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Li Mu explained further without even stirring, “The way to the Nether closes with the going of the blood moon. The Moon Monarch and his armies could be all-powerful as they want, but they are not of this world. So there we are.” He paused, realizing the discrepancy in what he just said, hence he added hastily, “But because of the fierce battle, the Lunar Specter is now a heap of broken wood in the middle of the wilderness.”

Ye Ying, Lin Jingxin, and Xiao Jianfeng all inhaled a long, deep breath.

“Because of that fierce battle?

“If so, then ‘fierce’ sounds like an understatement for now!”

But they were not fools. It was plain as day that Lu Ye did not want to divulge too many details. Nevertheless, as the person who had delivered them from death and destruction, they all felt that he ought to be entitled to some secrets of his own.

But that waned Ye Ying’s interest in Li Mu not one bit at all.

She had been speaking to the villagers of Oststern. Li Mu really was birthed from a Tree of Eternity with a golden hen. That, in itself, was puzzling enough. But the most pertinent question was, what other secrets could he still be hiding?

“The military will verify your facts,” Ye Ying remarked, “I’m afraid that that could be slightly inconvenient.”

“Inconvenient? You mean Lei Cang?” Li Mu asked.

...

The mention of the name made everyone in Squad Thunder look dark, especially Xiao Jianfei.

The name that has become the shame and disgrace of the entire squad.

“Not that, exactly,” Ye Ying shook her head, “The military will verify the details of the battle of the Lunar Specter and that could be something of a bother. But worry not about Lei Cang. We’ve survived, so he’ll have to face the music.”

That was spoken with steely chillness that ostensibly distinctly illustrated her hatred towards Lei Cang.

All three squads have suffered losses—more than half their number, in fact—and it was only because of Lei Cang’s treachery. Hence hardly anyone in these three Trailblazer squads has any love for him. All they ever wanted was to tear him apart with their bare hands.

“We’re leaving in a moment,” Xiao Jianfei placed a hand on Li Mu’s shoulder. “To the city called Lauffeuer. It’s nearest to Oststern. With the wardcasters killed by Lei Cang, chances are, Lei Cang has not yet sent any news out yet. Hence we need to rush to Lauffeuer and resupply while we report his treasonous actions. You might be just four months fresh from your birth, my friend, but you’re strong and powerful enough. Why don’t you come with us?”

Li Mu had not thought of that. He rubbed his temples contemplatively, thinking, “Let me think about it.”

Lin Jingxin was still grimacing over the wine that Li Mu had wantonly gulped down and muttered sourly, “What’s there to think about, man? You’re a Chosen One birthed by a Tree of Eternity. Every Legion in the military will want you, more so, one with your abilities. You’ve done well this time, which will be reason enough to make you the star of the party. So come with us as soon as you can, I say. Staying in here will only waste a lot of precious time.”

“Xiao and Lin are right,” Ye Ying indicated her agreement.

Li Mu gave it a quick thought. That really did seem to be the case.

While he might not enjoy the idea of being the meat that the wolves of the military would fight over, they were correct that he had been planning to join the military all along. Going now could really be a good idea. The sooner he could make use of the military’s influence to search for the fragments of Wang Shiyu’s psyche and soul, the better.

...

Prolonging his stay in Oststern really did appear pointless.

“All right. I’m coming with you,” Li Mu nodded.

The news of his decision spread quickly through the village.

Feng and everyone in Oststern came to say their goodbyes. Everybody was sad to see him go.

They knew that as a Chosen One, Li Mu was bound to leave the village one day, but none of them knew that this day would come so soon and so suddenly. Li Mu’s humble and diligent ways have made the handsome and bright young man a local favorite.

“I’ll train in the ways that you taught me, Li Mu! Then I’ll come to find you!” the little girl Xingyan squealed with tears welling in her eyes.

Li Mu stroked her hair, saying, “I shall expect to see you joining the military too then.”

“On behalf of everyone here, I thank you, Li Mu,” the old village headman waded through the crowd of villagers mobbing their Chosen One and said to him, his face alight with admiration and gratitude, “All that good fortune that you’ve brought to us… If it were not for you, this Tree of Eternity won’t survive any more winters. Even this winter alone would have killed many of us.” He retrieved from inside his shirt an oval pendant roughly hewn from something akin to wood. “This was made from one of the pieces of the gourd you were birthed in. I’ve carved it into a pendant and I’ve been saving it for you. For the day you’ll be leaving us. But since you’re leaving us early, here you are. My eyes do not deceive me; you’re not a man of modest qualities. You’re meant for great things, so perhaps it’s right that you should leave us so early. But by this world’s reckoning, Oststern is your home—the place where you are born—and all of us your family. Come back if you have the time. We’ll miss you.”

Li Mu took the pendant, his heart awash with emotions.

Those words struck a chord and invoked not just a trickle, but a deluge of warmth.

He was right. In one way or another, Oststern was his childhood home here in this dimension.

...

The villagers’ reluctance to see him go was practically painted on their faces. Li Mu wore the pendant on his neck, making sure that it would be safe there. “Don’t worry, folks. I’ll be back always.”

Everyone in Oststern cheered.

When all three Trailblazer squads were finally ready, Li Mu left Oststern with them.

“Do come back and see us, Li Mu!” Xing Yan was shouting at him at the entrance of the village, waving her tiny hands vigorously.

“What did you say? Are you sure?!”

Schuhauptstad, the seat of Legion Kommodore and a big city.

Inside a heavily guarded tower built of ashen-white alabaster.

“I’m certain of it, Teacher. It really was Li Mu. But he’s dead now. Without a functioning portal ward, the lot of them—he, Ye Ying, Xiao Jianfei, and Lin Jingxin—are nothing but dead meat. They should be dead by now at the hands of the Moon Monarch and the carrion will deal with what remains of them. Not even the smallest inkling of evidence will be found.”

Lei Cang respectfully gave his report of what happened, kneeling on the burnished floors of the audience hall that occupied the solar of the ivory-white tower.

At the center of this hall was a tall pedestal, upon which was a shadowed figure cloaked with purplish serpentines of electricity.

“Do you know what is the most important and right thing that you’ve done in this whole farce?” said the cold voice such the aloof dignity of a god.

...

“I’m afraid I’m too dull to understand, Teacher.”

Lei Cang prostrated himself on the floor submissively.

“Despite the mortifying nature of the things you had done, you did not choose to hide any of this from me,” said the voice, “Do not make the mistake of assuming that just because Li Mu is dead, your secrets shall remain so. You mentioned a village called Oststern. The peasants there. They might still know a thing or two. Now that you’ve cast the die, you need to finish what you’ve started. Deal with them as well.”

Lei Cang stared at his mentor blankly until the realization finally dawned upon him. “I-I… I understand, Teacher.”

Lei Cang could be as wicked and as depraved as he wanted to be, but even he could barely suppress a shiver the moment he realized the implication of his mentor’s advice.

“Talk about being really cold-blooded!”

“That is not all. What fate befalls the others is purely your assumption. There is no way to tell what could really happen after the portal ward shut down. What if Li Mu, Ye Ying, and the others all lived to tell the tale? What if they survived the Moon Monarch?” the voice said again, “Xiao Jianfei might be inconsequential, but the same could not be said for the Yes and the Lins who hold considerable sway in Legion Kommodore. Of all the enemies you could have made, you just had to choose them, eh? Anyhow, trust that these two houses will not take your claims as gospel. They will verify the facts through their own sources. Take some men—No! Wait! Go yourself. Go to where the fight took place. Make sure. I don’t want surprises.”

“At once, Teacher,” Lei Cang nodded.

He paused, only to lift his head, smiling vilely this time, “The loot is eighty crates of Lunar Gems, Teacher. Sixty-four of them I have surrendered to the Legion, with the rest of the sixteen I shall have someone cart them here.”

“Good. You’ve done well. Go in peace,” said the shadowy figure, still bristling with crackling lightning.

In the meantime, the thick, acrid tang of blood in the air assailed everyone’s nostrils.

...

Li Mu and the others were just over a crest when the sight of a surrealistic but tranquil forest of naturally formed rock columns have been replaced by the cluttered sight of toppled rubbles and smashed boulders. In its midst was a gigantic scorpion lying motionless.

It was the scorpion Beast King that had appeared last night.

Only, the beast appeared very much dead.

Its arthropodal exoskeleton was littered with scores of hoofprints, some of them stamped so furiously that they blasted holes through the thick armor. Patches of orange-yellowish hemolymph spattered everywhere and the scorpion’s pincers and tail—its most potent weapons—were all snapped and mangled. Clearly, the beast must have encountered an enemy so powerful that it failed to thwart and here it lay, quartered and dead.

“Look here! There’s that silvery serpent!” cried one of the Trailblazers who just walked past a huge boulder.

Li Mu and the others caught up. It was true. Lying in the middle of a bed of smashed gravel was the giant serpent, also dead. The wing-like appendage of its was badly crumpled and the scorpion’s other pincer was here, severed and lodged right in the middle of the serpent’s trunk. It looked like the scorpion must be trying to cut the serpent in half when it was killed.

“So, an internecine fight between the snake and the scorpion that both of them were killed, eh?” Xiao Jianfei remarked dryly.

“No,” Ye Ying shook her head, “There should be one more.” She must be referring to the hoof prints.

Another Trailblazer hooted loudly for everyone’s attention. “Captain! There’s something here that you should look at!”

Li Mu converged there with the rest of the captains and Lieutenant Xiao. There was the third Beast King—the black-horned stallion, sprawled among an array of smashed rocks as well but was still teetering on the brink of death. Wounds of different shapes and sizes spread across its obsidian coat, with most of them already healing while the bigger ones were still regurgitating blood like networks of streams, endless and unstemmed.

But most of all was this particular wound on its neck where the broken tip of the scorpion’s stinger was jutting grotesquely out of. Thick greenish blood, almost pus-like, was oozing out.

...

That must be from the scorpion’s stinger.

Poison.

“So, an internecine fight it really was, eh?”

The black stallion struggled to get back on its feet the moment it saw Li Mu and the others approaching. Many times it tried, but many times it failed, crashing back to the ground heavily. Its nostrils flared with impatience and frustration and its eyes blazed with animosity and fear. The animal was wary of anyone coming near.

“Strong and resilient beast. There might still be a chance to save it, eh?” Lin Jingxin remarked.