Free Web NovelChapter 188: Chapter 185: Danger Approaching
The sudden rainy season,
undoubtedly brought immense trouble to the Cultivators who had flocked to the area.
No matter how desperate their desire to enter the mountains for treasure,
faced with the vast downpour and the overwhelming tide of mountain leeches,
all the Cultivators had no choice but to temporarily retreat and find shelter.
In truth, taking shelter from the rain was the easy part.
As Cultivators, they weren’t about to get soaked by the rain and catch a cold.
For them, even being submerged in water for a month was no big deal.
The real trouble was the mountain leeches that appeared from some unknown corner, covering the entire landscape.
It was truly terrifying!
They were everywhere.
On the ground, on the tree trunks, under the leaves, in the grass... everywhere the eye could see was the sight of them, like the grasping tentacles of demons, probing the air!
The entire Demon Beast Forest was like this, as if they were endless.
Within the forest,
one could occasionally see desiccated corpses, their blood drained dry,
covered in a dense, writhing mass of mountain leeches—a truly horrifying sight.
These were the bodies of low and mid-level Cultivators who lacked strength and had failed to realize the horror of the dense swarms of mountain leeches around them.
At first, they didn’t take these little things—which could be crushed with a simple pinch—seriously, casually using their Magical Power to blast and pulverize the leeches that shot and pounced from the tree trunks and leaves.
Initially, they just found them a bit disgusting and creepy-looking, but since they were ultimately mortal creatures, they paid them no mind and continued their search in the forest, oblivious to the danger they posed.
The result was that after a significant portion of their Magical Power was depleted,
they realized something was wrong and wanted to quickly find a place to shelter from the rain, and more importantly, to escape the endless swarms of leeches.
But by then, it was too late.
In the vast, boundless forest,
where could one possibly find a suitable cave or hut to take shelter at a moment’s notice?
And so, once their Magical Power was exhausted, they were swarmed by the surrounding leeches and sucked dry on the spot.
These terrifying scenes
made people even more afraid to linger,
prompting them to brave the torrential rain and flee the forest in a hurry.
Unclaimed caves everywhere,
and the scattered villages established on the edge of the Border Desolate Forest, became the best places to seek refuge from the rain.
And this,
also caused the inns in Dawan Village’s commercial district to become packed to capacity.
Because of the commercial district’s existence, most Cultivators had visited the village to trade during this period and knew its location.
Thus, a steady stream of Cultivators retreated from the mountains, gathering in Dawan Village to rest.
This forced Dawan Village to hasten its efforts once again, expanding its construction area and building more houses even in the pouring rain.
But even so,
the massive influx of Cultivators still meant that the village’s inns, houses, and other lodgings were in short supply.
Of course,
while this placed great pressure on Dawan Village,
it also caused the village’s income to swell, filling its coffers to the brim.
....
「Meanwhile」
outside Dawan Village,
in the forest,
several figures were speeding through the storm-swept woods.
With their movements,
the surrounding mountain leeches sensed the vibrations and shot rapidly toward the source.
They came in a dense swarm, like raindrops.
However, each of the figures was glowing with Magical Power, which formed a Magical Power Shield within a three-foot radius around them.
The leaping leeches, along with the rain from the sky, were all repelled.
Unlike the other Cultivators,
these few traveled through this rain-soaked, Demon Cave-like land without the slightest hint of labored breath.
And judging by the aura they emitted,
they were all at the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer!
Moreover,
their direction of travel was different from the retreating Cultivators.
The others were staging a mass retreat from the Demon Beast Forest back to Dawan Village to escape the plague of leeches,
whereas they,
were heading south from the direction of Qing City in the north.
They had just entered the torrential downpour that shrouded the Border Desolate Forest from a land of clear skies.
"Dammit, how can such a disgusting place exist in this world! This rain has been falling for three days and three nights without stopping! And what are all these disgusting things swarming all over the mountains? They’re making me sick just looking at them!"
"These should be mountain leeches, just mortal creatures that can be crushed with a pinch... but the sheer number of them is wrong. They cover the mountains; we’ve seen them for the last hundred li... they probably infest the entire borderlands. What do these things even live on? And how did they multiply to such terrifying numbers?"
"Who knows? Who would care about such disgusting things... Ugh, this shitty environment. I miss the sun-drenched courtyards and the handmaidens of Tian Nan City."
"It’s all that damned brat Shen Chong’s fault, running to this godforsaken shithole! Now we have to suffer through this too!"
"When we catch him this time, I’m going to beat the hell out of him before we send him to the First Lady!"
"Count me in. The First Lady is just going to kill him in the end anyway. We just need to leave the little brat barely breathing!"
"This time, we absolutely cannot let that brat escape again!"
The dim, gloomy sky, the torrential rain, and the teeming mountain leeches all around undoubtedly put everyone in an extremely foul mood.
The expressions on their faces were clearly unpleasant.
It was understandable.
Forced to travel all the way from the comfort of Tian Nan City to this destitute and treacherous land, how could their mood be anything but sour in such an environment?
"...Alright, enough complaining. Let’s focus on how to catch that brat. The First Lady gave us a direct order this time. If he escapes again, we’ll have hell to pay..."
"It’s not that easy. You’ve all seen how tricky that brat is. We can only do our best..."
"We should be close to that place called Dawan Village, right? Let’s rest there for a bit. We can discuss how to find him then..."
"If I remember correctly, the current Garrison of Dawan Village is also one of the Clan Leader’s illegitimate sons. Maybe Shen Chong is hiding there... perhaps the illegitimate sons have some kind of alliance..."
"I doubt it. The Garrison of Dawan Village is named Shen Changchuan, right? He’s always been low-key and afraid of dying. I heard he came to this remote corner of his own volition. How would someone like that dare to scheme against the First Lady?"
"Heh, who knows? You can know a person’s face, but not their heart... If we say there is, then there is. Otherwise, how are we supposed to get any credit for this?"
"Haha, I see! That’s even better. When the time comes, we’ll round them all up in one go. The First Lady will have to thank us properly..."
The men exchanged a look,
their gazes subtle,
and couldn’t help but share a knowing smile.
They had a tacit understanding about certain matters.
"Speaking of which, the Clan Leader... he ’committed suicide by stabbing himself in the back seven times’... to think he married a woman like that... no peace in that household!"
"Tch, and here you are pitying the Clan Leader... Don’t you see how much he gained from that marriage alliance? Otherwise, with his level of talent, how could he possibly have achieved Soul Emergence...?"
As their conversation drifted,
the figures of the men gradually disappeared into the depths of the rain-swept curtain.
