Chapter 163: Chance Encounter
“What if Li Mu appears right as we retract our forces, and we miss him?”
“The chance of that happening is very small.”
“We’ve been searching for over three months, and we’re even joined by the masters from the other regions. We’re slowly narrowing down our search for Li Mu. If we give up now, everything we’ve done would have been wasted. If we restart after destroying the Su Family, it’s equivalent to starting from zero.”
“Either way, the Su Family is already trapped, There’s nothing they can do. It wouldn’t make a different if we capture them now or later on. On the other hand, we can’t afford to miss out on capturing Li Mu.”
The two factions within the Viper Clan argued.
Some of the elders remained neutral.
It was a dilemma!
Both sides seemed to have a point.
How should they choose?
Soon, all of the elders in the Viper Clan sank into silence as they struggled to justify either view over the other.
“We’re running out of time. We need to make a decision now. If we continue to get hung up like this, we will miss both opportunities to exterminate the Su Family and capture Li Mu.”
…
Xiang City, Xiang Family meeting hall, a private conference was taking place here as well.
Unlike the Su Family in Wuxin, the Xiang Family had three Virtual Realm masters.
One of them had even reached the third level of the Virtual Realm.
In contrast, only the Su Family Chief had managed to reach the Virtual Realm last year. He hadn’t even stabilized on level one of the Virtual Realm.
Yet, such a power level was already considered a force to be reckoned with within the Human Clan of Fenglan.
There were only five individuals who had reached the True Realm in the Human Clan of Fenglan. All the other organizations only had Virtual Realm masters, at best. Although Xiang Family couldn’t compare to families that had Upper Level Virtual Realm masters, they’re still far stronger than those that only had one Virtual Realm master.
On top of which, the Xiangs had several hundred masters at the Perfected Person level.
There were also more than a hundred thousand members in the family.
“Chief, I feel that the Viper Clan’s forces are too strong. Even if we send our troops, we wouldn’t be able to offer much help to the Su Family. In fact, we might end up throwing ourselves into the turmoil.”
“The Su Family has been our ally for many years,” the Chief of the Xiang Family replied, “and we’ve been depending and supporting each other all along. If we don’t help them now, how long do you think our family can survive after this?”
Most of the elders in the Xiang Family were against helping the Su Family. Their reasoning was simple — the Viper Clan was too strong. They had several masters that reached Medium Level Virtual Realm.
The Chief was facing a dilemma too.
If he commanded them to help the Su Family, he would be risking the entire family, but if he didn’t, how could they just watch as the Su Family gets wiped out?
The Fourth Elder stood up and said carefully as he looked at the Xiang Family Chief’s inter-locked brows. “Whatever our decision is, we must remember that the Su Family is part of the Human Clan. We can’t just watch them get wiped out. If we do that, how can we ever live with ourselves?”
.
No matter what, he had to support whatever the Chief says.
He can’t let the Chief lose respect in the family.
“But if we enraged the Viper Clan, then it would truly be the end of us Xiangs. Is dignity more valuable than our lives?”
The Xiang Family conference quickly descended from discussion into a chaotic quarrel.
The Fourth Elder was pretty much being reprimanded by all the other elders. His opinions were drowned out by the combined voices of the others.
The Chief’s eyes were half-closed. No one could tell what he was thinking.
After what seemed like ages to the Fourth Elder, just as he was about to break down and give up, the Chief raised his hand as a signal for everyone to quieten down.
“We have to go. Regardless or what the situation is, we can’t just let the Su Family get wiped out. If the Viper Clan is willing to show some respect to us, that’ll be ideal. But if they don’t, we’ll retreat before the battle starts and seek protection from the Zhou Family. With that, I believe they wouldn’t involve us in this matter.”
“But Chief, the Vipers are known for being relentlessly unforgiving. If the Zhou Family isn’t willing to offer us protection, then we would…”
The Chief cut him off, “No! The goal of the Vipers is to obtain the Glacial Grass. Furthermore, the Fenglan region is in chaos right now, the Viper Clan wouldn’t dare to launch an all-out assault on the Human Clan. They’re already putting themselves at risk by attacking. If they continue to attack us next, do you think the whole of Human Clan would just sit and watch?”
The Viper Clan was already attracting the attention of the entire Human Clan by laying their hands on the Su Family.
If they continue to target the Xiang Family, it would be be seen as provocation to the masters of the Human Clan as a whole.
Especially during a time like this, as the fifth Human True Realm master had appeared, together with a prodigy like Li Mu.
If the Viper Clan attacked the Human Clan at a time like this, it would be hard for the Human Clan to not see it as a provocation.
“If we’re just going there to watch and put on a show, I agree!”
“As long as it doesn’t cause any concrete damage to us, I agree to help them.”
…
The Shadow Forest outside Chang Ba County was once the Bat Clan’s territory.
As the traders once again stepped foot on this place, they felt the same eeriness in the air and felt a terrifying, yet unidentifiable scent, which made they hair stand.
This was a shortcut for traders heading to Chang Ba.
After the Bat Clan was wiped out, a large number of traders rerouted here. Now that it was safer, they would rather travel here than take a detour that would waste a lot of time and money.
To them, since this path was now clear of bats, it was the ideal route to take.
However, as more and more traders traveled this path, more and more bandits and robbers targeted the area.
A man and a woman were strolling deep into the forest.
The air was thick with the scent of blood.
There were corpses every few steps.
Some were still decomposing, some had rotten away to reveal the pale bones underneath.
The man was calm and composed, while the woman was a little scared.
“Hubby, can we take the detour please? I’m scared…”
“The purpose of bringing you on this route is not just because it’s a shortcut, it’s also so train you. It’s just a bit of blood smell, what’s the big deal?”
Li Mu frowned.
The girls are too unsuited for survival on the continent.
Perhaps it was due to the incompatibility of their genetics. From their ancestors to them, they had been hiding for generations. And because they only ran and hid, they’d lost their talents for qi cultivation.
Or maybe it was because they didn’t have the talent for qi cultivation, which made them easy targets, forcing them to hide.
Compared to Tingting and the others, how could someone be born afraid in such a cruel world?
Before long, fresh corpses started appearing on the path.
The blood on the corpses hadn’t even dried yet.
From the distance came the roars of someone fighting.
Liu Xiu immediately cowered in fear. She clutched on tightly to Li Mu’s sleeve and moved to hide behind him.
Li Mu swept the area with his divine consciousness.
He immediately saw that a Horse Clan caravan was being attacked by Wolf orcs.
There wasn’t a lot of Wolf orcs. In fact, they were outnumbered one to five by the caravan.
“Stand up straight, walk forward!” Li Mu scolded Liu Xiu. His face was stern.
Liu Xiu frantically let go of the corner of Li Mu’s clothes and puffed out her chest. Yet her trembling hands told Li Mu that her fears hadn’t just disappeared.
“If you can’t even handle seeing someone get killed like this, then you can stop calling me Hubby from now on,” Li Mu said solemnly.
Drip…
Tears started seeping out from the corner of Liu Xiu’s eyes. She rubbed it off with her sleeves, though her eye’s were still watery.
Li Mu walked forward slowly, trying his best to soften his foot steps. Liu Xiu hurriedly followed beside him, afraid that her husband would abandon her.
When they arrived at the scene, they noticed that there were at least three times as man Horse orcs as there were Wolf orcs. But there was an equal number of masters on both sides.
Despite their higher number, the Horse orcs were at the brink of peril.
The Wolf orcs could taste the incoming victory as adrenaline rushed through their veins.
Just then, two figures appeared abruptly at the edge of the conflict area. They moved slowly yet surely.
Swop.
Both sides quickly noticed the two people, and turned their eyes toward them.
“What the hell? Don’t they see that we’re robbing someone here? They choose to walk straight here and not go around us? They’re looking down on us Wolf orcs!”
“Yeah, can’t they see that we’re killing people here?”
“Oh but look at these tender little Humans, that’s some great bonus loot.”
“Mind your own business!” the leader of the Wolf orcs bellowed.
The two humans clearly knew that they were murdering people here, yet they behaved as if nothing was happening.
The Wolf orcs weren’t the only ones who were confused.
The Horse orcs also stared at the two humans too.
Is there something wrong with their brains? Don’t they know that this path is closed for the day? They even provoked the Wolf orcs!
The two humans continued to walk past the carnage until their figures moved into the distance.
Tssss…
One of the Wolf orcs took a deep sniff of the air.
“Boss, I think I just smelt the scent of one of the women from that house.”
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com