Chapter 684: Encirclement
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Crunch, crunch. The sound of wilted leaves being stepped on could be heard in the distance. A tall skeleton walked over with long strides, its body covered by an ink green robe. Eerie orbs flickered around it.
“Master, we didn’t fail you.” Dumby knelt with one knee on the ground, its right hand on its chest.
“You did well.” Gao Peng nodded. Gao Peng didn’t inquire further about what had happened to that Saint-tier specter, but if Dumby was there unscathed, it had probably been completely absorbed by Dumby in order to strengthen its territory.
The people were stirred by the strong tension brought by the familiar. Right then, they were defenseless and without familiars. Naturally, they were scared when they saw other monsters and familiars.
Upon seeing Gao Peng glance his way, the elder bowed and made to kneel, but Gao Peng raised him up. “You don’t need to do that.”
“I believe you’re a good person and have no malicious intentions toward us. Our Li Tribe always remembers our friends and enemies. We certainly won’t return your kindness with ingratitude.” The elder was overcome with emotion.
Gao Peng took out a map of the entire Empyrean area. Of course, it was only a crude sketch. Much of the map only had rough regions marked out, such as the Northern Lands, Southern Desert, Land of Ruins, and so on.
What was worth noting was that Mingyu Country took up a fifth of the territory on the map, while the neighboring Withered Country took up a sixth of the territory. On this map, Mingyu Country was the center of the world. For people who had never traveled outside their country or had only traveled to neighboring countries, this map was the entire world.
The elder studied the map for a bit with his cloudy eyes, then pointed in a direction with his gnarled finger. “It’s around here.”
At night, Gao Peng’s group slept. On the other side of the woods, the ground was swept clean. Dead leaves and branches were swept to the side, and people squatted together, discussing something. They were very quiet, sometimes not even talking, but writing on the ground with their fingers. On the branches overhead, an invisible Dragon Ant silently watched the scenes below, reading every character they wrote.
…
“Master, that was the entire contents of their conversation.” Dragon Ant crouched to the side, its voice resounding in Gao Peng’s mind.
Gao Peng leaned on the trunk behind him and looked into the distance with narrowed eyes as if in a daze, when in fact, he was quietly listening to everything the Dragon Ant said.
Those people’s writings were similar to the Oracle Bone Script, mixed with characters from the Mutated Tribe script. Gao Peng knew some Oracle Bone Script and was fluent in the Mutated Tribe’s language, so with a bit of guessing, he understood what they were discussing.
Over the past few days, the tribe people followed Gao Peng by day, then rested at night. Gao Peng’s crew didn’t need sleep, but the normal people with them needed to rest.
After listening to the Dragon Ant recite what they had talked about that night, Gao Peng digested the information. He had thought that only Mutated Tribe people remained in Jiutian Shidi. He hadn’t expected to see… his own tribe.
He simply considered them the same tribe, with the same black hair, the same red blood. If it wasn’t for this reason, Gao Peng wouldn’t have secretly rescued them. Through their conversations in these past few days, Gao Peng learned they still had tribes in the south.
Although he didn’t know how strong these tribes were, from what Gao Peng had seen in the past few days, the Mutated Tribe’s people fought amongst themselves so recklessly that they probably weren’t threatened by any outside dangers. These tribes were likely not strong; they just had the advantage of location. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been oppressed like this.
While Gao Peng pondered, aggressive auras rose around him and blocked Gao Peng from the front and back.
“They’re colluding with the Red-Blooded Slaves.”
“They even saved the Red-Blooded Slaves in Rock City. Maybe these people are Red-Blooded Slaves in disguise.”
Gao Peng paused his steps, looking around.
“See if you recognize them.” A shadow was tossed out, crashing to the ground. It was missing a hand, its cheeks and clothes stained with blood. Gao Peng’s heart skipped a beat when he saw this person.
It was one of the people in the ten, Pi Di. He had left the team to move on his own at Fallen Star City. Pi Di raised his head on the ground. Dead leaves stuck to the wet blood on his cheeks. Shame, guilt, pain, resolution—layers of emotions filled his eyes.
He quickly lowered his head again, repressing his voice. “I recognize them… They’re from my tribe. I’ve told you everything, and you agreed to spare my life.”
“Hmph, as expected from you lowly Red Bloods. Instead of behaving in that barren Southern Desert, you come to my Mingyu Country to wreak havoc,” said a prideful voice.
Three silhouettes surrounded Gao Peng’s crew in a triangular formation. No matter which way they tried to run, they’d be stopped from two directions, then attacked from behind. The three powerful auras were all above Saint-tier. Quasi God!
The overbearing aura made it hard for everyone besides Gao Peng to move, as if a mountain was on their heads.
This is bad… Gao Peng hadn’t expected his identity to be exposed so soon, but it was meaningless to blame anyone at this point. The priority now was to find a way to escape. They were within the Mingyu Country borders. If he fought for too long, he could attract the attention of more entities.
Moreover, Gao Peng wanted to find out if the God-tier monster trainer from Mingyu Country had appeared. He wasn’t very concerned by the three Quasi God-tier trainers, as they didn’t threaten him, but Gao Peng had never fought against a God-tier familiar before. According to Fatty Big Sea, it was extremely horrifying.
A great fog rose in the air. The thick white fog covered the sky, enveloping everything within a 600-mile radius.
“Hmph, where do you think you’re going?” With an angry roar, rays of golden light radiated from a golden territory, splitting through the fog.
In the blink of an eye, the fog was split open. Everyone besides Gao Peng was gone. Floating beside Gao Peng was a little glowing silver jellyfish, as well as a bighead carp on the left.
“Those people have been taken by the jellyfish into its space.”
“He’s trying to run.”
The three people deducted Gao Peng’s plan from the lingering Power of Space in the air and Gao Peng’s actions. Pi Di was a little far from Gao Peng, so he continued to lie on the floor. Squish. A giant blue palm fell to crush him into a paste.
On the left was a lion-headed deer-bodied familiar with blue scales on its skin. The giant palm that had just fallen was its left foreleg.
The thick aura of the water element flowed on its skin—it was a Water-type Quasi God. On its right was a Shadow-type spider Quasi God that was black all over its body except for its red eyes.
Gao Peng could feel, like pins on his back, that the creature behind him was the most dangerous. It was the Tim- type Mingyu Celestial Beast he had seen a few days ago. It held a Metal-type divine artifact spear in its right arm and was glaring at Gao Peng with hostility.