Chapter 121: A Dragon in the Deep Mountains

At dawn, Baichuan, who had spent the entire night catching prey and swallowing it whole, finally stopped moving and lay down on the spot, falling fast asleep.

As he sank into slumber, a soft snoring sound began, and in an instant every leaf and branch in the surrounding forest started to tremble faintly and rhythmically.

Time slipped away like that during Baichuan's sleep—evening arrived.

The Great Zhou general and his men, who had marched a full thirty li at forced pace, finally stumbled upon a scene of utter devastation.

It was the destruction caused by Baichuan's earlier dragon's roar.

At this moment, the Great Zhou general, who had gone a full day without rest, was also somewhat weary—fortunate that they were all martial artists, otherwise they would have already lost most of their fighting strength.

He dismounted with crisp efficiency, his delicate features beneath the helmet now utterly solemn.

He studied carefully the completely ravaged environment, and could not help exclaiming in awe: "What terrifying power—this level of destruction seems to be something only the Zhangtian Mansion Lord could barely achieve at full strength. Is this the power of a dragon? I wonder whether it was done casually or at full power?"

Yet the moment the words left his mouth, he denied them himself: "No, this should have been done casually."

As someone who had long served the imperial household specifically tasked with confronting and capturing Strange Beasts, he understood deeply that such creatures normally would not use their full strength while hunting—only at the brink of life and death would they go all out.

Ordinary Strange Beasts were already like this, let alone the dragon that stood at the apex of all Strange Beasts—a legendary being like a god or a demon!

After observing the situation here, he—who roughly understood Strange Beast habits—stood up and muttered to himself: "Although I can't be certain of a dragon's habits, barring anything unusual, it's only been a day, so it probably hasn't gone too far."

Thinking of this, the general named Zhou Li spoke directly: "Liu Yi, Liu San, Chen Wu, step forward."

"Here!" X3

"You three are the sharpest here. I'm giving you a mission now—go out and scout the surrounding area to determine the dragon's location."

"Yes!" X3

No questions, no doubts—everyone silently obeyed his command and swiftly sprang into action.

In the blink of an eye, three soldiers, whose builds were leaner and longer than the others, stripped off their heavy armor, clad only in light cloth garments, and vanished with agile skill into the dense forest.

They generally wore hard, heavy armor only when facing human enemies and powerful Strange Beasts; in special situations, some soldiers with special abilities would revert to their most agile form.

This was the elite force Great Zhou had assembled by gathering countless resources and selecting from a myriad of troops—a terrifying power capable of taking down countless Strange Beasts and sweeping away countless rebels for Great Zhou.

Watching these three soldiers—the best scouts in the unit—depart, Zhou Li finally turned around and said again: "Same as always—part of you set up camp and prepare, the rest start preparing the equipment for dealing with Strange Beasts."

After issuing his orders, Zhou Li sat down cross-legged on the spot, his gaze burning as he stared into the forest that was slowly sinking into darkness, yet his heart blazed with fire.

Promotion in rank, ennoblement, a fief and a kingship—all lay in this very moment! Anyone would be thrilled beyond words.

Admittedly, this dragon had previously displayed destructive power no less than the Mansion Lord's, but he did not feel in the slightest that he would fail to capture it.

Elephants are strong, aren't they? Yet they were still easily killed by a few ordinary people.

A beast is a beast—even if called the apex of all Strange Beasts, a dragon said to possess the power of gods, in his eyes it was nothing more than a mindless wild animal.

No matter how clever a wild beast might be, how clever could it possibly be? Its becoming a legend today was only because Zhou Gaozu once sought it in vain, leaving behind a regret.

Even if it possessed even greater power, could it fully utilize it?

Better to hand it over for them to make full use of it. He, Zhou Li, was about to become a general who left a heavy mark in the annals of Great Zhou—no, a prince!

Thinking of the thrilling part, even he, who had always been known for his calm composure, was overcome with unusual excitement.

The road to heaven lay right before his eyes—who could not be thrilled, who could not be thrilled?!

……

At this moment, the man named Chen Wu in the army was also unusually excited. It was not only their general who was so excited—as soldiers under General Zhou, they were the most excited and thrilled of all.

Because compared to the general, who was already a member of the imperial family, these men of humble origin who strove to gain a position for themselves and bring blessings to their families, wives, and children, at this moment truly saw a chance to leap in a single bound to another class.

Unlike before, when at best they could exempt their families from corvée labor and gain a little extra wealth, and at best leave connections in the army so their children could join too—but that could only barely sustain the family.

How could that compare to now? Once that dragon was caught, the general would be promoted and enfeoffed as a king. Would they, his trusted subordinates, not also rise with him, becoming petty local powers in their own right?

It seemed he must bring out his household's special skills today.

With this thought, he slowly gathered his breath and employed the Turtle Breathing Technique, which every soldier in the Great Zhou army possessed, to reduce his presence and thereby lessen the chance of being detected by those keenly perceptive Strange Beasts.

Although this technique was possessed by every soldier, few in the army could truly master it, and he was one of the rare few who had.

And so he began to rely on his keen vision and his specialized Xiuque to search for the aura of powerful creatures.

At this moment, not only he was like this—the other two searching alongside him were the same.

When facing the most important matter of their lives—bringing glory to their ancestors—everyone's drive was exceptionally abundant.

And at this moment, Baichuan, who was asleep, suddenly opened those bright, sharp eyes, a hint of puzzlement in his expression.

Because in the perception world within his mind, three sneaky humans had suddenly appeared, and all of them were approaching him in a strange posture.

What was going on?

He had only just been preparing to actively seek out humans, and now humans had appeared? What a coincidence?

Although he still didn't understand what was happening, anyone approaching him in such a strange posture was undoubtedly up to no good.

Since there were three humans, then according to the principle that humans like to cluster together and gang up, beyond his perception range there must be no fewer than ten more humans.

Thinking of this, he readjusted his body and slowly entered a state of invisibility, and only then did he begin to rise.

Given that his current weight was too heavy, and he had no ability to move in utter silence, once he moved he would inevitably draw their attention.

So he prepared to wait by the stump and take all three in one strike, then slowly and step by step find the humans' positions beyond his perception range, and once the situation was clear, take them all down in one blow.

Having made up his mind, Baichuan carefully observed the human closest to him within his perception range, then quietly adjusted his posture—the position of his head and claws, for instance.

Before long, the first human had drawn close to his side.

In an instant he extended a sharp claw, and the Ice Frost power he had long prepared instantly froze him into a block of ice, to prevent the scent released upon killing from being detected by the other humans.

With the first beginning to die, it wasn't long before the second followed in his footsteps.

And now only the last one remained—the human called Chen Wu……

(End of this chapter)