Dragon's Origin

Chapter 227: Trump Card (Part 1)

To find an underground volcano, one must naturally look for volcanic rock. Wang Sheng had seen porous volcanic rock when he arrived, and it wasn't in this direction.

From this perspective, heading this way was indeed a waste of time. The two directions were dozens of miles apart, which in the Thousand Absolutes Land, was at least a two-day journey.

By the time they returned to the water vein palace, it was already late at night. If it weren't for Wang Sheng leading the way, it's estimated that not even half of this group of about thirty people would have made it back.

More than half of the dozen or so shopkeepers were now lying down. On the way back, three more had been injured, bringing the total to four injured and five poisoned. The injured were okay, but among the five poisoned, four still had bluish-purple faces, swollen grotesquely, and were foaming at the mouth. It seemed they could only last a day or two at most. Although they had been given detoxification medicine, it didn't seem to be working very well. The group of somewhat obese shopkeepers lying on the ground half-dead looked miserable at first glance.

Flying Fox and the others saw this scene upon their return, but he said nothing, only glancing at the guards who had stayed behind. One of the guards nodded slightly to him, and Flying Fox began to eat and rest with peace of mind. Now that it had come to this, these shopkeepers were as good as dead. Even if the female owner was by his side, she was helpless seeing this and couldn't blame Flying Fox and the others in the slightest.

Honestly, Flying Fox and the others hadn't even touched these shopkeepers. Wasn't it not yet time to act? In this state, they wouldn't even need to lift a finger; these guys could take care of half of themselves.

"The direction of the earth fire vein is at least two days away from here. It's up to you whether you leave a group of people here to guard or take them all with you. Once you find the fire vein, you can handle the formation yourselves; I'm not good at it," Wang Sheng said to the female owner and Flying Fox before going to sleep, then went to bed on his own.

Flying Fox and the female owner hardly exchanged a word, each resting. When they set off early the next morning, Wang Sheng saw their arrangements. All the shopkeepers were left behind, along with a high-level guard and two ordinary guards. Everyone else followed Flying Fox to find the underground fire vein.

When they left, Wang Sheng and the female owner were in the front, with Flying Fox staying behind, giving the high-level guard who was left behind a heavy nod, and then saying nothing more. The high-level guard who was left behind silently sat at the entrance of the water vein palace, chewing on a blade of grass and humming a little tune from who knows where, looking very relaxed and content.

This time, Wang Sheng didn't take any detours, heading straight for the area where volcanic rock was distributed. They traveled more than forty miles in one day, rested for the night, and arrived in that area by noon the next day.

Under Wang Sheng's guidance, with his rich experience, the group only spent most of the afternoon, finding a group of palaces before dark. From some of the utensils found in several collapsed houses, it could be seen that the people who lived here must have refined elixirs.

They set up camp on the spot that night. Several不死心的 guys wanted to search during the night, but after one person was bitten by something unknown and died, no one dared to move rashly again.

Before even seeing the entrance to the underground palace, four or five of the guards Flying Fox brought had already died. This loss made him feel very distressed and helpless at the same time. This was the Thousand Absolutes Land, and even Wang Sheng couldn't guarantee the safety of everyone.

The only consolation was that the above-ground palace had been found, and now they only needed to find the entrance to the underground palace. And this was clearly within reach.

The main force had left the water vein palace, but all the shopkeepers were left here. The number of those who were still intact was almost equal to the number of those who were injured and poisoned, with one person responsible for taking care of another. The groaning in that small water vein palace never stopped.

The three guards took care of the group of shopkeepers, not caring about their food or drink, resting and guarding on their own. A full day and night passed, and early the next morning, the high-level guard in charge got up, tidied up his equipment, looked at the dozen or so exhausted shopkeepers huddled together, stood up and said, "Stop groaning, have a good meal, and prepare to set off!"

Hearing the guard's words, several shopkeepers turned pale and trembled all over. Although they had long expected this day to come, they still didn't expect it to be so soon.

At this moment, those trembling shopkeepers were somewhat envious of their poisoned and unconscious companions. At least they were setting off in a coma, without any pain or fear. Unlike them, who were so awake but had to face such a terrible reality.

The two ordinary guards naturally followed the high-level guard's lead. Hearing him say this, they both understood everything, said nothing, and silently stood behind the high-level guard.

The high-level guard enjoyed this feeling of controlling life and death, the feeling of being high above was addictive. No wonder the owners were all fighting for power and profit, it really was so intoxicating. Even controlling the lives of a few people was like this, so what would it be like to hold the life and death of hundreds of thousands of people in related industries? How exhilarating would that be?

He admired those shopkeepers who still seemed calm, watching them calmly prepare food and water, eating slowly. The high-level guard had a feeling of a cat-and-mouse game. He wanted to see how long these people could remain calm, and whether they would still be able to maintain this composure instead of kowtowing and begging for mercy when he decided to act.

Those who had turned pale from the beginning couldn't even get the food to their mouths because their hands were shaking. Thinking about how they used to be powerful shopkeepers in charge of their own territories, but now they were reduced to this. What a pity! Who told you to follow the wrong person?

After patiently giving the shopkeepers half an hour, seeing that those shopkeepers who hadn't changed their expressions had finished eating and drinking, and even smoothed out the wrinkles on their clothes as much as possible, the high-level guard finally grabbed the hilt of his sword: "I have a few pills here that can let you die painlessly. If you don't want to, I can also do it myself, and I guarantee the technique is very fast, and you won't feel much pain. Which do you choose?"

"How fast?" a shopkeeper who seemed to be forcing himself to be calm in the eyes of the high-level guard suddenly asked with a sigh. The sound of his sigh in the high-level guard's ears seemed to break all the calmness, exposing his fear.

The high-level guard laughed. In the end, you're just pretending to be calm, a silver spearhead. Holding the hilt of his sword, just as he was about to demonstrate how fast his sword was to that guy, a strange sound rang out from behind him.

Chih, a sword tip pierced into the high-level guard's back of the neck, and came out of his mouth.