Chapter 488: Servants
After a short time, the ultimate neutrinos uploaded some images to Chen Jin in succession, and he used the chip in his brain to synthesize the uploaded information into a map of the Zone of Trials.
The more time that pa.s.sed, the more complete the map was drawn in Chen Jin’s mind. After an hour, Chen Jin’s ultimate neutrinos finally covered the entire area of the Zone in a dense layer, including the water pool, caves, and cliffs of the Zone. The neutrinos also detected various kinds of spirit beasts lurking in the vicinity of rare plants and minerals as well as the presence of humans.
It was said that humans were the scariest creatures. This sentence was also true in the immortal world. When humans were from the same sect, there was no conflict of interest, so they would be able to consider their friends.h.i.+p that was born from being in the same sect. But things were different when the people were from two different sects. Even if there were no conflicts, murdering someone else to rob their treasures was a normal thing to do once they entered the Zone of Trials. Just like the real-time images playing out in Chen Jin’s mind, there were four places where people were busy fighting one another. Only one of the fights was due to compet.i.tion over a magic elixir. The rest of the fights were about murder such that the victors could rob the victims of their treasures.
In the absence of any proper laws, this sort of “law of the jungle” was played out thoroughly and without restraint. Although Chen Jin grew up on Earth in a society with proper laws from a young age, since the invasion of the Protoss, he was no stranger to the law of the jungle.
There was a cliff wall to the northeast of this secret land. Water rushed down from the rock wall. The constant scouring of the water had created a deep pool of water under the rock wall. Beside the pool was a type of gra.s.s called Dragon’s Beard, which grew year-round. The gra.s.s was called thusly because of its shape was similar to a dragon’s beard. Although it did not grow in great quant.i.ties, it had many uses, hence it was extremely expensive. It would not be inaccurate to say that it would still be difficult to get your hands on Dragon’s Beard even if you had the money. So, this cliff wall became Chen Jin’s destination.
After Chen Jin confirmed his destination, he released seven or eight Naga dragon robots that were at the Yuanying phase. He also released two robots that had transformed themselves into the Shenguang phase. Chen Jin changed into servant’s clothes and put on a mask. People would not recognize him and this would ensure his safety.
Not long after traveling for about five kilometers, Chen Jin heard the sound of water and knew that he had arrived at the cliff wall.
He parted some of the sogon gra.s.s blocking his way and a deep pool with a dark green color appeared. He had not even drawn close to the pool when a forbidding chill in the air made him tremble.
The area of the pool was not large; it was surrounded by a large swath of trees that were scattered about. It was early summer and although it could be cool in the middle of the night, it was almost noon now. But he could see with his naked eye wisps of cold air rising from the surface of the water. Some faintly discernable ice floes had also formed on the surface of the pool. One could see just how cold the pool was.
Perhaps the cliff wall was too tall and it blocked out all the sunlight from reaching the water pool, or perhaps the pool was too deep and silent and that was why the cold felt so distressing.
Chen Jin stopped thinking about all this and came to the pool. In a particular area beside the pool that was heaped with rocks was a small tract of deep green gra.s.s. This gra.s.s was extremely slender and its entire body was a dark green color. It hung down from a relatively higher position, just like a dragon’s beard.
Chen Jin took a large stride and came to the place where the dragon’s beard grew. But he did not collect the gra.s.s and instead said loudly, “Come out, I have already spotted you.”
The cultivator hiding behind the woods was appalled. He was already holding his breath as much as he could. How could the party still find out his existence? On second thought, he understood the situation. Perhaps the other party was only trying to draw him out. He quickly dismissed his intention to show himself.
Chen Jin saw that the other party did not come out and he found it a little funny, so he picked up a stone and threw it. The stone penetrated the thicket of trees and smashed into the center of the other party’s cheek. Chen Jin said, “Sir, are you still not coming out? Don’t tell me you’re waiting for me to make a move against you.”
Chen Jin had just finished speaking when the trees swayed. A middle-aged man jumped out from the thicket. The middle-aged man was suntanned but he had a big red dot on his cheek. It was exactly the stone that was thrown by Chen Jin. Although he was. .h.i.t by the stone, his face received no serious damages.
“What a big att.i.tude, you’re just a little cultivator, your Qi cultivation is only at the fourth level, yet you make a move against me, w.a.n.g Shuangshuang?” The middle-aged man, w.a.n.g Shuangshuang dusted his clothes while he berated Chen Jin.
So he was called w.a.n.g Shuangshuang. He was such a dark and ugly person but he had a woman’s name? He actually took the name of a woman, Chen Jin felt a chill of disgust.
w.a.n.g Shuangshuang sized up Chen Jin and looked at the robots again. He could tell Chen Jin’s cultivation but not the robots. There were no fluctuations from any sort of magic power, they were just like ordinary mortals. w.a.n.g Shuangshuang did not care about them either. He thought that they were merely cannon fodder Chen Jin had brought along as he scouted the land explored.
“I dare to enter the Zone of Trial land even though my Qi cultivation has only reached the fourth level. Sir, don’t you wonder about the reasons why? You should quickly retreat.” Chen Jin said calmly as he lightly swung his cuffs. He did give off a rather otherworldly, divine air–well he was putting on airs.
On the contrary, w.a.n.g Shuangshuang did not become fearful after listening to Chen Jin’s words. If the other party had attacked him directly he would have made a run for it. But he had spoken and allowed him to leave of his own volition. That felt like a coward trying to act fierce. w.a.n.g Shuangshuang sneered, “The reason? Where does your confidence come from? Numbers? Heh heh, who goes out without bringing some cannon fodder as he scout the land?” w.a.n.g Shuangshuang said and s.h.i.+fted his storage ring. All of a sudden, about ten cultivators who were at the fourth or fifth level of their Qi cultivation fell to the ground.
The cultivators who had just landed on the ground seemed to have resigned to their fate. They stood obediently behind w.a.n.g Shuangshuang.
“How’s this, kid? You still want to compare who has more men? You’re afraid that you can’t even win against my servants right? Hahaha.” w.a.n.g Shuangshuang laughed boastfully.
Chen Jin squinted his eyes. It seemed that this w.a.n.g Shuangshuang was not a good person. Wielding his cultivation, which was at the half-step Foundation level, he had forcibly enslaved a dozen cultivators that only had low levels of cultivation. Hence, he turned to the Naga robot and gave an order.
Suddenly, the overflowing force of the robot’s spiritual energy blasted out. The robot had not even really made a move when it had pressed w.a.n.g Shuangshuang firmly into the ground. w.a.n.g Shuangshuang was drenched in sweat from his struggles but he could not move an inch. He could only open his mouth to ask for mercy, “Senior, please spare my life. I’m not even human; I’ve lost my conscience. That’s why I would even make trouble for you. You are the bigger person, please disregard this villain’s mistakes and spare my life.”
Chen Jin did not speak, he simply got the robot to knock the man out, and threw him back to the base. There was no better person to conduct experiments on. It was much better to let Alice use him to check out whatever gene issues she was researching on than to kill him directly.
After dealing with w.a.n.g Shuangshuang, Chen Jin looked at the dozen slaves and developed a headache, “What about you guys, what are your plans?”
“Thank you very much for your help in saving our lives, sir. I was originally cultivating by myself in my own special spot. w.a.n.g Shuangshuang, that thief, had gotten wind of my ancestral storage ring, so he seized me. If not for you, I am afraid that my life would still be in danger. We are willing to serve you hand and foot to repay the favor of saving our lives.” It was a young man who spoke. Perhaps he was afraid that Chen Jin would kill everyone to keep his secrets and that was why he said that.
Chen Jin saw how discreet the youth was behaving in this delicate situation. He nodded. “That’s very good. It’s too dangerous for you all here. It’s better to go into the storage ring and hide.”
Although Chen Jin had a robot that he could order about, it was not good for the robot to show its face in public. Cultivators who did not have a high level of cultivation wouldn’t be able to tell that anything was amiss, but if there was a cultivator who had attained the Huashen phase, he would be able to use his divine sense and easily sniff out the differences between the robot and the humans. When the time came, the robot would immediately be revealed for what it was. It was better to take on a few servants to run errands for him.
After transplanting the Dragon’s Beard into the cave house in his palm-sized transmission device, Chen Jin muttered to himself, “Okay, it’s time to go fish that thing out from the bottom of the water.”