Chapter 571: Waiting For The Monsters
For ordinary people, the chances of dying from getting involved in situations like these were unusually high. It was incredibly risky, but great rewards would always accompany such risk.
This spelled opportunity for Niu Pi and his men.
They could turn their lives around if they succeeded. At the very least, they might get the chance to learn new tricks.
To survive in a place as hostile as Arid Continent, it was clear that merely knowing how to wield an ax or a machete was insufficient.
Lin Jin gave it a thought and then nodded in agreement.
When it came to navigating this place, Niu Pi would come in handy, since he was a local. Lin Jin planned to conquer the many monsters in Dark Wind Cave first before heading over to Five Palm Mountain to retrieve the Four Ocean Gourd.
The fact that the Water G.o.d Cult managed to persist for more than several hundred years while controlling the largest source of water in Arid Continent proved just how formidable they would be.
It would indeed be beneficial if he had Niu Pi and the others do the investigating for him.
Lin Jin wouldn’t deny that.
After a thought, Lin Jin tossed a few pills to Niu Pi and his men.
“These are blood contract pills I’ve crafted. If you have pet beasts, feed this to them. Those below Rank 2 would be promoted immediately. I understand that some might not have a pet beast yet, but if you see one in the wild that you’re interested in, just place one drop of your blood onto the pill and find a way to feed it to that creature. You’ll be able to contract it on the spot.”
This was one of the benefits Lin Jin was offering in advance.
After all, Niu Pi and the others were just too weak.
No matter how he saw it, he should first give them enough strength to defend themselves before heading into enemy territory. They didn’t have to be exceptionally strong, but they had to at least be stronger than your average man.
Otherwise, Lin Jin would also be troubled if they died while gathering information for him.
Niu Pi and his men were overjoyed when they were offered the pills. He hastily accepted the gift with both hands before distributing them to his men.
“Go and hide for now,” said Lin Jin while waving his hand. Niu Pi and the others immediately obeyed his order.
After these minor arrangements were made, Lin Jin called Huang Qi over to ask him about Dark Wind Cave.
Dark Wind Cave too was a prominent location in Arid Continent, known as a large base camp for monsters.
Arid Continent had tons of monsters.
Because of how weak human presence was here, monsters were given the opportunity to thrive. This explained why there were tons of monster factions in the continent.
Dark Wind Cave was commonly recognized as the top three among these factions.
The number of monsters in Dark Wind Cave who could perform Transfiguration was near a hundred. The strongest of them was their cave master who boasted profound powers. Below the cave master were the seventy-two bannermen.
Huang Qi was one of them.
Dark Wind Cave’s area of influence stretched beyond several hundred miles around the cave. The human settlements around their cave were their farms, from which they would harvest a human being should the need ever arise.
It was not uncommon to hear of man-eating monsters in Arid Continent.
For Bull Village, each month, they were forced to sacrifice one person. Within Dark Wind Cave’s territory, there were almost a hundred human villages of varying sizes.
In one month, about a hundred humans would be sent to the monsters as sacrificial offerings.
Fortunately, Dark Wind Cave’s cave master knew they couldn’t eat all the humans at once so they would only collect the supply once a month. This made the people in the area no different from livestock.
Lin Jin shook his head. He did not antic.i.p.ate human civilization here to decline beyond such a point.
This phenomenon was partly because Arid Continent did not have a premium country to protect them. They didn’t even have intermediate countries. The human tribes here were like scattered sand so they didn’t have the strength to fight back when monsters invaded.
Right, didn’t they have a Water G.o.d Cult?
Lin Jin decided to ask Huang Qi about it.
“The Water G.o.d Cult is very powerful but they have a good relations.h.i.+p with our Dark Wind Cave. Our cave master is even a regular guest at the base of Water G.o.d Cult.”
Huang Qi was very honest now.
He couldn’t help it. Unless he was suicidal, he had to speak the truth when facing Lin Jin.
According to Huang Qi, the Water G.o.d Cult was a tyrant of this continent. Their organization was strong enough to be considered a premium country.
Lin Jin listened to the explanation intently. Combined with the information he got from Niu Pi, he now had a basic understanding of what the Water G.o.d Cult was.
Simply put, they weren’t decent people.
In any case, Lin Jin didn’t have a good impression of them.
He would still make a trip to Five Palm Mountain and retrieve the Four Ocean Gourd.
Before that, Lin Jin planned to record all of the monsters in Dark Wind Cave first.
What seemed like ferocious and bloodthirsty creatures to others, looked like treasures to Lin Jin.
With the monster-locking pill, he could control all of these monsters with relative ease. Then, he would teach them authentic cultivation methods so they would serve as his personal army in the future.
Lin Jin intended to use these monsters to create an army for Curator, which would be deployed whenever he fought against strong foes in the future. This would prove that he was actually a competent fighter, rather than being a mere bystander in every battle.
‘Wait. Then I would still be relying on others to attack and that would make me a bystander still!’ Lin Jin suddenly thought of this and shook his head.
Lin Jin wasn’t the only person who thought of controlling monsters with the monster-locking pill and then using the museum’s cultivation method to improve their strength. Daojun wrote about this method in the hieroglyphic as well.
This made Lin Jin realize that heroes seem to almost always share a common train of thought.
Beasts were still the strongest beings in today’s world. Daojun cultivated up to an immortal’s level, but so what?
He still sustained heavy injuries after being attacked by the Rank 9 Immortal Devouring Beast and died after that.
That was why in Daojun’s painting, he mentioned that one had to possess a Rank 9 pet beast before they even considered the prospect of challenging the Immortal Devouring Beast.
With his predecessor as his guiding light, Lin Jin vowed to never make the same mistake.
Huang Qi revealed everything he knew, including Dark Wind Cave’s rules of procedure. If he didn’t return within a stipulated time, the cave would send out other banner masters to search for him.
He only said this to induce fear in Lin Jin but that gave rise to another thought in Lin Jin instead.
“It just so happens that I want to capture all the monsters in Dark Wind Cave. However, if I go there directly, I still can’t round them all up no matter how strong I am. If I pick them off one by one, that would be much easier,” mumbled Lin Jin to himself.
He liked the way Dark Wind Cave did things.
Seeing the frightening human smile, Huang Qi had a bad feeling about this.
‘Is he not afraid?’ he thought.
If the human wanted to wait, so be it.
If Huang Qi didn’t return, the cave would send at least three banner masters, accompanied by a formation of monster soldiers. No matter how powerful this human was, he couldn’t possibly take on three banner masters alone.
Huang Qi was also aware that he was near the bottom of the seventy-two banner masters. Hence, he admitted he only lost because he was too weak.
Unlike him, there were actually stronger monsters among the other bannermen.
Although he dared not show it, Huang Qi was highly expectant.
He was hoping that someone would come and rescue him.