Chapter 62: Junior Brother Su Helps Me
Because of the interruption from Seven Blades Martial Arts School and Little Mountain Association, Li Jinshan naturally couldn’t continue resting.
The team packed up their gear and immediately set off. The two tiger corpses had already been roughly processed and loaded onto the cart.
Li Jinshan credited both tigers to Su Yan. Before they even arrived, Su Yan’s account had gained over a hundred taels of silver.
Among the crowd, some were naturally envious, but Li Shun and the others felt even more jealous and resentful.
If Su Yan hadn’t intervened, how could they have ended up as a laughingstock.
However, even so, they could only swallow this insult. It was their own failure; they couldn’t even take down a single tiger.
Li Jinshan led the team onward without further rest, crossing mountains and ridges, traversing muddy mountain paths, and finally arriving at Wa Shan Pass as night fell.
Wa Shan Pass was at a mid-mountain position with gentle terrain. The shrubs and weeds had all been cleared away.
Tall trees had been felled, branches stripped, and several wooden huts built in their place.
Above mid-mountain, there were only sparse trees. The terrain wasn’t high, and just a few hundred meters below mid-mountain was a mountain stream.
This location had open terrain. Crossing it led into the deep mountain territory, which explained why most teams rested here.
“Rest here tonight. Light campfires and secure the horses and cargo.”
Li Jinshan’s gaze swept over the entire Wa Shan Pass. Beyond this clearing, dense shrubs and vines began, with gloomy trees accompanied by eerie bird calls at dusk, making one’s heart uneasy.
“Gao Zheng, assign people to clear the surrounding forest within a hundred meters and scatter powdered medicine.”
“Yes, Senior Brother.”
Though Li Jinshan appeared to be an honest, clumsy fellow at first glance, closer interaction revealed him to be steady and meticulous.
Today they had clashed with Seven Blades Martial Arts School and Little Mountain Association, and relations with those groups had never been good.
If they weren’t careful tonight, any mishap would lead to heavy losses.
Su Yan was also in the team, carrying his weapon as he strode into the shrubs.
“Swoosh”
His eyes were sharp and hands quick. The gray rabbit that had just been startled and fled its burrow hadn’t fully emerged when it was pierced by an arrow.
“Senior Brother Su has great archery!”
“Even better than a hunter.”
With a few consecutive arrows, Su Yan had shot down two gray rabbits and three wild pheasants. The area in front of him was now free of other beasts.
With such unerring marksmanship and the boldness shown in shooting from the tiger’s back, even the outer disciples in the team, and some inner disciples, began calling him Senior Brother.
“This area is cleared. Take the gray rabbits and wild pheasants back to cook and share with everyone.”
Su Yan stowed his bow and arrow, calling to his team to carry the game back.
Hearing Su Yan’s order, they immediately gathered the gray rabbits and took them to the campfire.
As everyone left, Su Yan turned, his gaze flickering imperceptibly. In that instant, the White Bone Poison Centipede was released and silently slipped into the shrubs.
After evolving, the White Bone Poison Centipede was slightly larger but even faster and more ferocious, vanishing into the shrubs like a flood dragon entering the sea.
With a few rustling sounds, it had already followed the mountain forest into greater depths.
And its destination was precisely Qing Ya Valley.
‘Collect some interest first.’
A cold glint flashed in Su Yan’s eyes. Even if he couldn’t kill Blood Moving Realm or Spirit Nurturing Realm experts, with the White Bone Poison Centipede’s advantage in the forest, creating minor trouble and killing a few people was no difficulty.
Night gradually fell over the mountain forest. The pitch-black trees seemed like man-eating monsters, accompanied by creepy insect chirps and bird calls, plus low roars from unknown wild beasts.
In such an environment, humans felt like they were trapped in a cage—insignificant and liable to be swallowed by the darkness at any moment.
The Yunling Desolate Mountains were so hard to develop not just due to lack of manpower, but because such conditions were utterly unsuitable for long-term human habitation.
The guards split into shifts, ate, and prepared to stand watch according to Li Jinshan’s arrangements.
Su Yan wasn’t assigned to night watch and entered a wooden hut early to rest.
The mountains cooled rapidly, especially at Wa Shan Pass, which was like an open gap after the trees were cut.
The mountain wind howled through, making distant trees creak like ghostly wails.
Though Su Yan had lain down, he wasn’t resting but sensing the White Bone Poison Centipede’s movements.
One evolution hadn’t granted the White Bone Poison Centipede full intelligence, but it was more cunning than the Yin Water Centipede.
At the same time, their subtle connection had grown slightly stronger.
The White Bone Poison Centipede traversed the mountain forest, encountering a black bear midway. A single White Bone Centipede spike pierced and poisoned it on the spot.
Continuing onward, it had now caught the scent of Yin Ruguang and his group from earlier today and pursued them.
‘Still a bit early.’
Sensing its position, Su Yan remained utterly calm, like a patient hunter.
It was only midnight, not yet time for exhaustion.
Even if the White Bone Poison Centipede arrived, Su Yan would wait until the third or even fifth watch before acting.
He and the White Bone Poison Centipede both had experience with this.
Waiting like this with eyes closed in meditation, suddenly a roar shattered the calm at Wa Shan Pass.
“Everyone up!”
“Boom”
Li Jinshan’s furious roar had just sounded when a tremendous boom followed.
A wooden hut near the forest edge was smashed by a huge stone. The two inner disciples inside had no chance to escape and were crushed to death.
Su Yan flipped over and rushed out of his hut.
Cold moonlight illuminated a terrifying vicious beast leaping down, roaring madly, pounding its heavy hammers like drums.
“Rock Tiger Demon”
The Rock Tiger Demon stood five meters tall, its body interwoven with earthy yellow and black patterns. Its arms were tiger-like and muscular, its face fierce and savage. It had no fur, instead covered in rock-like armor.
Su Yan’s eyesight was eagle-sharp; one glance identified it, and he knew it was bad.
‘Rock Tiger Demon, at least first-order mid-stage strength. This one is probably late first-order.’
Its powerful aura intimidated everyone, leaving no one daring to approach.
The Rock Tiger Demon snatched a guard who couldn’t dodge in time.
That guard was only at Skin Refining Minor Accomplishment—how could he withstand such an attack?
In one blow, he was torn open, muscles and bones shattered, dead instantly.
Su Yan then noticed the Rock Tiger Demon’s arms were longer than a feline’s, with four claw-like fingers, even more powerful.
“Bold creature!”
Li Jinshan charged forward. The Rock Tiger Demon swung both arms.
Li Jinshan neither dodged nor evaded, stance firm as a pine. He stepped forward, arms whitening like jade, lifting to block the heavy strike.
He exhaled a stream of white qi, his muscles and bones bulging. In an instant, he transformed, his aura surging like a fierce old ape in the mountains.
“Up you go!”
He grabbed and flung, sending the Rock Tiger Demon’s thousands of jin body flying.
Li Jinshan leaped up, elbow as weapon, qi and blood surging like a long rainbow, vital energy condensing like an iron hammer, smashing heavily onto the Rock Tiger Demon’s hard armor.
A boom shook the ground; countless bones in the Rock Tiger Demon shattered.
The Rock Tiger Demon struggled up and fought fiercely with Li Jinshan—like thunder meeting fire, mountains toppling and sun moon dimming, every move heavy and forceful, inspiring both fear and awe.
“Awoo”
At that moment, a wolf howl rang out. Glowing eyes flickered in the dark forest, one after another like fireflies, bursting from the shrubs to assault the camp.
“Gray Thorn Wolves! Form defensive lines!”
Gray Thorn Wolves were uniformly gray, larger than ordinary forest wolves, with sharp spikes hidden under the long fur at their neck sides.
They came in a pack of twenty or thirty.
Gao Zheng had already led men to meet them; they had to hold the line.
Seeing this, Su Yan turned as if to grab his bow, but flicked his hand, tossing the Velvet Fire Scorpion Insect into the shrubs.
‘Search.’
He gave a single command: find the anomaly.
Rock Tiger Demons and Gray Thorn Wolves were both predators. For them to appear simultaneously was suspicious—if there was no issue, Gao Zheng would take Su Yan’s surname.
Holding the fine steel longbow, he saw Gao Zheng charge forward, blocking a huge Gray Thorn Wolf before shouting loudly: “Junior Brother Su, help me! Take out the feral beasts breaking through the line!”
