Chapter 460: Jade Wheel Mountain

Chapter 459: Mount Yulun

Everyone was startled.

His teammates already trusted his judgment, and Menban asked, puzzled, "Why?"

Hu Min quickly interjected, "Hold on, hold on! Place your bets first, then hear the explanation!"

He followed He Lingchuan, betting an ounce of silver. Alo thought for a moment and also bet on "returning west."

Menban pulled out his silver, looked from side to side, and hesitated, "Then I... I'll bet..."

He also wanted to bet on returning west, but just as he formed his mouth to say "west," Liu Tiao's slender eyebrows shot up and her eyes narrowed.

He immediately changed his mind: "I bet on advancing east!"

"What about Old Yu?" The beastmaster, Old Yu, was also on their team.

Old Yu scratched his head, "I don't gamble."

Everyone scoffed, "Lame!"

After Hu Min collected the silver, He Lingchuan cleared his throat:

"The Jintao to the east is already prepared. I heard their military personnel are much stronger than Xi Ji's, and the terrain is mostly mountainous, giving them geographical and human advantages. This battle might be difficult."

Liu Tiao shook her head, "We've fought through even tougher battles."

"Furthermore, we lack a justified cause," He Lingchuan analyzed. "General Hong led us with overwhelming force, wasn't the reason a suspected summons for us to return to the capital? Now the monarch has explicitly forbidden our return. If we continue eastward, we'd be defying royal orders, and our morale couldn't be as high as before."

"Without a legitimate cause, not only will we not win, but we'll also put ourselves in danger," he sighed. "This brings me to my third point: Xi Ji's past provocations against us were instigated by Baling Kingdom. Now that Xi Ji has been defeated, it's hard to say Baling won't act. If we fail to conquer Jintao here, and Panlong City is also harassed by Baling, that would mean fighting on two fronts, which is extremely dangerous."

Upon hearing this, the team members felt quite reluctant to give up.

He Lingchuan had one more point he didn't mention:

If Zhong Shengguang were to lead over a million people back to the country, such a massive population would inevitably create a huge impact on the current Xiluo.

All these people would need a place to settle, to eat, sleep, and conduct business, wouldn't they?

It would be enough to establish a country within a country.

Therefore, upon returning, Zhong Shengguang would at least need to claim territory and become a vassal lord. Since he has no territory within the country, he would have to seize it from others.

That would be the start of a new round of turmoil. Isn't Xiluo already chaotic enough? Would they dare let Zhong Shengguang return to add more trouble?

If he were to return to Xiluo, it wouldn't be a help in a time of need, but rather make things worse.

It would be strange if the monarch allowed them to return!

The next morning, Mount Yulun.

This place was only twelve *li* in a straight line from Youtian Town, but with eighteen winding mountain turns in between, the actual journey would take over an hour.

The Baishi County Magistrate sent a local villager to guide them. Nicknamed "Big Mouth Zhao," he had hunted on Mount Yulun for the past twenty years and was even the one who discovered last year's incident.

Mount Yulun consisted of over a dozen peaks. The deeper they went into the mountains, the more He Lingchuan felt the spiritual energy intensify. Not only was his breathing exceptionally comfortable, but even walking could cause the true energy within him to circulate.

Cultivating here was more efficient than anywhere else. In the present world, could this be called a blessed land?

No wonder the Porcupine Demons refused to leave their den.

Not only were the plants here denser and taller than elsewhere, but various rare herbs were also abundant.

He Lingchuan even saw a shadow flit across the cliff face, resembling a human.

However, it was a fully formed Ginseng Doll.

As He Lingchuan walked, he asked Big Mouth Zhao, "The entire porcupine den was wiped out. Which demons now occupy this territory?"

Big Mouth Zhao chuckled, "Such good land, of course, it belongs to the county now."

He Lingchuan was greatly surprised: "It was confiscated just like that?"

"The ancestors of these porcupines had performed meritorious deeds, which is how they were granted Mount Yulun as their fiefdom. Now that they've all been wiped out, with no offspring remaining, Mount Yulun became ownerless land and was logically converted into county property," Big Mouth Zhao explained. "The county has sealed off this area as a treasure trove of wild herbs, normally prohibiting demons or villagers from entering or collecting privately."

Cultivated herbs are not as good as wild ones; everyone knows that.

General Ling sighed, "It seems these porcupines only had the merit accumulated by their ancestors. They had no connections or background in the local area, so it's no wonder no one cared after they died."

Everyone fell silent. What he said wasn't pleasant to hear, but it was the truth.

Because General Ling was present, the disappearance of the Wind-Drilling Beasts was a major case, and the local authorities couldn't get away without an explanation. Yet, when over a hundred porcupines died in the Zhitian Village den, the county merely conducted a perfunctory examination of the bodies and sealed the den.

Connections, background, and backing — it seemed these things were not just universal in human nations.

Along the way, He Lingchuan also saw Zhitian Village's water source.

There were two long rivers, like jade belts, that first passed through the porcupine clan's territory before flowing onto the fertile lands of Zhitian Village. The river water was exceptionally clear and had been widened, with the surface at least five *zhang* across.

There was even a large lake, vast in area. He Lingchuan pointed at the dam and asked Big Mouth Zhao, "Was this built last year?"

"Ah, yes, it was only completed this spring," Big Mouth Zhao truthfully replied. "The village had always wanted to build two lakes for water storage so there wouldn't be a shortage in winter. But the porcupines strongly opposed it, saying it would occupy too much of their territory and involve too much logging. This matter had been deadlocked for many years, but now it's considered resolved."

"This isn't solving the problem," He Lingchuan said. "This is solving the people—or rather, the porcupines—who raised the problem. Two lakes? What about the other one?"

"It's seven or eight *li* to the east, still being dug and not yet in use," Big Mouth Zhao said. "I've passed by twice; people are always working there. I hear it won't be ready for water storage until next year."

Soon, Big Mouth Zhao led him to the porcupine den.

The place had not seen visitors for a long time. Weeds grew thickly in the cracks in the ground, and even small trees, three feet tall, had sprouted.

But that didn't prevent He Lingchuan from clearly seeing the terrain.

Originally, there were several fissures here, or perhaps honeycomb-like caves, which were three-dimensional, with several layers, seemingly eroded by water or glaciers in earlier times.

It was more than spacious enough to house over a hundred porcupines.

But now the honeycomb caves were completely crushed by hundreds of large rocks, the largest of which was over three *zhang* high.

Regardless of one's cultivation level, if struck by something like this falling from the sky, there would be no way to survive, right?

He Lingchuan looked up and saw the cliff face above was sheer.

"Can snow accumulate on a mountain wall like this?" he remembered that the county records attributed the incident to an avalanche.

"Whether it was an avalanche or a rockslide, what's the difference?" Big Mouth Zhao wasn't as meticulous as him. "Either way, getting hit means death."

"Why did you report it as an avalanche back then?"

"Uh..." Big Mouth Zhao scratched his head. "It seems there were quite a few avalanches last winter, and people were killed in two towns. The scene was similar to this, with both snow and falling rocks."

So, this fellow was just guessing.

He dared to guess, and the county dared to report it that way. He Lingchuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He said to Jiao Yu, "Let's go inside and take a look."

Big Mouth Zhao gasped, "Do we still need to go down?" His legs didn't want to move. How long had it been since this happened? "The entrances are already sealed."

He Lingchuan simply revealed half an ingot of silver.

Big Mouth Zhao: "I'll lead the way!"

He led He Lingchuan and the others into an adjacent den opening.

After the county discovered the entire porcupine den had been crushed to death, they didn't dig them all out. They simply sealed off several entrances and exits of the den, treating that as their burial.

Although it was a shoddy job, there was nothing wrong with it.

Only the living cared about a peaceful burial.

He Lingchuan took out a large hammer and, with a few resounding blows, smashed open the entrance.

This showed that the tunnels, formed by water erosion, were originally interconnected, wide enough for two or three people side by side at their widest, and so narrow in places that even a watermelon couldn't fit through.

But the tunnels had been crushed by giant rocks, leading to collapses everywhere, and many had become dead ends.

Big Mouth Zhao led them crawling into a rocky hollow, pointing forward and saying, "This is it! They were piled up here, like a small mountain."

He Lingchuan could only advance, hunched over.

As for the Wind-Drilling Beasts, they had again transformed to the size of ordinary mountain goats, able to move freely, just like the mighty tiger.

This rocky hollow was spacious, but with over a hundred porcupine demon corpses piled up, it felt cramped. Jiao Yu, the mighty tiger, took one look and said, "Wang Mazi was right; their stacked posture is too strange."

These were porcupines! Even if their bond was extremely close, there's no way they would huddle together like this.

This isn't intimacy; it's mutual harm.

He Lingchuan asked Big Mouth Zhao, "Have many people been here?"

"Not many," Big Mouth Zhao said, pinching his nose and trying to recall. "Just me, the county coroner, and a few excavators." Not many people were willing to come down for such a dirty job.

Therefore, the scene was preserved quite well.

Although the giant rocks had cracked the fissures, it was still too smelly down here. Big Mouth Zhao gagged a few times and couldn't help but plead, "My lord, when can we go up?"

"Wait a bit longer," Jiao Yu said, examining the skeletons. He Lingchuan surveyed the area around the rocky hollow. Scattered everywhere were porcupine quills, each black and white and as sharp as a needle.

The quills had barbs and venom; anyone pricked by them would be in for big trouble.

Some quills were even deeply embedded in the rock wall.

Even He Lingchuan struggled to pull them out, showing the immense force with which they had been embedded.

He asked Jiao Yu, "How do porcupine demons attack?"

"They?" Jiao Yu thought for a moment. "They retreat rapidly, or simply shoot out venomous quills."

"How many can they shoot at once?"

"Dozens," Jiao Yu said. "And simultaneously."

"Impressive," He Lingchuan thought. He had considered forging 'Rainstorm Pear Needles,' but it turned out porcupines naturally came with them.

"These guys wouldn't just shoot them for fun in their own den, would they? Let alone damaging the vegetation, it wouldn't be good to hit their comrades either."

Jiao Yu walked over, looked, and sniffed: "There were enemies in the den. The way these porcupines died is the same as the Wind-Drilling Beasts."

General Ling indignantly added, "After the culprits killed the porcupines, they threw them back into the den, not even bothering to cover up their tracks. Those people from Zhitian Village are so negligent; they couldn't even figure this out!"

He Lingchuan looked thoughtful.

It was dim underground, but thankfully, a few clumps of glowing moss illuminated the area, revealing every detail.

He Lingchuan pointed at the rock wall covered in quills and said, "This red isn't blood, is it?"

There were patches of red on the rock wall, but they didn't look like bloodstains.