Chapter 378: Black-Corner Region
Three days later, in a certain hidden forested area outside of Da Ling City, a person dressed in a black robe slowly walked out. He lifted his head to eye the occasional passerby on the main road that hurried past him. After determining the direction of the road, he lifted his head and walked toward the main road that headed south.
The pace at which the black-robed person was not that quick. However, if an attentive person were to observe him, they would be able to discover that each time the footsteps of the black-robed person fell, his body would strangely advance by over one meter. The scene was similar to a small scale teleportation was occurring, appearing extremely strange.
The black-robed person who had come out from the forest was naturally and undoubtedly Xiao Yan who had been hiding within it to refine the medicinal pills which he needed. With the help of Yao Lao during these past three days, the various recovery and healing medicinal pills, which he had exhausted, had once again populated his storage ring. With a sufficient amount of medicinal pills in reserve, Xiao Yan also felt a lot more relieved. On this Dou Qi continent, what kind of person would leave their home to go on an adventure without preparing these restorative medicinal pills? After all, these things were used to save lives.
“This road leads directly to the border. However, there are three important military fortresses along the way. We need not be afraid of the governors of the first two fortresses, but a thirty thousand strong army is said to be stationed at the final fortress. Moreover, the deputy commander there is a former Elder of the Misty Cloud Sect. From what the people at the Primer Auction House said, it appears that he is called Meng Li. His strength is at the Dou Ling class. Since the Misty Cloud Sect’s wanted order has already reached Da Ling City, I think that this Misty Cloud Sect’s former Elder should have also received it by now.” Xiao Yan gently walked at a pace that was neither fast nor slow, while his body was strangely flashing on the main road. In his heart, however, he was repeatedly calculating how to successfully leave the Jia Ma Empire.
“Currently, it is difficult for me to even move an inch within the Jia Ma Empire. I’m afraid that Yun Shan will have guessed that I will flee from the empire. In that case, he would naturally place greater focus on this kind of final checkpoint of the border. It was possible that Meng Li has long since received Yun Shan’s special message. From the looks of it, wanting to easily leave from there might be difficult.” Xiao Yan’s face was completely covered under the shadows. When he thought of the troublesome points, Xiao Yan eyebrows could not help but knit together.
“The city wall of that border fortress is nearly as large as a small mountain. There is definitely a large force of archers who are well versed in riding and shooting within the fortress as well as a special energy sensing barrier. Since it is used to guard the border, it is also likely that the fortress should have the ability to defend against people flying past from the sky. Otherwise, if a war were to break out, would the strong people of the other countries be able to come and go as they pleased? Ah, looks like wanting to pass through the last checkpoint as easily as I passed through Da Ling City might be a little impossible.” Xiao Yan softly sighed as he shook his head, feeling a little vexed.
Within the Jia Ma Empire, there was a military order. Flying was prohibited in the sky near any of the important military fortresses beside the borders. If anyone were discovered, it was likely they would receive a destructive blow from all directions.
“We can only take one step at a time and see how things go. If it really is impossible, then we can only take the risk and forcefully charge past.” Xiao Yan shook his head and ceased imagining different scenarios. Instead, he focused all his attention onto speeding up his journey.
Although the distance from Da Ling City to the Jia Ma Empire’s border was not short, this was merely something small, relatively speaking. If an ordinary person were to walk these few hundred kilometers, one would definitely not be able to reach the border without ten days to half a month’s time. Even with Xiao Yan’s speed and the quiet use of the Purple Cloud Wings to fly for some time along the way, it took him three days to pass through the two fortresses that were along the way.
As Xiao Yan had expected, the absence of any people from the Misty Cloud Sect within the upper echelons of leadership of the two fortresses meant that the wanted order, which was not recognized by the Imperial family, was not placed everywhere as was the case in Da Ling City. The troops that were stationed there also did not pay much attention toward the wanted order. This allowed Xiao Yan to successfully yet narrowly pass through the two fortresses without any danger.
Although he had successfully passed through the two fortresses, Xiao Yan’s feelings did not relax one bit because of this. This was because he knew that the most troublesome one was the final, huge fortress which was known as ‘Zhen Gui Pass’. As the military fortress at the empire’s border with the purpose of frightening the strengths of other countries, it would not be an exaggeration to describe the defence there as dragnet. All of the soldiers who were stationed there truly had bloody and fiery battlefield experiences. They were far from anything like the troops guarding the cities within the empire, whose bodies were hollowed from the luxurious lifestyle, and could not be compared.
This fortress was the last defensive line which would try to hinder Xiao Yan from leaving the Jia Ma Empire!
Only if Xiao Yan were able to charge out from this place would he truly be like a dragon that had swarmed into the open sea or an eagle soaring through the heavens. There would no longer be anything binding him.
Therefore, this time around, it was extremely critical to get through this pass.
Two days after passing through the second fortress, that enormous fortress, that was like a prehistoric, gigantic beast standing at the border of the Jia Ma Empire, finally appeared in Xiao Yan’s line of sight.
Xiao Yan stood atop a mountain slope and eyed the nearly endless, large city wall. He once again sensed the orderly drill sound that was faintly being emitted from the city wall and could not resist gently exhaling a breath of air. The force of tens of thousands of soldiers merging and the ferocious force which charged up into the sky would likely not pale in comparison to the joint formation of the Misty Cloud Sect.
The freedom of a dragon returning to the vast ocean was on the other side of this city wall. However, Xiao Yan was a slightly battered. This huge fortress was like a vicious tiger lying on his path, blocking his final stretch of road.
“Forcefully flying over will not be a reliable method. Looking at it, I can only try and see if I can sneak through with the crowd.” Xiao Yan’s gaze swept over the road below where those groups of people with horse carts were coming and going. He hesitated for a moment, stepped back slowly and finally disappeared into the ocean of people.
On the yellow dirt road, a large group which had the size of nearly a hundred people was marching forth at great speed toward the enormous fortress at the edge of their sight. Along the way, they carried along curses that charged to the heavens. From the unified clothes that this group of people wore, it appeared that they belonged to a mercenary company. Having a hundred men in a mercenary company meant it could be considered a mid-sized one within the Jia Ma Empire.
Due to the ‘Zhen Gui Pass’ being close to the border, the chaotic atmosphere here was really well liked by certain mercenary company. They did not like to take the secure route of hunting for Magical Beasts and earning money. Instead, they were happy to be the legendary war mercenary company. In other words, it was to help a certain party in a war and reap huge rewards for their assistance from it.
Although this kind of reward was extremely great, the danger level was also very high. After all, in that kind of meat grinder battlefield, a few hundred troops being killed if they were not alert was not something unique.
If one walked a few hundred kilometers east of the fortress and passed through some small countries or tribes, one would be able to enter a special region with was renown throughout the entire continent as the “Black-Corner Region’!
Here, because of its special geography, it was almost the most chaotic area in all of the continent. Countless strong people from all countries would flee there and construct the most barbarian rules. In addition, besides human, there were countless other races in this region. It could be called a miniature continent with its diversity!
There were no laws binding anyone within the ‘Black-Corner Region’. There was was one rule, the law of the jungle!
In other words, it meant that the weak were prey for the strong to consume!
The weak did not have any rights in such a place!
This was an extremely simple region. As long as you wanted to, there would not be anyone stopping you even if you decided to openly rape a woman on the street. Of course, the precondition for this was that you better choose the party that you rape properly. Otherwise, your fate might be relatively miserable. Within the ‘Black-Corner Region’, a woman may at times be even more terrifying than a man. There was only one reason for this. They managed to survive in this place.
Additionally, the ‘Black-Corner Region’ could also be called an information exchange point within the continent. Immense amounts of information flowed out of this place everyday. After that, there would be countless amounts of information that would flow from the outside world into it. Ah, putting it more bluntly, if you wanted to be famous and wanted to be renown throughout the continent, the ‘Black-Corner Region’ could provide you with the fastest shortcut. Of course, the precondition would be that you needed to possess sufficient strength and capital. Otherwise, your life would be lost even before your name could leave this place.
As a chaotic region renown throughout the continent, the ‘Black-Corner Region’ also matched this reputation. Everyday, there would be strong people dying and everyday, there would be strong people swarming in from outside. This region was filled with death, but was also filled with challenges and temptation. In a place like this, things that were difficult for one to see in the outside world, like high class Qi Methods, Dou Techniques and various kinds of magical armors, medicinal cauldrons, medicinal ingredients, high tier medicinal, etc., could cause people to see until their eyes were dazed. Moreover, it was rumored that Di class Qi Methods had appeared twice within the auction house of the ‘Black-Corner Region’!
Of course, if one wanted to obtain all of these things, one must pay the price. This price may be in gold coins or perhaps an exchange using other things. In summary, there would definitely not be something like a pie falling from the heavens within the ‘Black-Corner Region’.
Loving chaos and leaning toward the darkness appeared to be a factor hidden within the human race. Therefore, even though people knew that this region was shrouded by an air of danger, there were still a countless number of people that swarmed wave after wave into this place. Their purpose may be the shortcut to quickly become renown throughout the continent or perhaps to be able to obtain a higher class Qi Method, Dou Technique, or medicinal pills within this chaotic region or perhaps to obtain a great wealth that could only be compared with the heavens. Regardless of the reason, these people who repeated swarmed in injected an unceasing human traffic into this ‘Black-Corner Region’.
Oh yes, something which was nearly not mentioned. Perhaps it was because there will definitely be a reverse effect when pushed to the extreme but located in the middle of the ‘Black-Corner Region’, was the Jia Nan Academy, which was renowned throughout the Dou Qi Continent!
It was just that a certain region surrounding the exterior of the Jia Nan Academy belonged to a peaceful region. Anyone who brought the atmosphere within the ‘Black-Corner Region’ into this place would become a corpse on a large tree that was located at the boundary line between the Jia Nan Academy and the ‘Black-Corner Region’ the next day. In so many years, there did not appear to be any exceptions.
It had been rumored that the corpse of two Dou Wangs and one Dou Huang were hung on the large tree, called ‘Dead Spirit Tree’…