Chapter 193: Through the mountain range.

Chapter 193: Through the mountain range.The group continued west for two more days until they arrived at a small town next to a mountain range. It was mostly inhabited by miner families, who worked in the silver mines found deep in the mountains.

At first Lee found it surprising the elemental lord had his hideout here, but it turned out only to be a short stop.

Since he was the only one capable of moving freely, Lee was tasked to get enough provisions to last them for a couple of days as well as large stack of torches. After he brought everything under the cover of the night, the group didn’t even have a snack, but directly proceeded towards mountains.

This time it was obvious that Shade knew the area like the back of his hand. In the darkness he expertly guided them for several miles until they arrived at abandoned mine, and after they entered the tunnel, and walked for hundred or so yards, everyone finally could have their first decent meal in days.

While Shade and his bosses discussed whether they were finally safe from the Sect Master Wang’s spying skill, Lee pondered about the implications of the guy’s familiarity with the region. One could think this might’ve been a place where he had lived, but all discussions indicated it was not the case.

These people were far from being simple and apparently their goal was a larger city on the other side of the mountain range, further to the west. Unfortunately, the discussion didn’t last very long, and it was decided to finally get a good night’s sleep.

All four were exhausted and all four had difficulty to relax with their eyes closed – Lee, of course, for different reasons than his companions. In the end, they all passed out, except for Lee.

He wasn’t shackled and used the opportunity to cultivate while pretending to be asleep. It was much more effective to recover strength this way, and he meditated until Shade woke everyone up.

Inside the tunnel was dark and no one had a clue what time of the day it was, but it didn’t matter. Shade led the way deeper in the mountain, and after hundred or so yards, they arrived at the end of the tunnel.



Lee didn’t manage to furrow his brows in confusion before Shade fiddled with something on the wall and opened another pathway. It was narrow and the ceiling was low, but it was big enough for a grown man to get through while walking half-crouched.

Clearly this secret escape route was prepared in advance and, as it turns out, it led to a natural cave system inside the mountain. When Lee realized that, he became fully aware that it was highly likely he would get lost here pretty fast, but somehow their guide easily found the way.

"Good thing the crawler nests were cleaned up few years ago." Shade said, "Otherwise, with our hands shackled, we would have some serious problems."

Lee instinctively clenched the handle of his sword, but his companions didn’t seem to be worried at all.

"How long till we get to the other side?" The elemental lord asked.

"Two days at most." Shade said, "Then another month till we get home."

"No time to waste then! Let’s go!" The elemental master rushed and the group moved out.

No discussions followed, but finally Lee could try to figure out their final destination. There were quite a few sects and cities in the west, but he had no clue which one they were going to, and thinking about it was more of an exercise to pass time in the darkness.

***

Till the moment Shade led the group to the exit on the other side of the mountain range, almost no one talked. The only exception was the time when they stumbled upon a crawler nest in a larger cave hall, but even then it was mostly profanities and curses everyone shouted while kicking and stabbing the dog-sized spider-like beasts that suddenly swarmed at them.

The fight lasted less than thirty breaths, but in the end Lee felt he might get arachnophobia if he experienced another encounter like this. The feeling intensified after Shade expressed his relief that these were only baby crawlers, but fortunately they were already close to the exit.

They had only a couple of torches left when they arrived at the other side of the mountain range, or rather – on the other side of the cave system. It took Shade a while to find the spot where the actual exit was hidden, but in the end they entered another abandoned mine.

In the end, all four of them were tired of the darkness and slightly claustrophobic, and everyone’s mood improved seeing the bright light at the end of the tunnel. According to Shade there was a small river next to the exit and they rushed forth, trying to get to it faster to clench their thirst.

As usual, Lee was going last, and didn’t see the reason why the elemental lord fell to the ground on his back. Shade and the elemental master charged out, attacking someone with their swords, and a heartbeat later Lee followed. He didn’t know who ambushed them, but surely it wasn’t the Nethermoon sect.

Turns out that the entrance to the mine has become the base for a small bandit group. They were caught by surprise when the elemental lord appeared at the exit seemingly out of nowhere and purely on instinct several bandits threw their spears at him.

Similarly, also purely on instinct, the elemental lord intended to use his powers to quickly dispose of them, but the split moment delay to realize he was still shackled, cost him his life. Luckily for Lee and the other two, the elemental lord acted as a shied, although it was the last thing he did. But it gave them the opportunity to charge out and massacre the bandits.

The gang wasn’t too big, only eleven people and none of them were cultivators, not even elemental warriors. Lee could’ve taken care of them alone, but now mostly assisted Shade and the elemental master. The skirmish was quick, and it took less than ten breaths for the three to clean up the place.

"This was unexpected." Shade said after killing the last bandit and slowly walking over to where the elemental lord lie, "Didn’t Wei Longxuan see them or something? Even with him being shackled this should’ve been a joke for an elemental lord like him."

’Fuck! What I’m supposed to do now?’ Only now Lee realized the problem at hand. His task was to help to find the mastermind behind these men and with the elemental lord died the best chance to do it.

Turns out things were different from what they seemed.

The elemental master went up to the elemental lord’s body, checked his vitals, and demonstratively kicking the dead man, said, "That’s what you get for getting complacent. He hadn’t been in a real fight for centuries and relied solely on his elemental lord’s status. But it’s not worth a shit if you have comprehended only one elemental law. If our plan didn’t fail, I would’ve surpassed him half a year ago! ... he was resourceful, though ... he knew people ..."

Since the beginning of the escape this was the most the elemental master had said in one go. Lee already began to consider the implications, when Shade dropped another bomb.



He said, "Master, it’s fine! We still have the contingency plan. It would’ve been great if you became an elemental lord while being disciple of the Nethermoon sect, but that chance has passed. You’ll take them over sooner or later, even if it takes a few decades, so let’s leave them for now."

Lee felt his himself freezing for a split moment, hearing the way Shade addressed the guy, and to hide his reaction he began to search the dead bandits for any valuables.

"Never mind!" The elemental master said, but to Lee it sounded like he kicked the dead elemental lord another time, "Let’s go home. People will be really upset to see me ..."

It sounded like he said the last part in a jeering voice, as if taking pleasure his appearance was about to provoke someone.

"Alright!" Shade said, "But it’s getting late and the sun will set soon. How about we camp for the night further down the stream and move out tomorrow?"

"Where the fuck are we going?" Lee asked, and the two remembered there was another person present.

While they were talking he had enough time to figure out that it was likely that the elemental master had a higher status than the elemental lord, no matter how strange it might’ve seemed. It meant that his mission was still on, and also – the Blackbird person he was playing still had a chance to be payed by the organizers of the assassination.

"Don’t you stare at me like that! I want my frigging money!" Lee said, "More importantly, depending on how far we’ve got to go, we need to decide how many horses are we taking."

"Horses?" The elemental master asked in displeasure.

"Mhm." Lee nodded and pointed to the side where a bunch of horses were standing idly, undisturbed by the earlier ruckus.