Everyone that was standing there could feel goosebumps on their skin upon hearing the account from Zhou Ye. They had never expected that something so bad could have happened. The entire story was full of ups and downs, which kept them on their toes.
By now, Zhou Ye's face was pale and fear had appeared on it. One could tell that even recalling the event was stressful for him. At this point, he had frozen and could no longer speak. The others noticed his condition and knew that he had been pushed too much, perhaps.
"Should we stop here for now?" Hao Xiao whispered to Teng Xiaolian.
Teng Xiaolian furrowed his brows in response and looked at Zhou Ye.
"We need to get this done with, there's too much that's hanging by a thin thread. If we don't get the information now, we may be too late." Teng Xiaolian spoke.
Hong Luo too clenched his fist and looked between the terrified man and Teng Xiaolian.
"But Leader Teng, maybe we…" Hong Luo was just about to speak when he was suddenly interrupted.
Everyone's expression turned to that of a surprise from the tense one. They were suddenly feeling a wave of calmness spreading throughout their body. They then also heard the faint sounds that were coming from next to them.
Everyone turned their gazes to the source of it and saw Lin Mu standing there with his eyes closed. He had an extremely tranquil expression on his face, which invoked a feeling of calmness in whoever that saw it. His lips were gently moving and faint chants were coming out of his mouth.
Teng Xiaolian's' expression was then pulled towards Zhou Ye. The man who had been scared frozen from his thoughts had suddenly changed. The fear from his face had faded away and what replaced it was peace. His arms and shoulders which had been tensed because of being clenched had relaxed.
Even his eyes which had gone dull due to the terror had regained their vigor. The breathing which was irregular and labored had harmonized and moved in a steady rhythm.
Indeed, what Lin Mu was doing was nothing but chanting the calming heart sutra. He had long since reached the second stage of external comprehension, thus knew that he could use it on other people now. The current situation seemed the best for it to be used, and it also helped Zhou Ye heal on a mental level.
In fact, when Lin Mu scanned Zhou Ye with his spirit sense, he discovered that his spirit qi flow had also improved. Evidently, the trauma from the incident had been hurting him on a mental level and had affected his cultivation as well.
A minute later Lin Mu stopped chanting the calming heart sutra and opened his eyes. He could then see the gazes of everyone on his face. But these gazes were not of shock or surprise, but rather of profound and deep respect.
Lin Mu didn't know, but today he had buried a seed of respect and slight worship within these mercenaries.
Xukong had been seeing this entire event closely and had not stopped Lin Mu from using the calming heart sutra. He let him follow his own choice, and apparently, this had been the right judgment. For when he saw the emotions hidden within the eyes of these mercenaries, he knew that Lin Mu had perhaps embarked on a new journey.
'The Will of the Buddhist Path, its traces can already be seen. Is he going to gain its recognition as well?' Xukong thought.
'Even if he gains its recognition, at least it won't be as problematic as the Will of the Demonic path. There should still be some monks that have the recognition of the will of the Buddhist path. If it really comes to it, Lin Mu can take refuge with them.' Xukong pondered.
Lin Mu did not mind the gazes but instead tenured to look at Zhou Ye.
"Are you feeling better?" Lin Mu questioned with a calm tone.
Zhou Ye who was now feeling refreshed and relived gently nodded his head.
"Yes, thank you for… whatever that you did." Zhou Ye replied.
"Now then, will you tell us the rest?" Lin Mu spoke.
Zhou Ye nodded again and cleared his throat before speaking.
"After Dongfeng Zhao was decapitated, I was terrified and tried my best to move to the side. I was lucky that the black-robed men were closer to it than me now and were targeted first instead. The bear attacked them and effortlessly killed them as well.
Finally, it was now my turn. There was no chance that I could escape, anyway. The beast was stronger, as well as faster than me. It was just about to end me with its claws when it happened.
The bear suddenly froze and then roared. It scratched at its own body as if it was hurting it. Another roar, but this time one that was full of pain came out of its mouth as it cleaved out its own flesh. Chunks of flesh and black blood splattered as the beast mutilated itself.
But instead of getting weaker, the beast instead seemed to be getting stronger. Black smoke came out of its body and replaced its flesh that it had ripped out. Once the flesh was restored, bone spurs sprouted out of it and added to its gruesomeness.
Fortunately, after this happened the beast seemed to be in a disoriented state of mind as it kept on struggling with itself and walked away. It even collided with the trees in its way and broke them down. Large trees that were thick enough for four grown men to hug were broken down like twigs by it.
The sheer strength of the beast was astounding and was nothing like I had ever seen. After that, it took me a few minutes before I was able to gather my wits. After ensuring that I was safe for then, I grabbed Dongfeng Zhao's body and put it on a shield I picked up.
I didn't want to leave the body of my benefactor who had saved me, to rot and be eaten by beasts, thus I carried it with me. I also scrounged some supplies from the black-robed men as I knew that I would not be able to survive there without them.
I was lucky enough to find some alchemical pills and food, which helped me through. I started my journey back and encountered more beasts on my way. It was fine when they were just common beasts or even high tier beasts, but when I encountered spirit beasts, I couldn't help but escape.
I avoided fighting them as much as I could, but still got injured. At the very end, when I couldn't do anything, I used the alchemical pill I had left as a last resort. I knew it was a potential igniting pill, but I still used it anyway, as I would not have had much of a chance at survival.
After I took the pill, my memories became blurry. I don't remember what I did or how I eventually got here. But I know that all I had in my mind was to survive and reach the town. Eventually I did reach, and then the last thing I remember happened.
I heard someone call my name."
Zhou Ye looked at the people for a moment and smiled before closing his eyes. In the next second, he swooned and fell back on the bed.
Hong Luo and Lin Mu rushed to check up on him and felt relieved after finding that he had just fallen asleep.
"He's just tired. He pushed himself to speak that's why he fell unconscious." Hong Luo spoke.
"We just have to let him rest now. He has done us a great favor by informing us." Teng Xiaolian spoke.
The other mercenaries nodded in response as they understood how difficult it must have been to survive the ordeal he had been through.
"What do we do now, leader Teng? We definitely need to inform the higher-ups at the base, but we don't know if they'll be here in time." Long Da questioned with concern.
Teng Xiaolian furrowed his brows and thought for a moment before speaking.
"Send a messenger to the base and also one to the council. Tell them that the elite teams have been eliminated and to send help. Meanwhile, we need to talk with the mayor."
"Yes, Leader." Long Da replied before leaving the tent in a hurry.
Lin Mu was also thinking of what they were supposed to do now. When Zhou Ye had deceived the black smoke coming out of the Bear's body and healing its wounds, senior Xukong had spoken to him.
"It is some kind of parasite that has infected the beast. Its most likely trying to take over its body and is thus making it harm itself. And it's no common spirit parasite either, from what we've seen I can say for sure that it's an invader." Xukong spoke.
"An invader?"