Chapter 718 - Venturing the Mountains
The White Tiger Island was huge, and it was the second-largest island in the White Dragon Archipelago. Even low-stage Heaven Monarchs would need at least half a month to fly across this island. In fact, this island wasn’t any different from a small continent.
The island had the second-largest city of the White Dragon Archipelago, White Tiger City, along with 30 other smaller cities. The terrain of the island was very complex, and most of it were lofty mountain ranges or deep ravines. It just so happened that this island was located in the southernmost side of the White Dragon Archipelago and was connected with the Blue Dragon Archipelago, making this place very prosperous. People on the Blue Dragon Archipelago must go through this route in order to enter the White Dragon Archipelago.
Thus... there were a lot of bandits in White Tiger Island. There were at least three to four hundred groups of various sizes. These were mountain bandit groups that had at least 1000 members. Those bandit groups that only had a few dozen or a few hundred members weren’t even counted.
Many mountain bandits were hidden in the mountains, either cultivating, hunting, or lying in ambush. Furthermore, normal martial artists would never be able to detect them; and if they were careless, they would be intercepted and killed by these mountain bandits.
Every city of the Gods Bestow Tribe sold a type of mystical artifact called the Illusion Stone. As long as one possessed the Illusion Stone, they would be able to set up an illusion zone at any place. This Illusion Stone seemed to be specially created by the 13 Clans, which was meant for the martial artists that weren’t qualified to live in the cities. Almost all the mountain bandit groups would possess an Illusion Stone of varying strength. During normal situations, they would be hiding into the mountain ranges or special terrains. They would only bare their sinister fangs when someone passed through.
Just like such a moment!
Jiang Yi and the others weren’t flying in the sky as it was too eye-catching, and they would die even faster. After sprinting for two hours on the island, thousands of people suddenly rushed out when they passed by a valley, who attacked without saying a single word.
The valley was very small, and Jiang Yi had already casually scouted it and didn’t find anything wrong with it. Hence, he didn’t pay any attention to it. Who would have expected to have so many martial artists flocking out from there?
“Kill!”
There was no such thing as reasoning in the Gods Bestow Tribe. Since the opposition attacked, Jiang Yi wasn’t going to reserve himself. With a wave of his hand, 105 individuals all soared into the sky with flourishing aura presence and radiating divine shields while pouring down their various attacks.
“A tough stubble, retreat!”
“So many Heaven Monarchs—escape quickly!”
“Damn it, these Heaven Monarchs are restraining their aura presences...”
After entering White Tiger Island, Jiang Yi got everyone to reduce their speed and restrain their aura presence, making it difficult to judge their true combat strength from a distance when using the divine senses.
The bandits in the valley were all not too bad and were basically at the Vajra Realm, with over twenty Heaven Monarchs; but there wasn’t a single middle-stage Heaven Monarch. When Yang Dong and the others revealed their aura presences, everyone was shocked and scuttled frantically in all directions.
Chi! Chi!
Hoo-Hoo!
Clang! Clang!
...
Yang Dong, Niu Wang, and the others didn’t bother so much. Since these mountain bandits dared to intercept them, they were going to kill to their heart’s content first. Over a hundred Heaven Monarchs released their dao pattern attacks, special abilities, and powerful artifacts.
In a split moment, the sky was filled with rays of light and successive explosions while the surrounding air shook, and deep pits were blasted in the surface of the ground. The three mountain peaks by the small valley were nearly razed to the ground as shards of rocks flew in all directions while smoke spiraled up into the sky. If one was to take a glance, there would be nothing but the desolation after a disaster.
“Ahhh!”
“My Lords, stop killing! We surrender, we surrender!”
“Spare our lives, my lords...”
There were countless pleas for mercy, miserable screams, agonized howls, but Yang Dong and the others disregarded them as they continued to kill all the people ruthlessly.
Of the three or four thousand bandits—apart from the seven or eight hundred of them who were extremely fortunate to escape in advance, the rest were all killed. The entire place was covered with corpses, shattered weapons, armor, and artifacts. Blood had dyed the lands red and converged into a river.
Jiang Yi stood in the air all the time, without moving while there weren’t any emotions on his face; neither did he order the men to stop attacking. He wasn’t a person that favored killing, but since this group of mountain bandits dared to intercept them, then they must have been prepared to be killed. This trip to the Black Wind Mountain Range might have a vicious battle, and it was good for everyone to have a warm-up battle.
“Stop chasing. Clean up the battlefield. Yang Dong, split up the loot with everyone.” Seeing one of the Heaven Monarchs trying to give chase, Jiang Yi gave his order with a wave of his hand.
Everyone was instantly delighted when they heard Jiang Yi. There might be plenty of spatial rings, weapons, armor, and artifacts that might have been destroyed, but the combined wealth of these people were considered huge. If everyone received a portion, it would be like striking a small windfall. Jiang Yi was also generous as he didn’t want anything.
As expected!
After gathering and burning all the corpses, they discovered that there were close to one million celestial stones after collecting all the loot; and everyone had quite a big share.
“Let’s depart!”
Jiang Yi waved his hand and asked everyone to fly at a low altitude. This time, he closed his eyes and entered the Union of Heaven and Man state. He wasn’t able to detect the people in the valley when he scanned it with his divine senses. However, in the Union of Heaven and Man state, his senses would be much more acute; and it would allow him to easily detect even the slightest fluctuations in the surroundings.
“Everyone, pay attention!”
After flying for one hour, Jiang Yi suddenly opened his eyes while he looked over to a dark ravine ahead with blade-like eyes and spoke in an immense voice, “There are around four to five hundred men in the ravine. Their aura presences aren’t considered powerful, and there should be eight Heaven Monarchs. Prepare for battle.”
“Alright!”
Yang Dong and the others revealed a cruel smile on their faces as they withdrew their aura presences and slowly flew ahead. As expected, when they passed by the ravine, hundreds of people burst into the sky and shout hundreds of attacks straight at them.
Buzz!
Everyone activated their divine shield at the same time which illuminated half the sky with golden light. Everyone evaded with full speed while releasing their various attacks. Many people below were stunned as these people’s aura presence didn’t feel strong initially; how did they suddenly become Heaven Monarchs?
Over a hundred Heaven Monarchs, who had such powerful strength, actually pretended to be weak martial artists and baited them out. What was happening...?
“Run—!”
Seeing that they were facing Heaven Monarchs, they all had despairing expressions, but they still tried to escape. A pity that there were over 100 Heaven Monarchs on this side, and if they allowed their enemies to escape, these experts might as well commit suicide.
The battle ended quickly as the opposing Heaven Monarchs were killed effortlessly while the Vajra Realm experts were slaughtered by cabbage. Jiang Yi waved his hand with any expression and said, “Clean up the battlefield and split the spoils of the battle.”
“Hehe!”
The Heaven Monarchs were all elated, and their originally heavy hearts were now in a much more pleasant mood. It seemed like they would have quite an increase in wealth if they were to kill along the way, to their destination and back to Sky Thunder City.
However, they didn’t have as much luck towards the latter part of the journey as they didn’t encounter anymore mountain bandit groups. A few hours later, everyone arrived at the nearby vicinity of a giant mountain range.
The mountain range was filled with black rocks, immeasurable ravines, and chilly winds. Before they even approached, they could feel their blood run cold just by looking from a distance. Jiang Yi squinted his eyes and didn’t want to let them enter the mountains. Instead, he gave his orders, “Everyone, stay vigilant and wait for me to scout the place.”
Jiang Yi released the Divine Perception and scouted the radius of a million miles which took him half a day until the sky had turned dark. Finally, he helplessly opened his eyes. He had checked the Black Wind Mountain Range in their nearby vicinity but couldn’t even spot a single person. It was obvious that the mountain range had an illusion zone.
“Yang Dong!”
He stood up and yelled out, “I am going to put all of you in a spatial artifact. After all of you enter it, get ready for battle at any moment. When necessary, I will teleport all of you out; and you will start killing immediately.”
“Yes, Chief Jiang!”
Yang Dong bowed with cupped hands and accepted his orders. Everyone’s expression turned grave while the Thearch Palace appeared, and Jiang Yi put everyone into it. The Thearch Palace was huge, and it would even be crowded after all these people entered it.
Swish!
Since he couldn’t find the enemy, he had to venture into the mountains. Jiang Yi entered the Union of Heaven and Man state and dashed in a straight line into the Black Wind Mountain Range.