Immortal Druid

The woman behind me pressed closer, her voice trembling yet respectful. “Senior, they’re all Foundation Establishment cultivators.”

I recalled Xing Ning’s lecture. It was the third major realm of cultivation. They should be powerful enough for sustained flight, advanced techniques, and extended longevity.

One of the black-robed figures sneered. “Not all of us.”

A figure wearing a grotesque demon mask materialized from the haze. His presence matched Guo Yupin’s, which meant he was at least Core Formation. “This doesn’t concern you, hermit. Li Ming, come to us.”

The woman behind me cried out. “No! My name is Li Qing. Li Ming is my grandmother!”

The masked man chuckled softly. “A clever ruse—swapping names to fool our spies. But it ends tonight. The deceiver is already dead. The sell-swords your village hired will soon join her. Don’t make this difficult, Li Ming. Surrender your life, and no one else needs to die. Your village may yet see another dawn if you simply forfeit yours.”

He drew a dark sword from his own shadow, the blade humming with malice as he leveled it at us. “Come now. I won’t ask twice.”

A strange compulsion stirred inside me. The druid within surged forward, demanding that balance be restored. These abominations had to be destroyed.

Druids were natural enemies of anything eldritch, irregular, or disruptive to the world’s order. While their targets could vary from humans, demons, and even angels, one constant remained. They hunted chaos incarnate. Mind flayers, beholders, and other extra-dimensional horrors were their specialty. In Earth terms, druids were pest control for invasive species from beyond the veil. They would exorcise gods themselves if the World’s Voice deemed them corrupt.

And right now, Nevle Drol Diurdhcra, the druid half of my soul was screaming that these people fit the code perfectly.

Why?

That question bothered me. It slowly registered to me as I stared at his sword. That blade… it was straight out of Legacy World Online. What the hell was it doing here? My gaze flicked to the others. They were probably carrying similar items.

I feigned nervousness, steadying my breathing, then spoke with deliberate calm. “Hello. Name’s Wally… or Wo Li, if that’s easier. Shall we all introduce ourselves?”

“This is none of your business, hermit,” the masked man growled.

In a single bound, he appeared before me.

I responded in kind.

“Entanglement!”

Roots erupted from the earth, wrapping around his legs. He phased straight through them and thrust his sword at my chest with blinding speed, only to strike a decoy. My Shedding ability had triggered successfully, passing the combined Dexterity and Wisdom check.

I reappeared right beside him and pressed the end of my staff against the side of his mask.

“Sunlight Orb.”

A blazing sphere of condensed nature energy erupted, carrying radiant and fire damage. The masked man instantly swapped places with one of his subordinates. The spell slammed into the cultivator he swapped with instead, vaporizing the poor cultivator’s head in a searing flash of light and flame.

“Activate the Heaven-Locking Formation,” the masked man ordered, his voice cold and commanding. “Seal the area. Prepare the soul-binding chains. Do not let her escape again.”

I glanced at the woman beside me. “Stay close. I might not be able to protect you otherwise.”

She nodded frantically, fingers clutching my robes. The air thickened with oppressive energy as the black-robed figures moved in eerie coordination. Sinister runes spread across the forest floor like a glowing net, constricting space itself and making escape far more difficult.

I tightened my grip on my staff and scanned the tightening circle. At least a dozen more Foundation Establishment cultivators had emerged from the shadows.

The masked man floated a few feet above the ground, his dark sword humming with void energy. “Interesting tricks, hermit. But you’re only delaying the inevitable. Hand over the girl and I’ll grant you a quick death. Continue this foolishness, and your soul will feed the formation for the next century.”

“Big words for someone who just used his own men as a meat shield,” I shot back.

He didn’t reply with words. Instead, he raised his sword. The formation flared to life, and chains of dark energy shot toward us from every direction.

I slammed my staff into the earth. “Verdant Barrier!”

Thick walls of living wood and thorny vines exploded upward, forming a protective dome around us. The dark chains hammered against it with bone-rattling force. The barrier held, but I could already feel the strain. This formation drew power from something far more sinister than ordinary qi.

The woman behind me whispered, her voice shaking. “Senior… there are too many. Even Elder Guo Yupin couldn’t hold them off for long. You shouldn’t risk yourself for me.”

I kept my eyes locked on the masked man. “Too late. They already woke me up in the middle of the night and turned my forest into a battlefield. I take that kind of thing personally.”

Another wave of chains crashed against the barrier. Cracks spiderwebbed across the wooden surface. I poured more qi into the spell, but I knew it wouldn’t last forever.

The druid instinct pulsed stronger now, urging me to stop defending and start exterminating the invasive species before they could spread any further.

The Voice of the World cried out in pain at their very presence.

I no longer felt like myself. A different version of me had taken over, one with only the goal of making it right again.

I passed through the Verdant Barrier and bolted straight toward the demon-masked man. Chains and swords lashed out at me, but I cast Thorn Whip repeatedly, slapping them aside or shattering them mid-strike.

“Wild Shape: Eagle.”

I transformed into a majestic eagle and shot toward him at blinding speed. At the same time, I unleashed a single Sunlight Orb, tweaking the qi within it to detonate in a blinding flash of light as I climbed higher into the sky, gaining altitude.

“Wild Shape: Steppe Mammoth.”

I shifted into the form of an enormous mammoth and plummeted from above like a living meteor. The impact hit the formation with earth-shaking force. A powerful shockwave rippled outward. Several Foundation Establishment cultivators were smashed flat beneath my massive feet before they could even scream. Bones crunched. Bodies burst. Blood sprayed across the forest floor in dark, glistening arcs.

I reared up and slammed both front legs down again. Two more cultivators who tried to flank me were pulverized into red paste mixed with splintered wood and torn black cloth. Their screams died instantly. A third attempted to flee upward on his flying sword, only for my trunk to whip around and slam him back to the ground with bone-shattering force. I stomped once more, feeling his ribcage collapse beneath my weight.

Thorn Whip lashed out from my sides in every direction as I rampaged. Thorny vines snaked around limbs and necks, yanking cultivators off their feet and slamming them into trees or into each other. One tried to counter with a flaming palm strike. I lowered my head and gored him with my tusks, then trampled his broken body into the dirt.

The masked man shouted something, but I barely registered it. My focus had narrowed to pure extermination.

Another cultivator unleashed a barrage of sword qi blades at my flank. I twisted my massive body and charged straight through them. The blades carved shallow grooves across my thick hide, but the pain only fueled the druid rage burning inside me. I barreled into him at full speed, sending him flying into a tree. He stuck for a moment before sliding down in a broken heap.

I never stopped moving, never gave them time to regroup. A group of four tried to form a smaller defensive circle and channel a joint technique. I reared up and brought my full weight down in one crushing stomp. The ground cratered. When I lifted my foot, only mangled limbs and crushed armor remained. Blood soaked into the soil, and the trees around us seemed to drink it in with silent approval.

One particularly quick cultivator slipped behind me and drove a spear into my rear leg. I roared and spun around faster than something my size should have been able to move. My trunk coiled around his waist and squeezed until I heard his spine snap. I flung the limp body aside like a discarded rag and immediately charged the next target.

By now, the forest floor was littered with broken bodies and torn black robes. The once-tight formation had collapsed into utter chaos. I trampled two more who tried to flee, then whipped my trunk sideways to catch a third mid-air as he attempted to escape on his flying sword. The impact sent him spiraling into the underbrush, where he did not get up again.

When the dust and blood finally settled, only the demon-masked man remained standing. The rest of his subordinates lay scattered across the clearing in grotesque, broken shapes. Some were half-buried in the earth. Others hung from trees, impaled by their own weapons or my thorns. The air reeked of blood and ruptured organs, but beneath that stench, I felt the Voice of the World sigh in quiet relief.

I released Wild Shape and returned to my humanoid elven form, staff still gripped tightly in my hand. My robes were splattered with blood, yet I felt strangely calm. The druid urge had quieted, but it had not vanished. It watched the last remaining abomination with cold, predatory patience.

The demon-masked man stood a dozen paces away, his dark sword still drawn. His posture remained composed, but I could sense the shift in his aura. The casual arrogance had cracked. He stared at the carnage around us, then back at me.

“You… what manner of monster are you?” he asked, his voice no longer quite so steady.

I wiped a streak of blood from my cheek with the back of my hand and met his gaze.

“Just a hermit trying to get some sleep,” I said. “You should have listened when I told you to fuck off from my forest.”

I recalled Xing Ning’s lecture about Core Formation cultivators. They possessed massive energy reserves, true flight, and the power for large-scale destruction. This demon-masked man could still fight back or slip away, but I wouldn’t let him.

The Thorn Vines around us slithered like living snakes, waving between the trees. They were both summoned creatures and an offensive spell in their own right. I silently cast more of them, letting them multiply. Soon, the entire forest around us was alive with writhing vines.

The demon-masked cultivator spoke in a cold voice. “I am Liu Janhong of the Shadow Veil Division. Remember the name before you die, hermit.”

“I couldn’t care less.”

He burst into motion, transforming into a flitting shadow as his sword swallowed light itself. I doubted Shedding would work on him a second time. I let the blade connect.

At the exact moment it struck, I activated Wild Shape: Primal Nature Elemental. Silver, wood-like texture spread across my body and robes while all manner of flora bloomed over my skin. The form negated the damage from that single attack. Liu Janhong’s sword left only the faintest mark on my cheek. His eyes widened in disbelief.

This shape not only canceled damage from any one strike. Instead, it also massively boosted my nature-based spells. The Thorn Vines now had the texture and hardness of ivory.

I ordered, “Rip him apart.”

The vines surged forward like a living tide, wrapping around his limbs and torso with terrifying speed. Ivory thorns pierced through his defensive qi and tore into his flesh. Liu Janhong struggled, unleashing waves of dark sword energy, but the enhanced vines simply absorbed the blows and tightened further. More vines coiled around his sword arm until the weapon clattered uselessly to the ground. Others forced their way into his mouth and eyes. His screams turned wet and gurgling as the forest itself dismantled him piece by piece. Blood sprayed in wide arcs, and chunks of black-robed flesh fell to the forest floor with soft, wet thuds. When it was over, nothing recognizable remained of the Core Formation expert except a mangled pile of meat and shattered bone.

I canceled the Wild Shape and dismissed the Verdant Barrier that had been protecting the woman. She stood trembling, her face pale, eyes wide with shock at the carnage surrounding us.

I looked at her and asked, “Now, how about a proper introduction?”

“M-my name is Li Qing…” she stammered. “Or… as of recently, I learned it was actually Li Ming.”