Chapter 495: The Scout Post on the Hilltop, and the Shulin Scout Post on the Other Side

Changmai Cunzi has another small Shulin in the opposite direction that provides firewood for fuel, and the surrounding high ground that needs to be watched is the top of another hill, which is the direction they came from earlier.

After judging the distance between the two, Jier decided to go to the hill first to see if there were any enemy Scout posts there, and then circle around the outer perimeter of the Cunzi to the Shulin on the other side of the Cunzi to eliminate any potential hidden Scout posts.

Afterwards, the two of them planned to sneak into Changmai Cunzi under the cover of darkness to conduct a close-range reconnaissance. This reconnaissance did not require killing enemy Soldiers, but rather providing necessary intelligence on the number of enemies and the deployment of personnel for tomorrow morning's attack.

Tomorrow morning, they would launch a full-scale attack directly.

With him and the armed Bata'er Jiaoshi present, if the enemy had no high-end combat power, they would surely win.

"Let's go, let's head to the hill first, but we must be very careful of the Tiger-headed Eagle's sneak attacks."

Jier bundled up the weapons and equipment from the enemy Scout post and placed them under a tree at the edge of the Shulin, even taking care to slash the trunk twice to leave a conspicuous mark. However, among the enemy's weapons and equipment, Jier quite liked the three short Throwing Spears with steel heads and wooden shafts; he could easily bring out their maximum utility, and with such weapons, he might even be able to defeat some tricky enemies.

Jier was referring to the Tiger-headed Eagle that had just attacked them!

If he got annoyed, he would give that Tiger-headed Eagle a taste of his power!

The two arrived at the edge of the Shulin, and after Bata'er Jiaoshi roughly judged the distance and direction, they both ran forward together.

*Swish, swish, swish, swish*, their legs kicked up the grass on the ground while running, making a series of sounds.

A startled hare darted back into its burrow, and a frightened field mouse lay on the ground, belly up, motionless, pretending to be dead.

Fireflies dancing in the air were stirred by the wind from the two running, drifting and landing on the flowers nearby.

And in the night sky, the proud and quiet hunter naturally discovered these two prey it had failed to catch several times.

It flapped its wings silently a few times, adjusting its position to one more suitable for launching an attack. It intended to try one more time; if it still could not catch these two prey this time, it would give up on them and turn to look for suitable hunting targets elsewhere.

*Woo-woo*—

The airflow blew over the huge wings, making only a faint sound. This Tiger-headed Eagle began to adjust its posture, extending and spreading its pair of huge talons, preparing to grab the target. Each of its huge talons was half a meter in size, and the tips of the talons were each like sharp Short Knives, which, with the help of weight and speed, could easily cut through the thick fur of prey.

Even some powerful Monsters in the mountain forests had to easily drink hatred under the talons of the Tiger-headed Eagle.

It could even wound some Magic Beasts, making many small-sized Magic Beasts afraid to come out and move around at night outside the mountain forests.

"It's coming!" Jier suddenly felt his scalp tingle, then grabbed the Priest beside him, and the two of them lunged to one side to dodge together.

*Swish*—

Something huge swept past their original position, and then a sound of flapping wings followed as it flew away.

"Did it leave? I hope it doesn't come back."

Jier pulled the Priest up, the two patted the grass leaves off their bodies, and after re-identifying the direction, continued to advance toward the hill near the Cunzi.

This small hill was about a hundred meters high with a gentle slope; calling it a hill, it was actually more like a small mound of earth.

Similar to the back of the hill where Jier and the others camped, there were also many large and small Stones left in the soil here; the small ones were only the size of a palm, while the large ones were half a person's height.

Jier guessed that there might have been glacial traces here a long time ago, and these Stones that were not originally at a high altitude were moved to the high ground by the glacier, but then the glacier melted, leaving only these Stones behind.

"Let's be quiet!" Jier warned the Priest, and then the two lowered their bodies and sneaked carefully toward the top of the hill.

The top of the hill was a place surrounded by several Stones, and some gaps seemed to have been artificially filled with Stones found nearby. The two carefully circled this simple Scout post and found that it had only one entrance and exit, which was a leather door curtain made of hide. Inside, there was a faint firelight showing through; the firelight was weak, and it was not easy to discover from a little further away.

It was a good place to spend the night.

"There is one person here," Jier whispered to the Priest.

Bata'er Jiaoshi also responded: "This was not created by our Cunzi; it should be a surveillance Scout post set up by those Soldiers themselves. Warrior, should we eliminate the person inside?"

"Of course, if we can eliminate the enemies one by one like this, that would be for the best."

Jier signaled the Priest to guard the entrance, while he stopped using his Long Sword, because this newly built Scout post was very narrow and there was no room at all to swing a Long Sword. Even carrying the Long Sword on his body might cause it to get caught because it was too big.

He unbuckled the Long Sword and placed it on the ground, then used only the steel-headed Short Throwing Spear he had just obtained, holding it with both hands, and came to the leather door curtain of this small Yingdi, crashing through the leather door curtain in one go.

The space inside was very small, barely able to accommodate a small wooden bed made of branches for one person to lie on their side to rest. On the other side, a set of bow and arrows was hung, and there was a small pile of campfire on the ground.

With a *puchi* sound, Jier broke through the leather curtain and stabbed at the enemy resting on the small wooden bed.

The arm-length Short Throwing Spear sank in more than halfway, piercing the person through and through.

But the enemy did not die immediately and suddenly began to struggle. However, Jier had great strength; he pressed down on the enemy's neck and legs with both hands. The enemy could not shout, could not run, and before the arms could be raised a few times, the struggling gradually ceased.

"Quite tenacious." Jier had clearly stabbed through from the back toward the enemy's heart, but even so, this enemy Soldier struggled for quite a while before dying.

"Priest, come in, this person is already dead," Jier raised his voice and called his companion in a normal volume.

Bata'er Jiaoshi hurried inside, and the three of them squeezed into this narrow 'room', which immediately made the place look very small and crowded.

Jier briefly checked the enemy's corpse and found that this person should be an archer; besides a bow and arrows, there was only a Short Knife and a Dagger here.

However, this archer on guard duty had quite a lot of Metal Armor Plates on his body, protecting the main parts of his body. His head also had a Helmet simply made of metal and leather. Of course, the archer was resting before, so the Helmet was just placed by his feet next to his Boots and was not worn on his head while sleeping.

"Not bad, this person's weapons and equipment are quite good; when we go back, we can arm another one of our Warriors!" Jier said happily.

Afterwards, he stripped the weapons and equipment from the enemy's body, bundled them into a pile, and placed them on the ground, while the enemy's corpse was thrown outside the Scout post to be dealt with by animals. Before leaving, the two also extinguished the fire here.

"By the way, Jier Warrior, I seemed to have seen a new tombstone next to this Scout post on the top of the hill just now? I'm not sure if it's a tombstone. But behind the Scout post, under a large Stone, there is indeed something. There were even carvings on it." The Priest pointed to a place behind this Yingdi Scout post, which immediately aroused Jier's curiosity.

Since the enemy had already been killed, they walked generously to the back of the Scout post and sure enough, at the bottom of a large Stone half a person's height, they found a small tombstone and a burial mound piled up with a small pile of Stones.

"This..." Jier let the Priest provide illumination with the Divine Power of the Agriculture God, and he looked at this stone burial mound that was no more than thirty or forty centimeters long, looking troubled.

"Could it be the burial mound of an enemy's pet? Where would a normal person be this small? And the fact that the enemy was willing to build a burial mound means it must be one of their own."

After speaking, Jier reached out to touch the carvings on the tombstone. Due to the insufficient illumination of the Agriculture God's Divine Power and the irregular carving technique of the enemy, it was not easy for Jier to distinguish what was carved on it.

Gradually, Jier raised his eyebrows: "Hell, it really is the grave of an enemy Soldier."

Bata'er Jiaoshi could not help it, and he immediately asked a question he particularly wanted to ask at this moment: "But why is the grave only this size? Could it be that there are such small children among the enemy Soldiers?"

"How could that be? When local areas conscript Soldiers, they all conscript strong young men around twenty years old. A person of this size, are they two or three years old? It can't be an enemy Soldier."

Jier then explained: "The carvings on the tombstone are not clear, but it roughly explains that this guy was named Bari, and on the first day he came here to stand guard, he disappeared, leaving only a right arm on the spot. The other Soldiers had no choice but to bury this right arm here."

Jier rubbed his chin with his hand: "Did this person accidentally run into a Tiger-headed Eagle?"

The Priest nodded: "It should be so. The body was attacked by the sharp talons of the Tiger-headed Eagle, the arm was severed by the talons and fell off, while the rest of the body was snatched away and eaten by the Tiger-headed Eagle. That's probably it. Damn it, I won't let the Villagers go out of the Cunzi at night anymore; it's too dangerous."

Jier teased: "Aren't you going to relocate the Villagers to Xinxiwang Town? Whether there are Tiger-headed Eagles here or not has nothing to do with you anymore, right?"

"That's true. No, the Church might relocate the population to the original site of Changmai Cunzi in the future, and this Cunzi might even be rebuilt. Although the future Changmai Cunzi will have nothing to do with me, as long as the Tiger-headed Eagle is still active in the surrounding area, the future Cunzi Priest here will also have to be careful of this kind of bird of prey."

The two then left the hill and headed toward the Shulin on the other side of the Cunzi.

Along the way, Jier and his companion prepared themselves to dodge immediately upon sensing danger. But interestingly, when you are not prepared, death and danger often strike repeatedly. Yet when you have made all kinds of preparations, death and danger do not come at all.

It is truly infuriating.

Jier and Bata'er Jiaoshi arrived at this Shulin with caution. Both were mentally exhausted, so after determining there were no enemy sentries nearby, they leaned against tree roots to sit and rest for a while.

Jier had good spirits; he only felt slightly tired. Leaning against a large tree, he hummed a tune, and after a short while, he felt much better.

Bata'er Jiaoshi, however, was not doing as well. The physical exertion was secondary, but his mind had been in a state of constant tension, consuming much energy. Now, leaning against the tree trunk and sitting on the roots with Jier keeping watch for him, the Priest soon fell asleep.

Jier let the Priest sleep for a while, roughly estimating the movement of the moon in the sky outside to let the Priest take a half-hour nap, before waking him up.

"How is it? You're a bit more refreshed now, right?" Jier asked as he shook the Priest awake.

Bata'er Jiaoshi was somewhat startled: "I fell asleep just now? Warrior, you should have woken me up!"

"Hey, what does that matter? It was just a short while, it didn't delay anything. How about it? If you're refreshed, let's continue on and clear out the enemies in this Shulin as soon as possible. Then we'll go to Changmai Cunzi to check on the enemy's situation."

"Let's go! I'm in much better shape now."

The two stood up and, just as before, cautiously probed forward along the edge of the Shulin.

This time, Jier was much more careful. Since he knew the enemy would set up sound-triggering traps around their positions, Jier was especially wary of such things.

Sure enough, after walking halfway along the edge of the Shulin, at the location in this Shulin closest to Changmai Cunzi, Jier's moving lower leg once again touched a taut thin rope.

Jier immediately and carefully avoided triggering the Stone connected to the thin rope with his foot. He stepped back and gently patted the Priest's shoulder to keep him still. Then, Jier made soft snorting sounds with his mouth, while his feet actively and lightly stepped on the dead leaves, making crunching noises.

Sure enough, this deliberately made sound was immediately noticed by the enemy sentry in the tree ahead.

The opponent did not make much movement, but Jier felt the sensation of the opponent's gaze looking over.

Jier continued to make little wild boar grunting sounds with his mouth, while using his left leg to nudge the leaves and branches on the ground, constantly approaching the position of the thin rope.

Then he kicked out with his leg, striking the thin rope, which immediately caused the Stone fixed to the thin rope to fall from mid-air, making a loud sound.

Jier immediately feigned the sound of a startled wild boar and used his feet to stir the leaves, creating the illusion of moving away from where the Stone had fallen.

Sure enough, the next moment, with a *whoosh*, a sharp arrow was shot over from the tree ahead.

Jier retracted his leg and retreated, letting the arrow miss and bury itself deep into the ground.

"Damn it! To think they dodged it!" came the enemy's annoyed words from the tree.

The next moment, Jier, having confirmed the enemy's position, immediately threw the Short Throwing Spear in his hand, striking the enemy in the tree directly with a faster, stronger, and more powerful counterattack.

"Ah!" the enemy let out a scream and then fell down.

But this enemy seemed more cautious and wary of accidental falls; he had actually tied a rope connecting his belt to the treetop. Because of this rope, the enemy did not fall directly to the ground but hung in mid-air, swinging back and forth while constantly shouting.

At this moment, Bata'er Jiaoshi raised the Agricultural God Wooden Statue he had been keeping ready, aiming roughly at the swinging enemy in mid-air. In the pitch-black Shulin, the pained cries from the enemy's mouth served as a guide.

Divine Power Impact!

With a *hum*, a pale cyan Divine Power Impact wave spread out toward the mid-air ahead.

The surrounding Shulin shook, shedding a large amount of leaves, and even caused half the birds in the woods to fly up in fear, fluttering about in mid-air.

As for the enemy who had been hanging in mid-air, he was pushed away, the rope snapped, and in the process of being pushed, he broke several thick branches and fell to the ground, his body twisted into a grotesque shape, dead.

"Ha! Well done!" Jier praised Bata'er Jiaoshi, then, no longer needing to worry about the enemy's warning traps, he strode over to find the enemy's corpse, picked up the guy with the broken limbs, and reunited with the Priest.

This enemy was an archer; it seems the enemy had dispersed their archers among the sentry posts outside the village.

"This is good news; it means that tomorrow morning, when we attack Changmai Cunzi, the enemy's original long-range attack power will be weakened," Jier said while stripping all the Armor and equipment off the enemy.

Another set of Soldier Armor was acquired. Jier even felt that by the time he finished killing all these hundred-plus enemy soldiers, his own Warriors would likely each have a set of highly protective Armor made of many Metal Armor Plates.

Although the protection of these plates was far inferior to the Full-body Metal Armor he had designed and crafted himself, it was far superior to the leather Armor of the Kendall Guards.

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