Chapter 36: Great Losses
Translator: Panda_Penn Editor: Chrissy
“Cheep, cheep~”
The white little beast made a light noise in the jute bag. Surprisingly, the Stone Rats stopped attacking, and Lu Li stayed where he was holding his broadsword up high. Light flickered in his eyes. Grabbing the jute bag in one hand, Lu Li sunk into deep thoughts with knitted brows.
The speed of the little beast was fast. How did one call from it stopped the Stone Rats from attacking? All these indicated that the little beast was not a Xuan Beast of a low rank. Only Xuan Beast of a high rank could suppress down the ones of lower ranks. If Lu Li were to bring it along, he could be bitten to death in case the beast went rampant.
Except that the white little guy never revealed any ferocious qi or energy typical of powerful Xuan Beasts, nor did it show any kind of hostility to him. Also, there was something about the way it looked at the animal tooth pendant. Judging by the looks of it, the white beast could be very smart, and it was its own will to follow him.
“Lu Li, we got the elixir, let’s go!”
Liu Yu shouted from a distance. Lu Li considered it and ran back after he made up his mind. He then went out of the stone cave together with Liu Yu.
As soon as they were out, one of the powerful warriors of the Liu Family was still worried, so he wielded his axe smashing at the cave. Many stones and much dirt fell off, blocking the small path completely.
“Move!”
Liu Yu led these men back. On their way, he told Lu Li, “Lu Li, this mystical grass is very precious. If I am not mistaken, it should be the Seven-leafed Heaven Cloud Grass of the Fifth Rank. It is invaluable. If that is true, we have done really well this time. Each of us can get at least 1000 contribution points.”
The other two warriors were all excited about this. Lu Li did not have much idea of the contribution points. What was on his mind was still the small beast in his jute bag. He was still hesitating whether to bring it along or not.
He answered randomly to Liu Yu and slowed down on purpose. At a corner, while the other three paid no attention to him, Lu Li opened the jute bag to take a look inside.
Then, he was dumbfounded…
The small white beast was soundly asleep in his bag, like a lazy kitten. How on earth could it fall asleep after it ran off with a stranger?
Lu Li was worried that the innocent look was just a disguise of the little white beast, so he shook the bag violently. The little beast opened its sleepy eyes. There was some instinctive fear in its eyes when it saw Lu Li. Its fur and hair spread out, and its mane erected, like a little lion.
Yet when it saw the animal tooth pendant on Lu Li’s neck, its eyes arched like crescent moon because of its smile. It even wagged the tail like a dog at Lu Li…
“Damn, what is this Xuan Beast? Why is it like a tamed dog?”
Lu Li did not know what to say. Looking into the fawning eyes, Lu Li determined something, closed up the bag and caught up with Liu Yu. Together, they went back to Liu Yi’s side.
Liu Yu explained everything to them and handed the seven-leafed mystical grass to Patriarch Hong. The latter studied and said with certainty, “It indeed is the Seven-leafed Heaven Cloud Grass of the Fifth Rank. Too bad it’s too small. I think it just grew out. Um… Lu Li, you have done exceptionally this time. After we are back, you will become an official Guest Warrior. This time, your exploits will be converted into contribution points as well.”
“Thank you so much Patriarch Hong.”
Even though Patriarch Hong was just a deacon of the External Clan, but he had been in the Liu Family for several decades, which earned him high status. Now that he was the one that said it, there should not be any problem.
The wolf pack was still outside. Patriarch Hong ordered people go into the depth of the cave. In this way, the smell of humans would not be so strong. The wolf pack could retreat.
When they were inside, the Stone Rats did not dare to attack anymore. That small path was still blocked. Patriarch Hong signaled everyone to stop and sent Liu Yu and one other warrior to check on the other two paths. After that, he looked at Liu Yi in the dim light and asked, “Lady, this is not right. There are so many Wolf Kings out. We have suffered great losses this time. Shouldn’t there be powerful warriors guarding at the other side of the Valley?”
“I don’t know!”
In the dark cave, one could tell from Liu Yi’s expression that she was frustrated and angry. She had gone back to her family and brought three hundred warriors with her. Originally, there were already several hundred warriors at the base camp. However, according to the current situation, at most, only a hundred people could survive. Should Patriarch Cai be killed as well, then the Family would suffer from grave losses.
Liu Yi pondered it for a bit and continued, “The powerful warriors of the Big Families over on that side of the valley should be taking turns to station. We don’t know which family is on duty now. If nothing is wrong with them, then there must be someone trying to sabotage us.”
“Sabotage?”
Lu Li was startled. Could it be the warriors of the Zhao Family including Di Ba? If it were Di Ba and his gang, it would be much easier to understand that they would send some Wolf Kings this way to kill him.
Of course, standing there to let imagination run wild was meaningless. Only after investigation could it be found out whether someone was really trying to sabotage them. They were not out of the woods yet. They had to break out of the encirclement or wait for rescue from powerful Warriors.
Warriors at any Realm lower than the Spirit Sea Realm would definitely not survive when they ran into the Wolf King, a Xuan Beast of the Second Rank. People would most likely die, at a 90% likelihood, if they encountered Wolf King.
Liu Yu and the two warriors went back from their exploration with nothing to offer. They had to cultivate in the pitch dark cave and wait.
After sitting and resting for a bit, Lu Li decided to worry about it no more and hunkered in a corner. At first, he was concerned about the little beast. He opened the jute bag quietly to check on it, and vaguely found that it again was sleeping. Then Lu Li sat down to cultivate.
“Boom, boom, boom!”
After a long time that no one could say for sure, when morning must have already arrived, there came a trembling in the ground. Patriarch Hong opened his eyes and shouted to Liu Yu, “Liu Yu, go and find out what is going on.”
Liu Yu ran out. He came back in about 30 minutes and shouted in a deep voice, “It’s our guys. I heard voices of Brother Wu.”
Liu Wu!
He was the Commander in Chief of the Silver Wolf Escorts, the strongest leader of escorts of the Liu Family. Everyone was elevated in spirits and inspired by the news. All ran towards the outside. As expected, they heard the shouting of Liu Yu and the howling of Silver Wolves.
“Lu Li, break the boulder open.”
Liu Yi shouted. Lu Li tied the jute bag to his back and cut at the opening of the cave like crazy. He just used his brute force and smashed the boulder blocking the cave away.
The sun had already come up. A team of Silver Wolf Escorts were fighting against the Iron Spur Wolves. Everyone was pleased to see the familiar face of Liu Wu.
“Lady!”
Liu Wu was relieved after he saw Lady Yi. More than half of the Iron Spur Wolves gathered outside were killed. Liu Wu rushed towards Lady Yi wildly and said with joy, “Lady Yi, you are safe. I can feel at ease now.”
Lady Yi was about to shed tears. She looked at Liu Wu and asked, “How is Patriarch Cai and the rest?”
“Dead…”
Rage filled Liu Wu’s eyes. He said while clenching his teeth, “The Zhao Family deliberately let three Wolf Kings through. Patriarch Cai was bitten to death by the Wolf King. At least five hundred warriors of our Family fought to their death. Our Chief Patriarch has gone to ask for justice from the Super Families. If they were to leave us alone, we shall mind the Frigid Cloud Mountain no more.”
“Zhao Family!”
Liu Yi and Patriarch Hong were furious, and Lu Li was visibly angry and frustrated. As far as he was concerned, he believed that Di Ba incited warriors of the Zhao Family in order to kill him. Lu Li felt guilty that so many people died because of him.
“Lady Yi!”
Liu Wu thought for a while and said, “The Chief Patriarch has ordered for all the average warriors to go back to the County and wait for further instructions. This time, if the Big Families don’t right this wrong for us, we will rave the Zhao Family to the ground when we get back. You go back now. The three Wolf Kings were all killed, and so were many of the wolves. It should be a safe way back.”
“Yes, rave the Zhao Family!”
Murderous intent emerged in the eyes of Liu Yi and the others. Liu Wu went back to his battle against the wolves. After the dozens of wolves were all killed, Liu Yu brought someone with him, galloping along to go after the rest of the wolf pack and try to find and rescue the remnants of the warriors of the Liu Family.
“Go back!”
Liu Yi shouted in sorrow and led people down the mountain. Lu Li followed in silence. He was uneasy lest Liu Yi vent her anger on him.
…