CHAPTER 309: CHAPTER 29: ALLURING BEAST BATTLE (PART 2)

The black dot moved slowly, and in the blustering snowstorm, it appeared like a tiny ant in motion.

Zhang Chao rubbed his eyes and discovered that the black dot had stopped moving.

When he finally discerned the true nature of the black dot, Zhang Chao nearly choked with rage.

The black dot was a gray-covered carriage; the carriage had shakily come to a halt, and soon a person emerged from it, wearing a wind-preventing hat and draped in a thick straw raincoat.

Either the snowstorm had blinded him, or the person was naturally short-sighted, for he didn’t even glance at the nearly a thousand soldiers of the Bailu County Guard Army located a mile away.

He leisurely disembarked from the carriage, retrieved an iron shovel, and broke open a hole in the thick layer of ice; then unhurriedly took out a bamboo rod, leaned it against the carriage, crossed his legs comfortably, and began to fish.

"All that horn blowing, and all it summoned was a fisherman," Zhang Chao felt as if he had been slapped in the face, thoroughly humiliated, "Somebody go chop that fisherman into pieces for me, damn Fengdan County, to actually disregard me so completely!"

A soldier riding a spotted-back hyena charged forth with a murderous aura.

But just as he approached the lake surface, there was a "crack" sound, and the ice which was thought to be extremely solid broke open with a huge hole, and the soldier, unable to react in time, along with the wolf, plunged right into the hole.

"What just happened? Is that kid blind?" With springtime approaching, the ice on the lake had indeed thinned a bit, and adding the weight of the Xuan Beast, perhaps the soldier had unluckily stepped on a thin patch of ice and accidentally fell through.

But even if one had fallen into the Ice Lake, considering that every member of the Bailu County Guard Army possessed Jade Dark Realm cultivation, by this time, he should have climbed out.

Even stranger was that the loud disturbance of the soldier falling into the water, with the splashing water, still did not alert the fisherman.

Zhang Chao had a vague feeling that something was amiss. Looking at the straw raincoat-wearing figure, the person stood at the head of the carriage motionless, but amidst such a fierce snowstorm, his coat did not have a single flake of snow on it, standing proudly like a verdant pine in the midst of the wind and snow, utterly immovable.

"Could it be that Fengdan County has enlisted the help of some extraordinary master?" Zhang Chao had become the leader of the Bailu County Guard Army precisely because he had some smarts. His thousand-plus soldiers looked ferocious; all of them had Jade Profound Cultivation, and he himself was at the Dark Earth Peak.

They could indeed act tyrannically within Fengdan County’s territory, but if they were elsewhere in the Dragon War Empire, they would be at the whim of the nobles with just a word. If they were to encounter a true master, even just a Dark Heavenly Realm expert, it would be enough to leave them with no way to escape their fate.

Both parties remained in a deadlock, the carriage still stationary on the lake surface, unmoved, the only sound was the snapping of the carriage’s canvas as it flapped in the snowstorm.

Under the lake’s surface, where the soldier had earlier fallen, the tail of Snake-haired Little Gore wrapped around the neck of the submerged soldier, who had already breathed his last. The spotted-back wolf had also long succumbed to convulsions and drowned in the water.

"Thousands of birds fly off the mountains, all traces of humanity vanish from myriad paths,

A lone boat, a man in a straw hat and cape, fishing alone in the snowy, cold river."

Just then, they heard a chanting from the fisherman ahead, his voice sounding like a young man’s.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Chao’s eyes widened with ferocity: "Who exactly is in front? I am Zhang Chao, the leader of the Bailu County Guard Army, under Viscount Mo’er’s command, coming to suppress the thief impersonating the Lord of Fengdan County."

With this shout, projecting authority, his voice pierced through the wind and snow like a blade, directly targeting the man in the straw raincoat.

The soldiers nearby all felt their chests swell with passion, eager to unleash their beasts and charge forth.

At this roar, there finally came a response; the cloaked figure removed his bamboo hat, revealing his face.

One could see that he was about twenty-eight years old, wearing a beautifully crafted mask. The half of his face exposed beyond the mask featured gem-like, shining black eyes, and that bearing immediately diminished the imposing aura of the Bailu Army’s soldiers.

Facing the lineup of the formidable Bailu Army, the young man calmly unfastened his heavy cloak, revealing an exquisitely made long robe underneath, then cracked a charmingly elegant smile. His voice rang clear, "If I heard correctly, I am the fake you’ve been talking about."

A fake?

If this well-dressed and composed young man, who can still jest even as the army bears down, is an imposter noble, then what is Viscount Mo’er, who is coarse in manner and illiterate, in the Bailu County Lord Mansion?

The Bailu County soldiers looked at each other, bewildered. They only knew that today they were to encircle and suppress a thief from Fengdan County; who knew the impostor mentioned by their leader would turn out to be a young man full of the grace and air of a noble.

Committing acts against a superior, infringing upon the majesty of a noble, that’s a grave crime punishable by death and the annihilation of one’s clan.

"You’re that impostor, what audacity," Zhang Chao sneered. He knew exactly what the soldiers behind him were thinking, but as a confidant of Viscount Mo’er, he was well aware that tonight’s surprise attack allowed only for advance, not retreat.

With a stomp, he took the lead, rushing towards the young man.

It’s slower to say than to happen; just as Zhang Chao made a move, the fine line on the young man’s fishing rod tugged slightly, as if a fish had taken the bait.

"Bang," the surface of the lake exploded, and a thin, hair-like fishing line broke through the ice. A soldier dressed in military attire was pulled out of the water, stiff as a dead fish, and flung towards Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao saw clearly it was the soldier who had fallen into the water earlier. His complexion was dark and he was already dead.

"You little brat, daring to set up traps to harm my County Guard Army," Zhang Chao dodged not. With hammers in hand swinging with a whooshing sound, he struck the flying corpse, instantly smashing the soldier’s body into mush.

It was at this moment that Zhang Chao suddenly sensed a streak of golden light flash by, quick as lightning. By the time he realizes the snakelike figure attacking him, it’s already too late.

Snake Woman Little Gore sprayed out an icy cold breath, so cold that regardless of Zhang Chao’s cultivation, he could not withstand Snake Woman Ge’er’s close quarters snake breath.

Instantly, he and his lion beast were frozen solid, turned into an ice sculpture.

"Leader," the County Guard Army hadn’t even made sense of what happened when they saw Zhang Chao turned into an ice sculpture, motionless.

Yue Jinghua, intending to intimidate, had Snake-haired Little Gore unabashedly release the aura of the Dark Holy Beast. Even though Snake-haired Little Gore was still not of age, its overwhelming aura was already distressing the Bailu County beast hordes.

Fainter-hearted creatures of the Fox and Hare Clan had already knelt and submitted, while even some of the higher-Grade Tiger Wolf Xuan Beasts trembled, wishing they could turn and run.

Facing this strange and never-before-seen scene, someone among the Bailu soldiers cried out, "Retreat, this person can command beasts, retreat quickly."

At this shout, the disordered County Guard Army scattered instantly, none noticing that just as the beast horde dispersed, a Five-star Dark Light flickered beneath the feet of the cloaked young man.