Dragon's Origin

Chapter 164: A Desperate Gamble (Part 1)

This immediately caused a stir among everyone. The ability to ask questions and receive explanations was a delightful surprise for all parties. This meant that, in reality, only one of Wang Sheng's two rules truly needed to be followed.

No one was foolish enough to consider breaking the first iron rule. It was a matter of life and death, so why risk it?

The ten members of the team received knowing looks from their respective factions, and they all nodded in understanding. They had to carefully consider which questions to ask and which to forgo. Of course, those with the means could ask more, as Wang Sheng had hinted that he would accept a satisfactory Mind Cleansing Pill, or a similar high-grade elixir, in exchange for ten questions.

Having learned from their previous experience, each family instructed their descendants to avoid offending Wang Sheng within the Thousand Absolutes Territory and to never contradict him. Otherwise, their own demise would be a minor issue compared to failing their family or sect's mission.

As a result, Wang Sheng was in command throughout this operation, and no one disobeyed or objected, making their progress exceptionally smooth.

These individuals had already undergone more than two months of training and were not completely clueless in the forest. As long as Wang Sheng provided the correct advice and direction, they could generally execute the tasks effectively.

This time, the route was different from the last, as was the direction. Wang Sheng couldn't possibly lead people in circles; that would be too unrealistic. This time, they changed direction and headed straight for the center.

This direction was neither towards the Crimson Bear Hall, nor the Divine Eagle Prison, nor the Lin family; it was simply a journey into the depths of the dense forest and mountains, to gain experience. No one knew what they would encounter, or what special situations might arise.

For example, right now, everyone was standing quietly with their backs against a large tree that would take three or four people to encircle, waiting for the unexpected situation to pass.

It happened very suddenly. Wang Sheng was leading everyone when he suddenly gestured for silence. Everyone stopped, looking at Wang Sheng with confusion, but no one questioned him. Previous events had proven the accuracy of Wang Sheng's intuition.

Now everyone knew how sharp Wang Sheng's intuition was, because there was no way to explain how he could detect danger before the experts with higher cultivation levels and greater detection range. They could only attribute it to intuition.

Then, Wang Sheng's actions became incomprehensible to everyone. He instructed everyone to carefully hide behind a large tree, facing away from a certain direction, and to be as quiet as possible, even to avoid breathing heavily.

No one knew what kind of enemy was approaching, but everyone carefully followed Wang Sheng's instructions. They would just be quiet for a while and not move. Even if Wang Sheng was just playing tricks, it would only be for a short time, so it didn't matter.

While everyone was quietly waiting for the unknown danger to pass, one of the experts, though his body remained still, was looking around. From left to right, he wanted to remember something. Then, his gaze stopped at one spot.

Slightly higher than his head, and only an arm's length away, was a clump of something covered in various small vines. The vines hung down, and if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't be able to see anything beneath them.

The expert who happened to be standing here saw this, and his eyes lit up. The protruding object hanging with vines was clearly a knife. A knife that had been diagonally embedded into the opposite tree.

No one knew how long it had been embedded, but even the blade had grown into the bark, leaving only a small, rusty tip and a handle that still looked decent.

It was not unusual for there to have been people in the Thousand Absolutes Territory. It was even less unusual for someone to have died here, leaving behind a weapon. But why did this knife handle look so familiar?

The expert was from the Feng family. The reason he found the knife handle familiar was because it was clearly a style unique to the Feng family. If the vines were cleared away, a seal-script character "Feng" would be revealed. This knife was left behind by a Feng family ancestor who had entered the Thousand Absolutes Territory in the past.

Everyone had been standing here for half an hour, and almost nothing had happened. Although no one said anything, some people were already secretly cursing Wang Sheng for playing tricks on them.

Under these circumstances, what would a member of the Feng family do when he saw a knife used by his ancestor on the tree in front of him?

The Feng family member was actually patient, at least this particular member was. When he realized there might be danger, he remained absolutely still. He was willing to be tricked by Wang Sheng as long as he could get past this point in time, he would be ready to grab the knife handle.

However, just as the Feng family expert thought everything was fine, two of his companions seemed to be looking around as well, and their gazes turned towards him. Both of their eyes seemed to glance at the knife handle that was completely obscured by vines.

The Feng family expert immediately became nervous. If others discovered it, it wouldn't be his exclusive find, and they might even compete for it. He couldn't worry about anything else at this point; he had to strike first.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the surrounding people, the Feng family expert slowly reached out and gently unwound the vines entwined around the knife handle, causing a rustling sound.

Everyone's attention was drawn to the sound, and they saw the Feng family expert reveal the handle of a knife after unwinding the vines. Then, the Feng family expert firmly grasped the handle and began to exert force.

Wang Sheng, of course, saw this scene, but his expression was completely different from the greedy looks of the other experts. Instead, he suddenly wore a look of grief and resignation, as if to say, 'I'm impressed by you.'

Just as the Feng family expert exerted force and slightly shook the knife, two heavy breaths suddenly came from behind him.

Hearing these breaths, the Feng family expert felt a chill in his heart. 'Crap, I've alarmed some kind of demon beast!' But it was too late to say anything. He could only go all out. With a forceful tug, he pulled the entire knife from the tree.

It was not bad. The knife, having been there for an unknown amount of time, did not break or crack, and could still be pulled out. It had to be said, the quality was good.

But everyone could no longer focus on the knife. Everyone's attention was drawn to the two heavy breaths.

The Feng family expert slowly peeked out from behind the tree and saw the face of an adorable little monkey.