Chapter 651 : Nobody Messes With My Patient (3)
The men ran heedlessly as if gone completely mad. Jun Wu Xie was in no hurry to pursue them. She first made Lord Meh Meh set her down before she waved her hand carelessly asking Lord Meh Meh to go after the men in pursuit.
"I want them alive." Jun Wu Xie reminded Lord Meh Meh chillingly.
Lord Meh Meh immediately gave a earth shattering roar and sped off in a white flash!
Jun Wu Xie came to stand beside the black beast. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the unconscious Mu Qian Fan on the black beast's back. She reached out her hand and felt for his pulse. After determining he was still alive, she immediately opened her Cosmos Sack and took out a few bottles of her elixirs. Jun Wu Xie lifted Mu Qian Fan's drooping head and pushed an elixir into his mouth.
Jun Wu Xie treated Mu Qian Fan's wounds without a word. The earlier clamour disappeared and silence pervaded. The black beast lay upon the grass unmoving. Although it was a spirit body, after taking on a physical form, it would possess a body temperature. On a night as cold and chilly as this, if they were to put Mu Qian Fan who had lost so much blood on the cold and frosty ground, hypothermia might quickly kill him.
The tranquility here greatly contrasted the panic that was taking hold on the other side of the woods. Those men made a mad scramble and ran for their lives, but their legs were no match for Lord Meh Meh's incredible speed.
Very shortly, Lord Meh Meh had already caught up to them. With their senses overtaken by the overwhelming fear, the crazed men screamed for their ring spirits to attack Lord Meh Meh. However, Lord Meh Meh just swung several of his tails indifferently and he quickly sent the weak and miniscule ring spirits flying.
The Beast Spirits went flying through the air but Lord Meh Meh was not about to let them off so easily. His huge tails were suddenly wrapped around all of the beast spirits and they were raised high up before they were heavily smashed onto the ground!
Pitiful wails and whines sounded in the thrashed up woods. Although spirit bodies do not bleed, but they would nevertheless still feel pain.
In a blink, those beast spirits were already tormented by Lord Meh Meh until they were teetering on the verge of death and they were not even able to moan in agony anymore.
When the men saw their ring spirits so effortlessly taken out, they ran away screaming in all directions.
Lord Meh Meh did not rush. It curled one of its tails around all the severely weakened beast spirits and then raised itself to its full height. From its high vantage point, it searched for the running figures through the thick foliage.
The night's silence was broken by occasional screams and wails. Their voices were filled with despair and fear but there was no one else around to hear them!
After Jun Wu Xie finished treating Mu Qian Fan's wounds, the black beast was at its limit and it could not maintain its form anymore as it morphed into the tiny little black cat, quickly curling up in exhaustion on the ground, without moving an inch.
Jun Wu Xie raised her hand and used the Spirit Healing Technique to slowly treat the little black cat's injuries.
The ground beneath their feet trembled and Jun Wu Xie looked up. Lord Meh Meh was returning and its tails behind it were curled around the escapees and their ring spirits, so badly weakened they had turned sort of translucent.
Jun Wu Xie's eyes narrowed and Lord Meh Meh quickly stretched eight of his tails forward to come before Jun Wu Xie and released their grip. Ten pale and ashen faced men fell together clumsily onto the ground.
"Don't..... Don't kill us....." The leader of the band of men was gripped in paralysing terror as he sat on the ground. He looked at Jun Wu Xie with horror filled eyes, his face completely drained of colour.
The other men from the group besides their leader were now just trembling helplessly as they knelt on their knees, not daring to move from their spots.
"Why did you want to kill him?" Jun Wu Xie asked, her gaze cold as she stared at the man.
~
~
~
Chapter 652 : Nobody Messes With My Patient (4)
The man looked at Jun Wu Xie as his entire body trembled visibly. Even though the young youth before his eyes looked to be so scrawny and weak, he did not dare underestimate the youth in the slightest.
For someone to be able to command a legendary Guardian Grade Spirit Beast, there was no way he would be just a simple common youth.
Even with so many of them, before the might of the Guardian Grade Spirit Beast, not a single one among them had been able to escape and they were all captured. Even when they had split up and hid themselves among the dense trees in the woods, none of them had still been lucky enough to escape.
After realising the unbelievable might of the Guardian Grade Spirit Beast, they had completely given up on any thoughts of escape.
"I..... I....." The man conspicuously froze a moment and his eyes appeared shifty as he glanced around him.
Jun Wu Xie's eyes narrowed slightly. Lord Meh Meh quickly and intelligently detected its "feedstress'" annoyance and it surreptitiously flicked out one of its tails and smacked the shifty eyed man straight onto the ground!
A Guardian Grade Spirit Beast's careless flick, was to the average human, a force one would not be able to withstand!
"ARRGH! !" A ear piercing scream erupted from the man and when Lord Meh Meh moved its tail away, the man's entire body had been driven into the earth. He was broken in several places and blood gushed out from his body, staining the ground a deep red!
The man let out a few weak moans and his body gave a violent twitch before he completely stopped moving.
"....." Lord Meh Meh stared at the man it had just smashed into the ground and it blinked its eyes several times before it turned to Jun Wu Xie. When it saw Jun Wu Xie's eyes slowly turning frosty, a chill ran up its spine and it hastened to dig the man out from the ground before laying the body gently on the ground, lightly shaking and prodding it for a long while.....
The result was.....
The body was dead through and through! No doubt about it!
Even his nose had been smashed, plastered flat upon his face. His broken ribs stuck out the front of his chest and there was no way that he could be resuscitated.
"....." Lord Meh Meh froze, and its pointed ears flatten against its head in remorse. It hung its head forlornly and did not dare look into Jun Wu Xie's eyes.
[How was it to know that the man would be so hopelessly fragile! ? It had just "stroked" the man with its tail lightly and it had suddenly turned over and died!]
[He broke too easily!]
Jun Wu Xie glanced at the man's corpse and turned her eyes upon the frozen and petrified group of men.
The men were not aware of the "conversation" that Jun Wu Xie had with Lord Meh Meh with their eyes. They only saw that their Boss had with just a moment's hesitation, been mercilessly executed! Not the slightest mercy was shown at all!
At that moment, although they were grateful they were still alive, they were already scared completely out of their wits and they did not even dare turn their eyes to look once at the corpse beside them.
"You, come here." Jun Wu Xie raised a hand, pointing her finger at the man holding a bow in his hand.
The man wailed and was about to plead when he found himself kicked from behind by his companions, causing him to fall forward, landing right before Jun Wu Xie's feet. Others in the band were fearful of being implicated and none of them made any moves to help.
Panicked, the archer fell into a kneeling position and he struck his head hard upon the ground before Jun Wu Xie. He was so terrified he did not even dare raise his head the slightest as he knelt there trembling.
"You tell me." Jun Wu Xie's frosty voice sounded above the man's head.
To him, that voice sounded just like the solemn gong of death's knell.
"It..... it wasn't..... my idea..... to kill him..... It was him..... He made..... me do it....." The archer prostrated himself on the ground, wishing he could sink lower down in plea, as he stammered out his reply.
"Reason." Jun Wu Xie did not want to hear such nonsense.
The archer remembered how his Boss had died and he did not hesitate in the slightest as he said: "He..... he accidentally overheard our conversation. Boss was afraid that it would be leaked out and he ordered us to kill him off."
~
~
~
Chapter 653 : Nobody Messes With My Patient (5)
It turned out that when Mu Qian Fan had gone out to find firewood, he had coincidentally passed this area. Unexpectedly, this group of men had been discussing their plans within the woods and the currently decreased leader of the group had not bothered how much Mu Qian Fan had heard when he was spotted, wanting only to prevent their business from being leaked, he had led his men in pursuit to silence Mu Qian Fan.
The scent of blood that Jun Wu Xie had initially detected had been from Mu Qian Fan. If the little black cat had not gotten there in time, Mu Qian Fan might have already gone to meet his maker.
"What were you discussing?" Jun Wu Xie asked.
The archer did not dare to hide anything and prattled on: "We..... We are actually from the Yan Country...... Because our Master wanted us to go explore the Heaven's End Cliff, we were discussing our plans about our trip to the Heaven's End Cliff when.....
[Heaven's End Cliff!]
Jun Wu Xie's heart thumped.
"What were you going to do at Heaven's End Cliff?" Jun Wu Xie asked coldly.
"That..... That I really do not know..... People of a lowly status like us are not in a place to know of such matters and the only person among us who knew in detail what our mission entailed was our Boss. He had not mentioned anything about it to us..... I..... really do not know anything....." As the archer spoke, he kept on striking his head upon the ground, pleading for Jun Wu Xie to spare his life.
Jun Wu Xie narrowed her eyes and pointed at the dead corpse before she asked: "Does he have a map on him?"
The archer nodded quickly.
"Yes! Yes! But he had never shown it to us at all. He kept it on himself all the while."
"Find it." Jun Wu Xie ordered.
The archer scuttled over quickly, and when his eyes saw the grisly state of the corpse, he froze a moment in hesitation.
Lord Meh Meh blew out a breath of hot air and when the hesitant archer felt the warm gush blow past him, he turned a shade paler and immediately began searching frantically.
"I'll search! I'll search! I'll look for it right away! Don't kill me! I beg you not to kill me!"
The archer had tears flowing down his cheeks as he pleaded pitifully, and he forced his hands to rummage through the still slightly warm corpse.
After a while, he finally pulled out from the corpse's robe pocket with a trembling hand, a blood stained map. Immediately upon finding it, he quickly turned and was all jittery as he presented the map before Jun Wu Xie.
"It..... It's this one....."
Jun Wu Xie reached out and opened up the map. The map was not made from skin but from common parchment. A large part of the map was currently badly stained with blood and it was impossible to picture what the entire map was showing.
Based on the portion left that was still visible, the map was slightly similar to the two other maps Qiao Chu and the others were holding.
Mu Qian Fan had already drawn and plotted the map showing the way to the Heaven's End Cliff and Jun Wu Xie was certain that the map she was holding in her hands was not showing the way to the Heaven's End Cliff.
If the map was not showing the way towards the place, then there was only one other possibility!
The map, was one of the eight pieces showing the way to the Dark Emperor's tomb. And the map here in her hands, was not the original, but a duplicate.
"Yan Country." Jun Wu Xie uttered as she stared at the largely blood covered map she held within her hands. If Lord Meh Meh had not smashed the leader of the band of men dead earlier, they would have effortlessly gained the third piece of the maps towards the Dark Emperor's tomb.
"Who is your Master?" Jun Wu Xie asked, staring at the terrified archer.
The archer gulped loudly before he replied: "The Yan Country's Crown Prince..... Yan Country's Crown Prince....."
Jun Wu Xie's eyebrow raised up, a little surprised. The Yan Country was not small and weak like the Qi Kingdom. It can be said that the Yan Country was the mightiest among all the countries and their lands were the most vast. The Yan Country and the Qi Kingdom were two extremes. The Yan Country was the first country to be founded and the Imperial Family had been adept rulers. Over time, the Yan Country had grown from strength to strength and the lands they controlled expanded rapidly. When war had broken out between the various powers a century ago, the Yan Country had at that time grabbed the opportunity and reigned supremacy since.
~
~
~
Chapter 654 : Paying the Price (1)
It can be said, the Yan Country had become the mightiest power in the Lower Realm. The Yan Country was fond of warring and it had previously carried out several successful war campaigns. It was not until the last major war a century ago that sealed their reign of supremacy that the Yan Country gradually tempered their lust for war.
The Yan Country's efforts were now concentrated towards developing their economy and their people kept well skilled in battle, to maintain their unshakable reign.
Jun Wu Xie pondered over the facts. The treasure map leading to the Dark Emperor's tomb comprised a total of eight separate pieces. The existence of one of the pieces was not known to the Twelve Palaces as it was hidden from them and currently in Fan Zhuo's hands. The remaining seven pieces were separately held by seven of the Twelve Palaces in unspoken defiance of the revered might of the Dark Emperor and the overpowering dominance held by the Dark Regiment.
The Twelve Palaces were afraid of carrying the unpardonable crime of disturbing the eternal rest of the Dark Emperor and hence had sent their men to liaise with the various powers of the Lower Realm, handing the precious maps over to men within the powers they were grooming, to secretly assist them in locating the Dark Emperor's tomb.
Up to that moment, Jun Wu Xie knew of three of the maps. Besides the hidden one held by Fan Zhuo, one was in the hands of the largest clan, the Qing Yun Clan. The other was within the top three academies throughout the lands, the famed Zephyr Academy. With a quick analysis of the two previous examples, it was not difficult to conclude that all the scapegoats the Twelve Palaces had picked were some of the strongest and most influential powers in the Lower Realm. Weaker powers would not have adequate resources to challenge the trials at the Heaven's End Cliff anyway.
The palaces involved in it, totaled seven in number. Jun Wu Xie did not know what kind of actions the other five palaces had taken, but she only knew that every individual palace who were involved in this all had vested interests in the various powers they had roped in.
And the Yan Country could very well be one of the powers one of the seven palaces had chosen.
"The Yan Country's Crown Prince." Jun Wu Xie glanced at the archer prostrated limply upon the ground before her and she knew that he had divulged everything he knew.
There would not be anymore more information that she would want to get out from the man.
"Will..... will you...... re..... release us now......" The archer pleaded, snivelling on the ground, his body trembling.
Jun Wu Xie stared at the bow in the archer's hand that his ring spirit had morphed into.
"Give."
The archer was baffled a moment before he realised Jun Wu Xie was staring at his ring spirit. He did not hesitate in the slightest and quickly handed hours bow over.
Jun Wu Xie studied the bow a moment before she said to the little black cat upon her shoulder: "Try it."
The little black cat immediately gave out an obedient meow.
The archer looked blankly at Jun Wu Xie, completely not understanding what Jun Wu Xie was doing.
However, in the very next moment, he was stunned into stupefied silence by what he saw right before his eyes!
The tiny little black cat raised its paws and held one end of the bow, slowly pushing it into its tiny little mouth.
The seemingly sturdy bow was suddenly bitten off by a chunk and with the little black cat's sharp teeth and quickly swallowed up!
Before the archer could recover from the shocking sight, the agony of having one's ring spirit forcibly torn out struck him heavily and he suddenly found himself sprawled upon the ground twitching violently!
The torment assaulted his body relentlessly, making his face turn green and he was soon foaming at the mouth.
"Meow?"
[It is..... edible afterall, but the texture is rather different from a beast spirit]
The chunk that was bitten off turned into a shapeless spirit form in the little black cat's mouth. It did not need to chew and the little black cat just swallowed it down into its belly.
The little black cat had previously swallowed up Mo Xuan Fei's Golden Lion and this was the first time it was devouring a weapon ring spirit. Jun Wu Xie had only wanted to test it out and had not thought that it would be successful!
The little black cat devoured the weapon spirit bit by bit and the archer was by then already slumped in a heap, his body twitching incessantly on the ground, his eyes rolled over showing only the whites, and his breath was coming in short sharp gasps.
Huddled together in a bunch, the archer's other companions could do nothing but watch with their eyes wide at all that was happening, their hearts gripped in overwhelming and paralysing fear!
~
~
~
Chapter 655 : Paying the Price (2)
That little black cat.....
is actually..... capable of devouring ring spirits!
How is that possible!?
Something so shocking and completely unheard of was happening right before their eyes! Not even in their worst nightmares would they ever dream that such a horrifying thing could happen!
They watched their companion writhing in agony upon the ground, and watched as his ring spirit was being slowly devoured. Their strength seeped completely out from their legs and they began to shake uncontrollably.
The appearance of the Guardian Grade Spirit Beast had already driven them into utter despair and the youth's merciless actions coupled with the little black cat's strange abilities almost drove them into madness. They prayed fervently to the Heavens in their hearts, that they would not share the same fate.
Having their ring spirits torn forcibly from them, just thinking about it sent chills up their spine!
After devouring the weapon spirit, the little black cat was still not satisfied and it squinted its eyes as it stared at the several ring spirits gripped in Lord Meh Meh's tail before smacking its tongue against its lips.
"You can still go on?" Jun Wu Xie noticed the little black cat's gaze before she asked calmly.
"Meow!"
[Even if I stuff myself to death, I will swallow the whole bunch of scoundrels!]
[Didn't they enjoy chasing me down so much earlier? The wheels of fortune has reversed and now it's revenge!]
Jun Wu Xie nodded, indicating to Lord Meh Meh to release one more beast spirit.
The beast ring spirit had already been severely thrashed up by Lord Meh Meh and was very weak. When Lord Meh Meh threw it onto the ground, it lay there motionless, in an unmoving heap, not showing even a single bit of the previous ferocity it had displayed when it pursued the black beast and Mu Qian Fan earlier.
The little black cat jumped down from Jun Wu Xie's shoulder and morphed into the massive black beast. It strode slowly over to stand neediest the beast spirit and lowered its head with its jaws wide open, before it took one big bite out of the beast spirit as if in vent!
A loud scream erupted together with the snap of the black beast's jaws from the group of men huddled together!
The beast spirit's contracted human owner grasped and clutched at the clothes at his chest, suddenly toppling over onto the ground, his legs kicking out in agony.
Jun Wu Xie watched him with a cold gaze, and there wasn't an ounce of pity in those eyes.
If she had come just a moment later, the one who would have ended up dead now would be Mu Qian Fan!
After the little black cat devoured another two beast spirits, it couldn't swallow another bite. It walked back fully satisfied to stand behind Jun Wu Xie, indicating it had had its fill.
"Kill them." Jun Wu Xie ordered in a chilling tone as the terrified men stared at her in disbelief.
Whoever dared to mess with her patient, must be prepared to pay the price!
With the threat of death looming heavily over them, the men managed to summon up enough strength to scramble and crawl, futile screams of despair escaping from their throats, despite knowing deep in their hearts, their feeble attempt to escape certain death would eventually prove fruitless!
Several of Lord Meh Meh's huge tails flicked down, as if swatting at flies, smashing onto the "insects" scrambling in all directions crushing them into the ground. It wasn't so "gentle" this time round, having received Jun Wu Xie's order to squash them, Lord Meh Meh did not hold back its strength.
'Squelch Squelch Squelch '
Sounds of squishy smacks resounded in the woods. The men were all smashed into the ground by Lord Meh Meh and all their bones were completely crushed. Under the crushing force, their bodies were all mashed up, reduced into unidentifiable red splatters scattered across the ground, making good fertiliser for that patch of the woods.
"Meh?" Lord Meh Meh looked at the several patches of deep red blood stains on the ground before turning to Jun Wu Xie and gave out a short bleat, as if asking for Jun Wu Xie's approval.
Jun Wu Xie nodded.
Lord Meh Meh heaved a sigh of relief and it turned back into its tiny fluffy form of a wooly sheep, happily prancing to come beside Jun Wu Xie and its hooves tapped a circle around her, shamelessly asking for praise.
However, Jun Wu Xie stretched out her hand and shook the blood covered map before Lord Meh Meh's eyes and Lord Meh Meh who was just a moment before smirking proudly quickly stopped moving its excitedly bobbing tail and hung its head sheepishly.