Chapter 170 Who Is The Mastermind?
The Shredded mountain range was full of all sorts of vegetation. Tier one and tier two magical beasts were plenty as they had found their sanctuary in different types of vegetation.
"Be careful. Generally the low tier magical beasts would not attack our group after sensing the auras of powerful warriors. But it is not certain", Li Han warned the Shen clan warriors who were walking ahead of him.
Kai Min, Li Shu and Li Yan placed their hands on their weapons after hearing the words of Li Han. Zhan Chen smiled after seeing the nervous look on the faces of Li Shu and Kai Min.
"Relax. Don\'t be riled up this early. We still have a long way to go", Zhan Chen looked towards both of his girls. Li Shu and Kai Min nodded their heads but their nervousness didn\'t lessened completely. Zhan Chen couldn\'t do anything about it as he accompanied the group of Li Shu, Kai Min and Li Yan.
Time seemed to pass slowly in the Shredded mountain range. Even the sixth stage experts could not relax their nerves as they were responsible for the security of their entire group.
Initially, it was tier one and tier two magical beasts but as they traveled deeper into the Shredded mountain range, powerful magical beasts started to appear in the vicinity.
"Everyone, halt", the sixth stage expert raised his hand as he stopped his horned lion from moving forward.
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"The territory ahead is ghost faced ape\'s territory. Generally, it is easy to traverse their territory in the day time but for some reason they were acting weird.
There is still sometime left before the evening but all of them were awake and it seemed like all of them were pretty angry at the moment", the sixth stage expert of Shen clan spoke.
He was in a dilemma what to do at the moment. If he chose to avoid the territory of ghost faced ape\'s, then they had to traverse a longer route than expected. And it was never a good idea to stay in the Shredded mountain range for more time than originally required.
"We have to avoid them. It is easy to take them down but it will attract the attention of sixth tier magical beasts", the voice of his companion ringed in the mind of the sixth stage expert of Shen clan.
To communicate through the mind was an ability of those who were at fifth stage or above. This method could easily avoid the detection of those who were at lower stage of cultivation. But this condition was not applied to those who were at higher cultivation stages than the communicators.
Zhan Chen was one of such example who easily intercepted their conversation without exposing his presence. Zhan Chen continued to listen to the conversation of both sixth stage experts of Shen clan and as their conversation progressed, a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
Actually, he could have noticed the situation earlier than the sixth stage experts if he would have spread his soul consciousness to the surrounding. But Zhan Chen was still reluctant to use his soul consciousness in the Shredded mountain range as he was wary of seventh tier magical beasts.
Seventh tier magical beasts were equal with the seventh stage supreme cultivators of humans. They were respected as emperors in both human and magical beasts world.
Despite his peak sage realm soul prowcess, Zhan had to be wary of seventh stage cultivators as they could notice soul fluctuation in the surrounding.
\'Let\'s wait for now. If similar situation happens even if we change the route, then I will check our entire surrounding with my soul consciousness\', Zhan Chen made the decision inside his mind. He followed the Shen clan cultivators as they changed their path and went towards another direction of Shredded mountain range.
As they traveled some distance in another direction, the sixth stage expert of Shen clan stopped suddenly. A frown had appeared on his wizened face.
"Prepare for war", he said with a grim tone as he turned to look towards his right direction. Zhan Chen couldn\'t ignore their situation any longer as he spread his soul consciousness to the surrounding.
"What is going on?", he murmured to himself as a frown appeared on his face. Two groups of magical beasts were eyeing them from the side. Compared to the group of right side who were approaching them at a rapid pace, the group to the left were more sinister. They were keeping a long enough distance which could evede the soul consciousness of sixth stage cultivators.
Zhan Chen spread his soul consciousness more wider and finally he could notice two sixth tier magical beasts who were keeping watch over their subordinates from a distance.
\'Two sixth tier magical beasts are coopearating! What is happening here!\', a grim look appeared on Zhan Chen\'s face after he noticed two sixth tier magical beasts.
A war couldn\'t be prevented anymore. But Zhan Chen wanted to find out the root cause. While he was pondering, the warning voice of a Shen clan expert came from the distance.
"Everyone, be alert. We are facing the Howling moon wolves".
"Young master Chen, please be careful. What we are facing is the Howling moon wolves, one of the most vicious species of magical beasts", Kai Min looked towards Zhan Chen.
Zhan Chen gave her an assured look and turned to look towards the approaching group of magical beasts. "Three fifth tier, twelve fourth tier magical beasts are among them", he murmured softly. But his voice was still heard by the group of Li Shu, Li Yan and Kai Min. A shiver ran down their spines as they clenched their weapons more tightly.
\'Battle will lead to more attention from magical beasts. Moreover, two sixth tier beasts are watching from the shadow. In this condition, what we need to know is their purpose of attack\', Zhan Chen thought to himself. He looked towards the direction of sixth tier beasts and he decided on one among the both of them.
It was a massive bear whose height was almost double of a normal cultivator. It had thick black furs and two red eyes. For now, it was focusing on the cultivators of the Shen clan group.
It felt a sudden sense of crisis out of now here but before it could do anything about it, it\'s eyes became blank. It took a few moments before Zhan Chen could control it completely with his soul sense.
"Aaoowww", the howls of the fifth tier wolves sounded and the battle started immediately. Zhan Chen didn\'t even have time to look for the details from the sixth tier beast as a herd of wolves attacked their group.
Zhan Chen couldn\'t let his women face the attacks of a group of Howling moon wolves. So, he had to draw his sword while simultaneously looking at the memory of the sixth tier magical beast.