章 72: Corrupted Against Corruption. (1)
"Brother Wu Ji, are you sure this is the place you're talking about?" Meng Ran pointed at the small villa located at close to the city's wall. Because of their location, it did not seems like a property belonged to her Meng Family that was well known for their excellent skills in the Formation Profession.
"What can we get from standing outside? Let us go in to ask." Zhang Wu Ji went forward to knock the door three times after he finished his words. Standing just right behind him, Meng Ran's mind is nervous, anxious, and filled with many different questions.
"Yes? Ah, Master Zhang, it was a good day to see you here today, let me bring you in while I inform about your arrival to the young master." the butler recognized Zhang Wu Ji the moment he opened the door. By inviting the two guest to come in for a sit and a cup of tea, the butler excused himself to inform his young master about their arrival to this humble abode of the Meng Young Master.
Minutes later, Meng Hao appeared. He was dressed in an attire different from yesterday, but still, it carries the disposition of a rich young master that's doing very well in his family's business. In Zhang Wu Ji's personal opinion, how can somebody rich like Meng Hao has a problem with money? Money should be the last problem in his mind right now.
"Can Meng Hao ask about the reason two distinguish guest came to this villa today? If there is something my ability can help, I will do my best to provide an assistance to brother Zhang and his friend here." Meng Hao politely asks for the reason for their visit.
Zhang Wu Ji did not speak. But after he cupped his hands together, he pointed his palm at Meng Ran to indicates that it is fine for her to initiates the conversation. As an outsider regarding this matter, it was the best for him to not participates in their discussion.
Young Master Meng Hao, my name is Meng Ran. I belonged to the Meng Clan, one of the four Pillars of the Sealing Formation Sect. Do you know anything related to this matter?" Meng Ran mentioned the information related to her background to the young master to see if he have any idea about what she tried to say.
But after he listened to her words, the butler's expression immediately turned much more serious. He waved his palm to order the servants to leave before throwing down a piece of formation plate that traps the vibration and sounds from getting out from the hall they were located before he bowed to his young master.
"Lady Meng, I want you to repeat the word again. Properly in order." Meng Hao took a piece of Formation Plate out and hold it in his hand as he injects some Fighter Qi into the plate. Like a voice recognition plate, the machine only reacts when it listened to the special encoding inside the formation plate.
"Meng Ran, Daughter of Meng Yang and Meng Yue, the Outer Delegates of the Sealing Formation Sect's First Pillar." she read everything out in an order. The Formation Plate that received the messages soon unlocks a record that was stored inside of the Formation Plate for quite long, and transformed into a light that can only be read once before it vanished.
[Daughter, Sealing Formation Sect is gone. We're in hiding. Be careful of the Wang Clan. They collude with the demon in order to usurp the position of the Sect Master and causing the destruction within the Sealing Formation Sect. Do not expose yourself. You're no longer a member of the Sealing Formation Sect. Unless the moon turn red, do not come to the Fenglai Peak]
After she read the messages, the wording vanished. It will be no longer accessible in the future. But after this, a question came into Meng Ran's mind. Who is Meng Hao? And why would he possess this formation plate and stays in this city seemingly doing nothing for the Meng Clan?
She wishes to know more. But before she asked, Zhang Wu Ji hold her hand to stop her from doing so. The formation plate that was used to trap the conversation and vibration from the voice expires because of exhaustion and decayed into a pile of ashes. This also means, their conversation is over.
"We will meet at Fenglai Peak when the moon turns red. For now, please remain strong." Meng Hao politely cupped his hands together. Carrying no intention to continue the conversation, the butler escorted the two guest to leave their villa without exchanging anymore of the words.
Meng Ran was partially disappointed, and yet, partially relief because her parent's situation is made known to her from reading the piece of messages they left. In her heart, nothing beats the news related to her parent's life and death.
With the Hundred Horses Carriage ready to depart, the two of them traveled in the carriage for another one full day to reaches the Chrysanthemum Flower City. Not even reaching the proximity of the city, Zhang Wu Ji noticed a few towers of smokes burning all around the city wall.
Immediately, Zhang Wu Ji left the carriage with Meng Ran following behind him. His arrival was not received by the City Lord, which means, he's either dead, or he's incapable of handling the task of managing the whole city. Based on how the city looks at this moment, the answer is more likely the latter in his expectation.
Holding the piece of [City Lord Temporal Replacement Plate], Zhang Wu Ji barged into the City Lord Castle to look for their commanding officers. After a few discussion and listening to the book recordings, it seems that during the time the City is under the siege from the Wild Beast in the east mountain, the City Lord is struck by some illness.
This caused the city to fight without a leader. Under the participation of the four Commanding Officers from the North, South, East, and West post, they take the lead and direct four teams of troops to retaliates, but their attempt failed miserably, with one of their 12th Stage Inner Qi Warrior dead before they managed to kill over 200 of the Wild Beast.
Worst of all, the hidden human enemies suspected from the Jie Clan and Upper South Merchant Corporation also taking their part in the attack. Since the opposition of the human forces is expected, when he asked for the clarification of the attacking beast, it seems that only two kind of Wild Beast is this organized in attacking the city.
Tusked Copper Bear, an amazing guerilla fighter with skill on par with human cultivator's Animal Imitation Fist Art. Although their strength is only at the 9th Stage of Inner Qi Fighter, their fighting skills allow them to fight against stronger human and fellow Wild Beast in their Warrior Stage. The Tusked Copper Bear is often taken as the example to describe how Over-Powered is a cultivator against his peers.
As for the second Wild Beast, it's called Firebomb Toad. This Wild Beast of an 8th Stage Inner Qi Fighter is the definition of terror. Their spit burns anything it touches, solid material such as rocks, soils, and branches scattered on the ground can be made into an exploding projectile that fired at the targets. Worst, their whole body can be exploded if they wish, carrying the life-endangering attack strong enough to kill a Warrior Tier Cultivator.
One of the four commanding officers death is connected with their attack, which not only kills the officer, it destroyed the team altogether in a barrage of an explosion. This matter hits the morale of the troops hard before they retreat into the city wall for a battle of endurance. It pitiful to say, their plan did not go as they wish when the Firebomb Toads fired the projectiles continuously to try to destroy the City Wall.
Adding salt into the wound, the people from Jie's Clan and Upper South Merchant Corporation continuously postpone the delivery and supplies using the reason they're not ready for the consignments. The corporation may need to pay a hefty fine for failure to comply with their delivery, but how much would that be?
A mere one to five million fine is not an issue for them if the Chrysanthemum Flower City falls, where the repair cost alone is estimated be between 200 Million to 500 Million Gold Coins. As a businessman, what is fine, if the profit from trying to repair the city worth a few hundred times better?"
Still, it was because the Upper South Merchant Corporation possesses the best mean of delivery and transportation, which is the lifeline of their expanding business. The quote "Business and Wealth, Treasure or not, none of them will be possible without something to deliver" is the slogan of the corporation, which states where do they stand as a corporation.
Not even having a chance to continue with his next question, a deafening explosion came from the city wall and destroyed a third of their upper foundation. With a big opening for the Firebomb Toad to aim their shots into the city, this leads to a complete game changer for the Wild Beast. Soon, a group of Wild Beast under the leadership of the Tusked Copper Bear attacked.
"Fire! Fire at will! Stop all the incoming Wild Beast from trying to climb past the city wall!" the leader of the guards on top ordered. Even he himself has to participate in this fight to not allowing any of the Wild Beast successfully enters the City.
With a population of two million residents, their number of guards ready to deploy is pathetic. With only fifty thousand troops under the leadership of four commanding officers and city lord, they're literally asking for a complete defeat before the fight even started. Armed with only the Willow Crossbow and some Yuan-Tie Hand Cannon in their hand, the troops tried their best to defend the wall, but the number of beasts quickly increased to at least twice the number compared to their first attack.
"Where are the corpses that ready to be processed located?" Zhang Wu Ji questioned the officers as he will need to prepare the troops and weapon to fight against the Beast Infestation. After he asked the question, he was surprised that none of the three officers tried to answer his question. Worst of all, even the treasurer or Granary Chief failed to answer him.
"We... do not keep the corpses at all. nobody went out for collection because it was too dangerous." one of the soldiers answered his question. Although it was fine for him to hear an answer, he was turned speechless on their uselessness!
"Trash!"
"Gathers all available troops to defend the eastern wall. Arrange a small team as the scout to monitor the situation in the northern wall and pay attention at the activities from the other county. Come back and inform me if they decided to take an action."
"I want the City Forge to start operation without closing, and assign fifteen best soldiers to follow my lead. Start building a team that will come out to salvage the ammunition, resources, and collects the corpses of the dead Wild Beast, we will have a use on their corpses."
After he gives out his order to those officer and department chiefs, Zhang Wu Ji waited for his team of fifteen soldiers to came before him. After they reported for duty, Zhang Wu Ji gives them an instruction to proceed with his plan and took out five Qiyue Flying Sword for them to operates before he left.
It was lucky he's too forgetful. Holding the eleven remaining Fire Lizard's Touch, Zhang Wu Ji ignites them surrounding the city wall to deter the Wild Beast from continue to scale the wall. With a Longfeng Jade Ruler in his hand, Zhang Wu Ji delivered the air blades on the mixture of weak and strong Wild Beast, injuring most and killing few.
"Wow!" the troops on top of the city wall was surprised with the fighting prowess shown by Zhang Wu Ji as he stopped the Wild Beast from continuing to attack the City Wall. Although it was not a surprise for the troops to see the activation of the Fire Lizard's Touch, it was something else when they look a how he activates and utilize them in a fight.
"What are you guys staying idle without doing anything? Assist the people and workers to move their corpses back into the City Granary so they can start processing the edible meat and usable innards and pelts!" he ordered before landing on the ground, facing the fierce stare from the Firebomb Toads.
"Croak!" one of the Firebomb Toad spits a mouthful of burning saliva on Zhang Wu Ji. But instead of coming close, Zhang Wu Ji adjusted the size of the lone air blade and directed its trajectory towards the Firebomb Toad. Burnt by its own spit, the Firebomb Toad cried in anguish as it escaped into the forest once more along with the other Firebomb Toads.
Left with only some random Lizards and apes without a leader, Zhang Wu Ji only need to take care of the Tusked Copper Bear. With a swing of a hand, Zhang Wu Ji kept the Longfeng Jade Ruler aside and step closer to the Tusked Copper Bear and see how it reacts. When it suddenly shift from all four into standing position, Zhang Wu Ji almost wanted to laugh.
"I'll see myself how good I fare against a Peak Fighter Tier Wild Beast in pure physical strength!" with his fist hammering at each another, Zhang Wu Ji charged at the Tusked Copper Bear to take it down using his fists. Through the skill from his WUJI Long Fist and Collapsing Fist Manual, Zhang Wu Ji fights against the bear in an extremely bloody battle.
The Tusked Copper Bear roared in anger when it still failed to defeat Zhang Wu Ji in a fist-fight. As a proud Wild Beast that ruled the Eastern Willow Forest's Outskirt, how can their tribe continue to put their head high if it lost to a human? Furthermore, in a fist fight?
"ROAR!" the Tusked Copper Bear howled and slammed the ground as it jumps on Zhang Wu Ji to executes a decisive attack. Likewise, Zhang Wu Ji decided executes his decisive attack as well. With the Fire Element surrounding his fist, Zhang Wu Ji uses his first to strikes to deflected the bear's attack before he landed an uppercut on its jaw.
The Tusked Copper Bear falls down unconscious. As the next leader of the pack, another Tusked Copper Bear howled and order a retreat, which all the other Wild Beast obeyed and run into the forest. Retreating as it stares on the human that defeated their leader, the remaining Tusked Copper Bears turned only when they went past the dense foliage.
"Victory! Victory!" the human troops on the wall shouts in delight for having their first successful victory against the Beast Infestation. But it wasn't over yet, as one of the leaders is still yet to be captured or defeated. Furthermore, it was unknown that if there's any other Wild Beast Leader yet to make their move and hiding inside the forest.
Under his strict leadership, Zhang Wu Ji rearranged the mess inside the city, before he ordered the residents in their workable age to contributes in preparing the bricks and building paste that will be used in repairing the City Wall.
But when a matter is done, another problem arises. The supplies that were supposed to be delivered later today is delayed once more under the reason of not having enough manpower to fight against the Beast Infestation Attack. Plus because their special mean of transport is extremely precious, they will have to obey its wish if the beast hesitates to move.
Listening to all of their argument and concerns, Zhang Wu Ji held an urge to slaughter these peoples to calm his fury. Without the supplies, how are the repairing of the Eastern City Wall begins? They're not only lack of production supplies, but even the food problem may also arise in the next one to two days.
"This city is corrupted from the top to the bottom. No wonder the problem happened for so long and yet, nothing is done." Zhang Wu Ji talks to himself before somebody knocked the door into his room. When Zhang Wu Ji went to tend the matter, the fifteen troops under his direct instruction came to him along with the Tusked Copper Bear in a cage.
As a defeated warrior, the beast no longer gives the proud disposition from its eyes. Instead of feeling pity, Zhang Wu Ji kneeled at a knee before the beast and applied a Small Nourishment Art on the beast to heal its injury. He did not bother to study the beast after that.
Feeling weird, the Tusked Copper Bear steps closer to the human's side and see what he has in his sleeve. In its mind, a suspicion of;
"Why didn't this human killed me when he could?" this question pops up in its mind as it falls flat on Zhang Wu Ji's side to see what he tried to do. Noticing that Zhang Wu Ji was unbothered by the action of approaching, he went to his front to inspect this human.
Still not a qualified Beast Tamer in his profession, Zhang Wu Ji chemistry with the Tusked Copper Bear can be said to be friendly. Like a pup filled with curiosity, the Tusked Copper Bear approached him few times to see what will this human do, until it was boring and went to lied just by the side of this powerful human.
While in his mind, Zhang Wu Ji entered a deep thought. Something related to how can he manage the city properly without causing too much disturbance and wreckage between the relationship of this three different counties. But the main issue is that not too deep into his thought, Zhang Wu Ji's mind returned to when he sneakily plays the Real Time Strategy Game in his previous life.
"Why not... We have some fun with the people from other parties?" Zhang Wu Ji wakes up from his daze and stares at the Tusked Copper Bear before he smiled. In his mind, a sneaky trick pops into him, as he tries to include the bear in his little show.
"You, damn bear, are going to become the entertainer for tomorrow." Zhang Wu Ji pats its head as the bear stared back at him.
クリエイターの想い 
yungsern87
yungsern87 This is the Thursday Promised Chapter.
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The next update will be on Saturday, 8 am China time.
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I am sorry that the promised chapters for the incoming weeks reduced. This is to match my upcoming IRL events and happening, such as returning to my hometown to visit my parents, handling incoming Christmas preparations, and many more.
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