Meanwhile, back on the road, Jin Sheng, the leader of the merchant caravan, was already having a headache. When the last of his scouts caught up to the main caravan, they informed Jin Sheng that as they departed the region, they had observed terrifying tremors and the distinct sound of a powerful beast attack.
Jin Sheng sat atop his spiritual beetle-mount, his eyes narrowed as he looked back toward the direction of Xiao Tian Village. It had been a reliable stop for four centuries. Its sudden destruction was a blow to this trade route.
"Stay here," Jin Sheng commanded the main caravan. "I'll take a small group. We go in, we check for survivors, we see what we can find, and we leave. If we see anything above the 8th Layer of Qi Refining, we will retreat immediately."
He dismissed the protests of his guards. He wasn't looking for a fight; he was looking for answers. Information was often more valuable than spirit stones in the Five Dragons Immortal City. He dismissed the caravan's general worry over the scouts' reports. Preferring not to spread panic. Though he himself was quite worried but was hoping to salvage any valuable resource or to understand what had broken the village's mysterious defense.
They arrived at the village outskirts just as the sun crested the mountains. As they approached the ridge overlooking Xiao Tian Village, they saw a village ravaged by a common beast attack. Homes were flattened, livestock were slaughtered, and the stench of blood hung heavy in the air.
Jin Sheng frowned. "A beast attack of this size is far too powerful for a village like this."
He immediately dispatched his caravan guards further along the mountain path. He needed to see the destruction firsthand. He was deeply wary, aware that intervening could well be an invitation to death, but he was deeply suspicious. The long unbroken peace of this village had been an established fact in the region for generations.As his scouts began sifting through the remains, he ordered his men to remain vigilant.
"Master Jin! Over here!" a guard shouted.
"What is it?" Jin Sheng asked, then he stopped.
Jin Sheng dismounted, his boots crunching on the frost. He moved through the ruins with a heavy heart. He found the body of Tian Chen in the square. He knelt beside the Chief, seeing the jagged energy-blade wound in his chest.
"Tian Chen," Jin Sheng sighed. He had shared tea with this man only days ago. "You were a 9th Layer Qi refining cultivator, nearly as strong as I am. To be cut down like this..."
His eyes caught the glint of metal near Chen's hand. It was the black magical weapon, the inscribed iron rod. Jin Sheng picked it up, feeling the residual Qi. He tucked it into his robes, resolving to return it to Tian Chen's kin if any existed. If not, it would be sold to fund his granddaughter's increasingly expensive alchemy journey.
While the others looked for resources, Jin Sheng focused on something else. He tracked the faintest flicker of movement near the fresh burial mound beneath the cherry tree. His scouts were holding back, their hands on their swords. He ordered his men to hold back and walked slowly toward the clearing. There, sitting amidst the smoke, covered head-to-toe in filth and waste, was a small boy. The child was kneeling at a fresh grave, his hands were bleeding from digging into the frozen earth.
Tian Shen Ji did not look like a child. His eyes, dark and sharp, tracked Jin Sheng with a horrifying coldness. There was no crying, no frantic begging for help. There was only a cold, unnatural focus that was deeply wrong for a child of such age.
"One survivor?" Jin Sheng whispered.
When Tian Shen Ji noticed the strangers, his initial instinct was to run, but he realized it was already too late. He looked up, his dark eyes meeting Jin Sheng's. There was no fear in his gaze. Jin Sheng approached the boy, kneeling slowly. The child looked like a small, feral beast. Jin Sheng immediately sensed the boy's strange aura: he possessed a faint but immense internal vitality.
"My name is Jin Sheng. We are the merchants who just visited your village," he said, his voice low but firm. "What is your name, child?"
"Tian Shen Ji," the boy replied, his voice hoarse.
"Can you tell me what type of beasts attacked your village?"
"Wolves."
"Wolves, hmmm...?" Jin Sheng mused. There were only two known packs of wolves in the Black Crescent Mountain Range that could have destroyed Xiao Tian Village in such a short time, but they were supposed to reside in the inner region. The intelligence slips he had read were clearly outdated. "The Black Moon Wolves or the White Moon Wolves?"
"Both."
Jin Sheng's heart skipped a beat. Both. That should have been impossible; the Black and White Moon Wolves were natural mortal enemies. Jin Sheng's mind raced. The circumstances were suspicious enough. He had not reached his age and cultivation by ignoring such blatant orchestration. The most plausible explanation was the presence of a beast tamer.
If he announced that there had been a survivor and there really was a mastermind, he would attract unwanted attention from the powerful forces who may have orchestrated the attack. He looked back at the smoke and made a critical decision. If his suspicions are even slightly correct, they had stumbled in deep shit both literally and figuratively, and the only way to survive was to bury the truth and let the identity of the boy die with the village and vanish in secret.
"We are going back," he commanded.
Jin Sheng immediately turned and walked back to his men, his expression stern. "We found no survivors here. The beasts killed everyone," he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous pitch. "The official report is that Xiao Tian Village has been destroyed by a beast attack and everyone died. Do you understand?"
The guards bowed instantly. "We understand, Master Jin Sheng." Some understood that something dangerous was occurring; others simply knew better than to question their master when he lied so blatantly.
Tian Shen Ji did not trust the Immortal, but even he understood the logic of the lie.
Jin Sheng approached the boy again. "Listen to me, child. Whoever or whatever did this will probably come back. If you stay here, you die. I won't force you to come with me, but our caravan is traveling to Five Dragons Immortal City. It is the only place with enough opportunities for a child like you to survive and even thrive. Are you coming with me?"
Tian Shen Ji looked at the cultivator. He knew that to reject help was to die alone in the mountains, but to trust this man could result in a fate worse than death. He met the man's eyes and, seeing what seemed to be a small spark of pity, he finally spoke.
"I will come, Sir Jin Sheng. I just need to take some things that my father prepared for me."
This man was powerful, and he offered his only real exit.
"Do it fast, child. I don't want to spend more time than necessary in this place."
Shen Ji sprinted to the remains of his house, grabbing the bundle his father had obsessively packed days prior clothes, simple tools, and hidden supplies. He didn't look back.
Jin Sheng led Tian Shen Ji to his beetle-mount. As they silently retreated from the ruined village, Jin Sheng kept looking over his shoulder, expecting a pack of wolves to emerge at any moment. He didn't know the Hei Long Squad was already kilometers away, laughing at his caution. He only knew that he had a new headache on his hands. He would get to Five Dragons Immortal City as soon as possible and figure out how to handle this responsibility.