Inside the dense forest, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow occupied one of the big trees and sat quietly on a branch.
Since they decided to escape, they would not leave any clues for those despicable insects. Nonetheless, they did not go too far away. Instead, they had been cultivating in silence over here to stabilize their boundaries.
Big Yellow needed time to stabilize its boundary as a middle-rank spirit beast, but Ou Yangming also needed to do the same.
Ou Yangming benefited greatly when he left his mark on the Wutong Tree, by which his mental power seemed to have been cleansed and purified by the tree and arrived at an Intermediate Spiritualist’s standard in advance. This time, he also reaped benefits from absorbing a high-rank spirit beast’s flesh and blood. Half of the spirit beast’s energies were converted into his mental power, which became rather restless and uncontrollable.
Under the circumstances, it would be wonderful if Ou Yangming and Big Yellow consumed plenty of the concentrated immortal liquid.
The problem was that all of the liquid had been swallowed by Big Yellow. Although the concentrated immortal liquid produced by the lazy turtle was legitimate, its production was quite slow, hence there was not enough to be consumed by the young fellow and the big yellow dog.
Nevertheless, Ou Yangming and Big Yellow finally stabilized their auras after cultivating for about 10 days.
“Woof…” Big Yellow barked softly and said, “Lil’ Ming, we can’t hide here forever, can we?”
Ou Yangming could not help but laugh. “What is it? What are you thinking about?”
Big Yellow tilted its head and expressed, “We should think of a way to bring them here.”
The young fellow’s eyes lit up, and he immediately thought of the old man and Ni Yinghong. Since he had successfully entered the Spiritual Realm, he should bring them here too. Besides, he could only find life-prolonging treasures for the old man in the Spiritual Realm.
Ou Yangming sighed and responded, “Big Yellow, do you think I don’t want to? But…” He focused on the big yellow dog and continued hesitantly, “Lil’ Red, King Kong, and the others entered the passage with us, but there isn’t any news about them. Heh, the Nine Great Sects, the Nine Great Sects…”
Big Yellow asked, “Lil’ Ming, are you suspecting the Nine Great Sects?”
“Based on their capabilities, why would they block off news about the matter if they don’t have ulterior motives? Hmph, they clearly covet the lower realm’s resources and forsook good for the sake of gold!” Ou Yangming glanced at the big yellow dog and responded.
“Are you saying that Sir… Lil’ Red, King Kong, and the others were captured by the Nine Great Sects?” Big Yellow was stunned.
Ou Yangming nodded. “That’s likely the case. Ah, so we must enhance our strengths or…”
Big Yellow was startled for some time, then it mumbled, “That seems impossible. After all, Sir Lil’ Red’s with them…”
“As strong as Lil’ Red’s background is, it’s still a young phoenix, so it’s still far from being able to deal with those old foxes.” Ou Yangming rolled his eyes at the big yellow dog. He patted its large head and added, “They might even be counting on us to save them.”
The big yellow dog blinked. It did not know if it should believe Ou Yangming.
It suggested after some time, “If that’s the case, let’s go seek help from the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One. It’s King Kong’s father anyway!”
“Even if the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One’s formidable, it’s only a Venerable One. On the other hand, even if the Nine Great Sects had only a Venerable One each, there’ll be 9 of them in total!”
“The Humans have 9 Venerable Ones, but the Beasts definitely have more than 1!” Big Yellow felt indignant. “As long as the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One knows what’s happening, it won’t stand by idly.”
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and fell silent.
Big Yellow urged him. “Lil’ Ming, let’s go with that. We should return to the 10,000 Beasts Ridge now!”
The young fellow shook his head and said, “Big Yellow, did you forget that I’m also a human…”
Big Yellow was dumbfounded before it understood what he meant.
No matter what, Ou Yangming was a human, and he did not want to cause a fight between the Humans and the Beasts regardless of the situation. This was because the Humans would end up in a terrible situation irrespective of the outcome, and he did not want that to happen.
The big yellow dog smiled bitterly and asked, “If this won’t do and neither will that, are you really going to save them on your own?”
Ou Yangming pondered for a brief moment and sighed. “Perhaps this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t demanded so many benefits in the past.” He was really regretful.
Back in the lower realm, he heard that there were many powerhouses in the Spiritual Realm but given his cultivation base at the time, he was already at the peak of the pyramid. The young fellow was neither arrogant nor did he despise everyone else, but he was more or less proud.
Furthermore, since the little red bird kept nagging him, he agreed with the bet proposed by the Nine Great Sects.
Now that Ou Yangming entered the Spiritual Realm, he realized that he really had been having a limited outlook. Over here, powerhouses that were more powerful than him could be found everywhere.
Moreover, judging from the way the Nine Great Sects were doing things, it did not seem like they would keep their promise, thus Ou Yangming was feeling suspicious.
Even though he wanted to know what happened after he left the passage, he would not inquire about it from the Nine Great Sects because he did not want to let himself be captured.
Big Yellow wagged its tail and asked, “Lil’ Ming, where are those damn insects? Why isn’t there any movement?”
Ou Yangming was struck dumb too. He slowly curbed his thought and furrowed his eyebrows a little.
They did not go too far away because they wanted to see how many lizards would come next. If the lizards happened to reveal their loopholes, the young fellow and the big yellow dog would not mind rubbing salt into their wound.
Having said that, they had been waiting quietly for about 10 days. They did not even see a low-rank lizard, let alone a high-rank lizard.
It appeared as though the rest of the Twelve Walkers had been frightened and dared not track their enemy after 2 of their members were killed.
“This isn’t right—something’s weird.” Ou Yangming’s eyes flickered as he continued, “The Insects will seek revenge for even the smallest grievances, so they wouldn’t have left without a sound after suffering such a huge loss.”
“Why isn’t there any movement from them then?” Big Yellow asked curiously.
Ou Yangming spread out his hand and replied to it, “I’m not an insect, so how would I know what they’re up to? How about… You go over and ask them?”
Big Yellow turned around angrily after it saw the teasing look on Ou Yangming’s face. It thought highly of itself, but it did not want to court death. If it really went over to ask the lizards, it would probably become a dead dog.
The young fellow tapped the big yellow dog and noted, “Alright, don’t overthink. We can just find out from our old friend.”
“Old friend?” Big Yellow was puzzled.
“Yes, let’s go back to the town.” Ou Yangming then got up on Big Yellow’s back.
Big Yellow’s eyes lit up as it instantly understood what Ou Yangming meant. As such, it got up and swayed its body to zoom across the forest like yellow lightning.
Instead of retracing their footsteps, they took a big round and made sure that they were not being followed before they returned to the small town.
They decided to come back here because they had shown up here before and also helped Teng Liangfeng with their mighty combat powers. Ou Yangming believed that the elder would tell him everything he knew as long as he appeared.
Who knew, when they arrived outside the town, their hearts were somehow heavy.
When they looked from afar, they noticed that the town was too calm indeed, which was a stark contrast from the cheerful and bustling town it was the last time.
Ou Yangming and Big Yellow looked at each other and found it strange.
The big yellow dog twitched its nose hard for some time, then it uttered all of a sudden, “There’s a smell of blood!”
“What?” Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows. He had a bad feeling about this.
“There’s an incredibly strong smell of blood here. It has been handled, but it can’t hide from me.” Big Yellow shook its head.
Ou Yangming gasped, and his heart raced. After keeping quiet for a while, he said, “Come with me.” Following that, he walked toward the town.
He might look relaxed, but he was exceptionally wary, such that he was holding an item in each of his hands. If there was an unforeseen change, he would make the most intense reactions right away.
Instead of hiding himself, he approached the town openly.
A short while after he exposed himself, a shout was heard coming from the town.
“Who’s there? Don’t come any closer—stand there!”
Several figures darted out from the town, and they quickly surrounded Ou Yangming.
These people were not potent, such that none of them was a Spiritualist. Ou Yangming was not bothered about the encirclement, but he was most disappointed when he saw the unfamiliar faces.
If Teng Liangpeng and his people were still around, why would he send some new Extreme Grade cultivators out here instead of showing up himself?
“You… Your Excellency, how should I address you?”
A cold-looking middle-aged man was about to shout another question at Ou Yangming when he noticed Big Yellows and sensed its fearsome aura. His face changed, and he lowered his tone at once.
Instead of answering him, Ou Yangming asked, “Who are you? Where’s Teng Liangpeng?”
That middle-aged man relaxed. Since the young fellow brought up Teng Liangpeng, he figured that he was not an enemy. The man sighed and responded, “Your Excellency, you’re too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“Ah, everyone including Senior Teng in this town died in a disaster a few days ago.”
Ou Yangming’s face changed. “Everyone?”
“Yes.”
“How did they die?”
The middle-aged man was hesitant, but he was appalled when Ou Yangming glanced at him, thus he revealed the truth. “They were killed by the Insects. Those damn insects somehow went mad and killed everyone from the 2 of our towns.” He paused for a while before he continued, “We’ve reported this to the higher-ups, hoping that the Humans’ Almighty Being will seek justice for us.”
“The Insects…” Ou Yangming’s face darkened. He later asked, “The same thing happened to another town?”
“Yes, it was the Lu Family Town nearby,”
Ou Yangming took a deep breath and swayed out of the blue, where he left the encirclement magically. As for Big Yellow, it wagged its tail and followed him leisurely. They entered the town just like that.
The men looked at each other and hesitated for a while before they finally gave up wanting to stop the young fellow.
After all, how could they obstruct such a figure?
