Chapter 463: Mount Yulun

His teammates already trusted his judgment quite a bit. The Door Panel wondered: "Why?"

Hu Min hurriedly said: "Wait, wait, place your bets before listening to the explanation!"

He followed He Lingchuan and bet one tael of silver. A Luo thought for a moment and also bet on the "returning west" side.

The Door Panel took out his silver, looked here and there, and hesitated: "Then, I'll bet..."

He also wanted to bet on returning west, but just as he puckered his mouth for the word "west," he saw Liu Tiao's thin eyebrows stand up, and her eyes narrowed.

He immediately changed his words: "I bet on moving east!"

"What about Old Yu?" Beast Tamer Old Yu was also in their squad.

Old Yu scratched his head: "I don't gamble."

Everyone said "cut," no fun.

Hu Min put the silver away, and He Lingchuan coughed: "The Jin Tao Nation in the east is already prepared. I heard their military quality is much stronger than Western Ji, and there are many mountains, occupying the advantages of terrain and people. I'm afraid this battle won't be easy to fight."

Liu Tiao shook her head: "No matter how difficult the battle is, we have fought through it."

"Furthermore, there is no justification for the teacher," He Lingchuan analyzed. "General Hong led us to break through like bamboo; wasn't the cause that the capital suspected they were summoning us back to the country? Now the monarch has clearly said no, so if we continue to move east, it is disobeying the monarch's order, and the morale cannot be as high as before."

"If there is no justification for the teacher, it is not only not winning, but also the way of self-endangerment." He sighed, "This is the third point I want to say: Western Ji used to jump up and down against us because they were instigated by the Baling Nation. Now that Western Ji has been destroyed by us, it's hard to guarantee that Baling won't have any actions. If we attack Jin Tao on this side, and Panlong City is harassed by Baling, that is being attacked on two fronts, which is very dangerous."

When the squad members heard this, they all felt very unwilling.

He Lingchuan had one more point he didn't say: If Zhong Shengquan led over a million people back to the country, such a huge population would inevitably have a huge impact on the current Western Luo.

So many people have to have a place to stay, have to eat, sleep, and do business, right?

Establishing a country within a country would be enough.

Therefore, Zhong Shengquan would at least have to divide territory and claim vassalage as soon as he returned to the country. He had no territory in the country, so he could only snatch it from others.

That is the beginning of a new round of turmoil. Isn't Western Luo chaotic enough now? Do they dare to let Zhong Shengquan go back to add trouble?

If he returns to Western Luo, it is not sending charcoal in the snow, but adding frost to the snow.

It would be strange if the monarch was willing to let them return to the country!

￥￥￥￥￥

Early the next morning, Mount Yulun.

This place was only twelve miles away from Youtian Town in a straight line, but there were eighteen bends in the mountain road in between, and it would take more than an hour to walk it for real.

The Bai Shi County Magistrate sent a local villager to lead the way, nicknamed Zhao Zhao Dazui, who had been hunting on Mount Yulun for twenty years and was even the discoverer of last year's incident.

Mount Yulun consisted of more than a dozen mountain peaks. The further they walked into the mountain, the more He Lingchuan felt the spiritual energy was rich, not only making breathing exceptionally comfortable but even inducing the flow of true power within his body while walking.

The efficiency of cultivation here was higher than elsewhere. In the current world, this could already be called a cave heaven and blessed land, right?

No wonder the porcupine demons refused to move their nests.

Not to mention that the plants here were denser and the plants were taller than elsewhere, even all kinds of rare flowers and grasses were everywhere here.

He Lingchuan even saw a shadow flash across the cliff, like a person.

However, that was a ginseng doll that had taken shape.

He Lingchuan asked Zhao Zhao Dazui while walking: "The porcupine nest was wiped out, so which monsters occupy this territory now?"

Zhao Zhao Dazui smiled: "Such good land, of course, belongs to the county."

He Lingchuan was very surprised: "Just confiscated?"

"This group of porcupines had merits in their ancestors, so they were granted Mount Yulun as a fief. Now that they are all wiped out and no offspring are left, Mount Yulun has become ownerless land, and it is logical for it to belong to the county," Zhao Zhao Dazui said. "The county sealed off this land as a treasure house for wild medicinal herbs, and usually, monsters or villagers are not allowed to enter or pick privately."

Everyone knew the truth that planted ones weren't as good as wild ones.

General Ling sighed: "It seems this group of porcupines only had that little merit accumulated by their ancestors, and they had no connections or background in the township, so it's no wonder no one cared when they died."

Everyone was silent; what he said was unpleasant, but the logic was the logic.

Because General Ling was there, the disappearance of the Drill-Wind Beast was a major case, and the local authorities couldn't get away without giving an explanation; over a hundred porcupines died in Zhitian Township, but the county just hurriedly examined the corpses and sealed the nest.

Connections, background, backing—it seemed these things weren't just common in human kingdoms.

Along the way, He Lingchuan also saw the water source of Zhitian Township.

Those were two long rivers like jade belts, first passing through the territory of the porcupine clan, and then flowing to the fertile soil of Zhitian Township. The river water was exceptionally clear and had been widened, with the river surface at least five zhang wide.

There was even a large lake with a vast area. He Lingchuan pointed to the dam and asked Zhao Zhao Dazui: "Was this built last year?"

"Ah yes, it was built this spring," Zhao Zhao Dazui told the truth. "The township had always wanted to build two lakes to store water so that there would be no shortage of water in winter. But the porcupines strongly opposed it, saying it occupied too much of their territory and cut down too many trees. This matter had been deadlocked for many years, and now it can be considered solved."

"This is not called solving the problem," He Lingchuan said. This is solving the person... or pig who raised the problem. "Two lakes? Then where is the other one?"

"Seven or eight miles to the east, it's still being dug, not yet in use," Zhao Zhao Dazui said. "I've passed by twice, and there have always been people working there. It is said that it will be dug and ready to store water next year."

Very quickly, Zhao Zhao Dazui led him to the porcupine nest.

There hadn't been any visitors here for a long time, and the cracks in the ground were full of weeds, and even small trees three feet high had sprung up.

But it didn't prevent He Lingchuan from seeing the terrain clearly.

There were originally several cracks in the ground here, or rather, beehive-like mountain caves, which were three-dimensional, with several layers up and down, as if they had been eroded by flowing water or glaciers in the early days.

It was more than enough to house over a hundred porcupines.

But now the beehive caves were completely collapsed by over a hundred large rocks, the largest of which was over three zhang high.

No matter what cultivation level, being hit by this thing falling from the sky, there would be no way to survive, right?

He Lingchuan looked up and saw the rock wall above like it had been cut.

"Can snow accumulate on this kind of mountain wall in winter?" He remembered that the county's record attributed this accident to an avalanche.

"If it's not an avalanche, it's a rockfall; what's the difference?" Zhao Zhao Dazui wasn't as critical as him. "Anyway, being hit is death."

"Why did you report it as an avalanche at the beginning?"

"Uh..." Zhao Zhao Dazui scratched his head. "It seems there were many avalanches last winter, and people were crushed to death in two towns. The scene was similar to this, also with snow and falling rocks."

So this guy was guessing.

He dared to guess, and the county dared to report it like that. He Lingchuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He said to Jiao Yu: "Go in and take a look."

Zhao Zhao Dazui said 'ah': "Do we still have to go down?" His legs didn't want to move. How long had this matter passed? "The entrance has already been sealed."

He Lingchuan only showed half a piece of broken silver.

Zhao Zhao Dazui: "I'll lead the way!"

He led He Lingchuan and the others into the nest cave from the side.

After the county discovered that the whole porcupine nest had been crushed to death, they didn't dig them all out, just sealed the several entrances and exits of the nest, which was considered burying them.

Although they cut corners, there was no problem.

Only living people care about being buried in the ground.

He Lingchuan took out a large hammer and smashed the entrance open with a few bangs.

This showed that the tunnels eroded by flowing water were originally accessible in all directions, with the widest part being able to accommodate two or three people walking side by side, and the narrowest part couldn't even fit a watermelon.

But the tunnels had collapsed everywhere due to the giant rocks, and many had become dead ends.

Zhao Zhao Dazui led them to crawl into a stone nest on the side and pointed forward: "It's here! Originally they were piled up here, like a small mountain."

In this place, people couldn't stand straight at all.

He Lingchuan could only move forward with a hunched waist.

As for the Drill-Wind Beasts, they had turned back to the size of ordinary mountain sheep, and they were as free as the fierce tiger.

This stone nest was very spacious, but it seemed cramped to pile up over a hundred porcupine demon corpses. The fierce tiger Jiao Yu only took one look and said: "Wang Mazi was right, their posture of piling up is too weird."

These were porcupines! Even if their relationship was close, there was no possibility of them huddling together like this.

This wasn't intimacy; this was mutual harm.

He Lingchuan asked Zhao Zhao Dazui: "Have many people been here?"

"Not many." Zhao Zhao Dazui covered his nose and tried hard to recall. "Just me, the county coroner, and a few digging workers." Not many people were willing to come down for such dirty work.

Therefore, the scene was still preserved quite well.

Although the giant rocks cracked the ground cracks, it was still too smelly here. Zhao Zhao Dazui retched a few times and couldn't help but beg for mercy: "My lord, when can we go up?"

"Wait a little longer." Jiao Yu was examining the skeletons, and He Lingchuan was patrolling the surroundings of the stone nest. Porcupine back quills were scattered everywhere here, each one black and white, sharp as a needle.

There were barbs on the quills, and there was poison, so anyone who was pricked would be in big trouble.

There were even a few quills that had penetrated deep into the stone wall.

Even He Lingchuan spent a lot of effort to pull them out, which showed the strength of the force when they were pricked in.

He asked Jiao Yu: "How do porcupine demons attack?"

"Them?" Jiao Yu thought for a moment. "Rapid retreat, or simply shoot out poisonous quills."

"How many can they shoot at once?"

"Dozens." Jiao Yu said. "And all at once."

"Awesome." He had even thought about building a Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needle, but it turned out that porcupines were born with it.

"These guys wouldn't shoot for fun in their own nest, right?" Not to mention shooting and breaking flowers and plants, shooting their companions wouldn't be good either.

Jiao Yu walked over to look and smell: "An enemy appeared in the nest. The way these porcupines died is the same as the Drill-Wind Beast."

General Ling also said indignantly: "After the culprit killed the porcupines, they threw them back into the ground nest, not even bothering to cover up the flaws. Those guys in Zhitian Township don't do human things; they can't even see this point!"

He Lingchuan was lost in thought.

It was dark underground, but fortunately, a few bundles of fluorescent grass illuminated the place clearly.

He Lingchuan pointed to the rock wall covered with quills and said: "This red color isn't blood, right?"

There were patches of red spots on the rock wall, but they didn't look like bloodstains.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 464 =====