Urban Martial Saint

On the way, the group encountered numerous dangers again. However, compared to the long-toothed rats they faced before, these dangers were nothing. After experiencing the ordeal with the long-toothed rats, everyone became much more vigilant. Thus, all the way until reaching the foot of the mountain marked on the map, no one suffered any casualties. Although they encountered some wild beast attacks on the way, for those who had seen the long-toothed rats, those wild beasts were nothing.

In fact, the reason why there were no casualties was mainly because they didn’t encounter any long-toothed rats. This situation made Ye Qing once again surprised. Because, according to Zhou Yue, the long-toothed rats should usually appear near the mountain they were looking for. However, as they approached this area, it became harder to see the long-toothed rats. These long-toothed rats seemed to have migrated, which worried Ye Qing even more. If these long-toothed rats were indeed gradually migrating outwards, it would be a troublesome matter. Once these long-toothed rats entered human habitats, who knows how many people would die because of them?

Standing at the foot of the mountain, Fat Wang and the others breathed a sigh of relief. Fat Wang patted Ye Qing’s shoulder and said, ”We finally made it!”

Everyone else shared the same expression. After a journey lasting over a week, with half of the people dead, they had finally reached the destination, and the thoughts in their hearts were understandable.

Ye Qing took out the map left by Shijia and compared it with the mountain, confirming that this mountain was indeed the one he sought. However, he didn’t feel much excitement, instead, he was more worried.

According to the legends of Xiliang Mountain, this mountain was supposedly the most dangerous place in the entire Xiliang Mountain Range. In addition to dangerous species like long-toothed rats, the key issue was the presence of mysterious unknown forces within the mountain, which was the most terrifying aspect. If even Shijia was trapped within this mountain, the dangers hidden inside could far exceed what Ye Qing and his team could anticipate. So, despite having arrived at this place, Ye Qing was filled with worry.

”Everyone must be extremely careful. This mountain is more dangerous than any other places we’ve been before!” Ye Qing swept his gaze over the crowd and said in a grave tone, ”So when we enter the mountain later, no one should take anything lightly!”

”Is it really more dangerous than when we were surrounded by those long-toothed rats?” A man murmured in a low voice, with everyone else nodding in agreement. In their view, being surrounded by the long-toothed rats was truly a close shave with death. Having survived that ordeal, none of them worried much about common dangers.

Ye Qing glanced at the man and said in a serious tone, ”According to the local account, long-toothed rats generally inhabit this mountain. I don’t know why the long-toothed rats would leave this mountain and migrate out. But no one can tell whether there are still long-toothed rats on this mountain. So everyone must be cautious when entering the mountain!”

Upon hearing this, the group immediately grew tense. Indeed, they could overlook other dangers, but they couldn’t ignore the crisis posed by the long-toothed rats.

”Are there still those long-toothed rats in the mountain?” Fat Wang’s voice trembled slightly.

”There might be, but not necessarily!” Ye Qing replied.

”Damn!” Fat Wang muttered, glancing at the towering peaks ahead, and asked in a low voice, ”Just what treasures are hidden on this mountain that prompt such a desperate search?”

Ye Qing was actually pondering this question as well. Reasonably speaking, Shijia should have known the mountain’s dangers, which is likely why he left the map and gave a month’s deadline for Ye Qing to find him. However, knowing the dangers of the mountain, he still came—what kind of valuable item did Patriarch Bodhidharma leave behind, causing Shijia to go to such lengths?

Despite the anxiety in their hearts, now that they were here, the team naturally wouldn’t choose not to climb the mountain. After a brief rest, they took the necessary tools with them and headed up the mountain.

There was no path on the mountain, but Ye Qing held the map left by Shijia. The group followed the direction marked on the map, walking straight for about two hours and only covered half the distance. This mountain was much taller than the ones they’d seen before, with snow commonly seen at its peak, and the location marked on the map was near the top. In other words, they had to climb to the summit to find the marked location on the map.

Along the way, everyone was extremely vigilant, prepared for any possible situation. However, the conditions on this mountain differed distinctly from the mountains they’d seen before, as there were very few animals on this mountain.

It’s worth noting that this mountain was located in the deepest part of the Xiliang Mountain Range, right at its center. The Xiliang Mountain Range was a complete ecological zone, with mountains and rivers winding around, snowmelt providing a constant water source, This made the place resemble a primeval forest, filled with various plants and animals. However, as they walked on this mountain now, with dense forest all around, they scarcely saw any animals. Even small insects were rare, which was perplexing.

After walking along the mountain path for a while, Fat Wang suddenly shouted, ”Whoa, what’s this?”

Everyone was already on edge, so when Fat Wang shouted, they all jumped. Fortunately, Ye Qing remained calm, and he was the first to rush to Fat Wang’s side, asking gravely, ”What happened?”

”Look over here,” Fat Wang pointed to the grass nearby. Ye Qing walked over and glanced, and his expression changed.

In the knee-high grass laid scattered a ground full of bones. No one knew how many years they had been there, having endured wind and rain, some of the bones had even started turning black. There were so many bones that it was evident several people had died here, at least a hundred people had perished in this place.

By then, everyone else had walked over as well. Observing this scene, they were clearly shocked.

”Why did so many people die here?” a man asked, trembling, his legs shaking upon seeing such a view. Judging by this, the mountain was indeed dangerous.

Ye Qing took a deep breath and looked over all those bones carefully, discovering that most of them couldn’t be connected together, as if they had suffered some kind of damage before death, causing the bones to break. In any case, these remains seemingly met a tragic end, or wouldn’t appear in such a state.

”How on earth did these people die?” a man asked, trembling, ”Could it be...could it be the long-toothed rats?”

The mention of long-toothed rats immediately changed everyone’s expressions once again. After encountering the long-toothed rats, the group was extremely fearful of them.

Big Beard immediately glared and retorted, ”Nonsense, if they died from the long-toothed rats, would there be so many bones left?”

This statement somewhat reassured the group. Indeed, it made sense. Earlier, those who perished due to long-toothed rat attacks didn’t even leave behind bone fragments. When the long-toothed rats attacked humans, there was absolutely no suspense—none of these remains would be left.

”These bones have been here for so long, yet aren’t damaged...” Fat Wang looked at Ye Qing and said in a low voice, ”Does this mean there are no long-toothed rats here anymore?”

Ye Qing was pondering the same question. Although these people didn’t die from long-toothed rat attacks, if the mountain had long-toothed rats, these remains would’ve been consumed long ago, and definitely wouldn’t have left so many bones. Could it be that there are no long-toothed rats in this part of the mountain anymore? If that’s the case, the long-toothed rats must have left the mountain before these remains appeared. Otherwise, these bones wouldn’t have lasted this long.

”It’s quite possible!” Ye Qing nodded slowly and said in a serious tone, ”Now it’s not about the long-toothed rats, the key issue is, how did these people die?”

”To die here, for sure they must’ve been attacked by some sort of beast!” a man suggested.

”Impossible!” Ye Qing shook his head decisively and said, ”So many people died in the same place, there’s only one possibility—they died and were dumped here. Moreover, look, most of their bones are shattered, but there’s no bite marks on them, indicating it wasn’t done by beasts.”

”What does this mean?” The group immediately widened their eyes, Fat Wang looked around the mountain forest in astonishment and asked, ”Are you suggesting, there are people living in this mountain?”

Ye Qing didn’t respond, instead, he knitted his brows in thought and said after a moment of silence, ”Whatever it is, everyone must be extremely careful!”

”Obviously, we’ve been careful all along. But the key issue is whether being careful works!” Fat Wang muttered.

”Forget it, let’s not discuss this anymore, let’s hurry up and climb the mountain.” Big Beard looked around and said, ”The sooner we find the location on the map, the better. I have a feeling this place is eerie.”

No one wished to stay there any longer, and under Ye Qing’s guidance, they continued climbing the mountain. However, after witnessing those bones, everyone became even more cautious. No one wanted to remain on this mountain, becoming skeletons subjected to the sun and wind.

After walking along the mountain path for about another ten minutes, the sky suddenly darkened, surprising everyone. It was only around two in the afternoon, during the sun’s peak—it was baffling for the sky to turn dark so suddenly.

Everyone looked up, and at that moment, a dazzling golden light shot up from one of the valleys near the summit!