Chapter 323 – Uninvited Guest
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That night when Lin Ming went out, all of the soldiers who saw him would spontaneously stop and salute in respect.
Military men respected the strong. Because of Lin Ming’s actions during the battle earlier, their damages had been greatly reduced.
“Young Hero Lin!”
A man wearing a wolf pelt walked up, a happy smile on his face. This man was the Salt Clan’s Clan Leader, Shi Linkai.
“Clan Leader Shi.” Lin Ming had a favorable impression of this man. During the assault of the Corrupt Wolves, this man had followed closely behind him, fighting boldly and bravely. Except for Lin Ming himself, Shi Linkai had killed the most.
“Young Hero Lin is too kind, it’s fine if you call me Old Shi.”
“What are the casualties in the army like?” Lin Ming was very concerned about the current state of the army. Without an army, it was impossible to block the beast tide; it was impossible for Lin Ming alone to stop a giant flood of vicious beasts no matter how strong he was. If they passed him, the beasts would be able to dash into Green Mulberry City. Green Mulberry City had 50 feet high city walls, but a high level vicious beast would be able to scale them in just a few hops.
Once that happened, it was useless no matter how may Lin Ming killed.
“We’ve lost more than 50 javelin throwers and archers, 300 long spear soldiers, 400 tower shield soldiers, and there are also many that are severely wounded and unable to fight. Altogether we’ve lost around 10% of our fighting force. There are also several brothers of my Salt Clan who have perished…”
As Shi Linkai spoke, he heard the screeching sound of a Heavenly Wind Eagle above the army camp. It was much more resounding and clear than a normal Heavenly Wind Eagle.
“Mm? Reinforcements?”
This was the first thought that popped into Lin Ming’s mind, but he immediately dismissed it. It had only been a day since he had been at the transmission relay station and sent news, it was impossible for reinforcements to arrive so quickly.
As soon as the two left the camp to see, they saw a giant Heavenly Wind Eagle that was four or five times larger than normal. Its wings shined like they were carved from gold.
Lin Ming had seen this sort of golden-winged Heavenly Wind Eagle Before. It was a mount that the Peacock Mountain messenger had ridden. It had the bloodline of a Saint Beast, was exceedingly fast, and it could carry 10 times more than a normal Heavenly Wind Eagle.
Those who could ride this sort of golden-winged Heavenly Wind Eagle most likely came from a sect.
As the giant eagle swooped down, a buffet of wind directly blew away several army tents. The soldiers inside were also blown away, and landed on the ground with multiple bruises.
“F*ck! Who dares to be so arrogant!?” Shi Linkai was a straightforward man who was honest with his emotions. He thought that this was reinforcements, but now this person had not only come to their army camp without saying anything, but had also overturned many tents, injuring their soldiers. This grated on his nerves and caused his anger to rise.
“Junior-apprentice Sister, we’ve finally found an inhabited land. It’s really been hard for you these past four or five days. The savages that live in the Southern Wilderness are truly barbarians, there isn’t even a place to bathe.”
Atop the Heavenly Wind Eagle, a yellow-clothed youth around 25 or 26 with a sword on his back was speaking to a 18 or 19 year old girl.
As Lin Ming saw this yellow-clothed youth, he was stunned for a moment. This youth’s cultivation was already at the early Houtian realm. An early Houtian martial artist from a sect could still be considered somewhat skillful. Not only that, but he had broken through to the Houtian realm at a relatively young age. He should be at least a top inner court disciple, or maybe even a core disciple.
The girl that he had addressed as Junior-apprentice Sister was wearing an all-white dress. There was a faint crescent moon symbol embroidered on her dress, and she had the appearance of a beautiful and delicate woman.
Her eyes were expressionless as she scanned around where she had landed, silent. She didn’t seem to have any desire to speak.
“Junior-apprentice Sister, the beast tide is everywhere now. We have no place to stay currently, so let’s temporarily live here.”
“Mm…” The girl reluctantly said, then fell back into silence.
The yellow-clothed youth was delighted, he had finally persuaded his Junior-apprentice Sister. As long as he was able to live here for a while and catch his breath, he would be able to realize his wishes.
Before the yellow-clothed youth could say anything, an angry voice suddenly interrupted him. “Who the hell are you? You dare to rush into our army compound and injure our soldiers! And you still have the nerve to speak so casually in front of everyone! Where do think this is? Your home toilet? Come on!”
Shi Linkai was outraged; this yellow-clothed youth was simply pompous, like an arrogant young master.
With the sounds of weapons ringing, soldiers from all around drew their weapons. Dozens of arrows were readied, pulled to the limit, the cold, metal-tipped arrows pointed straight towards the yellow-clothed youth. Several of the Salt Clan brothers also circled the yellow-clothed youth, all of them angry. If Shi Linkai hadn’t waved them back, a fight would probably have broken out.
Although Shi Linkai was angry, he hadn’t lost his rationality. He wasn’t dumb; he had seen enough of the world to know that a golden-winged Heavenly Wind Eagle was extraordinary, and if this flying beast was able to create gusts of strong heavenly wind that could blow away several tents, then it probably came from a large sect.
It was most likely that this boy and girl also came from a large sect. These kinds of people were existences that Green Mulberry City could not afford to anger unless Lin Ming intervened. But as it stood, this was extremely troublesome for Lin Ming. After all, the other man’s cultivation was at the early Houtian realm.
For a while, the atmosphere was tense. The white-clothed girl in the center still had an expressionless face, completely ignoring all the weapons that were pointed towards her.
The yellow-clothed youth gave cold humph, and shot a glare at the soldiers around him. His eyes were full of disdain; in his opinion, these people were nothing more than peasants.
“Who is your commanding officer? Bring him to me. You lot are unqualified to speak to me.” The yellow-clothed youth didn’t even bother with Shi Linkai. Shi Linkai’s entire appearance indicated that he was someone from Jianghu, it was impossible for him to be a general.
“Who do you think you are?” Seeing that this yellow-clothed youth didn’t even place him in his eyes, Shi Linkai was incredibly angry. He wished he could just take out his saber and chop these two in half.
At this point, Green Mulberry City’s City Lord Zhao Yanming made his way out of the crowd. His expression was dark as he said, “I am Green Mulberry City’s City Lord, is there a matter I can assist you with?”
The boy and girl had a cultivation of the early Houtian realm and peak Pulse Condensation period, and they also came from a large sect. After seeing Lin Ming in action, Zhan Yanming had already been made aware of just how deeply terrifying the strength of a martial artist from a sect was. Even though that young girl looked fragile, maybe even all of the Pulse Condensation period martial artists in Green Mulberry City combined together couldn’t force her to use her true strength.
At that time, this boy and girl pair would slaughter them and just fly away on their Heavenly Wind Eagle, and they would be helpless to do anything. This was a scenario that Zhao Yanming didn’t want to see.
“You are the City Lord? What’s your name?” The yellow-clothed youth shot a look at Zhao Yanming, speaking in a haughty and imperious manner.
Zhou Yanming frowned. Without looking at Lin Ming, he sent him a true essence sound transmission. “Young Hero Lin, just where are these two from?”
“I don’t know… maybe from some southern sect.” As Lin Ming glanced at the crescent moon symbols on their chest, he had a faint guess. Were they from the Moon Seizing Sect?
Moon Seizing Sect was located on the coast of the South Sea, and also bordered the Southern Wilderness along with the Seven Profound territory. It was very close to Divine Phoenix Island and the South Sea Demon Region. Their sect was relatively weak, so they had been the first to have a calamity fall upon them, and their entire sect was exterminated by the South Sea Demon Region.
Listening to their conversation, it seemed as if they had been traveling through the Southern Wilderness for several days. Moon Seizing Sect was also destroyed before the eruption of the beast tides. If these two were survivors of Moon Seizing Sect, then it would match, whether it was time or location.
“Then their strength compared to Young Hero Lin…” Zhao Yanming reasoned that Lin Ming wouldn’t be a match for these two. Lin Ming was only at the middle Pulse Condensation period, and they were all from a sect, so the difference couldn’t be that great.
But during the day, Lin Ming’s performance on the field was simply too awe-inspiring to everyone who watched. Zhao Yanming felt as if Lin Ming was nearly invincible, so that’s why he posed this question.
Lin Min didn’t reply. It was difficult to say just how strong a Houtian master from a sect was. Not only that, but the situation in Green Mulberry City was very complex, and he didn’t want to needlessly expose his true strength.
Zhao Yanming pushed down any anger and calmly said, “I am Zhao Yanming, who are you?”
“Zhao Yanming? Mm, listen up. You don’t need to know who I am. I want you people to prepare a very good mansion and have the place tidied up. Switch out all the bedding and furniture, and send out seven or eight maids that are clean to take care of my Junior-apprentice Sister’s daily living needs. My Junior-apprentice Sister is a vegetarian and loves to stay clean. Prepare a bath of spring water every day, and three meals of tender bamboo shoots and fruits. When the beast tide comes tomorrow, I’ll help you out a bit.”
As the yellow-clothed youth spoke such rampant words, Shi Linkai felt as if his lungs were about to explode from rage. He had never seen such an arrogant young man in his life before!
The truth was, Shi Linkai didn’t know that the attitude of this yellow-clothed man was the near-universal attitude which most geniuses of sects treated common mortals with. To them, the common folk were nothing more than ants. For a human to speak to an ant on equal terms in a kind and reasonable manner was naturally impossible.
As for someone like Lin Ming, he had a humble origin and a reasonable temperament. Although his status had soared into the skies, his natural disposition had never changed because of that. Moreover, he was also from Green Mulberry City, and even when seeing Lin Wanshan he would greet him like any other family junior would.
But now that a normal genius from a sect had come, this genius would not even bother to look their way – the difference in status would just be too great.
“You really think you are all that? You think we don’t have masters here? You really think we need someone like you to ‘help out a bit’!?” Shi Linkai drew out the saber and began slashing the ground, cutting apart a stone block. If he wasn’t well aware that this yellow-clothed youth was dozens of times stronger than him, he would have already started a fight.
Hearing Shi Linkai’s insults, the yellow-clothed youth frowned. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Lin Ming who was standing near Shi Linkai. As his vision fell on Lin Ming, he said, “I see. I didn’t expect there to be a little talent here. So this is your so-called master. But do you think you are worthy of that title? As long as you…”
As the yellow-clothed man spoke, his lips curved up in a smile. He lifted his hands and formed sword fingers, then slashed out twice at Lin Ming. Sharp sword energy broke through the air, cutting towards Lin Ming.
“Mm?” Lin Ming’s expression sank. There were some hidden enemies lurking in the shadows, so he didn’t want to cause any trouble. But now he had actually been rolled together into this mess.