Surrounding the central mountain of the island is a forest, and walking through this forest—
*Grawr!*
"…"
Narrowing his eyes, Long Hua swings the fishing rod in his right hand.
Binding up a canine-formed weapon spirit, he throws it into the air before slamming it onto the ground, burying its head into the earth.
Throughout his walk with Tian Cheng in this forest, there has been encounters of this nature every now and then. This one in particular is the fifth.
"Ai…"
Shaking his head, Long Hua can't help but feel dissatisfied with his current strength output.
"…"
Approaching the weapon spirit, Long Hua drags it out of the dirt by its tail, prior to smashing it repeatedly onto the ground with a bored look on his face.
After being repeatedly tormented by Long Hua in this manner, the weapon spirit's body begins to dissolve into particles of light.
"…"
"Master, was that you attempting to vent?"
"Pretty much."
Shaking his head, Long Hua heaves another sigh. What's the point of having a powerful cultivation base, if he cannot use it whenever he wants?
(I guess, it's not very different from being trapped inside a city? Still…)
Feeling his entire body in discomfort—as if there were numerous bug bites on him, Long Hua maintains an unpleasant frown, as he moves on.
Right after Long Hua and Tian Cheng leave—
"…"
Popping her head out of the bushes, Qing Yue, along with two other Moon Guards looks in the direction the two had departed in, with the former remarking—
"See that? That thing isn't human or Immortal… He's nothing more than a monster that answers everything with violence."
"Un."
"Un."
In response to Qing Yue's words, the two Moon Guards nod, while swallowing their own spit.
...…
Continuing to move through the greenery, Long Hua eventually sees a crowd gathered up ahead.
This location—give or take a few, is on the exact opposite side of the main camp.
"Hm?"
Seeing a familiar figure dressed in a white cardigan up ahead, Long Hua walks over to the former, and asks—
"What's the situation here?"
"…"
Turning around, Li Xue answers—
"They found a cave of some sort. A few individuals already went in, and is doing some scouting."
"I see."
With how crowded the cave's entrance is currently, Long Hua figured that it would take some time before he would be able to step in.
Figuring that he has already walked around enough, Long Hua doesn't see any more point in continuing to do so; hence, he might as well wait here with everyone else.
"Hmm."
Taking this time, to think back on the sights that he's seen so far, something that stands out to Long Hua about the island—is how uneven its terrain is.
Under normal circumstances, this shouldn't be anything unusual. However, the unevenness is mainly a result of numerous depressions on the ground.
At the same time, those depressions, they all shared a somewhat uniformed shape—causing one to think that they were all produced using the same stamp.
Similarly, the central mountain's body is also distorted in form—as if someone had taken a grinder, and went wild on attempting to polish it only to end up doing a bad job.
Another odd trait of the mountain would have to be its peak.
Its peak being slanted aside, its surface being so evidently flat—something that could be seen even from a distance away, is highly unusual; for it seems as if it was cut off by a sharp object, a feature that Long Hua, who is a user of sword Qi is quite certain of.
Keeping all the odd features that he's seen so far in mind, Long Hua thought—
(…All those roughly uniformed depressions on the ground, and the flat mountain peak—probably the handiwork of practitioners. Assuming a war had occurred here in the distant past, will I encounter another Wang Bei Mu?)
Disregarding the matter for the time being, Long Hua glances at Li Xue, and asks—
"Vice-captain, when are you gotta off surnamed Ye?"
"…?"
Being asked this question so randomly, Li Xue can't help but turn to Long Hua with an eye raised, and remarks—
"Not like you to be interested in other's affairs, surnamed Long or rather… Long-laoban at this point?"
Shrugging a shoulder, Long Hua replies—
"Yeah, you're right, I'm not interested in the affairs of others often. If it were any other time, I wouldn't be asking, but it's boring to just stand here and wait. In other words, I'm bored right now. Also, the man himself is dying, so I kind of feel like you're just wasting your time and effort."
Blinking her purple eyes, Li Xue eventually answers—
"318 times."
"Hm?"
Facing forward, Li Xue continues to say—
"That's the number of times I've attempted to kill him on the frontlines, while counting the attempts made in the city. However, you know how Sinners of his level are. More difficult to kill than a roach."
"So, you've given up?"
"Temporarily to some degree. Right now, I'm more interested in how my old man actually died. The person who came to break the news to me back then was Ye Chen. He simply told me, "I was the one who killed him, so feel free to get back at me for it." Tch, some balls he's got…"
Hearing this, Long Hua can't help but put on a smile of amusement.
(Surnamed Ye really is a hero.)
Thinking of this, Long Hua asks—
"Vice-captain, how old were you then?"
"Due to my father's reputation on the frontlines, I was dropped into the Disciplinary Bureau. At the time… I should have been 18 or 19 give or take a few—when I was told the news? Course, right after finding out the news, I quit the office, and went to the frontlines to kill that bastard. However, ten attempts on his life later, I realized how difficult the task was going to be. Trying to find out how my old man died on the frontlines… Was impossible, since the only person to have seen what had actually happened was Ye Chen alone, and his lips… They're sealed as tight as a constipated asshole."
"…I see."
Glancing at Long Hua, Li Xue out of curiosity asks—
"Long-laoban, don't you have a mistress or two?"
"The hell kind of question is that?"
"Don't all CEOs or corporate heads have one or two side-wives?"
Raising a subtle chuckle, Long Hua replies—
"You've been watching too many live dramas, vice-captain. As head of our office, surnamed Ye is similar to a CEO, why don't you ask him? If you threaten to off one of his side-wives, maybe he'll come clean with you, and tell you everything that happened? Hmm, if he doesn't have any side-wives, I guess you can threaten to pull a Eunuch Wang or Chen on him?"
Towards Long Hua's twisted suggestion, Li Xue is taken aback, and replies—
"You really are the worse…"
"Being a good person is difficult, those are the sort to die early on—while scumbags are the ones who get far and ahead in life."
"True."
"Men and women all want face, but an object… Really has no need for such a thing to be honest."
"Hm?"
Just as Li Xue wanted to ask what those words had meant—
"They're out!"