Yun Qiang looked over Lee Sheng's body before stabbing his spear downward, destroying his head. He knew that cultivators like him always had some strange and detrimental ways to come back to life, so he wanted to make sure Lee Sheng was really dead and didn't have any way of coming back.
Silently, he scanned his surroundings. The bog was deadly silent and looked as usual; the only signs of a fight happening here were the chaotic footprints on the ground and the undead in unusually good condition. There were no traces of blood; even the one left by the destruction of Lee Sheng's legs had already mixed with the murky, stagnant water.
"One less problem to have around..." His voice sounded monotonic, as if he was reminding himself of his progress.
He stretched a little and checked his body's condition before starting to loot everything Lee Sheng had. With a swift movement of his hands, he searched for secret stashes before looting the usual suspects like identification emblems and space rings. While he was at it, he also recovered Lee Sheng's black needle, promising himself to analyze it later.
When he saw Lee Sheng's emblem, he smiled a little before draining it of points and destroying it. It seemed all his time earning protection fees wasn't for nought. Lee Sheng's emblem had three thousand points, almost enough for a Golden Qi pill, a kind of pill that Foundation Realm cultivators took to expand their Qi reserves and artificially progress by a Qi stage. These kinds of pills were completely useless to cultivators that had a lot of innate talent; however, to Yun Qiang, who had a low-level root, these kinds of pills were the key to reach the Golden Core Realm.
He let the destroyed fragments of the emblem fall before starting to search Lee Sheng's space ring.
Once he saw what was inside, he felt disappointed; however, this feeling quickly disappeared when he remembered the contribution points he had gained and the undead that he still had to loot. Besides, what he found were some herbs and pills that could be consumed to help during physical training; they weren't useless to Yun Qiang. It was just less than he had expected, considering how rich and presumptuous Lee Sheng seemed.
He moved onward to Lee Sheng's undeads; after the death of their master, they had fallen to the ground and didn't show any sign of moving.
Their weapons and armor were common and could be bought using mortal currencies, so Yun Qiang didn't expect to loot much, if anything at all, from them, but he still did it. Some people in the cultivation world were extremely eccentric; there was no way to know if they hid their treasures in weird places.
Five minutes later...
Yun Qiang's face darkened a little as he was looking over a woman's corpse.
Its dress was completely made out of silk, while a tasteful layer of makeup lay on her dead face. Even when dead, her look was good, and he could see how Lee Sheng had paid attention to aesthetics when crafting her into an undead. Every cut had been executed with precision, and an extreme amount of attention had been paid to where the cuts were done. Each cut was done in a specific way so they wouldn't ruin the woman's beauty.
Besides this, the body released a strong herbal scent, that partially covered the stench of decomposition.
This last detail was what made Yun Qiang's face darken. He knew how much those herbs could cost.
"Well, at least I know where his money went..." His voice was a strange mix of disappointment and disgust.
He remembered how Lee Sheng had called this corpse a masterpiece and the perverted look he had while gazing at it; Yun Qiang didn't dare to imagine what kind of stuff Lee Sheng did with the corpse.
"..."
His gaze softened a little.
"I will let you rest in peace."
After saying this, Yun Qiang started burying Lee Sheng's undeads. Technically, killing allies was still considered a crime under military law, so even if it was accepted as the norm in the Rainy Fort, Yun Qiang had decided to cover his tracks and make it impossible to accuse him of killing Lee Sheng.
Besides, he had nothing better to do.
He didn't want to analyze the Black Needle out in the open, and it was too early to come back to the Fort. If he returned, it would be clear to everyone that he didn't do his scouting mission, and he could face punishment for it. So he might as well do something useful since he had to wait.
Later that day.
Yun Qiang stood in front of a humpbacked man while speaking nonchalantly. Even if the man was in charge of distributing the task rewards, Yun Qiang didn't hide the disdain in his voice.
"I have finished the scouting mission. I only found two cultivators in that area."
As he spoke, he handed in two enemy emblems he had prepared beforehand.
"Anything else to report?" The humpbacked man looked at him seriously; surprise occasionally flashed in his eyes.
Yun Qiang threw his emblem at the man, the hostility in Yun Qiang's voice increased.
"No. Now just put the points there and don't bother me."
The man let out a small umph before giving him back the emblem.
Yun Qiang started walking away while the humpbacked man let out a series of low curses.
At first, he didn't have an opinion on the man; however, the more he interacted with him, the more Yun Qiang had started to hate the humpbacked man.
Besides this, the series of scouting missions he had received last month aroused his suspicions, and Yun Qiang had started to think the humpbacked man had some kind of pact with Lee Shan and Lee Sheng. He felt like the three had conspired together to push those kinds of missions on him.
Well, I will also kill him when the time comes.
He continued walking with a satisfied smile on his face. He knew that with today's trap, he would get a small period of peace for him and his team to grow. Even if this period wasn't long and it would probably last only one or two weeks, it was enough for the last members of his team to reach the Qi Gathering Realm and for him to improve his techniques and cultivation.
As he walked, his gaze slowly moved upwards.
"I guess it's going to rain soon." He sped up to a light jog.
Today's dark gray clouds were moving weirdly. A tempest was about to arrive that night.
That night, a chariot pulled by two shadowy horses arrived at the Rainy Fort. The chariot was flying above the dark clouds, unseen by the soldiers eyes.
When the chariot stopped at the center of the fort, a man dressed in black clothing slowly flew up to greet them.
"Liang Jin, your techniques have improved. These horses look more lifelike than two years ago."
The man that was speaking was Lu Bo, the current master of the Rainy Fort.
An old, jovial voice responded to him.
"Thank you, thank you. However, you should know why we came here, right?"
Lu Bo's smile became slightly awkward.
"Obviously, I was informed beforehand; however, I cannot give you full control of the Fort."
Another voice came from inside the chariot. It was young, yet it sounded refined and controlled.
"Sir Lu Bo doesn't have to worry about it. I have already discussed the matter with the Mo family; we will only require direct control of thirty teams."
Lu Bo was stunned for a moment before he bowed respectfully to the chariot.
"Oh, I didn't think Young Master Wei would come to such a place. I'm sorry I haven't greeted you before."
Lu Bo's tone was filled with respect and courtesy. Objectively speaking, Liang Wei was considered a junior to him and was a major realm below him, so he shouldn't be so respectful; however, Liang Wei's status wasn't something he could ignore. Firstly, he was the future heir of one of the two main families of the Rose Kingdom; secondly and most importantly, Liang Wei was a member of the Golden Generation. In just twenty years, he had managed to reach the Soul Gathering Realm. With his talent, it was only a matter of time before he broke through and reached the height of old monsters like Lu Bo and Liang Jin!
Liang Wei responded, his voice still sounding cordial and respectful.
"Don't worry, Senior; however, I would like to continue our conversation inside."
Lu Bo smiled and, with a swift move of his hands, parted the clouds under them, creating a small passage devoid of rain.
"Please, this way. I will make sure nobody knows of your arrival until you are ready."
Naturally, Lu Bo understood why this guest had decided to fly above the clouds; he directly told them that he would make sure their arrival stayed secret.
As the carriage slowly flew down, unnoticed by the fort soldiers, Lu Bo hesitated for a second before deciding to go down and make preparations for this guest.
On the outside, Lu Bo remained calm while his heart raced. He already knew the war was about to reach its decisive point.