Chapter 17 –

Note : I want to say thanks a lot to Sephiran who pointed out an error in my judgment last chapter and * mark means there are footnotes at the end of the chapter.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The rumbling sounds of more than a thousand of magic beasts charging ahead reverberated across the ground.

The sight of this horde in one word is simply “ terrifying”. Perhaps only a group of strong 6th rankers or supreme cultivators of the 3rd realm could remain calm after encountering such a scene.

Not far away from these horde of beasts is a wagon train* with a group of people crowding inside the wagons, with most of them pleading and saying their prayers while hoping for a miracle.

In the end, Wei Yi, You Longchang and a group of people chose to stay instead of running away. To the people who choose to leave, Wei Yi did not try to stop them.

The fact that some actually believed in his judgment is actually very surprising, even if you take account of the sound transmission Li Zun sent.

You Longchang, filled with bruises and black-and-blue mark snooped his head out of the wagon only to see his friend Wei Yi, who stood outside alone with arms crossed, the wind blowing against him. He was also full of black-and-blue mark on his face and body.

He harrumphed and walked over to him.

“ Why are standing there so stubbornly? Let's get inside the wagon! “ Longchang urged him.

Wei Yi looked over at him and sighed.

“ What's the difference of staying inside and outside? If those beasts do attack us, we're all done for anyway. “ Wei Yi said with a bitter smile.

He was the one who held on to the idea of staying in the first place after that sound transmission, if..all of them were to die here then it would truly be his fault.

“ And besides..even if we were only lackeys to them Longchang, we were also responsible in their capture, I..I just can't stay in the same room as them. “

You Longchang sighed in return.

Of course those people would be hostile to them and in the end, they did receive some beating by the people they freed. Even if both of them knew this would happen and had prepared themselves for it, the bruises..stings.

No, the thing that actually stings is their hearts. When some of those people are freed, they quietly left without doing a thing. And that actually hurts even more than when they received some beating..

The feeling of wronging someone and that someone did not retaliate against you..depending on the person, it would truly bring pain to the heart.

And not to mention that their beating is actually pretty light. Of course it could just be that either those who choose to run away did not want to waste their time on them or the people who chose to stay would rather choose to pray for a miracle.

~ ~ ~

Though some of them chose not to remain at the wagons and ran away, Li Zun did not bother to stop them either.

If all of them choose to run away instead, Li Zun would also not interfere. Whether they would believed in him or not, he didn't really care.

Looking up from the clouds, with his enhanced vision he could see everything that is happening clearly.

“ At least..it was all not for naught. “Li Zun said with a light smile.

He stood up from his sited position in the air. Raising his hand in front of him, he clenched it tightly and willed his Divine Energy to surround the wagons, creating an invisible barrier around it.

Then, he switched his attention over to acorn lying on top of the wagon that was the cause of all this ruckus. With an intention from him, his energy swept out and the acorn was carried away once more, it flew into a distance away from the wagons before eventually stopping faraway from the wagons, hovering up and down in the air.

With that done, Li Zun turned his attention into the fervent beasts whose eyes became even redder when they saw that the acorn flew further away from them.

He released a mouthful of air before deciding to send a sound transmission these beasts.

“ All of you can do what you like, but leave the wagons and the people alone. “ The beasts ears rang with a sound transmission from Li Zun.

At the instant they received the sound transmission, all of them stopped in their tracks and turned their heads to look up towards the sky where up ahead was a blurry and slightly invisible Li Zun.

These beasts are all magic beasts at least of the 2nd rank, which meant that they had the intelligence to at the very least understand Li Zun’s words vaguely to a certain extent. And as soon as they saw a glimpse of Li Zun's figure, their body shook with terror.

It took them a moment to recover and the stronger ones recovered the earliest, they swiftly bowed their heads in respect towards Li Zun and then continued to rush madly towards the acorn. The other weaker beasts who had recovered a slight later also followed through and rushed to chase after the beasts ahead.

When these beasts reached the wagon, all of them did not dare to step even a bit close to it. They dispersed into two groups left and right, avoiding the wagons at all cost.

Wei Yi, and the others who had already been prepared to die before turned speechless when they saw the scene before them.

“ A..a miracle! A miracle is happening before us! “ A women shouted with happiness.

" L-lord expert saved us! Hail lord expert! " Another woman screamed in excitement.

The sight of hundreds of magical beasts splitting into left and right just before they were about to meet them is truly an amazing experience.

It felt like being in the center of a turbulent storm as they witness it crashing down into them, but they remained safe and sound.

Wei Yi was not an exception, he was particularly awestruck by the scene before him.

After some moments, he snapped out of his entrance and shouted at the sky.

“ Lord expert, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for saving our lives, Lord expert’s grace and kindness I, Wei Yi would never forget till the day I die! “

Ever since he was still a little kid, Wei Yi had always admired heroes and strong people. However, because of the harsh reality of the world, he was degraded into doing dark works like this. But the truth is, his heart had never changed. Deep down he was always that little kid who liked to help others and dreamt of becoming a great hero too.

Li Zun chuckled when he saw Wei Yi, but truly he is relieved that people like Wei Yi still existed.

At the same time, an angry roar boomed out. Looks like the competition to get that acorn is reaching it's peak.

From afar, Li Zun saw that it was actually a little squirrel who had managed to obtain the acorn. Surprisingly, that squirrel is also a 4th ranked beast, a rare one even. Li Zun knew that even small creatures like mouses and squirrels could also be strong ranked beast although it is far harder for them to advance.

For example, the Squirrel who obtained the acorn is actually a White-Shadow Squirrel. It's one of the very few squirrel species that when reaching adulthood, would reach the 5th rank.

Since the first moment where those beasts had been roused by the smell of the acorn, Li Zun had always observed them closely. And from that, Li Zun realized that this White-Shadow Squirrel is one of the very first to react to the acorn, perhaps even the first to do so.

In the moment of frenzy, it actually decided to hide on the hide of a large bull like beast, concealing it's tiny existence and strikes with it's highest speed when it had gotten close to the acorn.

If it choose not to conceal itself, perhaps it would have never have gotten the chance to get close to the acorn, because even if it was a 4th grade beast, it's tiny body is too small that it could be trampled in the madness.

The squirrel is currently scurrying away from the rowdy crowd of beast that is planning to snatch the acorn on top of it's head.

With a single glance from Li Zun, Divine Energy shot out, Immobilizing the group of beasts. Not long after, another sound transmission rang in their ears.

“ I was the one who placed that acorn here, then I can also be qualified to stop this. That little squirrel deserved it, let him be. “

The other beasts were immediately terrified, they no longer dared to chase after the little squirrel.

The little squirrel also received the sound transmission and with a squeak of happiness, it bowed his head in gratitude towards the sky. Then, without spending any commemoration, it hopped at a tall rock and began to nibble at the acorn which is half as big as it’s body.

The other beasts could only disgruntled in ire, not a single one of them are brave enough to act against the little squirrel, how could they dare to? Even if Li Zun was not the one who placed that acorn he has the qualifications to do as he like!

Why? Of course it's because of strength! In a world like the Floating Cloud Continent Strength is the law! With strength you could kill kings, topple kingdoms and rule the world!

Li Zun too, also began to understand the law of this world. With power you can do as you like! But without power..even beauty can only bring you doom.

~ ~ ~

Meanwhile in a place quite far from the beast horde, a group of people where running away like mad. Yes, they were the bandits who ran away earlier on when the beasts came attacking. Although the beasts had settled down at the place where the acorn is, they didn't dare to stop and rest, they would only run ahead.

Not to mention that they were all warriors, all of them were at least warriors of the 2nd rank, with most of them at the 3rd with few 4th rankers, as such they could run continuously for hours and would only feel somewhat tired.

But at that moment…

A bright light suddenly enveloped all of them and in mere moments, they were teleported into a clearing in a forest.

Whilst they were still in a moment of confusion, a hooded figure slowly walked from the trees towards them.

While these men had a lot of questions, not a single one of them dare to speak.

Because the hooded man, who was of course Li Zun is currently releasing his power without restrain, pressuring them in place.

The pressure alone from Li Zun could actually pummel them into paste, this was not Li Zun’s limit, he had actually restrain a lot of his power. Such is the difference of Gods and mortals, no matter how strong a mortal is, they are all not worth mentioning in the face of Gods.

“ I was planning to end all of you the moment I saw you but I was suddenly remembered about a certain quote back in my world.” Li Zun said solemnly.

“ An evil man isn't necessarily evil, but it was their surroundings and environment that forced them to be one. “

I thought it was plausible and I too, believed that he was right.

“ But amongst all of you..did any one of you even think about the women you left at the caravan? Or the people left on the wagons? None! Absolutely not a single one of you! “ Li Zun bellowed, his voice cold.

“ L-lord expert..we- “

His face expressionless, Li Zun swept his hand into the air and resounding booms immediately broke out followed by screams of anguish.

Li Zun did not do much to them, he had only injured their dantian*, which would cause them to be unable to generate battle Qi, although with time they would be able to recover.

“ Forget it, I don't want to be dealing with you anymore.“ Li Zun shook his head and with a swish, all of them disappeared.

When they reappeared, they were still in a moment of pain because of their injured dantian, they had yet to realize they were already in a different location.

It actually took them some amount of time for them to realize.

But before they could even leap off in joy because that monster was no longer here, their already pale face immediately turned even paler.

Because they were not in just ANY place. They were surrounded, truly surrounded.

And what was surrounding all of them..were Magic beasts! Hundreds and hundreds of Magic beasts!

Yes, Li Zun teleported them into the place where those beasts are currently gathered.

These magic beasts were in a very foul mood, they had all rushed out but they did not obtain the treasure lying in front of their eyes. All they could do was just to watch as the little squirrel continued to munch upon the acorn.

And while they were in that state, a group of humans had suddenly appeared out of nowhere while screaming and shouting. They who had been pent up in anger, immediately found a perfect punching bag to release their anger.

Moments later, shouts and screams rang out once more. One could only imagine what had happened to them..

Note :

1. A wagon train is a group of wagons traveling together. In a military context, a baggage train was the wagon train that followed an army with supplies and ammunition.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_train

2. Dantian, dan t'ian, dan tien or tan t'ien is loosely translated as "elixir field", "sea of qi", or simply "energy center". Dantian are the Qi Focus Flow Centers, important focal points for meditative and exercise techniques such as qigong, martial arts such as t'ai chi ch'uan, and in traditional Chinese medicine.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dantian

3. If anyone might wonder where did the magical beasts that are used to pull the wagon went, it will be explained later.