Page 12: Most wanted

Yue returned to the meeting spot successful but with some few surface wounds. From her fight, she was able to defeat the guards thanks to the movement skill she learned. Although she was at a disadvantage in strength, she was able to overcome her three opponents with speed. While waiting for the rest to return, she stayed close to a shade in order to recuperate. Using the recovery pills and essence pills in her pouch, she only needed a few minutes to recover from her bad shape.

On the other hand, Ah Mu was still going on with his fight. Unlike Yue who only got light grazes and few wounds, his body was covered with his own blood. Although he was having a bloody appearance, there's no major would that could prove fatal except the fact that he is loosing a lot of his blood.

With one remaining guard left, he gave one last combo to decapitate the enemy. As the last man standing among them on that spot, he looked like a triumphant hero that was able to kill thousands of demons considering the amount of blood splashed on the ground. Using his two swords as a support, he moved away from the bodies and went under a tree to recover. He took out the a blood rejuvenating pill and a essence recovery pill and threw it into his mouth.

Long Bai was observing the two from a distance while checking out the perimeter. Now that the whole unit of pursuers are gone, all that's left is to recuperate and head to Ling Tian's position. While the two are now recovering, Long Bai returned to the corpses from each kill sites. Since one of them is high profiles, there must be something important in him. He first returned to the body of the officer named Corporal Mountain and checked his body. Upon inspection, he only found a green token with a signature of "Corporal" written in it.

'Hm? This must be his identity token. If this signifies his rank, it should be useful in the future. Let's keep this for future purposes. We might not know, this might come in handy in the future.'

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While things have settled in Long Bai's position, one man is currently running towards the city to report everything he saw. The moment he saw the corporal mountain killed by the young man, he immediately rushed towards the city to give the report. Right now, the man is currently catching his breath while resting under a shade. With his current cultivation, traversing a 50 kilometer distance is not a possible for a single run especially that he's overwhelmed by the death of his senior.

After 1 hour and 40 minutes of compounded running, he was able to reach the city hall. Exhausted from running at full speed, he was almost kicked out of the city hall gates due to his ragged appearance.

"Wait! I have a report concerning corporal mountain. I need to report to the city major. It's an urgent one!"

After convincing the guards, he was brought into the Major's office. The man immediately fixed his posture and gave his salutations.

"Private Ryan reporting sir! I have some bad news concerning corporal Mountain and about the situation in mine #2nA1."

The city Major with the title name "Armstrong" gave a glare at the man upon hearing that there's something bad going on in his jurisdiction. And with his domineering voice, he asked the man to report everything.

"Report!"

Private Ryan gave all that happened based on what he saw in a chronological order. Starting from the news of spotting workers escaping the mine, to the failure of the locks to detonate, and of course the death of Corporal Mountain by a certain young man.

"Sir Major Armstrong, before I left the area, I heard Corporal Mountain pointing out the young man as a spy from Magvel. Although there was no certainty, the corporal thought so since the man was able to break the collar out of the neck of the other captives. When I checked the background of all the captives, the only ones that were left are all citizens of our country. As for those who escaped, they were all unrecorded since they were captured because they were trespassing our mine borders."

After giving a full length report to the city major, the edict was immediately given which was that the person who killed their officer will be posted as a most wanted person by the Nomkop country, dead or alive. Since the current country is being ruled by the military forces, they put up laws that gives their guard forces and high ranked officers the high priority. If one is known to have disrespected an officer, the city can give the highest possible charge to the one responsible. If one kills an officer, the person responsible together with its immediate family can be charged of murder and get the death penalty.

As for the rest of the members who escaped, the city major called two of the captains to pursue them. The two captains have a cultivation of the ethereal manifestation layer of the soul tempering stage. This means that these two individuals have already started expanding their essence seas. With an expanded essence sea, their essence reservoir must be at least double from anyone who are at the lower layers of cultivation. In a battle, anyone below their cultivation level will only be overwhelmed by the huge amount of essence stored in their cores. It would be similar to a water fight where the captains would be holding a basin of water while anyone below that cultivation would just be holding a dipper. The amount of essence they have is just ridiculously plenty compared to anyone with a lower cultivation.

Without wasting much time, the two captains mobilized their units that comprises of 20 guards that are at the core foundation layer. Since it was speculated that the escapees are from Magvel, they rushed towards the border that's closest to the mine. With the lead of the two captains, they run towards the location with haste.

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As the military started to advance, Shoushan and his juniors were still running towards their destination. Shoushan was leading all of his juniors using the map he received from Yue. Being in the lead, he kept his cool as he tried his best to match the surroundings with the map given to him. It's a good thing that the map given had the layout of the surrounding mountains which made the navigation easier.

While running, one of his juniors asked the leader about their current progress.

Huff! Huff! "Brother Shoushan! how much more before we can reach our destination?"

"We're almost there. If my estimation is right, we only need to run 2 kilometers more. Let's hurry!"

The group continued running for another three minutes until they reached a border that clearly tells one that it is a a dense and beast- laden lands due to the atmosphere it exudes. Compared to any places from the city's territory, the forest in front of them is much more mystifying and fear inducing due to the taller and denser trees and other kinds of woods that different beasts may thrive in. In addition to that, there are visible lines of mountains that have its deep valley covered with dense fog.

Just before Shoushan's group completely entered the dense forest, they heard a voice coming from above them. The voice almost gave everyone a fright except for Shoushan who is very much familiar with it. Shoushan immediately knew that the voice was undoubtedly from a young man he had been working with for more than a week now.

"Brother Ling Tian, I know it's you! What should we do next? Shall we wait for them?"

"Brother Shoushan, lets just wait for 20 minutes. If they won't be here after that, you can decide what to do next. For the meantime, let your companions rest."

The tired members of the boulder mountain sect was finally able to relax themselves. With the heightened senses and the constant vigilance throughout the escape made them both exhausted physically and mentally. With such stress, this moment of silence is more than they could ever wish for.

A couple of minutes have passed until the 20 minute mark came over. Everyone came back to their tensed selves as they knew that it is time for them to go no matter what. Just as someone was about to break the silence, they felt a strong breeze that passed them by. Three familiar faces showed up in a flashy manner.

At first, everyone was at high alert. Some even brought out their weapons and pointed at the three figures in front of them. However, after confirming that they were the people they have been waiting for, everyone eased up a little bit.

"Sorry brother Ling Tian for waiting too long. I did not expect that I would require more time to recuperate. Hehe." Ah Mu was scratching his head as he directed his words to the receiver.

Ah Mu explained briefly to Ling Tian about his circumstances. Just as what happened, Ah Mu needed more time for his wounds to be healed to the extent that it won't be dangerous, compared to Yue who took a little damage. After some short discussion, everyone moved towards the depths of the dead lands.

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A few kilometers away from Long Bai's group, 20 guards, 3 trackers and two captains are catching up. With the trackers they brought with them, they were able to identify which direction the escapees have ran to. Not without difficulty however due to the uncommon tracks away from the main roads, the trackers were able to deduce the main route they used.

The two captain rank officers were discussing their strategy when one of the trackers interrupted. He was fully covered from head to toe with a black cloth. Seemingly, all the trackers wear the same outfit.

"Captain White Sand and Captain Waterfall, I have something to report.",

With a nod, the tracker gave all the info they gathered from their own investigation.

"Sir, there are more or less 13 of them. Based from the size and depth of the foot prints, it suggests that the owners are heavily built. There are at least three lighter footsteps which suggest that they were from younger ones. According to the findings, the profile of these matches the report given by the city major. If we continue to follow the footsteps, they definitely entered the dead lands and must be aiming to reach one of the free cities in Magvel. The closest city from here would be the free city of Carcino, the rising merchant city. What are your next orders sir?"

The two captains look at each other in unison and nodded at the same time. This just means that the two had already decided to forego with their plan.

"Keep following the tracks. We will return with the heads of those escapees no matter what. They messed with us, we return hundred folds. We need to show to everyone that our country is merciless to its own enemy."

"Yes Captain White Sand. We will relay the message to the guards in front."

With the orders from the captain ranked officials, the punitive forces of Cinnabar City entered the dead lands in order to put down the man responsible for the death of their men. With their numbers, it wouldn't be a surprise if they would be able to survive and catch up with their pursuit.

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*Long Bai and company

Long Bai

-Essence gathering layer (4th level)

Yue

-Bone tempering layer (8th level)

Ling Tian

-Bone tempering layer (6th level)

Ah Mu

-Bone tempering layer (6th level)

Shoushan

-Bone tempering layer (4th level)

Shoushan's juniors

-Bone tempering layer (2nd level) (ave)

*Cinnabar punitive forces

Captain White Sand

-Ethereal manifestation layer (7th level)

Captain Waterfall

-Ethereal manifestation layer (7thlevel)

Trackers

-Core tempering layer (3rd level) (ave)

Guards

-Core tempering layer (4th level) (ave)