Chapter 7: Sung Jinwoo

After descending the mountain quickly, the group's expressions changed upon seeing that those left behind outside the First-Line Gorge were all injured, accompanied by several corpses.

"What happened?" Murong Xun walked up to them to examine their wounds.

"We were ambushed by a group of shadowy figures!" The two Xiantian realm guards looked grim. "There were three Xiantian masters among them, and their combat power was not weak. Despite our brothers fighting desperately, we still lost several men."

"There were other people lying in ambush?" Murong Xun frowned upon hearing this.

"Deputy Commander, I feel that the people who attacked us were very strange. They didn't look human at all!" One of the Xiantian masters said, his face extremely ugly after a moment of thought. "They were all enveloped in black robes, but when we slashed them, they didn't bleed. Moreover, when we severed their arms, nothing was left behind, as if we were simply fighting shadows. Could they be the evil spirits summoned by shamanistic sorcery from the legends of the prairie people?"

Although they were already Xiantian masters, the encounters they had just experienced still left them deeply unnerved.

"Stop talking nonsense!" Seeing the shift in the expressions of those around him, Zhao Ze hurriedly stepped forward and rebuked him.

Noticing Zhao Ze's warning gaze, the Xiantian master realized he had spoken out of turn and immediately clamped his mouth shut.

Murong Xun felt puzzled. Could there still be others? That shouldn't be the case. If there really were other people, they shouldn't have been scattered about like this! Wouldn't it have been much better to gather everyone together and crush them in a head-on assault? Why bother splitting up and giving their opponents the opportunity to defeat them one by one? He truly could not fathom what the enemy was thinking.

"Uncle Zhao, were there any items left on those people earlier?" Although he knew there probably wouldn't be any harvest, Murong Xun still asked.

"Those three leaders possessed nothing on their bodies, and what is extremely bizarre is that their weapons also shattered after their deaths," Zhao Ze said with a heavy sense of bewilderment. "It was the exact same situation earlier on the other side. As for those soldiers, while they didn't carry much, there were still items indicating that they hailed from the prairie's wolf cavalry—the most elite cavalry of the grasslands!"

Murong Xun nodded inwardly. The so-called shattering of items was actually just a spectacle shown to them, the native inhabitants. In reality, once players died, all their possessions automatically entered their personal spaces. If they were killed by players, loot could be extracted via bloody badges; otherwise, they were simply recycled directly by the Magic Tower.

Of course Murong Xun had heard of the Prairie Wolf Cavalry. Their reputation was thunderous, akin to the Blood Cloud Cavalry of the Great Yang dynasty—both were elite military forces. It was just that the Emperor of Great Yang was currently bedridden; although the Crown Prince was acting as regent, power was largely monopolized by the powerful Grand Chancellor. The struggle between the Chancellor and the Crown Prince had essentially been brought out into the open. With the Blood Cloud Cavalry being the most crucial force, both factions wanted to control them. The result was that such a formidable army had been deployed to the capital's defense zone, ostensibly to guard the capital, which was utterly laughable.

Having resolved the trouble of their path being blocked, they buried the dead on the spot and resumed their journey. They were now not far from Yandang Mountain. After passing through the First-Line Gorge and crossing a stretch of plains, they would reach their destination.

Roughly half a day after they departed, two people rushed over on horseback.

Seeing the traces of battle nearby, Qin Suyao's expression turned solemn. "It seems the people of the Furious Dragon Sect did not escape the fate of being ambushed."

They had been trailing far behind the Furious Dragon Sect's entourage all along, simply keeping a distance so as not to get too close. Therefore, it was not difficult to deduce who had been involved in the battle that took place ahead.

"Judging by the situation, the battle wasn't all that intense!" Although Yi Tianxing lacked combat experience and worldly trials, he still possessed the discernment inherited from his background in the Sword Casting Villa. Thus, he could easily tell that the skirmish had not been particularly fierce, leaving him filled with lingering regret. Those thugs and bandits of the Furious Dragon Sect deserved to die in greater numbers. At this moment, he still harbored deep resentment over what had happened earlier.

"The real battle did not take place here." Qin Suyao shook her head, her gaze fixed on the towering cliffs on both sides of the First-Line Gorge as she furrowed her brow.

She was no hothouse flower like Yi Tianxing. Competition within the Goddess Peak was intensely fierce, and being able to stand out among numerous rivals meant her strength and intellect were naturally top-tier. Anyone would know how to handle a unique terrain like the First-Line Gorge; she simply refused to believe the enemy hadn't tampered with the heights above.

However, knowing that the members of the Furious Dragon Sect possessed formidable strength, she wasn't overly worried. Her desire for the Furious Dragon Sect to remain safe wasn't out of concern for them, but because the sect was one of the initiators of this upcoming Martial Arts Convention. If even the Furious Dragon Sect suffered heavy losses, then none of the participating factions would likely escape unscathed.

Their opponents this time had come aggressively and were no pushovers. Everyone was currently tied to the same rope, so the stronger the surviving strength of the Furious Dragon Sect, the better.

Yet Yi Tianxing was utterly incapable of understanding such reasoning, and she felt no need to explain it to him. After briefly inspecting the surroundings and finding no further clues, she cast a glance at the fresh graves nearby and calmly urged her horse into the First-Line Gorge.

"Miss Qin, wait for me!" Yi Tianxing fully embodied the adage that every beauty had a loyal simpering follower by her side. Seeing Qin Suyao leave, he whipped his horse into a gallop and hurried to catch up, seemingly terrified of being left behind.

Faced with this situation, Qin Suyao felt helpless. She had merely visited the Sword Casting Villa to pay respects and seek advice on sword casting, whereupon Yi Tianxing had been struck as if by a heavenly vision and instantly transformed into a loyal hanger-on, following her everywhere she went.

As for this state of affairs, his father—the master of the Sword Casting Villa—was actually more than happy to see it happen. Consequently, Qin Suyao found herself stuck with a clinging plasters-like companion whom she could never shake off. Not only that, Yi Tianxing possessed the temperament of a pampered young master, needlessly drawing a host of troubles upon her while remaining completely oblivious to it.

...

At the northern foothills of Yandang Mountain, military tents stretched endlessly. Inside one of the tents, two young men sat opposite each other, sipping tea.

"Do you think all those people from back then will come this time?" A man in his early twenties, dressed in a lavish fur robe, frowned as he looked at the youth across from him.

"Your Highness the Prince, rest assured. Everyone who participated in the assassination of the late Prince back then will appear this time. You will finally achieve your wish, avenging the late Prince so that he may rest in peace beneath the nine springs." The young man smiled, lifting his cup to take a sip.

"What peace beneath the nine springs or unrest!" The Prince brushed aside such sentiments entirely. "They killed my father. I, Agudu, only know that a life must be paid for with a life. If I do not avenge my father, everyone on the prairie will look down on me, calling Agudu a coward unworthy of having his corpse pecked by the sacred eagles after death."

For the people of the prairie, the highest honor was a sky burial—having their corpses pecked by the sacred eagles, the messengers of the gods.

"Rest assured, Your Highness. You will certainly receive a sky burial after death and achieve monumental merits," Cheng Xiaoyu said with a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "For instance, the merit of destroying the Great Yang Dynasty would be quite sufficient, and it might even allow you to ascend as the next Great Khan."

"What Great Khan or small Khan? I don't care about that." Agudu fixed his piercing gaze on him. "I know you have your own agenda, and that's fine. As long as you help me, you can borrow my power to accomplish whatever you wish. But remember this: if you use my power to achieve your goals yet fail to accomplish what I want, I have the ability to help you, and I also have the ability to kill you!"

With that, Agudu strode out of the tent.

"Prairie barbarian!" Shortly after Agudu left, Cheng Xiaoyu let out a low chuckle, completely unbothered by the other's attitude. "How could you possibly know what I truly desire? If I achieve what I want, there won't be any room left for you to exist anyway."

"Heh, heh, heh..." He silently toyed with his teacup, casually browsing his system interface.

"Sigh, I've led a few more ignorant fools to their deaths. It really is strange; these days, there are still people daring to cooperate with me. Do they not know how the word 'death' is written?"

Recalling that his reputation within the Magic Tower could already be described as infamous, the fact that the other party still dared to cooperate with him despite knowing his reputation was something he hadn't anticipated. They thought themselves clever, yet in this world, the ones who always died earliest were precisely these "clever people"!

He offered a brief moment of silence for Fang Yi and the others who had died, then gladly accepted their shadows.

"The power tier of this world is not low; it has even produced Tier 4 experts, and Tier 3 entities still exist. My current strength is somewhat lacking, so it's best to keep a low profile and develop for a while. Ideally, I should get the prairie and Great Yang to go to war so I can fish in troubled waters!"

Self-proclaimed as the Shadow Monarch, the person most passionate about collecting the shadows of others muttered to himself.

"This brainless fellow Agudu had better complete his host-binding as soon as possible. Utilizing his identity will make it much easier to accomplish what I want, but that old lama by his side is not easy to deal with!"

Cheng Xiaoyu felt a headache coming on. Agudu was, after all, a member of the prairie royal court. Although his father was dead and he held only the empty title of a prince, the Great Khan was his paternal uncle and treated him quite well, dispatching numerous experts to his side—and that old lama was one of them.

While the lama's martial arts might not necessarily be overwhelmingly high, his mental cultivation was truly profound. To Cheng Xiaoyu, the restraining effect was glaringly obvious. Most importantly, he dared not cause too commotion; eliminating the other party quietly and without a trace was no easy feat.

With that thought, he directly sent a message to someone.

[I can agree to what you mentioned, but likewise, I also need you to help me accomplish a task.]

[No problem! To show my sincerity, I can take care of your matter first!]

The other side did not hesitate, quickly transmitting a reply.

Seeing this, Cheng Xiaoyu smiled. Viewed this way, the matter was settled. All he needed to do was quietly wait.

[Then I wish us a pleasant cooperation!]

[A pleasant cooperation!]