Raid

On a mountain top within Mountain Range of Desolation, Xue Ying and Zong Ling squatted while looking into the distance.

"Uncle Zong."

Xue Ying asked him, "It’s been 12 days since we started searching the Mountain Range of Desolation, but we still haven’t found any traces of the Bent Blade Union."

"Every time the Bent Blade Union fled into Mountain Range of Desolation, they would appear around this area. According to the information collected over the past few years, the area we outlined shouldn’t be wrong."

Their main goal for this adventure in the Mountain Range of Desolation was to hunt the Bent Blade Union!

The Bend Blade Union had been the scourge of Water Rites Town for a very long time. Every time, people would see them come out and do evil things, then flee after, so they knew approximately where the Union was.

They also had to investigate any camps they had outside their base.

They had chosen to camp in the center of an area that penetrated 250 kilometers into the mountain range! That was the target area that Xue Ying and his aides chose.

They believed the Bent Blade Union was within this area!

"The bandits of the Bent Blade Union often come and go, so naturally, there must be a relatively safe path for them! However, it’s the Mountain Range of Desolation. Magic beasts may show up at any time, so they probably don’t go very deep into the mountains. Otherwise, it would take about 15 hours for a round trip. Their pace is not much faster than ours. Many of them aren’t even knights," Zong Ling said. "Let’s take our time, we will find them eventually."

"En."

A range of 250 kilometers did not seem like a big area, but it was still difficult for two people to search.

Anyway, the base of the Bent Blade Union had to be some secret place.

　　...

Xue Ying and Zong Ling kept searching carefully. They occasionally encountered magic beasts, but because his power rivaled that of a Silver Moon Knight’s and he also had his powerful spear technique, Xue Ying could hold them back. There were rarely magic beasts that exceeded rank three in the periphery anyways.

Huhuhu~~~

In the dark mountains, snow wouldn’t melt for thousands of years. A chill filled the air.

Xue Ying and Zong Ling quietly searched for traces of the Bent Blade Union.

"Eh?" Xue Ying’s ears twitched. He said in a low voice, "Uncle Zong, let’s go there and have a look." as he pointed to a distant highland.

"What did you find?" Zong Ling asked as he quietly walked in that direction with Xue Ying.

"You’ll know when you see it."

Xue Ying carefully climbed up to the highland.

Zong Ling followed him. They hid themselves behind the highland and looked into the distance.

In front was a big, beautiful lake which resembled jade. A large group gathered around the lake, splintering off into smaller groups of twos or threes. They were all either drinking or resting on the grass. At first glance, it seemed that the group had about two or even three hundred wolves! The wolves were much larger than the Black-Scaled-Jackals. Each wolf had smooth white fur that even rivalled that of a Frost Pegasus.

"The Silver Moon Wolf pack!" Zong Ling gulped, his face a little pale.

"And the Wolf King!" Xue Ying looked at the wolf farthest away. The largest wolf on the lakeside was the Wolf King. About ten relatively larger wolves surrounded their king.

"I never thought that I’d really find the Silver Moon Wolf King." Xue Ying smiled, but his face was bitter.

"Let’s go. There is no chance for us to win." Zong Ling shaked his head.

Xue Ying stared at the wolf.

That’s right.

Not even a bit of a chance!

Even as a rank 3 magical beast, the Silver Moon Wolf was still much larger than a Black-Scaled Jackal! The wolf had a strong impact force as well; when a 4000 kg wolf ran, its impact force could exceed 10,000 kg! Xue Ying could defeat five jackals with one single swipe, but a wolf? Xue Ying could only swipe one wolf at a time! Even five Meteor Knights couldn’t defeat 300 wolves.

And the strongest wolf king!

By moving nimbly, I can control the battle so I’m only facing a few wolves at a time. Xue Ying planned in his heart.But it probably won’t be so easy if the wolves are under the king’s command. Once I’m surrounded by the wolves, there’ll be no chance for me to escape.

"Go!" Xue Ying chose to give up.

Xue Ying had entered the Mountain Range for quite some period of time, so he clearly understood how scary these magic beasts could be. If he went to fight with the wolves, his chance of winning was less than 10%, and the probability of his death could be 80%!

It wasn’t worth the risk.

　　...

Three days later.

Xue Ying spared no effort to search for the Bent Blade Union base.

"Indeed, the Bent Blade Union hid themselves very well." Xue Ying gritted his teeth. They had searched the area twice since half a month ago.

"They fear that their nest might get discovered." Zong Ling smiled. "Xue Ying, you need to be more patient. Your uncle, parents and I spent three whole months searching for a precious deposit."

"Did you find it?" Xue Ying asked.

"No," Zong Ling said.

"No?" Xue Ying stared blankly back. He thought Uncle Zong mentioned this because it was a big gain.

Zong Ling smiled, "What, is it weird? Does searching for a treasure means you’ll get it eventually? Most things in this world won’t go as we wish."

Xue Ying nodded.

This stirred up his feelings.

In this world, nine out of ten things wouldn’t satisfy people.

Although Xue Ying thought himself better than Uncle Zong in some fields like finance and cultivation techniques, but he knew little of philosophy.

The two men kept searching.

Right at this moment——

A thin, small, four-legged beast with a vague dusky figure stood in a tree and looked down at Xue Ying and Zong Ling.

Xue Ying and Zong Ling hadn’t noticed it at all.

Shua.

With an easy jump, the beast landed on another tree. It continued to stare at them. Even though Xue Ying had keen senses, he hadn’t notice its movements.

It had a streamlined figure and was as big as a Black-Scaled Jackal.

But its fur was like silk, giving the illusion that its body was like that of a ghost.

This was a horrible hunter—the rank 5 magic beast, Shadow Leopard.

A frightening Shadow Leopard lurked silently within the shadows. By the time it showed its fangs, it’s prey would usually already dead! It was the top predator in the mountain range.

The legendary rank 6 magic beast, ‘Shadow Leopard King’, could conceal its whole body in the shadows. People couldn’t see it even if they kept their eyes wide open.

Hu, hu, hu...

The Shadow Leopard moved towards them quietly, locking onto the young man in black as its target.

As a top-class predator, it could feel that the young man in black was more threatening than the silver-haired serpent. It would be easy as long as the young man was killed.

Shou!

Killing intent flashed in the Shadow Leopard's gray eyes as it suddenly leapt out.

A gray shadow!

Too fast.

Even Xue Ying’s maximum speed was slower than the speed of a Shadow Leopard. Its speed was a headache for even Silver Moon knights.

"Mn?" While walking with Uncle Zong, Xue Ying’s complexion suddenly changed. His hairs stood on end and his heart clenched.

"Die!"

There was no time to look back or otherwise defend. Xue Ying could only rush forward and stab backwards! His stab was powerful enough to block a rank 4 magic beast, but the Shadow Leopard attacking them was a rank 5 magic beast!

The leopard’s claws smashed onto the shaft of the spear. It pushed the spear downwards, jumped up and scratched Xue Ying’s back. A horrible impact pushed Xue Ying’s body forward and down to the ground.

Peng!

As a Great Master in spearmanship, Xue Ying was able to spin his spear around while being attacked by the Shadow Leopard’s sharp claws. He swung down on the Shadow Leopard, giving it no time to dodge. Although Xue Ying’s body was flying forward, he managed to flip around and make this powerful attack.

The Shadow Leopard fell onto the ground, but its soft body quickly absorbed the force and it fled away.

Xue Ying landed while rolling and crouched on the ground. Gripping his spear, Xue Ying glowered at the Shadow Leopard. His back was on fire and his organs were shaking. He tasted blood.

Pu. Xue Ying spat the blood out, dying his teeth red. He unwaveringly watched the Shadow Leopard.