Chapter 104 - Arriving at the Song Jia Sect
A few days later, in an arbor inside the Clear River Sect...
Song Shengping read the letter of challenge in his hand, and narrowed his eyes. An extremely respectful Song Jia Sect disciple stood behind him, waiting silently.
Song Shengping closed the letter of challenge. He had an ashen look on his face.
"Chief, this disciple had been hiding very covertly. However, I don"t know how they still found me out. Gu Han surrounded me with a team of criminals and handed me this, asking me to hand it over to Chief. This disciple didn"t dare to cause any delay and returned right away!" that Song Jia Sect disciple reported with a frown.
"A letter of challenge, huh! Hahaha! In just half a year, that kid has the nerve to challenge me?" A grim look appeared on Song Shengping"s face.
"Chief, because of the 28x28 Heaven and Earth Grand Array arranged outside the Gu Mansion, this disciple couldn"t get any closer, so, this disciple knows little about what"s going on inside the Gu Mansion!"
"Hmph, 28x28 Heaven and Earth Grand Array? He can only arrange that at the Gu Mansion, that"s all! He actually dared to challenge me? I will wait at the Clear River Sect, let"s see how he will arrange the grand array before me, hmph!" Song Shengping replied coldly.
Suddenly, Gu Hai"s letter of challenge in his hand was blasted to smithereens.
"From now on, everyone will take turns patrolling all around the Clear River Sect. Once Gu Hai and his three thousand men arrive, inform me immediately!" Song Shengping stated coldly.
"Yes, Chief!"
The Merchants" City at the border of Chen Empire...
A brigade of fully armored knights quickly galloped outside Merchant"s City, leaving a trail of dust behind. At the entrance, the Duke of Merchant"s City, along with some of his people, was sending off the knights respectfully.
"Your Grace, who are they? Why does Your Grace have to meet and send them off personally?" a subordinate asked curiously.
"Those are His Majesty"s palace guards, they are leaving for the south with some matters to attend to, they also have His Majesty"s decree! Don"t talk too much!" The Duke let out a cold snort as he replied.
The knights were galloping at high speed, their leader oddly positioned. He was in the center of the knights, surrounded by a team of people. This leader was none other than Gu Hai, surrounded by Gao Xianzhi, Chen Tianshan, Scar, and Shangguan Hen!
"My Lord, with our disguises, we should be able to hoodwink the Song Jia Sect disciples all the way to the south, right?" Chen Tianshan asked, worried.
"You don"t need to worry, we can make it, we will not be found out. Furthermore, we are Great Chen Kingdom palace guards now, we have the royal decree with us. Who"s going to doubt us?" Gu Hai replied calmly.
"Yes, my Lord!" Chen Tianshan agreed respectfully.
"How long does it take to reach the Song Jia Sect?" asked Gu Hai in a calm and poised manner.
"Five days, in five days, the Song Jia Sect will be within our sight!" Chen Tianshan answered confidently.
"Mhmm, we must find Long w.a.n.gqing first!" Gu Hai nodded as he spurred his horse.
Gu Hai"s team continued to gallop their way at breakneck speed.
After another three days, Gu Hai"s army arrived just outside a small town.
"My Lord, this town shouldn"t be so quiet!" Gao Xianzhi"s countenance changed as he said.
"Have you been here before?" Gu Hai looked at Gao Xianzhi.
"Yes, my Lord! In your subordinate"s time as a general, we were stationed here for some time. This town has a population of a couple thousand, it should be hustling and bustling! Why is there no sign of anyone?" Gao Xianzhi answered. He was extremely curious.
"Go check it out!" Gu Hai ordered.
"Yes, my Lord!"
The three thousand men scattered about in a flash, and began searching the town door by door. However, there was no trace of anyone.
"My Lord, we didn"t find anyone, not a single person!" reported Gao Xianzhi, as a frown crept up on his brow.
"Send scouts in every direction. We will stay here for the time being and continue with our journey tomorrow!" Gu Hai ordered calmly.
"Yes, my Lord!" everyone obliged immediately.
Gu Hai and his men made camp for the time being. At midnight, while most of the men were resting, a voice came from just outside Gu Hai"s door.
"My Lord, we have news!" Gao Xianzhi was reporting from outside Gu Hai"s door.
Gu Hai stood up right away and opened the door, only to see a travel-worn scout. There was an anxious look on his face.
"My Lord, we have found the people of this town, they are in the valley ahead of us, it"s just that...!" the man"s face turned horrid as he reported.
Two hours later...
Gu Hai and his three thousand men climbed their way to the top of a mountain adjacent to a mountain valley.
Everyone crouched down on the mountain, gazing down at the mountain valley.
The valley was ablaze with lights.
Spread around the valley were about five hundred citizens tied to the ground, their chest and abdomens cut open.
There was another group of hundred people, an a.s.sortment of men and women, who were currently laughing like crazy. An ominous scarlet qi circled around them. And each and every strand of their hair had transformed into snakes.
The snakes gave out crunching sounds as they grew longer and drilled their way into the chests of citizens, eating their hearts one by one. The scene was too ghastly to look at.
All five hundred citizens were dead already. Looks of despair were frozen on their morbid faces. Apparently, they had tried to struggle, but couldn"t do anything.
"Hahaha, Great Senior Brother, I propose a toast to you!"
"Great Senior Brother, only because of you, our batch was arranged to be transformed ahead of everyone, I can feel my whole body filled with power!"
"Great Senior Brother, I feel awesome. Previously, I would feel nauseated at the sight of blood, but now, I feel that a human heart is the most delicious thing in the world. Just a bite of it makes me feel so freaking good!"
"No, I think the liver is the most delicious!"
"Heart!" "Liver!"...
"Great Senior Brother, others have been sent to the sect, but thanks to Great Senior Brother, we could take these five hundred people down. This meal was truly delicious!"
"What should I do if I still want to eat?"
"We can look again tomorrow, hahaha, we can come again!"...
The group of fiends laughed like crazy as they ate and drank of human flesh and blood.
"This is a bonfire party!?" At the sight of this ghastly scene, Gao Xianzhi"s eyelids were madly twitching.
"Eating humans? An eating human party? This father was nauseated for a long time after just eating rats, and this lot is actually eating humans?" Scar"s eyes were burning with flames of fury.
"Song Jia Sect disciples? They are Song Jia Sect disciples!" Chen Tianshan"s countenance turned horrid as he spoke up.
"Half human, half demon. These are devils... they more they eat human flesh, the more they will become addicted. It seems the town is doomed!" Shangguan Hen heaved a sigh after speaking up.
Gu Hai"s eyelids were also twitching madly at the sight of the ghastly scene in the valley.
"A carnival to eat humans, huh? Hahaha!" A savage look flashed past Gu Hai"s eyes.
"My Lord...!"
"Kill them! Leave a few alive for questioning," Gu Hai"s eyes flickered with a cold gleam as he gave the order.
"Yes, my Lord!"
Having received Gu Hai"s a.s.sent, his army drew their bows immediately.
"Who"s there?" a shout suddenly came up from the valley.
"Release!" Gu Hai gave the order to fire the arrows coldly.
Three thousand arrows rained down at the valley at once.
"Ah~!" "Ah~!" "Ah~!"...
Soon, the valley was filled with miserable blood-curdling cries.
"Run, run, help me!"
"Fire again!"
Another salvo of arrows was fired again.
Having fired their arrows, Gu Hai"s men took out their swords and sabers and charged straight towards the Song Jia Sect disciples.
At this instant, out of the hundred Song Jia Sect disciples, only a dozen or so had the strength left to move. But even if they had the strength, so what? There were three thousand men waiting for them. Even if their strength was multiplied by five times, could they still fight the ex-gladiators who could hold their ground against ten men!?
In the blink of an eye, only ten Song Jia Sect disciples were left alive in the valley.
"Who are you?"
"We are Song Jia Sect disciples, do you want to die?"
"Let me go, let me go!"...
Though the ten men begged for mercy, the army of convicts was looking at them with deep disgust.
Gu Hai and his men slowly made their way into the valley.
"Scar!"
"Here!"
"Bury these five hundred people!" Gu Hai ordered, heaving a sigh.
"Yes, my Lord!" Scar obliged at once.
The men of Void Company quickly dug the pits before respectfully burying the citizens, one by one.
As for those cannibalistic Song Jia Sect disciples, Gu Hai was staring at them coldly while they were being interrogated by Gao Xianzhi and Chen Tianshan.
"We don"t know, we were unconscious at that time, and when we woke up, we were already transformed!"
"More than a month ago, when Sect Chief returned from Golden Tong, he brought a black-robed man with him!"
"We also don"t know, I have not eaten humans before, but now, when I see them, I cannot help but want to eat their hearts and livers!"
"We also don"t want to eat, you know, let us go, okay!"...
During the interrogation, these Song Jia Sect disciples didn"t dare to hide anything at all.
"Where is the Ascendant Hall Lord imprisoned?" Gu Hai asked in a deep voice.
"We don"t know, we really don"t know!" the group of Song Jia Sect disciples answered anxiously.
Gu Hai narrowed his eyes, staring at these half-human, half-demon monsters, and said coldly, "Gao Xianzhi, just like Golden Tong, get them to give every detail, every bit of detail, from Song Jia Sect"s layout to everything they know, make them spit out everything!"
"Yes, my Lord!" Gao Xianzhi obliged readily.
By daybreak, every bit of information the Song Jia Sect disciples knew had been completely acquired. Gu Hai got a map of the Song Jia Sect as well.
"My Lord, the Song Jia Sect is protected by an array. An ident.i.ty check is required whenever someone wants to go in or out. Furthermore, even though Song Shengping isn"t in the sect, that mysterious black-robed man is still there. No, the mysterious snake demon, he has taken charge of the Song Jia Sect. We...!" a worried look showed up on Chen Tianshan"s face as he reported.
"We need to save the Ascendant Hall Lord, Long Wanqing!" stated Gu Hai calmly.
"Yes!"
"My Lord, what should we do with these devils?" asked Gao Xianzhi.
Gu Hai gave them a cold glance before ordering, "Burn them with the others!""
"Yes, my Lord!"
"No, forgive us, we won"t do it again!" the congregation of monsters begged for mercy.
However, n.o.body took pity on them. Eating humans! They deserved to be punished!
The fiends died quickly under the convicts" swords.
Having resolved the Song Jia Sect disciples, Gu Hai and his men carried on with their journey.
Along the way, all three thousand men"s faces were incredibly gloomy, because as they drew closer and closer to Song Jia Sect, almost all the towns and villages were completely empty.
All the citizens in the vicinity had been taken to the Song Jia Sect!
Gooseb.u.mps exploded all over everyone"s body. Song Jia Sect was truly acting unscrupulously! How many people were they planning on eating?
When Gu Hai and his men arrived at a secluded spot, everyone took off their armor, putting on the same outfits they began the journey with, and dashed into the forest nearby.
After another day, everyone stopped, gazing into the distance.
In the distance, there was a region covered in numerous clouds and basking in the sunlight. Vaguely, one could make out Song Jia Sect disciples going in and out of it. Not too far away from it was a mountain valley, from which group after group of citizens were whipped into entering the Song Jia Sect array.
"My Lord, that"s the grand array protecting the Song Jia Sect, the Golden Chrysalis Array. It is extremely strong! Even if a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators attacked it at the same time, they wouldn"t be able to break it. It"s the strongest defensive array in the Nine-Five Island!" reported Chen Tianshan in a heavy voice, gazing into the distance.
[TLN: The array name by literal translation would be Golden Armor Crystal Array, it didn"t sound so I chose to use Golden Chrysalis Array!]
Chapter Notes:
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