Chapter 433: Departure

　　Hope City.

　　Fang Ping and Qin Fengqing were like tigers clearing the streets. Wherever they went, all the people would vanish!

　　Fang Ping did not mind the situation. He laughed as he walked, “The place that we are going, we would need to go east for more than five or six hundred li, we are even about to reach Hundred Beasts Forest. Are we setting out today, or are we waiting a while before deciding?”

　　Just as Qin Fengqing wanted to say something, he felt something was off and immediately warned them saying, “How do you know that? Old Huang is a different story, but he told you so quickly?”

　　He did not mention the precise location to Fang Ping, but he did tell it to Huang Jing.

　　Huang Jing was not traveling on the same path as them, he could not just let Old Huang go around blindly.

　　But how did Fang Ping know?

　　Fang Ping sneered and did not continue the conversation. He knew about the details a long time ago.

　　If it was not for not knowing the actual location, and with the added fact that this guy had to come along, Fang Ping would not have brought him along.

　　Qin Fengqing previously mentioned about the surrounding area. Fang Ping was grinning from ear to ear as he said, “Hundred Beasts Forest is another eight hundred li to the west, but somewhere in between Hundred Beasts Forest and Hope City, there is a danger zone that is relatively safer, Hedgehog Ridge.

　　“Hedgehog Ridge got its name because it was there that people found many strange beasts just as was described in the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’.

　　“It looked like a cow with the spines of a hedgehog and howled like a dog.

　　“But the strange creature mentioned in the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ also had a pair of wings.

　　“The monster found on Hedgehog Ridge did not have any wings, that’s why it was called a hedgehog.”

　　As Fang Ping spoke, he rubbed his lower jaw and continued, “Honestly, this ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ may be just nonsense. Previously, the Jiao living in the Jiao’s Forest and the strange Jiao beast that was recorded sounded like they had certain similarities, no wonder we called them Jiao.”

　　The Catacombs martial artists referred to the Jiao as Golden Horned Beasts.

　　However, to call it such was their own decision—the Jiao may not be bothered with what others called it as long as it could eat its fill.

　　Fang Ping mumbled, “I did not consider this before, but now that I think about it, the ‘Classic of Mountains and Seas’ and those beasts from ancient legends, the kind to be ridden, was it something that humans thought of or did it appear before?

　　“I heard that some of the Rank-9 powerhouses rode on beasts.

　　“The powerhouses nowadays are very low-key, those with mounts kept them in the Catacombs.

　　“But the ancient powerhouses may not have been like that, if they could secure a mount, it would not have been impossible that they would ride them out just to show off.

　　“So, if it was like that…”

　　The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there were too many secrets hidden among the ancient legends of Sino Nation.

　　Did the ancient powerhouses ever have contact with the Catacombs?

　　Did the Divine Beasts and monsters from the legends come out from the Catacombs, or were they already on earth?

　　If they already existed, then why did they completely disappear after that?

　　Thousands of years ago on planet Earth, was the magnificence of martial arts already there?

　　If it was, why was it that there was a huge gap of time in the current records, and that martial arts were falling into a decline.

　　Fang Ping could still remember that it was mentioned in class. Before the existence of martial arts universities, or even before that, Rank-3 martial artists were enough to start a sect, calling it Patriarchal Clan.

　　There was a time when the middle-ranked martial artists were the key figures in the world of the sects.

　　“Maybe the sects that have been around for thousands of years had some sort of existing secret.”

　　Fang Ping continued to mumble, already forgetting his conversation with Qin Fengqing.

　　Qin Fengqing’s face kept twitching and his expression turned ugly!

　　It must have been Old Huang who told him!

　　Right, he must have noticed the mineral ore, and not caring about the Rank-7 and Rank-8 powerhouses, he used Mentality to search and even that took a couple of days.

　　Moreover, in the Catacombs, the regular powerhouses did not dare to use Mentality to search on such a large scale.

　　“Old Huang is something else!”

　　Qin Fengqing continued cursing in his heart, this was his secret and it was Fang Ping’s secret.

　　Fang Ping had better watch out, of he had so much as a thought of leaving Qin Fengqing behind, he would learn his lesson.

　　Fang Ping already knew the location, and so did Huang Jing, then what was the use of Qin Fengqing any more?

　　Since he was pretty much useless, why was he tagging along then?

　　Qin Fengqing had already agreed with Old Huang that they would not tell Fang Ping. He brought Fang Ping with him so that he could act as a guide, and to show them that he existed, to prove to himself his self-worth.

　　And now, Old Huang had betrayed him!

　　“This old man had the gall to say that he is my Martial Uncle, such a promise-breaker!”

　　Qin Fengqing was fuming and glared at Fang Ping, would this bastard dump him and go off on his own?

　　Fang Ping shot a glance at him, sneered and said, “What are you looking at, are you thinking that I would ask Vice-chancellor Huang over something so minor?”

　　Disbelief was written all over Qin Fengqing’s face.

　　“You told me yourself, or did you forget?”

　　“When did I do that?”

　　“You did forget, last time when we agreed to go mining together, didn’t you tell me then?”

　　Qin Fengqing thought back and after a long while, he finally said hesitantly, “I didn’t, did I?”

　　He already told Fang Ping a while ago?

　　Impossible!

　　He was no idiot, why would he tell Fang Ping, he would hide this matter in an instant.

　　Fang Ping was not interested in attacking him, so after walking a while, he looked back at Chen Yunxi and the others and said, “You guys are going to the Military Department to report yourselves, and after hearing the arrangements made by the Military Department, we will make our moves then.”

　　When the students from the martial arts universities entered the Catacombs, they could not go wherever they pleased; the Military Department would always make some kind of arrangement.

　　To be assigned by the Military Department was to make things a little safer.

　　When he heard him, Liang Fenghua nodded and warned them and said, “Be mindful of your safety!”

　　“We will.”

　　It looked like Chen Yunxi was about to leave when she suddenly took a necklace from around her neck and stuffed it into Fang Ping’s hand, before turning heel and dashing off.

　　Fang Ping was momentarily stunned and he called out, “Yunxi, what is this for?”

　　“I’m worried that you won’t have enough money to spend.”

　　A look of disdain filled Qin Fengqing’s face and he laughed scornfully. “She is worried that you would go hungry, so she gave you a gold necklace. Maybe you could use that to exchange for food in the Catacombs.”

　　Fang Ping glared at him and watched Chen Yunxi’s disappearing silhouette. He frowned slightly and turned to give the necklace to Liang Fenghua, saying “Senior, can you help me return this to her?”

　　“Junior Brother Fang, this is…”

　　Liang Fenghua was in a tight spot. He lowered his voice and said, “This is Junior Sister Chen’s kind feelings, you should accept it first, just to calm her heart…”

　　Fang Ping shook his head and said, “This is not a necklace.”

　　“Hmm?”

　　Liang Fenghua was shocked, he could not understand. Fang Ping pointed to the pendant on the necklace, frowned, and said, “This has a very strong Life Aura, it could be a pill that preserves life, or energy fruits or the like. I cannot use it, it must be something her grandfather gave her, please return this to her for me.”

　　Liang Fenghua realized at that moment, but Qin Fengqing who was standing to the side squinted his eyes and gulped. It had Vought his interest.

　　Something that could preserve life?

　　He was lacking that!

　　But then he saw Fang Ping gripping the Chaos-vanquishing Saber, looking as though he was touched. The impulse he has instantly died out, and Qin Fengqing could only watch as Liang Fenghua kept the necklace in a safe place.

　　“What a waste!”

　　“Sigh, I like this kind of girl.”

　　“Gentle and pleasing, most importantly she is loaded…”

　　Qin Fengqing grunted at that moment and turned to look at Zhou Qiyue, suddenly yelling out, “Hey Tiger Zhou, does your family have money?”

　　He wanted to ask because if she had money, he was not someone who would sell himself cheaply.

　　To increase his strength, he was very willing to sell himself, and it did not matter if he would lose out a little.

　　Zhou Qiyue was busy gossiping to her juniors about Qin Fengqing and his bad deeds. Her face suddenly became very ominous.

　　What did he call her?

　　Before she could reply, Qin Fengqing suddenly yelled out again and said, “You don’t look like you are from a rich family, forget I asked.”

　　“You!”

　　“I’m leaving now. You better remember, don’t travel east, now I am going to Hundred Beasts Forest in the east, just to hang out with the high ranking beasts. Maybe I will come out with a number of them. You guys should not look for trouble!”

　　After throwing this out, Qin Fengqing immediately left.

　　Zhou Qiyue wanted to shout at him a little more, but after hearing this, she was rooted to the spot with shock.

　　This baldie, was he joking or was he serious?

　　While Zhou Qiyue was stunned, Fang Ping quickly followed after him.

　　Soon, the two of them disappeared through the North Gate.

　　Before long, news started to spread within Hope City.

　　Qin Fengqing and Fang Ping, the two troublemakers, were going to Hundred Beasts Forest!

　　…

　　Hope City Command Office

　　When Xu Mofu received the news, he was stunned for a while, and immediately asked, “Is it true?”

　　The soldier that came to report it immediately answered, “Qin Fengqing said it himself, it would be hard to decide if it is true or not, but if he was to go to Hundred Beasts Forest…”

　　“Does he have a death wish?”

　　Xu Mofu could not help cursing aloud!

　　Hundred Beasts Forest was not called Hundred Beasts Forest from the beginning. That name was applied later on.

　　Before this, Hundred Beasts Forest was called Million Demon Forest!

　　Hundred Beasts Forest was the forbidden place in the Magic City Catacombs that beasts and plant monsters liked to gather. Among them were plenty of high ranking beasts, there were even Rank-9 monsters filling the place, and the martial artists from Hope City would never dare to go there.

　　Not just low to middle-ranked people, even Rank-9 powerhouses would not go there.

　　Whenever they instigated the beasts in Hundred Beasts Forest, the Rank-9 powerhouses might find themselves in deep trouble.

　　They were unable to ascertain for sure how many high-ranked beasts were in the forest.

　　Knowing that Qin Fengqing was going there, Xu Mofu was pissed off and yelled, “These two idiots from MCMAU, do they have too much time on their hand? What are they thinking, going down to the Catacombs like this!”

　　If other martial artists did not go down to the Catacombs, Xu Mofu would have been unimpressed. Being afraid of death was not the way of martial artists.

　　On the other hand, Xu Mofu hated seeing Qin Fengqing and Fang Ping and wished they would not come.

　　“When Qin Fengqing was Rank-3 he was already making trouble in the Catacombs, it is not the first time that he has lured the beasts out.”

　　Xu Mofu swore that this was not unprecedented.

　　If this had not happened before, he would not have been so worried. Even though Qin Fengqing did not have much strength, his was already infamous when he was a Rank-3. Back then, he had already lured out plenty of beasts, and many martial artists almost died because of him.

　　To be fair, he liked to go to where others usually avoided. He rarely stirred trouble close to Hope City.

　　If others met him out in the wilderness, then it was their bad luck.

　　Now, Qin Fengqing was a Rank-4.

　　Adding on the time at Nanjiang Catacombs when Fang Ping even instigated the plant monster guards…

　　Now, these two were going to Hundred Beasts Forest… as he thought about it, Xu Mofu felt that he needed to be ready for the trouble that was bound to happen.

　　If they did lure out countless high-ranking beasts… Xu Mofu dared not imagine the chaos that would happen.

　　“Inform General Tian and Old Kou… Forget it, I’ll do it myself. Also, we need to tell Old Fan as well, there better be no mistakes or else our city will be overrun by beasts!”

　　Xu Mofu cursed again before he said, “If these two make trouble and lured the beasts to the city, MCMAU will have to take responsibility! If they cannot handle the situation, then let the two idiots settle it themselves!”

　　Xu Mofu made his decision that if it were to happen, and MCMAU was unable to go against it, then the bastards Fang Ping and Qin Fengqing would be banned from entering the city!

　　They had to figure out a way to settle it, and if they could not, their deaths would be for nothing.

　　It was not that he was cold-blooded, but Xu Mofu could not make a farce out of the entire Hope City just for the sake of those two.

　　Xu Mofu was livid. A few commander-in-chief generals at the side laughed and said, “General, it’s just something Qin Fengqing said. Besides, if they were really to disturb the high-ranked beasts in the Hundred Beasts Forest, would the two of them still have any chance of returning?”

　　Hundred Beasts Forest was about eight hundred li away from here, and there were countless high-ranking beasts there. If they stirred the hornet’s nest, would two middle-ranked martial artists have any chance of making it out alive?

　　Xu Mofu turned and looked at these people. He replied after some time, “Some preparation is better than none.”

　　…

　　Fang Ping and Qin Fengqing could not care less about what was going on in Hope City.

　　Qin Fengqing spoke rather carelessly earlier. This time, they were not going to Hundred Beasts Forest, only Hedgehog Ridge.

　　At Hedgehog Ridge, there was virtually no trace of the high-ranking beasts, maybe just the hedgehog that they discovered there. Besides, it had not been seen for many years, it might not even be there anymore.

　　His little exaggeration earlier… he was a guy, after all. He had a reputation to uphold.

　　Zhou Qiyue and her juniors were gossiping about him, he heard it all.

　　In front of women, Qin Fengqing would never give people the chance to love him, but he could not lose his reputation as well. You see, the second the words “Hundred Beasts Forest” came out, the girls from Magic City Women’s University were shocked.

　　When he turned back, all he needed to do was to tell of his heroic tales, and those little girls would be worshipping the ground that he walked on.

　　…

　　The two of them left the city and headed east.

　　On the way, they met a few soldiers and martial artists who were coming back from the frontlines.

　　When the northeastern city of Monster Sunflower City joined the war, they became the biggest enemy of Hope City. Between the two cities, both of them had started to fight occasionally. Battles between martial artists of various ranks had already happened twice, and there were many fatalities.

　　Seeing so many of them coming home with all sorts of injuries, some even having lost a limb, Fang Ping could not stop frowning.

　　“Every year, many martial artists either die or are injured. If this goes on, the martial artists that grow up would not have much to lose.”

　　Qin Fengqing replied disapprovingly, “Is there any point of you worrying about this? Or do you see yourself as a leader of the humans now? You should worry about yourself first if you have this talent. You should care more about me, you can start with giving me three or five hundred million or a billion, let me enjoy myself a little…”

　　Fang Ping scoffed, but Qin Fengqing pressed, “Did you really kill a Peak Rank-6 martial artist? And, they said that you hired a few Rank-8 to heal you, how much money did you spend?”

　　“Over ten billion.”

　　Qin Fengqing suddenly clutched his chest which he felt tightening, and for a moment he could not breathe. His voice became higher pitched as he asked, “How much?”

　　“Only ten billion or so.”

　　Fang Ping said blandly, “What’s wrong, I didn’t spend your money, why do you care how much I spent?”

　　Qin Fengqing gritted his teeth and said, “One day I will rob you!”

　　Shit, this guy was loaded!

　　One small mineral vein, and he hid it like a precious treasure at the bottom of the box. He did not even own it yet, and even if he did, was it worth tens of billions?

　　Definitely not!

　　Even so, would he rob the territory of the high-ranking beasts?

　　Compared to the high-ranking beasts, it would be better for them to rob him.

　　Fang Ping sneered and acted like he did not hear. As he looked at the soldiers and the martial artists coming back, he said softly, “It seems like there are many high-ranking powerhouses in Monster Sunflower City. The pressure is rising in Magic City.

　　“With the two cities working together, there should be about twenty high-ranking powerhouses.”

　　If it was not for the fact that a whole group of high-ranking powerhouses was killed previously, maybe they would be at more than thirty?

　　Qin Fengqing squinted and said, “Why don’t you go there and kill those Sunflower Monsters, what do you think?”

　　Fang Ping could not be bothered with him. Lost in his thoughts, he muttered, “Monster Sunflower City is still a distance away from Hope City. Actually, it’s not too big of a threat, the real inconvenience is Sky Gate City… we should find a chance to destroy Sky Gate City!”

　　Fang Ping’s eyes burned as he said softly, “When our teachers have broken through, then it will be our chance, even if we can’t destroy Sky Gate City, we should grab some Life Essence!”

　　After one experience, Fang Ping knew that these plant monsters would not open up the Lake of Life for no reason.

　　However, if a high-rank was severely injured and needed to recover their battle strength, they would most likely open it.

　　And that moment will be when the guard plant monsters would drop their guard, or at least they would not be able to completely sense any intruders.

　　They could also lure the Rank-9 out of Sky Gate City. With complete preparation, there was hope in carrying out this big job.

　　As Qin Fengqing listened, his ears were moving but he did not say anything.

　　There was no need to guess, Fang Ping this bastard had no intention of bringing him along.

　　The next time he entered the Catacombs, it would probably have nothing to do with Qin Fengqing anymore.

　　But… if Fang Ping were to bring all the Grandmasters from MCMAU to carry out this big job, he might have a shot.

　　As the two of them walked, they gradually left the returning martial artists—they were from the northeastern direction, and they were headed to Hedgehog Ridge in the east, it was not the same path.

　　They were in no rush when they walked out of the common high-traffic area. In sync, they found a hidden area and changed their clothes, and put on wigs and headgear.

　　After changing, Fang Ping could not help looking at Qin Fengqing and saying, “Don’t follow me, walk some distance away from me, I can immediately tell that your Vitality is faked.”

　　Qin Fengqing quietly fumed. When he sensed the Rank-3 energy waves coming from Fang Ping, he said longingly, “This is so useful, teach me when we get back, maybe I can learn it as well? If I impersonate a Rank-1, who knows, maybe I can silently kill a few Rank-6…”

　　This camouflaging technique of Fang Ping’s, if he could learn it and impersonate a Rank-1 or 2 martial artist, he might be able to sneakily ambush a Rank-5 or 6 with decent results.

　　“I told you, you would not be able to learn it!”

　　Fang Ping shook his head and said, “Hurry up, we may meet martial artists from Monster Sunflower City on this road, one in front the other behind, we’ll count one for one. You should change back to your own clothes. I’ll play the role of the hunter, the results would be better.”

　　“How are we dividing the profits?”

　　“Seventy-thirty, this is fair for you. Actually, I don’t care about this, middle-ranks in the Catacombs are mostly poor bastards.”

　　Qin Fengqing thought about it and quickly hid again, changing back to his usual clothes.

　　After a moment, he could not help but say, “Don’t rush things. If we meet our own and they kill you, don’t blame me for not warning you.

　　“In this current situation, if we meet any stronger grandmasters, there is a high chance of being killed just like that.”

　　“I don’t need you to warn me. I know.”

　　Fang Ping had already dispersed his Mentality, looking out for not only the Catacombs martial artists. He had always suspected that the two companies would attack him while he was in the Catacombs.

　　The fact that he was going down to the Catacombs was not a huge secret, who knew how those people thought.

　　They wasted no more time on nonsense, Qin Fengqing went in front, and Fang Ping skulked behind after him, looking like quite the hunter.