Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 109: A Well-Meaning Warning

A wyrm? A Heaven-Man Realm wyrm? That’s what we just outran? Xie Fengchao, who had barely managed to sit up, wore an expression of pure shock.

Beyond the lingering fright, he was mostly thrilled.

When he got back to the Flame Capital, this one story alone would give him material to boast about for half a lifetime!

Xing Chang, Pan Yunzhou, and Zheng Zhuxi felt much the same. They were all young, and now that the danger had passed, it was hard not to feel the blood stirring, as if they had become the heroes of a legend or a jianghu tale.

No wonder it wasn’t deterred by Banishing Demons and Warding Off Evil. No wonder it dared to give chase, and could drive those fierce beasts into a frenzy... The pieces fell into place for Ding Songyan.

He glanced across the faces of his senior sister and the others and laughed inwardly.

That wyrm gave us a head start of well over 10 kilometers. We weren’t even on the same starting line. Isn’t it perfectly natural that we outran it? I didn’t even use my four wings...

Seeing the young heroes’ expressions change, Flame Spear Li Rui misread their thoughts and said gently, ”No need to worry. As long as you don’t enter the mountains at night, you’ll be safe. Ever since that wyrm revealed itself, Supreme Masters and even Spirit Platform Realm Sages from both the Yu and Gan Kingdoms have been passing through this area hoping to capture it. Its flesh and blood could allow seven or eight ordinary people to make a great leap in cultivation, and if even one of them reaches the Heaven-Man Realm, it’s worth the effort.

”The flood dragon rarely dares to leave its hiding place, let alone the mountains.”

So that’s why... Zheng Zhuxi and the others now gained a new understanding over the dark cloud’s retreat.

Ding Songyan’s thoughts turned to what the Secret Classic of Mountains and Seas had to say on the subject.

The flood dragon was not among the strongest of supernatural beasts, possessing only three characteristics. But since the heaven-earth severance had reduced everyone’s power to similar levels, that deficiency was no longer obvious. And it could undergo nine transformations to become a true dragon.

Jiao, the Flood Dragon: nine transformations to become a dragon. The result of consuming it? Summons clouds and mist, carries wind and rain, raises floods in rivers.

Ding Songyan considered briefly, then deliberately probed, ”Can one enter the mountains during the day?”

He didn’t want to reveal that they had already succeeded, so he kept up the pretense of still pursuing the Three Fiends of Xiao City.

Li Rui seemed upright enough and came from a major sect, but just because he said he was Li Rui didn’t mean he actually was. What if he was some renegade disciple of the Lizhu Sect?

In a situation like this, Ding Songyan especially missed Liang Qian’s Mirror Lake Divine Reflection.

”Entering during the day along established paths is mostly safe. At night, you must find the nearest shelter. Never push through by force,” Li Rui gave a brief summary.

Ding Songyan looked around and asked thoughtfully, ”Was this village abandoned because of the wyrm catastrophe?”

Li Rui gave a slow nod.

”This village was mostly hunters who thrived by going into the mountains to hunt. After the wyrm arrived, the fierce beasts multiplied. Hunters can’t restrict themselves to fixed paths when searching for game, so casualties mounted day by day. The village became impossible to sustain, and the whole settlement had to relocate.”

No wonder that mountain god temple was abandoned... Ding Songyan was about to say something more when Li Rui, who had finished studying them, said gravely, ”Don’t underestimate Xinfu City. If the criminals you’re pursuing have fled there, just give it up.”

He had already used his own Li Fire Golden Eyes to confirm that these young people, all around twenty, were not in disguise. The strongest were the Headless one and the saber user, both of whom showed clear physical anomalies.

The remaining three were only early Great Proliferation Realm, sixth-rank Anomaly Manifested at best.

Surely there couldn’t be a Grandmaster hidden among them who could suppress their physical anomalies, or someone who had falsified their appearance using Dharma Realm levels of the Divine Art of Heaven and Earth Transmutation?

As a seasoned veteran of the jianghu, Li Rui had more than a little experience ”dealing with” disciples of the Sage-Severing Way.

”What makes you say that?” Ding Songyan deliberately pressed.

Li Rui considered his words.

”The place is both chaotic and orderly. The strong are respected, yet the weak shouldn’t be underestimated either. Everyone who survives there has their own way of staying alive, and none of them are people you’d want to provoke. Heaven-Man Realm heretics show up there regularly as well.”

Most of the unorthodox produced nothing. The wealth they accumulated through robbery and plunder was worthless if it couldn’t be exchanged for food, weapons, provisions, secret manuals, pills, or mechanisms. Unlike the Twenty-One Heretical Ways, they had no established channels connecting them to towns and villages where they could acquire supplies. Their options were to attach themselves to the powerful and live on scraps, or to carve out places where they could trade among themselves.

Xinfu City, tucked in the deep mountain forests at the junction of three kingdoms, had come into being for exactly this reason.

As time went on, fugitives, those hiding from enemies, and those seeking easy fortune trickled in one after another, and Xinfu City gradually prospered.

It was also one of the few places in the Great Wilderness with no city walls or watchtowers.

As he said this, Li Rui glanced at Zheng Zhuxi, still ill, and at the half-spent Xie Fengchao, then said with earnest concern, ”You’ve tracked them all this way, and your companions are hurt. Everyone’s in poor shape. There’s no need to push yourselves.”

Ding Songyan looked at his senior sister and the others, letting a conflicted, hesitant expression show, then after a moment said, ”We were already thinking of turning back.”

He solemnly bowed at Li Rui.

”Hero Li, thank you for coming out of your way to advise us. Your chivalrous spirit is something we’ll carry with us.

”Two of our companions are injured and cannot move freely, so we will perform this bow on their behalf.”

Hearing this, Xing Chang and Pan Yunzhou also bowed respectfully, thanking Flame Spear Li Rui for his warning.

Li Rui accepted the bow graciously and said with a smile, ”Then I’ll find somewhere else to rest. With me here, you won’t be at ease, and frankly neither will I.”

They had met by chance as strangers on the road. No matter how sincere and open either side appeared, wariness was inevitable.

Ding Songyan and Pan Yunzhou both understood this, and neither asked Li Rui if he needed dried meat or water.

You might dare to offer, but the other person might not dare to eat!

Once Li Rui disappeared into the distance, Ding Songyan sat back down beside Zheng Zhuxi, picked up the untouched pouch of water, and handed it to his senior sister.

Zheng Zhuxi drank less than half the pouch and ate a few pieces of dried meat, feeling notably more alert. With her junior brother’s arm to lean on, she went outside and found a secluded corner to relieve herself.

Throughout this pursuit, she had not behaved as someone pampered or squeamish.

As Ding Songyan, Xing Chang, and Pan Yunzhou took turns resting and standing watch, the darkness gradually retreated and a faint light began to show at the horizon.

”Time to go.” The headless Xing Chang rose to his feet.

He felt they couldn’t wait until full daylight, or Gan Kingdom martial practitioners might spot them.

Ding Songyan made no objection, moved in front of Zheng Zhuxi, and crouched down.

Zheng Zhuxi leaned onto his back, one hand holding Autumnwater and the other resting on his shoulder, and said quietly, ”I’ve recovered quite a bit. I’m still a little weak, but I can travel on my own.”

Ding Songyan smiled.

”I’ll put you down once we’re south of the river. If we run into enemies along the way, they’ll think you’re a burden and target you. That’s exactly the kind of trap we want them to fall into.”

”...” Zheng Zhuxi was stunned for two breaths, then said with genuine feeling, ”Junior Brother, you really are terrible...”

She said nothing more and let Ding Songyan carry her on his back.

After a full night’s rest, Xie Fengchao was no longer spent and could travel on his own.

While the sky was still only dimly lit, the group deployed their movement techniques and raced back to the riverbank, finding the small boat hidden in the reed beds.

As the boat rowed out into the river, the group was remarkably silent compared to the soaring spirits and youthful bravado of their embarkation.

Back then they were the pursuers, with nothing else to worry about. Now they had reclaimed the luan tree flower, and until it was returned to its owner, they couldn’t afford to let their guard down. They were still on Gan Kingdom soil, and the river itself might conceal hidden dangers. They had to stay alert.

Amid the wind and waves, no one spoke. They each silently kept watch in their own direction.

Xing Chang and Pan Yunzhou took turns at the oars, driving the small boat forward at an angle across the water.

Gradually, fishing boats appeared ahead. The sky grew fully bright, revealing an expanse of blue.

With Great Zhao’s river defenses coming into view, Zheng Zhuxi and the others could at last breathe a little easier.

The great sun shed its golden light over the ford they had left from the day before.

...

After resting in the city, Li Rui shouldered his spear in two sections and made his way to where the mountain path began.

He needed to cross this mountain range and return to the Yu Kingdom.

He had barely gone a short way down the mountain path when his brow creased slightly.

There were clear watermarks high up on the walls of the deep ravine.

”There was a flash flood last night?” Li Rui muttered to himself, puzzled.

If there truly had been a flash flood, how could he have not noticed?

A little further on, he saw a large fish stranded in the stream, split in two, its eyes open wide and staring blankly at the sky above.

Li Rui slowed his pace without thinking.

His instincts told him something significant had happened in these mountains last night.

As he continued, he saw all manner of fierce beasts lying dead along the path—nimble white apes, thick pythons—almost all killed by sword wounds.

Who was vicious enough to forge a path of death... Li Rui doubted even he could manage that.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t kill these beasts. It was that every one of them had been felled in a single strike. The swordsmanship was clean and decisive, ruthlessly precise, with not a wasted motion.

Li Rui tried to picture the scene, and the more he thought about it, the more unsettled he felt.

Looking at the traces left by the heavy rain, a new question surfaced in his mind.

It didn’t rain at the foot of the mountain last night...

After walking for a good while longer, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

A stretch of dense forest had been flattened by some enormous creature, exposing a half-collapsed ruined temple to view.

What... Li Rui approached carefully. Water had pooled across the ground like a pond. In the distance lay a dead martial practitioner and a terrifying Xiaoyang.

He searched the area and found inside the half-collapsed temple a corpse with a punctured eye socket and a great many fragments of flesh and blood.

That wyrm came out last night? Li Rui’s heart raced, a tremor running through him.

The forest still seemed to carry a residue of the terrifying presence the flood dragon had left in its wake.

Suppressing his unease, Li Rui examined the bodies carefully. Two had died from sword wounds, same as the beasts along the path. The Xiaoyang had nearly half its neck severed by a saber. The cause of death of the one who left no remains behind was unknown.

Li Rui picked up a dart and murmured to himself, ”Shattered Star?”

All at once, he thought of the young heroes he had met the night before.

Besides the Headless, one had carried a saber, two had swords, and one had been empty-handed.

The thought stopped Li Rui cold.

They did this?

Weren’t they all only at the early Great Proliferation Realm?

And they escaped pursuit from a Heaven-Man Realm wyrm?