Chapter 229: Another Fourth Elder?
Jiang He always believed himself to be a man of his word.
And since he had already promised w.a.n.g Hou to watch Mount Dadong and stop the Ferals there from causing trouble, he would certainly do it.
Even so, it was impossible for Jiang He to guard Mount Dadong every day with that att.i.tude of his.
That was why...
He had to come up with a more dependable solution.
For example...
Killing the Graywolf King as well as every high-ranked Feral on Mount Dadong.
Was there a need to fear Feral unrest after that?
Lingzhou City was just 150km away from Mount Dadong, which was not much of a distance for Jiang He. Even if he kept a slow pace and hid his aura, it took him no more than twenty minutes to reach Yuzhen.
Jiang He had never been here before.
It was an old city with an antiquated air to it, the center of which was an ancient building.
There were also signs of military presence everywhere inside the town, with various fortifications built on the east side which faces Mount Dadong. Scars of Feral destruction were substantial on the outer reaches of the fortifications, with countless empty bullet sh.e.l.ls strewn all over the floor.
Further ahead was dripping with crimson.
Beneath the bright moonlight, the blood-soaked ground could clearly be seen.
Jiang He turned solemn at that.
Here, many unnamed soldiers who were not even martial artists had courageously taken up their weapons to protect the civilians behind them, using their blood to keep the Ferals of Mount Dadong at bay, east of Yuzhen!
It was a race war.
Once those beasts developed intelligence and evolved into powerful individuals and collectives, war against humans was unavoidable.
And today, right after the military retreated from Yuzhen, several Ferals were already roaming the town.
With a point of his finger, Jiang He fired True Qi like arrows and nailed the many Ferals to death where they were, before streaking towards Mount Dadong.
It was merely 15 km away from Mount Dadong and Yuzhen.
A winding ravine was blocking his way upon approaching Mount Dadong.
Such a landscape was very common in the loess highlands of Xibei. The soil of loess highlands tended to be very soft, and with the many mountains around, mountain floods were unavoidable whenever torrential rains struck, surging down the mountains and slowly forming ravines over a dozen meters deep and up to forty meters wide. The ravines would also connect, flowing down to places unknown.
After a careful look, Jiang He noticed that there was a trail at the bottom of the ravine.
It was not a wide trail as it was carved on the edge of both ends of the ravines, connecting at its bottom.
No car could have pa.s.sed through it, although there were many motorcycles that were left behind by the shepherds who worked up the mountains. Still, if there were downpours on such a narrow path, it would be easily flooded and require maintenance.
Fortunately, it was a soil trail, and so a little paving was all that was needed even if the trail was cut off after downpours, making it not that troublesome.
Nonetheless, Jiang He easily vaulted across the forty-meter ravine. While he could fly, he was walking along the small trail along the ravine, unable to hold back an emotional sigh. “Life is so hard for the villagers up in the mountains... still, hard work would always be repaid.”
He remembered Li Fei mention before that there were many shepherds up on Mount Dadong, most of them landlords who reared three hundred sheep at minimum, over a thousand at most. The wool would earn them over a hundred thousand, let alone selling the sheep.
Once Jiang He reached the opposite of the ravine, he was finally inside Mount Dadong.
He could see several rundown farmer houses and caverns on the outer hills of Mount Dadong, with some small solar panels that were not taken away outside the cave.
That was where Jiang He encountered three weak rank-one Ferals.
“Whatever, I’ll let them live for now, or I’ll frighten off the Graywolf King even before I could see if I slaughtered my way to it...”
Jiang He thought.
He hence sprinted ahead, holding back his aura while using his powerful spirit to scout a path, evading all Ferals ahead.
Out of the blue, Jiang He’s gaze focused and he pa.s.sed after clearing a peak.
He looked up ahead.
Several peaks had been flattened and reduced to husk, with the ground reduced to a charred black.
“This must have been where the missile blew up before... wasn’t it?”
Jiang He remembered then.
He was not sure what missile it was even now, but the only thing he was certain about was its incredible magnitude. He could feel the ground shaking at the time even from 150 km away, and the ensuing mushroom cloud rising into the air.
If he had been at the center of the explosion even as he was now...
He would certainly choke!
“Back then, the military must have fired the missile to intimidate the Graywolf instead of killing it. After all, how sharp is a Feral King’s senses, not to mention that each missile fired takes quite a process? Once that beast escapes the center of the blast, a bomb of such yield could hardly kill it.”
Jiang He shook his head, sighing.
If Feral Kings could really be killed by bombs alone, Earth would not be in its current state now.
“Well, I’ve come in such a hurry that I forgot to ask... where actually is the Graywolf King’s lair?”
“Mount Dadong spans around 300 km. I can’t comb every inch of it now, can I?”
Even as Jiang He continued ahead whilst contemplating causing a ruckus to see if he could draw the Graywolf King to him... his expression changed in the instant when he was about to throw out the pea bomb.
Extending his spirit two kilometers away behind a mountain, he found...
A group of people!
***
“Sentinel of the Left, Second Elder, is Jiang He really that impressive?
“Tsk!”
“Rank seven killing the Sentinel of the Right with full-cultivation of the Boundary of Wills? That’s impossible... isn’t it?”
“Sentinel of the Left, should we kill Jiang He after we leave the heritage site?”
A group of people was sprinting along the mountain under the moonlit sky.
There were fourteen of them, four of whom were rank-nine and the rest were rank-eight.
Jiang He used his spirit to observe a little, and promptly realized who they were—
“Sky Demon Cultist?”
Though surprised, delight soon showed on Jiang He’s face!
Truly, he has some karmic connection with the Sky Demon Cult... he merely came to Mount Dadong in the middle of the night out of sheer boredom, and he somehow still managed to run into them?
That said, what were these cultists doing here in the middle of the night?
Moreover, this bunch was not weak—from their conversation, Jiang He learned that the strongest amongst them was the Sentinel of the Left. Not only did he have a perfect grasp of the Boundary of Wills, he did not dull in comparison to the Sentinel of the Right whom Jiang He had personally killed some time ago either.
And aside from the Sentinel of the Left, there were also three rank-nines in the Second Elder, Fourth Elder, and the Fifth Elder, as well as three Holy Children and seven rank-eight Grands.
“Heritage site?”
“Did one of those cultists just mention heritage site?”
“Could they have come to an agreement with the Graywolf King to jointly open the heritage site of Mount Dadong?”
“Hold on... Fourth Elder?”
“I remember killing the Sky Demon Cult’s Senior Elder, Third Elder Fourth Elder and Sixth Elder. It made sense that a Second Elder and Fifth Elder would show up now, but how the heck did another Fourth Elder pop up?”
Jiang He thought then.
He hence subtly tagged along behind the many Sky Demon Cultists, and with his current abilities, none of them could notice him from two kilometers away.
He also focused his spirit a little on the Fourth Elder.
The man was a burly, muscular figure standing at 1.9 meters, and most importantly his qi and blood are remarkably strong... he must have cultivated a formidable physique.
His head was bald, and holding a two-meter-long alloy staff as thick as an arm.
Meanwhile, all fourteen Sky Demon Cultists were rushing along quietly, and only the baldie was blabbering along the whole journey, asking about everything until even the Sentinel of the Left became irritated.
Seemingly noticing that, baldie smiled politely but without losing politeness, before slowing down a little and deliberately hang around behind the group.
That was when Fifth Elder came to him and used Secret Acoustics to communicate, “Don’t mind, Fourth. The Sentinel of the Left always had a temper.”
“You’re too serious, Fifth Elder. Would I even dare to question him?”
Baldie answered through Secret Acoustics as well. “The Sentinel of the Left is an elite with perfect grasp of the Boundary of Wills, and would promptly reach divine-tier if he was willing to bathe in the Holy Lake... By the way, why do you think he didn’t bathe at the Holy Lake when he could have ascended to divine-tier if he did, Fifth Elder? Does he not appreciate power?”
“Is there really a heritage site on Mount Dadong, Fifth Elder?”
“Have you been inside a heritage site, Fifth Elder?”
“I heard that there’s a Feral King on Mount Dadong. Won’t it attack us, Fifth Elder?”
“I heard that heritage sites have a limit of entrants and cultivation, Fifth Elder. The heritage site here won’t stop us from entering, would it?”
“Fifth Elder...”
“Shut up!”
Unable to hold it any longer, Fifth Elder seethed through clenched teeth. “You may outrank me, Fourth Elder, but keep that nonsense up and I’ll beat you up, even if I have to risk our faith’s punishment!”
Meanwhile, the others completely ignored the commotion, seemingly having gotten used to it.
Even so, none of them noticed that while the baldie was blabbering away, he had quietly activated a small electronic device and threw it into a bush...
A dozen seconds after the Sky Demon Cultists had all walked past the device, it suddenly beeped and emitted a faint red light.
***
Meanwhile.
Jingdu City.
A room filled with various computers and equipment at the Martial Arts Department headquarters.
“Quick,” someone exclaimed in shock. “Contact Deputy Zhou right away—a signal has popped up!”
“Pinpointing...”
“Xibei... Eh? Signal lost?”
***
“Eh?
Jiang He, who had been keeping an eye on the Sky Demon Cultists with his spirit all along naturally ‘saw’ that sight.
He went beside the bushes to pick up the object which resembled a USB stick, holding it in front of his eyes with his index finger and thumb to study it.
“What is this?”
Then, as he pinched it a little firmer with his fingertips unwittingly...
Crack!
It was crushed.