Chapter 67: Stormy Weather in a Small Town

  Seeing my own scheme succeed, I smiled slightly and said, "Really?"

  Pan Zong patted his chest and said, "Of course it's true. With me around, what can Jin and Yin say?" Indeed, Pan Zong still had a lot of intimidating power over Jin and Yin.

  "Then I'll thank you first, big brother."

  "What about my wife..."

  "Don't worry, brother will definitely help you match with the most beautiful dragon girl. If brother doesn't help brother, who will?"

  …………

  My wish has come true, and after another ten days, the colorful aurora still hasn't reappeared. The small town can no longer be described as lively. Tens of thousands of people have gathered in the city, not only is there no room to set foot inside the city, but even outside the city, tents are pitched everywhere. The price of hotel rooms in the small town has skyrocketed three times in just ten days. Even I, the one who started it all, am surprised by this result.

  Perhaps sensing the underlying crisis, the Dragon God dispatched a large number of troops to guard White Smoke Mountain. However, this only served to arouse suspicion, and the massive appearance of the Dragon Empire's regular army did not dispel the adventurers' notions, but rather increased their numbers, with some even bringing entire mercenary companies to the small town. They seemed to be driven by a psychology of desperation.

  In the past ten days, I have transformed and flown to the outskirts of White Smoke Mountain several times at night. Although the entire mountain range is still quiet, the deployment of the Dragon God Empire's regular army has improved significantly. They are no longer simply guarding the main peak of White Smoke Mountain; instead, they have set up a three-layer defense network in front of the small town, with a total force of over 60,000 troops. What a waste of resources! I secretly lamented the failure of the Dragon God Empire's commander this time. The more he does this, the more it will pique the interest of those adventurers. I had wondered why they didn't use their troops to surround the small town, but later understood that the people of the Dragon God Empire were mainly afraid of causing panic. Moreover, although the people in the small town have different intentions, most of them are warriors and magicians. If a real conflict breaks out, this mess will be difficult to clean up. The purpose of the Dragon God Empire seems to be just to intimidate them, but can human greed really be intimidated?

  In the hotel room.

  I smiled and said: "Big brother, second brother, second sister, we should set off today."

  "Departure? What's the departure for?"

  I smiled and said, "Let's go to the main peak of White Smoke Mountain."

  Jin suddenly said, "Right, now the defense of the main peak is not as strict as before, it's very advantageous for us to go to the main peak to wait for the appearance of the five-colored dawn light, good idea."

  "Second brother understands my concerns, on the main peak of White Smoke Mountain, we can almost see everything that happens in the entire mountain range. At that time, we will have the initiative to choose how and when to take action. I estimate that the Five-Colored Light should appear soon. Big brother, let's go out and buy some more food, we'll leave tonight."

  As night fell, the three of us quietly slipped out of the small town, bypassing the crowds gathered outside the city, and quickly arrived at the outer defenses of the White Smoke Mountain Range Dragon God Empire.

  The clouds in the sky obscured the moon's light, making it very dark around. The soldiers of the Dragon God Empire no longer lurked in the mountains like before, but instead set up a camp here, with lights shining brightly within, standing out starkly against the night. Patrols of soldiers were almost continuously circling outside the camp. It looked like the defenses were very tight.

  Yin suddenly said in a low voice, "Be careful." I and Pan Zong subconsciously pressed our bodies down, holding our breath. A piercing sound cut through the air, and I slightly turned my head to look with the corner of my eye. Three giant dragons flew over us, landing in the center of the camp.

  The four of us looked at each other, and the dissatisfied Pan Zong said: "Old Fourth, how did you scout the route? Why are there still dragon knights patrolling around? With these annoying guys around, how can we proceed with our plan?"

  I scratched my head, in the previous few times I came, I indeed didn't discover any Dragon Knights, could it be that they have strengthened their defense.

  Jin said in a low voice, "It's not necessarily the patrol, since the five-colored aurora is so important to the Dragon God Empire, they must have put their strongest power around the cave that Old Four mentioned. Just now, I took a peek and found that the dragon knights on the backs of those three giant dragons are all carrying packages, it's very likely that they were just transferred from elsewhere to strengthen the defense."

  I nodded and said: "It's possible, let's wait and see. If no Dragon Knights appear within an hour, we'll take action."

  Yin Dao: "Actually, it doesn't matter. Even if there are dragon knights patrolling, they may not necessarily discover our plan."

  "Let's wait a bit longer and be careful. If we're caught by the Dragon Knights, it'll be hard to get away."

  After a while, the three dragon knights who had just landed in the camp took off again, flying towards the mountain peaks where the colorful dawn was appearing. It seems that Jin's judgment was correct. I gave Jin a thumbs up.

  "Let's get started," Pan Zong said in a low voice.

  I nodded and rushed to Jin Yin Road: "Second brother, second sister, you stay here and I'll go help the big brother. If there's a situation, just shout." As I spoke, Pan Zong and I retreated ten meters, Pan Zong looked around at the terrain and then at the position of the Long Shen Empire camp, pointing to a large thicket: "Old Fourth, let's do it here."

  I drew out the Ink Shadow from behind, under the infusion of dark magic, the Ink Shadow instantly emitted a thick black sword aura. I signaled to Pan Zong to retreat a bit, and then I lightly leaped into the air, swinging the Ink Shadow downwards, silently inserting it into the bush cluster. With a swift flick of my wrist, the Ink Shadow drew a beautiful circle with a diameter of two meters in the center of the bush cluster. Turning around, I gently landed on the ground.

  I stored the ink Ming, I gave Pan Zong a wink, and a blue light flashed in his eyes. A transparent soundproof barrier enveloped me, the shrubs, and an area of 20 meters around us. I took a deep breath, and my body emitted a thick black fog that instantly filled the soundproof barrier. Under my control, the black fog formed another layer of lightproof barrier within the soundproof one.

  I gazed at my masterpiece with satisfaction, flexed my arms, and let out a low shout: "*". A yellow glow instantly enveloped my entire body, two clusters of yellow energy appeared in my hands, I crouched down, slowly pouring the yellow energy into the ground. I carefully controlled the Crazy God's aura to move under the shrubbery that I had previously cut with Mo Ming, concentrated my mind and lifted it up, a cone-shaped section of the ground suddenly separated from the shrubbery and slowly moved away. I wrapped this piece of earth in dark magic, quietly holding it in mid-air, then removed the isolation barrier, Pan Zong's divine sense jumped over, transmitted to me: "Wait for a moment, I'll go down, you just block the top, I have a way to change the air, after it's done, I'll come back to pick you up." As he spoke, he chanted incantations while shaking his body, revealing his true form, he twisted on the ground a few times, making a faint rustling sound. I vigilantly looked around and saw no abnormalities before relaxing my guard. The purple snake head in the center of Pan Zong nodded at me, four physical attack snake heads immediately entered the hole I had just dug.

  We actually have a very simple way to get past the blockade, which is to dig a tunnel all the way through, from here to the other side of the three defense lines, probably about ten miles long. If it weren't for Panzong's expertise in digging tunnels, we wouldn't even consider this method. In order not to let the Longshen Empire's patrol soldiers discover the tunnel, Panzong has to fill in the excavated soil around him while digging, which makes his task even more difficult.

  As Panzong's body on the ground gradually disappeared, I knew he had started digging. Hopefully, he wouldn't encounter any granite or other difficult terrain. I carefully put the conical soil block back in place, leaving no trace on the surface, as if nothing had happened.

  I lay back beside Jin and Yin, Jin asked: "How is it?"

  "Big brother has gone down already, we just need to wait here until he breaks through, then we'll succeed."

  Until the break of dawn, Panzong finally crawled out of the hole again. He blocked the cave and lay down beside us, panting. In his human form, he looked exhausted.

  "Big brother, what's wrong?"

  "Old Fourth, your plan was good, but it almost killed me. The terrain below is extremely complex. I encountered two underground springs and five huge granite rocks. Although the granite is hard, it's still manageable. However, the soil around the underground river is particularly loose, and I nearly got buried in it. In the end, I had to use earth magic to prop up the tunnel with the excavated granite, barely succeeding. According to my estimate, we've only made a little over half progress, and at least another night's work is needed to break through. Hurry up and give me something to eat and drink."

  I didn't expect it to be so difficult, and I actually made Pan Zong suffer so much. Apologetically, I said: "Really sorry, big brother, I didn't know it would be like this. How about we think of another way?" As I spoke, I took out food and water from the mustard seeds and handed them over.

  Pan Zong stared at me, taking big gulps of water, and after a while said: "Forget it, we've already dug more than half. If we change methods now, won't I have wasted my effort? The sky will be light soon, let's go down later. I made some secret ventilation holes in the tunnel, although the air is thin, it can still support life."

  "After eating for a while, Pan Zong suddenly said: 'Let's go down now, I'll eat again after we go down. Staying here makes me feel unsafe.'"

  We three came quietly to the tunnel entrance, under the protection of the soundproof and lightproof double-layer boundary. I opened the tunnel entrance again, Panzong jumped down first, followed by Jinyi. I was the last one to jump down with a lump of soil, and when the top was covered by the conical soil block again, the tunnel suddenly fell into darkness. I hurriedly gathered a small fireball to light up the surroundings, and only then did I realize how formidable Panzong was. To avoid being discovered by the Dragon God Empire's troops on the ground, he dug down three zhang before digging forward, and the tunnel was indeed as Panzong said, although the air was thin, it could still be breathed.

  The entire tunnel is about 1.5 meters high and one meter wide, I have to crouch down to pass through.

  We've arrived here, we can all relax now and don't have to worry about being discovered by the Dragon God Empire's troops anymore. Yin knocked on the smooth earthen wall and praised: "Pan Zong, I didn't think your tunnel-digging skills were so impressive."

  Pan Zong took a bite of the dried meat in his hand, gave Bai Yin a glance and said: "This is getting too deep, I'm almost exhausted. Otherwise, you can come and drill from behind."

  "Never mind, you're the older brother, so it's only right that you take on more responsibilities."

  The silver sentence made the big brother, instantly called Pan Zong's eyebrows to open and smile, as if the fatigue had disappeared. "Since my younger sister said so, I'll reluctantly do it. I need to take a nap first, you guys eat something and rest for a while, wait until I recover some physical strength, and then continue." As he spoke, he lay down beside the tunnel and fell asleep.

  After Panzong woke up and continued digging, Jin and I followed behind him. Panzong's massive body quickly slid forward in the cave, with the soil and rocks automatically parting in front of him. Every time he moved forward a body length, he would shake his body to solidify the tunnel walls, no wonder it was so laborious. Big brother really took his work seriously. Whenever we encountered granite or underground rivers, he would stop for a long time, slowing down our progress.

  It was unclear how much time had passed when Pan Zong stopped again, transforming back into his human form. His face was pale and he was panting, "I... I'm almost... done. It should be... about it, let me rest for a bit, then I'll dig out the rest of the way and we'll be successful." Not to mention how tired he was, but even my body had gone numb from squatting for so long.

  After resting for a while, Pan Zong drummed up his courage and thought of digging another three zhang. He crawled down and said: "I estimate it's still about half a zhang away from the surface, Old Fourth, it's your turn now."

  I nodded, came to the exit below, and finally could stand up straight. I stretched my body, drew out Mo Ming, held it high, and with a burst of strength from my legs, I jumped up. When I was close to the top, I activated the Dark Magic, and instantly, a wisp of black energy shot out from the tip of Mo Ming sword. Still at an angle, I felt that the black energy had pierced through the ground, carving out another cone-shaped hole (this time without a pointed tip, because below was a cave with a diameter of about 1.5 meters, but still the circular opening above was slightly larger, only this way could ensure that the soil covering the exit would not collapse).

  I gently floated back down to the ground, Pan Zong said: "Don't rush out for now, let's cultivate for a while first, wait until I recover my best state. This is safer."

  …………

  I glanced at the spirited Panzong and Jinying, who gave me a firm look. With a light jump, I leaped up, my legs apart, propping against the walls of the cave on both sides.

  With a surge of power, I thrust my arms upwards and the yellow glow illuminated every nook and cranny of the cave. Taking a deep breath, I slowly lifted the earth above me that I had marked with the Ink of Oblivion, and it began to fall away in clumps. I let out a low growl as a dark aura erupted around me, forming a barrier that blocked the falling dirt. Carefully, I manipulated the earth elements around me to re-condense the dirt, using my Dark Magic to solidify it below.

  When I felt that the exit was stable, I pushed off the walls of the cave with both feet and propelled myself upwards, carrying the large block of earth with me. As it left the ground, a refreshing gust of air hit me in the face, and I felt a slight chill run through my body - I had exited the cave.

  To my surprise, it was nighttime outside, which wasn't what I had expected, but it still filled me with joy. Carefully carrying the block of earth, I took a deep breath of fresh air, feeling invigorated as if my whole body had been refreshed. Turning to look around, I saw that everything was quiet, surrounded by tall trees, and not far away, the Dragon God Empire's campsite came into view.

  Having spent a day underground, I felt a bit disoriented, and it seemed like I was still in the outer perimeter where the Dragon God Empire soldiers had been stationed. I called out to the tunnel in a low voice: "You can come out now."

  Two figures floated out of the tunnel and landed beside me, Jin and Yuan sniffing the fresh air with relish, their faces filled with rapture. I carefully put back the block of soil in its original position, only then did I notice that on top of it were just a few scattered blades of grass. If one didn't look closely, they wouldn't have noticed anything. We tidied up around the edge of the exit, and now, anyone who didn't know any better would definitely not discover it.

  I asked Pan Zongdao: "Big brother, where are we?" The earth said it was his tunnel, so he naturally had the most say.

  Heh heh, my sense of direction isn't bad at all, not even a bit off. You see, the Dragon God Empire's camp is below us to the side, which means our location is much higher in elevation. This proves that White Smoke Mountain should be just behind us, not far from here. We succeeded! Haha.

  Looking at his triumphant appearance, I also felt a thrill in my heart. In the dark night, I dared not to use the Crazy God's Aura (when the aura reaches a certain level, it will emit a specific color of light every time it is used, which cannot be suppressed). I activated the Dark Magic and gently landed on the top of a large tree. Although it was nighttime, I could still clearly see the towering White Smoke Mountain behind me, while in front of me was the Dragon God Empire's camp, composed of countless lanterns, winding and twisting in a semi-circular shape around the White Smoke Mountains. A cold smile appeared at the corner of my mouth as I slowly descended to the ground, saying to Pan Zong and Jin Yin Dao: "Let's go, first into the mountains, then wait for an opportunity."

  So we entered the main peak of White Smoke Mountain on foot, and I didn't take them to that cave where I used to practice and hide, which is relatively close to the foot of the mountain. If there were dragon knights patrolling around, it would be very unfavorable for us to investigate the Five-Colored Halo. So we went up to the summit.

  The mountain wind was biting, and large clouds of cloud were wetting our collars under the influence of the wind.

  "Fourth elder, in which direction did the five-colored halo appear?"

  I pointed to a not-so-high mountain peak in the mountain range and said, "It's just there. This cloud is really annoying." Because the clouds around us were very dense, it often blocked our line of sight. Fortunately, at such a high altitude, the wind was usually quite strong, and the sea of clouds was unpredictable. When the clouds under our feet were blown away by the wind, we could see the entire mountain range.

  Pan Zong and Jinying looked in the direction I was pointing, and Jinying suddenly said: "Look, is that a Dragon Knight?"

  I fixed my eyes on it, and indeed, in the sky above the mountain range, a dozen or so figures of various colors were flying about, which was exactly the Dragon Knights. "So many Dragon Knights are patrolling, it seems that the Dragon God Empire has already sensed that something is amiss with the atmosphere of this small town."

  "Old Fourth, it's too cold up here and the humidity is extremely high. This won't do, if we stay for a long time, even with our internal energy protecting us, it will still be very detrimental to our bodies."

  I smiled slightly and said, "I've already thought of this. Let's find a bigger rock, excavate it, and make a temporary cave dwelling. That'll do." As I spoke, I looked at Panzong, who was gazing into the distance. He naturally heard our conversation and glanced at me with furrowed brows, saying, "Why is it always me?"

  I smiled and said, "Second sister didn't say it, the capable ones work harder, right?" In fact, both I and Jin Yin have the ability to excavate stone caves, but we definitely can't do it as well as Pan Zong.

  Excavating a stone cave is much easier than drilling a tunnel. With a little effort, a huge rock was opened up by Panzong, creating a large hole. In order to avoid the wind, he deliberately made two turns in the rock and made the exit smaller, so that we could barely pass through, so we wouldn't be afraid of the mountain wind.

  I crawled into the dry and cool stone room, took out three sets of bedding from my mustard seed bag, and spread them on the ground. Since I had this treasure, the mustard seed bag, I put some daily necessities in it, anyway, these things wouldn't consume much energy for me, and it's convenient to carry them with me just in case.

  On the third evening after our arrival, a sudden change occurred. The golden and silver lights that were gazing outside rushed into the stone room, shouting: "Get up quickly, the colorful dawn has appeared." Myself and Pan Zong, who were sleeping drowsily, were suddenly awakened by this sentence, and we quickly ran out of the stone room to take a look. Indeed, the misty clouds were gradually forming, and the colorful dawn was constantly emerging from the original mountain peak, drifting into the sky in strands.

  "We're ready." As I spoke, Panzong, Jinying, and I changed into black night-traveling clothes. I secured Moheng on my back, crouched on the cliff, and gazed out at the Dragon God Empire's campsite. The movement was faster than I had anticipated. In less than half a time unit, large patches of light appeared outside the mountain, charging towards the Dragon God Empire's defensive line. I knew that those lights were the various groups of people in the small town. I shouted: "They're here! We don't need to rush; let's wait until things get chaotic below before acting. Liefeng, Liefeng, let's see how you clean up this mess. Big Brother, Second Brother, Second Sister, no matter what, please don't transform. Here, our Beastman Tribe is not accepted."

  Yin exclaimed and pointed down the mountain: "Old Fourth, look, those humans seem to have stopped."

  I looked in the direction she was pointing, and indeed, although a large number of light spots were still constantly surging towards the Dragon God Empire's camp, they only gathered outside the camp and did not charge in. I frowned and said: "This is not good, if it develops like this, maybe the Dragon God Empire's troops can drive away the crowd without bloodshed."

  Half a time later, the front of the Longshen Empire's camp at the foot of the mountain had gathered a large number of mercenaries from all over the world, civilians, magicians, and some people with unknown identities who came to take advantage of the situation. Due to the distance being too far, we couldn't know what happened below, but I was very clear that both sides were in a standoff, the Longshen Empire's people didn't make a move, nor did those "rabble" make a move, they all had something to consider? This can't go on like this. Mother, sorry, although I promised you not to lead an army to attack the Longshen Empire, but I didn't promise not to indirectly harm humans, in order to achieve my own goals, only... I made up my mind resolutely, losing this opportunity might mean there's no chance of making a comeback, these "rabble" can only be used once, it's said that one drumbeat is enough for the first time, but after that, they'll decline and eventually exhaust themselves, their greed is at its peak this first time.

  I suddenly turned around and shouted: "Big brother, spit out some of the poisonous pills."

  Pan Zong's expression changed slightly as he said, "What are you doing? You don't want to poison everyone downstairs, do you?"

  I gave a cold, cruel smile and said, "Don't worry, I won't poison everyone to death. If they all died, who would help us disrupt the formation of the fierce wind? But I will poison half of them, I don't believe those guys won't take action." Dark elements gathered in my soul, falling into darkness could bring freedom, awaken, the endless magic power sleeping in my blood. A large amount of dark elements surged towards me from the air, and the violent airflow pushed Panzong and Jinying back several steps. My hair and eyes suddenly turned black, and two pairs of wide, iron-winged wings tore open the clothes on my back and suddenly unfolded behind me. After transforming, I instantly changed my temperament, with a hint of an evil smile on my face, stretching out my pale hand towards Panzong, "Brother, come on. Not many are needed."

  Pan Zong, under my aura, unexpectedly produced a hint of fear, feeling that what I said was like an irresistible command. Subconsciously, he opened his mouth and sprayed out a purple mist. At the same time as the mist sprayed out, my slender white fingers lightly trembled, and a black energy ball appeared in my palm. The purple toxic gas was sucked in like a thousand streams returning to their source. When the toxic gas was absorbed, I grasped the energy ball, and a cold glint flashed in my eyes. "Big brother, how many people can these toxins kill?"

  "If it's put in food or water, I'm afraid it can poison everyone below. If it's released into the air, it should be able to kill about one-tenth of them."

  I was stunned for a moment and said, "It's so poisonous, but there are tens of thousands of people down there."

  A proud smile spread across his face as he said, "Don't underestimate this poisonous breath of mine. Since I reached the Absolute Ground realm, the internal elixir in my body has taken shape and the toxic air it produces is much more potent than before. Due to its increased toxicity, even a casual release of this poisonous air can annihilate a large army, as long as I don't encounter someone with higher cultivation than me. Of course, if I were to encounter that Lei Feng, it would be ineffective - having reached the War God level, he's naturally immune to all poisons. Do you really want to poison the people below?"

  I nodded and said, "When doing great things, one must not be bound by trivial matters. If they don't do this, they will waste time until the Five-Colored Radiance ends, and everything will be over. You all wait here for me, I'll go and come back." As I spoke, I clenched my fist around the black energy sphere, spread my four wings lightly, and floated up into the air.

  "Be careful of those patrolling dragon knights."

  "I know, you're ready to leave at any time." With that said, I stuck close to the mountain and dove down. The dragon knights wouldn't worry about me now; their focus would be on defending the cave and keeping an eye on the crowd outside - why would they come to White Smoke Mountain's main peak? I quickly flew through the clouds and soon reached the foot of the mountain. I carefully floated down behind the Dragon God Empire's camp, lifted up the entrance to the tunnel, and jumped in. When I arrived at the other end, I clearly heard the chaotic noise above me. I silently cursed my mistake - with so many people up there, how was I supposed to get out? Shaking my head, I returned to the White Smoke Mountain side. It seemed like flying over was the only option. I lifted my body up and flapped my wings continuously, almost reaching the height of White Smoke Mountain's main peak before proceeding cautiously. Although there were dragon knights' tracks below, they didn't notice me - this black cloud - allowing me to successfully pass over the Dragon God Empire camp. I flew over the gathered crowd and transformed back into my original form in a dark corner, put on a bamboo hat, and squeezed into the massive flow of people that numbered tens of thousands. As soon as I entered the crowd, I heard a thick voice coming from the direction of the Dragon God camp.

  "No matter where you're from, leave immediately! You are all subjects of the Dragon God Empire. This is official property, and gathering to cause trouble is tantamount to rebellion!" My heart skipped a beat at this voice, which carried considerable energy; the speaker must be an expert. I pushed forward with great force through the crowded masses, squeezing my way to the front row. Only those with some real power could stand in the front row, and before us, within a hundred meters, were gathered a large number of heavily armored infantry from the Dragon God Empire. They held spears over two meters long, forming an iron-bucket-like formation, their spear tips pointing outward, exuding a cold, murderous aura. No wonder these people didn't rush forward - it turned out that the Dragon God Empire had set up such a strong array!

  A sarcastic voice came from our side of the crowd, "The treasure produced by White Smoke Mountain is for those with virtue to possess. Why should you officials monopolize it? You've had so much time and still haven't gotten it. It's not like we can't give it a try, brothers. What do you say?" I secretly praised this guy in my heart, he was really good at stirring up emotions. This was for the best, and it would save me from having to take action.

  "We'd better get a share of it too."

  "Let's go."

  "Get out of here, you bunch of troops! Otherwise, we won't be polite!"

  Although these people do not belong to a system, due to the relationship of the colorful halo, they all have a common goal. Being blocked in this place, the soldiers of the Dragon God Empire suddenly became their common enemy. The feeling of unity against a common foe naturally brought them together. Most of the crowd moved forward by several dozen meters.

  The thick voice came out again, and he shouted loudly: "How dare you, I'll see who dares to cross the border, take another step forward, and kill without mercy." The huge sound wave stopped the crowd once more. After all, the opponent was the regular army of the Dragon God Empire, which not only had strong combat capabilities but also held an advantage in psychological terms. I looked at the sky and knew that we couldn't delay any longer. Taking advantage of the fact that no one around us was paying attention, I quietly took out the black energy ball, extracted a tiny part of its power, condensed some fire elements into it, because fire elements would be most noticeable in the night sky, while still wrapped in dark magic on the outside. The people around me were all focused on the Dragon God Empire or the colorful clouds in the sky, and although I was tall and imposing, who would notice me? With a flick of my wrist, the black energy ball quietly rose into the sky.