Chapter 164: A Brutal Battlefield
The Audi drove on the highway for almost another two hours.
By the time they reached the foot of Wushan Mountain.
Blood-red clouds dyed the land crimson for miles in every direction.
It looked as if it were stained with blood—an eerie and terrifying sight.
The three of them stepped out of the car.
Lin Yi held his phone, his expression grave.
*Sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later...*
When that cold, automated voice sounded from the phone again,
Lin Yi looked up at Wushan Mountain.
Without a word, he started walking silently into the mountains.
Yang Yong and Zhao Jian exchanged a glance.
In their eyes, they saw the same flicker of worry.
They couldn’t get through.
It was as if everyone who had come here had vanished without a trace.
Not a single call could connect.
A sense of foreboding settled over the three of them.
Upon entering Wushan Mountain, they were surrounded by a sea of red.
The trees, the flowers, the winding mountain path—everything was stained red...
"Demon corpses!"
They had walked barely a hundred meters into the mountains.
Lin Yi, Yang Yong, and Zhao Jian had already spotted at least six or seven demon corpses.
From the lingering aura on their bodies,
they could faintly tell that these were all Star-rank demons.
"It seems a fierce battle took place here not long ago!"
"Let’s move, keep heading up the mountain..."
The group observed their surroundings as they went.
They grew increasingly worried about Chu Zhengxiong, the old man, and the others.
The battle had been far more brutal than they had anticipated.
No one had imagined that so many Star-rank demons would be involved.
It was clear that Blood Drop had forged some kind of alliance with the demons.
Wushan might even be the final battlefield.
Blood Drop and the demon elites had gone all out for a final, decisive battle against the Demon Hunting Bureau, the old man, and their allies.
Lin Yi’s expression grew even more grave, and he quickened his pace up the mountain.
By the time they reached the halfway point of the mountain,
Lin Yi’s, Yang Yong’s, and Zhao Jian’s hearts were in their throats.
The stench of blood in the air was growing heavier.
Especially when they saw the bodies of the Golden Robe Guards and Tiger Guards...
Their worst fears had come to pass.
The Golden Robe Guards and the Tiger Guards were the best of the best.
If even they had fallen in battle here, one could only imagine how brutal the fighting on the summit must have been.
The three exchanged a look, but no one spoke.
Instead, they quickened their pace in unison, breaking into a jog as they headed up the mountain.
「An hour later.」
When the three finally reached the summit,
the scene that greeted them was one of utter devastation.
It was a battlefield, soaked with blood that had stained the earth a dark, rusty red.
A nauseating stench of blood hung in the air.
Bodies were piled everywhere, a tangled mess of Blood Drop Believers, demon corpses, members of the Demon Hunting Bureau, and soldiers from the Tiger and Golden Robe Guards...
At that moment,
as Lin Yi, Yang Yong, and Zhao Jian stared at the ravaged battlefield,
their eyes turned red.
Then, Lin Yi rushed toward the bodies, searching for familiar faces.
His emotions were a growing, complex tangle.
He wanted to find someone he knew, but at the same time, he dreaded seeing a familiar face.
At that moment, he couldn’t even describe his own feelings.
He began to turn the bodies over, one by one, to see their faces.
He couldn’t help but sigh in relief each time he saw a stranger’s face.
Then he would move on to the next body and continue his search.
Over and over again...
After he had checked more than twenty bodies,
his heart dropped.
"Brother Sun Lang?"
There, amidst the bodies of several Blood Drop Believers,
Lin Yi had found Sun Lang.
There wasn’t an uninjured spot on his body.
He was completely drenched in his own blood.
Sun Lang stared with wide eyes, his gaze unfocused, his hand still firmly gripping a longbow...
At the sight of Sun Lang,
tears streamed uncontrollably down Lin Yi’s face.
Yang Yong and Zhao Jian hurried over.
They helped Lin Yi lift Sun Lang’s body out.
Instantly, even Yang Yong’s eyes grew red.
Tears slowly blurred his vision.
None of the three said a word as they carried Sun Lang’s body to the side.
Then they resumed their search for familiar faces among the other bodies.
Meanwhile, Zhao Jian began to separate the bodies of the Tiger Guard and Golden Robe Guard members.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.
The number of recovered bodies grew.
In addition to the bodies of the Tiger Guards and Golden Robe Guards,
they also found the bodies of members from other Demon Hunting Teams.
Until Lin Yi found a familiar face in a deep pit.
At this moment, he seemed to have been petrified.
He stood frozen in place.
Memories began to flash through his mind.
*Lin Yi, what do you think of my little sister? Do you like her?*
*You’re still young, what the hell do you know about love? Stay away from Qin Zhaoxue. She’s not right for you!*
*I’ll give you a chance. How about we spar using only Martial Arts techniques, no cultivation power?*
*You kid... I give up.*
*Your talent surpasses that of any genius I’ve ever seen. You’ll have a limitless future!*
*Mengyi and I lost our parents when we were young. She’s the most important person I have in this world...*
*I’m about to go on a mission. It’s hard to say if I’ll make it back, so I want to ask you... please take care of Mengyi for me!*
The memories...
...flashed through Lin Yi’s mind.
He stared at Shen Yuzhe’s body in the pit.
His entire chest had been hollowed out.
His face was a mask of agony... but his eyes were still locked on something in the distance.
Perhaps even in his last moments, he was still determined to fight on.
"Who is this? Shen Yuzhe?"
Yang Yong and Zhao Jian came over.
When they saw Shen Yuzhe lying in the pit, their expressions darkened.
Lin Yi nodded. "Let’s get his body out of there."
The three of them climbed into the pit,
and carried Shen Yuzhe’s body out.
They laid him next to Sun Lang and the others.
They worked from late night until dawn,
as the first sliver of pale light appeared on the horizon.
Lin Yi, Yang Yong, and Zhao Jian hadn’t rested for a single moment.
They had already recovered dozens of bodies.
Most of them belonged to the Tiger Guards and Golden Robe Guards.
There were also members from various teams in the Demon Hunting Bureau.
But they found no sign of Chu Zhengxiong, Qin Zhaoxue, or Han Bin.
They didn’t even find the old man...
When Tang Zhan arrived with his people from the Martial Arts Police Station,
Lin Yi sat on the ground, staring at the rows of familiar faces,
at the bodies of the fallen.
He said nothing, lost in silence.
"Not finding Old Chu’s body... or any of the others... maybe that’s a good thing.
Maybe they’re still alive. Maybe they already left!"
"Don’t take it so hard. From the moment they joined the Demon Hunting Bureau, they knew a day like this could come."
"They were prepared for this."
Yang Yong walked over and patted Lin Yi’s shoulder.
’He’s just a high school student, after all. How could he have been through something like this?’
’So many people he knew, all killed in battle here.’
’It was as if he’d lost everything overnight.’
After a long moment, Lin Yi looked up and forced a faint smile.
He nodded and said, "Coach Yang, I’m okay. Just a little tired."
"Mm."
Lin Yi’s calm expression only made Yang Yong more worried.
But at the moment, he didn’t know what to say.
Lin Yi took out his phone and dialed Chu Zhengxiong’s number again.
And yet...
*Sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later...*
*Sorry, the number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later...*
The cold, automated voice repeated endlessly.
Lin Yi seemed possessed.
He dialed the number over and over, tirelessly.
Not far away, Zhao Jian watched Lin Yi, a flicker of concern in his eyes.
"Senior Brother, about Lin Yi..."
Yang Yong glanced back at where Lin Yi was sitting.
Sighing, he shook his head. "He’s just a kid. How is he supposed to accept that so many people he knew died here overnight?"
"Let him vent. It’s better than keeping it all bottled up."
Zhao Jian nodded slowly.
At a time like this, no words could possibly console him.
Letting him vent in his own way might be the best thing for him.
Suddenly, Yang Yong’s phone rang.
He took it out, glanced at the caller ID, and saw it was an unknown number.
Yang Yong’s brow furrowed. He answered the call. "Hello?"
Suddenly, his expression changed, a look of ecstatic joy spreading across his face.