Chapter 662: Chapter 661 Shocked
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
After those people had left, a series of deep breaths continuously echoed from the valley, unable to subside for a long time.
The mercenaries stood there dumbfounded, staring at the valley in front of them, speechless for quite a while.
They had just witnessed some unbelievable scenes: a sixth-rank Qi-refining martial artist used merely two moves to severely injure and kill a fifth-rank Qi-refining martial artist!
Such combat prowess was indeed shocking!
...
Half a day later, Liu Zheng and his companions had reached the outskirts of Skywolf City where an ancient castle stood, the very place where Liu Zheng resided.
In the villa where Liu Zheng lived.
Liu Zheng looked at the women in front of him and asked, "Are all of you alright? Have you sustained any injuries?"
"No... no, thank you, Young Master, for saving our lives," they replied.
"Thanks to you, Young Master, we escaped that man’s pursuit, or else we would have been in a terrible situation!"
...
Everyone shook their heads, a trace of joy at having survived a calamity appearing on their faces.
All of this had been thanks to Liu Zheng; otherwise, they might have already met with disaster.
"Hehe, please, take a seat." Liu Zheng said with a smile, waving his hand before turning to look at Lin Qianqian.
Lin Qianqian nodded slightly, then said to the other women, "You take your seats first. I need to discuss something with Brother Su."
"Oh!"
The women nodded and took their seats on the chairs.
"You all chat amongst yourselves, I need to step out for a bit!" Liu Zheng said, looking at Lin Qianqian.
"Alright!" Lin Qianqian responded.
Liu Zheng turned and left the villa, then found another house, and bought a nearby villa to temporarily settle everyone. Afterward, he headed towards the city gates.
When Liu Zheng arrived at the city gate, he encountered a group of people in black robes.
Upon seeing the attire of the black-robed people, Liu Zheng’s eyebrows furrowed, "Who sent these black-robed people? Could it be Tian Ba from the Skywolf mercenary troupe?"
"I don’t know," Liu Zheng shook his head. "By their looks, they should have no connection with the Skywolf mercenary troupe. They emanate a strong aura of malevolence, presumably belonging to some martial artist."
...
"Who are you, and why are you invading the Skywolf mercenary group’s estate?" The leader, an elderly man, coldly demanded.
"Humph!" Liu Zheng snorted coldly, his gaze sweeping around.
"So, you’re the head of the Skywolf mercenary group, Tian Ba? It’s none of your business who I am. I just want to ask you, who instructed you to target the members of my Skywolf mercenary group?" Liu Zheng asked in a deep voice.
"You’re a member of the Skywolf mercenary group?" Tian Ba’s brows furrowed, followed by a mocking smile, "Kid, you’re really funny. We’ve come to Skywolf City to carry out a mission. You’re calling us members of the Skywolf mercenary group, are you claiming to be one of them? I think you’re an idiot!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Zheng’s face darkened.
The Skywolf mercenary group, he had heard of them before. Reportedly, their leader was a peak eighth-rank Qi-refining martial artist with more than two hundred mercenaries under his command, making them extremely formidable.
"Hehe, members of the Skywolf mercenary group dare to run wild in Skywolf City, aren’t you afraid of playing with fire?" Liu Zheng said coldly.
"Hehe, hahaha, hahaha..." Upon hearing Liu Zheng’s words, Tian Ba couldn’t help but burst into laughter, "Kid, did your brain get soaked in water? This is Skywolf City. With us here, who do you think will be afraid?"
"We are elites from the Skywolf mercenary group. Even if the City Lord of Skywolf City himself were to come, he wouldn’t dare to provoke us. Let alone a little guy like you whose hair hasn’t even grown fully yet?"
"Humph!" Liu Zheng snorted coldly, his eyes icy as he looked at Tian Ba.
Tian Ba trembled slightly under Liu Zheng’s cold gaze, and his face showed a hint of shock, but he quickly recovered.
"Fine, since you’re unwilling to reveal your identity, I can’t be bothered to waste my breath on you. You’d better surrender without resistance, to avoid suffering later on."
Liu Zheng snorted once more and without paying further attention to Tian Ba, he left.
...
"Young Master, have you really decided to join the Skywolf mercenary group?" Lin Qianqian asked doubtfully.
"Yes," Liu Zheng nodded, "Although I don’t know who is behind the Skywolf mercenary group, since they dare to make a move against us, I won’t let them get away with it!"
"What about those brothers in the Skywolf mercenary group, how do you plan to deal with them?" Lin Qianqian asked again.
Liu Zheng was momentarily startled upon hearing this, then said, "I plan to incorporate them!"
Incorporating the Skywolf mercenary group wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment idea for Liu Zheng.
His previous thoughts were the same!
After all, he was no longer the Liu Zheng of before!
Deep in Liu Zheng’s heart, he already believed that the Skywolf mercenary group simply wasn’t qualified to be his opponent.
However, he didn’t share this thought with Lin Qianqian.
"Is this... possible?" Lin Qianqian hesitated for a moment, then spoke up, "The strength of the Skywolf mercenary group is not weak, and their leader is an expert of the ninth level of the Qi Refining Realm. Moreover, they have around a thousand men, and each of them possesses quite impressive combat abilities. Are you really confident that you can incorporate them?"
Upon hearing this, a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of Liu Zheng’s mouth, "Incorporate them, what’s so difficult about that?"
"If they are willing to submit, I might indeed give them a chance!"
After saying this, Liu Zheng looked straight into Lin Qianqian’s eyes, as if he wanted to see through her heart by the look in her eyes.
"I... I don’t quite understand what you mean!" Lin Qian lowered her head, somewhat flustered.
"It’s nothing!" Liu Zheng waved his hand, "I was just speaking off the cuff!"
"Oh." Lin Qianqian nodded.
The two of them continued moving forward, with Liu Zheng surveying the surroundings as they walked, trying to find a route from the terrain that would allow him to eliminate these people, leaving no survivors.
However, Liu Zheng failed because these black-robed men seemed to have guessed Liu Zheng’s intentions early on. They did not take the official road but bypassed it, entering the forest and hiding among the trees.
"It seems they were already prepared!" Liu Zheng murmured to himself.
"Young Master, what should we do now?" Lin Qianqian asked, sounding a bit anxious.
"Since we’ve entered the forest, we can’t keep moving forward!" Liu Zheng shook his head, "Taking the official road would only expose us, and that will be dangerous."
"But, how can we avoid them?"
"Don’t worry!" Liu Zheng shook his head and then took out a Jade Talisman. After muttering an incantation, the Jade Talisman transformed into a huge rock, which immediately blocked Liu Zheng and Lin Qianqian.
Afterward, Liu Zheng released his soul power to sense everything around him.
He had already observed that there were many mountain ranges in this desolate mountain, and the terrain here was quite complex, which was not conducive to ambushes or sneak attacks.
"Young Master, are we just going to hide in this cave?" Lin Qianqian looked at Liu Zheng and asked.
"Yes!" Liu Zheng nodded, "You stay inside the cave for now, I’ll go and scout their whereabouts!"
"Alright then!" Lin Qianqian hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed with Liu Zheng.
After that, Liu Zheng, holding a Soul Stone, stepped out of the cave.
This was a hollow in the mountains, filled with many towering ancient trees. Standing among them, Liu Zheng listened carefully for a long while but detected nothing out of the ordinary.
"Could it be that the people from the Skywolf mercenary group have not yet arrived here?" Liu Zheng wondered.
He observed the vicinity for a good while and still found nothing, which sparked doubts in his mind. He couldn’t help but wonder if the people from the Skywolf mercenary group had already retreated.
"Can our luck be this bad?"
Liu Zheng muttered to himself. At this point, he had lost both people and resources.
Moreover, the most important point was that those people from the Skywolf mercenary group were not yet dead and were still secretly searching for his whereabouts.
If they learned of Liu Zheng’s location, they would probably lead a pursuit to kill him immediately.
"Could it be that I have to wait for them to leave completely before I can rest assured and rest?"
Thinking this, Liu Zheng couldn’t help but lament that he couldn’t continue living like this; he had to resolve the matter with the Skywolf mercenary group as soon as possible.
