Chapter 679: Battle Against the Master

Jinqinggang.

The flagship port city for the Ou Lei region.

As the earliest transportation hub secretly liberated and controlled by the Salvation Organization among the three major towns, its expansion and renovation actually began much earlier than Huang Tie Town and Guibi City.

On the day Baimu boarded the Goddess Minas, he saw multiple areas near the docks being demolished.

Now.

The port's scale has more than tripled since three months ago.

Large fleets of ten-thousand-ton cargo ships unload various trade goods and donations here; workers operate forklifts and giant gantry cranes, while Wrist and Machoke, wearing safety helmets, assist alongside, all working with fiery energy.

At first glance, it rivals Canaaz Port in the Hoenn region.

Clearly, the Salvation Organization has invested heavily here.

In terms of regional population distribution, a significant number of residents are from other areas—either assigned by corporations to build Ou Lei, or seeking to establish their own ventures on this land rising from ruin.

Some have even come here to live in seclusion.

Thus, compared to the past, Pokémon in Jinqinggang are no longer rare species—they are now everywhere to be seen.

This thriving, harmonious environment makes many Ou Lei people struggle to recall the past, all regarding the Jinqinggang once controlled by gangs and Elder Ejin as a living hell.

In the past, who went to work without a frown, merely hoping their foreman wouldn't further slash their meager wages, fearing being extorted by passing gang members?

Now, children's joyful laughter is heard everywhere; every household lives in new homes, has access to clean freshwater, and diligent workers have gradually saved up what they once dared not dream of.

Everyone's eyes gleam with vitality; they walk with the breeze at their heels.

A sunny midday.

Outside the passenger dock.

A medium-sized hoverbus sat parked by the roadside; beside the driver's door leaned a short-haired, dark-skinned woman with arms thick enough to ride horses.

She idly chewed a dried, yellowish grass stalk she'd picked up somewhere.

"Pah!"

Terri, former squad leader of the Team Sandshrew, spat out the fragments, turning his head to ask the wheat-skinned woman in the bus, legs crossed: "Boss, are you sure they're arriving today? Didn't you misread the characters?"

Lady Ayana, former Sand Group officer of Team Sandshrew, didn't look up, her slender fingers tapping on her phone screen, replied casually: "What's the rush? Their ship's complicated—it'll take time to dock."

"Complicated?"

Terri frowned, then suddenly heard someone nearby excitedly calling friends to the dock to see a medieval sailing ship, and muttered: "Medieval sailing ship? What's that?"

At the dock now.

The newly arrived Rage had retracted its white sails; under the curious gaze of many passengers, two muscular Machoke lowered a wooden gangplank.

"Senior…"

"Senior, take care!"

"We'll never forget you!"

Da Zong and the others bid tearful farewells to the crew who had cared for them for days; the crew waved back with smiles, faintly revealing anticipation.

As the group stepped onto land, without any movement, their lower bodies suddenly swayed violently, overwhelming dizziness nearly forcing them to their knees.

The group turned pale with shock.

"HAHAHAHA!"

The Rage's crew burst into laughter.

Someone shouted: "Kids! Let your senior teach you your final lesson! Don't panic when you first hit land! You'll get used to it—just keep feeling dizzy!"

Other crew members joined in shouting.

"Hold your legs! You look like octopus buckets—embarrassing your boss!"

"Stand up, Da Zong! If you kneel now, don't come back to me!"

Onlookers chuckled as they watched the group make fools of themselves; from their noticeably pale skin, they were clearly not Ou Lei locals.

Onboard.

Baimu, Shi Yuan Zhi, and Liang Guang completed their final farewells.

The Old Celestial had spent his life at sea and was uncomfortable staying inland long-term; he had no interest in Huang Tie Town and declined the invitation to visit.

If the captain wouldn't go, Liang Guang certainly wouldn't either.

They had no choice but to part here.

During this half-month voyage, Baimu had seized many chances to spar with Shi Yuan Zhi; though constrained by the battle arena's limitations, he gained substantial insights.

At least every member of his team had faced off against the core Pokémon painstakingly bred by the Four Heavenly Kings.

"May our paths cross again!"

Shi Yuan Zhi gently patted his shoulder with solemn sincerity.

Baimu respectfully replied, nodded to Liang Guang, then descended the Rage.

Compared to the unsteady Da Zong and others, Baimu, having spent years aboard ships in Hoenn, adapted far better—leaving many passengers waiting for entertainment deeply disappointed.

Suddenly.

Someone stared at his face intently and exclaimed: "Baimu! It's Baimu!"

"What Baimu?"

"A kind of tree?"

"Don't you all read Pokémon Blogs? That's Baimu—the one who defeated Shi Yuan Zhi, the leader of the Hoenn Four Heavenly Kings, and won both the League Championship and the Grand Festival!" "He's really back in Ou Lei!"

Ignoring the confused stares around him, the man pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of Baimu and Da Zong's group helping each other as they walked away.

Soon, his peripheral vision caught Shi Yuan Zhi standing at the Rage's bow—he was even more stunned: "Shi Yuan Zhi! The Four Heavenly King Shi Yuan Zhi!"

With those words, others finally realized.

The Four Heavenly Kings are legendary figures anywhere; how much more so Shi Yuan Zhi, a veteran of such renown!

"So this is the chariot of Shi Yuan Zhi, the Heavenly King! No wonder it's so grand and majestic!" The man was ecstatic, feeling he had uncovered a major news story.

Coming to Oure was truly the right decision!

——

Outside the dock.

As Baimu stepped out of the passage, his eyes met those of Terry beside the hovering minibus—there was no other reason; the man's physique and attire were simply too eye-catching.

Impossible to miss.

"Baimu!!"

His voice was as loud as ever.

A smile of reunion spread across his face as he strode over and said, "Long time no see, Terry! Back then you helped me get to Jinqinggang; now I need you to take me back again."

"What are you talking about? You're our Rainbow Team's boss!"

Terry slapped Baimu's arm hard, then raised an eyebrow when he didn't budge. "Hah! You've gotten even stronger!"

Baimu sighed. "That's hardly the way to treat your boss..."

They exchanged glances, then burst into laughter and hugged tightly.

"Welcome back!"

"Thank you!"

Then.

He spotted Lady Ayana inside the vehicle—her familiar long legs and unrestrained demeanor; when their eyes met, she merely waved. "Boss, get in!"

Her tone was just as disrespectful as Terry's.

"Long time no see, Lady Ayana. I'm truly honored you came to pick me up."

Baimu's gaze shifted to the familiar giant Marshstomp beside her, his smile still warm.

Among all the officers of the Sandflow Team, only Master Liu Ge was closer to him than Lady Ayana; back then, he'd bullied Dazhuang solely by waving her banner to avoid retaliation.

Later, during the mine battle, they had fought side by side.

When the Rescue Organization went public, Lady Ayana had already sided with Master Liu Ge early on, and during the reckoning of past misdeeds, she was spared entirely—clearly only guilty of minor offenses.

So was Terry.

Lady Ayana glanced at him and urged, "Enough talk—get in the car! Explain your Pokémon breeding method!"

"It's all thanks to my Pokémon working hard enough..."

Baimu replied offhandedly.

Terry, clearly impatient, waited only until Dazhuang and the others boarded before leaping into the driver's seat, stomping the clutch, shifting gears, and flooring the accelerator toward Huang Tie Town.

His wild driving made Dazhuang and the others so nauseous they nearly passed out.

"Teach me quickly."

Lady Ayana, oblivious to their suffering, genuinely wanted to learn Baimu's Pokémon breeding method—his achievements over the past half-year had left many stunned, unable to believe what they'd heard.

Finding legendary Pokémon, securing reliable partners, entering two regional tournaments, discovering the key to Oure's trainers' rise, defeating the leader of the Four Heavenly Kings...

Sometimes people wondered if he had three heads and six arms to accomplish so much in such a short time.

The nickname "Yao Mu" was brought up again.

Baimu gently stroked the damp head of the giant Marshstomp, unsure where to begin...

Ah!

He might as well teach Lady Ayana the Water-type Pokémon breeding methods he'd learned from Adam and Mi Ke Li—she was skilled with Water-types too.

So.

Baimu conveyed, in as concise a manner as possible, the parts he'd learned at the Glass Arts Pavilion.

But Lady Ayana didn't keep him long—once she grasped the general idea, she turned around and shared things Dazhuang and the others had overlooked, and that Shan Ren rarely mentioned over the phone.

First, all the underground cities in Huang Tie Town had been sealed off.

Shan Ren planned to connect all the underground cities into an Under Huang Tie Town, gaining full support from the brothers Yin Yuan and Yin Ma.

Yet despite his lofty ambitions, current funding, manpower, and resources were insufficient, so they'd temporarily shut them down.

The old underground railways and high-tech trains left behind by the Shadow Team, however, had been put to good use.

Second, a large prison had been built in the southeastern desert of Oure, where Shadow Team members and other serious criminals were imprisoned to work on developing Oure's southeastern region.

Shan Ren had squeezed every last drop of Jarvis's innovative mysterious science knowledge, handed it over to other doctors interested in Super Evolution Waves, then dumped Jarvis into that prison.

A large number of Oure's scientific talents were gathered in Silberyl City—they were no less brilliant than the world's top scientists, otherwise they couldn't have created so many miraculous black technologies.

Giving them the Super Evolution Wave would surely offer a chance to crack it.

Then there were the Lugia and its offspring—they had visited near Huang Tie Town, rained once, then vanished; Dr. Mu Yin and the institute housing the Dark Lugia had no trace of them.

"Perhaps they've settled on some island."

Baimu thought to himself.

Lady Ayana listed one by one the events that had occurred in Huang Tie Town and across all of Oure, then emphasized the Battle Mountain.

"Batalas—have you heard of him? He's called the Master of Battle Mountain. Don't underestimate him. I suspect if he went outside, he'd be at least on par with Shi Yuan Zhi, whom you fought—or even stronger!"

Her tone was serious.

Master of Battle Mountain?

Baimu paused, memories slowly surfacing—he remembered this man from the Circular Arena game.

But to say he rivals a top Heavenly King...

He asked quickly: "When we liberated Oure—?"

"Batalas went to help Shan Ren's father. That's one of the main reasons Silberyl City, as Elder Ejin's stronghold, was swiftly dismantled," Lady Ayana explained.

Lady Ayana explained.

Back then, when the Battle Mountain trainers and the Agate Village hermits joined forces to help the Liberation Organization save Silibium City and Iron Town, they split into two teams.

One team, led by the Agate Village elder and Leo, came to Iron Town; the other was most likely led by Butras straight to Silibium City.

All Baimu nodded slightly and said, "Alright, I'll keep an eye on him."

Lady Ayana had never seen a real Elite Four member or Champion, so she likely misjudged Butras's strength, but it wouldn't hurt to measure this Battle Mountain Master against the standard of a top-tier Elite Four member.

He didn't find this troublesome at all — having powerful trainers in Oreai was something worth being happy about.

No matter which method Shannen ultimately used to establish the League, Butras had a very high chance of becoming a major pillar of the Oreai League.

The important matters had been discussed.

The two of them began to chat leisurely.

The Rainbow Team was originally established mainly to deceive Elder Ejin and his associates, but who would have thought that Elder Ejin's grave grass was already taller than anyone could tell, while the Rainbow Team was still going strong.

It had even evolved at one point into a professional security group, becoming Shannen's "private army."

Lady Ayana, who had originally been at the cadre level, had also changed her title—

General Manager.

"What do you guys usually do?" All Baimu was very curious about their main daily work.

Lady Ayana said carelessly, "Keep the troublemakers in line, hold down those with sneaky little schemes, stop them from sticking their necks out whenever they feel like it."

"Troublemakers?"

"My dear Rainbow Team big boss, you don't think that after catching all the gangsters, the rest are all good citizens, do you? You saw it yourself when you were a cadre — plenty of potential bad guys don't bully people just because they don't have the conditions to do so."

Just as Lady Ayana had said.

The law of the jungle was etched into the bones of Iron Town's people.

Even though the current environment had improved, many ill-intentioned fellows still wanted to quietly restore the old ways; they had no real insight and couldn't read, only believing that in the new era they could replace those old bosses and become the new bosses.

Letting Officer Jenny handle it would definitely be a poor fit, so it was best left to the Rainbow Team, who knew the tricks best — letting the Rainbow Team monopolize Iron Town.

As for whether the people inside the Rainbow Team would go bad…

Not to mention half of them were dedicated combat personnel from the Liberation Organization.

If the upper levels don't change, the lower levels find it very hard to change.

All Baimu was the very top of that upper level, and Lady Ayana hadn't really oppressed anyone even back when the world was treacherous — in the new era she certainly wouldn't go looking for trouble for no reason.

"A heavy burden and a long road ahead."

He nodded.

Reforming the people's mindset was also an important part of Oreai's rise; it was wonderful that Shannen hadn't just buried himself in construction and ignored everything else.

Suddenly.

All Baimu looked at the flat ground outside the car window and said in surprise, "A highway! One that goes straight to Iron Town?"

"Hahaha, you finally noticed?"

Terry, who was driving, laughed heartily and said, "Ever since this road was built, everyone's travel between Qinggang and Iron Town has become so much faster — it used to take over ten hours, now half that time is enough! Those guys called Team Magma really can get things done!"

Team Magma…

Truly worthy infrastructure maniacs who capture legendary beasts to expand the land.

Want to get rich? Build roads first, huh?