Chapter 73: Guerilla Warfare
Hearing these words, both Xu Min and Ye Ling could not help but smile. If the group would have used their energy to look around them, then they would have been able to locate Xu Min long ago. However, he had found them first, and since he found them, he ate the frosty grass to hide his aura and presence. Xu Min and Ye Ling were only visible if anyone looked straight at them. No one would be able to recognize them otherwise.
Suddenly, Xu Min noticed one person leaving the group. "Haha, don't worry about me, I just need to visit the privy. No need to wait. I'll catch up with you guys soon," This person called out. The moment he left the group, Xu Min vanished from the treetop where he had been observing the group of people.
Soon after he reemerged, a faint scent of blood wafted in the air, but it was so indistinct that no one noticed it. Though if they had been focused on it, they might have caught some change in the air.
The group kept moving forward with Xu Min and Ye Ling following behind in the treetops, one tree at a time.
"Young Master Shen Yu, we have a problem. Junior brother Wang Gu went to the privy around an hour ago, but he has not returned yet. You know junior brother Wang Gu is loyal to you, so he would not escape our group of people. I fear misfortune has befallen him." A young man said with a low voice, trying not to sound too loud to not worry the others. However, most experts heard what he had said..
Even Xu Min heard the words. A smile appeared on his face as he saw three experts leave the group, clearly going to find this Wang Gu.
Once more Xu Min vanished from the treetop and reappeared on the ground right behind the three.
Previously, he had managed to kill instantly Wang Gu who was not on high alert, but these three were different. They knew something had happened, but even so they could not feel Xu Min inching closer and closer.
His sword was drawn and after a short moment did he manage to be so close to them that he jumped forward. His sword swiped through the air and instantly beheaded the first person. The other fighters noticed too slowly what had happened and by the time they turned around another person had been stabbed through the stomach. His voice sounding out in a loud scream which pierced the silent forest.
Cursing, Xu Min swiftly turned to the last person. His sword came down, splitting his entire body into two before he jumped to the tree tops and returned to Ye Ling.
"I heard one of them scream," the lion said with a low voice, "the people in the group below heard it too," the lion continued, "the entire group has run back to the location of your fight. I think they'll soon know that you are after them," Ye Ling continued.Xu Min nodded his head. The screaming young man who had been stabbed in the stomach was beyond saving, but it was clear that he would tell what he knew to the young master Shen.
"Let us go have a look," Xu Min said with a low voice. The two of them silently returned to the battleground.
On the ground, two corpses lay, one beheaded and the other sliced in half. In the middle was a young man on the soft grass; above him was another young man. The one on the ground was the one who had been stabbed in the stomach. The man who was bending above him was the young master Shen Yu.
"What happened?" the irate voice of Shen Yu roared out. "Ambush," the man on the ground said, his voice faint and weak. This one word clearly took all his energy to say.
"It was a young man... He was swift like a shadow... Death!" When the man said death, his voice trembled with fear. His eyes widened as he remembered the few moments before. This young man was truly dangerous. He killed two men in just two breaths of air. He did not allow any time to return the attacks or defend.
While thinking about this, the eyes of the young man turned distant. His body limp,the last breath of air escaped him.
Shen Yu was furious; his entire body trembled, and his eyes turned red. "So someone thinks he can hunt us down?!" His outburst caused everyone else to be scared, but Shen Yu was too furious to be scared of what had happened.
His Qi swept across the entire region of the forest. Although he found many experts, none of them were close enough to have been the cause of the fight. Gritting his teeth, he looked around him but saw no one.
"I fear they have taken illusive spirit grass, but don't worry. The reason the murderer could easily deal with these three was because they were nothing more than two-star Warriors. In an ambush, all the three-star or four-star Warriors in our group would be capable of killing them this swiftly, especially since it is an external expert. Sneaking in on them while using illusive spirit grass, so they do not sense him and the chopping them down, really is not that amazing,"
Hearing Shen Yu's words, everyone heaved a heavy sigh of relief. What he had said was correct. But even so, they kept looking left and right, up and down, in their attempt to see the hidden danger which had killed four of their men.
Fortunately, Xu Min and Ye Ling were so far up in the treetops that the many leaves were covering them. Also, none of these experts would have considered traveling through the tops of the trees; thus they never expected others would do so. The fighting had happened on the ground. More than anything, these experts expected the murderer to be on the ground.
"In the future, no one is to move alone. All two-star warriors are to move with a three-star or four-star warrior. Even though this is troublesome, it is the only way for us to survive."
Although Shen Yu actually only cared about his own rank in this Immortal Ranking, he needed the support of his followers to gather enough materials and demon cores to rank highly. These people had already dedicated their emblems to Shen Yu when the ranking was to end. Although a high rank was beneficial, having the Snow Mountain owing them a favor, or at least looking at their family as their supporters, was even more important for small families.
The Snow Mountain was currently expanding. If they were to expand to other cities, these families would be allowed to stay within the cities as they allied with the Snow Mountain.
Shen Yu was a dangerous person, but he was only a four-star warrior. When Xu Min was a two-star Warrior, he had to be careful around four-star warriors. However, he had reached the third-star level and his body had been tempered by the essence of the heavens and the earth.
He had become incredibly strong. His body many times stronger than it had been before and his inner energy pool had more than tripled of what it was before. Defeating a four-star Warrior was no longer a problem, but there was a limit to how many experts he could take on at once. He did know withYe Ling on his side, they could attack the group and finish them off. Yet Xu Min was here to increase his own personal strength.Thus he prefered waiting and killing them a ew at a time.
"Let us bury our friends," Shen Yu said with a sigh. Although he really did not feel like wasting any more time here, since these three were nothing more than two-star Warriors, they still had been his followers. To show all the rest that he cared deeply about them all, Shen Yu was willing to waste just a bit more time for a decent burial.
"Although the murderer rushed with the killings, he managed to take their emblems with him," Shen Yu cursed to himself. Had he at least gotten the three emblems, he would not feel as though he had wasted as much time. Yet now he gained nothing but still paid the time for having to bury his followers?
"If just a beast had come and dragged them with it," he continued to curse inwardly while keeping his cool on the outside seemingly very upset about the loss of his followers.
Xu Min had to fight to keep holding his laughter in. Clearly, Ye Ling had the same issue. Both understood clearly what Shen Yu was thinking, but they also understood why he was doing what he did.
"We need to be more careful in the future," Ye Ling growled with a low voice so that no one could hear them. "even though they are going to move in a group, you should be able to kill them in couples," Ye Ling continued, and Xu Min nodded his head. He had to be more careful but it was still not impossible for him to deal with this group of experts collectively.
The group stayed at the same location for a good four hours burying the three experts and looking around them. They were constantly on high alert, expecting to see a monster anywhere they looked.
As the burial had finished, they all rested a short amount of time. Shen Yu then once more called out for the group to start moving. All of them did what they had been told to do, following right behind him. Some of the experts were external experts and had their weapons in hand; others were internal experts and were constantly letting their Qi flow through their bodies, ready to activate it should they find traces of this unknown person who was causing their members to die.
Shen Yu was walking in the very front. His mood was foul, but even so, he just now used his Qi to scan the surroundings, not allowing for even the slightest person or creature to inch towards them without him knowing. Of course,Xu Min and Ye Ling were the exceptions because they had consumed illusionary spirit grass.
"What are we going to do now?" Ye Ling asked with a low voice. Xu Min looked at the group, contemplating if he should just rush down and attack them all together with Ye Ling. Even if he did so, the two of them would gain heavy injuries. He was not willing to get injured just yet; the truly dangerous people were still out there.
"Let us wait and see. I fail to believe that they won't leave in small groups when they need to go to the privy or just need a short break on their own. If they do, then we can always decide if it is worth killing them or if we should leave." Xu Min determined. Ye Ling could not help but snort, "as if you would leave. You are like a demonic beast, not only are you enjoying hunting them down, you will never let go of your target. If they are in your way, and they try to bring trouble, then you'll get rid of them. It feels familiar to me." Ye Ling said smugly and Xu Min was surprised that the lion was correct.
He had sworn that he would kill anyone who came between him and his revenge. Those who wished to bring him trouble would definitely die, come one and he would kill one, come two and he would kill two. The more that came the more he would kill.