Chapter 244: The Blacktail Plain (2/2)
The team prepared enough tents and would rest in them every night like herdsmen on the prairie. However, Junior Leopard was accustomed to resting in the carriage, and no one dared to oppose him. And in the evening, no one dared to disturb him if it was not necessary. Since the two teams merged into one, Tie Kongyi had been very enthusiastic. Each evening, people from the two teams came together to drink, eat, play finger-guessing games, and chat. They really had a good time and their relationship also became very harmonious.
At this time, the moon had just risen into the sky, so it should be the time for drinking. Wen's status was not high, but he had been drinking with them around the fire. The only difference was that he sat far away from them.
”You don't wait on them there. What are you doing here?” As Junior Leopard lifted his hand, an invisible airflow lifted the curtain in the carriage, revealing Wendu's frightened face.
”Your, Your Excellency... there, there seems to be something wrong!”
”Something wrong? What is it?”
”There seems to be something wrong with our route!” Wendu answered.
Junior Leopard's heart moved. ”Something wrong with our route? What's wrong with it?”
”I, I don't know. But, but I've been feeling that something isn't quite right!” Wendu shook his head.
”Do you think that their guide knows more than you and took your place, forcing you into only doing some rough work? So now you're upset and trying to frame him?” Junior Leopard laughed.
”No, no, no, absolutely not. I dare not do such a thing, even if you give me great courage!”
”Didn't you say that you had never come past the Dragon-pressing River? How do you know that our route through the wilderness is wrong?”
”I, I'm not sure!” Wendu said with embarrassment. ”There's nothing wrong with the general direction, but just now I saw a blacktail pinetree while I was having dinner!”
”A blacktail pinetree?” Junior Leopard was puzzled, ”Wendu, make it clear. What's wrong with a blacktail pinetree?”
”This, I, I heard a rumor from my friend in the Hengshan tribe!” Wendu said, ”My friend told me that there's a place to the north of the Dragon-pressing River called the Blacktail Plain. It looks no different from the rest of the places, but it's covered with swamp and mire. And there's no difference between the floating grass on the swamp and mire and the surrounding area. But if someone accidentally steps in it, the entire person will sink into it and the others will have no time to save him. In addition to the swamp and mire, there's a lot of danger on the Blacktail Plain. Therefore, it's a forbidden place for the Hengshan tribe and even some tribes to the north of the Hengshan tribe!”
”There's such a thing?” Junior Leopard's eyes narrowed and he looked at Wendu. Then he called him into the carriage and spread out the map. ”Are you sure this is where the Blacktail Plain is?”
Wendu spent a few moments looking at the map, laughing bitterly. ”Your Excellency, the Blacktail Plain isn't marked on the map. If I remember correctly, my friend said the Blacktail Plain is in this area!” He drew a circle with his hand as he spoke. Junior Leopard's expression became somber because the Blacktail Plain was between the Dragon-pressing River and his territory. It was not directly between but a little bit by the east. They had been going northwest for several days, but it would not have been discovered if the guide had deliberately deviated from the beginning. As the saying goes: A minimal deviation results in a wide divergence. For such a long time, he might have been taken them into the Blacktail Plain.
Suddenly Junior Leopard sneered and turned his eyes to the wall of the carriage. Though the wall was in the way, he could still clearly feel Tie Kongyi's guide spying on them in the dark. But his spying was just hiding in the tall grass and looking at his carriage.
Junior Leopard now basically believed what Wendu had said. ”Wendu, how did you find out that it's wrong?”
”Because of the blacktail pinetree. The reason that it's called the Blacktail Plain is because there are a lot of blacktail pinetrees. Just now I saw one while I was having dinner. And I also saw one today on the way. But I didn't realize it at the time!”
”Well done!” Junior Leopard nodded and gave a look of admiration. Then, just like a Japanese invader would act toward a traitor-translator, he patted him lovingly on the shoulder and said, ”You did a good job. Keep it up. I won't treat you badly!”
”Yes, yes!” After listening to Junior Leopard, Wendu got excited.
Unlike Tie Kongyi's guide, who was a herdsman, Wendu was a small nobleman. Though his tribe was small, he knew much more than Tie Kongyi's guide and cherished life more than he did. Ever since Junior Leopard took him to fly into the sky, he knew that Junior Leopard was an expert whose cultivation reached Level Seven at least. Because only an expert who reached that level could fly into the sky.
What did ”Level Seven expert” mean?
In the past, there were no more than 20 experts whose cultivation was at Level Seven and above in the entire Northern Yuan. Those people had the strongest combat capability on the prairie, were the most elite force, and were the highest ranking men. Since his tribe was small, the strongest warrior in the tribe was only a Level Four expert. As for a Level Seven expert, he had only heard of them, but had never seen one. However, the Level Four warrior in their tribe had told him and the other tribespeople countless times that Level Seven experts were invincible.
Therefore, he had no resistance to Junior Leopard at all, but just wanted to please him in order to be appreciated, or even valued, by Junior Leopard.
But he knew that he did not have the capacity to gain such recognition. Then he tried to keep a low profile, and was meticulous about what Junior Leopard's team asked him to do, hoping to gain the favor of Junior Leopard.
Unexpectedly, he stumbled upon a chance to make a contribution. How could he be unhappy now that Junior Leopard seemed to believe him?
”You go back and pretend that nothing happened. That guide is spying on my carriage, and he might do something. For your own safety, don't interact with him too much. I will investigate what you told me!”
”Yes!” Wendu paused for a moment, and hurriedly replied, bowing his head. Then he left Junior Leopard's carriage and hurried off.
”Little Du, go and see if this guy is telling the truth!” Little Du, who was lying next to him, whined and rushed out of the carriage in a flash.
Seeing Wendu leave Junior Leopard's carriage, the hidden guide looked a little anxious. He came out of the grass and followed Wendu.
Wendu was a smart guy. After being reminded by Junior Leopard, he did not return to his tent. He shared a tent with that guide, but they seemed to have no common language. In such circumstances, he certainly would not go back to his tent, so instead, he went straight back to the bonfire where the crowd was drinking and eating meat, and sat down not far from the crowd.
A silver light streaked across the night sky and into the depths of the prairie. No one noticed. A quarter of an hour later, deep in the prairie, a wolf howled. Although it was far away, the crowd could still feel the power of the howling.
”Hey, that's Excellency's Silver Wolf. How could it have left His Excellency's carriage?” Although he had drunk a lot of wine, Zhu Ba, due to his good cultivation, immediately noticed that it was wrong.
Little Du spent most of its day in the carriage with Junior Leopard and rarely left. Why did it run deep into the prairie at midnight and howl?
Wang Cheng and Jiang Xiao and other people also responded. They rose to their feet and looked at the place where the wolf howled with puzzled expressions on their faces.
Just then, there was a sudden noise not far away. Looking up, they found that that guide had gotten to the horses, untied one of them, and leaped up.
”Oh, no! He's trying to escape!”
Seeing this, even a fool would know what was going on. However, Zhu Ba, Wang Cheng, and Jiang Xiao did not act. The guide was Tie Kongyi's man and they certainly would not exceed their authority.
And to their surprise, that guide had just gotten on the horse and hurried it to bolt, but before he had even fled 100 feet away, he was taken by a powerful force. He flew up from the horse and fell heavily in the middle of the crowd, who did not even have time to respond.
”What a group of idiots! You were all fooled by this guy!” Junior Leopard's voice rang in the ears of these people. ”He took us to an impasse. You can ask Wendu the details. As for...”
”Howl—!” A voice like thunder in the sky resounded from deep within the prairie, interrupting Junior Leopard. Then, a shrill howl shook the fields.
”Shit, damn it!” Junior Leopard cursed with a low voice. Then he shot out of the carriage into the depths of the prairie.