Chapter 1173

The man’s lips trembled with pain, yet he asked, “Why are you acting as dogs for the Yao Kingdom? All your suffering and hardships were caused by…”

Second Uncle cut him off, a look of shame on his face. “If we don’t kill you, someone else will. Sir, I apologize.”

“You’re only killing me for money!” the man quickly retorted. “But doing the Yao Kingdom’s dirty work will surely backfire in the future! By then, your Ying clan won’t even have a place to stand in the Shanjing Plains!”

His gaze swept around, meeting Axun’s eyes. He immediately said, “You, young man, your life is still long. Do you want to be scorned and looked down upon for the rest of your days? Let me go, and the Ying people’s reputation is sure to change for the better in the future.”

Axun suddenly said, “If you knew this would happen, why did you oppose the Yao Kingdom?”

“Someone has to!” The man, sweating profusely under the clan chief’s gaze, still gritted his teeth and said, “The Shanjing Plains have been in chaos for hundreds of years. I’ve traveled and studied in Beijia, where I witnessed a rare level of power and prosperity. Only then did I realize that this place of ours is the most suffering and hopeless place in the world!”

The Ying people remained silent.

The Shanjing Plains weren't great, but where else could they go?

Seeing this, the man looked disappointed. “Following a crazy clan chief, ignorant and unenlightened, is one thing. But don’t you want to live a good life? Don’t you want your children and grandchildren to live good lives?”

The clan chief said indifferently, “If we kill you, we’ll have good lives from now on.”

The man immediately retorted, “On what grounds? Just because you can’t tell right from wrong? A single person’s bravery can’t bring hope to an entire clan! Do you even know the Ying people’s reputation outside…”

“Such deceptive talk, indeed.” The clan chief smiled, placed a hand on the man’s head, and was about to crush his skull.

Axun finally couldn’t bear it. He stepped forward and forcefully pushed his father’s arm away. “Father, no!”

This was his first time touching the Rahu Armor, and strange voices immediately echoed in his ears, as if someone was speaking to him.

But these voices sent shivers down his spine.

The clan chief frowned, his gaze turning cold. “What are you doing?”

“This mission isn’t worth it. Why should we become public enemies?” Axun said urgently. “Killing him will only harm our clan, not benefit it! Letting him go would instead…”

Before he could finish, the clan chief slapped him, sending him ten feet away, cutting off the rest of his words.

Axun’s ears rang, and blood streamed from his nose.

Several clansmen rushed over to help him up.

As he got to his feet, he saw his father extend a foot and press it down slowly on the man’s chest.

With a crisp crack of bones, the man’s chest slowly caved in.

It was as if the clan chief were crushing a fragile biscuit.

But the man’s screams were utterly horrifying.

“Enough!” Second Uncle couldn’t watch anymore. He stepped forward and twisted the man’s neck, giving him a release.

“Work’s done.” The clan chief put away his weapon and gestured with his chin to the wolf pack. “The bodies are all yours.”

The wolves turned and left; it was feeding time.

They were the forest’s scavengers.

The clan chief turned and walked out of the forest. “The mission is complete. Send a reply to the Yao Kingdom and tell them to honor their agreement immediately!”

No one responded behind him.

The clan chief turned and saw that the Ying people were all standing still. When he looked at someone, they lowered their heads, avoiding his gaze.

“What are you still standing around for?”

At his roar, the crowd finally followed.

Axun wiped away the blood from his nose, recalling the moment he had touched the armor.

Was it his imagination, or did the armor seem displeased with his father?

“Weak… too weak… you come…”

This was the emotion he felt.

Indeed, before going to Jingshan, his father’s physical strength and energy had been declining year by year, making it difficult for him to hold onto the clan chief’s position. But his father’s performance just now was heroic; could that still be considered weak?

As far as the eye could see, the mountainside was dotted with flickering torches.

The last underground palace where the fox demon was hiding was already surrounded by the Yao army. In a few more hours at most, the Yao army would find the entrance to the underground palace, and General Chongwu’s patience would be rewarded.

“Follow the mountain path,” He Lingchuan said, pointing to a crevice ahead. “Let’s conduct an experiment first.”

The mountain peak was fractured here, with a large, narrow crevice in the middle, like a cake cut with a crooked slice.

The two walked south along the crevice.

There was no path here, only rugged cliffs of hard rock, with drops of several tens of feet where one might lose footing. For an ordinary person to walk here on a dark night would be tantamount to suicide.

He Lingchuan had no trouble climbing and descending, and with the aid of his grappling hook, he was almost as fast as Ling Guang on such sharp mountain ridges. Dong Rui, not skilled in agility techniques, found it difficult to move. Fortunately, he had his demon puppet; he could ride on the shoulder of the enlarged ghost ape, moving as if on flat ground.

He Lingchuan chose this most difficult path because the Yao army would largely be unable to pursue them here, making it convenient for him to conduct his experiment.

If the Yao army did come, the two could just jump into the crevice.

This terrain was truly impassable for ordinary people.

“Why don’t you…” The ghost ape’s big leap cut off Dong Rui’s sentence. “Why don’t you go where there are fewer torches?”

“That might also be a trap,” He Lingchuan said. “Wild beasts and demons instinctively feel safer in dark places. Get down quickly, and don’t move!”

At his warning, the ghost ape hid beneath a large rock, curling up.

Trees grew both above and below the large rock, their dense leaves completely concealing them.

He Lingchuan made a silencing gesture to his companions.

After about ten breaths, the sound of flapping wings came from above.

A bird demon scout.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror had detected it first, confirming it was a night owl.

The fluffy gray bird hadn’t seen them; it paused on the large rock to preen its feathers for a while before slowly spreading its wings and ascending to continue its patrol.

The Yao army had a rich variety of troops; night owls were indeed the best scouts and reconnaissance agents for searching mountains at night.

Only after it flew far away did He Lingchuan and the others continue their journey.

He first climbed to a high vantage point, looking out at the sea of torches below.

“The Yao army isn’t coming this way, excellent.” The densest concentration of torches would surely indicate General Chongwu’s location. The fact that they weren't converging here meant the situation met He Lingchuan’s expectations. “Either the tracking spell landed on another small fox demon, or it landed on the three-tailed great demon but is temporarily blocked by the Bili Grotto-Heaven.”

In any case, the fact that they weren’t being specifically tracked was their greatest advantage.

“Hey, just wandering around the mountain won’t work,” Dong Rui reminded him. “Mind the time limit; the three-tailed demon can’t stay in the Bili Grotto-Heaven for too long.”

As soon as half an hour was up, the three-tailed demon would have to leave the small world.

Before that, He Lingchuan had to escape Baitou Ridge with the Bili Grotto-Heaven.

“I see the Yao army has tightened its formation, consolidating all its forces onto this single mountaintop, advancing upwards from the base.” They had already pushed up to a quarter of the way up the mountain.