Lin Jin knew that if he screwed up at this point, he would be in a lot of trouble.
He took out two pills and fed the shadow wolf and Goldy one each.
The shadow wolf seemed exhausted. To have an assassin fight on the frontlines has taken its toll. Meanwhile, although Goldy was drenched in blood, he remained vigorous as if he could go for another three hundred rounds.
Cluck cluck!
Goldy flapped his wings in front of Lin Jin, probably asking for some credit and appreciation.
“Alright, alright, I got it!” Lin Jin responded.
Although it was a perilous situation, the people below the mountain couldn’t come up. Lin Jin’s only fear now was if Maple City’s authority figures came up here. What course of action would he take?
Would he have to deal with them the same way he dealt with the Grassy Continent natives?
Lin Jin thought of Maple City’s authorities as his allies so he was obviously reluctant to make any moves. This was also one of his concerns. If they really did clash swords, he would become an enemy of Maple City and the entire Jade Dragon Kingdom.
Fortunately, his fear did not manifest itself. On the contrary, they seemed to be holding back the Grassy Continent locals.
Lin Jin’s eyes weren’t deceiving him. Maple City’s authorities were indeed restricting the Grassy Continent natives.
At the foot of the hill, Lieutenant Guo of Maple City’s City Lord Manor was talking to the natives’ leader with an ominous expression. “You’ve all taken this too far. We’re only letting you guys stay to search for the beast you lost, but you ended up causing such a huge ruckus. I’m warning you, even if something happens, we still have the last say on what you people do. You have no authority to use such an appalling degree of violence within our borders.”
Having suffered great losses, the Grassy Continent locals were obviously furious.
“Lieutenant Guo, you’ve seen it too. That man on the mountain has slaughtered so many of our pet beasts with his own. And not just that, they even killed the only son of our Snake Country’s state preceptor. If we don’t carry out justice for this, I’m afraid Snake Country will have to declare war on your Jade Dragon Kingdom.”
The Grassy Continent natives were just as stubborn.
Lieutenant Guo looked furious, musing, ‘These natives are too shameless. How dare they be this unreasonable?’
But he said nothing else. He had no authority to make decisions here. A report would have to be delivered back to the City Lord Manor and for now, they will have to wait for further instructions.
The incident pertaining to Snake Country’s state preceptor would also have to be reported.
With the use of flying beasts, the message got to Maple City’s City Lord Manor in no time, and this incident immediately caused a huge ruckus back in the city.
Bai Zhenkong, the lord of Maple City wore a menacing expression.
As the man who overlooked an entire city, he had heard of and knew many things. For instance, he was aware of the fact that Snake Country’s state preceptor wasn’t a decent guy.
On the Grassy Continent, Snake Country was an intermediate country and it was standard for a country of this status to have Rank 4 beasts in its arsenal. As for how many they had, that was a question.
Rank 4 beasts were also divided into strong and weak creatures, and the state preceptor’s Rank 4 pet beast was number two in Snake Country. For this individual to be called over was definitely a huge deal.
They might even have to report this to Jade Dragon City as well.
Bai Zhenkong was obviously reluctant to see his nation descend into war. After understanding the situation, he gave it some thought before sending someone to the Friar Association to summon Ye Yuzhou.
The only person who had a Rank 4 beast in Maple City was Ye Yuzhou. He was also one of the country’s most important protectors, officialized by the royal family. Hence, this dire situation required Ye Yuzhou’s assistance.
Soon, Ye Yuzhou showed up.
He had heard the gist of what happened so he made haste and hurried over, knowing it was an emergency.
“Lord Bai!” Ye Yuzhou greeted. Bai Zhenkong quickly said, “Mr. Ye, let’s put the formalities aside for now. The only son of Snake Country’s state preceptor has died within Maple City’s borders. The state preceptor might be on his way here right now. I’ve called you here to discuss our next move.”
Ye Yuzhou was shocked to hear this.
“The only son of Snake Country’s state preceptor died within Maple City’s borders? How did he die?”
This was an important detail.
If he died without the influence of external factors, there was nothing to fear even if Snake Country’s state preceptor showed up.
“He was killed, and I heard it was the work of a monster. The Grassy Continent locals tried to track down the monster but were met with a hindrance at Mount Zoroku. A mysterious person stopped them with his pet beasts and they’ve already had a gruesome battle. The natives suffered heavy casualties, but if their state preceptor was here, things might be different,” Bai Zhenkong explained their dilemma.
“Mysterious person? A person who can stop the entire Grassy Continent’s pursuit team?” Ye Yuzhou was startled. After brief contemplation, he said, “It’s hard to ignore a case that involved a monster-on-human attack, especially after lives were lost. Moreover, one of the victims was their state preceptor’s son. We must apprehend that monster so when the state preceptor arrives, we can hand this monster to him to do as he pleases. This should be sufficient to settle the situation,” Ye Yuzhou said.
Bai Zhenkong nodded in agreement. “I thought the same. But that mysterious individual at Mount Zoroku must be exceptionally strong to be able to stop their team’s advance. According to Lieutenant Guo who’s at the scene, the locals sent more than ten beasts with a few Rank 3s among them. Even then, they couldn’t win, so we’re currently seeking your assistance.”
“I understand. I’ll just have to make a trip over and see for myself,” Ye Yuzhou declared with confidence.
Bai Zhenkong was helpless in this situation and could only turn to Ye Yuzhou. This showed how much the City Lord Manor valued Ye Yuzhou, so the latter had to bring back favorable news.
By the time Ye Yuzhou arrived at Mount Zoroku, it was already into the wee hours of the night.
The forest fire from the battle earlier had yet to be extinguished and a pillar of smoke rose up into the night sky. The Grassy Continent locals had the entire mountain surrounded but none of them dared to advance uphill.
On the hilltop, Lin Jin had been standing on a huge rock for a long time now.
He was trying to buy time too.
He clung to the hope that Little Five could recover faster and prayed for Xiao Huo to evolve quicker.
However, the current situation was already beyond Lin Jin’s control. Though it was never within his control from the start, Lin Jin didn’t regret his decision.
If he didn’t stand up for Shang’er and the others, who would?
Moreover, it was the Grassy Continent natives who captured and tortured Little Five first so they couldn’t blame Shang’er for killing them. This was just karma at play so no matter what, Lin Jin had to hold his ground.
Even if he couldn’t, he had to.
The worst-case scenario would be the Grassy Continent natives working together with Maple City’s authorities in a counter-attack.
Stronger support might even show up for them and Lin Jin was aware of this possibility.
Hence, he had to buy himself more time. Goldy was strong that Lin Jin’s worries were significantly reduced. Even if a Rank 4 beast showed up, Lin Jin felt safe.
If push came to shove, he would send Shang’er out too.
And if even that didn’t work, they would buy time until Xiao Huo evolved. When that happened, who could stop Lin Jin and the others from escaping?
At that moment, Ye Yuzhou arrived.
Lieutenant Guo was under surmounting pressure. He had to hold the agitated Grassy Continent native back to keep the situation under control and also keep an eye on the mysterious person atop the hill.
He was only a lieutenant whose pet beast was Rank 2. The team he brought over didn’t even exceed fifty men so being able to hold out this far was good enough.
The City Lord Manor’s Zuo Wentang came over with Ye Yuzhou as well. Though, as one of the experts with a Rank 3 pet beast, he still couldn’t compare to Ye Yuzhou. However, one was Maple City’s current strongest fighter while the other was the City Lord Manor’s steward and a representative of Maple City’s authority. The arrival of these individuals was enough to diffuse the tension in the air.
The Grassy Continent natives started behaving themselves.
After hearing the natives’ outrageous story, Ye Yuzhou frowned.
He now understood most of what had happened.
The Grassy Continent’s people had caught a monster but a girl showed up to save it, killing several natives in the process. One of the deceased was the only son of Snake Country’s state preceptor.
The natives proceeded to give chase, planning to exact revenge but suffered an overwhelming defeat in the process. However, it was their pet beasts who died this time.
“Mr. Ye, our Snake Country’s state preceptor will be here soon. You’re Maple City’s number one expert so I hope you can give us a satisfactory judgment,” the natives’ leader said.
He too didn’t have the audacity to be reckless before Ye Yuzhou but his stance remained firm.
Ye Yuzhou was obviously annoyed. He retorted coldly, “And what if we don’t give you a judgment you’re satisfied with? Even if the Snake Country’s state preceptor arrives, I’ll give him the same answer. Do not forget, you are currently operating beyond your country’s jurisdiction.”
The Grassy Continent locals gritted their teeth but said no more.
Still, this problem had to be solved. Ye Yuzhou looked at the silhouette on the hilltop and said to Zuo Wentang, “Steward Zuo, we don’t know what that man up there is but one thing’s for sure – he’s no decent fella considering how he’s able to subdue so many of these folks here on his own. I’ll go up and meet him.”
Zuo Wentang would never reject this proposal, so he said, “Be careful, Mr. Ye.”
Ye Yuzhou let out a hearty laugh and Zuo Wentang realized he had said something wrong. He quickly corrected himself. “Mr. Ye is Jade Dragon Kingdom’s guardian so it is only natural that you do not fear ruffians, but I’m just worried that he might be a schemer…”
“Rest assured, Steward Zuo. That man has a monster under his control so I can never let him be, no matter what. Moreover, when the Snake Country’s state preceptor shows up, we still have to give him some form of explanation. I’ll go ahead and apprehend that man first.” Ye Yuzhou sounded confident. Having said that, a mist appeared beside him and he leaped onto it. He then rode the mist up the mountain as if he was an immortal riding on a cloud.
Hidden within this mist was naturally his Rank 4 pet beast, the soaring cloud flood dragon.
Lin Jin didn’t expect Ye Yuzhou to show up.
He didn’t know about the Snake Country’s state preceptor so he felt that Maple City was overreacting this time. To think that the situation was so grave that they sent Ye Yuzhou over.
Lin Jin knew Ye Yuzhou’s capabilities well. If they were to fight, both he and Xiao Huo were certainly no match for the older man. They couldn’t win even with Goldy’s help.
After all, Goldy was only Rank 3 so going against a Rank 4 soaring cloud flood dragon was a challenging task.
If Shang’er were to help out, perhaps then would the ground be leveled.
But that wasn’t necessary.
Because when he saw Ye Yuzhou, a daring idea appeared in Lin Jin’s mind.
He had Goldy stand down and the shadow wolf hide within the darkness. Meanwhile, Lin Jin straightened up with his hands behind his back to take on the demeanor of an expert.
As Ye Yuzhou ascended the hill and saw Lin Jin, he only found the man to be nothing but strange.
Putting aside how his shirt was worn awkwardly, the man was even wearing a mask made from a tree’s bark. Didn’t anyone find it amusing? After surveying the area, he saw a large rooster behind and an aura lurking within the darkness. But these were just Rank 3 beasts so Ye Yuzhou was unfazed.
What was interesting was how the man had his pet beasts step away from Ye Yuzhou. Did he not fear Ye Yuzhou suddenly launching an attack on him?
But of course, Ye Yuzhou wouldn’t do that. Even if he did, he had to first clarify the other’s identity. After all, he was a man of honor, so Ye Yuzhou put on a proud expression and said, “Sheltering monsters is a grave sin. Who are you? Name yourself.”
Lin Jin lowered his voice and deliberately chuckled before saying, “Hello, Old Ye!”
