Chapter 260: Found It
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Chu—”
In the north of the Great Xia Kingdom, a five-colored avian was flying towards the Great Xia Kingdom with horrifying speed. The five-colored avian had six people standing on its back, and on the front was shockingly the silver-haired Princ.i.p.al Qi; on her side was the green-robed Jiang Yi.
“Vice Princ.i.p.al Qi. Your spirit beast is one of the higher grade tier-three demonic beasts, right? It is so fast!”
Jiang Yi looked down at the pa.s.sing mountain ranges and gasped as the winds blew so violently that his eyes couldn’t open. This five-colored avian was just slightly slower than the Silver-Moon Demon Wolf. Because it was flying straight in the sky without any obstruction, it became a much faster mode of travel than the Silver-Moon Demon Wolf.
“Hmph!”
Princ.i.p.al Qi’s expression turned dark when she heard Jiang Yi addressing her as ‘Vice Princ.i.p.al.’ She spoke with some arrogance, “My Quinary-Color Peac.o.c.k is a tier-three superior-grade demonic beast; it is natural for it to have such a fast speed. Among the tier-three demonics, there should only be a handful that is faster than it.”
Jiang Yi nodded and looked forward before he asked, “Where are we going to search first?”
“We will first go to the nearby vicinity of the Summer Rain City. Right now, the demonic beast army should be reaching Summer Wind City, right? Sigh… I reckon that Summer Wind City is going to become a human purgatory.”
Princ.i.p.al Qi let out a deep sigh and controlled the Quinary-Color Peac.o.c.k to fly faster. There was a smear of concern in the eyes of Jiang Yi as he didn’t know if the bridal escort army had departed yet. If they did and were to encounter with the demonic beast army, Xia Wuhui and Su Ruoxue would probably have fallen.
One hour later!
“Buzz!”
A jade token suddenly lit up in Princ.i.p.al Qi’s robes. She took it out and had an instant change in expression as she exclaimed, “Su Pingping is dead… hundreds of thousands of soldiers and citizens at the Summer Wind City have died in battle!”
“Ah?”
The rest of the Vice Princ.i.p.als also had this change in expression. Su Pingping might not be the top ten martial experts, but he was famous for many years as a respected martial expert and also the guardian of the Great Xia Kingdom for over 200 years. In the recent thousand years of the continent, Su Pingping was the first Vajra Realm martial expert to pa.s.s away and along with over a million individuals. How could they not be shocked?
“Eh? The demonic beast army didn’t rush towards the Summer Rain City? It turned towards the west instead?”
Princ.i.p.al Qi looked at the jade token again, which was obviously a high-grade message token. Not knowing who the one sending the message was, her eyes flickered again before she suddenly yelled out, “Quinary-Color Peac.o.c.k, turn to the west. Since the demonic beast army changed their direction, the Demon Empress must have roughly sensed the little fox’s location; and it should be in the west.”
“Summer Rain City didn’t fall?”
Jiang Yi let out a breath of relief. If Su Ruoxue and the others had yet to depart, or if she was to return to Summer Rain City after receiving the news, they would be safe.
“West? That side would be the Saint Spirit Kingdom. The demonic beast army had decimated a large portion of the Great Xia Kingdom, and now it is turning towards the Saint Spirit Kingdom? Did the Azure Dragon Empire really kidnap the little fox and wanted to make use of the strength of the demonic beast army to annihilate all the six armies and the martial experts?”
Jiang Yi muttered to himself with eyes of anger. It didn’t matter who the mastermind behind the scenes was—as this individual had become the public enemy of the entire continent. It was fine if it was an internal battle between the humans, but it was a heinous sin to use the strength of demonic beasts and cause the loss of the innocent lives of countless commoners!
He felt the pressing urge in his heart and wished that he could immediately fly towards the Saint Spirit Kingdom to find the little fox. Every single day delayed would mean dozens or even hundreds of cities destroyed, which led to the loss of millions of soldiers and commoners’ lives.
The Quinary-Color Peac.o.c.k turned into a stream of light that flew rapidly towards the Saint Spirit Kingdom. Jiang Yi took out a bottle of elixirs and consumed one of it—in addition to using the black essence force to enhance his sense of smell, trying to detect the little fox’s presence along the way.
…
Su Pingping had fallen, millions of lives were slaughtered in Summer Wind City, and the demonic beast army was turning towards the Saint Spirit City. All these incidents had given rise to an extremely huge sensation.
This was the first Vajra Realm martial expert to be killed for the past 1000 years, and he was even instantly killed by a single finger of the Demon Empress. The combat strength of the Demon Empress had all the experts in the continent trembling in bitter fear. If none of the top ten martial experts appeared, there was truly no one else who would dare to step in.
The Great Xia Kingdom might have survived the calamity, but there wasn’t any joy. Su Pingping died, and the strongest army of the kingdom was destroyed in battle. The kingdom’s military strength was already at the bottom of all the six kingdoms; it was now even frailer to the extreme. If any of the kingdoms was to send out a large army, it would probably extinguish the Great Xia Kingdom, right?
Without a Vajra Realm guardian for the Great Xia Kingdom, it was like a naked young la.s.s, only looking on helplessly as the other kingdoms violated them. Furthermore, the demonic beast army might be heading towards the Saint Spirit Kingdom; but what if it was to suddenly turn back? It was a known fact that the north of the Great Xia Kingdom lied Mt. Thirty Thousand.
The Azure Dragon Empire released another announcement which was also a bunch of nonsense, saying they would offer a huge load of rewards and summoning all the combatants under the heavens to resist against the demonic beast army, but the Empire still didn’t send out a single soldier.
Afternoon!
A piece of inspiring news finally came as the Starfall Island’s Water Moon Observatory Hostess, Shui Youlan, the Great Zen Monastery’s old monk together with the princ.i.p.als from Azure Dragon College, Centaurea College, and Mt. Spirit Beast College—all five respectable martial experts sent out a notice to the Demon Empress. It mentioned that they were furious towards the fact that a human kidnapped the Demon Empress’ daughter and had already sent out their men to search for the little fox to settle this war. Once they find the mastermind of this plot, they would definitely hand that person over to the Demon Empress. They used stern words to warn the Demon Empress to withdraw with her demonic beast army immediately and not to slaughter commoners. Otherwise, they would join forces to suppress the demonic beast army.
The notice that came from the martial experts quickly spread out to the entire continent, which was carried by the Saint Spirit Kingdom’s special envoy on a flying spirit beast to personally hand it to the Demon Empress. The Demon Empress didn’t kill the human envoy and just stated indifferently: “I agree to not kill any commoners, but as long as my daughter isn’t found, I will not withdraw my army. If my daughter suffers any harm, I will definitely cleanse this continent with blood!”
The demonic beast army continued to advance and quickly went across the Ten-Thousand Dragons Valley, entering the Saint Spirit Kingdom territory. It took them just two hours to break through the border defense of the Saint Spirit Kingdom. The Demon Empress didn’t even make any move as a Demon King personally tore a Saint Spirit Kingdom’s Great General Lord into pieces.
The Saint Spirit Kingdom army retreated in defeat constantly as the demonic beast army took down the various cities. The Demon Empress had given her orders not to kill any commoner which had surrendered, but wherever the demonic beast army marched through, they would still raze the cities to the ground!
“Quick, quick, quick!”
Princ.i.p.al Qi, Jiang Yi, and the others quickly took a detour around the demonic beast army and went straight into the inner lands of the Saint Spirit Kingdom. They were constantly flying a low alt.i.tude as they were searching for the presence of the little fox.
During these past few days, everyone continued to search regardless of whether it was day or night. Especially Jiang Yi who had yet to rest for three full days and had bloodshot eyes. At this moment, how could Jiang Yi sleep? He unceasingly used the elixir and the enhancement of the black essence force to carefully examine the air for traces of the little fox’s lingering scent.
“En?”
On the second night after entering the Saint Spirit Kingdom, Jiang Yi’s nose suddenly twitched as he caught a whiff of a familiar scent. It was a very unique scent, and it might be just a whiff, but it immediately lifted his spirits as he shouted, “To the north, quick! I smell it; it is possible that little fox’s scent!”
“Chase!”
Princ.i.p.al Qi and the others immediately got alert as killing aura poured out from their bodies, like dormant lions which suddenly opened their eyes.