Chapter 249: Topographical Survey
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh
Half a month had passed since Great Yan and Great Chu formed a secret alliance. During this period of time, the situation was considered calm, as no major battle broke out between Great Yan, Great Qin, and Great Chu. Sure enough, there were groups of scouts from Great Qin and Great Yan, hunting and killing each other between the mountain ridges in Meng Mountains, trying to wipe out each other's eyeballs and ears. However, there were no major battles that involved over one hundred men, and no cultivators of above Xiantian realm struck.
Black Water River was a small river that branched out from Longyuan River, flowing through a mountain range with rocks dark as ink. The pitch-black rocks filled the riverbed, causing the crystal clear river water to look as dark as ink, which was how it got its name.
Although it had an awful name, along the shores of Black Water River was a very fertile land. Countless wildflowers and trees were growing along the river. During the spring, the shore of Black Water River would transform into a colorful ocean of flowers, decorating the river with a splendid hue that stretched westward for several tens of thousands of miles.
The land where the Black Water River flowed through was a valley that broke open after an earthquake. Thus, its vicinity was filled with many hot springs. At every few hundred miles, there would be an area filled with many hot spring pools. Hot water was gurgling out from underground ceaselessly, filling the pools while emitting wisps of white smoke that drifted along the valley off to a far distance. In the entire valley that stretched for several tens of thousands of miles, almost half the land was blanketed in a dense layer of water vapor. The rich underground thermal spots, the dense water vapor, together with the copious underground energies brought up to the ground by water vapor, all nourished this piece of land, giving it a lush vegetation and abundant species of flowers and spirit herbs.
Therefore, Black Water River was a famous place for all the demons who lived in the depth of Meng Mountains. Every now and then, the demon kings who ruled different mountain ranges would send little demons to this place, harvesting all kinds of herbs. They brought them back to produce various medicines, or concoct some lower-grade spirit pills. This place was a natural herb garden for all the powers in Meng Mountains, a place frequently visited by demons.
Tilting his head up and panting for a brief moment, Wu Qi walked lazily up a small hill with a wooden stick in his hand. He stood at the peak of the small hill, throwing his glance to a far distance. Roughly tens of miles ahead, he saw the Black Water River bending around a lofty mountain, forming a small lake with water so clear that he could see the bottom. Rich vegetation was growing vigorously around the lake, with many clusters of wildflowers blooming brilliantly. There was a rock ridge less than ten feet tall, standing beside the lake. Beyond it were seventeen interconnecting hot spring pools. They looked like a string of pearls scattered on the ground, each giving forth different colors under the reflection of the sunlight, looking magnificence and splendid.
"Yo, what a beautiful place!" said a demon fox with three tails behind her back as she walked up the hilltop while twisting her slender waist and came beside Wu Qi. Either intentionally or unintentionally, her lofty breasts caressed Wu Qi's arms when she walked passed him. Smilingly, the beautiful and charming three-tailed fox cast her glance over at the small lake, the beautiful small grassland, and the seventeen hot spring pools not far away from the lake. She giggled and said, "This is indeed a nice place to enjoy one's pleasure with the sky as canopy and earth as a mattress! What do you think, Duke of Tianyun?"
Wu Qi turned his head helplessly and gave the three-tails fox a look as he said, "By the imperial decree Wu Qi brings you, young miss, here to find a hot spring with beautiful scenery. As for the rest, I've no comments."
Loud panting was heard coming from behind, as Catfish-flood-dragon walked up to the hilltop, wagging her huge catfish head and twisting her fat body along the way. She ran her eyes around stupidly, then shook her large head and said, "What's so good about this place? Is it really that beautiful? Can someone tell me what makes it beautiful? Hmm, brother Wu Qi, what is the meaning of having the sky as canopy and earth as a mattress?"
The three-tails fox gave a disgusted look at the Catfish-flood-dragon, while her three long, white as silver tails swung a little bit behind her. She turned her head away proudly, and refused to look at the Catfish-flood-dragon again. If not for Catfish-flood-dragon having an absurdly strong cultivation base, at least one thousand times stronger than her, a little demon fox of early-stage Gold Core realm, she would have long made some sarcastic remarks at her.
"The true meaning of taking the heaven as canopy and earth as the mattress is that one can have sex openly in this place!" said Su Muye, as he walked leisurely up to the hilltop, holding a folding fan in his hand while waving it lightly. His eyes were lingering near the lofty breasts of the three-tails fox. "Senior Catfish-flood-dragon, these are amorous affairs, and you will never understand anything about them. Miss Lu Cui, you sure have a pair of excellent eyes! Muye shares the same thought as you. This is a place so beautiful that it should be absorbed all at once, an amusing place!"
Lu Cui, the three-tails fox, giggled, while she kept stealing looks at Su Muye with her watery and enchanting eyes.
Without one noticing, the man and the fox had stood right next to each other. Either intentionally or unintentionally, they were rubbing each other's bodies with their own, ignoring all the people around them. Wu Qi coldly looked at Su Muye, and thought to himself that if not there were other people around them, with Su Muye's dissolute character, perhaps he would have long engaged the three-tails fox in a fierce battle, using heaven as canopy and earth as a mattress!
Wu Qi sighed sorrowfully in his heart and felt a headache coming on. How could such a lousy task have fallen on his head?
Half a month ago, on the day when Great Yan and Great Chu formed an alliance, Yan Dan had given out an imperial decree, ordering Wu Qi to bring someone into the depth of Meng Mountains, searching for a scenic place that was filled with a lovely and romantic atmosphere. Wu Qi was completely clueless about the imperial decree, but he was provided with no explanation. Nevertheless, he had no choice but to obey the imperial decree with all due submission.
Wu Qi felt that he alone was competent enough for the task of searching for a scenic place filled with a lovely and romantic atmosphere. But, who had he brought together? Lu Cui, one of Su Mei'er's disciples, who claimed to have the sharpest eyes and most profound aesthetic knowledge, followed him to search for a suitable place. Meanwhile, as Black Water River was a branch of Longyuan River, Catfish-flood-dragon could disperse those aquatic demons they bumped into along the journey. So, she was part of the company. But why was Su Muye joining the company as well?
Did that mean if they wished to pick a scenic place with a romantic atmosphere, they needed this Su Muye, the Capricious Yin and Yang, to survey the Feng Shui 1 [1] as well?
Sounds of heavy footsteps came slowly from behind, as the tall and burly Fan Jinlin walked slowly up like a tall wall. He had a heavy tiger-teeth halberd in his hand, a round shield with the thickness of three inches on his left arm, and wore an inch thick, heavy, full body armor. Upon stepping onto the hilltop, he gave Wu Qi a cold gaze, then scolded under his breath, "Despicable twerp, a dirty fellow!"
Wu Qi tilted his head up and looked into the sky. He breathed out a deep sigh again. It was still considered acceptable for Su Muye, the one-track-minded fellow, to join the company. But, why did they put Fan Jinlin into the company as well? A few months ago, during the palace banquet, this guy also jumped out and expressed his intention of fighting for Princess Zhang Le's love. But at the end, he and Su Muye were severely wounded by the rounds of lightning bolts cast by her, nearly becoming true eunuchs. Did they fear that Wu Qi did not have enough of troubles to deal with, and thus made this guy follow him?
A faint breeze blew by, as the skinny and long horse face Qin Qingshui dashed up the hill while issuing cold laughs. He gazed straight at Wu Qi and said, "When we visit a brothel and look for women, that is called frivolousness. But Duke of Tianyun, since you are already in Princess Zhang Le's good graces, you still went ahead and raped other people's wife. That is what we call sordidness!"
"I couldn't agree more!" A cold voice was heard. It was from Qin Nihu, who wore a green heavy armor and a longsword hanging down from the side of his waist. He was the Fierce Tiger of Qin Clan, offspring of Qin Wuyang. He had also stood up during the palace banquet, announcing his intention of fighting for Princess Zhang Le's love, but was eventually smote by lightning bolts and nearly got himself killed.
Looking at the members of his company, Wu Qi felt like weeping, but had no tears. Su Muye had almost squeezed his body into the three-tails fox. They were hugging and caressing each other, and if not for many people around, they might have already taken off their clothes. Meanwhile, throughout the entire journey, Fan Jinlin, Qin Qingshui, Qin Nihu, the trio were making all sorts of sarcastic remarks against Wu Qi. He just wished he could kill them with a punch, then inform their seniors that they were all eaten by some demons or devils in the mountains. These were the members of Wu Qi's company, and no matter how he thought about it, he was pretty sure that Yan Dan was actually punishing him with the mission!
He cleared his throat, pointing at the lake with his finger as he said, "Alright, this is the place. Lu Cui, Su Muye, quickly help me have a look at it. How is the landscape of this place? We've gone through the hardships of living in the wilderness for half a month. Let's quickly find a suitable place and return!"
Upon hearing Wu Qi's calling, Su Muye and Lu Cui quickly tidied up their clothes and put up a straight face.
Lu Cui sprung up in midair, looking into the hot springs, the lake, and the grassland. Her thumb crooked and moved pointing at each finger, seemingly to be doing some kind of divination. At last, she nodded and said, "This is a good place. The myriad colors can enchant one's emotion, while the rich scents can confuse one's mind. It has a fine scenery, surrounded by lofty mountains, a place where the wind is trapped and the natural energy is conserved. The landscape is in a rather good cover, which makes it look like a secret room. If a man visits this place and sees a lonely girl, his lust will definitely be aroused."
She stuck out her chest, laughed complacently, and said, "Also, if we decorate this place using a mystic art of Enchantment Palace, it will look and feel just like the bedroom of a young girl, making evil thoughts to rise in one's mind without control!"
Meanwhile, Su Muye took out a compass and spent some time in observing the surrounding terrain and the underground energy veins. Finally, he nodded and praised, "There is a vein of earth's core flame flowing roughly one hundred miles underground. We can channel it up to the surface, using it to deploy a Heavenly Thunder and Earth Fire Formation with very powerful force. In addition to that, it can also provide energy to all the combative gears crafted by Mo Sect. I've calculated that the energy is enough to support these combative gears for two hours of usage."
Wu Qi turned to look at Fan Jinlin and the other two men. With a cold voice he asked, "Gentlemen, what is your opinion then?"
Qin Qingshui flew one thousand feet up into the sky, overlooking the surrounding area. "This area has a very complex terrain and many trees and rich vegetation, a perfect place for assassins and killers to hide." He praised satisfyingly, "If we can lay thirty thousand assassins in ambush here, we can stop the invasion and harass an army of one million soldiers."
Fan Jinlin and Qin Nihu walked a few rounds in the area, and they too were nodding their heads satisfyingly. They smiled and said, "Within the circumference of one thousand miles, there are many valleys and caves where we can hide our armored soldiers. As long as we can construct restrictive formations that conceal the aura, we can hide an army of several million armored soldiers in this place. Even if Great Qin turns out in full force, with this army of several millions of soldiers, we can still hold them back for a few days."
Wu Qi breathed out a long, deep sigh. Judging from what they said, it seemed all of them knew the exact motive of this mission.
Yet he, as the leader of the company, was the only person who had no idea what was the purpose of finding a place such as this?
He stomped furiously and cried out, "What exactly are you guys talking about?"
Qin Qingshui turned his head and looked at Wu Qi in astonishment. Then, wearing a strange smile, he said in a strange voice, "It seems like you don't know anything, Duke of Tianyun. The purpose of finding a place such as this is, of course, to kill some people!"
Wu Qi was shocked. "To kill who?" He asked with a frown.
"Two dynasties join hands to kill Qin!" said Qin Nihu coldly.
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[1] Feng Shui - A Chinese philosophical system of harmonizing everyone with the surrounding environment. (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui)