Chapter 127

This is a mature trade route.

What is meant by mature is that the road surface is level and broad, with convenient water sources for replenishment, and at regular intervals there are spacious stone caves where one can camp; all insect nests along the way have been cleared, and all wandering wild tribes have been driven away — such a safe trade route.

On such a trade route, a year sees only about several dozen attacks by wild tribes, over a hundred assaults by swarms of wild poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, and hundreds of brawls between caravans, etc.

Compared to traveling through other passages, this is undoubtedly far safer.

Wu Tie and the other three teams moved in tacit coordination, front and back, and after ten days on the road they encountered seven groups coming from the direction of the Great Dragon Realm heading for the Green Wood Realm.

Among the seven groups, only one was a small caravan of three or four hundred people, relying on their guard leader being a peak expert of the Gan Xuan realm; after drinking heavily they wanted to bully the drifting theater troupe, but were instead wiped out by the coordinated joint effort of the four teams.

That happened on the fifth night after Wu Tie joined the team.

Without Wu Tie and the others taking action, the female owner of the drifting theater troupe shouted loudly, and from the three neighboring caravans that had set up camp, two or three hundred guards each rushed out.

The small caravan that had wanted to bully others but was instead annihilated had transported many 'Diamond Fruits' — a specialty of the Great Dragon Realm — from there; these are ninth-grade body-tempering elemental fruits, highly effective for refining the flesh and honing strength.

The four teams tacitly divided all the Diamond Fruits among themselves, and later that night, hundreds of women from the drifting theater troupe sneaked into the camps of the three caravans.

That night, Wu Tie plugged the little ears of the shamaness with his fingers.

Throughout the night, in the three caravan camps spaced a few hundred meters apart, men's low panting and women's faint moans sounded like cats in spring, the fine drizzle pattering all night.

Only fifteen minutes before the group was about to set out did those women return, staggering, to the theater troupe's camp.

They boarded the wagons, as if nothing had happened.

Wu Tie noticed that each woman, upon returning, carried a large or small leather pouch, likely filled with plenty of food and other items.

Wu Tie remained silent, continuing to blend with the team, riding his giant wolf-spider each day as they moved forward.

However, his daily cultivation time was shortened a bit; he was not in a hurry to consume the primal herb to fill the Heavenly Lock Pagoda, nor to solidify his foundation. After setting up camp each day, he would ride his giant wolf-spider, taking Old Bai and Shi Fei out of the camp to scout the surroundings.

At this moment his intangible force field could easily envelop the space within a one-kilometer radius centered on his body.

Within this range, even a black widow spider the size of a mung bean could not escape his scan.

Wu Tie, accompanied by Old Bai and Shi Fei — especially Shi Fei's sturdy gray-rock lizard serving as a mount — needed only a little over an hour each day to bring back a dozen or even dozens of bloody prey.

Gray-rock lizards, giant rock snakes, giant rock pythons, various sizes of rock rats, cave rats, blind rats, various bats, mutated giant centipedes, giant spiders, and the like.

Shi Fei's gray-rock lizard is very strong, able to easily carry tens of thousands of catties; each time Wu Tie and the others' hunt yields prey, it can always be brought back intact.

After a few days, Wu Tie and his companions became the most popular — and also the most astonishing — presence among the four camps.

Hunting — each caravan has enough manpower and strength to hunt.

The difficulty lies in finding so much prey within the complex caves.

Sometimes, sending out a hundred experienced scouts might only yield a nest of small mice; that bit of meat is insufficient to replenish their expenditures while ranging abroad.

But Wu Tie and his group always manage to bring back that much game each time.

The children of the drifting theater troupe began to laugh more and more; in just a few days their complexions improved greatly. Among the troupe, whether elders, women, or children, their gazes toward Wu Tie and his companions gained a hint of lively vigor.

There is a word that is somewhat too luxurious for this era, but without doubt, Wu Tie and his group are a band of 'good people'.

On the eleventh day after departure, after setting up camp, Wu Tie, Old Bai, and Shi Fei were about to leave as usual for hunting when a yellow-haired youth who knew some tricks blocked Wu Tie's path, followed by seven or eight frail children.

After straightening his white shirt, white vest, and splendid double-breasted red coat, Mo Zhangwang coughed once, cleared his throat, and with a hint of shyness bowed to Wu Tie.

"Mighty Lord Wu Tie, may I and my children join your troop?" Mo Zhangwang drew from his waist a sword that, in Wu Tie's view, was more ornamental than practical — thin and slender, a flower sword — and flourished it deftly.

"We are not a bunch of cowards who only know how to accept others' favors; we also want to do something for the troupe." Mo Zhangwang said in a low voice: "Others cannot stray far from the camp, for the wilderness is too dangerous; they must guard the camp. The idle folk in the camp are me and these few children of mine."

Wu Tie sat on the back of the giant wolf-spider; even when lying prone, the beast's massive size stood as tall as a small two-story building.

He looked down on Mo Zhangwang, observing this face considerably more mature than his own, and earnestly told him: "To be frank, I doubt one thing: when facing prey, do you have the ability to kill them?"

He bluntly pointed at the flower sword in Mo Zhangwang's hand and shook his head: "At the very least, you need to swap it for a forged-alloy sword weighing a few hundred catties; otherwise you'd hardly be able to split the gray-rock lizard's hide armor."

Gazing at Mo Zhangwang's overly ornate attire, Wu Tie recalled a vague impression of such exaggerated tight trousers and red upper garment — this was also the standard garb of nobles among certain ancient human clans.

"These clothes also won't do; they hinder your movements. You should change into loose linen garb and at least wear a set of half-armor weighing two hundred catties, otherwise you cannot protect your safety." Wu Tie spoke bluntly to Mo Zhangwang: "A hundred-catty weapon, two-hundred-catty armor — that is a warrior's most basic setup… Can you and your children bear that weight?"

Mo Zhangwang's face turned deathly pale.

The few children behind him looked at Wu Tie, at a loss, and secretly hid the crude iron-forged daggers in their hands behind their backs.

Mo Zhangwang stared at Wu Tie for a while, then suddenly pointed at the White Tiger Split and asked: "Then may I ask, how heavy is your spear? As far as I know, the load capacity of a giant wolf-spider…"

When a giant wolf-spider travels long distances, its load cannot exceed five thousand catties.

However, the giant wolf-spider beneath Wu Tie moves with extraordinary agility each day, almost as if it bore no load. Wu Tie said that three-hundred-catty weapons and armor are merely a warrior's basic equipment; he grew a bit annoyed and wanted to question Wu Tie about the weight of his weapon.

"One hundred eight thousand catties." Wu Tie candidly waved his right hand, and the White Tiger Split hovered in midair: "My spear now weighs one hundred eight thousand catties. The reason my mount feels no weight is because my innate divine ability constantly keeps it in a levitating state."

Clenching his right fist, Wu Tie withdrew the intangible force field that had been sustaining the White Tiger Split.

With a resounding 'Boom,' the White Tiger Split plummeted from a height of four or five meters, striking the hard stone floor and gouging a depression about a meter deep.

Wu Tie waved his hand, and the White Tiger Split rose slowly, settling back into his grip. He looked at Mo Zhangwang, nodding approvingly: "I like your attitude, I like how you care for these children… but you need strength. If you're interested in power, you can… follow Shi Fei and practice the basics."

Wu Tie pointed at Shi Fei, then tilted his head to look at Mo Zhangwang: "Forget those children; you come along… you can first learn how to be a warrior."

Wu Tie recalled Old Tie's training methods toward him, and a mischievous thought suddenly sprang up in his mind.

Mo Zhangwang followed Wu Tie with gleeful, eager steps, thus making a preliminary addition to Wu Tie's hunting squad.

Upon returning to camp, Mo Zhangwang reeked of blood, his face ashen like a corpse; in the following days he ate not a single piece of roasted meat, subsisting each day on a few bits of mushroom or other plant roots.

On his first day with the hunting team, Wu Tie made him understand many things.

For example, Shi Fei used his considerable weight to press a gray-rock lizard to the ground.

Under Wu Tie's instruction, Mo Zhangwang grabbed a refined elemental-bronze dagger and haphazardly sliced the gray-rock lizard's neck; fresh blood sprayed all over his face, filling his mouth with the stench of hot blood.

Amid Wu Tie's rebukes, Mo Zhangwang slit open the belly of the gray-rock lizard, over five meters long, and washed its entrails clean beside a small spring.

While vomiting, Mo Zhangwang generally finished all this work; in the end he was so stimulated that he fainted dead away.

But he did not retreat.

The day after joining the hunting squad, Mo Zhangwang sought out Shi Fei to learn his cultivation method.

At Wu Tie's behest, Shi Fei handed Mo Zhangwang the foundation chapter of the Wuxiang Bone Demon Classic, and also taught him the Golden Core Subduing Demon Fist, a method excellent for tempering strength and transforming tendon and bone quality.

Over the next several days, Mo Zhangwang vomited incessantly from the stench of blood each day, and was tormented to the brink of death.

But he finally managed to persevere.

In the end, he could dissect a hunted beast without changing his expression, and calmly gulp down roasted meat amidst the gore.

He is quite smart, his aptitude is not bad either, the Formless Bone Devil Scripture was quickly mastered, and his demeanor underwent some wondrous changes.

Only the Diamond Subduing Demon Fist……

This overbearing, rigid fist technique, which trains the body to first-rate effect, this kid forced it to sway left and right like a scarecrow in the wind, showing not a trace of mighty vigor, instead making him look utterly ridiculous.

Wu Tie also found it strange; he grabbed the whip and lashed Mo Zhang Wang several times, yet this guy simply could not get the Diamond Subduing Demon Fist right. Judging by his attitude, he wasn't deliberately messing around—this kid was even on the verge of tears… This is truly odd.

The team pressed on, with time slipping by day by day.

Wu Tie daily consumed large amounts of primal grass; unseen, his Heavenly Lock Chonglou foundation grew ever stronger, until he felt that his Heavenly Lock Chonglou had already pierced the nine heavens and could not take any more.

But he did not stop; he continued to solidify his foundation with the secret arts of the Primordial Scripture, continually pouring power into his Heavenly Lock Chonglou.

The deeper the foundation, the greater the future benefits of breaking through the Chonglou Realm—each layer broken yields ever greater rewards.

According to the Primordial Scripture, when the foundation reaches perfection and a single filament of light's seal is broken, one can obtain a millionfold return. Though the power stored in each light filament is tiny, a millionfold return is immensely strong.

The team pressed on, for Wu Tie still brought back plenty of game each day, and laughter within the Drifting Troupe gradually increased.

Shi Fei again passed the Diamond Subduing Demon Fist to the Drifting Troupe, and even to hundreds of warriors in the other three squads. This is merely an external art for tempering the flesh and altering bone quality, not something terribly precious; Wu Tie intended to let these decent warriors boost their strength a bit.

As for the Formless Bone Devil Scripture, only Mo Zhang Wang, whose character Wu Tie has temporarily approved, received the transmission of the Foundation Establishment chapter.

As for the others, Wu Tie still does not know their character, and dares not lightly impart this ancient secret transmission to them.

After advancing for an unknown length of time, just as Wu Tie had used up most of the primal grass sent by the three great clans of the Cangyan Realm, as well as the primal grass stockpiled in Zhu Zixi's hand ring, he finally felt the tremendous shock transmitted from his Heavenly Lock Chonglou.

After his whole body underwent one hundred and eight violent shocks, Wu Tie's Heavenly Lock Chonglou foundation had reached its limit, unable to gain any more strength.

Unless he breaks through, otherwise forcing even a thread of power inward will cause Wu Tie to burst and die.

"Indeed, a terrifying consumption." Wu Tie had no words for his own expenditure along the way.

The consumption of the Primordial Scripture is undoubtedly terrifying; the primal grass in Zhu Zixi's hand ring is enough to cultivate over a dozen elite disciples of the Changsheng Sect from the Sensing Mystery Realm up to high-level Chonglou Realm.

Wu Tie used it merely to solidify the foundation of his Half-Step Chonglou Realm.

However, having consumed so much primal grass, Wu Tie's bodily strength has become so great that even he finds it a little astonishing. He feels that even if the White Tiger Cleave were made two or three times heavier, he could still wield it with ease.

A commotion came from ahead; on the passageway forward, someone had carved a square, square gate out of massive stone.

The stone gate stood a hundred meters high and dozens of meters wide, erected in the middle of the spacious passageway, with many people passing through it.

Nearly a hundred bare-chested men with extremely muscular bodies and skin of a strange bronze hue stood with arms crossed beneath the stone gate, each staring sharply at passersby.

On the lintel of the stone gate were four characters, not particularly beautiful, but each stroke looked as if chopped by knives and axes—'Suppress the Six Paths'.

On either side of the stone gate, the two massive stone pillars bore carvings of two towering figures dozens of meters tall, their bodies knotted with muscle, exuding a domineering, tyrannical aura, each with a flood dragon coiled around their waist.

Well, the bald-headed men were just like those standing beneath the stone gate.

From far away, this stone gate and these burly men exuded a fierce, savage aura that came rushing over.