Chapter 516: Extracting the Last Drop of Positive Energy
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
A disciple of Spirit Sword Sect went missing in the ghost weeping forest… This was a common occurrence for a management trainee program fraught with risks and variables—the sect even reserved one-tenth death quota when drafting the plan, which was simply an excessive enthusiasm dripped with blood. However, both Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang intuitively had a hunch that things were not that simple.
For them, intuition had always been an important reference for action. Even if it was ridiculous, or even absurd, it must absolutely not be overlooked. Thus, after hearing the content of the letter from Yang Fei, the two of them frowned and began to think about the secrets that might be hidden behind the incident.
The missing Junior Brother was Wang Donghua, the core power of the golden generation, good at controlling objects. His mastery of the object management method was at the top level among the golden generation. His magical treasure, golden nucleus puppet, was infinitely wondrous, which could be rated as a live-saving weapon. How could such a person suddenly disappear in the Ghost Weeping Forest?
At the same time, Yang Fei, who was still immersed in the joy of having the two Senior Brothers awakened, did not notice that they had already shown a worried look on their face. He was still quite relaxed when he said, "Wang Donghua, that kid, always like to rely on numerous magical treasures to go to dangerous places to court disaster. Previously in the experiential learning at Clear Sky Peak, he had often been restless. Again and again, he fell into a trap and had to be rescued by the Elders. Unexpectedly, in this Savage Land, he still hasn't changed his bad habit. I remember that the Ghost Weeping Forest is the medium-term goal of Senior Brother Liu Xian. However, they haven't even built their first base, yet he had already run to the Ghost Weeping Forest alone, he really…"
Before he could continue, he was slapped on the back of his head by Cai Xia. "Can you stop? Our Junior Brother is in trouble yet you're taking pleasure in other people's misfortune!"
Being slapped on the back of the head, Yang Fei shrank his head but still somewhat indignantly mumbled, "What do you expect to happen? This is not the first time that kid Donghua did such a thing. Before the departure, the Elders have helped him advance his magical treasure golden nucleus puppet, which could save his life in the worst situation. At this time, he is most likely lost somewhere on the road, so when the time comes, everybody would just search together for him and that's that."
Cai Xia coldly said, "Okay, then why don't you take the lead in saving people, are you trying to paddle water here?"
"Hey, I'm now the person in charge of this Blessed Fountain base. If you let me leave the post and take the lead to go to the ghost forest to save people, then is this base still necessary?"
Cai Xia gleefully taunted, "Staying here, you, this person in charge, will also cause trouble. During this time, wasn't it me who took care of the two Senior Brothers and operated the base? Ever since the dragon is executed, you have never played any role. When something happened, you can only shout and quarrel, and then with red eyes, you want to run to the desert to take revenge for Senior Brother."
"Hey, what do you mean by red eyes?" Being exposed by Cai Xia, Yang Fei's cheeks seemed to burn. "You can't just speak without thinking!"
With wooden expression, Cai Xia fished out an image recorder crystal from her mustard seed bag. "Huh, I knew you will not acknowledge it…"
"Hey!"
Yang Fei had always tolerated Cai Xia, but at this time, he was goaded that he somewhat couldn't hold himself. He snatched the crystal and said, "Don't go too far!"
Cai Xia still wanted to continue but someone finally couldn't stand it and exclaim, "If you two want to flirt with each other, pay attention to the situation! The two Senior Brothers have just woken up so they still need to rest!"
At this time, Cai Xia's cheeks also turned hot. "H-He and I are not…"
Seeing that the topic still hadn't come back, Ouyang Shang who had just regained consciousness sighed. "Ghost Weeping Forest is it? Very well, I'm going to get ready to go there."
As soon as his voice fell, the room turned deadly silent. The disciples of Spirit Sword Sect who gathered around the bed were stunned, unable to utter a single word, as if there were thousands of words that got stuck in their throat.
As the Big Brother, Ouyang Shang had always been conscientious with all his heart, always looking after his Junior Brothers and Sisters. However, right now he was seriously injured, yet he wanted to rush to save people. This was too much...
"Senior Brother, stop joking, will you? Your primordial spirit has just returned after being separated from your body for too long. So you need at least three to five days of rest to recover yourself, how could you risk your life in Ghost Weeping Forest?"
"Yes, Senior Brother, if you are worried about it, we will send several people to go there to help. In any case, the base here at Blessed Fountain is already up and running, so it doesn't need too many to guard it."
However, Ouyang Shang shook his head. "Things are not that simple, I'm afraid I have to come forward."
But, just when he finished talking, someone patted his shoulder. When he turned around, he saw Wang Lu, with a serious face, shaking his head.
Ouyang Shang was surprised. He did not expect that Wang Lu would have an opposite opinion than him. After thinking about it for a moment, he beckoned his hand to signal his Junior Brothers and Sisters to leave.
Yang Fei and the others were also stunned, but over the years, their habit of listening to their Big Brother kept them from pestering him. They just quietly left, leaving only two seriously ill people in the room.
Ouyang Shang was silent for a long time before he asked, "Do you think what happened to Junior Brother Donghua… Is related to that thing?"
The so-called that thing naturally referred to the tragedy that caused the Spirit Sword Sect to be almost completely annihilated in Wang Lu's timeline.
Wang Lu said, "After I traveled back through time, I have participated in so many things, so the history line has long been disturbed. Therefore, I can't decide whether there's any connection or not. However, you should also feel it too that this is not as simple as a certain Junior Brother courting disaster and getting himself lost in a dangerous place."
Ouyang Shang said, "Yes, it's a bit too much coincidence here. He happened to get stuck at this time, as if it's deliberately not allowing us to return to the mountain."
For Ouyang Shang, after dealing with the desert demons, the most important thing to do was to return to the mountain to report to the Elders. He didn't say it before because the truth was still completely hidden in the fog, and rash action could be counterproductive. But now that the enemy had become clear, there was no need to tangle with unknown threats.
The opponent was the last demon king, moreover, he was not like those peace-loving desert demons that had been fully domesticated by Fenrir. The last demon king was tyrannical, ambitious, and ruthless. If left unchecked, it would be a great threat to the entire Nine Regions. And such a powerful opponent had far exceeded the limit that the golden generation could handle.
This was a strong enemy that must be dealt with by the Elders of Spirit Sword Sect together with the other top-level powers of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals.
At this moment, the unknown threat had been fully exposed so there was no need to let the Elders shun outside help and repeat the history. Moreover, there were enough pieces of evidence at the desert oasis that there was no need for Wang Lu's time traveler identity to be revealed to win trust. At this time, the best course of action was to request help from the Elders of Spirit Sword Sect.
Unfortunately, in the Savage Land, common communication spells could not work at all. Letter correspondence through the altar was the limit, and this was confined within the Savage Land. It was almost impossible to send information to the outside. Therefore, if they wanted to explain the situation to the sect, they must personally send the message.
Then, just as he was awakened, he heard the news that his Junior Brother had been missing in the Ghose Weeping Forest—Ghost Weeping Forest was not far from the desert, so it was not possible not to associate the two.
Ouyang Shang said, "Logically speaking, he should not have the opportunity to free himself in a short time."
Wang Lu said, "Perhaps he doesn't, but he still has his men. The desert tribe might not be his only chess piece. Fenrir only said that this Savage Land doesn't have creatures that are too strong. But by her standard, I'm afraid the Elders of Heavenly Sword Hall are not strong. And that demon king had been operating in the Savage Land for some time before he was sneak attacked by Fenrir."
Ouyang Shang nodded. "So it is possible that this is the doing of the demon race. Wang Donghua is a hostage in their hands, and what they want is…"
Wang Lu said, "They want you to immediately save him, to prevent you to go back to the mountain to report, thus exposing their existence too quickly. At the same time, if it goes well, they can also catch a more powerful hostage. So, the rational choice is to ignore the other party's threat but just do the thing that you should do."
Ouyang Shang said, "You mean you want me to give up my Junior Brother?"
"I'm asking you to make a more rational choice."
"More rational choice, meaning more cold-blooded?"
"Well, I didn't expect you to be so idealistic… Let's just say that everything that we just discussed is based on vague speculation. Maybe Wang Donghua really just loses direction. Perhaps at this time, Junior Brother Liu Xian had already found him and, while scolding him for being reckless, Liu Xian also wrote a letter to Blessed Fountain that say they're all safe and sound, and that it was all just a false alarm."
Ouyang Shang said, "It's also possible that Junior Brother Wang Donghua has fallen into the control of demon race, and that even the whole team members of Junior Brother Liu Xian are exposed to the risk. At this time, if we make even a little bit of mistake…"
Wang Lu said, "If there's a bit of mistake, then there will be more people exposed to risk."
Ouyang Shang and Wang Lu looked at each other for a long time, not yielding for the other side.
And just at this time, the door was pushed open and Yang Fei, who previously had a relaxed face, now walked in with a gloomy face. In his hand, he was holding a letter that contained an image put on by a spell.
The letter was written personally by Liu Xian, and the spell was also laid by him. The image on the letter was very simple and crude.
It was an image of a bloody arm, quietly lying on a white rock. Blood slowly flowed from the spot where the arm was broken off.
Yang Fei said with difficulty. "Liu Xian said that it's Wang Donghua's arm… Obviously, it's done by someone, because there was a letter in that hand, and there's a word written with Junior Brother Donghua's blood on it."
With that, Yang Fei flipped the letter to the next page, and the image changed with it. It was a straight but rather jerky human word: Come.
Both Ouyang Shang and Wang Lu sucked in a mouthful of cold air.
At this point, their originally vagued speculation had undoubtedly been confirmed.
It was indeed the work of the demon race. Moreover, the opposite party had issued a naked threat.
"Big Brother, what are we going to do now?"
Ouyang Shang got up straight from the bed. "Assemble the team, we're going out."
And then he turned his head and looked at Wang Lu.
Wang Lu took a deep breath. At this time, he had to think hard and weigh all the gains and losses that might come next. Ouyang Shang seemed so determined. Even fully aware that this was a dead end, he still bravely advanced forward. Then...
Should he go with him to save people at the risk of his own life? Or… Should he give up on him? Forsaking the rare talent that had never been seen since the creation of Spirit Sword Sect?
... As a professional adventurer, Wang Lu was very clear about the importance of being decisive. It was just that, when it was really the time to make a decision, it was actually not that easy.
And just at this time, another person said.
"Senior Brother, I'll go with you."
With that, Wang Lu incredulously looked at Wang Wu who had just entered the room.
Hey, where's that pure and innocent young girl whose cheeks could turn red just by talking with another person? How could you suddenly become so proactive? Master oh Master, is your oestrus period too irregular?