter. Anyone who fought and killed in his name might receive his favor.

Thus, the Scarlet Emperor's followers were crazed and fearless. They harbored an uncontrollable fury toward their enemies and even the entire world, which granted them immense destructive power.

At the same time, the Scarlet Emperor revered courage and glory. He admired the resistance of the weak against the strong and those who dared challenge all authority.

There were Star God followers on Earth as well.

At first, Aberrants worshipped Star Gods in the Star Realm. When they returned to Earth, they brought the faith of the Star Gods back with them and spread it in secret.

Faith in Star Gods was harmful. It eroded people's minds and wills like a plague, eventually leading to catastrophe.

Countries across Earth denounced these followers as "heretics" and did everything they could to eradicate them.

However, the temptation of Star God faith was too great. The heretics of the God-Lords in particular were like weeds that could never be uprooted. Every so often, they would resurface and cause some major incident.

But in the Star Realm, worshipping Star Gods or God-Lords was quite common. Many alien races did not bother hiding it and openly followed Star Gods.

The followers of all four Astral God-Lords were difficult to deal with. Once entangled with them, it was extremely hard to get away.

The Scarlet Emperor's followers were especially vicious.

There was no need to think about it. Once the Forest Patrol Clan's tribe discovered the deaths of those three tribesmen, they would surely come after them. The Forest Patrol Clan had an exceptionally keen sense of smell. The most skilled among them could even smell a target more than ten kilometers away. It was difficult to shake them in the dense forest.

"Xiao Chi, take out the deodorizer," Ren Mian said.

Chi Zhonglin rummaged through his backpack and quickly found a spray canister, spraying every person from head to toe.

Earlier, Ren Mian had stuck a Sweat-Absorbing Orchid Leaf onto the back of each of their hands. It could absorb the smell of sweat, and when used together with the deodorizer, it completely eliminated their scent.

"Rest for another five minutes. We need to get away from the Forest Patrol Clan's tribe as quickly as possible, or they'll catch up."

Ren Mian glanced at her mechanical watch.

Ji Xinghuo nodded slightly and opened the Myriad Stellar Eye interface in his field of vision.

He had sensed himself absorbing Spirit Source Energy when he shot the Forest Patrol Clan members earlier. Now that he checked, he found he had gained twenty-three points! That much?

Ji Xinghuo was rather surprised.

The strongest of those three Forest Patrol Clan members, the male, had undergone three life evolutions, equivalent to an Advanced Esper on Earth. He was very powerful, but his magnetic field strength had been about the same as an elite Shadow Lurking Spider's. Ji Xinghuo had assumed he would provide four points of Spirit Source Energy, yet he had given fifteen points—nearly four times as much.

The other two female Forest Patrol Clan members had undergone two evolutions and each provided four points of Spirit Source Energy.

"Is it because the Forest Patrol Clan is more intelligent than monsters?"

Ji Xinghuo guessed inwardly, but then felt that something was off.

In terms of intelligence, the female Forest Patrol Clan members should not have been much different from the male. Yet the gap in their strength and the Spirit Source Energy obtained from them was not proportional either.

"Could it be because of faith?"

Ji Xinghuo could not be sure. Then he suddenly remembered the first person he had killed, Ji Zongbang. That Super Esper had also seemed rather unusual.

Ji Zongbang had provided one hundred and thirty-seven points of Spirit Source Energy. Looking back, that was far too much!

The amount of Spirit Source Energy seemed to be related to one's strength, but strength was not the primary determining factor.

"Could Ji Zongbang have been a heretic? And a fairly senior one at that?" Ji Xinghuo guessed. Heretics were difficult to identify on the surface unless they revealed themselves.

The moment five minutes were up, Ren Mian stood.

"Keep moving."

Their stamina had recovered only partially, but they could not delay any longer.

Ji Xinghuo kept Magnetic Field Induction active at all times, investing all twenty-three points of newly acquired Spirit Source Energy into Rotating Magnetic Field. Its progress reached 140/359. Before long, the range of his Magnetic Field Induction expanded slightly again, and as they traveled, his body was silently strengthened a little as well.

More than an hour later, the group crossed two mountains.

Ji Xinghuo rounded a ridge, and his view suddenly opened up. In the distance lay an endless range of mountains.

The broad, magnificent scenery eased the tension in all four of them somewhat.

"That's the direction we came from." Standing on high ground, Ren Mian turned and pointed back the way they had come. Ji Xinghuo jumped to her side and gazed into the distance. Peaks and forests filled his view, while the Myriad Stellar Eye scanned every movement within his vision like radar.

His gaze paused as he spotted something at the foot of a mountain.

"A Forest Patrol Clan tribe!"

Ji Xinghuo pointed in that direction. After comparing the terrain, he said, "If we had gone another two or three kilometers farther earlier, we would have entered their tribe."

"You can see that from so far away?"

Chi Zhonglin could hardly believe it. He shaded his eyes with a hand and stared wide-eyed, but all he saw was a vast expanse of green trees. He had no idea where the tribe was. Muttering to himself, he said, "It's at least fifteen kilometers away..."

Ren Mian also looked at him in surprise. She could only barely make out a few outlines.

If Ji Xinghuo had not said it was a Forest Patrol Clan tribe, she would not have been able to recognize it either.

Seeing their reactions, Ji Xinghuo realized he had misspoken. The weather was excellent today, with nothing obstructing his view, and their observation point was high. The Myriad Stellar Eye had not only allowed him to see the tribe, but also faintly spot Forest Patrol Clan members moving within it.

Ren Mian did not ask further. She drew a line on the map and said, "We need to go around this tribe's territory."

"We need to leave right now," Ji Xinghuo suddenly said.

From afar, he saw a group of more than a dozen Forest Patrol Clan members sprinting through the woods, climbing toward the ridge where they were located.

They were only six or seven kilometers away.

The Forest Patrol Clan lived by hunting. Even without scent, they could rely on their extensive experience to track their prey, though their pace would be somewhat slower.

The expressions of his three companions changed, and they turned and ran.

The chase lasted three days—and those were three days in the Star Realm, equivalent to more than six days on Earth.

From daylight to starlit night and then darkness, they traveled day and night. Each time they rested for at most ten minutes. They did not even have time to eat, much less sleep, and could only occasionally doze off for a few minutes.

Although Ren Mian had all kinds of plants that could rapidly restore stamina and mental energy, under such intense pursuit, all of them gradually fell into terrible condition.

Their physical strength, Stellar Force, and willpower were nearly exhausted, and their speed inevitably declined.

"Rest for ten minutes."

The moment Ren Mian finished speaking, Chi Zhonglin dropped onto the ground. His face was exhausted, his eyes bloodshot, and his whole body seemed to have thinned considerably.

Aside from looking somewhat pale, Jiangnan Caiyi appeared to be in decent physical condition, but that was only on the surface. In truth, she was already extremely weak.

Ji Xinghuo was also nearing his limit.

He had to maintain Rotating Magnetic Field constantly, leaving him mentally exhausted with a faint stabbing pain in his head.

Only Ren Mian showed no change, still as radiant as ever.

"Those Forest Patrol Clan members should be close to their limits too." Ren Mian looked toward the distant forest, then glanced at Ji Xinghuo.

These stubborn forest hunters were extremely troublesome. If not for Ji Xinghuo, who could always warn them in advance whenever the enemy drew near and allow them to take detours, the group would have been caught long ago.

After three continuous days of pursuit, both sides had traveled more than four hundred kilometers away from the Forest Patrol Clan tribe, long since leaving that tribe's territory.

Fewer than ten Forest Patrol Clan members were still chasing them.

Ji Xinghuo looked up at the sky and suddenly said, "It might rain tonight."

Chi Zhonglin was overjoyed. Only then did he notice the change in the sky. "If it rains, we can finally shake off those annoying Scarlet Emperor Followers completely."

Rain would not only wash away their scent, but also conceal the traces they had left behind.

They had been hoping for rain all along. Now, it was finally coming.

But Ren Mian shook her head. "Even if it doesn't rain, they won't catch us. Still, if it really does rain, we'll use the opportunity to make them pay for hunting us these past few days."

"Turn around and kill them?"

Chi Zhonglin hesitated somewhat. He was afraid a powerful enemy of a high Rank might be hiding among them.

"If a legendary Forest Patrol Clan member had been pursuing us, they would have acted long ago." Ren Mian was certain. "We'll observe them secretly first. If there aren't any legendary ones, we'll strike. What do you think?"

Jiangnan Caiyi was the first to state her position. "I'll follow Sister Ren's decision."

"Fine!"

Chi Zhonglin said viciously, "They've chased us for so long. We have to vent this anger, or I won't be able to sleep even after returning to Earth."

"What do you think, Xinghuo?" Ren Mian asked.

Ji Xinghuo slowly rose to his feet, his eyes gleaming. "Whatever Ren-jie says, I'll do."