Chapter 74
Chapter 75: Extermination (2)
It was a battle without suspense.
Although there were more than three hundred bandits, their fates were to be slaughtered when faced with an official Origin Qi Scholar.
The black-clothed people were like G.o.ds of war in the night. They leapt to and fro in the battle, activating all kinds of strange Origin Skills, mercilessly slaughtering those bandits.
Baron was like a G.o.d wearing golden armor. He majestically stood at the very front, completely ignoring all attacks sent his way. He didn’t even wear the Melted Golden Armor, allowing the bandits’ arrows, blades, and spears to land on his body. He didn’t even need to activate a barrier; he could block their attacks simply with his fleshy body. The broadsword in his hand swung through the air easily and carried a sword light with it. It split whatever it hit in two.
Li’s situation was completely different from Baron’s. He leisurely walked among the ma.s.ses. Those bandits were seemingly unable to see him; not a single attack landed towards him. At the same time, Li would thrust the Blackwood Serpent Staff in his hand towards the enemies’ hearts. The staff was only a foot long, and it was completely made from blackwood and sculpted in the shape of a serpent. At the end of the handstaff was a sharp blade. His enemies would collapse immediately, not even knowing where the attack had come from. Occasionally, if he was facing too many enemies, a thick black fog would emerge from his body. Under the covering of the fog, each and every bandit was shredded to pieces. Their deaths were very slow, yet they were also very painful.
Aaron’s attacks were much more concise. He was pouncing like a leopard, and his eyes were extremely bright. He wielded a paper-thin blade in his hand. Every time he struck out, he hit the opponent’s weak points, such as their heart, throat, or even their Qi Sea. His attacks were extremely fast. Often, they would be struck by what seemed to be only a flash of blade light. They would find themselves dead as Aaron walked away. Although he was only a high-layer Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, his attacks were vicious and he killed very quickly, even more so than Baron himself.
However, he was not the one who killed the most people.
The person who killed the most was Smoke.
Smoke was one of the three Blood Boiling cultivators in the seven-man platoon. As his name implied, he enjoyed setting things on fire.
He was the brightest existence in the dark night. When he stood there, flames began to surge in all four directions with him as the center. The flames seemed to have eyes, avoiding all of the allies. They were as nimble as snakes, wrapping around the bandits. Thus, the snake-like raging flames were the brightest existences on the entire mountain in the otherwise dark night. Smoke had also become the brightest person present. He wreaked havoc on the bandits. At least one-third of them died to his hands alone.
The remainder panicked, furiously attempting to flee, but the forest that Copper Deer had laid down became their last nightmare.
This was a giant tree that grew demonic faces on it. They would not move initially, but every time a bandit ran into the reach of their branches, large numbers of branches would reach out like pieces of rope, restraining them. Then, the demonic faces would open wide, and the targets would slowly be sent into the Demonic Face Tree’s mouth. During this period of time, the targets would struggle incessantly; their panic was the Demonic Face Tree’s favorite seasoning. In the end, the tree would swallow the target and slowly chew them to pieces. During this time, one could still hear the heart-rending cries of the people being eaten.
The man-eating forest completely ruined the bandits’ line of defense. They had nowhere to run, and no desire to do battle any longer.
Su Chen was the only one who didn’t make a move.
Any time that the bandits attempted to make a move towards him, Iron Cliff, who was wearing the Melted Golden Armor, would block all of their attacks. He focused all his efforts on protecting his master, doing his duty as a loyal soldier.
Occasionally, Iron Cliff wouldn’t be able to block
Qingbai was a young person with a delicate face. He was one of the three Qi Drawing cultivators of the seven-man platoon.
He did not possess Aaron’s extremist att.i.tude. In fact, he looked just like a neighbor’s big brother. When he spoke, his face would sometimes redden. He appeared to be quite gentle.
However, his attacks were not gentle at all.
Qingbai didn’t use any weapons. His fists were his weapons.
His fists were white, but they were as tough as jade.
Whenever any attacks came flying his direction, Qingbai’s hands would intercept them just like he was s.n.a.t.c.hing insects out of the air. Then, he would let go, allowing them to fall to the ground.
An arrow suddenly flew by, and Qingbai grabbed it. Perhaps because his movements had been too loose, the tip of the arrow slipped through his fingers, pressing onto Su Chen’s eyelid.
Su Chen’s eyes did not move at all as if he couldn’t see anything and didn’t know anything.
"Apologies, I almost let you get injured," Qingbai apologized with embarra.s.sment.
"No worries. Almost…… means that it didn’t happen, right?" Su Chen gently laughed, appearing as if he had no idea how much danger he had just been in.
"As long as you don’t mind," Qingbai said with a bashful expression.
As such, Su Chen continued forward, with Qingbai following closely behind him.
Even though Su Chen had not found any secret treasury stores in the Golden Name Workshop, Baron did not want to give Su Chen any more opportunities to search for treasure on his own.
The battle progressed very rapidly, and the number of bandits drastically decreased.
When Su Chen arrived in the mountain camp’s main pavilion, he couldn’t hear shouting from outside anymore. All that he could see was flames lighting up the night sky.
"Any spoils? Qingbai," Baron stepped forwards to say.
"There’s nothing, sir, you guys killed them too quickly," Qingbai responded softly.
"They were all just weak trash. Killing them was no fun," Baron replied, then turned around and yelled behind him, "Don’t kill them all, leave some of them alive!"
A large group of people were tossed to the side after being knocked unconscious.
He grabbed ten or so of these remaining people and then continued to kill.
A plume of black smoke suddenly appeared. Night Demon slowly faded into view, and she was holding onto a beautifully dressed woman.
"There is a secret tunnel behind the mountain. Fourteen bandits wanted to escape from there, and they have already been dealt with. This is Li Mingtang’s wife; she should know where the treasure is hidden.
Upon hearing that they had captured Li Mingtang’s woman, everyone became interested.
"Li, stop killing, go interrogate this woman with Night Demon!" Baron said.
"Yes." Li let out a very demonic laugh, then floated away.
Illusion Masters were great interrogators. No one could lie in front of them, since their soul illusion techniques could easily see through them.
However, this woman clearly had no intentions of holding out. She knelt on the ground and continuously kowtowed. Li only asked one sentence and she spilled everything that she knew.
Once she revealed the treasury’s location, Madame Li continued to kowtow continuously, causing the floorboards to vibrate violently. She continued to yell, "Please spare me, I already told you everything that I know……"
"Noisy!" Li said impatiently. He slammed his palm onto the woman’s head, actually cracking her skull in one blow. Perhaps because he had used too much strength, Li’s own face paled slightly, and he swayed on his feet.
Copper Deer laughed, "Slow down there, Li, don’t waste so much energy on a woman."
This sentence had a double meaning, making everyone laugh. Only Night Demon let out an unhappy "hmph".
"Okay, since everyone already knows where the hidden treasure is, let’s go." Baron stood up.
By following Madame Li’s instructions, everyone eventually found a secret tunnel hidden behind a fake boulder in the back of the mountain.
The secret tunnel led to a room. Upon opening the room, they found that it was filled to the brim with gold, silver, and precious stones.
Although they were treasures in the secular world, they could still be exchanged for quite a few Origin Stones.
Aaron and Iron Cliff were responsible for taking inventory and came to a sum very quickly.
There was a total of twenty thousand taels of pure gold.
This was not a small sum, but didn’t count for much considering that this was the belongings of a Yang Opening Realm cultivator.
"d.a.m.n, in any case they were still the Shadow Mountain Troops, yet they only had so few valuables," Copper Deer said unhappily.
"Bandits will always be bandits. If they stored up any more money, they would have quit being bandits a long time ago." Night Demon did not find it strange.
"Interrogate some other people and see if there are any other hidden treasuries," Baron said. Evidently, he was also not satisfied by their spoils.
The result, however, was disappointing. Evidently, this was the extent of the Shadow Mountain Troops’ riches.
Baron sighed, "Little Brother Su Chen, it seems like your luck is not too good. Based on our previous agreement, if this s.h.i.+pment of goods is worth twenty thousand Origin Stones, we first subtract six thousand. Of the remaining fourteen thousand Origin Stones, seven thousand are yours. If we subtract the tool rental and employment fees, you still owe us a thousand Origin Stones."
Su Chen laughed, "I’ll pay the thousand Origin Stones once I return to Northface City. As for this trip, I’m happy that I was able to earn this much anyways. I am already quite satisfied."
"So you know how to be tactful," Aaron harrumphed from the side.
"Hm?" Baron stared at Aaron. Aaron did not dare to continue speaking.
Although they had schemed against each other when finding treasures, Baron didn’t wish to actually become enemies with Su Chen.
After all, the money was a small issue, but the organization’s plans were greater.
If their plans failed because of a little bit of money, there would be greater problems.
Thus, he thought for a moment and said, "Although Little Brother doesn’t mind, I still feel a little guilty. Since I killed Li Mingtang and obtained his Flying Moon Wheels, I think I’ve earned enough battle spoils. I don’t need the four thousand Origin Stones that belonged to me anymore. Consider it a personal gift from me to Prince Su……"
Su Chen hurriedly said, "There’s no need to do this. We decided how to divide the spoils from the very beginning. Rules are rules, and they shouldn’t be carelessly broken. Regardless of how much I was able to obtain, you can have faith that this will not affect the relations.h.i.+p that we’ve built."
He directly refused.
Upon hearing these words, Baron let out a sigh and laughed, "With these words from Prince Su, I feel relieved."
He wanted to politely say a few more sentences. However, at this moment a piercing cry suddenly sounded out. "Young Master Su…… Young Master Su, save me……"