My CEO Harem Cultivation System

Chapter 140 - Of Temples, Turtles And Ladies In White

The forest was dark and silent. If one had been barefoot, the patch of undergrowth would have tickled one's feet and allowed one the interesting sensation of grass. The cool wind brushed through branches, leaves and other vegetation.

A man in leather oxfords and a crisp dark suit walked through the forest, already out of place. If one added along the sight of an obsidian sword then it further contrasted his current appearance, but he did not care.

He had other more things to concern himself about.

First of all, he was in another world.

Second of all, was the lack of Bao or the System responding to him.

Third and most important of them was the need to find civilization. Hopefully that of a good and well-meaning one and not of a group of natives seeking to murder him..

Perhaps he should have known something like this might have happened—but Li Yang still cut through the rabbit that escaped out of its burrow with precision. The beheaded creature now lay there, limp and bloody.

He could not let appearances deceive him.

Then he addressed the blood in his sword—with a quick infusion of energy around the blade, the blood cleanly fell into the ground as if it was repelled by the foreign substance.

The man could still tap into the qi around him, and even more so in this place than back on earth. There was a sheer tremendous difference here—when he looked up into the sky, it was more vast than he could ever believe it would be. Clouds so distant were still as enormous as ships.

"Interesting."

He said it without any hint of sarcasm at all. There was just something about this place that told him that this wasn't any location on earth. Everything here was more vibrant than he could imagine.

However he did not know what he was up against here. Li Yang's skills with qi were still in a learning stage, he could only gather it and use his heightened senses when a shroud of qi surrounded him.

But what if it was easily detected?

He retracted it back. It was beginning to be easy to retrieve and use it at a second's delay, so he could still use it in case he came across something that required additional power.

When he neared the edge of the forest, he would come across and pick up the sound of giggling and mischievous laughter. The man steeled himself, his grip tightened around his weapon before he took in a deep breath and then silently peeked.

There was a small temple in front of him, and of varying women all dressed in clean and white robes. Some were giggling around each other as they worked. They had water buckets, basket of crops harvested. Others looked like they were performing some kind of ritualistic dance, their bodies gently swaying through the wind with no music.

All of them were women.

It shouldn't have been important, but not one of them was a man. He gazed at each one of them and ascertained the fact, before he dove back behind a tree to avoid any chances of being seen. Maybe there was nothing to be worried about a community of women all living together, however, he was unsure if he would be welcome here or sacrificed.

Li Yang would take a careful step back and take an opposite direction. He would try to find a place where it seemed more normal, like a town or village. It would be far much safer than something unnatural—shouts and rumbles came in from the distance.

It was the sound of fighting?

Against better verdict to stay out of trouble, and out of curiosity, he would head into the direction to inspect it. Perhaps it was much safer to deal with this than what he left behind. On top of that, it was just in his new direction, another path into the forest where he sought to find any other available exits—until he saw the sight in between the spaces of trees.

It was the appearance of several people gathered together against the foe of a gigantic turtle and vine-like plant monster.

He stayed rooted in place, avoiding another step to keep his distance.

Several tendrils of vines swept across this particular clearing in the forest, latching and tossing these people into the distance. Fallen trees were only one of the many evidence of the superiority of the creature.

There were others who had swords like him that tried to cut through the thick tendrils of the creature.

It was useless.

Their swords, axes and other weapons could barely slice.

Any of those attempted to get closer to the shell of the monster had their heads snapped off in one bite. 

Headless bodies littered the ground.

Shouts of what seemed to be of the fallen people's name and even more ferocity erupted in both sides. It was up to any person's guess as to how they decided to fight against this… but he already chose to intervene.

A shroud of qi enveloped all around him and his sword before he entered the battlegrounds. Shouts came across him, in a language he couldn't comprehend, but he dashed to the monster.

"Out of my way!"

The people remaining at the forefront were good. These groups were avoiding the stabbing tendrils of the creature, but their weapons hacking against it was only half-working. 

Their efficiency was terrible, but they could still distract. He couldn't have any of them keep being sacrificial lambs though.

He dodged to the right and then to the left. He weaved through the attacks and simply hissed as one tendril scathed his shoulder. The turtle's enormous shell was right ahead and the creature's head had poked right back inside of its home.

Li Yang couldn't be fooled as he ran forwards, qi sword cutting through several but smaller vines trying to distract him, attacking and even trying to grab his foot—the nasty mouth-beak popped into open air.

The man forced himself to jump into the air, twisting slightly and dove back in to plunge his sword back into its head.

His obsidian blade pierced through its thick bony head, but only by several inches.

A deafening shriek sounded across the entire forest grounds. However, he already had a layer of qi even in his ears. The creature tried to shake him off to no avail. He dug the blade deeper down, trying to hit its brain to stop all the screaming but it was no good.

Its skull was too thick and protective.

And so he stopped, taking a deep breath. His blade's reach was limited and so it was no use to attempt to stab it further. Li Yang only twisted the sword and closed his eyes—awaiting for the opportune moment.

Quietness could hardly be provided in this loud environment, the shouts of the people were apparent in the air, but the winds and slight tremor behind that rushed was enough of a message.

Li Yang dove out at the last second atop the creature's head, scarcely avoiding the multiple tendrils that stabbed through its own head.

An ill attempt to get rid of him.

He rolled into the dust ground, but quickly found someone grabbing his arm and pulling him up. Compared to the women at the temple, he would come across a dirt-streaked face and piercing blue eyes of a woman who yelled at him in a language incomprehensible to him. However, his lack of response didn't matter to her as she began to drag him away to safety.

In the corner of his vision, several other people launched themselves against the creature behind them to finish the creature off.

At the moment they reached the line of trees about ten feet away from the creature, a wave of energy exploded around them. The woman beside him stumbled, and he caught her arm before she fell.

Li Yang looked back in time to feel the thrum of energy that coursed through him and the bright green lights overtaking his sight. Once it cleared away in a second, he saw the cheering people triumphing over the shell and breaking it.

A huge emerald-colored jewel was inside of it that had the shape of a pearl.

It was almost similar to the one that Taiga once caught from the Shades back in his city, except its composition was no doubt different. Li Yang muttered underneath his breath, "Beast core?"

"Souti Kent Zu core Fren Sekel?" the woman said. She gave him a long discriminating look and continued. "Yuiopl tyu Zu, Tepf? Deft Zu?"

It was obvious that a language barrier was in between them. But if she wasn't stabbing him now and neither did her companions, then it meant there was some hope for communication. "A moment please, Miss."

"Souti?" her eyes narrowed at him.

Li Yang sheathed back his sword and raised both of his hands—hoping that this fiftieth time he tried to get the 'System' to reactivate itself would work. Surely, the one who gave him this Unofficial Patch System did not mean to delete his System out of nowhere. He was far from dead as much as he could check.

But the lack of Bao and everything else meant he was brought somewhere far from the current reach of those from Heavens. Which meant there were only some particular domains they had dominion over and this was one of those possibly far flung and remote?

He cleared his throat.

She could already tell that he couldn't understand her, didn't she? Neither did she understand him. So they were both in the same boat. He looked around their surroundings and tried to assess his surroundings via the System.

Still nothing.

It was shameful to admit he was still depending on it. For now he looked back at her and tried for his smile. Maybe he could just use sign language or draw if there was paper here? Wait, he had brought his phone, but it would be too risky to take it out now.

His smile prompted her to point a weapon in his face.

Li Yang grimaced. "Souti?"

He was just copying her… but that was all it took. In front of his sight, the familiar looking screen hovered in front of him.

[ Congratulations! You Have Spoken Your First Word Of 'Tel' Language ]

[ A Child Can Speak More Eloquently Than You ]

[ Increase Your Vocabulary And Gain The 'Basic Tel Language Proficiency' Skill ]