Free Web NovelChapter 94: Chapter 94: Chaotic Stone Ridge
"My lord, you aren’t riding Wuzhu this time?"
In the backyard stable, Peach Blossoms watched Tang Wen wash his warhorse, occasionally ladling a scoop of clean water for him.
Whenever Tang Wen was home, the three women would find all sorts of excuses to linger around him.
After finishing with the horse, Tang Wen said calmly, "Wuzhu is too conspicuous. When you’re traveling, regardless of your strength, the most important thing is not to look like a fat sheep."
In the sunlight, Tang Wen’s profile was like jade.
Peach Blossoms’s eyes grew hazy. "My lord knows so much."
Wuzhu was too wild. As a Middle-level Magical Beast, it wasn’t suitable to keep at home either.
He had boarded it in the stables of the Royal Palace.
Wuzhu also ate a lot, so keeping it at the Royal Palace was the perfect arrangement.
Putting down the brush and handing the bucket to Peach Blossoms, Tang Wen thought about his mission for this trip.
He was going to Five Families City to sell potions, attend a trade fair, and find someone from the Five Great Clans to buy a water wheel from.
The kind of wooden water wheel shaped like a Ferris wheel, used for irrigating farmland.
The camp had only recently learned that Five Families City had water wheels.
Tang Wen and the others were determined to get the blueprints.
There was a lake near the camp, so they should be able to put it to use.
General Zhou was already trying to figure out how to deal with the giant python in the lake.
That’s right. The lake to the west was designated a restricted area...
...mainly because of the exotic beast python inside it, along with its offspring—a pack of water pythons.
On his way to Elder Ya’s courtyard, Tang Wen recalled General Zhou’s grave explanation:
"The Green Water Python’s ability is incredibly strange—it’s illusion, mental control. Their skin blends in with the lake water. When someone passes by the shore and perhaps just glances under the surface, they’ll be captivated by the Green Water Python’s vertical pupils, then uncontrollably jump into the lake and disappear completely."
"Green Water Python?"
In the courtyard, Tang Wen asked Elder Ya what level of Exotic Beast the Green Water Python was.
Elder Ya recalled, "They’re very troublesome, but it would be good if you could capture a young one. As for its level? It’s about the same as a Silver Wolf."
"A young one?"
"Heh, you don’t think I only know how to raise Blood Crows, do you?"
Tang Wen smiled. ’Whether you do or not, I do.’
After taming the Black Steed, his proficiency with the Beast Taming Skill had increased significantly.
His communication with the Blood Crow had also become much smoother.
His proficiency continued to climb.
’Tame a python?’
’It’s not like I’m raising a Medusa. Sounds a bit creepy.’
Elder Ya was still talking. "You’re taking them to Five Families City to sell? Why not go farther? What’s the use of trading for grain and water wheels? Ah, I see. You have to take care of those commoners in the Outer City... Your reputation is too good. This disastrous year is going to be tough for you!"
Tang Wen didn’t reply, instead looking down to count the small vials on the stone table.
Having witnessed Elder Ya’s potion-making skills, General Zhou and General Zhao had personally gone out to slay the recorded High-level Exotic Beasts whose territories were nearby.
They used the beasts’ Blood Marrow to create a batch of potions.
Aside from a small portion they kept for their own use, the rest were all to be taken to Five Families City for trade.
In seven days, a market, or rather, a Martial Artist trade fair, would be held in Five Families City.
The surrounding factions were preparing to use this opportunity to trade for what they needed.
The time for departure had arrived.
At the camp gate, Tangtang came to see him off.
Tang Wen waved to her, mounted his warhorse, and, leading a packhorse, blended into the trade caravan outside the gate.
"Commander Tang Wen, why are you dressed like that?"
Qian Sanduo looked curiously at Tang Wen, who was dressed all in black. The black clothes weren’t the issue; the strange part was that he had also covered his face below the eyes with a black cloth.
Tang Wen gave a perfunctory reply, "It’s windy and dusty."
After speaking, he picked up a bamboo hat, placed it on his head, and tied the dangling hemp cord under his chin.
Commander Qian didn’t press the matter and went to inspect the caravan.
The caravan set out.
Time was short, so they had to travel day and night.
In the caravan, besides Tang Wen and Qian Sanduo, there was also a Commander Li.
He was also a Trade Team Leader and had been at the camp for over twenty years. He had married wives and concubines and had a large brood of children.
Seeing Tang Wen, he pointed to the carriages in the convoy and said, "The journey will take six days. We’ll each take watch for a day and rest in turns."
Before he could finish, Tang Wen gestured, and a Blood Crow flapped its wings, landing on his armored arm.
Commander Li said in pleasant surprise, "Commander Tang Wen, you have this ability too?"
Qian Sanduo was equally astonished. "No wonder the General specifically requested you for this."
"I just learned it. My ability is limited."
The two of them just assumed he was being modest.
The convoy consisted of over a dozen wagons and nearly a hundred horses.
More than thirty Martial Artists stood guard vigilantly at the front and rear.
The wagons were loaded with furs and armor.
The furs came from farmed and hunted animals, while the armor was made by craftsmen from the Inner City.
Tang Wen knew that there was a poor-quality iron mine in the forest northeast of the camp.
The yield wasn’t large, but it was enough for their own use.
After stockpiling for a while, they could also sell some of the weapons and armor.
On the first day, the caravan had yet to leave the camp’s territory.
The two commanders, showing consideration for Tang Wen, had him stand watch on the first night.
For the following two nights, he rested in a carriage.
The first three days passed in a flash.
Tang Wen, having paused his Martial Arts Training, spent his time on guard duty training his crow and taming his horse.
He continuously increased his proficiency in the Beast Taming Skill.
"Report! There are bodies on the roadside!"
By the morning of the fourth day, the caravan had already traveled several hundred li.
The sky was a clear, brilliant blue, without a single cloud for thousands of miles.
The land below, however, was a desolate grayish-brown, as if drained of all life.
Tang Wen rode his horse forward and saw several shriveled, mangled corpses with ghastly white bones exposed, emitting waves of a foul stench.
Commander Li rode up beside him and said, sharing his experience, "Normally, when we’re trading on the road, we don’t bother with bodies like these. But this is too close to the camp. We have to burn them."
He ordered someone to fetch a torch, and a Guard went reluctantly.
Seeing that there wasn’t even a blade of grass around the corpses, Tang Wen stopped him. "I’ll handle it."
With that, he took a few round pieces of charcoal from a small pouch at his side and threw them at the corpses using the Flying Locust Stone technique.
Commander Li and a few others in the caravan were all stunned.
The next moment, there was a short sonic boom as the charcoal ignited, struck the bodies, and erupted in a shower of flames.
It was like sparks falling into hot oil.
"With that move alone, an ordinary Martial Artist would be no match for you."
"That sound could scare off an Exotic Beast."
The two of them were curious how Tang Wen had developed such a skill.
Along the way, more bodies appeared from time to time.
Again and again, Tang Wen demonstrated his technique for the two commanders.
The two commanders tried it several times before admitting with resignation that they just didn’t have the knack for it.
"Commander Tang Wen, you’re truly a young genius! To be able to throw a Flying Stone with such power without a Hidden Weapon Visualization Technique is incredible!"
Qian Sanduo praised him.
The first four days were peaceful.
The occasional wild animal or Exotic Beast that appeared...
...would become an extra dish for dinner that evening, ending up in everyone’s stomachs.
At noon on the fifth day, a field of scattered boulders appeared ahead.
Commander Qian shouted, "Take a fifteen-minute break! Everyone on alert, we’ve reached Chaotic Stone Ridge! Hoist our camp’s banner!"
A burly man raised a thirty-foot-long bamboo pole.
The banner, red as fire, fluttered in the air.
Before Tang Wen could ask, Commander Li explained, "Chaotic Stone Ridge is also known as Chaotic Corpse Ridge. A lot of people die here."
For several li ahead, the terrain was rugged and strewn with massive boulders.
At a glance, one’s line of sight was blocked everywhere; there wasn’t a single straight path.
A convoy of several dozen people would have to twist and turn repeatedly, winding its way through just to move forward.
Tang Wen gave it a casual scan and confirmed that this terrain was perfect for an ambush.
Perhaps behind some great boulder lurked a terrifying Exotic Beast or a treacherous bandit.
Travelers would meet their end in their maws or at their hands.
"CAW!"
The Blood Crow flew from Tang Wen’s shoulder into the sky.
Commander Qian said, "In a moment, I’ll take the lead. You provide support from the middle, and Commander Li will guard the rear to prevent any sneak attacks."
Tang Wen was noncommittal. "Do we take this road often?"
"Of course. Both short-range and long-haul caravans have to pass through here. It’s unavoidable."
"Hasn’t anyone thought of clearing a straight path?"
"It’s difficult! Not to mention that bandits like the Black Mountain Ghosts would just destroy it. The ridge itself is four or five li long."
Clearing a path would take too much effort.
Tang Wen said no more. He walked up to a large boulder and casually lashed it with his whip.
CRUMBLE! Chunks fell right off the boulder.
He struck a few more in succession, all with the same result.
An ordinary Martial Artist could also shatter rocks of this density with a single punch.
He returned to a wagon to grab a bamboo umbrella, then unleashed a Visualization Burst, his body shooting straight up into the air.
At the apex of his jump, he opened the umbrella.
The bamboo umbrella couldn’t support his weight and buckled upwards.
Tang Wen used the brief moment of slowed descent to get a clear view of the area with the fewest rocks.
"Commander Tang Wen, what is this?" Qian Sanduo and Commander Li exchanged a look, not understanding what he was doing.
Tang Wen said calmly, "I want to see if I can clear a path quickly."
