Chapter 382: Ambush

Junior Brother Xiang quickly waved his hands in the air and spoke hastily, “No, no! Of course that’s not what I meant. Senior Brother Yue, please don’t misunderstand! However… If anyone discovers our tracks and reports it to the elders, we might be punished!”

The disciple who snapped at him earlier became even more annoyed after hearing what he said. “Junior Brother Xiang, you’ve always been so timid. Keep in mind, hunger is key. If you’re timid all the time, you’ll eventually die from the lack of resources.”

Senior Brother Zhou, the leader among them, finally tore his gaze away from the map and looked at the third disciple who hadn’t spoken a word. His tone was surprisingly gentle and he chuckled softly, “Junior Brother Qi, what do you think?”

“The battle had nothing to do with us in the first place.” Junior Brother Qi finally spoke up, but his words stunned those present.

A smile appeared on Senior Brother Zhou’s face as he continued, “Junior Brother Qi, why would you say that? Didn’t the elders send us here to take part in the battle?”

“Hmph, the four races of the Liao Continent were the ones who came begging for our assistance. That doesn’t mean that we have to put our lives on the line for them. Moreover, it’s not as though we haven’t fought those cultivators from the Tongyou Institution before. Senior brother Zhou already killed two of them. The three of us managed to kill two more. We did our part by killing four of them.” Junior Brother Qi chuckled softly.

Brother Yue clapped his hands happily in response. “Exactly! Junior Brother Qi, you’re right! We did our part and they can’t blame us for anything!”

The smile on Junior Brother Qi’s face remained but he stayed silent.

Senior Brother Zhou seemed to be extremely satisfied with the response and he flipped the scroll in his hand. “Those thieves from the Tongyou Institution stole the world essence from the battlefield between the two worlds. However, a small portion managed to return to the battlefield between the two worlds before they closed the spatial tunnel. The returning world origin turned into many different treasures scattered around the land. The four races were severely damaged by the Tongyou Institution the previous time and they knew it would be impossible for them to stop the Tongyou Institution from returning eventually. That is why they begged us for help. We chose to assist them as they were also members of the Azure Spiritual World and we killed some of their opponents for them. Junior Brother Qi is correct. The elders can’t find fault with us.”

“Senior Brother Zhou, this scroll…” A trace of light flashed through Junior Brother Xiang’s eyes now that he received assurance they wouldn’t be in any sort of trouble.

“This is the price the four races have to pay for our services.” Senior Brother Zhou laughed in response.

However, he didn’t state what they were looking for exactly.

That didn’t stop the sharp Junior Brother Qi from making his guesses. “Senior Brother Zhou, I heard that the space within the battlefield between the two worlds would shift frequently. The scroll you are holding should be some sort of map. Is it useful in any way?”

“Haha. Of course a mere map wouldn’t be enough. However, there are many landmarks described here that cannot be moved away during the shift. As long as we observe the place thoroughly, we’ll be able to find our way around. At the very least, the four races didn’t waste all their time in the battlefield between the two worlds.” Senior Brother Zhou muttered.

“Senior Brother Zhou, you’re a genius alright. I didn’t think about this at all.” Senior Brother Yue laughed.

Junior Brother Xiang, who had been quiet for a little while now added, “Hehe, the four races of the Liao Continent seem to be backed in a corner by the Tongyou Institution. Otherwise, they wouldn’t give us benefits like that!”

“Do you really think that the four races of the Liao Continent are fools?” Senior Brother Zhou snorted suddenly.

Staring at Senior Brother Zhou in shock, Junior Brother Xiang didn’t know how to respond for a second.

A frown started to form on Senior Brother Yue’s face even though he enjoyed watching Junior Brother Xiang making a fool of himself. However, he had to ask, “Is there something off about this?”

“Everything the four races could find easily should already be retrieved by them. They would only give us the location of treasures that lie in dangerous regions or places that are hard to reach.” Senior Brother Zhou finally turned serious as he explained the situation to the others.

“Hmph. The four races are truly treacherous!” Senior Brother Yue snorted once before turning to look at Junior Brother Xiang. “Do you still have a problem with Senior Brother Zhou’s action of bringing us here?”

With his face flushing red, Junior Brother Xiang yelled loudly. “I… Of course not! I never had a problem! I will always listen to Senior Brother Zhou and follow his commands!”

Snorting once, Senior Brother Yue turned to look away.

The frown on Senior Brother Zhou’s face didn’t fade as he finally interjected. “Alright, alright, stop arguing. According to the map, we’re not too far away from where we need to be. However, the area seems to have changed slightly. We need to locate a small field filled with Bearded Eye Grass. Spread out and look!”

With his command, the three of them scattered to start looking for the herb.

With a deep frown on his face, Senior Brother Zhou didn’t do the same as the three. Instead, he examined it closer before running in another direction.

When Shang Xia heard Senior Brother Zhou’s order earlier for the three to find the Bearded Eye Grass, he knew that they were looking for the hill he was hiding in to restore his inner qi earlier. He quickly left the rock he was hiding behind to return to a region near the cave he made.

After all, he noticed some weird yellowish-green grass when he emerged earlier.

The grass bore some sort of flower that was the size of a man’s eyeball, and the petals resembled long white whiskers. That was how the grass got its name.

When a breeze blew through the land, the flowers looked like tiny eyes that were blinking in the wind. At night, those flowers would also emit a strange soft glow to make them resemble stars in the night sky.

In several short seconds, Shang Xia heard the soft whistling of wind headed his way. Someone actually chose to run in that direction.

As a figure arrived at the foot of the hill, Shang Xia recognized him as Junior Brother Xiang.

The moment he arrived, Junior Brother Xiang’s gaze landed on the field of weird-looking grass. A look of joy appeared on his face. However, his gaze quickly landed on the cave Shang Xia carved out to make his recovery and his expression changed drastically. He quickly made the decision to return to notify the others before exploring the area.

Unfortunately for him, a soft chuckle entered his ears before he could leave. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Before he could yell to warn his comrades, a ray of sword qi blew a hole in his body. His inner organs exploded like candy out of a pinata and he fell to the ground powerlessly.

Shang Xia kept his Jade River Sword as a frosty light flashed through his eyes. There was no need to be kind to a bunch of Azure Spiritual World cultivators who killed members of the Tongyou Institution. Walking towards Junior Brother Xiang who was still alive thanks to the powerful life force of a Martial Intent Realm cultivator, Shang Xia could see the life quickly draining out of him. “There’s no need to waste your energy. You can’t nullify my Seven Laceration Sword.”

Despair filled Junior Brother Xiang’s mind. He wasn’t able to say a word, but a multitude of thoughts were running through his mind. He couldn’t even understand what type of qi Shang Xia used, other than the fact that there was a shit ton of them running amok in his body. There was no need to bother thinking about nullifying them since he couldn’t even tell what they were. Regardless, he wondered how Shang Xia was able to possess so many different types of qi.

The thought barely flashed through his mind when he realized that wasn’t the time to think about those random thoughts he had.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw the conflicting emotions appearing on Junior Brother Xiang’s dying face. “What are you looking for? Why don’t you share it with me?”

Glaring at Shang Xia, a trace of disdain appeared in Junior Brother Xiang’s eyes. He was maintaining his life with his quickly depleting inner qi, but with his cultivation at the Martial Intent Realm, he wouldn’t run out of it anytime soon.

The smile on Shang Xia’s face became wider as he grabbed Junior Brother Xiang off the ground.

With his eyes widening in pain and shock, Junior Brother Xiang felt a searing pain shoot through his body. Perspiration and blood soaked his clothes and he was like a wet rag that Shang Xia was pulling up from the floor.

Even so, he discovered he couldn’t make the slightest noise.

Shang Xia’s smile was comparable to that of a devil’s in Junior Brother Xiang’s eyes. That wasn’t the end as Shang Xia muttered softly. “Are you willing to talk? Oh right, blink your eyes if you want to communicate with me. You can’t speak anyway.”

Hearing what he said, Junior Brother Xiang closed his eyes immediately.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but praise the man’s guts. “Alright, I’ll give you a quick death. The others will probably come looking for you and run into the same fate anyway. Let’s just hope that they’re as stubborn as you.”

Opening his eyes once again, pure rage could be seen as Junior Brother Xiang’s face twisted with rage. He wanted nothing more than to tear Shang Xia to shreds for threatening his fellow martial brothers, but his body trembled once and the light in his eyes dimmed.

Shang Xia truly admired Junior Brother Xiang’s strong will. As such, he didn’t prolong the man’s suffering and killed him directly. After all, the enmity between them wouldn’t be solved even if Shang Xia released him.

The scroll in Senior Brother Zhou’s hand definitely piqued Shang Xia’s interest. After all, the treasure that a direct disciple of the Changbai Holy Land had his eye on would definitely be special. Not to mention the fact that direct disciples of the Changbai Holy Land were existences who were one step into the Martial Extermination Realm. Only treasures like rank four advancement formulas and strands of extermination origin would be able to catch their attention.

Shang Xia couldn’t help but recall the loot he obtained after killing Chu Chen and Sima Zhanxing.

If Senior Brother Zhou, a direct disciple of the Changbai Holy Land, had a scroll that recorded some sort of treasure on him, Chu Chen might also have something like it!

Unfortunately, forcefully opening the spatial artifact would damage the items within.

Shang Xia was afraid that even if Chu Chen had similar treasures on him, they would be destroyed when Shang Xia forced the case open.

Compared to Chu Chen’s spatial artifact, Shang Xia was looking forward to opening Sima Zhanxing’s spatial artifact. He might have been living a shitty life in the Azure Spiritual World, but he was a genius member of the Rose Party regardless!

Unfortunately… Shang Xia knew that there was a special rank three talisman called the Bamboo Void Breaking Talisman that could open spatial artifacts without destroying the items within. However, it wasn’t recorded in the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture and Shang Xia didn’t know if the institution had a way of creating it.

He was quickly brought back to attention when he heard some commotion nearby. He quickly hid his aura again.

The person who came this time clearly wasn’t as careful as Junior Brother Xiang no matter how inexperienced he seemed. As the person appeared at the foot of the hill, he yelled at the top of his lungs, “Junior Brother Xiang, stop playing around and being mysterious! Did you find some sort of treasure?! Are you planning to keep it for yourself?”

Taking a few steps forward, Senior Brother Yue looked up only to be greeted with the sight of the Bearded Eye Grass and joy filled his heart. He roared with laughter. “I knew it! I…”

Before he could say another word, a soft sigh entered his ears. “You’re much more careless than your Junior Brother Xiang.”

Widening his eyes in shock, Senior Brother Yue felt his body going soft as he crumpled to the ground. He stared at Shang Xia who was slowly approaching with fear in his eyes.