Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Sudo Tree spirit melted into the surrounding gray fog. It stood there, but appeared as if it was in another void. It moved with the wind, proceeded in the mist, and existed in the gray fog.
There was no wind in the fog, but the spirit swayed as if blown around by the wind. A while later, a song came from the distance. In the heart of the gray fog, ghosts lined themselves up like disciples before their god. The Sudo Tree spirit joined their ranks, standing in place silently…
Whoosh— A great wind came, and the gray fog dissipated. Gao Peng sneezed and rubbed his nose. He was finally done absorbing the memory. The moment he opened his eyes, he saw people around him gazing with admiration or secretly studying him.
“Why are you looking at me?” Gao Peng frowned. “The enemy’s still at large. Don’t get distracted.”
“It’s already… finished.” You Zijin looked at Gao Peng with a complex expression.
“Master, the enemy has been beheaded,” Dumby’s voice said in Gao Peng’s mind.
“Is that so?” Gao Peng finally realized. With the death of the Sudo Tree, the Wooden World had fallen apart, too. It dissolved into segments of giant vines, which fell into the mountains and on the town. The scattering aura of the Wooden element made the top layer of vines quickly sprout new leaves.
“Thank you for saving us. I’ll ask my father, the king, to give you a position in his office,” said a girl in a long white dress as she curtsied with a smile on her face. Her twinkling eyes observed Gao Peng secretly.
He had a tall nose bridge, and his defined brows extended into his temples. Yu Huanxiang withdrew her gaze as a blush rose high in her cheeks.
A position in office? Gao Peng chuckled to himself. Why should I get a position? I’m not from the Mutant Tribe, and I have no interest in being an official.
“You’re the princess?” Gao Peng’s eyes glowed.
Yu Huanxiang went blank, then quickly nodded, still smiling.
Robust wanted to say something, but he glanced at Gao Peng and closed his mouth. He merely stood quietly behind the princess.
Gao Peng thought to himself, She counts as an important person. Would it be a great contribution if I killed this important person? But this was only a fleeting thought. Unless Gao Peng could completely wipe out all his tracks, it would be terrible if he was found out. It wouldn’t be worth the effort. This princess looks like an empty suit anyway, so killing her wouldn’t mean much to Mutant Tribe.
The ten listened to the strong man converse with the beautiful woman before them, but they couldn’t understand their conversation at all.
“Forgive me, Your Highness.” Gao Peng bowed and said, “We’re eleven fellow apprentices. With war breaking out all over the land, we’re following our Master’s order to descend the mountain and find opportunities to train.”
The ten were so astonished to hear Gao Peng speak fluently in the Mutant Tribe’s language that their eyes almost fell out of their sockets.
F*ck, how does he know Mutant Tribe’s language? Robust was quietly listening on the side. He heard the Shalin Town’s dialect in Gao Peng’s speech. He’s probably not lying about having lived around here for a long time.
Everyone from Shalin Town had just been killed by that old woman, so there was no way to confirm what he said. As the princess’ bodyguard, he had to be cautious of anyone who tried to approach her.
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“Since the princess is now safe, we won’t be bothering you any longer. Goodbye.” Gao Peng nodded at her, then turned and left. The ten followed him in confusion. They couldn’t understand anyway, and they relied on Gao Peng to fight. They felt like ten salted fish hanging on Gao Peng’s neck. All they had to do was cheer Gao Peng on when he was fighting.
After seeing Gao Peng walk away so carelessly after rescuing the princess, with his ten fellow apprentices also looking relieved, Robust went blank for a second. Perhaps he really had been mistaken?
“Please wait, hero,” Robust yelled.
“No.” Gao Peng waved his hand. Seriously, these ten burdens couldn’t even speak or understand. If he stayed any longer, they’d be exposed. Gao Peng might’ve agreed if he had been alone, not because the princess was pretty, but because he could derive nutrients from this big tree called Mingyu Country.
Once they were a distance away, Gao Peng passed his language memory fragments to the ten through Dumby. The ten fell into a trance just like Gao Peng had previously. It took them a while to come back to. Muttering their newly-learned language to themselves, the ten finally understood why Gao Peng could speak the Mutant Tribe’s language.
“Our first mission on this trip is to record Jiutian Shidi’s current state in detail. We’ll always be victorious if we know the enemy inside and out. Furthermore, we want to conceal the existence of the portal between Jiutian Shidi and Earth Star, which is why I said we were apprentices of a sect going through training.”
According to previously acquired information, Jiutian Shidi had many powerful individuals who had created their own sects in addition to the many countries. “All of these sects have their own posts. If we can mark the area that links to Earth Star as our sect’s post, we’ll have much less of a chance of exposure,” Gao Peng said coolly. “Of course, we’ll try our best to meet the second goal, but it’s fine if we don’t. Our top priority is still the first goal.”
“So where should we go now?” Bai Hai Xuan asked.
“From now on, we’ll speak Jiutian Shidi’s language.” Gao Peng glanced at him. “Otherwise, we never know when you could expose yourselves.”
Shoo. Dumby vanished in place. The violent sounds of an explosion came from the jungle in the distance. Trees snapped, and two waves of brutal energy exploded, then ceased abruptly. A moment later, Dumby came back with a person’s head.
“This guy has been following us this entire time. He exposed himself when he became nervous while listening to us.” Gao Peng frowned. Bai Hai Xuan’s squad lowered their heads in shame.
“Does that mean our identities were exposed?” You Zijin asked.
“I don’t know,” Gao Peng said calmly, then he added after some thought, “Probably not.”
“Master, when I caught him I tried to read his soul for memories, but on the brink of death, he did something that tainted his soul, so all the memories I extracted are black…” Dumby told Gao Peng through the Blood Contract.
“Okay, I’m aware. Let’s head to the nearest city first.” They had entered this strange land suddenly, so Gao Peng was at a loss, too.
Half a day later, Gao Peng and his crew entered the city. Unlike Shalin Town, which was a remote town near the border, Fallen Star City was a city on the border that played an important role. An endless stream of merchants came and went through the city. It wasn’t a place that Shalin Town could compare to.
Pedestrians filled the streets. Gao Peng led the ten to a place that looked like a storefront and went inside to ask the owner if they accepted monster corpses. He sold the corpses of some monsters they had killed along the way at a low price. After he received the money, he led the ten to an inn and rented a courtyard to stay in.
The currency in Mingyu Country was silver-colored coins. They weren’t made of silver, but instead, a metal that Gao Peng didn’t recognize. This metal was very light and rough to the touch. Many of the coins had small chips on their edges.
After distributing the coins to each of the ten, Gao Peng said, “I asked the owner for a five-day stay. You can do whatever you want in the next five days, but stay safe and don’t expose yourselves.”
Once everyone left, Gao Peng retrieved Dumby, then summoned the Hundred Faces Dragon Ant. He switched its element to Diurnal Ant and Hidden Dragon Ant before merging with it.
Creak— The wooden door was pushed open, but only air stood in the doorway.