Chapter 2113: Abandoned Town
After sending Tie Gong and the others off, Zhao Hai let out a long breath. He knows that after today’s matter, it would be impossible to conceal the truth. It wouldn’t take long before people in the True Spirit Realm find out that he and Lu Sheng have fought. Fortunately, he could use the blade tokens as a reason for his victory.
Nevertheless, this matter awakened Zhao Hai. He was now at the Soul Fusion Stage. If he made more eye-catching moves, the eyes of the other sects would be on him.
But Zhao Hai wasn’t prepared to be bullied because of him. Things like allowing others to attack him without consequence would never happen. Killing people wouldn’t be a problem. He could just push the blame onto the blade tokens.
While staying for a day in the small town, Zhao Hai explained the situation of the underground labyrinth to Laura and the others. Hearing the news, Laura and the others became concerned. This matter was deeply related to the Tyrant Blade Sect’s stability. After all, they were now disciples of the sect.
The next morning, Zhao Hai and the others left the small town. This time, their trip went smoothly. They didn’t encounter any enemies on the road.
Just like Zhao Hai thought, his battle with Lu Sheng began to spread. However, this information didn’t mention any blade tokens. Rumors say that Zhao Hai himself killed Lu Sheng.
Naturally, only a few people believed this information. Although Zhao Hai was now a Soul Fusion cultivator, Lu Sheng has already stabilized his strength. He’s a true Teleportation Stage cultivator. It wouldn’t be hard for a Teleportation Stage expert to deal with someone in the Soul Fusion Stage. Perhaps someone helped Zhao Hai, or maybe there were other factors involved.
Finally, people thought about Zhao Hai’s ident.i.ty. He was an inner disciple of the Tyrant Blade Sect and also the disciple of the formidable Yin Yang Elders.
The blade tokens of the Tyrant Blade Sect have always been a headache for other sects. Blade tokens were special to the Tyrant Blade Sect, no other sects do it. This showed the Tyrant Blade Sect’s love for its disciples. It was also a mark of the sect’s unity.
It was because of this that other sects were unwilling to encounter disciples of the Tyrant Blade Sect. If they attacked a Tyrant Blade Sect disciple, they would likely use their blade token. Moreover, the attacks inside the tokens were at least at the Teleportation Stage.
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Since n.o.body came to disturb them, Zhao Hai and the others were able to travel faster. Four days later, they finally arrived at the abandoned town.
Zhao Hai didn’t immediately enter the town. He parked the carriage right outside and made a preliminary look at the area.
The town wasn’t very big. In its entirety, it could probably house around 300 families. Besides the main street, there was nothing else.
The houses weren’t arranged neatly. They were scattered around the area, probably intentionally done. Zhao Hai said, “Laura, use the s.p.a.ce to map the entire town for a.n.a.lysis. See if there are formations present. Most importantly, see if the layout of the town is more suitable for evacuation or for battle. The True Spirit Realm is different to the Great Realm of Cultivation. Battles in the Great Realm of Cultivation rarely happened on the ground. But in the True Spirit Realm, ground battles were a majority. We need to consider the layout of the towns.”
Laura and the others complied and immediately got busy. Qiu Tie didn’t understand what was happening. He kept following Zhao Hai as he looked around, then he asked, “Young Master, should we head in?”
Zhao Hai looked at Qiu Tie and smiled, “In any case, the town won’t run away. We can enter anytime we want. Let’s take a good look outside first. If there’s really nothing to see, then we’ll go in.”
Qiu Tie nodded, then he carefully observed the surroundings. All of a sudden, Qiu Tie noticed something, he couldn’t help but knit his brows. Then he looked at Zhao Hai, he didn’t know if Zhao Hai found out, so he didn’t dare to say it.
Zhao Hai noticed Qiu Tie’s expression and asked, “What is it, Little Tie? Did you see something?”
Hearing Zhao Hai, Qiu Tie immediately responded, “Young Master, the trees around the town are strange. The trees look naturally grown, but from the way they look, I can see that there’s something special.”
Zhao Hai stared, then he focused his attention on the trees. Before long, he found that the trees were indeed strange. They look normal at first glance, but if you take a closer look, one will find that the arrangement of the trees was special. Most importantly, the town seems to be surrounded by trees. There were more than a dozen types of trees around the town.
What’s most peculiar to Zhao Hai was the fact that he couldn’t recognize any of the trees. He couldn’t help but frown.
At this time, Qiu Tie added, “Young Master, my grandfather liked to manipulate flowers and plants. He also knows trees and medicinal herbs. From the time I spent with him, I also knew a lot of plants. Young Master, if you look at the trees around the town, although they don’t look special, if you combine them together, they produce a certain type of smell. It might not affect us, but it can influence beasts. The sense of smell of the beasts is more sensitive than ours. This particular smell makes beasts uncomfortable. Therefore, most beasts should stay clear of this town.”
Speaking to this, Qiu Tie took a breath and continued, “Moreover, the position of the trees is special. Since they haven’t been taken care of for many years, the trees have grown tall. But if they were trimmed to around three to five meters tall, then the beasts would be confused once they entered. Even cultivators might take half a day before they could leave. This is a type of botanical illusion.”
Zhao Hai nodded, his expression turned serious. He looked at the town once more before saying, “The trees around the town haven’t been destroyed. However, the town was attacked by beasts. There seems to be a problem.”
Qiu Tie nodded but didn’t say anything. Zhao Hai looked at Qiu Tie and said, “Good work. Little Tie, you shouldn’t only think about cultivation in the future. It’s also good to study other things. One should know the world to cultivate the Dao. A strong cultivator would be disadvantaged in the real world if they don’t know anything.”
Qiu Tie nodded and said, “Yes, Young Master. I understand.”
Zhao Hai nodded, then his expression returned to being serious. The Tyrant Blade Sect didn’t suspect that there was anything wrong with the town. They only did a basic investigation before closing the case. This time, Zhao Hai should be able to find some clues.
However, Zhao Hai wasn’t expecting his gains to be huge. After all, the town has been abandoned for too long. The ghost cultivators also left.
The rest of the day was spent outside the town. Laura and the others were busy doing a.n.a.lysis inside the carriage. As for Zhao Hai, he didn’t stay inside. He brought Qiu Tie around the periphery of the town to observe it. They looked at the town from various angles.
When evening came, Zhao Hai returned to the carriage with Qiu Tie. Laura and the others were already finished with their task. When she saw Zhao Hai return, Laura immediately invited him to the living room of the carriage. On the table was a projection showing a three-dimensional map of the town.
The projection showed the complete layout of the town, including the trees that Zhao Hai and Qiu Tie noticed. Laura pointed towards the projection and said, “Brother Hai, your guess is right. Although the town doesn’t have a true formation, the houses are arranged in a special manner. If someone attacks the town, the houses would act as a maze that would make it hard for the attackers to differentiate between north and south. The layout is very suitable for street battles. Although the town looked ordinary from outside, it was built for battle.”
Lizzy added, “We also saw several secret pa.s.sages leading out of the town. Besides people from the town, it would be difficult for outsiders to know about them.” After speaking, Lizzy pointed towards the projection that showed a few red lines. Zhao Hai raised his brow when he saw these lines.
The red lines crisscrossed across the town. Some of the lines pa.s.sed through courtyards and some stopped abruptly into dead ends. They didn’t look like escape tunnels.
Zhao Hai knitted his brows and said, “It seems like the ghost cultivators have been operating here for many years. This is practically a base. Why did they give it up? From what I can see, the ghost cultivators are up to something.”
Laura replied, “I don’t think the ghost cultivators would give up on this base so easily. Although n.o.body has lived in this place for some time, the houses are still intact. From the signs we could see, this is a place that people regularly visit. But we heard that it has been abandoned. I think the ghost cultivators plan to keep it for use later on.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “Although this place is within the control of the Tyrant Blade Sect, it is located in a remote region. The control of the sect over this region isn’t as strict. This makes it possible for this place to be a base for the ghost cultivators. They might use this place as a base when the war arrives.”