Chapter 48
Chen Zhen looked at Mei Ling and the kids, "Thank you very much for the offer, but we are taking our time and hunting to earn a living as we travel to Qianbei."
For a second a strong malicious intent could be seen in the redhead teenage girls eyes, but it faded as soon as it came. She quickly put a smile back on her face.
"Ok then, I wish you safe travels. Maybe we will meet again in Qianbei." The redhead girl waved bye out of the carriage window as it slowly pulled away.
"Madam Zenua why did you allow them to leave? They would make good additions to our slaves for sale." Ling Chanyom, the senior guard for the caravan asked.
"They were alert and powerful, it would have been too costly to try can confront them openly. We will set up an ambush to separate and trap them individually. They will be great additions to our stock. Most of the rest of the slaves are all weak and sickly. Some of the mortals are even close to dying already." Diako Zenua said with slight agitation. It would have been so much simpler if they were gullible peasants.
As Chen Zhen and them watched the carriage leave, they didn't move from their spots until the carriage was out of sight.
"Why didn't you want to join them? It would have made our trip a lot easier." Mei Ling didn't understand why Chen Zhen would refuse the offer.
"My spiritual sense has been active even before they arrived. The rear carriages were full of people in chains. Some of them were close to death. We need to be careful from here on out. Just like how it was for you on your last journey, I don't want anything like that to happen again." Chen Zhen said as he looked in the direction the carriage left.
Mei Ling and the kids were shocked to hear what Chen Zhen said. Mei Ling was reminded of what almost happened to her last time. She looked at Chen Zhen and firmly nodded her head. She would trust Chen Zhen's judgement and rely on him to see them safely along this journey.
They decided to wait there for the rest of the day to allow the caravan group to make it a good distance ahead of them before they started traveling again.
There were a hundred guards on the entire caravan split amongst the many carriages and wagons. Ling Chanyom took half of them to set the ambush. As slave traders they had many formations they were proficient at to allow them to sneak attack and quickly overpower their targets, without acc.u.mulating a lot of damage to the merchandise in the process. Because Ling Chanyom sensed that Chen Zhen was a Liquid Core Stage cultivator he asked his second in command Xiong Yu to come along also.
Chen Zhen and them walked slowly along the road. It meandered its way thru the woods. Chen Zhen couldn't sense anyone along their route, but he wasn't going to relax his guard. Chen was looking back and forth into the woods on either side of the road when his bloodline began to heat up. Chen Zhen paused because he felt like his blood started boiling in his body. Mei Ling and the kids
Mei Ling could feel that there was something very different with Chen Zhen. He was releasing a bloodthirsty aura right now that was very oppressive to her and the kids. Unbeknownst to her there were warriors in the woods that could feel the bloodthirsty aura pressing down on them like a small mountain.
Ling Chanyom felt a cold sweat break out all over his body. He didn't know why he suddenly felt fear when he looked at Chen Zhen. Ten of his men he had hidden in the woods were bleeding from various body parts. There was no way for them to help capture Chen Zhen and his family. He had no clue how Chen Zhen found them. The formation they were using has been used to capture cultivators that were a lot more powerful then Chen Zhen with absolute success. He realized now that he had completely underestimated Chen Zhen.
Chen Zhen took of to the woods on the right side of the woods. He became a red streak that flashed behind trees. The first tree had a man crouched low behind it. Chen Zhen grabbed the man's arm as he rushed by, the force ripped the arm from his body. The next tree had a man hiding on a tree branch, Chen Zhen grabbed one of his feet and twisted it until it was backwards. Chen Zhen kept attacking in this way until he had maimed another ten men before he returned to the road. Now continuous screams could be heard from the left and right of the road.
"Go out into the road and distract him. I will sneak around to the back and take his family hostage while you confront him." Ling Chanyom said to Xiong Yu.
Xiong Yu was terrified. He couldn't even see Chen Zhen move, how was he supposed fight him.
"Don't worry as soon as you have his attention I will make my move." Ling Chanyom said to encourage him.
Xiong Yu took some deep breaths to calm himself down. He slowly walked out into the middle of the road. Chen Zhen instantly locked in on him. Just the gaze on Chen Zhen's face was enough to petrify Xiong Yu. Xiong Yu felt like he was being stared by a wild beast. While Xiong Yu was moving into the road Ling Chanyom made his move. He ghosted thru the forest not making a sound. Ling Chanyom had just gotten behind Mei Ling and the kids when he felt pressure on his shoulders.
Xiong Yu was still staring at Chen Zhen when Chen Zhen suddenly turned his head slightly and looked back toward Mei Ling and the kids. He could smell someone moving at a high speed toward Mei Ling and the kids. Chen Zhen activated Thunder step and arrived behind Ling Chanyom at the same time that he arrived behind Mei Ling. All of this happened faster than Xiong Yu could blink.
Before Ling Chanyom could react he was thrust violently into the woods. His body was blasted thru five or six trees before coming to a stop. Ling Chanyom was a level 2 Liquid Core Stage cultivator. He sensed before that Chen Zhen had just broken through to the Liquid Core Stage, so how was he so powerful?
Ling Chanyom had just stood up when a fist crashed into his face, smas.h.i.+ng him back down to the ground. Chen Zhen kicked and punched Ling Chanyom until he was a b.l.o.o.d.y mess. It was like a grown adult beating on a little child. Ling Chanyom had no chance to fight back.
Xiong Yu heard the sounds of someone being beaten badly. A little while after the sounds stopped Chen Zhen came slowly walking out of the woods dragging Ling Chanyom's battered body. He threw the body at Xiong Yu's feet.
"I'm going to show you mercy once and only once. Take you men and leave. If you try to come after us again I will slaughter each and every one of you to protect them." Chen Zhen said as he pointed back at Mei Ling and the kids.
Chen Zhen then turned around and walked back to Mei Ling and the kids. They walked back the way they came. Chen Zhen decided to camp out for a couple days to give to avoid the rest of the caravan. If need be he would avoid Qianbei altogether. Chen Zhen would take any measures necessary to keep Mei Ling and the kids safe.
Xiong Yu and the rest of the warriors slowly dragged themselves back to the rendezvous point with the caravan. When Diako Zenua came out of her carriage all of the warriors knelt down with their heads hung low.
"Explain. What happened?" Diako Zenua said scowling at her warriors.
Everyone looked at Xiong Yu who explained what happened in detail. Xiong Yu thought that Diako Zenua would be furious, but instead she was slightly smiling.
"He's even more powerful then I thought. I can make a fortune off of him. I have underestimated him this time, but I will plan much better next time." Diako Zenua started to look around at her men, "Take the injured to the medic carriage. When everyone his healed we will go hunting for him. I WANT him in my stock within the week. I will not accept you failure another time. Either he ends up in my stock or you will take his place."
With that Diako Zenua spun on her heals and went back inside her carriage.