Chapter 37 - The Southern Catacombs (1)

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Kai ran away from the battlefield at full speed. He took a few detours in the hopes that any potential pursuers would be thrown off his trail, but deep down he knew that it didn't make any difference.

"I've been too complacent lately. That was too dangerous for my liking..."

After a few hours of running, Kai felt he wasn't being followed so he headed back to the outpost. He climbed up the Inn wall and went back into his room through the window.

"Master, you're back!. Did you get the information you were looking for?" Ryu excitedly asked when he noticed that it was Kai coming through the window.

"Umm...yeah. Why aren't you asleep, it's almost dawn?" Kai asked curiously.

"I was keeping your backpack safe"

"..."

"Well seems both of us didn't get any sleep, so let's just head back to the carriage, the sun is about to rise anyway"

They walked out of the Inn as the sun rose and headed back to the carriage. Kai noticed the driver was already getting the [Cee-Horn] ready for the journey so.

"Are we heading out today?" Kai asked curiously. He knew better than anyone else that the battle raging on the path last night was too dangerous to go anywhere near.

"Huh?...oh, you probably heard about the battle last night. We got a report that the battle was concluded last night. We'll be heading out in a few hours once the all-clear is sounded".

The driver sounded confident which confused Kai. Was it possible that a conflict that raged on for 3 days and had no signs of slowing down could suddenly end just like that?.

Kai thought about the old man who approached him last night and had a scary thought.

"Could a D-Rank Internal Cultivator be that powerful?. His Qi wasn't even at 2000...maybe I'm missing something here..."

"We'll be heading out in 30minutes, if you aren't here by then, you will get left behind. No refunds!"

The Driver's sudden yell brought Kai back to reality. Thinking about this wouldn't help so he decided to not think about it. He and Ryu headed into the carriage and patiently waited for it to leave.

The carriages all left at the same time, moving towards Beifong city as a convoy. After a few hours, the road became bumpy and rough. Kai looked outside and noticed a bunch of craters littered all over the road.

"This must be where the fight was. The entire landscape has been completely transformed in this area. This is incredible..." Kai was mesmerized.

"Master, look at that!....", Ryu said in shock as he pointed in a certain direction.

There was a massive dune in the middle of the grassy plains. All around the dune were massive beast claw marks.

"The tracks tell a story. Some massive beast went on a rampage but was stopped by this massive dune appearing on top of it suddenly...But that doesn't make any sense". Ryu said as he stared out the window in shock.

Kai nodded his head as Ryu spoke. The kid was good at tracking so it made sense that he was able to figure this out. Kai on the other hand knew that this was the aftermath of the skills used by the Internal Cultivators.

"I wonder what rank these skills are"

The convoy of carriages left the battlefield and got back onto the smooth path headed towards Beifong town. The scenery slowly started to change as the grass and trees slowly disappeared and were replaced with a barren landscape.

The barren lands became loose sand that stretched out into the horizon. Located at this boundary between desert and grassy plains was a massive town. It couldn't compare to Huang City in terms of size but it was still massive in its own right.

"How is this just a town?. Everything in this world is unnecessarily massive" Kai murmured as they approached the massive gates.

The carriage pulled into a depot close to the town. Everyone excitedly disembarked and headed to the gates. Kai got off the carriage with Ryu and looked at his notes.

His main reason for coming here was to hunt at the Southern Catacombs. Lei Hai had given him enough information and he had all the supplies he needed but he didn't feel comfortable bringing a mortal Ryu along.

"Ryu, take this and head into the city, find a room at an affordable Inn. I'll be back in a few days when I have news"

Kai handed over 30 copper which would be enough for Ryu to survive at least a week.

Ryu looked at Kai with sad eyes but didn't protest. He knew that he was weak and would only slow Kai down.

He clenched teeth as tears rolled down his eyes. Not only was he relying on Kai to rescue his sister, but he was also taking his money. This cut deep with Ryu and he felt a newfound sense of shame.

"Master, I will accept this but only as a loan. Once I'm in the town, I'll find work and be sure to pay you back tenfold!. Please focus on finding sister, you don't worry about me"

Kai saw the seriousness in Ryu's eyes and decided to accept it with a nod. He turned around and left, but suddenly stopped and turned back to Ryu.

"She is close, but her exact location is located in a dangerous place. I'll have to explore around and look for some clues so I may be gone a few days".

Kai was being completely honest. He could feel the connection to Mina's [sub-core] and be able to pinpoint the general location towards the Southern Catacombs.

Ryu felt hope be reignited within him and he bowed to Kai who was already walking away. He would do all he could to repay Kai's kindness.

Kai headed off to the Southern Catacombs with a spring in his step. The catacombs were located on the strip of barren land which was relatively close to Beifong town. He only needed to run at full speed for an hour to get there.

When he arrived, Kai could only see a rocky landscape with small hills dotting the entire landscape. The hills had massive caves all around them and as the wind hit the caves, an eerie artificial howling sound could be heard. Kai walked closer to one of the caves and peered into the darkness but couldn't see or hear anything.

"These must be the caves leading to the underground tunnels that Lei Hai mentioned", Kai said with excitement.. He didn't waste any more time and headed into the cave.

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