NOVEL NEXT Chapter 46: Acquaintance.
Chapter 46: Acquaintance.
A few months later, five people are making their way through the forest to Huli Mountain. Qiao Shun and Meng Mei after learning of their daughter's death. They quickly leave the city and head to the headquarters of the Martial Arts Alliance for help. Because they still believe their daughter is alive. However, the Martial Arts Alliance is dealing with another issue and is unable to send anyone.
Because of that, Qiao Shun and his wife sent a message to their old comrades for help. Most of them are first-class martial artists. However, only five were willing to come.
"We rest here tonight." An old man spoke and sat on the ground. In the past, he could slaughter numerous people, but now he is already an old man and easily gets tired.
"I already scouted this area; there is no demonic beast." A middle-aged man with a messy beard jumps down from the tree.
"Let’s eat." A tall, middle-aged woman begins to light the fire to cook.
"What will you do if you don’t find your daughter?" Asked the old man.
"Don’t worry, we know the chance for her to survive is slim, but we need to see her corpse first." Qiao Shun answered. While his wife nodded.
The old man wanted to say it was impossible because their daughter might already be inside the demonic beast's stomach. But he decided to be quiet because he knew the pain of losing a loved one.
What they don’t realize is that a pair of feline eyes are observing them in the darkness before disappearing.
-
Levi, in meditation, gradually opens his eyes and can see the starry sky. After a while, he looks down and sees demonic beasts and a black-clad human lining up. Some of them had a bamboo cylinder containing gunpowder attached to their bodies.
He found out that the demonic beast queen is rich. Since she doesn’t need to pay the demonic beast under her, all the caravan goods that get attacked by the demonic beast belong to her in Huli Mountain. After discussing it with the queen, she agrees to give him the money to buy weapons for his army. With Gao Ming's help, it’s easy to bribe the official to get the gunpowder and procure a weapon from the blacksmith.
"Has Boa Qi returned?"
We are still waiting." A demonic Ape spoke.
Boa Qi is the demonic leopard that Levi met in the past and who had been ordered by the queen to help him. The queen initially wanted to send the demonic beasts to swarm the intruder, but Levi asked to test the new army comprised of demonic beasts and humans under his command.
In just a few months, the number of demonic beasts under him had grown larger. The demonic beasts had appeared everywhere and more frequently. It's like the world is changing.
Levi had received a piece of information from Gao Ming a few weeks ago about the Thousand Rain sword fiend couple that was going to come here to search for their daughter. To think he meets an acquaintance, or, to be precise, an enemy. They are the martial artists that had been hired by Gao Tao to kill him, and he still remembers the pain of numerous blades of qi piercing his body.
Suddenly, Levi remembers something. "Has the prince agreed?"
"The prince refuses."
"It's fine." Levi finds out that the Thousand Rains Sword Fiend couple's daughter is still alive and has been captured by the prince. At first, he wants to use Meng Chin, or her real name, Qiao Chin, as a hostage. However, the prince is fond of her.
-
Inside a room, there is a sound of moaning and noise on the bed. Two people are intertwined under the blanket, and after a while, they both stop. The prince sits beside the bed, and Qiao Chin covers her naked body with the blanket.
Qiao Chin found everything that happens illogically. To think that the handsome man that she meets is a demonic beast, and after killing her friend, she is treated like a plaything. She tries to escape but gets captured again.
"Do you know? Your parents are coming here to find you." Shen Tu smiled while looking at her exhausted face.
"What!" Qiao Chin's eyes were wide as she gazed at her rapist.
"Yes, and tonight they will die." Seeing her reaction to Shen Tu is entertaining. A toy without emotion is boring.
"No!" Qiao Chin, without any clothes on her body, quickly jumped down from the bed to warn her parents. However, soon two women with reptile eyes held her to the ground. She tries to break free but fails.
"A pet needs to be well-behaved; send her to prison." Prince Shen Tu sneers.
"Yes, your highness." The servants drag the struggling and screaming Qiao Chin out of the room.
"Should I give her to Levi?" After thinking, the prince shakes his head. It’s hard to find a suitable pet.
After wearing his clothes, he goes out of the room.
-
"Why is the forest so quiet?" Said the bearded man. It’s not normal; at night, usually, there should be the sound of an insect or nocturnal animal.
"We are near a demonic beast's lair; other animals must have fled to other places. I sleep first; wake me up if anything happens." The old man lay near the fire and went to sleep.
The old man sometimes had nightmares and remembered things from the past. Once he returned from the war, he found out his entire family had been killed. After the investigation, it was determined that the killer was one of the orthodox faction disciples who got drunk and wanted to rape the old man's granddaughter. The sect to which the disciples belonged tried to hide the incident. But that was a mistake for the sect; the old man, after getting the news, wanted justice for his family.
However, on that day, they refused to hand over the killers, resulting in the deaths of many people, including the sect leader and elders. Without them, the sect becomes weaker and eventually disappears. The bodies of the murderers were hung in front of the sect gate.
The Martial Arts Alliance doesn’t take sides in this case and closes its eyes. After that, he stayed at Martial Arts Alliance to become an instructor. For the people who wanted revenge, he just killed them. Since then, nobody has dared come and disturb the old man.
In the end, only the bearded man keeps watch at night. His wife dies from the plague while he is away. The people here no longer had any family, which is why they are willing to help. The past war took many innocent lives on both sides. For him, orthodox and unorthodox factions are the same. The war started because of interest, not because of justice. Except for the demonic cult, those people are crazy.
Several hours later, the bearded man senses something and stands up, looking in a specific direction. However, due to the darkness, he cannot see clearly.
"Enemy!" The bearded man shouted while taking out his sword.
The four sleeping people open their eyes and quickly get ready for a fight.
Many black-clad figures walk through the dark woods, and they can see a light from the fire not far from them. After that, a group of people holding a bow and arrow move forward and aim their arrows at the light.
"Fire!"
Many arrows rain down on the night sky. However, the five people present are not panicking. The incoming arrows are either cut down or miss the target. There are also many trees to take cover from, especially in the forest.
After a while, the rain of arrows stops. None of the arrows managed to injure them.
"Why are humans attacking us?" The breaded man is a puzzle. Because there should not be humans near here, and the demonic beasts can't use a bow.
"Should we kill them?" Asked the tall woman.
"There might be an ambush; let's wait here." Answered the old man. The others also agreed.
Suddenly the land begins to shake, and the roar of various demonic beasts can be heard throughout the forest. The first to arrive is a pack of demonic wolves; they are larger than a horse.
"Conserve your energy; don't fight with your full strength." The old man had more experience, and they were close to the demonic beast's Huli Mountain home. Another issue is why humans join the demonic beasts.
The pack of demonic wolves pounced on them. Five of them, using swords or sabers, cut the demonic wolf's body, and blood poured down from the wound. However, the demonic wolves are still alive and keep attacking them.
When they focus on killing the demonic wolves, the next to arrive are demonic apes, gorillas, and tigers.
"Should we retreat?" The old man asked While dodging an attack from a demonic ape.
"No, we can still handle them." Qiao Shun decapitated the demonic wolf's head. He doesn’t want to waste time retreating and coming again to search for his daughter.
The demonic beasts are smart and take turns attacking them. However, some of them can’t flee in time and get killed by the five intruders. After half an hour, a large roar can be heard throughout the forest, and the demonic beast begins to retreat.
"We are safe." The tall woman, exhausted, put down her large saber. Compared to a sword, a saber is heavy and uses a lot more stamina.
"Keep vigilant; I feel something is not right." The old man feels wary and looks around; he doesn’t know why.
This time, a rain of fire arrows falls from the night sky. The five people cut or deflected the fire arrows to the ground; some of them hit the carcass.
"What is that smell?" The bearded man smells something and sees smoke coming out of the carcass. Coming closer, he kicks the carcass to check if there is smoke. The other carcass in the area also emits the same odor.
The old man's face turns pale because he realizes what that smell is, it was an explosive fuse. However, before he can shout to run. The carcasses exploded.
"KABOOM!"
"KABOOM!"
"KABOOM!"
Multiple explosions and fire engulfed the five people.
Not far from the explosion, Levi observed everything that had happened and grinned. "It looks like the meat will be well done. Let’s hope I can find their corpses."