Chapter 276 - 126: Lord Saint Monarch, Your Most Loyal Subordinate Has Found You

Chapter 276: Chapter 126: Lord Saint Monarch, Your Most Loyal Subordinate Has Found You

Zhao Ci: "I was just making it up. You guys actually believed that?"

Feng Kucha: "???"

Xue Zhili: "..."

Zhao Ci stood up. "Let’s go! Back to town. We need to reassure the families of those Child Scholars!"

’This will definitely bring in a lot of wishes.’

’I should be able to harvest a good batch.’

’That’s the whole reason I chose this mission in the first place.’

He clapped Feng Kucha on the shoulder and said in a low voice, "I’ll handle the grandstanding, you handle the hand-holding. We split the credit fifty-fifty!"

The trace of dejection in Feng Kucha’s eyes vanished the moment he heard this.

’No point in getting hung up on things I’m not good at.’

’Playing the supportive role was another way to earn merit.’

...

The mountain road was treacherous.

Poisonous miasma permeated the air.

The small, three-man team searched from dusk till dawn.

As they traversed the harsh environment, they had to constantly keep the bitter, miasma-dispelling pills in their mouths. They also had to be on guard against all manner of venomous insects and wild beasts, their feet frequently getting tangled in incredibly tough vines.

Between the sweat and the damp forest mist, their clothes were soaked, clinging unpleasantly to their skin.

The experience was far from pleasant.

After a whole night of high alert, a bone-deep exhaustion permeated them from head to toe.

The feeling was far worse than getting thrashed by Zhao Ci on the Martial Arts Arena for a whole day.

Even for someone with the calmest disposition, a night like this would leave them on edge.

The only good news was that the mountain forest hadn’t completely obscured the trail.

Xiao Shenke had learned from a veteran Sentinel. Though this was his first real-world application of those skills, he was performing well. He might take a wrong turn now and then, but as long as he noticed his mistake quickly, he could lead them back to where they went astray.

By following the tracks, even without knowing where the lost group had ended up, they could at least be certain they were slowly closing the distance.

"HUFF, PUFF..."

The exhaustion was making Yang Mo irritable.

The aftereffects of the Soul-Burning Potion itself weren’t that severe—just a headache and minor hallucinations, which he could easily endure when he was well-rested.

But when those symptoms combined with his exhaustion, the effect was dreadful.

He felt a constant ringing in his ears, and words from his past echoed around him.

For someone who had experienced hallucinations for years, these auditory phantoms weren’t debilitating. They didn’t even affect his ability to walk and talk normally.

But the sounds were undeniably there.

Most of them were his parents’ voices.

Occasionally, Zhao Ci’s voice would cut through.

He wished he could hear more of the latter.

But it was always drowned out by the noise from Yang Fang and Cen Xiu.

Yang Mo gasped for air.

Xiao Shenke noticed something was off and quickly asked in a low voice, "Brother Mo, are you alright?"

"I’m fine!"

Yang Mo said, his voice hushed.

Xiao Shenke glanced at the sky and said gravely, "We’ve been searching for six hours now. We haven’t found them yet, but it’s only a matter of time. Why don’t we rest for a bit? We’ll need our strength to keep going."

"Okay."

Yang Mo nodded and leaned against a tree to rest.

Zhang Da Yong couldn’t help but study him. Yang Mo’s current condition looked a lot like the aftereffects of using a Soul-Burning Potion, but the symptoms were so mild they were almost negligible.

This was especially true considering he’d been awake for nearly twenty hours, on top of six hours of high-intensity searching.

’His willpower is incredible.’

’He’s definitely prime material for Demon Cultivation.’

’On this point alone, I could raise this kid’s priority as a candidate for Saint Monarch by a whole tier.’

’It’s just a shame...’

’That every time he opens his mouth, he spouts such sentimental nonsense.’

’He spent the whole journey repeating things Zhao Ci had said, something about buying more time for those Child Scholars.’

’However...’

’I get the feeling that’s not what Yang Mo truly thinks.’

’Based on my observations over the past few days, there’s a heavy gloom in Yang Mo’s eyes.’

’His whole demeanor is somber.’

’It’s not that someone like him can’t care about the lives of strangers.’

’It just doesn’t seem to fit.’

"Waizi," Zhang Da Yong began, "what do you think? Are their chances of being alive any good?"

Xiao Shenke shook his head slightly. "I don’t know. By my count, they’ve been in the mountains for four or five days now. Judging by the footprints we saw, a good number of them are injured. And when Brother Mo checked their droppings earlier, he saw signs of poisoning. I’m afraid even if they’re alive, they won’t be in good shape."

"Hah!" Zhang Da Yong sighed. "Saving people is damn hard. I don’t know whether to hope they’re still alive or not. It would feel awful if they were all dead, but if they’re all alive, our mission becomes that much harder."

Xiao Shenke’s expression flickered, and he shook his head in resignation. "That’s true. But it’s still better if they’re all alive."

’I see it the same way as Zhang Da Yong.’

’At this rate, finding them is only a matter of time.’

’If we find bodies, we just have to mark the location and head back, then let the Hanling County Government Office send people to recover them.’

’But if they’re alive, we have to lead them out ourselves immediately. The conditions here are just too brutal.’

’Even with the antidote and anti-miasma pills from Yang Mo in our mouths, we feel a sinister chill seeping into our bodies.’

’Those Child Scholars are in much worse shape. How could they possibly last long enough for us to go get reinforcements?’

’But trying to lead a group of injured and poisoned people out of these mountains? The difficulty would increase by more than just a single notch.’

’So...’

’Purely from the mission’s perspective...’

’...it would certainly be easier for us if the Child Scholars were already dead.’

’But...’

’A person can’t think like that.’

’From Zhang Da Yong’s tone, he must be thinking the same thing.’

Yang Mo had his arms crossed, leaning against a tree trunk with his eyes closed, as if he hadn’t heard their conversation at all.