Chapter 577: Departure
The Golden Winged Insects went back to tell them about how Yan Hui's side already received the information, but they unexpectedly happened to come back just as You XiaoMo was advancing, which meant a delay of two or so hours, taking his sweet time.
But the news that they brought wasn't all good news either. Yan Hui's shifu had indeed contacted them, but he hadn't shown up in person. He had only dispatched people to go over.
That person was very strong, and the Golden Winged Insects were worried about being discovered, so they didn't dare to get too close.
So, they both didn't catch what they were talking about. Xiao Ping originally wanted to follow this person as he departed, but he only followed him halfway before he lost any trace of him, and so he had to come back.
However, after that person departed, Yan Hui went out too.
Guma Tribe's headquarters were located behind WuShan Town, separated only by a mountain, and could also be considered a part of the town. It was an enormous tribe.
After Yan Hui entered the headquarters, he went straight to see the Guma Tribe's seniors. Since he carried a passage token, he was essentially unimpeded the entire way.
There were many experts in the headquarters, so Xiao Ping had no choice but to leave after following him in for a little while. But Xiao Ping very cleverly remained outside of the headquarters, all the way up to the point Yan Hui came out, before he continued following him back to the manor.
The first thing Yan Hui did after returning to the manor was to head straight for Su Lang's cultivation room.
Xiao Ping's decision was very clever. Since Su Lang was currently undergoing secluded cultivation, he hadn't met the person that his shifu sent over. The task this time was fairly important, and Yan Hui couldn't accomplish it on his own, so their shifu handed the task to both of the shixiong.
Yan Hui was looking for Su Lang so he could tell him the nature of the task. Their target this time was the Guma Tribe, but it wasn't to go against the Guma Tribe; it was to collaborate with them and help them annex the Shuixi Tribe.
After the clever Xiao Ping learned what the nature of the task was, he ran back to report to You XiaoMo and Ling Xiao. He finally had some information after keeping watch for over a month.
"Yan Hui is indeed a backstabbing scoundrel! He clearly knows that the Shuixi Tribe is Uncle's hometown, and he even acted like he was a good friend back at XiaoYao Institution. You can truly never judge a person by his appearance!" You XiaoMo had more or less already confirmed Yan Hui's character. He could be considered one of the many villains like the ones that he had seen in movies or dramas: their enemy, an evil person who wanted to destroy the world, the legendary cannon fodder.
"He isn't even from Dong Zhou, you should've already guessed that, right?" On the contrary, when Ling Xiao heard this, he didn't have much of a reaction. It was very normal for power struggles to occur.
You XiaoMo made an ambiguous noise in reply before instantly changing the topic. "Do you think we should let Uncle know?"
"What's the use in letting him know? No matter how weak the Shuixi Tribe is, it's still one of the three large tribes of Dong Zhou. The Guma Tribe must have been thinking about annexing the Shuixi Tribe for a very long time now, and if they haven't succeeded up to now, that must mean that it isn't that simple. Moreover, Cheng XiangRong is still in Zhong Tian. Back then, Yan Hui accidentally acknowledged that he was one of Guma Tribe's people. It's impossible for Yan Hui to use Cheng XiangRong to infiltrate the Shuixi Tribe." Ling Xiao objected to his question.
You XiaoMo felt a little enlightened, and he nodded. "Then do we still need to keep an eye on them?"
Ling Xiao murmured, "Yan Hui's shifu is clearly a very cautious person, so it'll be very difficult if we want to grab his tail. Although the Golden Winged Insects can keep an eye on them, in the end there's still a limit to their strength. It's impossible for them to get any closer."
You XiaoMo understood what he was trying to say. "So should we just give up on them?"
"For the moment, we don't need to pay attention to them. The fight between the Guma Tribe and the Shuixi Tribe is coming up soon, and we cannot get involved. Don't forget, the location that the map of yours is pointing to is Dong Zhou."
You XiaoMo took out the four maps. After obtaining the last map, he hadn't had the chance to carefully look over them.
During the Black Spider's auction, the auctioneer said that the location that this map was pointing to was the area southeast of Dong Zhou.
The area southeast of Dong Zhou was the region where the spiritual energy used to be the richest during ancient times. Many ancestral mountain dwellings were once unearthed there. Some of the mountain dwellings were empty, while countless treasures were hidden in other ones. This temptation alone had attracted many experts over.
However, the southeast region wasn't just somewhere anyone could go as long as they wanted to. Opportunity often existed side by side with danger.
Since the southeast region was a blessed place, there was no way to avoid the many dangers that were there. Many of the ancestral mountain dwellings had restrictions seals set up outside them; there were defensive seals, offensive seals, hallucinatory seals, etc.
The power of the restriction seals that were passed down from ancient times naturally wasn't ordinary. Moreover, there were big and powerful demon beasts guarding some of the mountain dwellings. The so-called blessed place was actually also a dangerous place that few returned from. Nobody knew how many bodies had been buried in that place from ancient times to now.
You XiaoMo pieced together the four maps.
Though he couldn't tell before, when he pieced together the four maps now, he discovered that the geography depicted on the map looked very much like an unidentifiable demon beast. However, there was indeed a place marked in the center of the map.
When Ling Xiao saw this map, he raised his eyebrows and said, "According to legend, an extremely powerful Emperor Beast once appeared in ancient Dong Zhou that was on par with the Four Ancient Beast Clans. That Emperor Beast slumbered in the southeast region of Dong Zhou, and when an ancient war spread to the southeast region, it woke up that Emperor Beast. In a fit of anger, it completely wiped out all of the humans and demon beasts that were locked in a struggle there."
"What happened after that?" The more You XiaoMo looked, the more he felt that the picture on the map seemed like a tiger. If what Ling Xiao said was true, then it should be the White Tiger, which had a similar name to the Four Ancient Beast Clans and could be also called the fifth Divine Emperor Beast.
Ling Xiao rubbed his smooth chin. "I heard later that there was a descendant of some powerful ancient clan that was among the humans that it killed. The clan originally sent the descendant to Dong Zhou to let him avoid the danger of the war, but Dong Zhou was unexpectedly wiped out. Years of painstaking effort was destroyed in one day, and they furiously ran to Dong Zhou and fought with that Emperor Beast for three days and three nights. They fought until the heaven and earth were in darkness, both sides suffering losses. Afterwards, that clan declined, and that Emperor Beast also disappeared without a trace."
"Then do you think this map has something to do with that Emperor Beast?" You XiaoMo pondered. It would be good if that was the case. The Emperor Beast's mountain dwelling would definitely have a lot of treasures.
"I'm not sure." Ling Xiao took the map in his hand. "This map should have appeared before the ancient war, so it's indeed possible that the demon beast depicted indistinctly on it is that Emperor Beast. But it's most likely just a coincidence. That Emperor Beast slumbered for too long in that place, so it isn't impossible that the terrain began to look more and more like it."
As a twenty-first century progressive youth, he had also heard this kind of assimilation theory before.
You XiaoMo instantly put away the map and looked eagerly at Ling Xiao. "Is there anything wrong with your body right now?"
"I'm only missing the Reincarnation Pill." Ling Xiao landed a blow on him without hesitation.
You XiaoMo pursed his lips.
In the end, the two of them decided to leave that place and hurry towards the southeast region. Once they got there, they would find a place to settle down before exploring what was on the map.
As soon as it was decided, You XiaoMo immediately called back Xiao Pong, who was keeping an eye on Yan Hui. He gathered up his things that day and they left the cave that they had stayed in for three or four months. He even felt a little reluctant to part with it.
Three or four months couldn't be considered long or short.
Ever since they came to Dong Zhou, the outside world had undergone an earth-shaking change.
Southern Continent's Vermillion Blood Clan and the Cang Alliance had already become irreconcilable. Although the spark had been You XiaoMo, he had only served as an expeditor and sped up the time it took for it to happen.
Now, as long as it was a place with the Vermillion Blood Clan and Cang Alliance, the two sides would start fighting. Fu CangQiong's disciples were spread over all of TongTian Continent, and they were all accomplished in some way. This aspect of theirs was much more impressive than the Vermillion Blood Clan, so after this battle, the Vermillion Blood Clan began to be at a disadvantage.
But it hadn't even been two months before the situation changed again.
You ZhenTian's wife was a princess from one of the Silver Dragon Clans. When her husband's family encountered difficulty, there was no way that Lady Yin could just stand by and watch, so she asked the Silver Dragon Clan to get involved.
Originally, Lady Yin also wanted to ask the Royal Clan's five-clawed Golden Dragon to appear, but it was clearly just wishful thinking.
The five-clawed Golden Dragon very rarely participated in TongTian Continent's battles. Furthermore, the Golden Dragon still owed You XiaoMo for the favor he did some time ago, and the Golden Dragon Clan was not the sort to be ungrateful. According to both logic and sentiment, they shouldn't make a move. Not only did they reject Lady Yin's invitation, they even told them to bear the consequences themselves.
With the Silver Dragon Clan's aid, the Vermillion Blood Clan and the Cang Alliance could finally be considered on the same level. Both sides were stuck in a deadlock, while all the other major powers continued to act as observers.
At the same time, the situation at Xi Jing was also quietly changing.
In a few short months, descendants from the Four Divine Emperor Beasts successively continued to go missing. The Four Ancient Beast Clans had always highly valued their descendants, so for them to go missing for no reason at all, how could they not be furious!
Therefore, the atmosphere in Xi Jing was also very tense. Almost everyone felt like they were in danger, afraid that the Four Ancient Beast Clans' anger would spread to them.
Later, a rumor sprouted from some unknown place that someone said their disappearances most likely had something to do with Weeping Ghost Shore's TianGou. The rumors became more and more intense as they developed, until finally, even the lies became the truth.
The Demon Phoenix Clan was the first to declare that it was already preparing to send people over to the Ghost Tomb Mountain Range to attack and demand that TianGou hand them over, because the junior that had gone missing from the Demon Phoenix Clan was Ji YunLang, the same one who had both of his legs burned off by Ling Xiao.