Chapter 440 – The Killing Hunt Begins
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After the big fellow spoke, the man surnamed Zhou said to Lin Ming, “This person isn’t lying, they really are one of the top squads within the Wartime Alliance. It’s a good idea to join them.”
Lin Ming hesitated for a moment, not immediately answering.
The big fellow saw Lin Ming’s concern and said, “Come to my team lounge and have a look first. If you want, you can directly join in. But let’s get the ugly talk out of the way first. We can help you out at the start, but don’t think that you’ll be able to always count on help from other members. If after several operations you still cannot adapt to life or death battles, don’t blame anyone when you are kicked from the squad. Our squad will not support people that drag us down. Otherwise, when we are putting our lives on the line, it’s possible that a single person’s mistake could cause the entire team to suffer.”
“Of course.” Lin Ming calmly answered, “I want to ask this Senior-apprentice Brother, how are the squad’s intelligence channels?”
“On both sides of this war, intelligence is the single most important factor. All top squads will enjoy intelligence as soon as it is found. Not only that, but we also have a very formidable member who has skilled perception and is responsible for investigating and gathering intelligence.”
“I understood. I’ll join your squad. I’ll have to ask this Senior-apprentice Brother to look after me.”
“Oh?” The big fellow looked at Lin Ming with surprise; it seemed as if this boy really cared about intelligence? But this wasn’t too weird. He directly said, “I’ll take you over to see the rest of the members.
As the big fellow spoke he laid down his pot of wine and brought Lin Ming through the tavern. After they passed through several corridors, they finally entered into a courtyard. The courtyard wasn’t too big, but it had a very elegant interior.
In the small courtyard, there was a purple-clothed woman sitting in meditation. A purple mass of air circled around her with faint hints of electricity sparkling within it. She was clearly a thunder-attribute martial artist.
The woman’s face was like a peach and she had a slim figure and a refined appearance. As Lin Ming arrived, she opened up her beautiful eyes to look at him, nodded, and then continued to meditate.
Besides the woman, there were two youths playing chess not too far away. These were actually a pair of twins, and their cultivation was at the peak Houtian realm.
“Hey, it’s a new squad member.” As the twins saw the big fellow walk over with Lin Ming, they laid down their chess pieces and greeted them.
“Mm, introduce yourself.” The bearded big fellow said to Lin Ming.
“Wild Halberd, late Houtian realm, 101,000 points at the Ten Thousand Killing Array test, first class soldier.”
“101,000 points? That’s great! Haha, you will have a bright future here. My name is Green Tree and this is my little brother Green Forest.”
Green Tree, Green Forest, these were also nicknames that they had chosen before. Lin Ming could feel light wood-attribute origin energy fluctuations coming from these twins; they were most likely wood-attribute martial artists. If these sorts of martial artists also had some sort of special technique, they could be very skilled at healing others. These were very popular teammates to have on a battlefield. With a martial artist that excelled at healing others around, the chances of surviving would be much higher.
“This is our vice-captain. You can call her Violet Rain.” Green Tree pointed at the purple-clothed woman. Her cultivation was at the peak of the early Xiantian realm.
“Senior-apprentice Sister Violet Rain.” Lin Ming greeted.
Violet Rain faintly smiled, she had a very calm reaction.
“Our squad name is the Fire Ax Squad, and Fire Ax is also the name of our squad captain. We belong under the third squadron of the Wartime Alliance. Wild Halberd, you will be this squad’s ninth member. We’ll be going to the battlefield a few days from now. Wild Halberd, don’t let me down!” The bearded big fellow stretched out his limbs as he spoke with a grin.
Lin Ming smiled, “I’ll try my best.”
“Haha, don’t be too nervous!” The big fellow patted Lin Ming’s shoulder. “That’s right, Wild Halberd, what attribute are you?”
Lin Ming hesitated for a moment then said, “Thunder.”
A Thunder-fire dual-attribute physique was extremely rare. Naturally, Lin Ming couldn’t expose information like this, so he chose to say that he was a thunder-attribute martial artist. If he said that he was a fire-attribute martial artist, he would inevitably need to use martial skills like Phoenix Wings Ascending Sky or 10,000 Flames Burning World. These were all martial skills that belonged to the ‘Vermillion Bird Forbidden Divine Chronicle’. It would be very easy for others to associate him with Divine Phoenix Island, thus Lin Ming simply chose to say thunder.
Although there were only a few thunder-attribute martial artists in Divine Phoenix Province, there were many of them within the Five Element Region as well as the Supreme Mystery Temple. It wouldn’t draw anyone’s attention even if he used a Thunder Soul.
“Thunder? That’s the same attribute as Violet Rain. You can ask her for some tips later. Violet Rain is from the Violet Profound Sect within the Supreme Mystery Province, so her thunder-attribute cultivation method is good!”
The Supreme Mystery Province that the bearded big fellow spoke of was a land under the jurisdiction of Supreme Mystery Temple, one of the three great fourth-grade sects of the South Horizon Region. The South Horizon Region’s three fourth-grade sects were Divine Phoenix Island, Supreme Mystery Temple, as well as the Dire Space Sect.
Divine Phoenix Island once had 19 third-grade sects under it. But after the entire Moon Seizing Sect was destroyed, there were only 18 left.
Supreme Mystery Temple also had third-grade sects under their control. The Violet Profound Sect was naturally one of these.
Violet Rain calmly said, “If you have any questions on thunder-attribute techniques or control, then feel free to discuss them with me.”
Lin Ming gave a cursory nod.
“Alright, well, you can go to your room for now. A few days later we’ll be going to the battlefield. During this free time, make sure to raise yourself to your best condition.” The bearded big fellow threw Lin Ming a small badge with a room number written on it.
Lin Ming glanced down at his room number. He had been assigned room ‘9’.
“Thank you… that’s right, can you lend me a map of the enemy’s forces and how they’re distributed?” The reason that Lin Ming had joined this squad was to a large extent because of the information they could offer.
The South Aurora Island region was simply too great. It was thousands of miles in diameter, and it would be extremely difficult to determine where the South Sea Demon Region’s forces were located. If Lin Ming tried to search, he would be like a headless fly that searched everywhere for enemies to slay. Not only would it be extremely inefficient, but it would be extremely dangerous.
“A map of the enemy forces?” The bearded big fellow was puzzled for a moment but readily said, “Okay. Green Forest, take out a jade slip copy of the enemy force’s locations.”
All of the military intelligence information as engraved into a jade slip. Of course, this information always lagged a bit behind reality and there would be some discrepancies.
Lin Ming received the jade slip and immersed his sense into it. He discovered that there was a massive map within the jade slip, and on this map were many red and blue dots of different sizes.
“What are these dots?” Lin Ming asked.
“Those are the forces of the South Sea Demon Region and also our own. If you immerse your sense further you can obtain greater information”
Lin Ming did, and found that the information contained within was astonishingly detailed. There was a list of every base along with a description of their corresponding strength. This included information on masters as well as the possible size of the team. There was also information on array formations and just what sort and how strong those array formations were.
As Lin Ming carefully looked through the jade slip, his eyes lit up. This was it!
The third position, a squad with a middle Xiantian realm master leading it. It was a sentry point at the southernmost tip of South Aurora Island’s true essence stone vein deposit… Lin Ming slowly locked his attention onto this small red point within the jade slip’s map.
“I have absolute confidence that I’ll be able to defeat a middle Xiantian master. Since it’s my first time on the battlefield, I’ll start with a middle Xiantian enemy and familiarize myself with the process. Once I have more experienced, I’ll start to go against the extreme Xiantian masters…”
Against a extreme Xiantian master, Lin Ming was a bit worried.
Ouyang Shenxiu was an extreme Xiantian master, but the truth was that his strength could only be considered very mediocre within those of his level. If Lin Ming were to meet an extreme Xiantian master who was a core disciple of a large sect, he would completely lack assurance in defeating him.
If he had bad luck and somehow met an extreme Xiantian top level powerhouse like Mu Qianyu, he might have to use his Escape Symbol.
Thus, he first chose a middle Xiantian master as his goal in order to ensure success.
A martial artist’s strength also had multiple areas in which it could grow besides cultivation. The longer they lagged behind, the greater the gap would be.
Lin Ming decided he would begin tonight. The bearded big fellow had said that the official battle would start several days from now, but Lin Ming couldn’t be bothered to wait so long.
The reason he came to the South Sea battlefield was to slaughter all his enemies.
When practicing the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’, the more powerhouses he killed and the stronger they were, they greater the might of the ‘Great Desolate Halberd Art’.
As Lin Ming memorized the information on the jade slip, he returned to his room by himself and prepared to begin his brief trip…
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At night, the bright moon shined in the inky sky.
At the very southern end of the true essence stone vein deposit, there was a very remote and small town.
The small town was surrounded by a simple wooden fence and most of the houses were in ruins. These were the remains left behind after the South Sea Demon Region invaded and the refugees fled.
Because the martial artists of the South Sea Demon Region had bloodline origins related to the Giant Demon race, they didn’t see themselves as the same as humans. Once the war began, it also became a war between races. In a battle, it was common for everything to be exterminated – not even a common mortal would be spared.
This war in the South Sea was a woeful calamity upon every resident of the South Sea’s islands.
Divine Phoenix Island had assigned many ships to transport refugees away from the warzone. However, the distance that separated the South Sea islands was simply too great, and even riding ships was very dangerous. If one encountered vicious sea beasts or turbulent weather, it was a common matter to simply be swallowed into the endless waters.
In this war, the civilian casualties were incalculable.
Under the ash blue sky, a shadow passed through like a ghost, gently landing on a large tree. This shadow was Lin Ming.
Lin Ming had extremely keen eyesight. By borrowing the moonlight, he was able to clearly see that on a hillside around 10 miles away, there was a pitch black cave.
This was a base of the South Sea Demon Region martial artists. Normally, the martial artists of the Divine Phoenix Province would set up a tent, or if they were staying longer, they would construct a simple cabin.
But the South Sea Demon Region martial artists liked to live in caves.
“The data showed that this group of South Sea Demon Region martial artists were spotted here around seven days ago. Since there’s also a giant true essence stone vein to be mined here, they shouldn’t have left so soon.”
As Lin Ming neared the cave, he slowed down. Soon after, at the entrance of the cave he saw two large vicious beasts that looked like wolves. These wolves were over 10 feet long and patrolled back and forth. Their sullen emerald eyes were like two lanterns in the dark, and their crimson tongues drooped under their sharp fangs. Saliva trickled down their jaws, and every once in awhile they would issue whining sounds.
This was a vicious beast that the South Sea Demon Region commonly used for security purposes. They had extremely sensitive senses of smell and hearing. If Lin Ming hadn’t been using the concealment techniques that Bi Luo had left behind, it would have been very easy for these two animals to discover him.
“If these wolves are there, then the info should still be right. It looks like my trip isn’t in vain after all.” The corners of Lin Ming’s lips curved up in a smile.