6 hours before the kidnapping of Fang Yu.
Because of what Fang Lin did against them, the brat was highly pissed against him. Not only did he lose the stone fragment, he also pissed off the Fifth Stage Undead Wolf. Were it not for his family’s sacred artifact, they would have been immediately killed by the wolf already.
The wolf looked at the direction where Fang Lin and co. had gone. The wolf then sent a stream of divine sense messages for the two of them. It said,
“I have some matters to deal with, so you two must acquire that stone fragment for me. If you fail, hmmph, being my dinner will be the least worst punishment.”
“But…” The brat was highly indignant upon hearing this. After all the years he had kept the stone fragment with him, a nobody was now giving a command for him to give it away? Talk about a freeloader!
“Growl, does that mean you were lying when you offered the stone fragment to me earlier?” The wolf opened its mouth wide as it menacingly said,
“I can break open that defensive dome of yours at the expense of my injuries. But even if I get injured, you two will surely die. So, be sure to bring that stone fragment to me or else…..” The wolf’s putrid breath covered the two as its coarse tongue loomed over them.
The old man could only hastily reply,
“Wolf King! What he means was that we cannot do it right now. We still need some time to rest! But once we feel better, we shall acquire the stone fragment for you!”
“Good. Awooo!!!!!” The Wolf King suddenly sprouted wings from its back as it flew towards the center of the Forest of Death. It seemed like whatever was in that place had more importance than the stone fragment.
Once the wolf had gone, the brat could only say,
“Hey Old Shi, can we just really allow that big dog to trample our dignities? Are we just giving up my treasure for that shaggy dog?”
The old man just smiled as he used his gnarly hand to pat the brat in the head. Even though he was still angry, the brat’s expression softened after being petted by the old man.
“Calm down Shi Hao. We can still use this situation to our advantage.”
“But how?”
“He, just watch and learn. For now, you should rest and prepare first. I know that with their intelligence, those three bastards will have survived the Fourth Stage. But I am sure that they are in dire straits.”
“Then Old Shi, that means we only need to survive the onslaught of the Fourth Stage Undead while we look for those three? That’s easy, considering you are protecting me!”
“Yes I know.” Old Shi smiled ruefully as he absorbed Shi Hao’s praise. “Ok, once 6 hours have passed, we shall rush at the Fourth Stage Area. Be sure to hang on tight. I still could not forget the smell of your v**it the last time you rode me.”
“I know Old Shi!”
“Hahahaha!”
……………………..
Now, let’s advance the time around the event when Ling Tian and Wang Hao witnessed Fang Yu being taken away.
Around this moment, Fang Lin along with Mina and Bloodspear were at the Fourth Stage Area, looking warily at the creepy brat-old man duo who were nearing their spot. The brat was riding on the shoulders of the old man, with the old man leaving sonic booms as his running speed just passed Mach 1.
Fang Lin swallowed as he did not expect that they can arrive that fast without the carriage. From his estimates, it will only take them 5 minutes to reach the place where Fang Lin was located. Fang Lin sighed as he let out a yip.
“Yip yip yip!”(Go to your positions!)” All the Fourth Stage beasts under his command slinked away, heading for their designated area. As for Bloodspear and Mina, they surrounded Fang Lin, ready to protect him.
Bloodspear wielded his spear, which started to glow bright red as Fang Lin felt extreme bloodlust emanating from the said spear. Mina on the other hand, stayed behind Fang Lin as she fiddled with her talismans.
Fang Lin who was in the puppy form, could only show his excitement by baring his teeth. He stared at the direction where the duo was travelling. He gave a mock salute with his right paw(arm) as if he was commending them for their bravery.
“Yip! (Try to survive, you bastards!)”
…………………….
“Hmm?” As they entered the boundary of the Fourth Stage Area, Old Shi and Shi Hao immediately noticed something fishy.
Just like the descriptions, the Fourth Stage Area was filled with Fourth Stage Undead. Even right now, Shi Hao could see 20 Fourth Stage Undead milling around. But what made him mad and confused as the fact that each of these beasts has the aura of the stone fragment!
Because he had lost possession of the stone fragment, Shi Has was not that sensitive to the aura of the stone fragment anymore. But years of it on his possession made his senses to unconsciously be attuned with it. This means that even with the stone fragment not with him, he can still feel its presence as long as it was near him.
But this feeling will be a thousand times weaker than normal.
This was Shi Hao’s dilemma now. He sensed this weak aura of the stone fragment from each of the Fourth Stage Undead that they passed by. Old Shi could only see Shi Hao’s dumbfounded expression as he run continuously.
“What happened Shi Hao?”
Shi Hao could only sullenly explain about the multiple auras present on the Fourth Stage Undead. Old Shi nodded as he was seemingly impressed by Fang Lin and co’s. plan.
“So they decided to hide the matchstick in a haystack huh. How big this haystack must be then?” Old Shi continued running to look for more Undead.
As they moved throughout the Fourth Stage Area, the expression of Shi Hao’s face turned more and more uglier.
Each and every one of the Fourth Stage Undead that they pass by all had the same aura of the stone fragment!
“Don’t tell me the stone fragment got destroyed already?”
“Shi Hao, stop that nonsense! I am sure there is a trickery involved here. As for what that is, it does not matter, as I have already deciphered their intentions.”
“Really Old Shi! You really are great! So what is it?”
“Do you know the game Go?”
“Of course I do, I am just not good at it. So, we are like in a Go game now?”
“Exactly, but an extremely unfair one.”
“Huh?”
Old Shi then explained why.
Generally speaking, Go is the game where two players held different colored pieces. Black and white pieces. For each move, a player will put a piece on a spot in the board. After this move, the opposing player will put his piece next. This putting of pieces will then continue alternately until the rules declare the game done.
The rules may vary, but the winner of each Go game will be the player with the most ‘conquered’ territories. The conquered territories depend on the amount of pieces present and the way they were positioned.
For Old Shi and Shi Hao, these two requirements were taken away from them directly.
Old Shi did not know how they did it, but those three managed to use all the Fourth Stage Undead as their Go pieces. For Old Shi’s side, it was only him and Shi Hao who could play. That’s already a big minus on the amount of pieces.
As for the positioning, all these Undead have been clearly put in position before Old Shi could arrive.
In short, those three already put all their game pieces on the board before Old Shi could even put his first one.
Old Shi and Shi Hao wiped their cold sweat as they stared at the looming undead roaming around them.
“Because of the spread out aura, we cannot lock on the location of those three. And with these Undead roaming around us, it will be only a matter of time before we get ‘conquered’…. What should we do Old Shi?”
“Well..” Old Shi scratched his chin as he pondered. “There are two ways that we can do it. First, we can flip the game board itself.”
“But that requires massive combat power, and we severely lack that now Old Shi. If the Wolf King was just with us….”
“Sigh. That is why the first option is not applicable. So we can only go for the second once.”
“What is it?”
“If they want to play board games, why don’t we just change the game? Instead of Go, why don’t we just play chess?”
“Chess? But can we be compared to the queen? All of these Undead milling around us can be considered Queens?!”
“Hahaha, you still could not think outside the box Shi Hao!” Old Shi then drew out a strange-looking object inside his robes. It was a flute, with its golden body studded with jewels. Old Shi caressed it lovingly as he said,
“Shi Hao, listen to my art! This will be the catalyst that will help us right now!”
“Old Shi! You really are the best!”
“Spare the compliments later.” Old Shi then brought the flute to his lips as he played the most horrendous music ever heard in history.
“Ah, my ears!” Shi Hao complained as he clutched his head tightly. While he was busy trembling and twitching, he did not notice a formless wave emanating from the flute. It covered the whole Fourth Stage Area, with Fang Lin and co. noticing it too.
Old Shi smiled as he wiped his own ears which bled from his own horrendous music.
“Why do we need to be the chess pieces when we can just steal it? There’s a lot to be chosen right now!”
“My ears….”
