Urban Martial Saint

Holding these two pieces of cloth strips, Ye Qing pondered for a moment and finally decided to follow the direction indicated by the strips. Anyway, here in the canyon, he didn’t know which direction to go, and the result would be the same no matter which way he went. It could be considered exploring an adventure.

Walking forward a bit more, Ye Qing found several more pieces of fabric strips, all wrapped around trees or something, clearly left intentionally by someone. Perhaps the previous people used these strips as marks to indicate the path they had taken.

As Ye Qing walked along, he pulled down all the strips he encountered and stuffed them into his pocket. He did this to prevent Du Canglang from tracking him down using these fabric strips.

The canyon was filled with dense forests, and as Ye Qing walked amongst them, it wasn’t easy for Du Canglang to locate him. Of course, without these strips to guide him, even Ye Qing himself wouldn’t know how to navigate through it.

The canyon was vast. Ye Qing walked approximately two more kilometers, and the surrounding bones began to gradually decrease, while the strips became increasingly numerous. This made Ye Qing more certain that these strips were deliberately left as markers.

Rounding a corner, Ye Qing suddenly heard a cold voice: ”Stop!”

Ye Qing was startled because he clearly heard that it was Du Canglang’s voice. The sound was loud, causing Ye Qing’s eardrums to buzz, making it impossible to discern where the voice was coming from. This startled Ye Qing; had Du Canglang discovered him?

”Come out, I see you!” Du Canglang’s voice rang out again, and hearing it, Ye Qing suddenly felt puzzled. Since Du Canglang could see him, why didn’t he come out and capture him, considering his strength, and instead shouted loudly? Ye Qing cautiously turned his head around but couldn’t see any traces of Du Canglang nor know where the voice originated from.

Unable to see Du Canglang, Ye Qing felt at a loss for a moment, uncertain if Du Canglang had actually found him. So he stood still, not daring to move, quietly observing the surroundings. After about five minutes, Du Canglang’s voice rang out again: ”Stop running, I see you!”

However, this time the voice was far from Ye Qing. Although Ye Qing couldn’t discern where the voice was coming from, he knew that Du Canglang was getting farther from him.

Upon hearing this voice, Ye Qing breathed a sigh of relief; he finally understood what was going on. Du Canglang hadn’t discovered him at all; he was just shouting to scare him out. Luckily, Ye Qing remained composed. When Du Canglang shouted, Ye Qing didn’t move recklessly nor respond to Du Canglang’s words. Otherwise, if Ye Qing had spoken half a word, Du Canglang would have found him long ago.

Patting his chest, Ye Qing quickly moved past the corner, continuing forward quietly, avoiding making too much noise. He hadn’t gotten far when Du Canglang’s voice rang out again, but this time it was even farther away. Clearly, Ye Qing and Du Canglang were running in opposite directions, which made Ye Qing feel even more secure. With both moving in completely opposite directions, it wouldn’t be easy for Du Canglang to catch up with him.

Not daring to stall, as Du Canglang’s voice grew more distant, Ye Qing gradually quickened his pace. After running about three kilometers, he could no longer find any markers left by the fabric strips; all clues seemed to abruptly end here.

Ye Qing looked around, and his intuition told him that the clues ended here; normally indicating something wasn’t right nearby. He examined the area carefully, especially near the last tree where the fabric strip was tied, trying to see if there was anything unusual.

Circling the tree twice, Ye Qing found nothing special. As he was pondering, his hand inadvertently touched a spot on the tree trunk and felt it slippery. Ye Qing looked up and saw the tree bark was damaged, revealing the tree trunk’s sap, causing the slippery feeling.

Seeing this, Ye Qing’s heart suddenly moved. These trees grow in the canyon; normally, nothing should damage them. How did the tree trunk get its bark peeled? Plus, looking closely, the peeled area seemed to have been scraped by some heavy object. Ye Qing was familiar with such things; during his military days, he’d seen tree-climbing tools that left similar marks on tree trunks. Could the peeled area on the tree trunk have been caused by climbing tools?

Ye Qing quickly looked up, observing the area around the tree, noticing many such marks, extending upward on the trunk. Clearly, someone climbed this tree before, leaving such traces.

The fabric strips ended at this tree, the markers stopped here, and now there were traces of people climbing the tree. This made Ye Qing suspect that those people climbed up here. But why did they climb this tree? Though the tree was tall and large, there shouldn’t be anything up there.

After pondering briefly, Ye Qing decided to climb up for a closer look. He knew those who entered this canyon were no fools; whoever came here must have had a purpose. Since they climbed this tree, there must be something special about it, and Ye Qing naturally had to investigate.

While those people needed tools to climb, Ye Qing required none; he learned these skills at a young age. During his military service, he frequently engaged in battles in forests and honed his tree-climbing skills expertly. Although he no longer had Inner Strength to protect him and his Vigor Power was weaker, climbing this tree posed no difficulty.

Tucking his shirt into his pants, Ye Qing deftly climbed the tree using his hands and feet. This tree grew peculiarly; it had few branches below three meters but was dense with branches and leaves beyond that height. Moreover, he didn’t know how many years this tree had grown, its branches were as thick as a soccer ball, and standing on them wouldn’t break them. The branches were also covered densely with leaves, making it a perfect hiding spot.

Ye Qing climbed about ten meters high, where the marks from climbing tools ended, meaning those people stopped there. Ye Qing turned around to view the surroundings but was startled after taking a look.

Surrounded by thick branches and leaves, one could be perfectly hidden within. As Ye Qing stood on the branch, he noticed, about three meters behind him, a human head sticking out from the leaves!

The head belonged to an exceptionally pale man, with a face less than half the size of a normal person’s, and his features twisted tightly together. Yet it was apparent that the man’s face showed a mixture of terror and dying unwillingness. This head swayed in the air along with the leaves, presenting a chilling sight.

Despite Ye Qing’s bravery, encountering such a head amidst the bone-filled canyon initially startled him. But he quickly regained his composure. Upon examining closely, he realized the man’s face wasn’t small but had shrunk for some reason, losing half its normal size. Moreover, it wasn’t merely a head; his body was concealed by thick leaves, making it seem as though only a head remained exposed.

In truth, if the entire corpse were exposed, it wouldn’t be as frightening. But revealing only a head sent an unsettling chill down one’s spine.

Understanding the situation, Ye Qing let out a breath. Walking along the trunk, he turned the corpse over and was shocked to find that the fabric on the corpse matched identically with the strips he had previously seen used as markers.

”So you were the one who left these marks!?” Ye Qing was startled as he examined the corpse. It was a man in his thirties or forties, his hands covered in calluses, carrying numerous tomb-robbing tools, indicating he was a professional tomb raider. Judging from his joints, he seemed to have practiced martial arts and should have decent strength, at least at the Internal Energy Release level. Few tomb robbers possessed such strength, and for this person to enter Mount Duwang and die here in such a strange manner, it stirred more questions.

They climbed up the tree; what happened led to this person’s demise here? Was there danger on the tree?

Considering this, Ye Qing instinctively glanced around but found nothing unusual. He felt even more puzzled about how the man ended up dying on the tree. If he came alone, what killed him? If he wasn’t alone and was killed by a companion, why leave him here?

These questions boggle Ye Qing’s mind, yet he couldn’t immediately solve them. To determine the identity of these people, Ye Qing moved the corpse out for a thorough examination to ascertain the cause of death and analyze what situation the man encountered.

Ye Qing turned the corpse over several times, yet couldn’t find any fatal wounds. But, strangely, he suddenly noticed something peculiar about the neck. Inspecting closely, he saw two deep teeth marks on the neck, appearing as if some creature had bitten through the man’s throat artery, leading to excessive blood loss, causing his death.