bookandnovel Chapter 43 Things Shouldn't Be Like This
Chapter 43 Things Shouldn't Be Like This
The Dragon King Temple has two courtyards, one in front and one in back.
The front hall of the left and right wing rooms enshrines the Dragon King, the Thunder God and Lightning Goddess, and other guardian deities.
The rear hall enshrines our teacher, Shakyamuni.
Both Zhang Fubao and Zhao Guanghua donated money to the donation box.
The place wasn't big, and the group toured it all in just over ten minutes before leaving the temple with the abbot's respectful farewell.
During the day, the waters of Youlong Lake are clear and sparkling, creating a charming landscape with the blue sky, white clouds, ancient roads, and red maple leaves.
Zhao Guanghua couldn't help but exclaim, "It's a serene and beautiful place, truly a spiritual retreat amidst mountains and rivers."
Zhang Wanxin also sincerely praised, "It is indeed a spiritual place."
They were all practitioners of spiritual mysticism, with keen senses, and spoke from the heart.
Although Zhang Fubao was also a late-stage Transcendent cultivator, he was preoccupied with worries. After all, this time they had directly clashed with two squads of Japanese soldiers, one of which belonged to the infamous Skull Squad.
The key point is that after more than a dozen Japanese soldiers escaped, the Skull Corps will definitely not give up easily.
He hurried on his way with a heavy heart, pondering how to enhance his own safety.
Given the scale and reputation of his business in the Golden Eagle Federal Concession, it was impossible for him to remain out of the public eye for an extended period of time to run Ruyi Zhai.
The problem is that although the Zhang family is one of the "Eight Horses", there are not many True Qi or Spiritual Qi masters in the family, so it is not his turn at all.
His father, Zhang Dawei, did have a bodyguard named Zhang Chenglin, who was a master of the initial stage of True Qi.
What troubled him was that even Zhang Chenglin couldn't guarantee his safety.
As for seeking out the Shadow Alliance's gold-level guards, it's both too costly and unsafe.
Thinking of this, Zhang Fubao couldn't help but glance at his cousin Zhang Wanxin.
If only she could win over Dong Guanfei too... Sigh...
Dong Guanfei was pondering the initiation he had just received and the location overseas.
The spot of light marking the location is a coiled blue dragon.
Could there be a green dragon there?
Or is it a dragon egg?
Or perhaps the Martial Saint of the Soaring Dragon was trapped there?
Otherwise, the Martial Saint Tenglong wouldn't have instructed him to wait until he had simultaneously attained "True Intent" and "Divine Intent" before going.
The Martial Saint Tenglong probably never imagined that someone outside the royal family of the apocalypse would intercept the inheritance, so he probably wouldn't harm him.
Dong Guanfei planned to first find some reliable nautical charts to see what was at that location.
Just as she was pondering this, Zhao Huibao asked in a sweet voice, "'Wuqing,' don't you think the scenery here has a Zen-like quality?"
Dong Guanfei nodded.
In fact, this place has been imbued with the sacred intent and divine will of the Azure Dragon for many years, which should greatly help him cultivate the Azure Dragon Secret Technique.
So he will eventually come back here to cultivate for a while, especially on that blue-green strange stone.
Zhao Huibao sighed, "I think so too. I feel like I've never seen such a spiritually rich place before. I originally thought this was the site of the Tenglong Martial Saint, but it turns out it's fake. What a pity..."
Dong Guanfei remained silent and kept his head down as he continued on his way, since he should not know about the Tenglong Martial Saint Ruins.
He was too lazy to pretend he didn't know; he just wanted to make a fortune in silence.
Zhao Huibao was puzzled when she saw that he didn't react.
How can anyone not be interested in the Tenglong Martial Saint Ruins?
The attempt to find a topic of conversation failed miserably.
The group hurried on their way, and more than two hours later they met up with the people of Tianjia Village at a peculiar red sandstone site. They then headed northeast together.
About two hours later, Sanada Ken'ei led his team to the vicinity of Tianjiazhuang, managing to compress the journey, which would normally take six or seven hours, into just over four hours.
The two police dogs they brought immediately located the scene where the special cultural relics team and the academic travel team were wiped out.
The scene was littered with the footprints of various animals, and almost no complete skeletons could be found. The stench of blood and decay permeated the path and the surrounding area of thirty to forty meters, making one feel nauseous.
These days, wolves, wild dogs, and vultures roam in packs, and even a lone human is easily attacked, let alone so many fresh and succulent meals. To miss even a scrap of meat would be an insult to their scavenging abilities.
For Sanada Takeei, let alone collecting his nephew Sanada Mitsuki's body, finding even one or two pieces of bone that could be confirmed as his was extremely difficult.
Sanada Mitsutsuki reached the late stage of advanced samurai at the young age of twenty-six, just one step away from becoming a sword master. He has a great chance of crossing this barrier before the age of thirty, making him a true genius among the younger generation of the Sanada family.
Now everything is gone.
It shouldn't be like this... things shouldn't be like this...
Sanada Takehide's face turned pale, his fists clenched tightly, and the atmosphere was so tense that the Skull Team members trembled.
More than half an hour later, they entered Tianjia Village and found that it was already deserted.
However, the villagers probably wouldn't dare leave overnight, so they must have set off at dawn and walked for more than five hours.
Normally, since it was the Zhang family leading the team, they should be heading towards the exit in the direction of Xianhu Town.
The 17-18 kilometer mountain road would take more than 10 hours to walk because there were elderly people, children, and household items.
That means they still have to walk for five or six hours to get out of the mountains.
Even if they were to take another exit towards Xianqiao Town, it would still take three or four hours.
After weighing the options, Sanada Takehide concluded that if his team went all out, they should be able to catch up with them in about three hours.
The team has multiple tracking experts, so they won't lose track of the target.
However, the Skull Squad started their journey at full speed before six in the morning. If they marched for eight or nine hours, even if they caught up with the enemy, their fighting strength would be basically destroyed.
If he were to pursue them with his junior Onmyoji adjutant and twelve high-ranking samurai, he could catch up with the enemy within one or two hours.
But there are highly skilled fighters among the enemy.
The surviving team members said that Professor Yoshino's ghost domain was broken in less than a minute, which is definitely not something that can be done with precise marksmanship.
Furthermore, Akio Itano's secret techniques focused on movement, making him incredibly fast and difficult to aim at, yet he was still killed by two bullets.
Chasing down such a sharpshooter and an unknown, formidable enemy in the dense forest is far too dangerous.
After much deliberation, Sanada Takehide abandoned the idea of immediately pursuing the enemy and decided to plan his move carefully.
The Eastern Empire has spies within its various warlords; let's find out the situation first.
Besides, the enemy might not have gone with the villagers of Tianjia Village.
It was pointless for him to go through all that trouble only to kill some villagers.
"Blood debts must be repaid in blood, no matter who you are."
Sanada Takehide muttered to himself.
......
Around 4:30 p.m., Dong Guanfei and his group finally emerged from Xiantong Mountain. After walking another three or four kilometers in the hilly area, they arrived at Xianhu Town just before sunset.
Dong Guanfei was somewhat disappointed because he had failed to activate the system task on Zhang Wanxin and Zhao Huibao today.
As its name suggests, Xianhu Town is built along the water, situated on the shore of a beautiful lake.
The lake is lined with neat stone revetments and wharves, where boatmen and merchants are loading and unloading goods.
The residential buildings are mostly sloping roofs with white walls and gray tiles, interspersed with some Western-style houses. The buildings are staggered in height and have a great artistic effect under the setting sun, giving Dong Guanfei a sense of traveling through time once again.
The golden light of the setting sun spread across the entire lake surface, like clusters of broken gold.