A God in a Xianxia world

Chapter 36 - Entering The Forest (1)

From the west gate of Acorn town to the start of the forest, there was still about 1.5 miles that had to be covered and because all the land between the town and the forest was flat, Tom and anyone from Acorn's town walls could see the people moving about in this open area.

This buffer zone was actually vital to the town's safety as it provided an early detection capability to the town's inhabitants for when particularly dangerous qi beasts ventured out of the forest. Though of course, the forest stretched for hundreds of miles along the western border of the kingdom and it wasn't like qi beasts would only exit the forest where Acorn town was. They could easily exit the forest further north or south of the town and then turn their sights on it.

Actually, it was only ever during the night or during beast waves that qi beasts would exit the forest directly west of the town. After all, of all the border towns in the North West, Acorn by far had the most traffic running through it and no qi beast would be stupid enough to charge along the north's most well-travelled road into the forest during the daytime, while countless warriors were also walking the path.

Even when qi beasts did exit the forest near Acorn, or further afield and the made their way over to the town, since the town had a gathering of a great many strong warriors, who had come to the town trying to find gains in the forest, it could defend itself fairly easily.

Despite this, roaming qi beasts were actually quite a problem. It wasn't uncommon for qi beasts to exit the forest and wreak havoc on the countryside and the roads, killing weak country folk who weren't able to defend themselves. After all, whereas Acorn and the rest of the border towns were on the frontline and closest to the danger, since they all had high stone walls and a fair number of strong warriors, they were also poor targets for qi beasts.

Roaming qi beasts would generally bypass the border towns and move deeper into human territory, threatening smaller and weaker settlements. Because of this, not all the warriors that could be seen residing or passing through the border towns were doing so with the intention of entering the Tainted Forest. Warriors consisting of the less accomplished, less courageous but also of the honour bound, would travel the rural roads and to the rural villages, making sure they stayed safe and also looking for their own opportunities.

It was unfortunate, but this situation only came about because unlike further in the country where noble families, clans and local government had strong control over their own territory and populace, the local governments of the border towns did not have strong control. In the territory controlled by the Cardinal clan, which extended beyond Hill city to many villages and a couple towns, the strong forces that were subordinate to the local governor's office could easily be deployed as stationary guards in the small villages, thus protecting them from any roaming qi beasts, or other threats. However, the areas immediately adjacent to the forest didn't have a particularly strong local government or force subordinate to them.

When these patrols from ordinary warriors didn't do the trick and dangerous qi beasts roamed the countryside that was when bounty's ended up being posted, enticing greater interest from stronger warriors and the disciples from martial institutions.

As Tom was moving along the road towards the Tainted Forest, there were numerous people passing him by, making their way back to Acorn. Since it was still midday, these were mostly weaker warriors who had gotten lucky quick kills shortly after entering the forest or stronger warriors who had stayed in the forest overnight at one of the various outposts that could be found inside.

Tom could see the bodies of dead qi beasts that the groups of people were either carrying in hand or had on the back of wagons and carts. Having been forced to study up on qi beasts before he came here, he was able to identify quite a few of them.