Chapter 625 - 259: Qin, Wanted Poster
"ROAR!"
The Wolf Demon that had suddenly appeared didn’t attack Chu Lingguang. Instead, it blocked the Turkic Wizard’s beam of light for him before lunging toward the Wizard in the air.
"Qin!"
Chu Lingguang was stunned.
Then, he felt a familiar aura.
The Wolf Demon was actually Qin Yu.
He was both shocked and overjoyed. He never expected Qin Yu to appear at such a critical moment.
’He must have known the Court sent me to raid the Turkic Headquarters. He was probably afraid something would happen to me, so he rushed here to help!’
Chu Lingguang thought to himself.
"Men, charge!"
Chu Lingguang mounted Little Red Horse and charged into the enemy army. Leading his men, he threw the Turkic Troops into disarray.
Aside from the Wizard, no one there could pose a threat to Chu Lingguang. With Qin Yu’s help, he led his men in slaughtering squad after squad of the Turkic elite.
Finally, five True Martial Realm experts surrounded and attacked him at once.
After a brief stalemate, Chu Lingguang cut them down one by one. The Turkic Army’s morale plummeted, while the soldiers of Wolf Valley Pass fought with ever-increasing courage.
Amid the chaos, Chu Lingguang quickly ordered his men to burn the Turkic army’s supplies.
"How dare you interfere in the struggles of the mortal world?"
"You achieved your promotion through some bizarre means, yet you dare to show your face? Aren’t you afraid of being hunted by both Yuanchu Mountain and the Demon Sect?"
"You’re a Half-human, Half-demon mongrel! You deserve to die!"
"How much is the Great Yuan Court paying you?"
"Work with me. Come over to the Turkic side, and I guarantee that neither Yuanchu Mountain nor the Demon Sect will bother you."
"If you won’t do this the easy way, you’ll do it the hard way!"
"Damn it, stop!"
"We have no quarrel with each other! Don’t do this!"
"AARGH!"
The battle between the Turkic Wizard and Qin Yu reached a fever pitch. At first, the Wizard was imperious, spewing all kinds of threats. But as Qin Yu’s assault intensified, he began to sense that things were taking a turn for the worse.
Finally, with a blood-curdling scream, one of his arms was torn off by Qin Yu.
He lost his ability to fly.
He turned and fled into the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
Qin Yu gave chase without a word. He knew he couldn’t leave him alive, or he would be the one to die next.
With the Turkic Wizard’s retreat and Chu Lingguang’s slaughter of the True Martial Realm experts, the Turkic Troops finally broke. Losing all ability to resist, they scrambled to flee the encampment.
Ultimately, the Turkic Headquarters was consumed by a sea of fire.
Of the ten thousand men from Wolf Valley Pass, only a little over two thousand remained with Chu Lingguang. His mount, Little Red Horse, had been stabbed to death with a Long Spear by a Turkic soldier while he fought the five True Martial Realm experts.
Even Ma Zhong had been blinded in one eye by a Turkic Divine Archer.
Although Chu Lingguang had won the battle, his losses were devastating. Every inch of his robes was soaked in blood.
He found no joy in this victory.
Of the ten thousand men he had led out, only two thousand-odd were returning, and most of them were wounded. Chu Lingguang began to wonder if he had made the right decision.
"Lord Chu, we need to head back quickly,"
Ma Zhong said.
"Withdraw!"
Chu Lingguang nodded.
He extended his Spiritual Sense into the Hundred Thousand Mountains. He was trying to find a trace of Qin Yu and also to warn the nearby Demon Beasts to stay away from his soldiers.
After a forced march through the night, they had crossed the Hundred Thousand Mountains in the shortest possible time, charging from Wolf Valley Pass to the Turkic Headquarters. Now, returning victorious, it took Chu Lingguang and his soldiers three days to complete the journey.
"Lord Chu!"
Lin Shirong was utterly dumbfounded to see Chu Lingguang return with more than two thousand men.
In the three days they had been gone, the situation at Yunchuan City had completely reversed.
The Court had mobilized five hundred thousand troops from the surrounding prefectures to defend Yunchuan City. That very morning, the Turkic Army had retreated to the outskirts of Mazhou Prefecture.
The Great Yuan army was planning to launch a counterattack in the coming days.
Lin Shirong knew Chu Lingguang’s raid was certainly a factor in this success. He had been waiting for Chu Lingguang’s return but never expected him to bring back more than two thousand soldiers alive.
"Lord Lin, the men need food and plenty of rest,"
Chu Lingguang said.
"Of course."
Lin Shirong nodded. For some reason, he felt as if Chu Lingguang had become a different person. His words carried an authority that left no room for doubt.
「Two days later.」
The Turkic Troops retreated behind the National Border.
「Three days later.」
The Great Yuan and the Turkic side entered peace talks.
「Ten days later.」
A wanted poster was delivered to Wolf Valley Pass.
Chu Lingguang happened to be checking his status panel.
Favor Points: 42,771
Mixed Element Skill (0/10,000)
Qi Refining Art (200,000/200,000)
(Remaining Lifespan: 603 years)
Despite successfully raiding the Turkic Headquarters and turning the tide at a critical moment, Chu Lingguang hadn’t gained many Favors from the act itself. The points he had used to bring his Qi Refining Art to Perfection, as well as the forty-thousand-plus Favor Points he had accumulated since, had all come from the two thousand-odd surviving soldiers.
They had been providing him with a trickle of Favor Points intermittently.
Over the course of ten-odd days, the total had gradually accumulated to more than forty thousand.
"Lord Chu, this is a wanted poster from the Court. The higher-ups sent two people down. They say they need you to cooperate with an investigation."
Lin Shirong personally handed the wanted poster to Chu Lingguang.
Chu Lingguang opened it casually.
The wanted poster depicted a figure with the body of a man and the features of a wolf—a Half-human, Half-demon. It was none other than Qin Yu.
"Where are they?"
Chu Lingguang asked.
"Right inside your tent,"
Lin Shirong said.
Chu Lingguang walked down from the mine and went to his tent. When he saw the figures inside, he was completely taken by surprise.
The visitors were none other than Zhang Tao and Yun Hong.
"Chu Lingguang, we meet again,"
Yun Hong said with a smile.
Zhang Tao released a Spiritual Sense Fluctuation to probe Chu Lingguang’s power, but he discovered a curtain of light on the surface of Chu Lingguang’s body that his Spiritual Sense couldn’t penetrate.
"This student pays his respects to both Teachers."
Chu Lingguang bowed to the two of them.
Previously, his power had been too low to discern their strength.
But now, his Qi Sea Power had been converted into Spiritual Power, and his Qi Refining Art had reached Perfection. Of the three hundred sixty-three "responses" in his body, only twenty or thirty had yet to be awakened. Chu Lingguang’s power had undergone a world-shaking transformation.
He could finally see Yun Hong’s strength clearly.
He was a genuine Qi Refining expert, but he had only recently broken through and was at the first level of the realm.
The Spiritual Power rolling off Zhang Tao surged like ocean waves. His strength was far above Yun Hong’s, at the sixth or seventh level of Qi Refining.
Chu Lingguang felt that if he fought Yun Hong now, he could at least defend himself, even if he couldn’t win. If he awakened the remaining twenty-odd responses, he was confident he could defeat Yun Hong by relying on the power of his Perfection-level Qi Refining Art.
But he had no confidence whatsoever in facing Zhang Tao.
Even if he broke through to the Qi Refining realm himself, there would still be a significant gap between them.
He finally understood why even the Great Yuan imperial family treated Zhang Tao with such reverence.
"Chu Lingguang, we two would like to ask you: during the raid on the Turkic Headquarters, what is your relationship with the Wolf Demon that helped you? And where is he now?"
Zhang Tao said.
"You came all this way just for this, Mr. Zhang?"
Chu Lingguang was surprised.
"Chu Lingguang, this matter is extremely important to Yuanchu Mountain. You must cooperate with us," Yun Hong urged. He had always held Chu Lingguang in high regard.
"Teachers, I helped the Court defend Yunchuan City and prevented Mazhou Prefecture and several other County Cities from falling into the hands of the Turkic people. I wonder what kind of reward the Court will grant me. Will I be able to enter Yuanchu Mountain to cultivate?"
For the past ten days or so, Chu Lingguang had been waiting for news from the Court while also trying to gather information from the outside. He had originally thought that his victory—leading ten thousand men to raid the Turkic Headquarters—would be praised for generations, that his soldiers wouldn’t have died in vain, and that everyone involved would be rewarded.
But he never expected the first thing to arrive would be a wanted poster—a wanted poster for Qin Yu, delivered personally by Zhang Tao and Yun Hong no less.
Their presence was tantamount to representing Yuanchu Mountain itself.
"With a contribution this great, of course you can. But first, you have to tell us: what is your relationship with that Wolf Demon, and why did he help you?"
Yun Hong said with a smile.
"I don’t know. My men and I were prepared to die; we never expected a Wolf Demon to suddenly appear. Perhaps the Turkic people provoked him somehow. That day, he might have just been passing by and decided to help on a whim."
Chu Lingguang shook his head.
"Chu Lingguang, if you don’t answer truthfully, it will affect your chances of entering Yuanchu Mountain to cultivate!"
Zhang Tao warned.