Chapter 408: One After Another (II)

Chapter 408: One After Another (II)

The tiger by the lake had been a juvenile cub then. Well, it was a full-grown tiger according to a wild beast timeline, but based on its current mindset, that was when it was still a baby.

Martial dao... how long had it been since it’d seen a martial master? The world had apparently completely changed in the outside world. Martial masters that once dominated the land were either dead or had gone quiet. As for supernaturals... the tiger had seen a few in its time. They were too weak—they died with one swipe.

It sometimes thought back to that person and wondered if he was still alive. When he perfected his five auras, that arrogant human had declared that it would dominate the lands after it left Ash Mountain and unite the martial world. He would set foot into Dominator and pioneer the martial path beyond it...

Was he dead too?

The golden eagle also took a walk down memory lane as the tiger rifled through its memories. That had been a martial master, hadn’t it? A martial master of Skystar Dynasty. Its presence had not been apparent, so it wasn’t a supernatural. The eagle was once thrown down a mountaintop by a most villainous human. That human wanted it to hunt and fly. He beat the eagle if the eagle refused or ran away. A beating was in short order even if it flew too high!

The beatings came in mixed format as that scoundrel had been too strong. Any random pebble he tossed into the air reached several hundred meters high. There had been nothing the eagle could do. Now that it thought about it, that was all there was to the situation.

The giant ape on the other side didn’t think too much. It did recall a strange human who liked to imitate it a long time ago. The human lived with the ape and ate with the monster spirit, doing whatever the ape did. It hadn’t seen the human in a very long time—he was probably dead.

The ape snuck a glance out of the corner of its eye at the tiger and eagle not too far away. Those two had been beaten up by the human, right? It couldn’t recall if it was those two. Its memory during that time was hazy, a far cry from the clarity it possessed now.

It was difficult to say if these two had been the ones of his memories. The ape had asked a few times, but both denied it. Perhaps it was other members of their species? Who knew.

Only the enormous snake of the four monster spirits didn’t have much on its mind. It didn’t care about the human that’d just escaped, it only had eyes for the Golden Lotus. How much could it claim this time? They would have to wait another five years if they missed this opportunity. This area was their joint territory. Whether it was equal division, a fight to determine one victor, or any other manner, they’d yet to settle on a conclusive method.

The four monster spirits immediately forgot about that person. Whether the human had run off or was spying on them, they didn’t care so long as there was no interference in their division of the spoils.

......

Li Hao quickly returned to where the team waited, his clothes soaked through with sweat. Liu Long and the others wanted to greet him when they saw the young man, but he transmitted, “No one talk!”

An instant hush prevailed.

“We need to circle around this area...” Li Hao swallowed hard, finally able to relax slightly. Thank goodness he hadn’t been discovered, that would be horrifying. Knowing that the team was confused, he transmitted a further explanation, “There’s major monster spirits further inside, all of them unparalleled in strength! They’re so strong that they might be Director Hou’s level!”

Everyone’s movements stilled as they stiffened. What level was Director Hou? Someone who killed a Nova with one spear jab!

Major monster spirits, plural? Liu Long’s scalp crawled with numbness. When had Ash Mountain turned this terrifying? It was lucky that Li Hao had discovered them so early without mishap. Otherwise, the team was done for!

The young man was finding his eyes to be supremely useful. They were sometimes more useful than sword energy. So... what had happened to the others who could see the scarlet shadows? There’d been multiple in Silver City, at least ten in one million. Even if some had died, one per one million meant that Silver City could produce one hundred.

Where had they all gone?

No one among the Night Watchers mentioned these people. If they possessed the same abilities as he did, it would be a snap of the fingers for the agency to uncover supernatural hideouts.

Despite the questions running through his mind, Li Hao didn’t intend to probe into the matter. He’d just ask about it obliquely.

“Chief, you guys stay here. I’m going out. Don’t go out without reason. If you need to answer nature’s call, do so here!”

Liu Long looked solemnly at the young man. Where was he going?

Li Hao didn’t explain himself. He wasn’t going to fish in troubled waters or shadow the major monster spirits. He just wanted to see if anyone was following him. If so... he wouldn’t mind stirring up some trouble and luring them all to that place!

The young man didn’t consider the notion of being a fisherman that benefited from a fight between snipe and clam. There was no such possibility with those four monster spirits present. The only potential was for his pursuers to be killed and him to wait around to collect their corpses.

Did monster spirits eat people?

They seemed to.

Did they eat storage rings?

Who knew, but maybe the rings would pass through their systems.

Li Hao’s thoughts were traveling too far, but they were also very simple at the same time. What if the monster spirits didn’t eat his pursuers after killing them? What if monster spirits produced fecal matter? They didn’t use storage rings, right? In that case, he might be able to pick up something once the monster spirits left.

It was more convenient to operate alone; dark mysterious power helped restrain one’s presence. He also had the bronze mirror on him.

Li Hao suddenly stopped and took out an energy ring, preparing to absorb more dark mysterious power. He’d found it useless before as he didn’t think himself in the insidious business of ambushing others. Martial masters took the fight to the enemy’s face! What need was there for dark mysterious power!

But now he felt that he should absorb some—not for ambush, but to further weaken his presence so that he wouldn’t clash with the monster spirits. Humans and monster spirits could coexist peacefully.

He quickly absorbed the mysterious power and crushed another two stones, leaving only eight in his storage ring. The young man had absorbed nearly five hundred cubes of dark energy by now. He didn’t lack it as peak Solar Yue Pu had supplied nearly two thousand cubes. He’d only absorbed half of his gains.

The sky darkened when he finished absorbing five hundred cubes. Li Hao’s figure shifted like a shadow before blending into the darkness. Dark energy didn’t strengthen him, but it did decrease his sense of being.