บท 58: Encounter with Assassins
Li Bai ran towards Backwater City. He did not worry too much about Meng Shan, as he already set up an array to get there quickly once he was done with his business in Backwater City.
Between the Light Forest and Backwater City, there was a large desert. The desert's temperatures were completely opposite of that of the Northern Mountains, even though they were right next to each other.
Of course, Li Bai had a solution to this extreme temperature. He wore a fabric that could retain the normal heat no matter the condition, whether it be hot or cold. The fabric was made from the skins of both the Ice Serpent and the Lava Serpent, and was thus named Serpent Coat.
This Serpent Coat that Li Bai possessed was only one out of three that he made. The other two, he sold for 10000 crystals each.
Since both the Ice Serpent and the Lava Serpent were both rare creatures, as well as the fact that one needed extremely high precision and skill to craft such a thing, the price of the Serpent Coat was justified.
He could remember the buyers of one of the Serpent Coats being the Zhao clan, but he could not remember the other one.
.....
Wu Tai and his army marched along the harsh conditions of the desert.
Even though he commanded his knights to do a million pushups, he was not patient enough to wait for them to finish it all. Besides, Zhao Mei's case was of great urgency, more so than stress relief and the discipline of his soldiers.
Zhao Mei walked beside Wu Tai as they trekked along the scorching hot desert.
Even though cultivators of the Heavenly Mark could withstand heat easily, this did not stop them from sweating all over their body. Their internal cultivation only helped with making sure that they won't die, and not that they won't feel pain.
The knights also practiced a bit of external cultivation, but it was too hard for them to keep up with both internal and external that they had to drop one or the other for the other one to progress.
The effects of external cultivation was more immediatr than internal, but the latter was better in the long run. As such, most of them chose internal. Anyways, they could still practice either cultivation in their spare time.
They were now facing the consequences of choosing internal cultivation over external.
"It's so hot!"
"Is it just me, or is it scorching here?"
"Are you implying that you are hot?"
Even Wu Tai succumbed to complaining. Staring at the princess, his eyes went from desperation to desire.
"Eh... Uncle Wu, what are you doing?" Zhao Mei was starting to feel uncomfortable.
"It- it's nothing!" Wu Tai averted his eyes from the princess. Soon after, however, he found his sight drifting towards her again.
Zhao Mei felt a stare piercing through her.
"Uncle... if you want the Serpent Coat, just say it. I can withstand the heat for a short period." Zhao Mei said matter-of-factly.
"What? Who said I want that stupid coat?! Can't you see that I'm holding up just fine?" Wu Tai retaliated her claims with an angry tone.
While walking, the sky was becoming darker and darker.
"Seems like it's going to rain..." Zhao Mei uttered as she saw the clouds cover the bright sun.
This sight relieved all of the knights!
"A miracle has happened!"
"Is it just me, or is it becoming darker?"
"That doesn't even make any sense!"
Wu Tai was also happy at the sight of the rainclouds, but he still shouted at his army! "All of you, shut up! You're all knights, what made you so afraid of a little heat?!"
Shouting made his stress go away. Looking at his army shocked was also a stress reliever for him. However, he saw one particular knight whose face was covered with a helmet, amidst all of the others.
Guo Da? Why is he still wearing his helmet? It was scorchingly hot just a minute ago...
Hearing their leader's voice, the army was startled. However, Wu Tai's expression was not convincing enough.
"Ahh, Captain, you're not very convincing!"
With a casual remark from one of the knights, the atmosphere turned bright again. All of them laughed!
Wu Tai didn't bother answering his subordinates and just turned away, sighing. The sight of the helmet-wearing knight was also put on the back of his mind.
Soon enough, they came across a ruin.
There were buildings made out of sandstone, but all of them were either on the verge of breaking or already broken.
One knight was smiling dementedly. It was the helmet-wearing knight. "Ah, we're here...!" His smile widened even more.
Suddenly, Wu Tai had a bad premonition.
Moans and screams could be heard from behind him!
"Agh!" "Ugh!"
He hurriedly turned his body around and ran towards his army, but he was too late.
Only one remained standing, as the rest laid on the sand with blood coming out of their necks. Slowly, their heads rolled off.
"Hmm? Uncle Wu, what happened?" Zhao Mei heard the sounds and was worried as well. She tried to turn her head around but was stopped by Wu Tai.
"Nothing to see... Don't worry." Wu Tai decided to hide this matter from Zhao Mei for now.
He knew very well how much this little lass hated corpses.
"Psst. Guo Da, come here!" Wu Tai called over the only one remaining knight to assist him in hiding the bodies so that Zhao Mei would not witness this terrible sight.
Although he treated them harshly, the ones that he brought for his trip were all the ones he deeply trusted. Inside, he wanted to grieve, but he knew that right now was not the time for that.
Hearing the beckon of his leader, Guo Da walked over to him while ignoring the corpses that was littered all around the ground.
"My trusted brother Guo, you are the only one left... Please, help me bury the bodies later."
Guo Da still wore a helmet over his face despite the scorching heat, so Wu Tai was not able to determine the expression that he displayed.
There was an extremely wide smile on his face under the helmet.
As he walked closer and closer, he took out a dagger from inside his armor and hid it snugly in his palm.
"For now, help me determine the cause of all of their deaths. I swear on my name, that I will avenge them!"
Guo Da was right in front of Wu Tai.
"Brother Guo...?"
He opened his palm and suddenly stabbed Wu Tai with a dagger right through his stomach!
"Uhk-!" Wu Tai's eyes widened as he could not process what just happened.
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