Chapter 1680: Retreat

The Dark Mountain Iron Mine was around 1000 kilometers away from Black Mountain Fort.

This distance was insignificant to Su Mo and not long later, the group arrived at their destination.

However, they were flying low and their speed was slow since they were leading a large group of martial artists whose cultivation ranks were not high. There was even quite a number of Martial Emperors.

The main reason was because they had to be careful in case of an ambush by the Blood Pupil Tribe.

After all, the Blood Pupil Tribe were not dumb and they wouldn’t wait at the mountain to be killed.

“Leader Su, I see that you are about 40 years old only. You are really exceptional to have achieved so much!”

On their way, Huo Yi casually talked with Su Mo.

“This kind of achievement is insignificant compared to General Huo’s!” Su Mo smiled.

“Leader Su praises me too much. I am already 80 years old but am still a Rank 5 Martial Honorable. If I don’t have some miracle, I wouldn’t be able to reach the high ranks of the Martial Honorable Realm!” Huo Yi shook his head.

He had exerted his all but he had been stuck at the Rank 5 Martial Honorable Realm for a very long time. If he didn’t have a miracle in the future, the Rank 6 Martial Honorable Realm would be the end of his martial arts journey.

The best potential of a martial artist where the rate of increase in cultivation rank was the greatest was before they were a hundred years old.

Hence, the 100 year old age was a dividing line. When one referred to the younger generation, they were referring to all men below age 100.

Those who managed to become a Martial Sage within 100 years old were incredibly strong in both talent and future potential.

“General Huo need not be discouraged. 80 years old is still considered young for a Martial Honorable. Your future is promising!” Su Mo encouraged.

“Perhaps!”

Huo Yi sighed out loud. Then he looked towards Zhu Tong not far away and asked, “General Zhu, we are about to reach the Dark Mountain Iron Mine soon, how are we going to act?”

Zhu Tong had the highest cultivation rank and also had the most troops under him. Huo Yi had to enquire about his opinion first.

“We can crush them with our strength and directly kill them!” Zhu Tong looked straight ahead as he replied to Huo Yi. He had been thinking about how to kill Su Mo the whole way over.

He almost wanted to act just now. After all, they were around 500 kilometers away from Black Mountain Fort already and he was safe.

However, he still held back the urge as he could not bear the crime of killing a comrade without any reason.

Although he was a member of the Zhu Family and also highly regarded by the Third Prince, it was a grave crime to kill a comrade. Even if he wasn’t killed, he would be severely punished.

Of course, there was another way and that was to kill both Su Mo and Huo Yi, as well as all the troops that were under them.

With that, the news about him killing Su Mo wouldn’t spread and he could come up with a random excuse to escape punishment without any investigation.

However, it was almost impossible to kill Su Mo, Huo Yi and all their troops. Although he had the most troops and he was the strongest martial artist, someone may escape.

As such, Zhu Tong had been controlling his urge to act out the entire way.

Now his current plan was to wait for the battle between them and the Blood Pupil Tribe at the Dark Mountain Iron Mine. Then, he would strike out at Su Mo quickly, killing him instantly.

By then, he would have a justifiable reason for his actions even if the Second Princess and Ren Tianya of the Red Dragon Camp interrogate him.

In the chaos of battle, he had accidentally attacked Su Mo and killed him. That was completely natural and no one could argue with him.

Zhu Long had specially arranged for him to go with Su Mo. He would not waste such a valuable opportunity.

“Kill directly? Is that okay?” Huo Yi frowned.

“General Huo Yi, what is going on at the Dark Mountain Iron Mine? Why don’t you brief me on it?” Zhu Tong asked.

“The Dark Mountain Iron Mine is in the depths of the Dark Mountain. It is a few kilometers wide and our faction’s array masters have constructed an array over it. Outsiders are unable to destroy it and will take it away directly. We can only retrieve the mine bit by bit!”

Huo Yi went on and on as he explained, “There is only one entrance to the mine. It is at the foot of Dark Mountain!”

“That is great. We won’t destroy the mine if we directly go and kill them!” Zhu Tong uttered.

“Alright then!” Huo Yi nodded his head. Zhu Tong was the strongest among them and since he wanted to kill the Blood Pupil Clan members directly, Huo Yi could not argue with him.

Su Mo quietly listened to their conversation without cutting in. Any way of attacking was fine as long as the Blood Pupil Clan did not have any high rank Martial Honorables.

“Alright, Dark Mountain is up ahead!”

At that moment, Huo Yi looked ahead and announced with a loud voice.

Su Mo raised his head and saw a tall, 10,000 foot high mountain.

The mountain was dark and black. The top of the mountain was bare and there was no vegetation growth on it. It was a barren mountain.

“Go, lets quicken our pace!”

Zhu Tong quickly yelled out and ordered before he led the group and sped towards Dark Mountain at the speed of light.

They would battle against the Blood Pupil Clan once they reached the Dark Mountain. That was also his opportunity to kill Su Mo, so Zhu Tong was overflowing with excitement.

…

A small town lay about 200 kilometers away from Dark Mountain. This town was Qiu Ta City and it was located in the hills.

The city was a few kilometers wide and it had a population of about 10,000 people.

At that moment, almost all the buildings of the town toppled down. Corpses lined the streets and blood flowed through the town like a river.

The innumerable number of corpses and the red blood stained the city and turned it into a place of ruins.

A metallic scent of blood filled the air and the deathly smell refused to disperse from the town.

Before the town, about 3000 armored martial artists were rendered completely speechless by the state of it.

“I didn’t expect that Qiu Ta City would already be ruined. The Blood Pupil Clan has already retreated, we have wasted our effort in coming here!” a red-armored general of the Red Dragon Camp sighed.

These 3000 martial artist were Jin Lu and the others who were assigned to Qiu Ta City.

Jin Lu frowned as he stared at the scene in front of him. The Blood Pupil Clan were vicious. They had actually massacred the entire town.

As such, their mission ended without even starting.

Bzz bzz~~

Right that moment, the messaging charm of the leading general started to vibrate at his waist and he immediately pulled it out to check through it.

Once he checked through the charm, the leading general sighed, “General Zhu Long sent a message to tell us that the Blood Pupil Clansmen has pulled out of the area. We were too late!”

Everyone started to frown. It seemed that the Blood Pupil Clan knew their whereabouts and actions.

“Since the Blood Pupil Clan has left, then let’s head back!” The Red Dragon Camp general said.

Jin Lu’s eyes flashed brightly and he said, “You guys go ahead first. I will take men with me to check through the place and see if there is any sign of the Blood Pupil Clan.

“Okay!” The leading Red Dragon Camp general did not ponder Jin Lu’s suggestion for long.

With that, Jin Lu chose two martial artists to follow him. The remaining people followed the army back to Black Mountain Fort.

The two experts that Jin Lu chose were both Rank 5 Martial Honorables who were Jin Lu’s trusted aides.

Jin Lu was a Rank 6 Martial Honorable and he had absolute confidence in defeating Su Mo. However, in order to avoid Su Mo escaping, he required 2 others to help him.

Without further delay, Jin Lu led the two men towards Dark Mountain Iron Mine.

He did not return to Black Mountain Fort precisely because he wanted to kill Su Mo. According to his calculations and time, Su Mo should be arriving at Dark Mountain soon.

Jin Lu wanted to kill Su Mo at Dark Mountain before he returned.

He was near the Dark Mountain Mine and Jin Lu quickly rushed over to where Su Mo was.