“Are you saying that Sir… Lil’ Red, King Kong, and the others were captured by the Nine Great Sects?” Big Yellow was stunned.
Ou Yangming nodded. “That’s likely the case. Ah, so we must enhance our strengths or…”
Big Yellow was startled for some time, then it mumbled, “That seems impossible. After all, Sir Lil’ Red’s with them…”
“As strong as Lil’ Red’s background is, it’s still a young phoenix, so it’s still far from being able to deal with those old foxes.” Ou Yangming rolled his eyes at the big yellow dog. He patted its large head and added, “They might even be counting on us to save them.”
The big yellow dog blinked. It did not know if it should believe Ou Yangming.
It suggested after some time, “If that’s the case, let’s go seek help from the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One. It’s King Kong’s father anyway!”
“Even if the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One’s formidable, it’s only a Venerable One. On the other hand, even if the Nine Great Sects had only a Venerable One each, there’ll be 9 of them in total!”
“The Humans have 9 Venerable Ones, but the Beasts definitely have more than 1!” Big Yellow felt indignant. “As long as the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One knows what’s happening, it won’t stand by idly.”
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and fell silent.
Big Yellow urged him. “Lil’ Ming, let’s go with that. We should return to the 10,000 Beasts Ridge now!”
The young fellow shook his head and said, “Big Yellow, did you forget that I’m also a human…”
Big Yellow was dumbfounded before it understood what he meant.
No matter what, Ou Yangming was a human, and he did not want to cause a fight between the Humans and the Beasts regardless of the situation. This was because the Humans would end up in a terrible situation irrespective of the outcome, and he did not want that to happen.
The big yellow dog smiled bitterly and asked, “If this won’t do and neither will that, are you really going to save them on your own?”
Ou Yangming pondered for a brief moment and sighed. “Perhaps this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t demanded so many benefits in the past.” He was really regretful.
Back in the lower realm, he heard that there were many powerhouses in the Spiritual Realm but given his cultivation base at the time, he was already at the peak of the pyramid. The young fellow was neither arrogant nor did he despise everyone else, but he was more or less proud.
Furthermore, since the little red bird kept nagging him, he agreed with the bet proposed by the Nine Great Sects.
Now that Ou Yangming entered the Spiritual Realm, he realized that he really had been having a limited outlook. Over here, powerhouses that were more powerful than him could be found everywhere.
Moreover, judging from the way the Nine Great Sects were doing things, it did not seem like they would keep their promise, thus Ou Yangming was feeling suspicious.
Even though he wanted to know what happened after he left the passage, he would not inquire about it from the Nine Great Sects because he did not want to let himself be captured.
Big Yellow wagged its tail and asked, “Lil’ Ming, where are those damn insects? Why isn’t there any movement?”
Ou Yangming was struck dumb too. He slowly curbed his thought and furrowed his eyebrows a little.
They did not go too far away because they wanted to see how many lizards would come next. If the lizards happened to reveal their loopholes, the young fellow and the big yellow dog would not mind rubbing salt into their wound.
Having said that, they had been waiting quietly for about 10 days. They did not even see a low-rank lizard, let alone a high-rank lizard.
It appeared as though the rest of the Twelve Walkers had been frightened and dared not track their enemy after 2 of their members were killed.
“This isn’t right—something’s weird.” Ou Yangming’s eyes flickered as he continued, “The Insects will seek revenge for even the smallest grievances, so they wouldn’t have left without a sound after suffering such a huge loss.”
“Why isn’t there any movement from them then?” Big Yellow asked curiously.
Ou Yangming spread out his hand and replied to it, “I’m not an insect, so how would I know what they’re up to? How about… You go over and ask them?”
Big Yellow turned around angrily after it saw the teasing look on Ou Yangming’s face. It thought highly of itself, but it did not want to court death. If it really went over to ask the lizards, it would probably become a dead dog.
The young fellow tapped the big yellow dog and noted, “Alright, don’t overthink. We can just find out from our old friend.”
“Old friend?” Big Yellow was puzzled.
“Yes, let’s go back to the town.” Ou Yangming then got up on Big Yellow’s back.
Big Yellow’s eyes lit up as it instantly understood what Ou Yangming meant. As such, it got up and swayed its body to zoom across the forest like yellow lightning.
Instead of retracing their footsteps, they took a big round and made sure that they were not being followed before they returned to the small town.
They decided to come back here because they had shown up here before and also helped Teng Liangfeng with their mighty combat powers. Ou Yangming believed that the elder would tell him everything he knew as long as he appeared.
Who knew, when they arrived outside the town, their hearts were somehow heavy.
When they looked from afar, they noticed that the town was too calm indeed, which was a stark contrast from the cheerful and bustling town it was the last time.
Ou Yangming and Big Yellow looked at each other and found it strange.
The big yellow dog twitched its nose hard for some time, then it uttered all of a sudden, “There’s a smell of blood!”
“What?” Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows. He had a bad feeling about this.
“There’s an incredibly strong smell of blood here. It has been handled, but it can’t hide from me.” Big Yellow shook its head.
Ou Yangming gasped, and his heart raced. After keeping quiet for a while, he said, “Come with me.” Following that, he walked toward the town.
He might look relaxed, but he was exceptionally wary, such that he was holding an item in each of his hands. If there was an unforeseen change, he would make the most intense reactions right away.
Instead of hiding himself, he approached the town openly.
A short while after he exposed himself, a shout was heard coming from the town.
“Who’s there? Don’t come any closer—stand there!”
Several figures darted out from the town, and they quickly surrounded Ou Yangming.
These people were not potent, such that none of them was a Spiritualist. Ou Yangming was not bothered about the encirclement, but he was most disappointed when he saw the unfamiliar faces.
If Teng Liangpeng and his people were still around, why would he send some new Extreme Grade cultivators out here instead of showing up himself?
“You… Your Excellency, how should I address you?”
A cold-looking middle-aged man was about to shout another question at Ou Yangming when he noticed Big Yellows and sensed its fearsome aura. His face changed, and he lowered his tone at once.
Instead of answering him, Ou Yangming asked, “Who are you? Where’s Teng Liangpeng?”
That middle-aged man relaxed. Since the young fellow brought up Teng Liangpeng, he figured that he was not an enemy. The man sighed and responded, “Your Excellency, you’re too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, everyone including Senior Teng in this town died in a disaster a few days ago.”
Ou Yangming’s face changed. “Everyone?”
“Yes.”
“How did they die?”
The middle-aged man was hesitant, but he was appalled when Ou Yangming glanced at him, thus he revealed the truth. “They were killed by the Insects. Those damn insects someho
w went mad and killed everyone from the 2 of our towns.” He paused for a while before he continued, “We’ve reported this to the higher-ups, hoping that the Humans’ Almighty Being will seek justice for us.”
“The Insects…” Ou Yangming’s face darkened. He later asked, “The same thing happened to another town?”
“Yes, it was the Lu Family Town nearby,”
Ou Yangming took a deep breath and swayed out of the blue, where he left the encirclement magically. As for Big Yellow, it wagged its tail and followed him leisurely. They entered the town just like that.
The men looked at each other and hesitated for a while before they finally gave up wanting to stop the young fellow.
After all, how could they obstruct such a figure?
Chapter 660 - Tragedy In The Small Town
Things were handled in the town, but it was still terribly damaged.
As Ou Yangming and Big Yellow walked, their faces darkened, and they vaguely released frightening killing intents.
Fortunately, the men from before did not follow them, or they would have crumbled due to the enormous pressures.
Wherever the young fellow and the big yellow dog walked, dried blood could be seen. The entire town was shrouded by a lifeless atmosphere, where there was no sense of life at all.
All of a sudden, Big Yellow twitched its nose hard and barked several times in a certain direction. It had become a spirit beast long ago, but it would sometimes bark a few times out of habit. This was its instinct, which could not be completely gotten rid of in just a year or two.
Ou Yangming stopped and looked in that direction.
A massive courtyard could be seen over there. The door was wide opened, but the whole courtyard seemed to be sealed by an invisible power.
The young fellow scoffed as the little trick could not hide from him. He turned around and walked toward the door, then he reached out his hands when he was near and casually made some strokes in the air.
With that, visible energy fluctuations appeared around Ou Yangming and Big Yellow the moment they entered the courtyard.
The energy fluctuations were not forceful, by which they did not intend to stop them and simply let them pass with ease.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming’s face changed after he entered the courtyard, and he was regretful.
He should not have entered this place.
Corpses were piled up inside, and most of them were incomplete.
Ou Yangming’s eyelids twitched, and he forced himself to look at them one by one. Before long, he noticed a pattern—some of the corpses were still intact but were killed in one hit, whereas some of them were in pieces.
Basically, the dead bodies of people with sturdier builds or higher cultivation bases were more ruined, whereas those of ordinary people were still in one piece.
After looking at their wounds, Ou Yangming further confirmed the murderers.
The lizards from the Insects!
It was no wonder those fellows suddenly disappeared without a sound. They had not escaped because they were terrified, but they took revenge through another method.
The people from the town were not very close to Ou Yangming, where they had only seen him once at most.
Even so, Ou Yangming was deeply infuriated when he saw their corpses here. His raging fire seemed to be burning him intensely, causing him to feel scorched.
Ou Yangming was not very old, but he had experienced many things. He initially thought that he had become calm enough to face anything in the most rational way.
It was when he saw the corpses all over the floor he knew he had not cultivated to that level.
There was an upsurge of strong shivers from the bottom of his heart, causing his body to tremble. He lifted his head abruptly and let out an earth-shattering roar.
“Ah—”
His voice spread far and wide, to the extent that Big Yellow, which was beside him, was taken aback.
Although Big Yellow saw the corpses too, it did not feel even a tenth of what Ou Yangming did.
It was not a human, after all, hence it could not understand Ou Yangming’s anger. Nevertheless, it could sense how he felt at this moment.
Ou Yangming finally stopped yelling after a brief moment. He lowered his head again to look at the corpses in the courtyard as though he wanted to remember them well.
Following that, he turned around and walked out through the door without any hesitation.
In a flash, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow returned to the town’s entrance. When the young fellow glanced coldly at the guards, they shuddered with fear and even breathed quickly.
They looked fearfully at Ou Yangming. They might not have confirmed his identity at first, but even a fool knew at this point that he was a Spiritualist. Moreover, he was extremely close to Sir Teng Liangpeng.
If Ou Yangming decided to vent his anger on them by beating them up, they would not be able to reason with him at all.
Therefore, when the men saw Ou Yangming walking out furiously, they immediately stood straight with respect and were no longer arrogant like they were when they interrogated him before this.
“S-sir, is there anything you need us to do?” The middle-aged man in charge forced an ugly smile and asked carefully.
“Where are the murderers?” Ou Yangming questioned coldly.
The middle-aged man was stunned. He answered with a bitter smile, “Sir, how would we know…”
Ou Yangming frowned. He was displeased, but he understood that the nobodies like them would not know anything.
The man seemed to notice that Ou Yangming was not going to make things difficult for them, so he racked his brain and finally blurted, “Sir, I heard that over 50 kilometers away in the forest behind the town, there’s a spot where the Insects gather, but I can’t tell if it’s true.”
Ou Yangming looked deeply at him, then he flashed and left like a ghost.
“Ah…”
The men lowered their heads as they dared not look at Ou Yangming. When they looked up again, they realized that the young fellow had disappeared.
They looked at each other and quivered as they had chills.
One of them then questioned softly, “Boss, why did you tell him that? One of our brothers risked his death to spread the news!”
The middle-aged man looked at his younger brothers and asked, “Tell me—did the people from this town die tragically?”
“Of course, it’s a tragedy. Those damn insects!” The faces of the other men changed, and they uttered ruthlessly.
The middle-aged man sighed. “Yes, they died miserably. As long as one’s a human, one shouldn’t stand by idly.” He paused for a while before he continued, “We’re not capable enough, so we can’t avenge their deaths, but that young master’s different…”
When the others recalled how Ou Yangming came and went like a ghost, as well as his notable momentum, they came to a sudden realization.
Indeed, if they wanted to take revenge for their fellow humans, they must have remarkable strengths. Since they were not capable enough, they could inform a human master.
No matter what, they must not let those damn insects live on like that.
“But…” The man that spoke earlier expressed hesitantly, “Senior Lin told us not to talk too much.”
The middle-aged man glared at him. “Who talked too much? Did you hear anything talking too much?”
“No—nobody did!”
Everyone else looked at each other and responded at the same time. In fact, even the man that questioned the middle-aged man earlier reacted the same way.
The middle-aged man nodded satisfyingly, then he looked into the distance and mumbled, “Damn insects, go to hell!”
※※※※
Ou Yangming and Big Yellow entered the forest on the mountain behind the town. They scanned the area to look for traces of the Insects.
To their surprise, the Insects did not seem to have hidden their tracks after they wiped out the villages. They entered th
e forest openly and left enough tracks for anyone to find where they headed to.
Big Yellow twitched its nose and commented, “Those damn insects left behind a stench; they left in this direction. Hmph, judging from their obvious tracks, they were probably afraid that we won’t be able to find them, huh?”
Ou Yangming sneered. “Those insects left behind their traces on purpose to lure human powerhouses so that they can catch them all in one go.”
The big yellow dog blinked and said, “Perhaps they’re not waiting for human powerhouses, but us.”
Ou Yangming smirked. A rare hideous smile could be seen on his face. “They’re waiting for us? That… Couldn’t be better!”
The 2 of them walked swiftly and went deep into the forest by following the lizards’ tracks. While Ou Yangming sounded overbearing, he was cautious as he dared not make any mistakes.
Since the lizards were so confident, they must have gathered enough powerhouses.
They were probably waiting for their prey somewhere, but Ou Yangming was not going to be that unlucky prey.
For the next few days, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow advanced, but they eventually slowed down. They encountered a few lizards along the way, but they were mostly there to do odds and ends. Most of them were half-spirit beasts, but there were occasionally 1 or 2 spirit beasts.
Ou Yangming and Big Yellow could not be bothered about those lizards at all, but they knew the lizards were mysteriously connected, by which all of them would be alerted if any of them was killed.
Hence, as outraged as the young fellow was, he tried to control himself by ignoring the guarding lizards. He and the big yellow dog slowly made their way to the center.
At last, when they arrived at the periphery of a hill without a sound, they could not advance further.
This was because they sensed several fearsome auras on the hill, each one mightier than their auras. It was a sign that they had found the high-rank spirit beasts.
Instead of just 1, there were 6 of those auras.
This meant that 6 high-rank lizards were gathered here.
Big Yellow opened its mouth to bite Ou Yangming’s shirt, and it shook its head lightly.
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