At the foot of the hill, a group of disciples on horses rode peacefully across the lands.
“Brother Shang, the environment here is pretty good. We traveled for an entire day and we should take a break.” One of the disciples pulled on the reins of his horse and said.
His large face and thick features gave him a dignified look, until one caught a glimpse of his tiny neck.
Behind him was a disciple who had a huge forehead, and his eyes were long and narrow. He quickly pulled on the reins of his horse seeing as the person before him had slowed down.
An anxious look hung on his face, but the exhaustion in his eyes couldn’t be hidden by his anxiety. After several days of searching, he had already received numerous complaints. Since he heard the captain of the patrol team suggesting they take a break, he replied softly, “We’ll listen to Brother Ji’s commands.”
Captain Ji chuckled happily in response. “Dismount! We’ll take a two hour break!”
The four other disciples behind the two of them cheered and quickly got off their horses.
The disciple with a huge forehead revealed a bitter smile, but he swallowed his words eventually.
Their group consisted of disciples from the Protection Division of the Tongyou Institution, and they were in charge of patrolling the area.
Other than the person Captain Ji addressed as ‘Brother Shang’, the other five formed one patrol squad. Captain Ji Sheng was at the late stage of the Martial Extremity Realm, and the deputy captain, Jiang Changyu, was at the early stage of the Martial Extremity Realm. The other three were seasoned cultivators in the Martial Realm.
The extra person in the group was called Shang Quan, and he was a member of the Shang Clan. He followed the patrol squad in order to look for traces of Shang Xia!
Ji Sheng took out a pouch of water and finished half of it, and when he was done, he tossed it over to one of his men. Turning to Shang Quan, he asked, “Brother Shang, other than the fact that they were ambushed by the bunch of cultivators from the Wind Swallow Race, is there any news from the Shang Clan?”
Shang Quan chuckled bitterly. “Brother Ji, I’ve been with you all this while. If I get any new reports, I can’t hide it from you.”
“True…” Ji Sheng sighed as he got comfortable on the ground.
“The cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World have been chased out by us. If your young master is still alive, he should have arrived at the Tongyou Peak by now… Even if he has to crawl over, three days is more than enough time.”
Shang Quan’s expression sank and he glared at the person who spoke, “Brother Jiang, what do you mean by that?”
Ji Sheng smiled and placed a stalk of grass in his mouth.
Jiang Changyu rolled his eyes and snickered, “Brother Shang, there’s no need to get angry. We’re speaking the truth here. The corpses of people that died in the battlefield between two worlds can form a mountain. Is it something new for someone of our Tongyou Peak to fall? If not for the fact that one of the disciples is a member of your Shang Clan, they won’t bother sending us out to search the area.”
Shang Quan seethed with anger, “The Tongyou Institution will not give up on locating a student who might still be alive! Shang Xia isn’t the only one who’s missing… There are more than ten disciples of the third outer division who have yet to be found too!”
Ji Sheng laid on the grass casually and he looked at the birds in the sky while ignoring the two of them.
Jiang Changyu sneered in response, “Of course we won’t give up on any students who might still be alive. Right now, you should head over to the Wind Swallow Race to start negotiating with them for the hostages. There’s no point wasting your time with us!”
“You!” Shang Quan glared at Jiang Changyu who had a mocking smile on his face.
Snorting heavily, he turned to Ji Sheng. “Brother Ji, what do you think?”
The moment the words left his lips, Ji Sheng leaped to his feet. A grave expression hung on his face. “Not good… Someone has their eyes on us.”
The two who were locked in a quarrel a second earlier raised their guards instantly.
The three ordinary members of the patrol squad rushed over with the horses as soon as they heard the captain.
As the institution had a secret technique that combined the power of five cultivators, every single patrol squad consisted of five members! With Ji Sheng’s group as an example, they could hold off an early stage Martial Intent Realm cultivator if they worked together! If they were lucky, they might even defeat the enemy!
If they were to ride into the battle on their Scarlet Cloud Beasts, the chances of victory would increase significantly! That was the reason why Ji Sheng’s men returned with the horses the moment he yelled.
According to the rumors, the Protection Division on the Tongyou Peak had cultivated an elite patrol squad.
Their members had cultivation levels that surpassed the Martial Extremity Realm!
The moment they unleashed the secret technique and worked together, they would be able to slay cultivators in the Martial Intent Realm! Their battle records were legendary. They had countless records where they killed Martial Intent Realm cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World! It was even said that they retreated without any casualties when up against a late stage Martial Intent Realm expert!
Of course, the elite squad wouldn’t patrol the path that connected the Tongyou Institution to the Tongyou Peak. They traveled around the chaotic regions of the battlefield between two worlds. They would even actively enter regions where cultivators of the Azure Spiritual World were active to slay them.
Ji Sheng turned in a particular direction and yelled, “Who’s there?! Come out right now!”
The members of the patrol squad turned in unison while getting into formation. Shang Quan was left at the side to fend for himself.
A figure popped up from behind a rock and started waving at them. Before they could react, the figure started running towards the squad.
“Are you the patrol squad from the Tongyou Peak?! Uncle Quan?! It’s me, Shang Xia!” As he got closer to them, the looks on their faces stiffened. Wasn’t that the brat they were ordered to find?
“Xia’er! It’s you!” Shang Quan looked at Shang Xia who was perfectly alright and he roared with laughter. He wanted to run over to welcome the kid, but before that he turned to look at Jiang Changyu who had an unnatural expression on his face. “Looks like you’re right. I don’t have to waste my time with you anymore. Moreover, I don’t have to go to the Wind Swallow Race to carry out hostage negotiations… Too bad for Brother Jiang. I’ll have to trouble you to look for the other disciples.”
The words were like a giant palm that slapped Jiang Changyu mercilessly.
Shang Quan giggled in amusement before walking towards Shang Xia.
Jiang Changyu harrumphed coldly when he looked at Shang Quan’s leaving view.
When Shang Xia left the area, he realized that he had no idea where to go! Even with the advice he had gotten to head towards the highest peak, there were too many people following him! There was too much to consider.
Helpless, he could only bring them back to the place they were ambushed. From there, they would follow the path the convoy took to the Tongyou Peak.
Luckily for Shang Xia, he could use the Mutated Rain Swallows to scout ahead. That allowed them to avoid many dangerous situations to arrive safely back at the region they were ambushed.
Because of that, Shang Xia traveled ahead of the group in case he ran into anything unexpected.
That was why he discovered the presence of Shang Quan and the others.
Ordinarily, he would have to verify their identities if they claimed to be a patrol squad from the Tongyou Peak. However, there was no need for that considering that Shang Quan was present.
There was no doubt about it, the patrol squad came from the Tongyou Peak and it was there to look for them.
He failed to contain his excitement when traveling over and that was how he was discovered by Ji Sheng.
“It’s good that you’re back!” Shang Quan clapped Shang Xia’s shoulders and laughed. However, the harmonious atmosphere was broken by a sarcastic voice.
“Yeah, it’s good that you’re back. You saved us a lot of trouble. Don’t you know how much time we’ll save now that we don’t have to look for someone who fled before the battle started?”
Shang Quan snapped his head around, and he glared at the person who spoke.
Shang Xia looked at the man and asked curiously, “This… Who are you again?”
“Xia’er, let me introduce you… This is…”
Shang Xia interrupted him before he could start. “I’m not interested in who they are. They’re all useless bastards who allowed the enemy to run rampant in our own backyard.”
“You!” Jiang Changyu wasn’t the only one offended by him. Everyone in the patrol squad turned unfriendly as they glared at Shang Xia.
Despite that, they knew that everything he said was true. For the members of the Wind Swallow Race to ambush the convoy and kill so many cultivators of the Tongyou Peak, the patrol squads were definitely at fault.
Since the convoy was ambushed, the report of the deaths and damages were sent to the Tongyou Peak. The patrol squads had to endure extreme pressure coming from the higher ups for failing to do their job.
Deputy Patriarch Ji Wenlong, the expert in charge of the Protection Division, was stationed in the Tongyou Institution. However, he personally rushed over to the Tongyou Peak the moment he heard the news in order to take charge of the situation.
Ji Sheng could no longer pretend to be deaf when he heard Shang Xia’s accusations.
“Bullshit! What do you know?! How dare you accuse us without knowing anything?!” Ji Sheng snapped at Shang Xia.
Jiang Changyu rolled his eyes and sneered, “Of course he gets to look down on us… Don’t you know who his grandfather is?”
His statement instantly dragged the Shang Clan into the crossfire.
Shang Quan’s expression sank, and he growled, “Preposterous! Who do you think you are to sow discord between my Shang Clan and the Protection Division? You best remember that my Shang Clan was the first to send aid when your patrol squads were falling short of manpower!”
“Brother Shang, there’s no need to get so agitated. He didn’t mean it.” Ji Sheng glared at Jiang Changyu, signaling him to stop talking.
Seeing as they took a step back, Shang Quan explained, “Because of something that happened that day, a huge part of the Protection Division was drawn away. They had not enough men, causing a gap in the defense.”
As Shang Quan didn’t say anything about the reason they were drawn away, Shang Xia decided not to ask about it.
Heaving a sigh of relief now that Shang Xia was found, Shang Quan spoke to Ji Sheng, “Brother Ji, about this… What do you plan to do now?”
Ji Sheng knew that Shang Quan was no longer interested in assisting their squad now that Shang Xia was found. Even though he was unhappy about it, he could understand Shang Quan’s considerations. “Since you found your nephew, you can bring him back to the Tongyou Peak. Let’s not let Uncle Ke worry.”
A smile formed on Shang Quan’s face. “Many thanks to Brother Ji! After bringing him back, I’ll return to assist you once again.”
Ji Sheng hadn’t said anything when Jiang Changyu’s voice drifted over. “Hehe, seventeen disciples of the outer division went missing. Only one survived… What a fortunate ending!”
Shang Xia turned his head and looked at Jiang Changyu deeply.
Before anyone else could speak, Ji Sheng snapped, ?“Shut up!”
Jiang Changyu got to his feet and he ignored his captain entirely. “Are you not willing to admit it? Do you dare to tell us that you weren’t the first to escape that day? Everyone was resisting the enemy the best they could. Now, all your fellow disciples are missing and you returned without the slightest trace of injury on your body. Their deaths were really unjust!”