Chapter 79 Worth of Mortals?

Screams echoed throughout the swamp as dark-green scorpion tails repeatedly shot forward, piercing through the chests of fleeing mortals. Some desperately tried to resist, only for their arms and legs to be severed by the scorpions’ powerful pincers. Those struck by the venom gradually turned black, while the most severely poisoned had entire sections of their bodies corroded away.

Before long, nearly every Dark Poison Scorpion in the surrounding swamp had been drawn toward the strong scent of blood and the large number of struggling mortals.

Meanwhile, Jia Fu calmly watched from behind. “Quick, send up the Gu Masters capable of flight! Pour fire oil over the scorpions and burn them all. Dark Poison Scorpions are extremely vengeful. If any survive after we provoke the swarm, they’ll keep pursuing the caravan for a long distance.”

At his command, several Gu Masters immediately flew into the air, with Lin Feng among them. There were only a handful of them, but this was unavoidable. Flying Gu were extremely rare, and even a Rank Two flying Gu could sometimes be worth as much as an ordinary Rank Three Gu.

More importantly, possessing a flying Gu worm did not mean someone could actually fight in the air. Humans were accustomed to standing firmly on the ground, and learning to freely control one’s body in the sky required countless hours of practice. Using flight effectively during combat was even more difficult. Even Verdant Great Sun, one of Ren Zu’s children, had ultimately died because of flight.

Across the Southern Border, only three Rank Four Gu Masters were widely acknowledged for reaching exceptional heights in flying ability. They were known collectively as the Three Great Flying Masters: the righteous path’s Red Flying Fish, and the demonic path’s Blue-Eyebrowed Crane and Flying Weasel King.

There was also Wei Yang, one of the Five External Clan Elder under the Shang Clan leader, known as the White Light Swordsman. His flying ability was equally remarkable, but his Rank Three peak stage cultivation meant his overall battle strength still fell short of those three Rank Four experts.

After obtaining Bone Wing Gu, Lin Feng had also devoted considerable effort to practicing flight. His current skill was already enough for him to maneuver and fight freely in the air, placing him close to the level of a flying master, but there was still a considerable distance between him and those who had truly mastered aerial combat.

After all, flying was only one aspect of his cultivation. Lin Feng still needed to nurture his aperture, study Blood Path and Bone Path, refine Gu, and develop his killer moves. He could not spend all his time improving his flying skills.

“You beasts, obediently accept your deaths!”

Lin Feng and the other flying Gu Masters spread out above the swamp and activated Fire Oil Gu. Streams of yellowish-brown oil poured from the sky like heavy rain, coating the Dark Poison Scorpions gathering below.

The scorpions continued crawling out from the swamp, completely unaware of what was about to happen. The mortals among them, however, immediately understood. Once the oil was ignited, everything below would become a sea of flames.

“Don’t light it! We’re still down here!”

Among the mortals was a woman dressed in fine silk, with a beautiful face and seductive eyes. She had apparently been kept by one of the caravan’s Gu Masters for his amusement, but after somehow angering him, she had been thrown into the vanguard alongside the elderly, weak, and unwanted mortals.

Before she could finish shouting, the people behind her shoved her to the ground and rushed past. Driven forward by the Gu Masters, these mortals had been forced to serve as bait from the beginning. Everyone understood the danger, and now that the Dark Poison Scorpions had gathered around them, they desperately wanted to escape before the flames descended.

Yet strangely, few of them cursed or protested. Most simply raised their heads and looked toward the Gu Masters flying above with despair in their eyes.

They were mortals. Their lives were as cheap as grass, and they possessed no strength to resist the decisions of Gu Masters.

Nor did a single Gu Master in the caravan find anything unusual about what was happening. To them, Mortals were expendable; if their deaths could benefit even one Gu Master, then they had served their purpose.

“Yes, if those righteous path Gu Masters were the ones telling this story, they would probably say that these brave mortals stepped forward when everyone was trapped in a desperate situation, sacrificing themselves to carve out a path of survival for the entire caravan. Their deaths were meaningful, their sacrifice worthwhile, and everyone would remember them forever.”

Lin Feng looked down at the mortals struggling through the oil covered swamp, surrounded by Dark Poison Scorpions that tore them apart and injected venom into their bodies. He shook his head and casually sent several fireballs falling toward them. “But no matter how beautifully you dress it up, the truth doesn’t change. These mortals were forced to die for the benefit of the Gu Masters.”

Lin Feng felt no sympathy for them. In his eyes, every desperate situation ultimately came down to insufficient strength. These mortals were powerless, so they could only allow others to decide their fate. There was no reason for him to pity them any more than people would pity ants beneath their feet or livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

The same standard applied to himself. If Lin Feng encountered an enemy he could not defeat in the future and died as a result, he would not blame anyone else. He would only blame himself for being too weak, too careless, or not cultivating hard enough. If his strength was insufficient and he died because of it, then he deserved that outcome.

He sought the greatest freedom possible in this world, so naturally he was prepared to bear the greatest price for it.

Almost simultaneously, the flying Gu Masters unleashed their attacks. Flames fell from the sky and ignited the fire oil, turning the swamp below into a blazing sea within moments. The Dark Poison Scorpions’ heavy carapaces protected them from the flames at first, but their bulky bodies made it difficult to escape. Trapped within the inferno, they could only be slowly roasted alive.

The mortals suffered an even worse fate. The flames did not kill them immediately. Burning figures staggered through the swamp, screaming and desperately flailing their arms as they tried to escape, only to be dragged down by the scorpions or swallowed by the spreading fire.

Far behind them, the Gu Masters sat safely atop their Gu and transport beasts, calmly waiting for the flames to clear a path forward. The screams coming from the swamp drew no sympathy. To them, those desperate cries were little more than an annoyance.

For the mortals trapped within the flames, there was no way out. But for the caravan waiting behind them, the way out was already opening.