Chapter 320: Treasure trove
Han Shuo didn’t stop to chat with the forest trolls after dragging them far away, nor did he enter the forest troll village to meet the old priest who could understand the common tongue. He backtracked on his original path and snuck into the camp of the Redbud Knights.
With the space door scroll, Cecilia’s group should have no trouble escaping, even though their power couldn’t measure up to Kassel’s group. However, Han Shuo felt that something wasn’t quite right for the Redbud Knights of the Brut Merchant Alliance to appear in the Dark Forest. Since Emily couldn’t tell him the truth because of Cecilia, Han Shuo decided to check things out for himself.
Using his only remaining yin demon to scout ahead, Han Shuo sent out his consciousness at the same to sense any presence within a certain range. Noon’s sunlight pierced through layers of foliage, stubbornly shining down on the ground of the Dark Forest. At a glance, these rays of sunlight looked like a bunch of sharp arrows.
Han Shuo’s sensitivities were razor sharp, moving between the trees as swiftly as a veteran hunter. His figure dashed swiftly through and over several growths and rocks without making a sound. Relying on his pervertedly strong sensitivity and the yin demon’s vision, Han Shuo arrived at the staging area of the Redbud Knights after a few minutes.
The knights were scattered in the area as they rested lazily. They squinted beneath the sunlight, chatting about stuff that shouldn’t be heard by children. From time to time, perverted laughs rang out from within the clusters of knights. Sitting apart from them, there were also several knights who were persevering in training their fighting aura alone.
The magic enchantment on the tent in the center had yet to be lifted. One to two miserable screams faintly echoed out, seemingly the sounds of criminals being tortured.
Han Shuo hid patiently within the foliage of a big old tree to observe the Redbud Knights. He spread his powerful consciousness to enclose a small area, preventing anyone from getting close. A yin demon soundlessly drifted around to spy and constantly eavesdropped on the knights’ conversations.
The majority of the knights talked about boring, trivial matters. However, there were some stern faced knights who were in the middle of a serious meeting. The yin demon cautiously eavesdropped on their meeting. Picking up on their brief descriptionsHan Shuo gradually gleaned the purpose of their trip to the Dark Forest this time.
A faint wave of magical fluctuation emitted from the tents among the knights, followed by three soul searching magic spells. Han Shuo had been on guard, so he hurriedly withdrew the yin demon back into his body before using magical cultivation to hide his presence.
When the fluctuation of the three soul searching spells passed through, a huge eye appeared above Han Shuo’s head. It was the Sky’s Eye again. The eye in the sky looked down below for a moment before gradually dispersing.
Wuuu…
The battle signal sound of a buffalo horn trumpet suddenly resounded. A shout echoed from the tent in the middle, “Assemble. Prepare to march!”
The lazily resting soldiers instantly sprang up, organizing their armor and weapons at the horn’s call. They walked energetically towards the fierce warhorses grazing and drinking at the river’s bank. A surge of domineering air suddenly spread out.
They were indeed worthy of belonging to one of the top ten knight troops in the continent. It didn’t show when they rested, but when they organized themselves, they naturally emitted this fierce atmosphere. Han Shuo was secretly surprised as he watched the Redbud Knights gather from his hiding place within the lush foliage. He began to worry for the races in the underground world of the Dark Forest.
The Redbud Knights had traveled the lengthy distance of a thousand miles to the Dark Forest this time to deal with the underground world beneath the Dark Forest. The underground world produced various types of exotic ores, as well as crystals and beautiful jade used to refine magic weapons and protective gear. However, the path connecting the underground world and the world above was extremely secretive. People above ground were generally hard pressed to find it.
As a great druid of the Druidic Order in the Dark Forest, Kassel had naturally known of the entrance to the underground world beneath the Dark Forest. One time when he’d ventured into the underground world to explore, he’d stumbled upon the sight of the lizardmen mining a small magic crystal mine. Since magic crystal ores were extremely valuable, Kassel had been taken over by greed and violated the order’s doctrine, wanting to monopolize the magic crystal mine. However, an unknown, powerful super rank creature had appeared to expel him when he was killing the lizardmen in the underground world.
Furiously returning to the Druidic Order, Kassel had tried to use the Order’s power to destroy the lizardmen along with that powerful super rank creature. It was a pity that the elder druid, who worshipped the Goddess of Nature, had rejected Kassel’s proposal out of his love for peace. He’d even angrily reprimanded Kassel. Kassel, blinded by greed, injured the elder druid out of rage, which put him on the wanted list by the Druidic Order. He had to flee the Dark Forest, and now, for reasons unknown, he’d somehow partnered up with the Brut Merchant Alliance.
The wealth of the underground world as well as the small magic crystal mine had successfully tempted Celt, the commander of the Redbud Knights of the Brut Merchant Alliance. He’d led the elite of the Redbud Knights to cross a long distance, spending a month to travel into the Dark Forest with the intention of coming back with an enormous haul from the underground world.
Celt’s hair was graying at the temples, his weathered face engraved with the traces of time. His figure was tall, and his eyes exuded a calm, peaceful atmosphere. If Han Shuo hadn’t known about the purpose of his trip here, he wouldn’t have thought of Celt as a greedy bandit from his appearance.
After emerging from the tent, Celt took out a clean white handkerchief and carefully wiped off the blood on his hands. When he was cleaning himself, he looked at the assembled Redbud Knights and casually asked the young mage beside him, “How come Teacher Marceau hasn’t returned yet?”
“My apologies, I don’t know why teacher hasn’t come back even when it’s already so late.” The young mage answered hurriedly and was obviously quite polite when facing Celt.
Promptly throwing away the bloodstained handkerchief, Celt looked at his two clean slender hands with satisfaction. He said in a calm voice, “Forget it. Teacher Marceau knows what we need to do this time anyway. She can fly, so she can catch up with us once she finishes her matter. Let us leave first.”
Celt then suddenly let out a loud, clear whistle, so shrill that it seemed to tear through the sky. A huge shadow flew over shortly afterwards. As it drew near, Han Shuo saw that it was a green dragon over twenty meters long.
This green dragon was much bigger than Gilbert. The strength of every dragon race wasn’t necessarily measured based on volume. However, for the green dragon race, it was indeed that the bigger the volume, the higher their power. This twenty meter green dragon must be a super rank magic creature at its second evolution. Otherwise, it couldn’t have achieved such a length.
Celt leapt up seven or eight meters into the air and landed nimbly on the green dragon. His one meter eighty centimeters tall figure only occupied a small space on the green dragon’s back, but the faint presence that emanated from his body couldn’t be covered up by the dragon’s huge body.
Celt sat firmly on the back of the green dragon and let out another long, high whistle. The green dragon flew rapidly through the sky like a huge dark cloud blotting a large patch of the air. Their direction seemed to be where Kassel was chasing Cecilia’s group.
The Redbud Knights on the ground below packed up their tents and slowly headed towards another direction under the leadership of several majors. Their chosen direction seemed to be towards the entrance to the underground world that Han Shuo had once entered.
With such a powerful lineup, no one dared provoke them even in the extremely chaotic Dark Forest. The magic creatures in this region were all intelligent, they certainly wouldn’t come to seek their own death. Therefore, the Redbud Knights advanced leisurely and unhurriedly to their target destinations without encountering any obstructions.
Some tragic screams echoed from the tent after they left. Marceau’s students had suddenly cast fire magic. Waiting until these people completely left, Han Shuo flew over to examine the burned bodies. They seemed to be all lizardmen. It seemed the knights were looking from some information from these lizardmen.
Celt had likely gone off in pursuit of Kassel. With Celt’s strength, Han Shuo would be very worried if he joined the group chasing after Emily. Cecilia would be hard pressed to escape even with the space door. After some hesitation, Han Shuo decided to follow Celt and see what would happen.
At this moment however, a huge, dazzling golden figure shot in Celt’s direction like a strip of golden lightning. Han Shuo even heard a familiar voice from its furious roaring.
“It’s the golden dragon who was trapped in the forbidden land last time. Oh! He seems to be attacking Celt. This is getting more and more interesting!” Exclaiming in surprise, Han Shuo snooped through the yin demon to observe the situation on that side. He decided to get closer and took flight, keeping himself hidden.
“Damnable bandit, you dared take advantage and rob my treasure while I wasn’t present. Quickly hand it back over!” The golden dragon roared at Celt on the green dragon, its huge body thrashing in the sky. Lightning sparks crackled towards the green dragon.
