Chapter 1381: "The Hunt Begins (3)"
The way they all died, were all completely uniform without a single exception to them. Dying within the layers of icicles was a common occurrence and for all those who had come this far to the icicles, they were aware that death could happen anywhere and at anytime in this place.
But!
Nobody would find death in such a state like this!
The way they died, was obviously a result of someone having intentionally arranged them like this!
Although their heads had already rotted away, but the clothes upon those dead bodies were exactly the same as what those men from the Flamboyant Palace were wearing. It became obvious to them that these corpses belonged to the last batch of people they had sent here to the Heaven's End Cliff.
Although they had guessed that these people had perished, but when the men from the Flamboyant Palace witnessed with their own eyes the manner their comrades had died, they felt their own bodies go cold, as a sense of terror creeped out from within their bones.
As the period of time they had died had not been too long ago and because the temperature in here was extremely low, those bodies had still been rather complete, the highly gory sight sending the chills to run through the bodies.
"EH!" Someone could not hold his stomach down and vomited.
Seeing members from the same palace dying in such a manner and their bodies so arranged with such uniformity, the sense of unease and terror caused their bodies to tremble uncontrollably.
"Who could be responsible for this! The Flame Demons Palace..... The Soul Return Palace..... Or is it someone from another one of the Palaces! ?" The leader of the group shouted in rage, his hackles rising.
"Chief, what do we do..... Could they..... Could they possibly still be around? They really want us all dead!" The other men from the Flamboyant Palace were getting a little flustered. The number of people who had died here numbered a little too many, all packed so closely together as they completely filled with the small gaps in between the icicles. With one glance, the grotesque corpses seemed to be everywhere and where terrified them even more was for the fact that among all the corpses, they saw that every one of them was from the Flamboyant Palace and not a single one among them were from any of the other palaces.
The powers the Twelve Palaces held were of similar levels between themselves and unless one of the palaces had an Elder involved in the battle, otherwise it was basically not possible for any one single palace to exert such complete dominance. Hence, such an instance where only the Flamboyant Palace suffered casualties was entirely impossible.
Unless the assailants had moved the bodies of their comrades away, or they had people of the Elder level present!
Even in that biting cold under the thick mist, the leader of the men had a layer of cold sweat covering over his forehead.
"Chief..... I once heard..... that the Flame Demons Palace had sent one of their Elders down here to the Heaven's End Cliff about a year ago. One year had passed and that Elder still had not returned to the Flame Demons Palace. Do you think that that Elder could be the one responsible for all these? Could they possibly have discovered the Dark Emperor's tomb and are afraid that we will find out and they have....."
The face of the leader creased up in a frown, his body becoming chillier. That was not entirely impossible.
The Elder that had gone missing from the Flame Demons Palace was Elder Hui and although the powers he possessed was not among the top, but compared to others he still held powers enough to dominate. That was the first time any of the Twelve Palaces had sent an Elder to the Heaven's End Cliff and that had incurred the displeasure of the other palaces.
They had strongly requested for the Palace Lord of the Flame Demons Palace to summon the Elder back but the Palace Lord of the Flame Demons Palace had claimed that Elder Hui had gone missing to reject the protest from the other palaces.
And who would believe those words?
Just how powerful was an Elder of the Palace and how could it be possible that they would suddenly go missing so easily?
Instead of saying that Elder Hui had really gone missing, it was more widely believed that the Flame Demons Palace had discovered an important clue or even that they had found the Dark Emperor's tomb and they had stationed Elder Hui to oversee the situation here!
Chapter 1382: "The Hunt Begins (4)"
While the men from the Flamboyant Palace were feeling highly nervous, two figures remained quietly hidden within the thick fog. They did not hold any thing in their hands that gave out light but it seemed as if their sight was able to penetrate through the mystifying fog and see everything clearly.
"Heh, another bunch of goons had delivered themselves to our door." One of the youths said with an evil smile upon his face.
"Don't waste anymore time." Another youth's cold voice rang out in his ear.
The thick mist that made people lose their vision was before the two youths, like it did not exist, completely not blocking their vision in the slightest. Their sight pierced right through the mystifying fog and saw everything before them clearly, the fearful and terrified demeanor of the men from the Flamboyant Palace reflected vividly within their eyes.
"Don't be in such a hurry. It's such a rare opportunity that we are able to battle and I've waited such a long time for this. All the fun tasks like this from before were always snatched up by those few scoundrels and I've not even gotten my turn at it for the past month. My hands have been itching so badly for so long you know?"
The cold voiced youth swept his companion a glance and his eyes were filled with a kind of helplessness.
"Do you want to waste your time here to tangle with these people here or would you rather hurry back and raise up that last bit of spirit powers of yours? If my memory serves me correctly, your progress seems to be the slowest among all of us."
The cold voiced youth's single statement immediately made his companion's face fall into depression.
"Okay okay okay! I'll say Brother Hua, can't you just praise me sometimes? It's not that my progress is slow but it's that all of you are improving just like devils possessed! I'll just do it now then. Will that do now!" The depressed youth complained indignantly and his body immediately shot out to the front!
Those members of the Flamboyant Palace who were shrouded in terror did not even notice that death was almost upon them!
Suddenly, an anguished howl sounded right at the back of the team of men!
Warm blood shot up in a spray into the air and then fell like rain!
The man standing right at the forefront was completely oblivious to what was happening and only felt that the whole team whose hearts had already been gripped with terror had suddenly erupted into a whirl of chaos!
The silent group of men had suddenly broken out in howls of anguish and fright and the men numbering more than a hundred were thrown into turmoil!
"Enemy attack! It's an enemy attack!" Someone within the team screamed out.
The leader of the group was startled and he fought to push the fear within his heart down as he shouted: "All of you brace yourselves! Do not panic! We have many of us here and no matter who comes, we'll make sure he is unable to leave!"
From the moment those brave words came out of his mouth, the chaos that had struck at the team of men had not stopped even for a moment.
The youth standing within the thick fog watched on as his companion kicked up a ruckus within the group of men from the Flamboyant Palace and gave a light sigh. The spirit ring on his finger then glowed softly and a white bone flute materialized within his hand.
The youth then calmly put the flute to his lips and slowly blew out a melody.
The melodious tune of the flute reverberated within the empty expanse under the thick mystifying mist, the flute's heavenly sounding. Floating within the midst of those anguished wails, it sounded exceptionally mysterious.
The men from the Flamboyant Palace who were caught within the turmoil had upon hearing the sounds of the flute suddenly felt a strange feeling spreading over their bodies.
Their fear, panic and unease had all seemingly dissipated upon hearing the melody from that flute and a comforting and lazy feeling seeped into every one of their nerves, causing all of them to unconsciously drop the blades gripped in their hands. Those of them who had wanted to summon their ring spirits also slowly relaxed themselves, suddenly feeling their limbs becoming unbearably heavy, their minds so tired they did not want to even think, and everything before their eyes became no longer important to them.
Chapter 1383: "The Hunt Begins (5)"
They only wanted rest and have a good sleep.
The men gave up on resisting one by one as they sat down upon the icy cold and dirty ground. They seem to have forgotten just how dangerous the place they were in was and they actually lay themselves upon the ground to fall asleep.
The leader of the men from the Flamboyant Palace watched with his eyes wide as his comrades lay themselves upon the ground and fell asleep one after another as incredulity filled up in his eyes. But he was unable to fight back the exhaustion creeping into every part of his body and his just felt so tired and became very sleepy. His consciousness was screaming out to him that the place was filled with extreme danger but without knowing why, his heart could not seem to elicit a single sliver of anxiety and ability to struggle.
The leader of the group shook his head vigorously but was unable to shake off the strange feeling coming over him. Both his legs felt heavy as lead and his eyes seemed like they were about to shut anytime. He fought desperately to keep his eyes open as he saw in his grogginess his comrades falling one by one in pools of their own blood. A tall slender figure then came out slowly, stepping upon the pools of blood as he emerged from within the thick fog all around him.
It was an extraordinarily handsome youth, his body all covered in blood splatters.
"Hey, this one's not bad. You're actually still standing?" The youth said with an exuberant smile.
The leader of the men wanted to run, but his knees seemed to have grown roots into the ground as he knelt there unable to move.
"You still haven't managed to deal with all of them yet?" A cold voice came floating over the leader's head from behind as another youth dressed in dark purple clothes appeared. That youth's countenance had devilishly beautiful features and what left a most lasting impression within his mind was the mole below a corner of his eyes like a tear.
"Right away, right away!" The first youth came walking over to the leader with a grin on his face and reached his hand out to clasp it upon the head of the leader.
"Who..... Who are..... you people....." The leader of the men struggled very hard to ask.
"Huh? Us? If you like, you can call the hunters of the Twelve Palaces." The youth replied with a broad and easy smile upon his face and the hand gripping the top of the man's head turned!
'Crack!'
The neck of the leader of the men was immediately snapped off.
"Finished and we can knock off!" The youth released his grip and dusted off his palms with a grin as he lifted his eyes to look at his companion.
"I'll say, Brother Hua..... You can make your move a little later next time. I have not even begun to enjoy myself and you have already made them all completely unable to defend themselves. How am I going to know how far my powers have now come compared to the Twelve Palaces?" The exuberant youth who was all covered in blood was not anyone else but Qiao Chu who had gone into the Dark Emperor's tomb with Jun Wu Xie and the others one year ago!
Standing with Qiao Chu there, was Hua Yao.
In the one year that they had remained within the Dark Emperor's tomb, they had not stepped out once from there but have confined themselves inside the Dark Emperor's tomb as they worked tirelessly at raising their spirit powers. It was only about three months ago that they had finally come outside.
Hua Yao shot Qiao Chu a cold gaze as he flipped the white bone flute in his hand in a spin before it morphed back into its Spirit Ring form upon his finger.
"Little Xie asked us to come here to kill the people from the Twelve Palaces and not to see how yours powers have grown to become." Hua Yao replied coldly.
If the fact that the Dark Emperor's tomb had been opened was allowed to spread, it would definitely cause the entire Middle Realm to rise to persecute all of them. Hence, in the period that the companions had cultivated in seclusion within the Dark Emperor's tomb, it was Ye Sha, Ye Mei and Ye Gu who had been helping them to get rid of all these people who managed to set foot into the middle reaches of the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff.
Chapter 1384: "The Hunt Begins (6)"
It was just three months ago after they got Jun Wu Yao's approval before they finally had the opportunity to come out to occasionally take these cleanup jobs off the hands of Ye Sha and his gang.
"Brother Hua, do you need to be so serious? Don't you want to try and see how much your powers have evolved?" Qiao Chu asked, initially wanting to clasp his hands behind his head, but when he saw all the blood on them, he let his hands fall to hang by his sides.
"I've tried it." Hua Yao replied calmly.
Qiao Chu's eyes immediately lit up. "When was that?"
Hua Yao swept his gaze over the dead bodies upon the ground. "Isn't the bone flute useful?"
"....." Qiao Chu was speechless. He had thought Hua Yao to have a one tracked mind but it had turned out to be himself who did not see beyond his nose!
"How do we deal with these corpses? Hang them upon the icicles?" Qiao Chu asked, clearing his throat as he looked at the corpses upon the icicles. That must have been the work of Fei Yan when he came out here.
"Those already up there will provide enough of a warning. We'll just burn these ones here." Hua Yao said with a shake of his head.
The number of dead bodies were too numerous this time and if they were to hang them all up, it would take up too much time.
"Yay!" Qiao Chu cheered and immediately rolled up his sleeves, revealing the strong and muscular forearms. Under the biting chill at the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff, the two of them were dressed very thinly but they were feeling much more comfortable at that moment than they had when they first came here.
The instant that Qiao Chu revealed his forearms, his Spirit Ring suddenly flashed with a brilliantly and that light became like two fire dragons that snaked up his forearms!
Upon his arms, they formed into a pair of gauntlets that covered his hands and forearms where they turned a fiery red, the brilliant light bursting into roaring flames.
Qiao Chu clenched his hands into fists and he smashed his fists against each other. A scarlet fire dragon shot out from between his fists, instantly covering over the dead bodies of the men from the Flamboyant Palace. Suddenly, a blazing fire rose into the sky!
It dissipated the thick mist, as searing waves of the heat burst from the flames, engulfing the corpses that lay within the pools of blood.
In the blink of an eye, the corpses of over a hundred men were burnt into almost nothing under the raging blaze, reduced into small indistinguishable black smothering heaps.
Qiao Chu dismissed the gauntlets upon his arms and spread his legs to squat on the ground before he blew a breath out hard towards the smothering heaps.
The heaps dispersed in a light powder form into the air leaving no trace behind as they scattered over the mud and soil at the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff.
The blaze faded and the thick fog gathered once more, further obliterating all traces. Nobody would find out the kind of slaughter that had taken place here today.
Ascertaining that their cleanup job was completed, the figures of Qiao Chu and Hua Yao turned into two flashes of lightning, speedily disappearing from the plane of icicles.
In the Dark Emperor's tomb, Little Jue plopped himself before an open door, secretly sticking his head out from behind. His scarlet eyes were filled with curiosity as he watched with unwavering eyes the "little girl", Ye Jie, who was squatting upon the floor to clean the hall.
A rotund and tiny little figure followed behind Ye Jie, squeaking happily away. It then seemed to suddenly sense something as it turned its head, immediately seeing Little Jue hiding behind the door.
"Squeak!" The Hell Rodent leapt onto Ye Jie's shoulder in fright and hid under Ye Jie's hair as it trembled, its black eyes filled with terror as it stared at the innocent looking face of Little Jue.
Little Jue looked at the terrified Hell Rodent but did not seem to feel that anything was wrong. He merely opened his mouth slightly as a suspicious wet trail hung from the corner of his lips.
"How many times have I told you that the Hell Rodent is not to be eaten!" A displeased shout suddenly sounded from behind Little Jue.
Little Jue had just wanted to turn around when he was rapped upon the head. He immediately held his head sadly as he looked sorrowfully at the fierce and angry Fei Yan standing behind him.
Chapter 1385: "Face of Sylvan (1)"
"Ow....." Little Jue's eyes filled with a misty glaze.
However, Fei Yan was immune to such antics. The little kid's soul had been restored by the magical artifacts bit by bit and his consciousness had become clearer over this period. Although it had not yet been completely restored, he had already gained the awareness of a child of about five to six years old. With his soul somewhat recovered to a certain extent, his gluttonous character had however not changed a single bit!
Ever since Little Jue once saw the Hell Rodent spitting out an endless stream of treasures, his eyes when he gazed upon the Hell Rodent had become strange after that. Not too long before today, when Ye Jie, whom Ye Gu had transformed back into discovered that the Hell Rodent was nowhere to be found, the little girl who had always been unable to express herself properly had immediately burst into tears.
In the end, the Hell Rodent was picked out from inside Little Jue's mouth by Jun Wu Xie.
When the Hell Rodent was pulled out, that pitiful little Hell Rodent had already fainted away from fright.
Although Jun Wu Xie had lectured Little Jue sternly after that, Little Jue still could not change the strange gaze he gave when he looked at the Hell Rodent.
Those eyes that blatantly said "you look so delicious" all the time had almost driven the poor Hell Rodent nuts.
"Save your tears. They do not work on me." Fei Yan admonished.
Little Jue then pouted, his face mournful.
Ye Jie heard Fei Yan voice from inside the hall and realized what had happened. Her character highly different from the irritable Ye Gu, Ye Jie was very reserved. She had only spoken so much to Jun Wu Xie when Jun Wu Xie had switched her soul into the body of the little black cat because she had seen Jun Wu Xie as a spirit body. People from the Spirit Soul race were innately close to all spirit bodies which makes it easy to communicate with them.
But if you were to make Ye Jie speak to people, she would have problems saying one word in three days.
Fei Yan gave Ye Jie and apologetic glance and dragged Little Jue away.
It was rather strange though. Ever since they come into the Dark Emperor's tomb, Ye Gu as the guardian of the Dark Emperor's tomb had only resisted against them once in the beginning and had then mysteriously turned to become one of them after that, to the extent that during his occasionally appearances, he had seemingly become very close to Ye Sha and Ye Mei.
And everyone else seemed to have accepted Ye Gu and Ye Jie joining them unconditionally.
For no other reason but just for their surname. Ye.
Members of the Night Regime all had the surname Ye and a guess had begun to form within the hearts of all the youths in there, but they had all tacitly not spoken a word about it.
"Little Yan, Dumb Qiao is back and Little Xie asked me to come get you guys over there." Fan Zhuo said smilingly as he approached, yelling over to Fei Yan from a distance away.
In the palatial main hall of the Dark Emperor's tomb, the magical artifacts that had filled the place before had now diminished in quantity a little. Although in its entirety, the amount reduced was hard to notice, but if one looked carefully, they would be able to spot quite a few empty skeletal racks among them.
Within that expansive hall, a tiny figure stood quietly beside a white skeletal rack. It was an exquisite figure of a young lady and though covered under clothes, they were unable to hide the slender and wavy curves a young lady would have.
Upon that young lady's face, was a silver mask. Upon both sides of the mask, were carvings of runes that symbolized life force, exquisitely crafted.
"Little Xie! We're back!" A highly energetic figure exclaimed, sweeping into the main hall.
The young lady who stood inside the main hall slowly removed the mask from her face. Under that mask, was a highly breathtaking countenance that made one breathless to gaze upon. The mask that had been removed by the young lady turned into a ray of light in her hand and gradually shrunk to transform into a ear stud, which the young lady then casually wore onto her ear.
That tiny ear stud, or to put it more accurately, was actually a mask, called the Face of Sylvan.
Chapter 1386: "Out of Seclusion (1)"
It was among the top ten most elite magical artifacts that was buried together with the Dark Emperor in the Dark Emperor's tomb and Jun Wu Yao had taken one whole month to pick and choose before he finally found this permanent magical artifact to be most suitable for Jun Wu Xie.
Putting on the ear stud, Jun Wu Xie when compared to a year ago, had her body grown tall and slender, her facial features become more exquisite. She stood with her hands hanging down by her sides as she turned to look at Qiao Chu and Hua Yao who had returned, looking like a breathtaking painting come to life.
A year's time had seen heaven and earth altering changes happen upon the bodies of the group of youthful companions, and that was only just the beginning.
"Haha, a hundred over people this time and they were all instantly taken down by Brother Hua and me! That kind of a feeling, is just too great for words!" Qiao Chu exclaimed with a uncontainable sparkle in his eyes.
Back in the early days when they had been pursued and persecuted by the Twelve Palaces, they had to hide and live ignobly. Straddled with deep blood vengeance in their hearts, they were unable to avenge their parents and family. But now, they finally hold powers that they had dreamed of all their lives! The feeling that they would now be able to fight back against the enemy was so exhilarating that they felt like roaring out in joy.
An eyebrow lifted on Jun Wu Xie's face. Towards Qiao Chu's excitement, she didn't really mind it.
They had worked very hard at training and cultivation for the past year, not even sleeping for days and nights. To the extent that for half a year, they had sustained themselves on a diet of only dew and fruits, hadn't it all been for the sake of attaining all of this?
Hua Yao glanced at the highly excited Qiao Chu and his eyes looked at him with helplessness.
Very soon, Fei Yan, Fan Zhuo and Rong Ruo came running in as well, the youthful companions gathered together once again.
"Shush! I am not about to want to hear your incessant ramblings!" Fei Yan said immediately when he saw Qiao Chu about to open his mouth who was almost hopping in his spot with excitement, to indicate in no uncertain terms that he did not want to hear him brag.
Qiao Chu pouted sadly.
Hua Yao took a step forward and said: "On our trip outside this time, the Twelve Palaces had significantly increased the number of men they send down here and they were all from the Middle Realm, which is a rather odd point."
The Twelve Palaces knew of the dangers beyond the Heaven's End Cliff and in order to preserve their powers, they were used to getting their pawns in the Lower Realm to risk their lives down here. But the situation seemed to have changed as ever since they came out of seclusion and took over the job of Ye Sha and Ye Mei, they discovered that no one from the Lower Realm came to the Heaven's End Cliff anymore. Within all the groups of people they had attacked, they were made up of people only from the Middle Realm and their numbers were increasing with every time they encountered them.
"It hadn't only been a day or two that the Twelve Palaces have been making use of the Lower Realm so why have they suddenly changed the way they are doing things for seemingly no good reason? I do not think that they would have suddenly discovered their conscience. I had asked Big Brother Ye Sha and the others about it and they said that it was roughly about half a year ago when they stopped seeing people from the Lower Realm coming down the Heaven's End Cliff." Hua Yao said, a little more cautious.
In the past one year, they had all been cultivating in seclusion and had been cut off from the rest of the world. The only area they currently moved about in was just the bottom of the Heaven's End Cliff.
Ever since the Twelve Palaces discovered where the Dark Emperor's tomb was, they had begun to spread news about the Heaven's End Cliff within the Lower Realm and each individual palace had gotten themselves a particular power in the Lower Realm to use as a pawn. Unless they had managed to accurately pinpoint the location of the Dark Emperor's tomb, the Twelve Palaces would not choose to sacrifice their own men which would diminish their might and not make use of their sacrificial lambs here in the Lower Realm.
Jun Wu Xie's eyes narrowed. She was aware of what Hua Yao had just mentioned and that was why she had told Hua Yao to pay a little more attention to it on this trip out.
"Something must have happened either within the Lower Realm or the Middle Realm to cause this change." Jun Wu Xie said with her eyes lowered slightly in thought, a cold glint flashing brightly within.
"How are your current conditions?" She asked suddenly.
Qiao Chu and the others glanced at each other, almost immediately understanding what Jun Wu Xie was saying and they quickly replied smilingly.
"Couldn't be any better! We're all ready to kick up a big storm anytime anyplace!"
Jun Wu Xie's gaze moved from the bunch of youths to fall upon the figure of Jun Wu Yao, whom nobody knew from when had suddenly appeared and now stood at the doorway. The corners of her lips then curved in a faint smile as she then said decisively.
"Then, it is about time that we should be going back."
Chapter 1387: "The World in Chaos (1)"
Along the side of the ancient road within a dilapidated little tea stall, several travellers sat scattered in small groups of twos and threes at their tables as they drank to quench their thirst and ate to fill their tummies.
The wheels wound down to a crawl as a convoy of carriages came to a stop to park at the side of the road. Several brightly dressed youths stepped down from the carriages and compared to the other filthily dressed travelers whose clothes could even be said to be tattered, the handsome group of brightly dressed youths stood out like a sore thumb.
"What would our guests like to order?" The tea stall's waiter asked as he approached the group politely.
"Just whip up some food and get us some tea and water." A youth who looked a little on the thin side answered as he sat down together with his companions.
The season was just turning into summer and the weather was rather hot. Half of the tea stall had no cover and was it was facing directly into the sun, the roasting temperature causing their throats to go dry and feel thirsty.
"The heat in this weather is really killing me..... I am suddenly missing the previous chill." Qiao Chu grumbled as he plopped himself onto the table, the heat seemingly evaporating all the moisture within his body completely. They had not stepped out from the Heaven's End Cliff for an entire year and the constant unchanging bitter cold at the bottom of the cliff had made it impossible for them to differentiate between the seasons. Having just come out from there, the changing temperature from cold to hot made it highly unbearable for them.
Jun Wu Xie sat right opposite Qiao Chu and to make it more convenient to travel, she was disguised as a young male youth once again but she no longer concealed her countenance.
"Why do I feel that it's a little strange here?" Fei Yan asked as he glanced at the other customers in the tea stall and was shocked to notice that the clothes of all these people were just too dirty, without a single one among them wearing a proper and complete set.
Although they had not come out from the Heaven's End Cliff for long and the area they were in was still rather remote, they still remembered that there were some villages in this vicinity when they came here back then. Although they were not as prosperous as cities, they were still seen to be clean and neat at least.
In just barely slightly more than one year, the people here have changed completely.
The faces of the travelers looked haggard and their expressions numbed while tinged with some nervousness. If Fei Yan were to find a word to describe them, he thought that these people looked more than refugees.
"Maybe a famine occurred." Fan Zhuo said with a sigh.
The waiter was just bring them their food when he heard Fan Zhuo's words. The waiter suddenly perked up and he looked at Fan Zhuo and his companions to say.
"I'm thinking our guests here are not locals?"
"What makes you say that?" Fei Yan inquired with a tilt of his eyebrow.
"Ha ha. We have not been struck by a famine here. I'm thinking our guests are unaware of the situation around here?" The waiter asked.
"Oh? What kind of a situation would you have here?" Fei Yan asked inquisitively.
"In the past year, the lands had been thrown into chaos and needless to say, the days of commoners like us living in such far off and remote places have always been tough, but the situation isn't much better even within the bigger countries as well. I see that our guests' clothes are clean and neat and do not look like you are seeking refuge. From the direction you were coming from, all of you seem to be going east. Allow humble me to add my two cents' worth and if our guests believe my words, you'd better not go there. The entire lands under these Heavens haven't been peaceful and due to the remoteness of this place here, it's a little less dangerous. But if you go further east and reach the borders of the other countries, you might get yourself into a lot of trouble there." The waiter said, trying to be helpful when he saw that Jun Wu Xie and the other companions were rather well dressed, seeking to gain a little extra token of appreciation.
Jun Wu Xie's eyebrow lifted as she queried. "The lands are in chaos?"
"That's right. Our guests were not aware of that? It had been like that since a year ago. There are wars everywhere and refugees are running for their lives everywhere. See those customers at those other tables? They had just escaped from the east. The east is not a good place for anyone to go now. In the past, everyone envied all those living in the prosperous cities and those places have now become places of strife that people are running away from. Since our guests are not aware of these matters at all, you might as well just turn back instead." The waiter suggested helpfully.
Chapter 1388: "The World in Chaos (2)"
The waiter's words drove the hearts of Jun Wu Xie and her companions into shock.
War everywhere?
Before Jun Wu Xie started her journey to go to the Heaven's End Cliff, it could be said that the situation within the Lower Realm had stabilized. The biggest and most prosperous Fire Country was in Jun Wu Xie's grasp and the next second biggest Condor Country split and distributed by Jun Wu Xie to the Qi and Buckwheat Kingdoms which greatly elevated their might. Jun Wu Xie had then drawn the three powers into an alliance and with the combined strength of the three countries, bringing stability to the entire lands should have been a piece of cake. Moreover, several other powers had also been saved by Jun Wu Xie's hand as well, hence by all reason, the lands shouldn't have fallen into such chaos in such a short period of just one year!
"What actually happened? Can our waiter brother tell us a little more about it? All of us had gone into seclusion for many years in the mountains and do not know what the situation is like in these lands today." Fan Zhuo asked, his heart a little worried as he pulled out a gold ingot and placed it on the table.
The waiter's eyes immediately bulged as he stared and his nostrils flared wide. His hand trembled as he picked up the gold ingot in his hands and quickly hid it in his sleeves. But in just that short period of time that had merely been a blink, it had already drawn the gazes of the other patrons in the tea stall to them.
"What does our guests want to know? Your humble one here will definitely tell you all that I know with restrain."
Fan Zhuo glanced at Jun Wu Xie and he then asked after receiving a signal from her: "Our waiter brother mentioned that there are wars happening everywhere, what did you mean by that? Did a particular country initiate a war?"
The waiter shook his head. "How could it be just one country? If it's a war brought on by just one single country, how could it possibly have driven all the people under the Heavens into such tumultuous turmoil? Actually....." The waiter paused and looked around him as he clutched at the gold ingot in his sleeve before saying in a low voice.
"I heard that it began when several countries were struck with an epidemic, which resulted in a great number of deaths. But the strange thing about that was that the people afflicted with the disease did not die. They instead turned immensely strong, but lost their awareness completely, becoming mindless shells that only knew how to kill people, as if possessed by the devil. In the beginning, the epidemic only appeared within a few small countries and no one knew how it suddenly spread everywhere. People who became infected by the disease turned maniacal and stirred up chaos all around them where even the armies of those countries were helpless against them. Now, those maniacs are spreading everywhere and the entire lands have been thrown into turmoil. I've heard that the Fire Country is now leading a combined force together with the Qi Kingdom and the Buckwheat Kingdom, seeking to control the situation."
"But the situation is becoming worse and no one knows why. Those maniacs do not feel pain and know no fear, only seeking to kill with complete disregard to their own lives. No one knows who gathered those maniacs together and it seems that they are now engaged in an earth shattering battle with the three country allied forces. The situation is spreading to many places and no country is safe, where the epidemic seems to be happening in every single one of them, a complete mess."
"This place is highly remote and far off so we do not often see those maniacs. But if you go further east, you will easily encounter them. Those maniacs eat people and are unbelievably strong. They do not care whether you are male or female, old or young, none are spared. It's really terrifying." The waiter's description was vivid and detailed, which made it seem like he wasn't lying.
Qiao Chu and the companions felt fear creep into their hearts as they listened. The situation that had been described, was something they had witnessed before!
That was no epidemic, but Poison Men created by the Soul Return Palace! !
Jun Wu Xie's eyes immediately turned chill. She had not thought after their one year's cultivation in seclusion, they would all be greeted by a world that had been thrown into such turmoil!
The waiter saw that the faces of the his audience had turned an ugly shade and he immediately shrunk his head into his shoulders before making himself scarce.
Chapter 1389: "The World in Chaos (3)"
Qiao Chu's face turned so dark that it was rather frightening to look at. Towards what they had discovered in the Condor Country's Capital City, was something they still could not forget till this day.
"It must be the Soul Return Palace! Just what do they want to achieve that they must stir up so much chaos and turmoil! Doesn't any of the other palaces care at all?" Qiao Chu spat out through gritted teeth. The line that divided the Middle Realm and the Lower Realm had always been clearly drawn. When the Twelve Palaces searched for the Dark Emperor's tomb, they had always carried out their work discreetly and would never create such a big stir to surface within the Lower Realm.
"Care? Do you really think that those Poison Men is the work of just the Soul Return Palace alone?" Hua Yao said with a sneer.
"What do you mean?" Qiao Chu asked, slightly startled.
Jun Wu Xie's eyes narrowed up as she said: "The Twelve Palaces are not holding themselves back this time."
"Huh?" Qiao Chu was still a little confused.
"Isn't this a great opportunity for us then? We should really let them have a good taste of our powers! I have waited so long for a moment like this." Fei Yan said, a fire ignited within his eyes. With deep blood vengeance upon their backs, the Twelve Palaces to them had become incompatible like fire and water.
"Little Xie, what are your plans?" Rong Ruo asked, her gaze falling on Jun Wu Xie.
To which Jun Wu Xie replied: "We move out immediately."
Jun Wu Xie already had her owns guesses on the current situation.
The Twelve Palaces had never done something like this but they had suddenly made such a brutal move against the Lower Realm. It must have been a case of a cornered dog jumps the wall.
They must have discovered that the maps that several of the palaces held have all disappeared and became anxious to kick up such a storm in the Lower Realm. As to what their objective for this was, Jun Wu Xie still could not be sure. What could they possibly hope to achieve by creating such chaos in the Lower Realm? What would they stand to gain from this?
Jun Wu Xie's heart was wrenched up in worry at that moment. The lands in chaos and from the waiter's words earlier, it was not hard to determine that the main forces resisting the Poison Men were the Fire Country together with the Qi and Buckwheat Kingdom. Among those three countries, any one of them held extraordinary meaning to Jun Wu Xie.
If the Twelve Palaces dared to harm any of the people she cared about this time, even if she needed to pursue them to the ends of the world, she would annihilate the Twelve Palaces!
At that moment, Jun Wu Xie could no longer sit still. She stood up suddenly and immediately returned to the horse carriages. Qiao Chu and the others quickly followed behind, not having time to even take a single gulp of water.
Jun Wu Yao accompanied Jun Wu Xie inside the horse carriage and as he watched Jun Wu Xie's stern profile, he clasped his hand over her tiny one.
"They are stronger than you imagine. Do not worry." Jun Wu Yao knew what Jun Wu Xie was worrying about. The disparity in the powers between the Lower Realm and the Middle Realm was too great and now that the Twelve Palaces had so blatantly taken such a cruel hand against the Lower Realm, how could Jun Wu Xie not be worried?
Jun Wu Xie took a deep breath. "I've not yet gone to them and they have instead come knocking on my door."
No matter how many of the Twelve Palaces were involved in this incident, she would not spare a single one of them. She didn't care how powerful the Middle Realm was as she only knew that her outer shell of a body grew up in the Lower Realm and the family she cared about, her companions were all here. She would never allow those trash from the Middle Realm to trample upon the lives of the people in the Lower Realm like this!
"There is no need for Little Xie to get angry at all. Since they are just pests that disgusts you, just crush them to death." Jun Wu Yao said with a devilish smile.
Jun Wu Xie narrowed her eyes to a slit.
"That's right. Crush them, and it'll be fine."
The scorching sun hung high in the sky. Jun Wu Xie and her companions climbed into the horse carriages and sped towards the east, towards lands scorched by the fires of battle, filled with chaos and disorder.
Chapter 1390: "Robbery (1)"
From the remote mountains and going towards the wide lands, Jun Wu Xie sat within the horse carriage where some small towns could be see far in the distance. Those once idyllic little towns, were now in shambles and ruin, the buildings and houses crumbling like they had been burnt by intense fire, signs of burning highly evident upon the broken tiles.
The horse carriages then stopped at the side of the road and Jun Wu Xie stepped out, peering at the crumbled walls and broken rubble.
A nauseating pungent stench hung in the air over the entire town and upon the scorched land, badly mutilated corpses could still be seen. Those corpses looked like they had been chewed upon by wild beasts, their bellies torn open, with no signs of their internal organs present.
"It's just too disgusting. Could this be the doing of the Poison Men?" Qiao Chu asked as he stared at the corpses with a frown upon his face. Among those rotting corpses, quite a number of them were bodies of young children and there were only parts of them left where even their heads were no longer whole.
"The Poison Men would not chew upon the corpses." Ye Mei said with a tilt of his eyebrow as he squatted down beside one of the dead bodies and used a finger to smear it with a little blood that had dried up before bringing it before his nose to sniff at it.
The faint smell of blood was tinged with another strange scent, a scent that Ye Mei was not familiar with.
"The Poison Men would attack their enemies and they might use their mouths to tear at their flesh, but it wouldn't result in wounds like this. The internal organs of these people had obviously been eaten by something and if it had been wild beasts, then they would not just eat the internal organs. Ye Sha and me have also observed that not a single one of these corpses have their internal organs still intact. All this cannot possibly be a coincidence." Ye Mei said thoughtfully with an eyebrow arched up. The wounds on the dead bodies were different from those the Poison Men would inflict and that was a point that he found rather strange.
"It's not the Poison Men?" Fan Zhuo asked, his brow lifting.
"Even if it's not the Poison Men, they are not that different from them. Afterall, we have not gone back to the Middle Realm for such a long time and they could possibly have developed something else." Ye Sha added.
Jun Wu Xie walked forward intending to check on the corpses when suddenly, her ears heard some faint noises.
Jun Wu Xie turned around to stare at the broken buildings.
The corners of Jun Wu Yao's mouth curled up.
All of a sudden!
Several figures leapt out from the shadows.
Qiao Chu and the others immediately put forth a guarded posture. But when they saw who the other party was, they were quickly stunned.
Appearing before their eyes, were not the Poison Men, but were instead more than ten men in ragged clothes who held machetes and hoes in their hands. Their hair were all in a mess and their faces filthy as their eyes shone with greed while eyeing Jun Wu Xie and her companions.
"These people..... are from that tea stall from before." Rong Ruo said, her sharp eyes discovering a few familiar figures among them. Those men had already shown shifty gazes earlier back at the tea stall.
A slightly more well built man from within that group then lifted his machete and pointed it at Jun Wu Xie and her companions before he said fiercely: "We do not intend to make things difficult for you. All of you will only need to leave all the valuables you have on you behind and we'll let you go!"
When Fan Zhuo had handed the gold ingot to the waiter earlier, that glittery gold had already attracted the attention of these bunch of refugees. They had noticed although Jun Wu Xie and her companions had quite a number of people in their group, most of them were still immature youths, with even a few children among them. Coupled with the fact that the whole bunch of people were brightly dressed and possessed handsome looks with smooth skin who looked like a bunch of nerds, that had caused them to develop sinister intentions. They had followed the horse carriages all the way to this place and were finally presented with a chance for them to strike.
More than ten of them leapt out from various parts of the town and surrounded Jun Wu Xie and her group, their intentions obvious.