Chapter 998 Formations 2 Emery and the others worked together spending half a day trying to overcome the formation that encompassed the entire mountain. Unfortunately, their efforts only bore minimal effort as they only managed to return back to the huge boulder. Moreover, now that they were already deep inside the forest, they discovered that not only could they not move forward, but they also could not find their way back. It was as if the trail they blazed earlier had vanished out of existence. "We are basically trapped in here!" In moments like this, Julian stepped up and started to come up with a different strategy that could possibly solve their current predicament. He began by separating the group into two teams, whereupon he directed them to go in the opposite directions from each other while marking each tree they passed using two different sets of markings. After thirty minutes, both teams were back to where they started. Together, they checked the markings they had made and realized that the tree which should only have one marking on it now had both of their markings. "Any other Roman ingenuity to offer?" asked Thrax, clearly teasing his rival. "I don't see you coming up with a better idea!" retorted the Roman quickly without missing a beat. "I do have an idea, alright?! I'm just waiting until all of you are done!" the Thracian retorted back, just as quickly. Unwilling to back down, Julian sneered before saying, "Alright, let us see your idea then." "Alright!" Thrax took out his golden glaive and swiftly swung it to the side, cutting several trees at once. CRACK!! BOOM!!! The ground shook as the trees fell and raised a cloud of dirt. "Let's make this forest bald! Hahahaha!" Seeing this, Julian covered his forehead with his hand and shook his head helplessly. "Figured as much…" muttered the Roman under his breath. Thrax spent an hour and has manage to cut at least a hundred trees, but once again they returned to the same boulder, with the trees once again intact. "Aaarrggg this is making me crazy!!" Shouted the immortal gladiator At this point, it was getting dark, so the group decided to stop and rest for a while. Seeing that no one seemed to have any other ideas, Emery decided to bring his plant creatures out of his Spatial Space. Noticing the gazes given to him, he smiled faintly and said, "We will try this now." Emery sat on the ground and assumed a lotus position. Closing his eyes, he told the Chizpur brothers to go underground and probe the surrounding area. Using both [One Mind] and [Nature Grasp], Emery began to connect with the nature around him and gradually became one as he tried to perceive and understand its entirety. Akin to a tidal wave, his perception grew as the Chizpur brothers continued their exploration and he sank deeper. Everything that was of nature – the river, the rocks, and the forest – all three were part of Emery's nature elements and their energy caused a resonance and started to pulsate within him. With this, Emery was able to see the whole situation of the forest formation and after half an hour he was to differentiate which were the true reality and the illusion that tricked their minds. With all this information, Emery managed to calculate and form a path in his mind. Opening his eyes, he quickly rose to his feet as his gaze shifted to a certain direction. "I found the way." When she heard Emery's words, Klea became visibly excited. Turning to a certain pair, she jokingly said, "Did you guys see? That's how a real man did it!" Even though they knew she was teasing them, the two still couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed. Turning to Emery, they said, "Why didn't you do that in the first place?" Emery just laughed sheepishly saying, "Well, I wasn't too sure and it was mostly luck. Anyway, I think we will encounter more problems ahead so don't let your guard down." This time, the group came to a tacit understanding. Emery was told to lead the group at the front, and using his [Nature Grasp], he followed the path in his mind carefully as the slightest deviation could throw them to another loop. After half an hour of walking through the dense thickets of the forest, the group finally arrived at a different kind of woods. It was the first time Yuria and the golden warriors saw such a slender tree and they couldn't help but be slightly interested. On the other hand, a glint of recognition flashed across Emery's eyes. It seemed that Klea and the others also recognized what kind of tree was in front of them, especially Chumo since there were a lot of them in his home country. It was bamboo trees. A million bamboo trees seemed to surround the group. But to their surprise, as they walked forward following Emery's footsteps, the bamboo trees split open as if to pave a path for them to pass through. A gasp escaped Klea's mouth seeing such a sight. "Oh my, this is beautiful." She said, always finding the positive about something. Emery, however, started to feel anxious. Because ever since they entered the bamboo forest, it was as if his [Nature Grasp] no longer worked. "Be careful, everyone. This place is unusual." Just as Emery's voice disappeared, suddenly there was a huge gust of wind blowing inside the forest. Just like a tornado, it swept through the group, forcing them to take a few steps back. Emery subconsciously took out his [Savage Blade], and seeing this the others quickly followed suit. Not wanting any of them to get hurt, Emery quickly shouted, "Senior, we are here only to talk! We all came from Earth. We have things to discuss." There was no affirmation, but no denial either. Therefore he continued in his footsteps. Under Emery's lead, the group kept going deeper into the woods. It took him a while to notice that the bamboo trees around them had become twice as tall as he had seen before. The trees were so tall and the leaves were so dense that they could barely see the sky anymore. Emery once again shouted his intent and this time Yuria opened her mouth. "We are from Terra Kingdom. My liege, Lord Izta, has sent us here." The words, however, made Emery anxious as he felt a sudden premonition. A moment later, as if answering his hunch, the wind blew once again even stronger than before. It was so strong that the bamboo trees began to collide with each other. To everyone's surprise, the next moment bamboo trees came rushing towards them like raging waves. A deafening, rumbling sound resounded in the air as the ground shook violently because of them. "What the hell?!" shouted Julian in disbelief. "Quick everyone, protect yourself!" He said while casting his spell that turn his body to metal. Under the saint-level captains' instructions, the golden warriors quickly got into a formation. On the other hand, Emery stood in front of Klea and raised his sword towards the approaching bamboo trees. The blade of the [Savage Blade] shimmered slightly and a dark crescent blade shot out from it. [Shadow Edge] Emery's attack cleaved the waves of bamboo apart, causing the bamboo to go past them. However, when the bamboo waves passed, he quickly realized that half of the golden warriors at the back had gone missing. "What? Where are they?!" The group immediately formed a circle to cover each other and deal with an attack from any side, only to see that this time two waves of energy were coming from left and right. One carried scorching fire while the other delivered freezing ice. At this moment, a thought popped into Emery's mind. Plant, Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, and Ice. Has the Eastern Sage mastered all the elements?