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nChapter 81 Sudden Change

nThe next morning, the team continued their journey.

nThe second half of the journey was along the edge of the center of the mountain range. The team was no longer as relaxed as they were the day before.

nEvery few hundred meters, they would encounter a mutant beast running through the forest.

nMost of these mutant beasts only glanced at the team before leaving in a hurry. None of these encounters turned into fights.

nZhao Yifeng and Meng Tai followed closely behind Liu Wanqing.

n“Wanqing, why do I feel that something is amiss?” Zhao Yifeng asked nervously.

n“The movements of the mutant beasts are indeed abnormal,” Liu Wanqing replied with a cold expression as she continuously scanned the surroundings.

nChen Yiming narrowed his eyes and looked far into the distance beyond the forest.

nAfter he broke through to the warrior realm, not only was a new power born in his body, but his five senses had also been enhanced. His hearing and vision far exceeded that of those in the disciple realm.

nPerhaps the others in the team couldn’t clearly see the expressions on the mutant beasts’ faces as they ran past, but Chen Yiming had seen everything.

n“Those mutant beasts look like they are fleeing for their lives. Something big must have happened in the center of the mountain range,” Chen Yiming thought to himself.

nAt this moment, Meng Tai couldn’t help but say in a low voice, “Why don’t we retreat to Yongluo Town first and enter the mountains after we understand the situation?”

nHis arms were strong and muscular, and at this moment, his bulging muscles were tensed up. He was the burliest person in the team.

n“We’re not far from our destination. If you follow me, I can protect you,” Liu Wanqing reassured them when she realized that they wanted to back out of the mission.

n“Alright.” Zhao Yifeng and Meng Tai nodded, but in their hearts, they deeply regretted joining the mission.

nThey were both core disciples of martial arts schools and had a bright future ahead of them.

nActually, when they entered the mountain range, everyone had noticed that something was amiss. However, the team was at the periphery of the mountain range at that time, so it was impossible for them to retreat just like that.

nNo one expected that after stepping into the center of the mountain range, the situation would become even stranger. The team had already encountered mutant beasts that had undergone more than six transformations fleeing on multiple occasions.

nIf Zhao Yifeng and Meng Tai left the team at this time, it would be even more dangerous for them.

nNear noon, the group finally arrived at the place where the silver lightning deer usually appeared.

nIt was a steep cliff. From afar, it looked like it had been cut in half by a huge axe.

nAt this moment, the surface of the cliff was bare. Only some excrement from the animals could be seen, and there was no sign of the silver lightning deer at all.

n“Crack!”

nLiu Daoyuan’s expression was dark as he punched a tree beside him.

n“What should we do now?” Chen Yiming turned around and asked Liu Wanqing.

nAt this moment, Liu Wanqing also had a cold expression and did not reply.

nAfter a while, Liu Wanqing asked Liu Daoyuan for his opinion. “Brother, are we still heading to the center of the mountain range?”

nThere was more than one area where the silver lightning deer could be found. This was only one of the areas that was near the periphery.

nBefore Liu Daoyuan could reply, Meng Tai said, “I object. There’s something wrong with the mountain range today. There’s no need to continue taking the risk.”

nZhao Yifeng also echoed, “I object too. Let’s just not count this as one of the times that we promised to help you.”

nZhao Yifeng and Meng Tai were in a similar situation to Chen Yiming. Liu Wanqing had offered them a deal to get them to help.

n“It wasn’t easy for us to find traces of a silver lightning deer with bloodline abilities. We can’t give up just like that,” Liu Daoyuan said angrily through gritted teeth.

nAfter hearing Liu Daoyuan’s words, Zhao Yifeng and Meng Tai’s expressions turned ugly. By doing this, he was not caring if they lost their lives.

nIf not for the fact that they were in the center of the mountain range and that they were not able to deal with the situation with their own strength, if they were back in East Lake City, the two of them would have started cursing long ago.

nEven if Liu Daoyuan and Liu Wanqing were experts who had undergone six transformations, the other two had the backing of their martial arts schools. The Liu clan would not dare to do anything to them.

nChen Yiming didn’t say anything. He was observing a group of people.

nThis group was several kilometers away, fleeing among the treetops in the direction of the center of the mountain range.

n“Everyone, please hold on for a while longer. It’s really difficult to encounter a silver lightning deer with bloodline abilities.” Liu Wanqing realized the disagreement in the team and tried to persuade them. “If we can’t find any traces of it after searching the surroundings, we’ll retreat immediately.”

nAfter she spoke, Liu Wanqing turned to Chen Yiming.

nZhao Yifeng and Meng Tai were not strong enough. Even if they objected, they still had to stick with the team. Only Chen Yiming could retreat alone if he didn’t agree.

n“I have no objections,” Chen Yiming replied without hesitation.

nThe current Nuhe Mountain Range was to him how a fish pond was to a fisherman.

nIn addition, the purpose of his trip was to fulfill his end of the deal and also to explore the path to the center of the mountain range.

n“Since Chen Yiming has no objections, let’s split up and search in three directions. Zhao Yifeng and Meng Tai will go with me. What do you guys think?” Liu Wanqing asked.

nChen Yiming nodded.

nSoon, the team split up.

nAfter separating from the team, Chen Yiming headed straight for a tall mountain a few kilometers away.

nHe could get a good view from the top of the mountain. If the silver lightning deer with bloodline ability was still in the surrounding area, he would have a chance to find traces of

nit.

nA few minutes later, Chen Yiming arrived at the peak.

nLooking down at the forest from the top of the mountain, a deadly aura emanated through the air. From time to time, the roars of mutant beasts could be heard.

nThis feeling was very strange. If he had come here when he had undergone six transformations, his mental state would probably have been completely different.

nOnce he was trapped on the mountain by many mutant beasts of the same level as him, there was no way for him to escape.

nJust as Chen Yiming was patiently searching for traces of the deer, a loud roar sounded, rippling through the entire mountain range.

nHe had never heard such a beast roar before. The decibel of the sound was comparable to a bomb exploding.

n“Should I go over and take a look?” Chen Yiming was tempted. Ever since he had broken through to the warrior realm, there had been no suitable opponent for him to test his strength against.

nBefore he could make a decision, something happened in the forest below.

n“Dong! Dong! Dong!’

nThe sound of footsteps rang out.

nA herd of mutant beasts appeared. There were about ten of them, and they were fleeing towards the outskirts of the mountain range, as if they had encountered some terrifying existence.

nThe herd crushed all the obstacles in their way, leaving behind a mass of destruction in their wake.

n“This… is a little like the beast tide described in the books,” Chen Yiming muttered as he watched the beasts flee into the distance.

nAs the name suggested, the beast tide was a flood of mutant beasts escaping from a powerful mutant beast. Thousands of mutant beasts were chased away and would surge towards the area controlled by humans.

nWherever the beast tide passed, ordinary humans and ordinary martial arts practitioners could not do anything about it and would only be drowned out by the torrent.

nWhen faced with a beast tide, humans could rely on the heavy firepower in the city to defend themselves. Even small-scale beast tides would not dare to rush into the city.

nHowever, without the source of the beast tide being killed and neutralized by a martial artist, even the city wall would not be able to withstand the onslaught of a large-scale beast tide.

n“Liu Wanqing has helped me a lot. Without the Flying Feather Sword Technique that she provided, I would have to find another way to understand the cultivation method of the concept diagram. I don’t know how much time I would have wasted,” Chen Yiming decided.

nIn a flash, he rushed towards the area where Liu Wanqing was searching for the deer.

nHe planned to secretly escort them out of the central area of the mountain range.

nAt the entrance of the canyon, hundreds of heat toxin birds were flying in circles in the sky.

nDue to their ability to fly, these mutant beasts did not escape into the distance without hesitation like the mutant beasts that could only run on land.

nEven so, the flock of heat toxin birds did not dare to continue staying in the canyon. Instead, they flew in the air and observed the commotion in the center of the mountain range.

nLiu Wanqing rushed alone to the entrance of the canyon and stopped.

nShe was in a sorry state. Her clothes were torn in many places, and one could see her fair skin underneath.

n“We’re in big trouble this time. I don’t know if Zhao Yifeng and Meng Tai are dead or alive,” Liu Wanqing muttered to herself, her face ashen.

nZhao Yifeng and Meng Tai had followed Liu Wanqing when they escaped. However, the sudden appearance of the herd of mutant beasts forced the three of them to split up and escape in different directions.

nLiu Wanqing, who had undergone six transformations, had almost been torn apart by the beasts several times. However, perhaps because she was lucky, she had always barely managed to survive.

nAs for Zhao Yifeng and Meng Tai, they only had the strength of five transformations. Unless they had incredible luck, they had no chance of escaping with their lives.

nAt the top of a big tree hundreds of meters away, Chen Yiming glanced at the heat toxin birds flying in circles, then at Liu Wanqing, who was at the entrance of the canyon.

n“I’ve already protected you all the way to the outskirts of the mountain range. If you still can’t escape, you can only blame your bad luck.” Chen Yiming turned to leave.

nThe reason Liu Wanqing had been able to escape successfully was because Chen Yiming had secretly killed many powerful mutant beasts in the herd. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so lucky.

nWherever the beasts passed, Liu Wanqing, who was alone, had nowhere to hide.

nAs for Zhao Yifeng and Meng Tai, after they split up and escaped, they were crushed by the beasts in only a few minutes.

n“Swish!”

nChen Yiming’s figure became a blur and constantly moved through the treetops. Rumbling sounds could continuously be heard from deep in the center of the mountain range. It sounded like creatures were fighting in there.

n“Could it be that the group earlier is hunting the powerful mutant beast? If that’s the case, it will probably be a battle between those at the level of warriors.” Chen Yiming became excited at the thought of this.

nHe took out the black cloth he always carried with him and wrapped it around his face. As he rushed over, he carefully checked his surroundings.

nHe was very fast and arrived near the scene of the fight in just a few minutes.

n“How intense!”

nFrom Chen Yiming’s position, he could see an empty area about a kilometer in diameter in the forest.

nWithin this area, dust filled the air and the entire forest had been razed to the ground.

n“A big lizard? Or a big crocodile?” Chen Yiming said in surprise.

nHe saw three humans standing dozens of meters away from each other, surrounding a huge creature.

nThe mutant beast was about five meters tall and more than ten meters long. Its entire body was covered in a layer of red scales.

nAt this moment, its eyes, which were bigger than a human face, revealed a ferocious glint that made one’s heart stop. From time to time, it would flick its tongue that was several meters long. “This huge mutant lizard definitely didn’t evolve on the blue planet. Otherwise, after being attacked by the three of us for so long it would not only have some broken scales and minor injuries,” Jiang Weishun said bluntly.

nHe was tall and muscular, and he carried a large spiked stick on his shoulder.

n“Who would have thought that this big fellow would be so resistant to our attacks? Those injuries are no different from scratching an itch for its huge body,” Zhang Lifan sighed helplessly. He had the body of an ape and the waist of a bear. He was wearing armor made of metal and holding a nearly two-meter-long machete in his hand.

n“We have no choice. I think we can only use our last resort. Each side will send out someone who isn’t afraid to die. We’ll try our best to stall that big fellow and retreat after stealing its eggs,” Wang Zhizhao said in a low voice.

nHe had a well-proportioned figure and was wearing a loose white shirt. He looked like an ordinary middle-aged man.

n“Are we really going to do that?” Jiang Weishun was a little hesitant.

nThe three of them had each brought a few subordinates with them, but all of them were warrior candidates who had undergone nine transformations.

nIgnoring the matter of whether they were willing or not, a warrior candidate was not some small fry who could just be sacrificed at will.

n“Then what other ideas do you have? You can’t possibly let one of us three go, right? Aren’t you afraid of being trapped in the cave by that huge beast?” Wang Zhizhao said directly.

n“Brother Jiang, if you’re willing to make a small sacrifice, I don’t mind,” Zhang Lifan said with a smile.

n“You…” Jiang Weishun glared at him but did not reply.

nIf he was really trapped in the cave, it would not be so easy for a warrior to die. After all, the defense provided by the internal force was not something to scoff at.

nHowever, if he was seriously injured because of this, he could not guarantee that his two companions would not have other plans.

nTherefore, even though there were three of them, each of them would only use 70% of their strength at most. They would not really go all out.

nThe three of them quickly retreated and left.

nSeeing this, the mother beast did not chase after them and directly retreated to a large hole at the side of the mountain.

n“It’s a pity that the big fellow didn’t chase after them.” Chen Yiming, who was standing on a tree branch in the distance, had witnessed everything.

nIf he knew that the three of them would not return, he would have gone straight up and used that big fellow to test his current strength.

nIn a few minutes, the three of them returned, each bringing a team with them.

n“It’s really the group that I saw earlier.” Chen Yiming recognized them immediately.

nAt this moment, the mother beast in the cave seemed to have sensed that the group had returned, and immediately stuck its head out of the cave.

n“Roar!”

nThe mother beast roared at the intruders, its voice making one’s heart tremble.

nAt this moment, smoke was coming out of its nostrils as it stared fiercely at the people coming towards it.

nThe mother beast had just laid its eggs, and its emotions were extremely unstable. Furthermore, it had been taunted repeatedly.

nIf it wasn’t for the fact that it needed to protect the eggs that had just been laid, it would have rushed up to fight its opponents directly.

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