Chapter 82: An Unexpected Situation

So many, many people?!

Feng Zi knew that, in some of her descriptions, Qinglin still had considerable room for improvement.

But when he heard this statement, he felt his heart skip a beat, and hurriedly asked: "What exactly is the situation?"

"Mm, let me take a look…" Qinglin closed her eyes tightly, her brow slightly furrowed:

"There are a lot of ordinary people, and the Qi and Blood fluctuations of several dozen Martial Artists.

"Besides that, there are the auras of twenty or thirty Martial Masters, and five or six auras of the Transformation Realm—"

"Ah, there are also several very strange auras. They don't have Qi and Blood fluctuations, but I always feel their strength should be on par with the Transformation Realm."

Through Feng Zi's persistent teaching, the current Qinglin was already able to give relatively accurate descriptions.

Hearing these words, Feng Zi and Lu Zhiruo instinctively exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with astonishment.

Feng Zi reacted a step ahead, hurriedly taking out the atlas he carried on him from his bosom: Read novels daily -> ttk. tw

"Based on the pace of the three of us, this place should be the outskirts of Yangquan City. Walking another twenty or thirty li, we'll reach the foot of Yangquan City's walls.

"Why aren't these people entering the city, and instead clustering together at such a distance?"

"Something's off!" Before Feng Zi could ask further, Lu Zhiruo immediately spoke up:

"As far as I know, Yangquan City has no more than thirty Martial Masters, and only eight in the Transformation Realm!"

Hearing these words, Feng Zi's mind had already begun to work, instinctively analyzing:

"It's now the end of the year. When spring comes next year, the triennial Martial School will be held. Most Martial Artists from the northern part of Baishan Jun travel south along this road.

"Moreover, north of Baishan City, Yangquan City is the only major city, so many merchant caravans must stop here to rest and trade.

"Setting aside the Martial Artists participating in the Martial School, and the guards hired by the caravans…"

Things had already been said to this point, and Feng Zi and Lu Zhiruo said in unison:

"Nearly half of Yangquan City's high-end combat power is gathered here!"

Thinking of this, Feng Zi hurriedly looked to his side and said to Qinglin, who was watching him with a blank expression:

"Yueyu, please go to some trouble and scout outward a bit more. See exactly what's forcing these Martial Artists to gather here."

"No problem." Hearing this, Qinglin agreed at once, and closed her eyes once more.

Lu Zhiruo saw it all, and of course understood that such an exaggerated ability—let alone a Martial Master, even a Transformation Realm expert could not possibly possess—

After these days of being together, Lu Zhiruo had already understood that Feng Zi and Qinglin clearly had a secret belonging to them, and the two had tacitly chosen to keep it from her.

Although she was a little hurt at being left out, she also understood:

Everyone has their own secrets. As long as those secrets wouldn't endanger herself, it was wiser to choose not to dig deeper.

After a short while, Qinglin said with some puzzlement: "There are many fierce beasts."

"Fierce beasts?" Hearing this information, Feng Zi instinctively repeated it, his heart filled with doubt.

Qinglin nodded slightly and said carefully: "There are also several wild beasts with especially vigorous Qi and Blood. They feel very similar to the 'Spirit Monsters' Feng Zi has hunted before.

"Let me count… there should be around ten of them."

Around ten Spirit Monsters? Hearing this information, Feng Zi's heart grew even more puzzled.

Instead, Lu Zhiruo seemed to think of something and pressed: "Around ten Spirit Monsters? Are they fighting each other?"

"Nope, they're getting along very harmoniously." Qinglin answered without hesitation.

Having said that, she opened her eyes, tilted her head, and looked at Feng Zi: "Feng Zi, Feng Zi, should I keep scouting outward?"

To this, Feng Zi just smiled and shook his head, gently patting Qinglin's head:

"No need. Continuing to expand the scouting range would be too taxing on the mind. You've already done well enough. Thank you for your hard work—I'll give you extra food tonight."

The so-called "extra food" meant cutting off a section of Blood Vine for Qinglin—

For the current Feng Zi, the Blood Vine no longer had any particularly significant effect on enhancing his own strength.

Since that was the case, he might as well slowly feed it to Qinglin, to let her recover as soon as possible.

Hearing Feng Zi's encouragement, Qinglin contentedly closed her eyes and instinctively nuzzled his palm.

Then, Feng Zi looked at Lu Zhiruo, whose face had already turned very grim: "From the look on your face… you've already figured something out, haven't you?"

After a long silence, Lu Zhiruo could not help but sigh and said helplessly:

"I would rather hope my guess is wrong, but Yueyu's account is so accurate that I can't think of a second possibility…

"Nine times out of ten, Yangquan City has encountered a 'Beast Tide'!"

"Beast Tide?" Hearing this unfamiliar term, Feng Zi instinctively pressed.

Lu Zhiruo shook her head bitterly and explained: "There's one thing you might not know, and that is that Spirit Monsters possessing the Origin of Qi and Blood cannot coexist—

"Because they instinctively crave to devour more Qi and Blood, when different Spirit Monsters encounter each other, they will definitely fight to the death!"

Feng Zi certainly believed the information the other party gave, but this clearly conflicted with what Qinglin had detected: "But those ten or so Spirit Monsters weren't fighting each other."

"There's only one possibility…" Lu Zhiruo answered bitterly:

"These Spirit Monsters have encountered an even more powerful existence. Their fighting instinct has been suppressed by their survival instinct, and that kind of existence is a 'Demon'!"

Hearing this word, a rare ripple of emotion appeared on Qinglin's face, and she hurriedly asked: "Demon… what is it?"

Although Lu Zhiruo didn't understand why she had suddenly become agitated, she answered frankly:

"When a fierce beast becomes a Spirit Monster, driven by the Origin of Qi and Blood within its body, it will continuously devour more Qi and Blood.

"Because of this, a Spirit Monster's strength will grow increasingly powerful, ultimately even possessing strength comparable to the Peak Transformation Realm.

"Many Spirit Monsters stop at this point, but there are also extraordinarily fortunate Spirit Monsters who, due to various once-in-a-century circumstances, undergo a transformation and become a Demon!

"Compared to Spirit Monsters, a Demon possesses even greater strength, and also possesses an intelligence no less than that of a human."

Hearing this, Feng Zi had already seen the light: "Once it possesses intelligence, a Demon will definitely choose a more efficient and safe way to harvest Qi and Blood—gathering in groups!"

"Yes, this is how a Beast Tide takes shape…" Lu Zhiruo sighed helplessly:

"After all, rather than going to great lengths to hunt everywhere, it's better to directly deal with Martial Artists, who likewise possess surging Qi and Blood Power."

"And this should be the truth of what the Moon Fish saw — many fierce beasts and Spirit Monsters gathering together."

The situation was very tricky — around ten Spirit Monsters blocking the road, with a Demon behind them whose strength was no less than a Grandmaster's.

But Feng Zi never liked to complain, only to think about solving problems: "Facing a Beast Tide, do we have the option to evade it?"

At this question, Lu Zhiruo could only shake her head helplessly: "The scale of a Beast Tide is hard to gauge; it's really not easy to evade."

Since that was the case, there was only one answer.

Feng Zi thought so, slowly stood up, turned, and walked south:

"Since we can't evade it, then we can only crush this trouble head-on. Let's go lend a hand too — strive to resolve the Beast Tide early and continue south!"