Chapter 163 – Mirage?
“My General’s Tiger Seal would be able to prove your identity.” Old General Ma handed Yue Yang a seal carved with a tiger pattern and advised, “You must accurately teleport to the capital. We can only hold on for an hour at most. I hope that you can use your fastest speed to arrive at the Imperial Palace and seek for an audience with His Majesty. Ask His Majesty to dispatch the Enshrined Elders or the Heavenly Imperial Guardians, otherwise our whole army will be annihilated… We only have three teleportation scrolls left, it’s not enough for your whole team to escape. If you have teleportation scrolls with you, then leave quickly and return to Da Xia Kingdom!”
Old General Ma’s words implied that Ye Kong’s, Fatty Hai’s and the others’ abilities weren’t strong enough and would not be able to help his army at the current state. They would only endanger their lives staying here, so it would be better for them to leave.
Yue Yang nodded and received the Tiger Seal from Old General Ma.
The two Deputy Generals had already taken the next step in their army formation. The injured soldiers were moved to the middle, while the other elite soldiers surrounded and protected them.
Almost all the houses in the vicinity had been ignited in flames. Blazing flames rose up into the sky. The Giant Spiders who were afraid of fire didn’t dare approach, so the soldiers could still preserve their lives for now.
As for the flying beasts in the sky, they continued to simply observe the situation. It still wasn’t the best time to attack right now. The soldiers were still united and had battle power. especially Old General Ma’s Hurricane Elite Troops, had minimal casualties. Every single one of them was burning with fighting intent, their morale high and confident. The Corrupted Warriors’ Commander had an even calmer and a more cautious disposition than Old General Ma. He neither commenced his attack nor retreated easily.
Although the Luminous Demon Ding Zang had been defeated by Yue Yang, escaped, and the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang had been captured, the Corrupted Warriors’ Commander still didn’t move.
“If you take more than an hour, you don’t have to come back.” Old General Ma’s underlying meaning was extremely clear. If reinforcements didn’t come after an hour, then all of them should have already been killed. At that time, even if reinforcements come, it would all be useless. On the contrary, they might even fall to the enemy’s trap.
“Yue Bing, let’s go!” Yue Yang grabbed the unconscious Tan Wu Fang and shouted towards Yue Bing and Yi Nan.
“We’ll return back to Da Xia.” Ye Kong patted the shoulders of the Platoon Leader, who was supposed to protect them, and looked towards the trembling fellow. He then suddenly suggested, “Do you want to come with us? We’ll first return to Da Xia, but Yue Yang will teleport to the Tian Luo Kingdom Capital afterwards. He would not be familiar with that place and will probably need a guide. Why don’t you leave together with him?”
“I, I think I will stay behind with General… Long live His Majesty! Long Live Tian Luo!” That Platoon Leader’s ashen face did not reveal any kind of emotion, but his whole body was shaking violently. He had forced himself to hold on and cheered loudly.
Anyone could clearly see that he was extremely afraid, but he wasn’t a coward.
Yue Yang thought that this soldier must come from a family with status; he could even be one of the descendants of Great Clans and was participating in his first battle. It was really rare to see someone like him. He was able to endure so much even when he was confronted with such a dangerous situation. If it was another person that was given such a chance to live, they might even fight for that chance even if they have to kill another. But he had actually rejected the offer and chosen to stay.
Encountering a desperate situation, although he was afraid, he didn’t choose a path to survive. He had instead chosen to stay and fight the battle together with his comrades.
Seemed like this Old General Ma really had a way to lead his soldiers.
Old General Ma patted the Platoon Leader’s shoulders. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes revealed all the praises and pride he had in his heart for this subordinate of his.
“Wait for me to return. I will definitely return!” Yue Yang promised the soldiers in Hope Town whose lives had now become dependent on him. He might not be able to get reinforcements within an hour, but Yue Yang would definitely return and fight with this soldiers until the last moment.
Hui Tai Lang charged in front and opened up a path for them while Ye Kong, Fatty Hai and Li Clan Brothers followed closely behind.
Yue Yang carried the unconscious Black Winged Tan Wu Fang, who had been tied up by the two Deputy Generals. He tied Tan Wu Fang on his back as he pulled Yi Nan and Yue Bing along with both of his hands. Behind him, the Old General Ma, who was determined to accompany the small team to depart, followed closely. Although he was filled with serious injuries all over his body, he still had some battle power left in him. His bearification ability was shockingly powerful. He carried a giant burning pillar as he swept away the Giant Spiders that swarmed towards them.
They rushed outside town. Yue Yang then asked Yi Nan to summon her grimoire and stay on her place.
Yue Yang himself, on the other hand, waved his Hui Jin Magic Blade and made use of his newly mastered fire ability to create violently revolving rings of fire with his purple flames and then sent them flying towards the swarm of Giant Spiders.
The Giant Spiders all cried out miserably as they were cut to half by the purple flames and burnt alive.
In the sky, that Commander who was riding on a Giant Eagle led a few Wyverns and a few dozens Corrupted Warriors and continued to encircle the town, waiting for a chance to launch a sneak attack.
He was terrified of Yue Yang’s power in his heart, hence he didn’t dare to rush over. Instead, he ordered his Corrupted Warriors to attack using crossbows and rain arrows down on them. Ye Kong and the others continued to throw ignited torches unceasingly towards the countless Giant Spiders. With this method of defending and attacking, the team slowly made their way forward.
“Go, go!” Old General Ma knew that the longer they delayed, the more dangerous the situation would become.
If they still delayed, these students might not even be able to escape.
Ye Kong and the others whined secretly. They had killed their way almost two kilometers in distance, but they were still within the vicinity of the dimension disturbance caused by the Artifact. If they continued this way, they would probably reach the Despair Abyss soon… Old General Ma continued to wave his giant burning pillar as he roared towards the slowest moving Fatty Hai, “Go and teleport away from here. Normally you wouldn’t end up in some cliff and fall to your death with your teleportation. Try to use your teleportation scrolls again and return to the places you belong… Then, quickly try to find the strongest teachers to protect you and don’t move around as you please. Also, don’t put up the news of this attack in the Warrior’s Guild. The powerful Rankers from the Demonic Palace should be arriving soon. Go quickly!”
Fatty Hai and the others were extremely nervous, but Yue Yang did not nod his head, so they did not dare to open their scrolls and leave.
Yue Yang thought that his whole team must stay together. Otherwise, if the enemy captured one of them, it would be really troublesome. No matter what, he must bring the whole team back to the Ivy Academy first.
Old General Ma suddenly roared to the sky. His bearification intensified as he almost turned into a Giant Steel Bear completely.
He charged madly towards the Giant Spiders as if he had lost control, killing those Giant Spiders wildly.
He charged forward and killed unceasingly, carving a way out for Yue Yang and the others. However, when Yue Yang went closer to him, he, whose eyes had turned bloody red, had actually aimed an attack on Yue Yang’s chest.
When Yue Yang avoided the attack cleverly, the red glow in Old General Ma’s eyes dissipated a little as he howled out, “Go quickly! I wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. You are different from us; you are only students. Don’t sacrifice your lives easily, you guys are the future of Soaring Dragon Continent… We are soldiers, dying in a battle is our greatest honour! Go, go! I am going to lose control soon, hurry and leave this place!”
The bearified Old General Ma continued to kill the Giant Spiders and created another bout of disturbance amongst the swarms of monsters.
Turning to a corner halfway, he lured countless Giant Spiders and went towards the direction of Hope Town to return.
Ye Kong’s hands were thoroughly drenched with sweat. He was pinching his teleportation scroll so hard that water was almost wringed out. Seeing that there was no more dark energy influencing the crystal gem inside the teleportation scroll, he immediately opened the teleportation scroll and shouted, “We can teleport now! We have escaped the range of the dimension disturbance. Everyone, move quickly!”
In the sky, the Corrupted Beings that was riding on Giant Eagles and a flight of wyverns immediately swooped down in order to create a disturbance on Yue Yang and the others’ teleportations.
As long as they could successfully cause a disturbance, the soldiers would not get reinforcements and they would all probably die at Hope Town…
Yue Yang raised his Hui Jin Magic Blade and leapt high to the sky, immediately killing one of the Giant Eagles that swooped down the fastest. Blood splashed all over and eagles’ feathers flew all over the place. At the same time, seeing that the situation was not good, those swooping Giant Eagles and Wyverns immediately scattered away and retreated. That Corrupted Warriors Commander’s expressions changed. He had actually wanted to take out a golden crossbow from his robes to shoot at Yue Yang and the others, but he kept it back again.
A Corrupted Warrior who didn’t manage to escape in time was scared to death by Yue Yang’s sudden appearance at his back.
His struggles and attempts to escape was futile.
Yue Yang’s blade flashed across him, before he slowly jumped back down to the ground. By this time, Ye Kong and the others had already successfully teleported away. In the sky, the Corrupted Warrior and his Giant Eagle who had lost their heads fell down to the group of Giant Spiders below. They were immediately engulfed by the bloodthirsty Spiders, disappearing into the darkness in an instant.
On the ground, only Yi Nan and Yue Yang was left.
With Hui Tai Lang’s protection, Yi Nan was not in a danger when she summoned the teleportation gate. However, she was waiting for Yue Yang to go with her.
Yue Yang quickly opened his teleportation scroll. He first kicked Hui Tai Lang into the teleportation gate that appeared, then entered their respective teleportation gates together with Yi Nan and teleported away.
Their teleportation target was originally the Square at Ivy Academy.
The old cunning fox was researching on his Teleportation Circles when he suddenly found a slight ripple in the dimension. When he looked up, he found Fatty Hai who was crying “Wahh…Wahh…” loudly come crashing down, hence he immediately avoided him and ran to another side. He watched as Fatty Hai crashed loudly on the ground, before asking him in astonishment, “What happened? Fatty, are you still alive?” Before he even finished his questions, Ye Kong and the Li Clan Brothers suddenly appeared in the sky too. The old cunning fox was so shocked that he immediately scurried away, avoiding being squashed by their fall.
Just as he was in a complete puzzlement, a pair of legs had suddenly squashed his body down. He only managed to hear Yue Yang’s voice asking from the top of his head, “Is everyone alright?”
“They are all alright, but as for myself, the Vice Principal, I am very curious about one thing and would like to ask you, student. Where did you set your teleportation target to and why would you set it to right on top of my head?” The old cunning fox felt that Yue Yang was extremely heavy for a brat. When he looked up, he realized that Yue yang was holding onto Yue Bing, hugging a female thief at one of his side, and was even carrying a burnt person who was charred completely black. He immediately realized why this brat felt even heavier than Fatty Hai. Turns out it was the weight of 3 people and a captured enemy…
“There was still a slight disturbance in the teleportation space, but we finally managed to return safely. Vice Principal, I don’t have time to talk to you now. I leave these people to your protection. For every strand of hair they lose in the time I have yet to return, I will demand your full explanation!” Yue Yang was rushing for time, hence he said that when he was still standing on top of the old cunning fox’ back. He then hurriedly placed Yi Nan and Yue Bing down, before opening the scroll that Old General Ma had given him. Carrying Tan Wu Fang, he immediately teleported to the Tian Luo Kingdom’s capital to seek for reinforcements.
“What is actually happening here? Who is that charcoal of a person that that brat had carried just now?” The old cunning fox was extremely confused as he scratched his head.
“It’s nothing. He is just some person from the Demonic Palace who came to attack us at Hope Town. The charred, barbecued person that Yue Yang was carrying is the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang.” Ye Kong had purposely downplayed the facts.
“What kind of jokes are you spouting? Why would the Demonic Palace try to attack you guys, a bunch of kids?” The old cunning fox jumped in shock.
“I don’t quite understand it either,” Ye Kong humbly spread out his hands, looking helpless.
“Is that person really the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang?” The old cunning fox could feel that this matter was not that simple. The Black Winged Tan Wu Fang was a Tian Luo rebel, so he had naturally heard of him before.
“He wasn’t that strong though. Yue Yang managed to beat him black and blue in an instant. The strong one was a fellow called the Luminous Demon Ding Zang. He almost turned us all into roasted duck! I have initially thought that one of the top ten generals, Old General Ma, is already strong enough, but he actually lost completely to the Luminous Demon Ding Zang in an instant. Luckily Old General Ma has a strong fate and managed to stay alive!” Fatty Hai reported with a brilliant smile. If the old cunning fox was willing to listen to him, he had even prepared to reiterate the whole events that had unfolded until now.
“You could even fight against the Luminous Demon Ding Zang?” The old cunning fox cried out in shock. “Did that Yue Yang beat him down? This is impossible. Even I would need to spend a lot of effort to defeat the Luminous Demon Ding Zang. That fellow’s Hellfire is an extremely troublesome beast, if you don’t own its arch-nemesis beast… How long did Yue Yang, that brat, take to fight him?”
“Three moves!” Yue Bing nodded with an indescribable pride in her expression.
“Impossible, I wouldn’t even be able to defeat the Luminous Demon Ding Zang in three moves!” The old cunning fox was thoroughly distressed.
“He didn’t beat him, he only used his Magic Blade to cut the Luminous Demon Ding Zang’s tenfold Hellfire and scared him away.” Yi Nan replied.
“That is also impossible. It’s a tenfold Hellfire! It might still be believable if I was the one who withstood that attack. Is that Yue Yang brat that powerful?” The old cunning fox felt that he needed to re-evaluate Yue Yang’s battle power.
“Vice Principal, forgive me for speaking bluntly. Aren’t you the worst teacher in the Ivy Academy? Who would knew that you are even more proficient at talking big than me, Master Hai!” Fatty Hai hugged the old cunning fox’s shoulders. He then shook his head emotionally, “I say, Vice Principal, it’s normal to dream, but it’s not normal to brag. Everyone would do it at some point of time, but dreams are dreams and brags are brags. You must not exaggerate so much! With just your Level 5 [Grandmaster]’s ability, you wouldn’t even be able to fight against that Luminous Demon Ding Zang’s single toe. It’s fine if you simply say these words to us, but please make sure not to say it to others. Otherwise you would probably be laughed at by everyone. Furthermore, speaking from the perspective of students from the Ivy Academy, you will also tarnish our reputation if you bragged so much!”
“…. “ The old cunning fox was lectured by Fatty Hai and felt really gloomy in his heart.
He almost wanted to show off his whole skills and frightened this Fatty Hai to death.
However, he still kept this thought away instead. He had only managed to hide his abilities after going through great difficulties. If Fatty Hai really knew his capabilities, he would definitely not hear the end of it.
In the end, the old cunning fox could only look down helplessly and replied extremely gloomily, “Alright, Fatty, what you said is right. I admit I have said the wrong thing just now… Demonic Palace is not an organization that you can offend easily. There may even be the possibility that they tailed you guys here. But everyone, don’t be afraid, I will definitely protect you all… Ah, I mean, I will find a strong person to protect you all!”
Yue Yang didn’t know about the very exciting exchange between the old cunning fox and Ye Kong, Fatty Hai and the others.
He immediately found something was wrong when he entered the teleportation gate.
It might be because he had carried the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang in his hands; The teleportation had deviated and they did not arrive at the Teleportation Circle outside the Imperial Palace.
Instead, when Yue Yang re-appeared, he realized there was a roof in front of him.
He immediately sucked in his breath and tried to make himself lighter, inching the tip of his toes towards those fragile glazed roof tiles.
Who would know that even though he hadn’t put much weight on his foot, his whole body had immediately fallen through the tiles, passing through it as if he was a ghost.
However, the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang, whom Yue Yang had been tightly clutching onto the whole time, had actually crashed into the roof with a ‘bang’ and was stuck there. He was then tossed a dozen meters away, ending up who knew where. Yue Yang had even heard the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang cry out in extreme pain despite being unconscious. As for Yue Yang himself, he hadn’t been able to grasp any supporting beams or anything else as he fell through the roof. In the end, he fell straight down onto the ground.
Yue Yang looked around and sighed in relief when he found that he had fallen onto a ground.
If he had fallen to a thousand miles deep abyss or some other dimensional space, then he would definitely be doomed.
Once again, he sucked in his breath and tried to put as little weight on his foot as much as possible. Yue Yang hoped that the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang had also fallen to the ground and did not trigger a trap. He prayed that he wouldn’t trigger a trap that would release thousands of arrows…
However, another weirder thing had happened in the next instant.
Yue Yang’s foot lost its footing once again. It seemed like the ground was fake and was actually an empty space.
Yue Yang was extremely astonished as he fall through the ground again. The next thing he knew, the illusion of the ground had shattered and a pond of clear water appeared instead. Yue Yang’s whole body fell into the water with a loud splash. Only now did he realize that the whole house, beams, pillars, ground and others were all an illusion. The real object was a body of water, and it was an extremely huge lake at that. Yue Yang was extremely confused. He had obviously teleported to the Imperial Palace Teleportation Circle, so why would he arrive at this place?
Furthermore, why did he manage to fall into the lake, but the Black Winged Tan Wu Fang couldn’t?
How could he get out from this place?
Just as Yue Yang was at a loss with this matter, suddenly, he heard two people’s extremely soft voices talking about himself. He hurriedly looked around the whole place nervously, but he didn’t see anyone at all.
“How could this brat fall into our Mirage?” A voice that carried an imposing presence asked with a leisured tone, as if he was speaking right into Yue Yang’s ears.
“Capture him and interrogate him properly!” Another voice that sounded mischievous, as if she was very young, resounded. Her voice sounded soft and delicate.
Yue Yang sweated profusely. Mirage?
Who were these two people? And what was this Mirage place exactly?