Chapter 102 Wooden Elder

  The second floor of the Hunter's Guild was shrouded in an eerie silence.

  In the hall, an old man with a gloomy expression sat, flipping through a book in his hand, making a rustling sound as he turned the pages. The sound of turning pages was the only source of sound in the hall at this time. This old man was Mu Zhanglao, the head of the Blackstone City branch, and also Ye Ling's grandfather.

  At the foot of the elder, a man in his forties sat. The man had a square face and big ears, with a sturdy build, and an extremely calm expression between his eyebrows and eyes. He was Ren Qiang, the master of the Blackstone City branch, a martial artist of the Lingxuan Sixth Realm. And this powerful master, at this moment, was sitting quietly on one side, not daring to utter a single word.

  In front of the two, two men in black robes knelt down. These two were masters of Lingxuan's Five Elements, but at this moment they were trembling with fear, kneeling on the ground, their heads pressed against the earth, not even daring to lift their heads.

  "Field wolf?"

  The old man Mu turned to a page in the book, his face suddenly fell into a layer of gloom, and on that page was a portrait of Qin Hao.

  "What's his story?"

  "It's unclear." Ren Qiang calmly wiped away the sweat: "He just came to register recently, and apart from his name, there is no other detailed information."

  After hesitating for a moment, he muttered: "Elder Mu, it's not necessarily him who did it. Our warriors only found four people." As he said this, his heart was racing and he secretly raised an eyebrow to glance at him: "It was Ye Shao, Shen Yue, Xie Feng, and Zeng Hua, maybe they were swallowed by the monster, who knows?"

  "I don't care about the others." The old man's tone was cold and harsh, like a passing winter wind, making several people feel a chill in their hearts: "Starting tomorrow, send all disciples to search for him in Wan Shou Valley, from the outer perimeter to the inside. If you can't find him, don't come back."

  "But..." Ren Qiang hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and said: "Mu Zhanglao, these 800 warriors were all transferred from several cities around Wan Shou Gu. If they stay here for a long time, the other cities will have no one to guard them."

  Ren's heart skipped a beat as he said this, and when he looked up at Mu Changlao, his face was deathly pale, his eyes were red-rimmed, and his heart shook with fear, no longer daring to continue speaking.

  He closed his mouth, breathed slowly, and didn't dare say a word. Sitting in the chair, he felt a sense of unknown emptiness.

  After a long time, the old man Mu finally spoke: "Withdraw seven hundred people and leave one hundred to start searching. This is the greatest concession I can make. Put Tian Lang's name and portrait on the wanted list, whoever finds him will be rewarded with two sets of Extreme Stage Primary Martial Skills and three Secondary High-Rank Sealing Arrays. Regardless of life or death."

  Ren Qiang's heart skipped a beat, within three months, the wanted list was updated twice, this kind of thing was unprecedented in the Blackstone City branch. Moreover, this time's reward was even more generous than last month's.

  It can be imagined how furious this old man is at this moment.

  "Besides..." Mu Zhang Lao let out a cold laugh and said: "Investigate this Tian Lang's identity, find out where his family is. If he was really killed by the demon beast, then that's for the best. But if it was really him who took action this time, heh heh..."

  A strong smell of blood is extremely thick in the old words.

  "Yes." Ren Qiang stood up and bowed his waist, saying: "Let these two people atone for their crimes with merit." As he spoke, he pointed to the two kneeling figures.

  The two kneeling warriors heard this and repeatedly knocked their heads on the ground until blood flowed from their foreheads before stopping.

  "The wooden elder is our fault."

  "Wooden elder, we will definitely find him."

  At the time of speaking, his tone was very humble and fearful. These two were ordered by Mu Zhanglao to protect Ye Ling's warriors. However, this time Ye Ling didn't let them follow him, he went out to execute the task alone, unexpectedly something happened.

  Now the people in charge of this department begged for them, they were surprised and delighted in their hearts, and quickly seized the opportunity to plead guilty repeatedly.

  The old wooden elder's eyes rolled over, scanning the two of them, and a smile was squeezed out on his face full of wrinkles: "What you said is right, it's an opportunity for you to make amends."

  Ren Qiang was delighted in his heart, fearing that he would change his mind, and hastily made eye contact with the two of them.

  The two of them nodded in unison and hastily knocked their heads together: "Thank you, Elder Mu, thank you, Elder Mu..."

  After knocking his head, he lifted up his face, and the smile on his face suddenly froze. A piece of green light kept enlarging in front of their eyeballs...

  "Ah!"

  Two shrill, mournful cries rose up, like the evil spirits of hell suffering torture, or a human having their throat cut, making a desperate cry before death, piercing people's eardrums.

  Ren Qiang's legs went soft, and he almost fell over. He forced his eyes open to look, only to see two warriors covered in blood, with withered wood piercing their bodies and entering their internal organs. The withered wood seemed to have a life of its own, constantly writhing and absorbing the two people's blood essence.

  The two of them moaned incessantly, their bodies withering away in agony, shrinking down to almost nothing but a layer of skin.

  Ren Jiang closed his eyes, unable to bear looking anymore. However, that faint and mournful cry lingered in his ears and mind.

  About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the miserable cries finally dispersed. Ren Jiang opened his eyes and saw that those withered trees had disappeared, leaving only two human skins on the ground, a dry blood stain, but eerily without even half a hint of bloody smell.

  Old Man Mu's face, originally dry and thin, seemed to have a hint of redness, and for a moment he felt his internal organs churning. He hastily bowed to Old Man Mu and quickly went downstairs.

  "How is it?" Su Ya hurriedly asked as soon as she saw Ren Qiang coming down.

  Ren Jiang simply shook his head, and after a long while, let out a deep sigh, walking out of the Hunting Alliance. At this moment, the eastern sky had already revealed a line of pale white, and the starlight was also gradually fading away, it was just the scene before dawn breaks.

  Ren Jiang raised his head and gazed at the sky, a sense of confusion in his heart. He didn't know when he would be able to bring light to this dark branch of the Blackstone City...

  *****

  Qin Hao hid in a clump of grass, holding his breath. Surrounding him was a small hill and a clear lake.

  The hunting alliance acted extremely quickly. Not long after Ye Ling crushed the jade stone, a large group of people appeared searching everywhere.

  Qin Hao did not dare to be careless. After escaping, he relied on the map of Wan Shou Gu and moved forward along the depths of Wan Shou Gu. Along the way, he was very careful and when using the Qian Li Yu Feng body method, he didn't leak out even half a point of aura. As a result, after walking for a long time, he still hadn't encountered any beast attacks.

  When comparing the periphery, you can still hear others searching for sounds. It's just that as he delves deeper, the noise completely disappears.

  He hid here for two periods of time, holding his breath and observing the situation, without realizing that someone had found him.

  It wasn't until about half a watch later that Qin Hao finally put his mind at ease, emerging from the grass thicket and sitting cross-legged on the ground.

  At this moment, the sky was already slightly bright. Qin Hao counted the things in his ring and planned for the future.

  The alliance with the hunters is completely broken. From now on, it's impossible to go back. Next, we should see how the hunters react. If they think they were attacked by a monster and everyone died, while he fell into the abyss and his body was never found, that would be the best outcome.

  No matter what, he can't leave too quickly now and expose his tracks. However, going deep into the Valley of Ten Thousand Beasts isn't a suitable choice either.

  His map, although he had obtained a higher authority version during his mission with Ling Ye, was still insufficient.

  So the best way is to stay here for a few more days and then go out to see the situation. Thinking of this, Qin Hao turned over the things in the ring and counted them again.

  Dry rations are still quite a few, Xuanjing and Fengxuan array should also be sufficient in quantity.

  Currently, he has only refined three: "Golden Arm" to assist in attacking, "Recovery of Spirit" to recover his spiritual energy, and "Gathering Flames" to accelerate his cultivation.

  The Revival Array is no longer of much use to him now.

  The Fuling Xuan array was originally a high-level Xuanjing refining technique, and the energy it contained was sufficient when he was still in the Condensed Xuan realm. When he reached the Lingxuan boundary of one or two layers, using seven or eight arrays could barely recover half of his energy. Now that he is already at the third layer of the Lingxuan realm, it naturally has little effect.

  Now he wants to recover his strength, still relying on himself to meditate and practice breathing exercises. Fortunately, Ju Yan's effect on practicing breathing exercises is quite remarkable.

  Qin Hao put away his things and left behind a "Gathering Flame" array, slowly injecting a thread of mysterious energy.

  The Xuan array hummed and shook, floating into the air, pouring down a sheet of fiery red light. Qin Hao sat under this fiery light, cross-legged, driving his body's skills, absorbing the dense fire-elemental energy in the air.

  As Qin Hao moved, the energy that had been consumed in his dantian gradually recovered, and the fatigue of running all night was also expelled from his body with each breath.

  A sun slowly rose and shone on Qin Hao's body. However, he seemed to be completely unaware of it, and was fully immersed in his own cultivation state.

  Until the sun was high in the sky, at noon, Qin Hao finally came back to his senses from his cultivation state. He raised his head and saw that the crimson symbol inside the crystal shell of the Sealing Mystic Array had dimmed by about a quarter.

  Qin Hao reached out and grabbed it, his two fingers tapping on its surface several times, the red light of the Feng Xuan array completely retracted and entered a dormant state. Qin Hao put away the Feng Xuan array, this one was still enough for him to use several more times.

  He didn't have the Fire Fox Flower on him, and it would be extremely troublesome to refine another one.

  After tidying up the things in the ring, Qin Hao flipped his palm over, and a tube of extraordinary material rolled onto the ground.

  When Qin Hao's gaze focused on this scroll, his eyes also became more concentrated.