The most graceful was Zhuo Zhibo. He did not even have to move his legs. Instead, he simply stood above the surface of the water like he was on ground as he advanced rapidly. At a closer glance, there was a tiny blade below the tips of his feet.
They stopped scouting now. Xie Nande said, “That’s strange. There were clearly sounds of battle earlier, so why isn’t there a single corpse at all?”
“Who cares. Let’s just catch up to them and slaughter them all. We don’t have to worry about any of them escaping in this cave.”
“Didn’t you want to use them to kill the Zombie Daoist?”
“I don’t think they’ll even be able to reach the Zombie Daoist’s den.”
After a while of thought, Zhuo Zhibo suddenly waved his hand and made a gesture to kill. The cave constantly twisted and turned. In a place like this, Hao Pingyang would not be able to unleash the might of his cannon. There was nothing to fear.
The eyes of the Hawkwolf guards all lit up as they surged with murderousness. Some of them became excited and let out cries, while others licked their lips in a blood-thirsty manner. “It has been quite some time since we last hunted together.”
Chapter 175: I've Caught You | Legend of the Great Sage
That was indeed the problem that Li Qingshan’s group was currently facing. With the boat docked in the water, the cave ahead of them was no longer a single, straight path. Instead, it split up into three. Every single path seemed roughly the same, pitch-black and leading to who knows where. Splitting up was obviously impossible. Who knows how many more forks there would be deeper in. It would definitely exceed the number of people that they had.
“What do we do?” Li Qingshan gained an even deeper understanding of why the Hawkwolf Guard had not killed off the Zombie Daoist yet. He even doubted whether he could achieve it himself. The most difficult part would not be the battle, but the search.
Hao Pingyang smiled complacently. “Why would I come down here without preparations? I knew I couldn’t depend on you lot, so I prepared for the worst-case scenario.” As he said that, he fished out a wooden spherical object that seemed like a rugby ball. Afterwards, he twisted the top, and with a series of clicks, several tiny, hexagonal holes appeared on the object. It seemed like a bee’s nest.
With a buzz, a swarm of tiny insects emerged from the nest. They were not bees, but tiny bugs that flickered with light like fireflies.
Xiao An’s eyes lit up again. She extended her hand and caught one. She discovered that they were not actual insects, but extremely delicate mechanical bugs. Their abdomens were embedded with some unknown, green crystal. Every single one of them was an exquisite piece of art.
Li Qingshan asked, “What’s this?”
Hao Pingyang said, “Just watch and you’ll know.” Under his control, the swarm of insects split into three groups and flew down the three caves.
Hao Pingyang twisted the top of the nest again, and a green light shot out, forming a sphere in the air.
There was a large speck of light and countless smaller specks in the ball. The small specks of light divided into three groups and formed three twisted paths from the large speck of light. At a closer glance, those were three caves that differed in shape and size. It actually formed a three-dimensional map in the sphere of light.
Li Qingshan immediately understood its purpose. He praised the wonders of mohism once again. Afterwards, he saw the specks of light separate and leave behind even more paths, sculpting out a detailed map.
Hao Pingyang said, “I found it in the warehouse. It’s a puppet for searching and building maps. Everyone rest up and catch your breaths. Once I find the Zombie Daoist’s den, we can set off.”
“Senior brother sure is prepared!” Jin Bao praised. They all sat down and consumed pills to regather their strength.
Hao Pingyang focused on controlling the puppet insects. Before long, one of them discovered a cave with signs of human excavation. Soon afterwards, the insect was destroyed by something, and the connection was lost.
“Damn insect!” A shriveled hand crushed an insect. The Zombie Daoist rubbed the stone coffin beside him like he was rubbing the face of his lover. “Don’t worry. There’ll be fresh blood very soon. It’ll be the blood of Qi Practitioners.”
Li Qingshan pointed at the sphere of light. “Seems like it’s there!”
Zhang Lanqing and everyone else was overjoyed. The target was right before them now.
Hao Pingyang said, “Once I recall all of the insects, we’ll set off!” When the last mechanical bug returned to the nest-like object, Hao Pingyang stood up and gave the order to set off. However, he suddenly frowned and looked at the cave behind him.
Li Qingshan said, “It looks like I’ll only be able to accompany you till here!” At the end of the day, he still needed to deal with his own matters in person. Zhuo Zhibo had already survived two clashes against him, but he could not allow that to happen again. It was time to put an end to it.
Zhang Lanqing said, “What!” Afterwards, he sensed a powerful aura from the cave and a sharp killing intent, which made his heart jump. He Yishi and the two brothers could feel the determination behind the killing intent, so their faces changed. They could not help but look at Li Qingshan.
They spent most of their time learning how to build things in the Academy of the Hundred Schools, but they were not naive. They understood what collateral damage was. If the Black Hawk commander was truly determined to kill Li Qingshan, he probably would not care about them. He would try to silence them with death instead.
Hao Pingyang said immediately, “We’ll set off right now! Lanqing, steer the boat!”
Li Qingshan shook his head. “No, the boat is not fast enough to shake them off. This has nothing to do with you in the first place, so you should go first. I’ll catch up and regroup very soon once I shake them off.”
“Qingshan is right. It’ll be more difficult for them to find him if he’s alone. The cave is as complicated as a maze, so they might not necessarily be able to find him. If we flee together, we’ll be caught in a pincer attack from in front and behind. Senior brother, you should make up your mind!” He Yishi could not help but say. He did not want to fall out with a Black Hawk commander over a single kid he had met recently. There was no benefit at all, and it would bring him life-threatening danger instead.
The Zombie Daoist had lost his Submerged Shadow sword, and his traps were destroyed as well. He was as weak as he could get. Even without Li Qingshan, they were confident that they could take him down. His thoughts even became darker. He even began to think about how there was no need to give up that thirty percent share if Li Qingshan was no longer with them.
Hao Pingyang said, “Let’s fight them!” However, aside from Zhang Lanqing, who stood up nervously, no one else said anything more.
The aura drew closer and closer. Jin Bao said, “Qingshan, you can leave Xiao An with us. We’ll take good care of her.” Xiao An possessed two Thousand Mechanism crossbows, so she was extremely powerful, and she would not be receiving a share. Of course, they would never admit that was what they were thinking.
“How can you do that? Didn’t we say that we’re all in the same boat? If it weren’t for Qingshan, we would’ve all died in the morgue already,” Zhang Lanqing could not help but say. Li Qingshan was his saviour. How could he turn his back on his saviour?
He Yishi grumbled, “He did not save my life previously.” He was a noble disciple of mohism. A great future awaited him, so why would he risk his life over something like this?
Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 101-Chapter 200)
Dream Teller's books
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 1-Chapter 100)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 201-Chapter 300)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 301-Chapter 400)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 401-Chapter 500)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 501-Chapter 600)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 601-Chapter 700)
- Legend of the Great Sage (Chapter 701-Chapter 833)