Chapter 274

The twin-wheeled war chariot 'Fa'e Tong' flew slowly ahead.

Four Golden Crow Clan Life Pool Realm experts, heads held high and chests out, gripped flaming long halberds, two on the left and two on the right, appearing to protect but actually surveilling, they sandwiched the small team formed by Wu Jin, Xun Mo, and Bai Wushuang.

Wu Jin followed behind the 'Fa'e Tong' with his heart blooming with joy; even though the flames spewing from the wheels scorched his eyebrows and chest hair to a crisp, he still clung tightly to Wuxiao's war chariot.

He was originally heading for the Kunlun Ruins, when out of nowhere a guide appeared—what a great thing!

Although Wuxiao didn't look like an upright person.

Although Wuxiao looked very dangerous.

But Wu Jin didn't care.

So, when Wuxiao said he would conscript them, Wu Jin offered no resistance and immediately raised both hands in response to the conscription.

As for Xun Mo and Bai Wushuang, they had no choice; they could only follow Wuxiao with grim faces, being forced to do so.

Wuxiao himself was at the Life Pool Realm, and his four guards were likewise Life Pool Realm experts. Meanwhile, those who entered the Wa tribe's ancestral land as trial-takers all had age restrictions; for their age group, reaching the Life Pool Realm was basically impossible.

Therefore, Wuxiao's conscription of them left them no choice but to comply.

"Soul tribe, Golden Crow Clan..." Xun Mo piloted his artifact while flying, muttering angrily: "Life Pool Realm, Life Pool Realm... This is unfair; this kid's age must have exceeded the limit..."

Bai Wushuang remained silent.

He had already taken Wu Jin's 'gifted' primordial grass, and his two broken arms had healed.

Transforming into a white streak soaring through the sky, Bai Wushuang coldly scrutinized the four Golden Crow Clan experts. As descendants of Wuan City, voicing empty complaints was never their habit.

They preferred to draw their swords and face each other, never liking to waste effort on verbal sparring.

Xun Mo's voice rose a bit: "Really, it makes no sense—does the Wa tribe not even follow the rules they set themselves? I had still been thinking of proposing to Wa Jing'er... Such a rule-breaking clan; its women are certainly not good matches."

Wuxiao turned around, a flame-wreathed long whip appearing in his hand, and he lashed it at Xun Mo from midair.

Xun Mo let out a miserable howl, his body tumbling as it fell toward the ground.

He rolled about in a sorry state on the ground, his face bruised and swollen, then was rebuked by a Golden Crow Clan expert; he wretchedly piloted his evasive light, wobbling as he took off again.

"Descendant of the Xun clan, shut up... Whether the Wa tribe is good or bad, what right do you have to interject?" Wuxiao said arrogantly: "The foundation of my Golden Crow Clan—how could you, coming from petty households, possibly understand it?"

Wuxiao raised his head, his huge hooked nose looking all the more out of place.

"When I, the crown prince, was born, I already had the cultivation of the thirtieth heaven of the Chonglou Realm; now I possess Life Pool Realm cultivation—isn't that strange?" Wuxiao smiled, his eyes narrowing to slits: "Clueless things... My Golden Crow Clan's bloodline is just that powerful, my Golden Crow Clan's foundation is just that solid, and I, the crown prince, am just that transcendent and unworldly."

"Whether envy, jealousy, or even hatred," Wuxiao heaved a deep sigh: "I, the crown prince, was born to make you envy, hate, and be jealous of me, yet there's nothing you can do about it."

Wu Jin's face twitched sharply.

Bai Wushuang's face jerked violently.

Only Xun Mo, enduring the pain in his body, glared at Wuxiao with clenched teeth, shaking his head and saying: "A gentleman ought to—"

Another lash came down hard.

Xun Mo cried out in pain, his evasive light collapsing as he fell from the air to the ground, suffering a gash to his head that bled profusely.

A Golden Crow Clan expert descended on a fire cloud, lightly tapping Xun Mo with his long halberd, forcing him to re-establish his evasive light and wobble back up into the sky.

"I, the crown prince, am no gentleman... My great-grandfather said gentlemen are all fools, bound to suffer loss and be deceived... My Golden Crow Clan's people would rather die than suffer a loss." Wuxiao looked at Xun Mo smugly: "So don't feed me those refined, pedantic principles."

"He whose fist is big is the big boss." Wuxiao grinned until the corners of his mouth split, and with his large hooked nose he truly looked like a smug great crow.

"Otherwise, look— I've spent half a year and encountered three groups of living people." Wuxiao shook his head helplessly: "Three groups of living people; one group was slaughtered to the last by me, the crown prince; another group... well, well; the remaining group, you lot, will obediently let me, the crown prince, conscript you."

"I, the crown prince, am stronger than you, so you must obey me. He whose fist is big is the big boss—this is what my great-grandfather said, and it's definitely correct." Wuxiao stood on the war chariot, turned to look at Xun Mo and sneered: "Any other principles are just bullshit!"

Wu Jin followed behind Wuxiao, then suddenly asked: "You killed a group of people? Why didn't you conscript them?"

Wuxiao furrowed his brows, glanced at Wu Jin's bulky frame, seemed to think of something, and then relaxed his frown a little: "They actually dared to scheme against me, the crown prince; if I didn't kill them, should I treat them as bosses to be served?"

"Then what about the other group?" Wu Jin looked at Wuxiao curiously.

Wuxiao's complexion turned somewhat unsightly.

He suddenly whipped the lash, striking Xun Mo hard with it.

Another miserable cry rang out; a third deep, bone-deep whip mark appeared on Xun Mo's body, the wound continually spewing flames and black smoke. The pain made his vision go black, and he wretchedly plummeted from the sky—this time, even with Golden Crow Clan experts urging him on, he couldn't get airborne for a long while.

Wuxiao shouted angrily.

Xun Mo's two companions suppressed their evasive light, hoisted him onto their backs, and then took off again.

Xun Mo swallowed a mouthful of energy-replenishing powder, steadied his spirit, and roared at Wuxiao in exasperated fury: "This time I didn't say a word—why am I being targeted again?"

Wuxiao gave a dry laugh, looked at Xun Mo's deathly pale face, and chuckled dryly: "It's become a habit, heh—who made you look so deserving of a lashing?"

Wu Jin remained silent, just giving a simple, honest smile.

Xun Mo was so angry he nearly fainted, trembling as he pointed at Wuxiao and then at Wu Jin: "I am a clansman of the Xun family from the Sanhe region... My Xun clan is an ancient prestigious house... You, you, you..."

Wuxiao glared at Xun Mo arrogantly: "A prestigious house? That's still just a mortal family; my Golden Crow Clan... that is a primordial divine tribe—what is a mere mortal family before my Golden Crow Clan?"

As he spoke, Wuxiao made a feint with the long whip, producing a crisp 'pak-pak' sound.

Xun Mo opened his mouth, but for a moment he had nothing to say.

It wasn't that he couldn't out-debate Wuxiao.

Rather, it was that Wuxiao this guy would lash out at the slightest provocation; Xun Mo had been beaten into fear by him, so he dared not speak.

With Xun Mo no longer raising topics, the group immediately fell silent.

The party hurried forward; under Wuxiao's leadership, they quickly crossed this chaotic gravity-disturbed plain and entered a mountainous region.

Upon entering the mountainous area, Wuxiao immediately led the party to speed up, and the route became winding and serpentine, often looping around the mountains in one complex large circle after another.

Sometimes he would also set up complex seal traps on the mountains they passed, then after walking over a hundred li, he would have the party stop and wait quietly in a secluded corner, listening for the sound of the traps behind them being triggered.

But after all this effort, not a single seal trap was triggered, nor did anyone step into any of the snares.

Wuxiao persevered, continuing to set up traps along the way.

Several times he despised the four accompanying guards for being clumsy-fisted and heavy-footed, so he personally laid down the seals; yet along the journey, the few seals he himself set up—described as 'exquisite', 'ingenious', and 'nearly impossible for outsiders to detect'—still produced no reaction.

Wu Jin and the others looked at Wuxiao blankly.

Watching his movements, it seemed as if someone was tailing him.

Xun Mo coughed once, about to speak, when the whip in Wu Xiao's hand already swung.

Xun Mo immediately closed his mouth, gritting his teeth, glaring at Wu Xiao with fury-filled eyes, as if that could exert any psychological pressure on Wu Xiao.

"Looks like they've decided to retreat because it's too hard." Wu Xiao laughed triumphantly.

"As I said, those stupid beasts… how could the Nüwa Tribe's ancestral land be something they could touch? Especially a holy place like the Kunlun Ruins—who besides me, a person of both virtue and talent, is qualified to enter?"

Wu Xiao let out a heavy sigh and said sincerely: "Back then, my father entered the Kunlun Ruins, slew an arrogant fool who claimed to be of the Sun God's bloodline, and seized this 'Faetong' war chariot."

"The Kunlun Ruins are the Golden Crow Clan's reserved land… hahaha, hahaha, hahaha!" Wu Xiao said, unable to contain his delight, he burst into near-hysterical laughter.

As he laughed, Wu Jin's expression shifted slightly; he reached out, his fingers as thick as Wu Xiao's waist, and roughly rubbed his shoulder.

Wu Xiao stared, still laughing, following Wu Jin's stern gaze; his laughter suddenly turned ragged, the 'ga-ga' sounding like a rooster whose throat is choked, becoming unbearably harsh.

More than ten li ahead, on a solitary green peak, a youth clad in black scale armor stood silently on the summit, his body wrapped in a layer of black smoke, his eyes glowing red, appearing especially brutal and sinister.

On several more distant peaks, a dozen or so youths similarly dressed in black scale armor stood on the hilltops, the corners of their mouths curled, casting a gloomy smile toward this side.

"Taotie Jiu." Wu Xiao gritted his teeth, barely managing to spit out three words: "How did you get ahead of us?"

The youth called Taotie Jiu extended a finger: "First, I foresaw the correct path to the Kunlun Ruins."

Wu Xiao shook his head.

Foreknowledge?

It's still possible outside.

In the chaotic Nüwa Tribe ancestral land, especially where the ancestral spirits' power blankets the land, the art of divination is virtually useless.

Perhaps some heaven-defying expert, deeply versed in divination, could divine something, but Taotie Jiu's cultivation is on par with Wu Xiao's, and Wu Xiao doesn't believe he possesses such ability.

Extending a second finger, Taotie Jiu coldly smiled: "Second, among your retinue are my people. One of the four Life Pond Realm guards has defected to me, so I know the correct route."

The four Life Pond Realm experts guarding Wu Xiao simultaneously knelt on the fire clouds, swearing oaths to guarantee their absolute loyalty to the Golden Crow Clan and that they could never betray Wu Xiao.

Wu Xiao also shook his head; the detailed route to the Kunlun Ruins is known only to him and his few close brothers.

These four guards tasked with protecting him know nothing of the details.

"You're trying to sow discord—does that amuse you?" Wu Xiao said coldly: "Come on, we're all of the Soul Tribe, people with roots and background; such petty tricks, humph."

Taotie Jiu's smile gradually brightened as he extended a third finger: "Third, among your close brothers, someone wants me to kill you in the Nüwa Tribe's ancestral land… so they… oh, no, it's him, who leaked all your information to me."

Wu Xiao's smile suddenly stiffened.

A hint of gloom crossed his face, accentuated by his large hooked nose, making Wu Xiao look especially sinister at this moment.

The first two possibilities are unlikely.

But the third… Wu Xiao extended both hands, his ten fingers slowly moving.

Four Golden Crow Clan guards stepped onto the fire clouds and came to Wu Xiao's side, their expressions stern, not uttering a word.

The matter involves internal strife among the Golden Crow Clan's princes; as guards, they have no room to interject.

"No wonder you've faced me four times in the past year or more." Wu Xiao said calmly: "The Nüwa Tribe's ancestral land is vast; in over a year, I've barely seen any living souls—just you, four times."

Taotie Jiu laughed brightly.

Wu Xiao suddenly pointed at Taotie Jiu: "You all, who can help me kill—or severely wound—this bastard? I swear by heaven, upon reaching the Kunlun Ruins, you may pick first any treasure."

Wu Xiao said sternly: "Let me tell you, I come here bearing an important family commission. In the Kunlun Ruins, a divine medicine in a medicinal garden is about to mature, and that's why I'm heading there."

Medicinal garden?

Wu Jin's emotions suddenly surged.

He breathed heavily, exhaling two scorching streams from his nostrils: "Wu Xiao Prince, are your words reliable?"

Wu Xiao nodded firmly: "Kill him, or help me severely wound Taotie Jiu, enter the Kunlun Ruins, and you may first choose any treasure… if you can help me capture Taotie Jiu alive, I promise… you may first pick three treasures!"

Wu Xiao gritted his teeth and said harshly, he too was going all out.

Wu Jin let out a skyward roar; his body exploded with a 'boom', instantly swelling from a height of over ten meters to gigantic proportions of a kilometer.

His heavy armor, wooden shield, and great axe likewise grew enormously.

Wu Jin took a single step, crossing over ten li in an instant, appearing before Taotie Jiu.

Taotie Jiu, eyes wide and mouth agape, lifted his head, staring dumbfounded at Wu Jin, who towered hundreds of times over him, and instinctively drew a black-smoke-wreathed Taotie bone spear…

Just as he raised his spear, Wu Jin slammed a shield flat onto the ground.

Heaven darkened, winds raged; Taotie Jiu's body shook violently as the shield struck him heavily.

The peak on which Taotie Jiu stood collapsed with a boom, flattened into a smooth plain.