Chapter 356

The tenth day after entering the mountains.

The Hua family's survey team had already been surveying southwest along the mountain base for two or three hundred li, and in order to transport those large implements, they had forcibly carved out a ten-zhang-wide great road through the forest.

Wu Tie shuttled through the mountains, carefully observing every stir in the survey team.

For this mission, Wu Yu and Xi Bai gave Wu Tie great benefits; for example, Wu Yu gave him fifteen drops of five-element essence blood.

These were the heart's blood of the five Wu ancestors who had cultivated to the Divine Manifestation realm, and the cultivation methods of those five ancestors precisely corresponded to the five-element power.

This essence blood contains inconceivable power; now it lies quietly stored in Wu Tie's heart, slowly releasing five-element qi for him to absorb.

Under the nourishment of the aura emanating from those fifteen drops of five-element essence blood, Wu Tie's comprehension of the five-element principles is advancing by leaps and bounds; in his life pool, the five streams corresponding to the five-element Dao have nearly condensed into substantive celestial-dragon form.

In the mountains, vegetation is abundant, and the earth and wood powers are extremely vigorous.

Walking through the mountains with the aid of wood-element power, Wu Tie cannot miss any movement of the Hua family's large detachment.

Even the lowly laborers secretly complaining that the work is too hard and the food too lacking in oil and water—every word is under Wu Tie's control.

But ten days have passed, and Wu Tie still hasn't figured out what the Hua family—or rather, this detachment of Xin Xin—is actually looking for.

These past few days, Xin Xin has been mingling with a group of women from the Ren clan.

Relying on his strong cultivation, on spirit pills to nourish his body, and on his youthful vigor, Xin Xin labors almost day and night; in just a few days, obvious dark circles have appeared on his face, clearly his essence and qi have been severely depleted.

Because of his ties to those Ren clan women, Xin Xin has completely left the survey team's affairs to others, entrusting everything to several master craftsmen and guard captains; and within the survey team, the status of those master craftsmen is clearly far above that of the guards.

Wu Tie has figured out that the 'teacher' referred to by those master craftsmen is a stout figure like a dwarf, shaped like an iron lump, but tall and burly; the master craftsman is named Lu Xiong, a renowned forging grandmaster of Nine Mountains Prefecture.

This time, Lu Xiong collaborated with the Hua family to invent that new forging method.

The new forging method requires some special rare metals; the Hua family dispatched over ten survey teams, and Lu Xiong personally oversees Xin Xin's team—clearly, the Hua ancestors have arranged this deliberately.

With Lu Xiong in charge, Xin Xin's team is far more likely to find a usable rare-metal vein and achieve merit than other teams led by Hua family juniors.

The Hua ancestors are somewhat biased, so it's no wonder Huatian Luo sent Zhao Tung and Zhao Re over.

But over these past few nights, Wu Tie has several times discovered that Lu Xiong's disciple, Lu Xun, likewise honored by the craftsmen as a master craftsman, had secretly contacted Ren Duxing.

Unfortunately, each time they met, the Ren clan's formation masters had set up formation seals that isolated all aura, so Wu Tie could not discern what Lu Xun and Ren Duxing said, nor whether this matter had anything to do with Lu Xiong.

In short, Wu Tie roughly judged that the Ren clan is not simple in this affair.

And Xin Xin is merely a tool.

The one who designed Xin Xin apparently just wanted to borrow Xin Xin's identity and the Hua family's name to do something in this mountain range.

All they want is the Hua family's signboard behind Xin Xin.

"Chirp, chirp-chirp!" a clear birdcall came from above.

Wu Tie took out a blood-red silk scarf, shook it in a special way in the air, drawing three circles, then waved his hand. A fist-sized hawk, entirely silver-feathered, swooped down rapidly from high altitude; its tiny wings flicked and trembled, and it steadied itself on Wu Tie's arm, softly calling while lifting one claw.

A small metal tube was tightly bound to the hawk's claw; Wu Tie took out a thin scroll from it, carefully unrolled it, and read it attentively.

This silver hawk is the Divine Martial Army's unique messenger spirit bird, named Flowlight.

The army has various secret arts for transmitting information, but magical transmission can sometimes be interrupted by formation seals, and sometimes the magical fluctuations emitted by the secret art can be detected by sensing devices, thereby exposing the exact location of the recipient.

Flowlight flies tracelessly, its speed is one-third faster than ordinary secret messaging arts; its silver feathers shift color like a chameleon with the surroundings, and it makes no wind-cutting sound in flight, making it more convenient and safe for conveying information than employing magical arts.

"Chirp-chirp!"

Flowlight, displeased, pecked Wu Tie's finger; even with his thick skin and flesh, he felt a sharp pain piercing deep into the marrow.

"You feathered beast!" Wu Tie laughed and scolded, then hastily took out a secret-made birdseed the size of a soybean and stuffed it into Flowlight's beak.

This birdseed is pitch black throughout, heavy as a metal nugget, concocted by the Divine Martial Army's alchemists from dozens of rare materials; for a bird the size of a fist, its dietary standard equals the grain consumption of an ordinary thousand-man unit.

Apart from the wealthy military of the Great Jin Divine State, ordinary families simply cannot afford the cost of keeping Flowlight.

Flowlight happily swallowed the birdseed; a trickle of faint warmth circulated within it, and on its mirror-smooth silver feathers a hazy glow gradually appeared, slightly boosting Flowlight's aura.

On the tiny slip of paper was the message transmitted by Li Dayou.

Huachong City is safe and sound, but the Forbidden Demon Hall has again sent a warning through secret channels. According to Li Dayou's judgment, it seems the Forbidden Demon Hall of Nine Mountains Prefecture has already gotten a hold on some target individuals' trails, knowing they are plotting something of far-reaching consequence.

However, the Forbidden Demon Hall's conduct, in Li Dayou's words, has always been sneaky and furtive.

These fellows likely found some clues, but there is a high probability they want to monopolize the credit, so they concealed the clues and did not transmit them to the Divine Martial Army or local government offices.

That is really annoying.

Wu Tie can imagine that those fellows of the Forbidden Demon Hall warned the Divine Martial Army office probably because they fear that if something big happens, they will later be punished.

But after they gave a vague warning to the Divine Martial Army office, if something really does happen, they have an excuse to shift blame—'I already warned you, yet it still happened; that's your incompetence, blah blah blah.'

Even, Wu Tie maliciously suspects that these fellows actually want things to blow up.

Once it erupts, they can then move in to arrest people, right?

As long as they catch the culprit, the so-called 'dangerous elements,' they gain merit; as for how much others have to pay in the process, that's none of the Forbidden Demon Hall's business, right?

"All the credit is yours, while the risk is ours…… such piggish teammates…… really hateful." Wu Tie muttered under his breath.

He rubbed his fingers, crushing the paper in his hand; Wu Tie took out a small slip, quickly scribbled a few words on it, then slipped it into the metal tube on Flowlight's claw; a shake of his hand sent Flowlight soaring as a dim shadow, disappearing into the high clouds after a few breaths.

"What a fine bird, truly a fine bird." Wu Tie stared fixedly at Flowlight.

With his eyesight, once this little bird flies up a hundred zhang high, he can no longer catch sight of it.

Moreover, this little thing flies extremely fast, making no sound in flight; it truly comes and goes in an instant, formless and traceless.

Wu Tie's heart sank slightly; this is merely an insignificant part of the vast foundation of the Divine Martial Army.

The Divine Martial Army is merely one unit among the standing regular corps of the Great Jin Divine State.

Similar regular corps, the Great Jin Divine State has many more.

"Indeed..." Wu Tie sighed, he took off his coarse hemp clothes, put on the Divine Martial Army's standard uniform, slung the long-handled Miao blade given by Zhao Re across his back, then leapt up and perched on the treetop of a large tree.

Soon, the Ren clan's external patrol detachment spotted Wu Tie.

A group of over ten rushed toward him at high speed; from a distance of about a hundred zhang, a Fetal Storage realm expert sternly shouted: "Who are you? Why are you spying here?"

Wu Tie crossed his arms before his chest and coldly rebuked: "Is this mountain yours?"

The Ren expert's tone stalled, his voice suddenly dropping considerably: "This place belongs to the Hua family..."

Wu Tie interrupted his words: "Are you from the Flower Family?"

The Ren Family expert's voice dropped another notch again; he gritted his teeth and snapped: "You…"

Wu Tie produced his identity token, poured his mana into it; a spray of Blood Light shot from the token, a huge "War" character emerged from the red light, and a grim battlefield killing aura burst forth.

"Divine Martial Army Eighth-Grade Colonel, Huo Xiong." Wu Tie said coldly: "Here to suppress bandits and pacify the locality."

"Suppress bandits and pacify the locality……"

Wu Tie spoke with righteous solemnity; the Ren Family experts' faces twitched one after another, and for a long while none could utter a word.

"Suppress bandits and pacify the locality"—such matters are normally handled by the provincial, municipal, or city lord's garrison troops, provincial troops, or city defense militia. The Divine Martial Army is a standing main force directly under the Great Jin Divine State's Ministry of War, chiefly tasked with besieging cities and seizing territory on the Three Kingdoms battlefield to vie for interests for the Great Jin Divine State.

"Pacifying the locality" is something that has nothing to do with your Divine Martial Army's duties.

"The Divine Martial Army, it seems…" the Fetal Storage Realm expert who had just begun to scold stammered: "It seems, this pacifying the locality…"

Wu Tie sighed: "This matter originally had nothing to do with my Divine Martial Army, but I heard that a gang of vicious evildoers plans to slaughter wildly around Flower Insect City, committing heinous atrocities… I, the General, am on leave; this matter has nothing to do with me…"

Looking earnestly at that Fetal Storage Realm expert, Wu Tie said in a deep voice: "This General holds his native land close to heart and cannot bear to see his fellow townsfolk suffer; thus, I'll endure the hardship… So I voluntarily took on this task, leaving the city to exterminate the bandits."

The Fetal Storage Realm expert's face stiffened at Wu Tie's words: "But isn't this supposed to be handled by the Flower Insect City Lord's mansion?"

Wu Tie chuckled, looking at the other party: "But City Lord Si Ma Quan is already dead… there's no new city lord yet, right? I don't care—whoever's in charge, handle it."

The Ren Family retainers fell silent, their faces grim as they glared hatefully at Wu Tie.

Wu Tie chuckled while playing with his token in hand, staring fixedly at them.

The atmosphere between the two sides grew strangely eerie; a faint killing intent stirred in the woods, nearby birds and beasts fled at once, and even the insects in the grass fell silent.

"I, Divine Martial Army Eighth-Grade Colonel Huo Xiong, suspect that bandits are hiding in your camp… therefore I must enter to search it." Wu Tie finally laid bare his purpose.

Rather than trailing behind the Flower and Ren families' large entourages, watching them dig holes all day, it would be better to go straight in and charge straight to their faces.

Wu Tie simply didn't believe they would remain indifferent to a Divine Martial Army officer standing right before them.

As soon as they made a move, they would inevitably expose their whereabouts.

In other words, Wu Tie made himself the bait; as soon as a fish dares to bite, he gains a direction to pursue, and with that direction, whether Flower or Ren family, before the vast Great Jin Divine State, they can only kneel and beg for mercy.

Wu Tie couldn't be bothered to waste time in the mountains and forests; he chose to go straight in and break the situation with force.

Even if the risk were a little greater, Wu Tie felt it was worth a try… at least he had confidence in escaping before a Fetal Storage Realm expert.

The Fetal Storage Realm expert opposite turned extremely odd‑colored: "This seems… inappropriate… whether Flower or Ren family, our troupe consists of elders from the clans, all trustworthy persons."

"You're a Ren Family member—what right do you have to vouch for a Flower Family person?" Wu Tie laughed, bright as a flower, pointing at the other and chuckling: "This brother, you're not being honest… sly and sly… I see you, you're highly suspect; I see you, you're nothing but a traitor and bandit…"

"You!" the other shouted, eyes twitching, pointing at Wu Tie, his face flushing crimson.

The dozen or so Ren Family guards behind him glared ill‑naturedly at Wu Tie; some lowered their hands, and a sharp qi rose faintly within their sleeves.

A tearing‑through‑the‑air sound came from the distant woods.

Several Chonglou Realm Divine Martial Army officers, leading twenty‑odd Divine Martial Army soldiers, piloted a tiny decked barge no longer than ten zhang, speeding toward this spot.

Behind this small barge were a few slower floating airships carrying the five hundred city‑defense militiamen Wu Tie had brought out of the city, dragged down a hundred‑odd li, likewise rushing toward this place.

Wu Tie laughed.

The Ren Family guards' faces changed.

If before, they still dared to launch a surprise strike and behead "Huo Xiong" on the spot…

With the arrival of these five hundred eighty Divine Martial Army and city‑defense militiamen, the chance of a sudden uprising became vanishingly slim.

Killing five hundred city‑defense militiamen, the matter could still be suppressed.

Killing eighty Divine Martial Army soldiers would likely alarm the Divine Martial Army office of Nine Mountains Prefecture, prompting them to dispatch large forces for revenge.

"Colonel Huo Xiong… you've got guts! Really, you've got guts!" the Fetal Storage Realm expert opposite laughed coldly.