Chapter 518: The Search
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
Seeing Wang Donghua, Shen Yiwen's heart first was happy, and then shocked.
More than a day ago, when Wang Donghua's arm was found near the Ghost Weeping Forest, Liu Xian organized a meeting to discuss about it with everyone, and most have guessed that Wang Donghua was likely to have suffered. Within their team, he was a talented cultivator whose survival ability was second to none. The golden nucleus puppet could bless him in escaping any unfavorable situation under the sky. On the other hand, if the golden nucleus puppet did not work...
At the beginning of the search and rescue, everyone had been prepared mentally that they were likely to find only the corpse of their Junior Brother Donghua. Moreover, even if he was found alive, they would have to face an opponent with unknown strength. Thus, whether they could save their Junior Brother from the opposite party's hand was still completely unknown.
Therefore, they were particularly eager for the arrival of their Big Brother… Right now, their tracking operation was nothing more than following the trail. They had no expectation that they could find Junior Brother Donghua. But now... Wang Donghua is certainly standing before his eyes.
Was this really Junior Brother Donghua? For a while, Shen Yiwei was full on alert.
However, the next moment, he put his guard down, because he heard the familiar voice of Wang Donghua.
"Oh, at last, I finally saw my loved ones."
The voice, the tone, were exactly the same as the familiar Wang Donghua! Shen Yiwei was pleasantly surprised and promptly asked, "Are you okay?"
Wang Donghua shrugged his shoulder, and then grimaced. "Senior Brother, do you think I look okay? My right arm is gone! One wife and one concubine, but only one concubine is left, do you think I'll be okay?"
Shen Yiwen simply didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. "You, this lowly guy, still can't change your defect even after going through this matter… Oh, I almost forgot, who did this to you? How did you escape?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Donghua's face slightly changed. "Are you asking… who did this to me?"
"Yes, where is he? How's his strength? Em, since you can escape without him knowing it, then he shouldn't be too strong, right? In short, you can rest assured, Big Brother and the others will soon be here. At that time, we'll definitely avenge you."
"Big Brother is coming?" Wang Donghua showed a pleasant surprised look. "That would be great! Then I don't have anything to worry... about."
With that, his body turned limp and was about to fall down. Shen Yiwen quickly rushed to help him. However, just as they were about to come into contact, Shen Yiwen's intuition once again sent him a warning, warning him of a huge danger ahead.
"Danger? What danger? Could it be…"
Unfortunately, before he could react, an ice cold touch pierced him, and then quickly spread to every corner of his body.
Shen Yiwen incredulously looked at his Junior Brother Wang Donghua in front of him, at his cold smiling face, as well as the even colder dagger on his chest.
"Junior Brother Donghua, you… You're not Junior Brother Donghua!"
Shen Yiwen finally realized what he had just encountered. He turned his head, wanting to warn the people behind him, however, the dagger in his chest pierced through his Jade Mansion and thus he had no way to send his warning through a spell.
And when he opened his mouth, he felt that his strength rapidly slipped away at an alarming rate. His whole body seemed to melt. He couldn't even say a word. A moment later, his consciousness thoroughly perished, fell into the darkness.
—
"Strange, where is Junior Brother Yiwen?"
The first person to arrive was Xie Mingxian, who was also the team's tracker after Shen Yiwen. He usually followed Shen Yiwen from behind, and used his spell to protect him in secret. Once there was an external force that interfered with Shen Yiwen's tracking, he would immediately counter it… Therefore, it could be said that Xie Mingxian was the one who followed the most closely to the whereabouts of Shen Yiwen.
However, at this time, he was surprised to find that, in just a blink of an eye, Shen Yiwen actually disappeared! Although this Ghose Weeping Forest was filled with peculiarity, it was not enough to cause a Xudan Stage cultivator to suddenly go away, right?
Filled with puzzlement, Xie Mingxian was about to go deep into the forest to explore when he heard Liu Xian scream from behind him, "Don't go!"
"But, Junior Brother Shen just…" Xie Mingxian said as he continued to move forward.
Boom!
The next moment, a sharp metallic sword fell straight in front of him, blowing up crushed rocks and dust everywhere. The aftermath sword qi was even painful for people.
Xie Mingxian was surprised. "Senior Brother, you…"
"I'm saving you. Do you want to disappear like Junior Brother Yiwen?" Liu Xian said, shaking his head with great indignation. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have let him pursue so tightly… I just thought that since Big Brother is coming soon, then all the problems could be solved. But I forgot that Big Brother repeatedly told that the closer we are to success, the more we can't relax our vigilance."
Hearing this, Xie Mingxian's heart sank. "Senior Brother, you mean Junior Brother Shen Yiwen is already…"
"Yes, moreover, this time, it happened under our nose," Liu Xian said. His eyes had turned bloodshot, as if they were on fire.
"How… How could this possible? My spell is always around Junior Brother Yiwen. If something really happened to him, I…"
In the end, Xie Mingxian could not continue his words anymore. There was no fool who liked to deceive themselves in the golden generation. The truth of the matter was simple and clear. His spell didn't work, and Shen Yiwen was taken away under his nose.
Ah, the so-called taken away was merely a wishful thinking. Just like Wang Donghua, he could only pray that they were still alive, still living as hostages in the control of the unknown enemy.
"If I catch him… I-I'll cut him to pieces!" Xie Mingxian clenched his teeth until blood dripped from the corner of his mouth. Among the disciples, he had the best relation with Shen Yiwen. The two had similar skills and could cooperate with each other. When they practice on the mountain, they were inseparable just like brothers. But now, right under his nose...
Liu Xian was similarly aggrieved and indignant, but as the team leader, he must control his own emotion.
"Mingxian, let's go back. We'll wait until Big Brother is here. Believe in Big Brother. He will definitely… definitely avenge the two Junior Brothers."
—
Ouyang Shang arrived at Ghost Weeping Forest one day later.
There were not many who came with him, only Wang Wu and Wang Lu. For a work with such a high degree of risk, there was no need to bring in many people. Even the arrival of Wang Wu had already caused a lot of criticism.
"Big Brother, it's not that I don't trust your judgment, but… wouldn't it be too risky to let Junior Sister Wang Wu participate in this? Previously, I've already experienced the death of Junior Brother Shen Yiwen, so now, I really have no confidence to protect her."
In regard to Liu Xian's doubt, Ouyang Shang merely said, "It doesn't matter, Junior Sister Wang Wu will take care of herself. Moreover, she also has the strongest bodyguard, so there's no need to worry about her."
During which, Wang Lu waved at Liu Xian and the others. "Hello everyone, I am the strongest bodyguard."
Regarding Wang Lu's background, Ouyang Shang still used the old cover: he was the product of the old man Sect Leader enjoying his life.
Considering the fact that in many aspects, Wang Lu and Ouyang Shang were indeed identical, Liu Xian and the others also accepted this reality after a brief surprise. What was more, Wang Lu's background was not important. The important thing was his strength.
The next step to do was how to carry out further action under the leadership of Ouyang Shang.
The revenge-minded Xie Mingxian suggested that Big Brother should lead the team immediately to go deep into Ghost Weeping Forest. However, Ouyang Shang had another idea.
"The other party wanted me to come, and now I'm here. So, it should not be long before the other party to take the initiative to carry out the next step... So we might as well wait and see. Of course, during this time, we must raise our vigilance and never leave an opportunity for the other party."
And then he began to explain things that needed attention. When Ouyang Shang seriously pondered, his thinking was far more meticulous than ordinary person. After arranging his instructions, Liu Xian and the others were gradually comforted and gained back their confidence.
As for Wang Lu, he began to ask other people about the details of the event.
"The so-called disappear in the blink of an eye is obviously impossible. At that time, there were so many people that followed behind on his heels that even if one or two turned their eyes, not everyone turned their eyes all at once, and moreover, regardless of what, you can't find any clue. This is mostly because the other side covered up the tracks using illusion. Have you investigated the scene based on this?"
Xie Mingxian said, "Of course we have, but there's no trace of illusion left."
"Really? Then your investigation method is probably not right. I will go there later."
Xie Mingxian immediately wrinkled his brows. At that time, the person in charge of the on-site investigation was him. At the same time, according to the fact that he was the only cultivator in the team who was good at tracking and reverse tracking, the investigation also had to belong to him, and Xie Mingxian had full confidence in his findings.
If those questions were asked by his Big Brother Ouyang Shang, perhaps he would accept it with humility. But what kind of thing was Wang Lu, this mysterious person?
But then, less than an hour later, Xie Mingxian embarrassedly looked at the bloody fog that Wang Lu had gathered.
That was Shen Yiwen's spirit pet, fog monster… It lingered in the area where its master disappeared. It was just that, previously, under Xie Mingxian's investigation, even after a long time, they never found the existence of the fog monster.
This was certainly not because the fog monster had an innate camouflage ability, but the illusion effect placed by the culprit. Xie Mingxian was basically exploring illusion inside an illusion. Naturally, he could not find any result.
But when it came to Wang Lu, he merely took out his strange red jade pendant, illuminated the forest with it, and then spat out a strange syllable. Thereupon, the fog monster appeared before everyone, and the air was also filled with putrid stench and bloody smell.
It turned out that it was only this time that the illusion in the forest was truly broken! Everything that was concealed was thus revealed.
"This is an illusion method unique to demon race. It could not be directly cracked by the current level of illusion breaking technique in the Nine Regions."
Xie Mingxian could not help but wonder. "Then how did you do that?"
"Of course I was taught by a very able person."
Wang Lu said, and then could not help but think of all sorts of inconceivable methods personally instructed by Elder Lu Li some time ago in Spirit Sword Sect… which included the method to crack this illusion. Of course, the method taught by Elder Lu Li was very cumbersome. Now that he had in him the demon jade, he could just take the shortcut.
However, if Lu Li did not point out the principle of the illusion to him, he would not be able to find the right way even if he held the demon jade.
"Well then, let's listen to what this fog monster has to say."
As the survivor that wandered at the same place, the fog monster was likely to witness the whole process of Shen Yiwen's mysterious disappearance, which was an important clue. However, the fog monster lacked the intelligence and it has always been difficult to communicate with it. As a spirit pet, it was more commonly used as a tool. Even if it witnessed the entire process and memorized it mechanically, there was still the problem of how to extract this memory.
"What problem? Haven't you all golden generation been taught the soul-searching technique?"
With that, Wang Lu's palm bloomed with green light, and then the soul-searching technique was unceremoniously launched at the fog monster.
The blood fog burst out an unprecedented scream. Suddenly, the face of many people changed, showing their displeasure.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"That's a precious heritage of Junior Brother Shen Yiwen! When he is still alive, he loved this fog monster the most, but you actually…"
Wang Lu lightly said, "He's dead already, who cares what he liked when he was alive? Have you all lost your mind? This is the most direct clue to avenge Shen Yiwen! Don't tell me it's not good to let this spirit pet to die in his place?"
With that, ignoring the eyes of other people, he proceeded with the soul-searching technique and then transferred the resulting information on the nearby disk that was prepared in advance by Ouyang Shang.