Du Brothers
"Drink up! This is the best one I have. Made entirely of grade one herbs and with a special recipe in my country, I can guarantee this is the best in the entire realm right now. Unless someone brought good stuff from outside that is. I'm sure it'll meet your standards." A man covered in black from head to toe poured a pink liquid into a cup and offered Zhang Wuji. Another dressed similarly was staring eagerly at him.
"Brother Du Feng, I really don't drink! It has nothing to do with standards." Zhang Wuji exclaimed exasperatedly. The two in front of him were Du Feng and his little brother Du Shui from Poison Valley. Poison Valley was a much bigger country than Frost Swallow with multiple Nascent Soul cultivators. The difference between the two countries can be seen from the fact that Poison Valley sent three times the number of cultivators Frost Swallow sent to the Crimson Sky.
Poison Valley was ruled by one single sect by the same name. The two brothers belonged to one of the biggest factions in the sect, the Du family faction. The Poison Valley team, at every opening of the realm, splits into three and goes in separate directions. The Du brothers were leaders of a ten man group. Their status in Poison Valley was much higher than that of the Yi prince that is the leader of Zhang Wuji's group.
They were strong, stronger as a duo. The two of them could take on a low stage qi condensation realm cultivator. Any single one of them could easily wipe the floor with Zhang Wuji in a fight. But now, they had taken Zhang Wuji as their big brother.
It all started a week after Zhang Wuji came to the Aurora Marsh. Someone entered deep into the marsh and confirmed what the grade two herbs were and the beasts that protected them. Then the news spread and people started to come to the marsh in waves.
Zhang Wuji also heard the news and got excited. If he could somehow get his hands on one of the herbs, his purpose of coming to the marsh would be fulfilled. The knowledge didn't change his routine though. When the sun was up, he entered the marsh, collected materials and worked on his plan to hit the jackpot, the grade two herbs. And when the sun set, he worked on his base.
After a week, he had made it rock solid. If he was present in his base, even a qi condensation realm cultivator in high stage would probably find it difficult to break in. Even if he were absent, none in his realm could break in.
But why make such an unnecessarily strong base? Other than safety, it was a part of the bigger plan to hit the jackpot. When the news spread and more people came, some aimed for his base. The marsh was surrounded by a thick forest and a readymade base such as Zhang Wuji's was very attractive.
One after another, groups of cultivators came to occupy the base and all returned defeated. After numerous attempts, his base became famous. To avoid being caught Zhang Wuji had to built an extra formation to fill the base in fog and shield it from prying eyes. He even connected the fog with the fog over the marsh to maintain his identity a secret.
Given that the fog over the marsh got toxic after the sun set, he had a lot of work to do every time he entered or exited.
Once when he was out in the marsh, the Du brothers intruded. The unbreakable fort had become famous and they had to be the ones to break it. Soon they realized why it was famous. They were stuck in a trap formation for hours before Zhang Wuji found them upon returning. He didn't want to kill otherwise it would have been a killing formation instead.
When Zhang Wuji found them, they saw him in the fog too. They got all tense, ready for the final blow. It never came. Zhang Wuji sighed, moved some flags around and kicked them out of the formation.
From then on, they came everyday to his base after the sunset, brought him some of their loot. He didn't meet them, so they just threw it into the formation and went their way. This continued for some days before Zhang Wuji allowed them in. He was starting to feel embarrassed to take their loot and wanted to talk it out with them. Maybe say something like we're even or something.
Zhang Wuji shielded him with the fog and invited them into a wooden house he had built. They chatted a bit and even to this day Zhang Wuji couldn't figure out how he became their big brother and how they were sitting within killing distance of him.
They ate together. They were near Aurora Marsh where even the soil was poisonous. And these were people from Poison Valley, experts at poisoning, who could make poisons out of the most ordinary items and now, the marsh was available to them.
Zhang Wuji still wanted to keep his grand plan a secret so they didn't travel together. But except for that, they were pretty much always together. All ten from the Poison Valley now lived in his base and offered him a portion of their loot.
....
There were cultivators being killed everyday in the marsh, some by the marsh itself and some by fellow cultivators. But it was relatively peaceful. All were more concerned about clearing the periphery so that they could concentrate on the big prize without worrying about the small fry in the marsh. When the job was done, all hell would break lose with no one's survival guaranteed irrespective of their personal prowess.
There were alliances being formed, plans being made. All that had nothing to do with Zhang Wuji. Today too he continued with his routine. Went to the depth he had previously reached and started his work of drawing pattern formations.
He kept refilling his formation pen with various ink and drawing simple geometric figures. His speed was fast, he had done this dozens of times already and could do it with eyes closed. In half an hour, a dizzyingly complex colorful circular structure of half a meter diameter was formed. It was difficult to believe that it was made of simple figures.
After finishing it he didn't pause to rest and moved further into the marsh by about ten meters and started drawing again. The marsh had relatively little solid land but with it's massive size, it was enough for Zhang Wuji to find a suitable path to the center to draw his formations.
He looked at the finished pattern and helplessly looked at his ink stock. 'Aish, this thing eats ink like it's nothing! Aaah I hate collecting materials. Sigh.'
He kicked a little mud to cover the pattern and went off in search of materials. Actually there was no need to cover the pattern. It was impossible for someone to see the pattern in the colorful fog that perpetually covers the marsh unless they were searching for it. He did it because if someone were to try erasing the pattern, they would most probably pay with their life. He didn't want that. It would also ruin his work. Better be careful he thought.
He chose this particular pathway to the center because of it's proximity to the materials he wanted. He soon reached a field of yellow grass. It was one of the most resilient herbs in tier one. Normally non-poisonous herbs couldn't be found in the marsh, this was one of the few exceptions. The grass called yellow bottom grass, mainly because of the shape of it's root network, was used in almost all fields because of it's ability to mediate.
It helped properly mix half of his inks and he needed it in large quantities. After ensuring that no one was nearby he crouched down and started collecting the grass. He had designed a pattern that alerted him of the presence of life forces around him. It conveyed him the number and proximity of the life forces around in the form of heat signal. He drew it on a piece of leather and wore it like a stomach band. Being able to monitor 100 meters around him, it was five times better than the token. And unlike the token, it warned him against beasts too.
After collecting enough, he stood up and checked his token to make a quick check of things needed.
Suddenly the spot at the very center of the life force detecting formation at his back heated up. In a split second the heat was scorching. 'Danger!!'
He knew he couldn't dodge at this speed. He turned a little and aligned himself such that the least of his organs would be damaged.
A blade two palm wide jutted out of his stomach. The blade was too big. No amount of twisting and turning could save his internal organs. The shock blanked his mind.