Chapter 435 - 306: Sudden Change, Exposed

Chapter 435: Chapter 306: Sudden Change, Exposed

Hu Niannian was perched on Tang Wen’s shoulder, her eyes closed as she dozed for a moment.

After opening her eyes, she stretched languidly. "We’ve fallen behind. Hu Yun caught three of the black-robed men and is asking where we are."

’She caught three?’

’Doesn’t that mean another three thousand-plus Experience Points?’

Tang Wen quickly said to the Stone Dragon underground, "Come on, pop out for a second and draw some Thunder."

Purple Thunder flashed—three long bursts, three short.

Tang Wen and the others waited a short while before a voice transmission came through: "We’re here."

Two figures descended from the sky, using Instant Step.

As soon as Hu Yun appeared, purple Thunder followed close behind, only to be blocked by the Crocodile Turtle.

THUD!

Three black-robed men, shivering uncontrollably, were thrown to the ground, seemingly bound by invisible shackles of Thunder.

"Here. I left them alive."

"Good!"

Tang Wen smiled in satisfaction, walked forward, and with a few combos, beat the three men until only their heads and upper torsos remained.

The Stone Dragon wrapped itself around the three mangled corpses, about to bury them.

Tang Wen added a directive, "Bury them separately."

The Stone Dragon acknowledged the order and burrowed into the ground.

[Visualization Martial Arts, Night Divine Fist, Expert (11,697/12,000)]

Fifth Grade masters were truly something else.

The amount of Experience Points they provided could certainly be called generous.

Each kill awarded over a thousand Experience Points.

This pushed Tang Wen’s Expert Level Night Divine Fist to a state where it was nearly maxed out.

With each breakthrough, the awakening progress of his Dark Ability also increased significantly.

[Extraordinary Ability: Dark (Awakening Progress... → 92.13%)]

He was just three hundred Experience Points away from breaking through to the Grandmaster Level.

Tang Wen’s heart fluttered with anticipation.

"Have we killed seven now? Is there still a potential danger?" Hu Yun’s gaze toward Tang Wen grew increasingly satisfied.

’He can even foresee danger.’

’In the future, our children will surely become powerhouses in the Ten Thousand Mountains.’

’We have to have several, definitely several.’

Tang Wen didn’t notice, and he certainly couldn’t have guessed she was thinking about having children.

He tallied the number of black-robed men they had killed. To start, he and Hu Yun had encountered two.

Later, Tang Wen, along with the White Tiger and the Crocodile Turtle, had killed another two in succession.

Then Hu Yun had gone out and captured three more.

That made seven in total.

"It seems there really are more than seven of them."

Just now, when Tang Wen was about to smash the black-robed men’s heads with a single punch, his intuition was still warning him of danger.

"But I definitely only saw seven people sneak in."

Hu Yun narrowed her eyes, recalling the event.

Three days ago, before the Trial Takers arrived, she had used Invisibility at the entrance of the Thunder Jade Mine and saw seven black-robed men enter with a group of Tracking Mice.

As she said this, she had a realization.

She and Tang Wen spoke in unison, "What about the Sixth Grade Tracking Mouse?"

"We haven’t seen it!" they both replied.

"There’s another master!" Tang Wen breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes shining.

His Night Divine Fist needed just over three hundred more experience to be maxed out.

But if he had to grind out those three hundred-plus points by practicing move by move, it would likely take a very long time.

If the Huang Family still had a Fifth Grade master alive, that would be perfect.

"The Sixth Grade Tracking Mouse must be with the leader of this group of black-robed men."

"We have to find him."

The two of them were discussing their next move.

Suddenly, the Stone Dragon burst out from the ground and said in a booming, muffled voice:

"Those three guys we just buried... they seem like they’re about to die!"

"What?"

After the Stone Dragon explained further, Tang Wen and Hu Yun finally understood that something had changed with the three Fifth Grade black-robed men they had just buried.

They ordered the Stone Dragon to bring the three back up.

The three men, now just heads and upper torsos, had clearly been unconscious. Yet for some unknown reason, they had woken up, their faces filled with a fanatical expression.

Blood began to stream from all seven of their facial orifices, which had already been crippled. Their necks, the only parts they could still move, kept twitching and straining as they tried to drag themselves in a certain direction.

"It’s that way!" Hu Yun said in astonishment. "That seems to be the direction they came from."

Tang Wen stared at the three mangled bodies on the ground, thinking hard.

After a moment of silence, he asked, "They came in to set up an ambush three days ago?"

Hu Yun raised an eyebrow. "That’s right. Three days ago, at this very time."

She glanced at her pocket watch. "What have you figured out?"

Tang Wen didn’t answer. He pointed at the ground and spoke quickly, "These three you brought back—did you catch them shortly after we split up?"

Hu Yun didn’t understand why he was asking, but she answered truthfully, "Yes. Although I don’t have your Beast Taming ability, the White Tiger that follows me is skilled in Tracking. After we ran into one of them, we quickly tracked down the other two."

"And then you couldn’t find a fourth one for a long time."

Hu Yun nodded, looking into his eyes.

Tang Wen took a deep breath, then called over a Tracking Mouse and communicated with it for a good while.

His expression turned grim. He scanned his surroundings and quickly stated his full analysis:

"These mass-produced Fifth Grade masters must have more limitations, or rather, defects, than we imagined.

They’re like weapons of war.

I noticed a lot of problems when I was destroying their bodies.

For example, they have stomachs and intestines, but inside there’s nothing but blood clots—no other food.

Where does their strength come from?

I speculate that it might be related to that red energy inside their bodies.

In other words, they probably need to replenish that red energy periodically!"

Hu Yun, Feng San Niang, and all the White Tigers came to a sudden realization.

The Thunder Rock Crocodile Turtle seemed to only half-understand.

The Stone Dragon had most of its body buried underground, with only the top half of its head exposed.

It couldn’t even speak clearly, so Tang Wen’s analysis was all Greek to it.

Hu Yun’s face turned grim. "You mean, we’ve been exposed?"

"Exactly." Tang Wen nodded, pointing to the mangled Fifth Grade masters squirming on the ground. "They must have a scheduled time to regroup. When the time comes, no matter what they’re doing, they have to go to a specific place to replenish their energy."

"Let’s follow them!" Hu Yun said. "All three are moving in the same direction. We can carry them and fly over."