'If only I had a storage-type Gu worm that I could use,' Zuo Ming thought to himself as he trudged his way back with nothing to show for all of his effort. 'I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.'
He wouldn't have lost the carcass had such been the case - nor would he have been a somewhat vulnerable target while traversing the wilderness lugging it behind him which had led to the panther discovering him.
His storage-type gu had unfortunately died three months ago during a fight, after which he had been unable to feed it.
The panther was gone from his sight, but he did not let up until he reached the place he called home as there was always a chance it could come back. "Home" was a quite generous term to describe it, given that it was little more than a cave which could be somewhat reasonably defended.
'I hate living like this,' he thought to himself. Living out here in the wild, like some animal, where everything was struggling to feed itself. Where one could find Rank 4 and Rank 5 beasts wandering around at times and could do nothing but cower and hope that they would eventually pass you by. Where nearly everything wanted to kill you. Where it lacked the comfort of either warm food, a friend, or a wife.
There's a reason that many lone and demonic cultivators developed mental illnesses. The isolation was torturous for those who did not seek it.
As Zuo Ming was about to enter his cave he had resigned himself to having to scout the nearby area for wild turnips later that evening unless he wanted to sleep hungry that night, his pupils suddenly shrank.
There were markings near the entrance of his cave, meaning that someone had been there other than him.
Although he didn't have a specific gu worm that could accomplish this, he had set up things using mortal means that would alert him if someone had entered the cave. He would hop into the cave in a specific pattern, which would not disturb any of the things he had left outside as markers.
'Did someone find my cave?' he thought to himself. He saw a single human footprint. Was there a demonic or lone Gu Master out in the area? Zuo Ming had no desire to fight anyone.
And while he did have some spare belongings he had managed to accumulate within, he was not going to cling onto them at the cost of his own life. Humans die for wealth and birds die for food.
Zuo Ming knew when it was time to cut his losses, such as when he had encountered the panther earlier.
As he turned around though, a shadow leaped out of the wilderness. At first, he thought it was the panther which had followed him all this way.
But instead, it was a Gu Master. A pit formed in Zuo Ming's stomach. He may have been decrying his loneliness just a while back, but he absolutely did not want to meet this person ever again. How had this person even found him? He had done his utmost to cover up his tracks to make sure that this man of all people wouldn't be able to trace him.
Rank 4 aura emanated from this Gu Master. His name was Zuo Chen.
Zuo Chen was the reason that Zuo Ming had had a falling out with the other survivors from his clan.
Zuo Chen had been a Rank 2 Gu Master, much like himself at the beginning. He and a group of other followers had tried their best to survive in the wilderness, wondering how they could possibly restart their clan, until one day Zuo Chen had a fortuitous encounter.
He found the inheritance of a Rank 5 demonic Gu Master. Two other people had gone with him to explore that inheritance, but he was the only one who came out alive. Whether that was because he had killed them himself or because they had died while exploring the demonic Gu Master's inheritance was a mystery.
The problem was that it wasn't just a demonic inheritance, but that it was a Blood Path inheritance. Zuo Ming had pointed out that if Zuo Chen tried to cultivate it, he would end up drawing the ire of every single righteous and demonic cultivator in the Southern Border.
However, Zuo Chen had been rather charismatic and had convinced many of the others to side with him.
By this point, Zuo Ming had managed to reach Rank 3, and he separated from them, but his name was still associated with that group.
Because of that, he was also considered a demonic Gu Master by extension, even though all he did was live alone and try to keep to himself. He had no chance of joining up with a righteous path faction as an external elder because of this; a fact that he greatly resented Zuo Chen for.
"Greetings, junior brother," Zuo Chen said, as if there was no degree of animosity between them, but his eyes betrayed his murderous intent.
Zuo Ming backed away, only for someone else to block that part of the path.
"Zuo Lin?" Zuo Ming asked.
Zuo Lin was part of the group which had decided to follow Zuo Chen long ago, but now Zuo Ming could feel a Rank 3 aura coming from him.
"Relax," Zuo Chen said. "We're not here to fight you."
"Why did you sneak around like this then?" Zuo Ming asked, wondering if there were even more people waiting to jump in.
"Oh, we just thought that you wouldn't be that cooperative if we came knocking, we know how much you hate guests," Zuo Lin said, snickering. "But rest assured, we are just here to talk."
Zuo Ming did not believe that for a second.
But at the same time, he did not have the appropriate tools to try and escape. He didn't know what kind of gu worms that Zuo Chen had, but the main upside of the Blood Path was that it required relatively few resources.
It would not be out of the question for Zuo Chen to have a Rank 3 or even Rank 4 movement-type blood path gu worm. If that were the case, Zuo Ming would have almost no chance of escaping. For now...
"So, what is it that you want to talk about?" Zuo Ming asked.
"We wanted to make you an offer you can't refuse," Zuo Lin said.
"We wanted to invite you back into our group," Zhu Chen said. "I'm willing to bury the hatchet and forget your treachery and welcome you with open arms." Zuo Ming's mouth twitched - he had committed no act of treachery, he had just wanted to be left alone!
Zuo Ming snorted. "And just how many people remain in our group?"
Zuo Ming had his answer from how the two others faltered.
These two people were all who remained of the Zuo clan other than himself!
That was why Zuo Chen had come to recruit him into his group.
However, Zuo Ming knew that mingling with them would only bring ruin.
Getting involved in Blood Path matters, even tangentially, would be a death sentence. He had been forced to live in the woods like a hermit because of that, just because his name was associated with this group, after all.