A Core Ship From The Start-Chapter 2264 - 1531: Chaos Sweeps the Land

So in the end, Duanmu Huai decided to stop sailing, as the yacht was too conspicuous, and the Yangtze River route was straightforward, making it too easy for opponents to block him. So after discussing with Wang Yuyan and Little Dragon Girl, they decided to pack up the boat and travel by land. After all, Duanmu Huai had a Mage’s Mansion and didn’t need to stay in inns like others. By taking rarely trodden paths, they wouldn’t encounter too much trouble.

"What a misfortune."

Walking on the road, Duanmu Huai grumbled and complained to the two women.

"Doesn’t matter if it’s in the West or the North, everywhere I go people avoid me, and now, would you believe it, I have to dodge others!"

"If Mister raised an army, it wouldn’t be such a hassle. Many martial arts sects hope Mister will lead them to overthrow the authorities, don’t they?"

Hearing this, Wang Yuyan smiled and spoke, while Duanmu Huai shook his head vigorously.

"To hell with such boring tasks. These people are just after high positions and wealth, honestly, they’re no different than those they’re trying to overthrow. They were oppressed before, now they want to become oppressors. If they succeed, they’ll probably be even harsher than the officials. Such troops are pointless to lead, and I’m not bothered to give them ideological education, it’s a waste of time."

After all, to truly build an army with beliefs and ideals isn’t easy, especially in a world with martial arts masters, not only must the soldiers be united, but even the martial heroes must recognize it.

Then comes the question, is such a thing possible?

Just like in Faelun World, mages can easily destroy a village using the Fireball Technique, why would they let themselves be restricted by villagers? It’s the same in Martial World, those heroes have gone through countless hardships to achieve martial arts that far surpass ordinary people, expecting them to bow down to ordinary people is impossible.

Like in North Martial Arts, Heng Mountain Sect’s Liu Zhengfeng lowered his head to officials, earning disdain from everyone. Even though the guests Liu Zhengfeng invited weren’t bad people, they also disliked officials. In their view, no matter how great an official’s power is, they could easily be cut down, not doing so is simply to avoid trouble.

Hence, in such a world, raising an army isn’t difficult, but to create an idealistic force willing to fight for a lifetime is another matter entirely.

Duanmu Huai feels he doesn’t have the ability nor the patience, but leading a bunch of mountain bandits to fight is equally undesirable. The Tribunal also has its goals and ideals, it’s not some bandit gang... okay, most of the time it’s not. After all, those things originally belong to the Tribunal, reclaiming them is neither stealing nor robbing.

"Where should we go next?"

Little Dragon Girl asked, and Duanmu Huai had already thought of an answer.

"Feima Ranch, I heard the owner Shang Xiuxun is a true gourmet."

"... So what?"

"Since she’s a gourmet, she surely knows where the top chefs are, if we want a good chef, we need someone who knows the field. Only a foodie would know where the good chefs are, right?"

"......"

Well, it fits Duanmu Huai’s style perfectly.

For the three of them, traveling through the mountains wasn’t arduous, Wang Yuyan used to slow them down, but now she’s learned the Nine Yin Scripture and trained with Duanmu Huai, rapidly increasing her strength, gaining mastery in Qinggong under Little Dragon Girl’s guidance. Therefore, this time Duanmu Huai even skipped the mounts, taking the two directly through the journey, arriving near Feima Ranch in just half a day.

By now, it was evening, and the three arrived at a small village near Feima Ranch. Unexpectedly, despite the village looking tidy, it was deserted.

"How strange."

Walking through the village, Wang Yuyan looked around, furrowing her brows in confusion.

"Judging by the belongings here, it seems the people left in haste, unlike other places where they were driven away. Could there have been a battle here? But the surroundings don’t appear like a battleground."

With heroes vying for power, for ordinary people, fleeing to avoid conflict is understandable. Duanmu Huai has encountered similar sites along the way, some villages were completely massacred, tragically horrific. However, this situation was different, there seemed to be no signs of battle in the surroundings, and Duanmu Huai saw no rebel army nearby, yet the villagers appeared to have left just days ago, which was odd.

"It reminds me of that old horror movie about ghostly villages."

Duanmu Huai chuckled, speaking.

"It’s possible there’s a female ghost haunting here, killing everyone, and now their corpses are probably standing in the shrine. If we go there now, we’ll see the icy cold bodies of the entire village staring at us..."

"Ugh... Mister, stop it."

Alarmed by the ghost story, Wang Yuyan’s face turned pale, covered her ears, and hid behind Little Dragon Girl. Duanmu Huai laughed at her reaction.

"Let’s just check it out and see."