Endless Desert, Sandstorm Abound

The dunes of sand spread into the endless horizon, the carriages were at a standstill. The enormous Giant Black Pearl Scorpion had split herself open- since this is an all female type of monster -and all her offspring spread out from within her, Jhin De Zhi had to really focus, because even though he was a Pale Star Core Realm cultivator, he still could die. “Golden Light!” Using the only technique he knew to create heat and light and hoping it was enough to deter the monster for a few moments, Jhin De Zhi guided his qi through his core into his skin and out of his body! With an explosion of golden light, the sand of the sandstorm was pushed away and the heat of his light made the beast screech loudly. He pumped almost all of his Qi into the technique, his fear overriding his rational thoughts for a moment- he truly believed he was about to get terribly swarmed by these beasts and he would be eaten alive! 

“Gold boy!” He broke through his momentary fear to hear his name being shouted over the sound of the sandstorm, he did look back to the carriages to see the old lady Rottenwoods look at him with a concerned expression: “What is it?” He didn't even need to think about it, he just screamed the very first word that came to mind: “Scorpion!” He watched in full time- in any other instance, such a face would be hilarious, but when death's knocking at their doors, he doesn't find himself in the mood for a good laugh -as her face contorted into one of extreme fright. 

It was common knowledge that if there is one Giant Black Pearl Scorpion, there is an entire colony of them. Compared to the Red Swarm when the talk is about the most numerous and destructive type of monster, the Giant Black Pearl Scorpion, commonly known only as Black Pearl, is a nightmare. Only the Fire Qi Cultivators can easily deal with this type of monster, because they usually run from them at the slightest hint of true fire and light- Unless, of course, the thing is hungry. 

Because you see, if the mother does not feed herself- As it was explained (Chapter 47), the children of the Giant Black Pearl Scorpion rely on the mother's digestion to properly feed themselves because they have no means of digesting food when they're so young… And if the mother doesn't feed them, she becomes the food, and the babies drink her stomach acid to digest their own mother's corpse. Usually that means death for both, but sometimes the babies manage to survive by becoming parasites! It's very rare to happen, but Jhin De Zhi was present at the time when one of the mortals that he was selling food to collapsed. Soon, his stomach was exploded by the juvenile Giant Black Pearl Scorpion, who had grown strong enough and old enough to hunt and feed herself. Since when they're really small as babies, to survive, they can even hide inside the first Demonic Beast you find! Thankfully they need to be at least adults to start laying their own eggs, which is fertilized with their own blood and Qi. 

They normally enter the body of their host through the mouth or nose, but they can take any path to their destination- even the brown ones.

Imagine if these little buggers could spread around, enter the bodies of many mortals and lay eggs inside their intestines, where the mortal's blood would fertilize the eggs and when the little ones hatch, then the human becomes a “mother” for the scorpions without even realizing… They just, suddenly, get increasingly hungry as time goes on… And they don't seem to gain weight, in fact, they seem to lose a lot of weight very quickly. They don't shit or piss anymore, and nothing that they eat seem to make their hunger go away alongside this fucking pain on the stomach- And then, the entire colony bursts out of the person's stomach, eat them alive, and drinks their digestive stomach acid, live for about 3 days max (That is, if they can dig a hole to hide from sunlight), and then die. 

Thankfully that doesn't happen naturally. 

He knows, however, that this type of death was used as a punishment for cultivators that betrayed their sect a long, long time ago. These types of gruesome stories always survive the passage of time, because violence and gore are the only languages that every creature speaks. 

“Rottenwoods!” The old lady shouted, her body had this soft green glow around it as she stepped out of her carriage. Her long white hair floated a few centimeters from her body as her skin turned into this dark, black bark-like skin that covered her entire visible skin: “Defensive Formation!” Suddenly, from beneath the dusty sand, these black roots exploded out and twisted. Jhin De Zhi had only seen such a thing happen once in the past, and that was when the Rottenwoods were attacked by the now gone Demonic Cultivator clan: The Bloodhounds.

They were called that because they were all Cursedkin of a single type of demonic beast that they actually bonded with, making this life long bond between them- The Cursed Bloody Hound was a really weird canine. Thankfully, they're all dead now… Or at least everyone thinks so. Well, it was their choice to attack the Rottenwoods in the first place!

The roots expanded, creating this big dome around the carriages- There were three of these domes, Jhin De Zhi could not see it but from the underground, the roots of the three domes all connected together as a single elder was still within each carriage, concentrating to keep the bubbles of root up and running. Like trees, their roots shared Qi between them, so they could properly function even under great pressure. All the Rottenwoods would share their Qi and keep the barrier up while also following the instructions of their matriarch. 

“Offensive Formation!” She stood still as black roots that looked like they were decaying grew around her body. From these roots, these white spikes that looked like thorns grew out, the roots moved together in harmony while Jhin De Zhi glowed brightly- Thanks to him, it was easy for the Elder Rottenwoods to locate and kill the Giant Black Pearl Scorpion that was releasing these black smoke fumes as they slowly burned alive! The little ones were the ones to die quicker, since they were very much children and they still had their first chitin carapace! It was pale white and soft- just like their insides as they burned to death. “Strike! Spread!” With a commanding shout, the roots that had the white spike suddenly lashed out, the white spikes grew and started to release this rotting smell before this black oily liquid splashed around and covered their entire group within a circle of this liquid: “Spark!” When he thought they were done, he was once more surprised as suddenly the white spikes detached from the roots and banged together in a weird and extremely quick and precise strike, breaking each other into themselves- due to the impact and the release of kinetic energy, there was this small spark. 

Like oil to fire- Or should I say, fire to oil? 

“Holy shit-” Jhin De Zhi had to take a few steps back to escape the flames as a sudden ring of flames wrapped around the carriages, keeping them protected. “-what the fuck? Fire- how!?” 

He didn't know that the Rottenwoods could do this kind of thing! 

Well, there were many things he didn't know about the Rottenwoods. 

Ashen Mountain, above Endless Greenery 

Jy-Hyung watched the endless green of the trees that stretched as far as his mortal eyes could see. Behind him were the pulsing flames of the enormous and beautiful black and red volcanic tree that the Immortal Ancestral Spirit caller Flare. Their entire family was named Flareburn, Jy-Hyung almost thought that the Patriarch- as the Elder told them to refer to him as -had named his new daughter after them to symbolize their union. He felt just a little honored that the wise and immortal spirit had named his new daughter after them. 

“Senior?” One of the youngsters they had found on their way through the wild and untamed desert of the Fhenzi region approached him. She was this soft spoken child named Yunni, she was found by the Flareburn family when her family was being eaten by the Demonic Beasts of the Endless Desert. The Elder had felt the little girl's affinity for flames and took her under the Flareburn name, saving her. She was rather shy at first, but she was taught how to cultivate the flames from the Fire Cloud and soon got a little more brave, brave enough to speak with no fear. “Yes, little Yunni?” 

“Are we free?” Even as a child, she was taught and understood that their cloud was a shackle. They were doomed to follow it if they wanted to have a reliable and safe cultivation resource, because absorbing Fire Qi from the sun was dangerous enough. “Are we free from the cloud?” 

“Yes little one, we're free now…” He smiled at her, his hand resting on top of her head. Before he could say anything else, they all heard the calling of the flames. Behind them was their new home that was being built. They could see the elders of their family moving heavy pieces of wood and working on their home with the help of the various spirits. They could see from afar the enormous rock man that was the one and only Ahteus, one of the sons of the Patriarch: “Flareburns, please gather here.” Elder Flareburn called out to them and they all dropped whatever they were doing to flock to their Elder, waiting to hear his words: “This is one of the Patriarch's children, Ahteus. Do refer to him as Lord Ahteus, for he has volunteered to help us build our new home-” 

“-alongside me.” Another voice caught their attention. Above them floated the face they have become acquainted with as Lord Fiero floated above them all: “Under my father's request, Ahteus shall help us build your new home. Namis will also be helping, but only after the building is complete. She will add a few things to the foundation…” 

(Meanwhile, Fiero, remembering his brother Ahteus and sister Namis laughing maniacally as they worked together to make something that kept exploding over and over: ‘I'm in danger.’) 

“Well, we need a lot of work here.” Ahteus slapped the side of the house- Everyone stopped and watched as it fell. Awkwardly, Ahteus turned to look at everyone: “Uh… sorry?” 

There was only silence, not a single Flareburn knew what to say.

“...pfft-” Fiero quickly looked serious, pretending that he wasn't about to break and laugh like a donkey: “It seems we really need to intervene… T-that wasn't supposed to fall so easily.” Fiero stuttered a little, trying to keep his seriousness. 

“Well, we-” 

Ahteus and Fiero snapped, their backs straightened and together they looked at the Patriarch, the enormous tree that loomed above the endless green. Elder Flareburn looked worriedly at them for a moment: “Lord Fiero? Lord Ahteus? Is something wrong?” 

“Ah, no-” Fiero easily looked back at them: “-it's just, Father created another sibling.” 

“Huh, they feel… Fluttering.” Ahteus commented, his hands clenching on his chest; “Well, we can meet them later- How about we start working on this thing?” He pointed to the walls the Flareburns tried to build. As if heaven itself was unsatisfied with those walls, they all fell onto themselves. “...Well, this makes everything way easier.” 

This time, Fiero did not hold back his laughter.