Urban Martial Saint

Just like every night in the past few days, before going to sleep, everyone gathered firewood and set up several campfires around the tents to guard against any possible wild animals during the night.

In fact, at this altitude, the possibility of encountering ferocious wild animals was already quite low. At such heights, even plants struggled to survive, let alone animals.

The first half of the night passed peacefully. In the second half of the night, it was Ye Qing’s turn to keep watch. He got up early and let the person on night duty go to sleep first. Compared to these people, Ye Qing was quite fortunate, as long as he meditated for a while in the posture of the Innate Nine Diagrams, it was even more refreshing than a night’s sleep. Practicing the Innate Nine Diagrams for an hour was as good as sleeping the whole night, the effect was excellent. When necessary, Ye Qing would use this Innate Nine Diagrams to refresh himself.

Everyone was asleep, and Ye Qing circled around the area. Seeing there was no movement, he went to sit by the tent. At this altitude, it was actually quite cold. A little further up, one could see the snow on the mountain, so the temperature was understandably low. Although there were campfires nearby, everyone still had to hide in their blankets, wrapping themselves tightly.

Ye Qing sat beside the fire for a while and felt a bit chilly. He then sat cross-legged on the ground, meditating in the posture of the Innate Nine Diagrams. The Innate Nine Diagrams was incredibly miraculous, not only relieving fatigue but also helping one withstand the cold and heat, with quite an excellent effect. It was worthy of being the foundation of all secret techniques of the Taoist Sect, and this was merely the entry-level heart method of the Innate Skill. If one could obtain the complete Innate Skill, who knows what kind of realm its effects would reach!

Although he was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, Ye Qing’s way of keeping watch like this was much more effective than watching with his eyes open. After all, it was night, and although Ye Qing could see in the dark, it was not as clear as during the day, and the results of using his eyes to watch were not great. However, when Ye Qing meditated in the posture of the Innate Nine Diagrams, his hearing became exceptionally sharp, making it impossible for any movements around him to escape his ears. It could be said that if something approached them, Ye Qing could feel it clearly.

After meditating for a while, indeed, Ye Qing heard a rustling sound, as if some small thing was coming toward them. Moreover, it seemed that there were quite a few, as the sounds were chaotic.

Ye Qing frowned slightly, opened his eyes, and looked around, but there was nothing in the darkness. Where was this sound coming from?

When he opened his eyes, Ye Qing couldn’t hear the sound anymore. This meant the sound was actually very faint, and only when Ye Qing meditated in the posture of the Innate Nine Diagrams could he hear it. If he didn’t use this posture, he wouldn’t be able to hear the sound.

Could it be the sound of small animals moving at night in the distance?

Ye Qing shook his head and didn’t think much of it, closing his eyes again to meditate. As soon as he entered into a meditative trance, he heard the sound again. Moreover, he could clearly feel that the sound was closer to him. This meant that these small animals were moving toward them.

Ye Qing immediately opened his eyes, but just like last time, he saw nothing and heard no sound, as if nothing had occurred, and it was all just an illusion.

However, this time Ye Qing didn’t react as before, because he had already sensed something amiss. He didn’t stand up but closed his eyes again, entering into a meditative trance once more. The sound reappeared, and Ye Qing held his breath, carefully sensing the position from where the sound was coming to determine the source.

After listening for a while, Ye Qing suddenly felt a bit surprised. The sound was coming from below. But, it was mountainous terrain below, so how could there be a sound from there?

And now, the sound was growing louder, to the point where Ye Qing could vaguely hear it without entering a meditative trance. Of course, this was also because Ye Qing’s hearing was better than others. The people sleeping in the tent hadn’t heard a thing yet and were sleeping soundly.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Qing bent down and lay on the ground, pressing his ear against the ground to listen. With his ear to the ground, the sound was much clearer, and Ye Qing could distinctly hear the sound of the soil layer being clawed away from underneath. It felt as if something below the soil layer was breaking through, which was extremely strange.

After a moment of hesitation, Ye Qing suddenly stood up, hurrying to the tents and waking everyone up.

”What’s going on!” Old Chen was sleeping soundly, woken up by Ye Qing with a disgruntled look: ”Didn’t we just switch watch? Isn’t it too soon to wake us up?”

Ye Qing ignored Old Chen, looking at the ground below and said solemnly, ”Something’s happening!”

”Something’s happening?” Fat Wang and the others instantly became alert, almost jumping out of the tents while watching their surroundings warily and asking, ”What’s happening? What occurred?”

Ye Qing stomped the ground with his foot and said solemnly, ”There’s movement underground!”

”Underground?” Everyone exchanged glances, and Big Beard was the first to lie on the ground, listening with his ear, and his face changed immediately, saying, ”Indeed, something is underground!”

Everyone lay on the ground to listen, and after a moment, their expressions changed too. There was a sound under the ground, and it wasn’t small. It certainly wasn’t good. What exactly was beneath the ground?

”What should we do now?” An anxious short man asked, increasingly worried about the dangers they encountered on the mountain, making them a bit fearful of any unknown situation.

”Everyone, don’t panic. What comes from underground is not necessarily a fierce animal!” Fat Wang shouted, ”Maybe it’s just a rabbit!”

A man said, ”What rabbit makes such a loud noise? Could it be a python?”

”A snake!?” Immediately someone panicked. Among them, two people particularly feared snakes.

”Whatever it is, we must leave this place quickly!” Ye Qing said seriously, ”Pack up the tents and let’s move out now!”

”Crap, where should we run now?” Old Chen immediately bellowed, ”Up there is a snow belt, down there is a forest with tigers. Where do we run?”

”Up the mountain!” Ye Qing replied succinctly, he wasn’t exactly afraid of the tigers below. However, if they ran down now, they would have to come through this place again. Would they encounter this situation again by then? So, it was better to head up the mountain. Although it was colder and there was a snow belt, the sky was getting brighter. Going up wasn’t a bad choice.

Fat Wang had already started urging everyone to pack their things to leave this place quickly. Although everyone was a bit flustered, they had all experienced storms before and had encountered various situations in ancient tombs. They could handle sudden occurrences. In less than five minutes, everyone packed up everything.

At this time, the rustling sound from the ground below grew even louder. It sounded as if the things below were about to break through the ground. Everyone was worriedly looking at the ground, not knowing what would emerge from it next.

”Run!” Ye Qing yelled, now was not the time for delay. If they could escape the area before those things broke through the ground, everyone would be safe.

Following Ye Qing’s words, everyone didn’t hesitate, immediately carrying their belongings and running up the mountain. The sound from the ground grew louder, and eventually, the ground started trembling, as if something was really about to break out from below. Moreover, the tremor covered a massive range; although everyone had started running, they hadn’t left the trembling zone yet, making everyone even more panicked.

”What do we do? What do we do?” Someone yelled loudly in fear.

”Stop talking and just run!” Another person shouted.

”Run my ass, the range is so wide, almost reaching the snow belt, can we even run out?”

Everyone was shouting in fear, the tremor range was too vast, clearly they couldn’t escape.

At this moment, Ye Qing suddenly shouted, ”Go back to the campfire!”

Without thinking twice, everyone turned and retreated to the campfire location. Luckily, although the ground around was shaking, there wasn’t much movement near the campfire, demonstrating that the things feared fire.

A furious man shouted, ”Damn, just what the hell is it? How are there so many?”

Ye Qing frowned deeply; seeing such a vast situation, he vaguely guessed something. He just wasn’t willing to admit it for now. Because if it was really as he suspected, then their chances of leaving this range alive were slim.

As everyone was shouting and screaming, a piece of soil not far from them suddenly caved into a small hole amidst the tremors. Subsequently, a small head poked out from the hole, with gray fur, small eyes, and long whiskers, resembling a mouse. However, this mouse was smaller, and its long incisors made it look like two nails stuck in its mouth, unusually strange.

Seeing the small mouse, Ye Qing sighed—it seemed he was right, and it was indeed this situation!

With the appearance of this small mouse, other soil layers also collapsed, and one head after another emerged from the ground, all resembling the previous small mouse. Small in size, with long incisors, looking at the people in the middle with their little eyes. And in those eyes, there was a clear menacing glare, even more ferocious than the wild animals they had seen before. Being stared down by these little guys sent a chill down one’s spine!