Chapter 168: Attack of the Canine Clan
“There are bone shards here.”
Just outside the forest, a Canine orc sniffed the ground and picked up some sc.r.a.ps of bones.
“It seems to belong to some Wolf orcs who’d died about half a month ago.”
“There’s more here!”
“Look carefully. Check if there are other Wolf orc corpses around.”
After dusk, the Canine orcs gathered.
“Other than the place where the fight occurred, we found another whole Wolf orc corpse,” said one of the Canine orcs. He had an especially long snout said.
He was the best scout on the team.
With his hyper-sensitive sense of smell, he was able to detect many things which couldn’t be observed by the naked eye.
Even the divine consciousness of a True Realm warrior would fall short of this Canine’s sense of smell.
The long-nosed Canine paused, still holding on to the body of the Wolf orc.
He frowned and was lost in deep thought.
After a while, he spoke: “There were Horse orcs here at the location of conflict as well. It seems that this band of Wolf orcs ambushed a Horse orc caravan. As for this other Wolf orc body…”
“What about it?”
“This Wolf orc’s body is undamaged. There’s no external impact and no internal bleeding. More importantly, this was a Wolf orc who was a half step into the Virtual Realm. He shouldn’t have just died in this forest.”
“Could it be that there’s some terrifying being in the forest?”
“Impossible!”
The other Canine orcs all shook their head.
There was never information about the existence of a great terror in the forest. Even if there was, there was no way that it could hide from the Canine orcs’ sense of smell.
Unless of course, it was a True Realm warrior.
But there were only so few True Realm warriors in Fenglan. And right now, they were all occupied in the search for Li Mu. None of them would be so free as to come to this remote forest to kill orcs.
“Based on the time of death and his power level, he seems to belong to the same group as the Wolf orcs just now. From what we know, the main objective of those Wolf orcs was to find the person that occupied the 18th entrance to the Land of Demon Slayers.”
It was already proven that Li Mu never approached any of the other 17 entrances.
Furthermore, the 18th entrance was the only one that was tainted by the scent of Humans.
All these clues pointed to the fact that Li Mu entered the Land of Demon Slayers from the 18th entrance.
It wouldn’t be hard to then deduce the relations.h.i.+p between the owner of that house and Li Mu.
“I got it! You’re saying that they could have tracked down one of the Humans in the cave of the 18th entrance, and one of Wolf orcs was killed when he tried to send the message back. While the others were really close to capturing the target of their mission before being killed as well!”
“As expected, this Li Mu isn’t a simple target,” the leader of the Canine orcs said as his expression darkened.
The Wolf orcs have all died, and Li Mu had disappeared.
Clearly Li Mu was responsible for this carnage.
“It might be premature to a.s.sume that Li Mu is the one who did this. Who knows, there may be some master following the Wolf orcs, and he s.n.a.t.c.hed Li Mu at the very last moment. He then killed the Wolf orcs to cover up his tracks and destroy all clues that would lead to Li Mu.”
“It’s not that hard to prove this hypothesis. We just need to keep moving forward and searching. If the scent of the three women appear again, this will be big for us.”
The other Canine orcs nodded.
If there really was a True Realm master who took the girls away, would he not know to neutralize their smell?
If the scent of the girls was still present, that would mean that the master who made the move was from their group.
They hadn’t lost track of Li Mu yet!
All they had to do was to pay attention to this master.
Half a day later.
The long-nosed Canine orc rushed back, the excitement in his eyes couldn’t be concealed.
“Pa.s.s the message back to the clan. We might need the help of the Canine masters soon.’
Three days later.
The war outside Wuxin had ended.
There were severed corpses of the Viper Clan warriors everywhere.
The scent of blood drifted into the city with every breeze, making the entire city feel uncomfortable.
The business of inns and taverns should have been affected negatively by this.
However, their business was even better than before.
“F*cking satisfying!”
In a tavern, several men whose clothes were stained with blood clamored as they downed wine and liquor in bowls.
“That was the most gratifying battle I’ve ever fought!”
One of the men was missing an arm. His jagged teeth showed through his gaping mouth.
His wound was still wrapped in thick gauze, and patches of blood were seeping through.
“Ah what a pity for my friend, he died for no reason!” said one of the warriors. He was missing an eye.
No only was that eye blinded, half of his face looked like it was burned off.
One look and one could tell that he had Viper blood splashed on his face, and that was the mark left by the toxic blood.
“I had a family of five… Now I’m the only one left.”
Sadness and anguish started to fill the air.
“F*ck the Vipers.”
As the sun set, an atmosphere of grief rose, and quiet weeping could be heard from many houses in Wuxin.
Inside the inn, Li Mu licked his lip before taking a sip of wine.
The people of Wuxin were bonded through the tragedy.
Just like that one race in his previous life, getting invaded time and time again, only to unite over and over and fight its way out.
That was a powerful race that developed through pain and struggles.
“Hubby, do we have to leave?” Xu Fang asked carefully.
Li Mu shook his head. “I would like to go, but we’re unable to leave at the moment.”
Outside the city, several Canine orcs appeared.
Perhaps it was because of the war between Wuxin and the Vipers that just ended not long ago, or perhaps there was still hesitation in their hearts, but the Canine orcs hesitated before the city gates and didn’t immediately enter.
Inside Wuxin, the Su Family had finally settled down. Now, they were trying to find the hero that had saved their family.
Although the Su Family had announced that they wanted to thank their savior in person, Li Mu still didn’t want to show himself.
Now was not the time to reveal himself, just to accept their grat.i.tude.
“Things seems to have gotten more complicated,” he said.
…
On a mountain dozens of miles away from the city.
Several Canine orcs on the Virtual Realm were watching the goings-on of Wuxin City.
“The Human Race still has huge potential. I’m afraid we might not be able to keep them in check for much longer.”
“Then we’ll have to see if that Li Mu can escape. The clan already deployed three True Realm masters as reinforcements. If he manages to get away this time, then it will be truly difficult to find him.
“If he escapes again, then the Canine Clan will be done for in just a couple of years.”
“We have no choice but to succeed!” The leader of the Canine Clan clenched his fists as he stared at Wuxin City from afar.
“Leader, I’m going in there to take a look. I want to get confirmation that he’s there,” said the long-nosed Canine orc.
“Don’t go now, it could alert the humans. Wait until the True Realm elders come back before we make a decision.”
“Yes, leader!”
“We should go to the Viper Clan’s territory instead. Anyone observing us will think that we’re going to raid the Vipers while they’re weak.”
A day later, this piece of news reached Wuxin.
The city was ignited in rage.
The grief from before quickly disappeared.
It was replaced by anger.
“Who gave them the right to that? We fought and put our lives on the line, and the Canines just come over to seize the loot?”
“Detestable!”
“None of these orcs are up to any good!”
“If the Canine Clan dares to take our stuff, I’ll get them back even if it means losing my life!”
The angered voices of the people of Wuxin quickly flooded the city as people got together again in the face of a common enemy.
Inside the inn, Li Mu shook his head.
These warriors had muscles for brains. They didn’t even stop to think for a moment. Why did the Canine Clan appear at such a critical timing?
…
Inside the Su Family conference hall.
The Su Family members were troubled as well.
They had finally fended off the Vipers, yet now the Canines are taking away the loot that should’ve belonged to them.
“Stop complaining. We are already lucky enough to be able to survive the Vipers’ attach. What’s important now is that we settle the issue with the Xiang Family.”
“Chief, have you thought about it, why did the Canine Clan appear?”
…
Inside the Viper Clan cave.
Three figures suddenly appeared before the leader of the Canine orc group.
The leader of the Canines felt something unusual and quickly stood up.
He knelt and greeted them. “It’s an honor to have you help us, Elder!”
“The Canine messenger informed us that you’ve found Li Mu’s tracks. Is this true?”
There was an uncontrollable sense of excitement inside the eyes of the three True Realm Canines.
Li Mu…
The prodigy that the whole continent was searching for was finally about to be found.
“Yes!”