Chapter 17: Poisonous Gas Drifting
Red Sand City was a small city, with a total population of only a few tens of thousands.
Linley and his group disembarked from the ship and set out directly for Chier County City. When they reached Red Sand City, they stopped there to have lunch.
In a private room on the second floor of a hotel, Jenny and Keane both had excited smiles on their faces.
"Haha, we'll be arriving at Chier County City this evening. After that, there should be fewer troubles, I hope," Keane said cheerfully.
Jenny nodded as well. "Once we reach Chier County City, our stepmother wouldn't dare to make a move against us so openly, right?"
"Jenny, Keane, it's not as simple as you think," Linley said with a faint smile. "Arriving at Chier County City might actually be more dangerous. The stepmother you mentioned isn't as timid and cautious as you imagine."
A venomous woman could be terrifying.
During his three years in the Warcraft Mountains, Linley had encountered all sorts of sinister and ruthless people. Jenny and Keane's stepmother could easily have Keane killed in Chier County City without any blame falling on her.
"Really?" Keane was a bit frightened, after all, he was only a fourteen-year-old boy.
Linley smiled and said, "Don't overthink it. We're in no hurry to get to Chier County City this afternoon. Let's rest well here in Red Sand City. We'll set out tomorrow morning instead."
"Tomorrow morning?" Jenny and Keane both looked at Linley.
"If my guess is right, your stepmother's people at the river dock should have found out that we disembarked at an upstream dock. They'll calculate that we'll reach Chier County City this evening. So... ten to one, they'll be waiting for us there tonight."
Linley had easily figured this out with simple reasoning.
By just thinking from the opponent's perspective, it was easy to lead them by the nose.
"We'll conserve our strength and set out early tomorrow morning," Linley said with a laugh. "No need to rush now. Let's just enjoy this lunch."
Jenny and Keane also broke into smiles.
...Just as Linley had predicted, Pharmacist Holmer and his group had indeed headed straight to Chier County City. Lady Weide and her people in Chier County City had already received word earlier.
On the city wall of Chier County City.
Lady Weide leaned against the battlements, gazing out at the countryside. Behind her were her two brothers and Pharmacist Holmer. The city guards had all moved far away.
"Mr. Holmer, I'll trouble you to wait here a bit longer tonight," Lady Weide said, turning to Holmer with a smile.
Pharmacist Holmer knew his place.
His own strength wasn't much; his forte was in using poison. Naturally, he didn't want to offend this notoriously ruthless woman, who was essentially the ruler of Chier County City.
"Rest assured, Lady Weide. Those siblings will never set foot alive in Chier County City."
Holmer said confidently. "Even if they have a ninth-rank expert protecting them, hmph, as long as that ninth-rank expert hasn't reached the saint domain, I have ways to deal with him. Of course... that's assuming he doesn't recognize me."
If a ninth-rank expert recognized him, they could simply form a battle-qi shield around their body to easily block the poison.
"Pharmacist Holmer, you've been staying in my Chier County City all these years without showing your face much. How many people could possibly recognize you? And I've heard you have the ability to change your appearance?" Lady Weide looked at Holmer with a smile.
Holmer smirked smugly, stroking his beard. "Haha, Lady Weide, changing my appearance? That's an exaggeration. It's just using some medicines to alter my skin color, change my hair color, add a few touches... Even an acquaintance wouldn't recognize me unless they looked closely."
Lady Weide nodded with a smile. "Then everything is in your hands, Mr. Holmer. I'll be waiting at that hotel over there tonight for your good news."
Holmer laughed confidently.
...But as time passed, Lady Weide, waiting in the hotel closest to the city gate, grew puzzled. It was almost time for the city gates to close.
Chier County City's rule was to close the gates promptly at ten in the evening.
Yet Jenny and Keane's group still hadn't arrived. According to her information, they had reached Red Sand City at noon. Even if they were slow, they should have arrived by now.
Ten o'clock arrived.
The massive city gates slowly closed with the combined effort of many city guards. Pharmacist Holmer, who had been waiting anxiously, descended the city wall in frustration, while Lady Weide also stepped out of the hotel.
"Lady Weide, what's going on?" Holmer was genuinely annoyed.
After receiving the news today, he had rushed a hundred miles from the river dock straight to Chier County City. The bumpy ride had been torture for the three-hundred-year-old Holmer.
Then he had stood on the city wall, enduring the cold wind all evening.
Now the gates were closed, and their targets hadn't shown up.
"That group must have stopped in Red Sand City for some reason. Mr. Holmer, rest quietly at this hotel tonight. We'll deal with it tomorrow," Lady Weide said, her mood also sour.
"It can't be helped," Holmer muttered, filled with resentment.
...The next morning, as soon as the city gates opened, Holmer began waiting patiently. But by nine in the morning, he was truly furious.
Holmer stormed down from the city wall and entered the hotel's second floor.
"Lady Weide, since they won't come, I'll go to them," Holmer said directly. "Give me a few people—at least enough to identify those siblings."
Lady Weide agreed with this plan. "Very well. I'll trouble you to make another trip, Mr. Holmer."
"This time, I'll make them taste my power," Holmer muttered, his eyes flashing with killing intent.
In Red Sand City, they had purchased a carriage. The old servant Lambert drove it, while Jenny and Keane stayed inside. Linley rode the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard, Blackie.
Blackie stood a full two meters tall, with a broad body and smooth, soft fur.
Riding the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard, Linley felt no vibrations at all—it was far more comfortable than riding a horse or a carriage. The beast could even run over mountains as if on flat ground.
"Brother Lei, what time is it?" Keane poked his head out of the carriage window and asked.
Linley glanced back at him. "Don't worry. It's only ten now. We should reach Chier County City around eleven." The Blackstriped Cloud Leopard beneath him was indeed intimidating.
Other travelers on the road quickly moved aside to give them a wide berth.
"Giddyup, giddyup."
Horse hooves sounded from afar. Soon, three riders appeared, but when they saw Linley, they froze in fear.
"What a fierce leopard," one of the riders remarked, staring at Blackie beneath Linley.
"Stop staring. Let's go," another rider urged.
Just then, an old horse trotted up from behind, carrying a white-haired, kind-looking hunchbacked old man. The old man rode slowly, his horse's hooves going clop, clop, clop.
"Haha, look at that old man, riding a horse," one of the riders laughed loudly.
"Come on, we've got business."
The three riders chatted and continued on their way. The hunchbacked old man looked up at Linley's group. He knew the plan: if he encountered the targets, he was to say, "Haha, look at that old man, riding a horse..." Holmer also knew that the mysterious expert among them was the one riding a black leopard.
... "Those three riders have no knightly virtues at all," Keane muttered from the carriage window after they had passed.
Linley, however, frowned as he watched the hunchbacked old man ahead.
The old man's riding was indeed worrying. He looked terribly frail, and though his horse wasn't fast, he wobbled in the saddle as if he might fall off at any moment. His legs didn't grip tightly either.
Just then, another carriage team appeared from behind the old man.
"Move aside, old man!" a knight shouted loudly. The hunchbacked old man quickly tugged at his reins, guiding his horse to the roadside.
"Ouch."
When the horse was about a dozen meters from Linley's group, the hunchbacked old man tilted and fell off his horse.
"The old man fell!" Keane, watching through the window, immediately pulled open the carriage curtain.
But as the old man fell, a faint greenish gas spread from his body. The gas was so pale it was almost invisible unless one looked closely.
At that moment, the wind was blowing from the east, carrying the gas straight toward Linley's group. However, the first to breathe it in were the people in the carriage team coming from behind.
"Pfft."
One by one, the knights toppled from their horses, black blood oozing from their noses and mouths.
"Huh?" Linley felt something wrong in his body, and his head spun.
"Not good, poison." Linley sensed the wind elements around him. A faint greenish poison gas was drifting toward them. He had already inhaled two breaths.
The Dragonblood Warrior bloodline within Linley surged, and the poison gas was absorbed directly, causing him no harm.
This poison gas was specially concocted by Holmer based on human physiology.
But Holmer never imagined that Linley was fundamentally different from ordinary people. His blood contained the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline—a lineage far nobler than any magical beast's. Even the magic core of a Spiked-Back Iron-Armored Dragon had been refined by this bloodline.
The Four Ultimate Warriors were so unique that ordinary people couldn't fathom it.
This poison gas couldn't harm a Dragonblood Warrior.
"Wind."
As a wind-element mage, Linley could control the wind. He immediately reversed the airflow, blowing the poison gas back toward the east. By then, the carriage team caught between Linley's group and the hunchbacked old man, Holmer, had already died in an instant.
The poison gas drifted toward Holmer, but he didn't dodge—he was immune to it. He wasn't afraid of the poison, but he was afraid of Linley.
"Giddyup, giddyup!" Holmer suddenly moved nimbly, flipping back onto his horse and galloping eastward at full speed.
"Blackie," Linley said coldly.
"Swoosh—"
The Blackstriped Cloud Leopard was terrifyingly fast, far quicker than any horse.
In the blink of an eye, it covered hundreds of meters, appearing ahead of Holmer, leaving only a blur in its wake.
Seeing Linley suddenly in front of him, Holmer panicked.
"Brother, I was just hired. If you let me go, name your price in gold coins," Holmer pleaded. Though over three hundred years old, he didn't want to die.
Linley shuddered at the memory of what had just happened.
If he hadn't reacted quickly and blown the poison gas back before it reached the carriage, the consequences would have been dire.
"Poison gas? Are you a necromancer?" Linley asked, staring at Holmer.
"Necromancer?" Holmer was taken aback, then shook his head. "No, I'm a pharmacist. Brother, I have plenty of money. Ten thousand gold coins? Twenty thousand? Or how about a hundred thousand?" Even at this moment, Holmer was trying to haggle.
Linley couldn't be bothered with him.
"Blackie, finish him."
Linley dismounted and turned back toward the carriage. The Blackstriped Cloud Leopard bared its fangs, then lunged at Holmer in a single bound.
"Ah, a million, a thous—ahhh—" Holmer didn't even finish his sentence before Blackie's claws tore him to shreds.
(End of Chapter 1~)