Chapter 83 - 81: Divine Soul Attack
Chapter 83: Chapter 81: Divine Soul Attack
Before nightfall, the six squads returned one by one and set up camp behind a cluster of low hills, about fifteen li from the outskirts of the Loose Cultivator marketplace.
"Camping" was a generous term. A few Cultivators skilled in earth-style Magic had simply raised a waist-high earthen wall, laid some felled shrubs across the top, and covered it with animal hides to form a roof. It was crude, but it blocked the wind and rain, which was more than acceptable in the wild.
Li Yuan squatted by the earthen wall, taking stock of the day’s haul.
His storage pouch was stuffed. Four animal hides, a quantity of bones, and a few reasonably intact tendons.
Li Yuan had claimed the lion’s share.
Squad Four had slain seven Demon Beasts today: two Tier One Middle Grade and five Low Grade. No one in the squad was injured.
The other squads hadn’t had it so easy.
On the other side of the encampment, four wounded men sat leaning against the earthen wall. One was the man who had been limping earlier. Another’s right leg had been bitten through by a Demon Beast; the blood on his pant leg had dried to a dark brown, and the wound, hastily packed with medicinal powder, was still oozing. A third had two broken ribs; his face had been as white as a sheet when his companions carried him back.
The last Cultivator looked relatively composed, but only a stump of his forearm remained, and his expression was incredibly heavy.
Two stretchers lay in a corner of the camp, covered with a coarse cloth. The forms beneath them were lifeless.
These were today’s casualties.
Out of a team of some forty people, a single day had left four injured and two dead.
According to members of the other squads, Squad Two had encountered a Tier One Top Grade Unihorned Rhinoceros Flood Dragon. The price they paid was one of the dead and a man with a broken leg.
Uncle Qu stood in the center of the camp. After listening to the reports from each squad, he was silent for a few breaths.
"Wang Guang, take three men and escort the wounded back to the marketplace."
He looked at a reticent middle-aged Cultivator beside him.
This was the Qi Refining Seventh Level Cultivator from the Wang family, named Wang Guang. He had barely spoken a word the entire journey.
Wang Guang nodded. Without a word, he turned to arrange for the men.
Uncle Qu’s gaze swept over the men again.
"The rest of you, get some rest. Tomorrow, we proceed as planned."
Li Yuan then spoke to Uncle Qu about the matter of the Demon Beast medicine. Uncle Qu’s expression turned serious, but he only nodded to indicate he understood.
The second day’s operation was indeed much smoother than the first.
All along the way, Li Yuan didn’t stop practicing his Fire Escape Skill.
He would channel Spiritual Power to the soles of his feet, activating the skill at regular intervals. His pace wasn’t fast or slow, making it seem like a simple habit while marching. The other members of his squad had grown used to it.
When they returned to the encampment at dusk, the casualties for each squad were significantly lower than the day before.
Wang Guang had already left with the wounded, so there were fewer people in the camp.
While they rested, members from the different squads mingled, ate, and chatted in low voices.
A squad leader from the Third Squad was chewing on dried meat when he suddenly spoke up.
"Uncle Qu, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask."
Uncle Qu was squatting by the fire, warming his hands. He raised his eyes at the sound of the voice.
"Speak."
"We’re clearing out the Demon Beasts in this area so the people from the Loose Cultivator marketplace can get out. That’s a good thing. But after these Loose Cultivators get out, why would they come to our Qinghe Marketplace?"
The squad leader gestured to the south.
"The Li family’s marketplace is also vying for people. If the Loose Cultivators decide it’s safer over there and head for the Li family instead, won’t all our work be for nothing?"
The gazes of several others nearby turned to him as well.
Uncle Qu pulled his hands back from the fire and dusted off his knees.
"First, we’re about twenty li closer to Qinghe Marketplace than to the Li family’s. It’s a shorter journey, which means a lower chance of encountering danger on the road. No Loose Cultivator fleeing for their life is going to want to take an unnecessary detour."
"Besides, the path we’re clearing faces Qinghe Marketplace. To get to the Li family’s marketplace, a Loose Cultivator would have to travel twenty li out of the cleared zone and then change direction."
Uncle Qu held up a second finger.
"Second, the Wang family has its own shops and long-term partner Loose Cultivators inside that marketplace. They’re our people. Once the Demon Beasts are cleared, they will naturally guide others toward Qinghe Marketplace. The shopkeepers will also help steer the Loose Cultivators our way."
"Third." Uncle Qu glanced at the squad leader, his tone flat.
"When we go to meet them, do you think we’re just going to stand by the road and wait? We’ll lead who we need to lead and persuade who we need to persuade. And if someone is indecisive, we’ll... help them make a decision."
His words were tactful enough, but he didn’t elaborate further.
The men nearby exchanged glances but didn’t press the issue.
The logic wasn’t hard to grasp. Clearing out the Demon Beasts was the overt mission; guiding the Loose Cultivators was the real objective.
Li Yuan leaned against the earthen wall. After hearing this exchange, he lowered his eyelids and began to cultivate.
Early on the third day, the squads split up and set out again.
Today’s route was longer than the previous two days, pushing them to a position less than ten li from the outskirts of the Loose Cultivator marketplace.
Li Yuan led the Fourth Squad southwest along a dry riverbed.
After about two li, they heard a commotion from behind a low slope up ahead.
Not just one.
The Spiritual Qi fluctuations on the Spirit Detecting Disc were so dense they seemed muddled together. At least four or five auras were crowded into one spot, some strong, some weak.
"A group ahead." Li Yuan lowered his voice and raised a hand to signal a halt.
The six men spread out, creeping forward along the low slopes on either side of the riverbed.
As they crested the slope, the scene ahead was revealed.
Five Demon Beasts were crowded together on a gravelly bank.
Three of them were Tier One Low Grade Gray Iguanas, not very large, basking in the sun on the gravel. The fourth was a Tier One Middle Grade Iron-Spine Hyena, busy tearing at the carcass of some unknown creature.
And in the very center squatted a strangely shaped Demon Beast.
It was a size larger than the Gray Iguanas, with dark gray fur all over its body, resembling a fox with an elongated neck.
A cluster of long, thin bone spikes grew from each side of its head, their tips glowing with a faint, eerie green light. Four eyes were set in two rows, one above the other, on its flat face, but all four were tightly closed.