The Legend of Min Hong

There were already 25 Nascent Soul experts who have stepped out of the mercenary group, and after he spoke, one person began to file out after the other, until there were about 45 Nascent Soul experts, and 25 Dan Formation experts, and if Min Hong should add that to the 30 Nascent Soul experts on Jun Tao's side, that would mean that he already had a 100 man army…

"The army needed to take over the East Wind Empire are growing much easier than I expected..." Min Hong thought to himself with a grin…

"Hmph! Wait till I tell Gu Ming about your betrayals; not only would your families die in the worst way possible, I will also make sure he forces you to watch as they die one after the other, before you will all eventually join them…"

Fao Hai turned towards the group who had just joined Min Hong's side and blurted through gritted teeth, but just as he finished his statement;

Whoosh!

Min Hong moved like a gale and in the blink of an eye, he had grabbed Fao Hai in the neck, and slammed his palm into his chest as he then began to mutter to himself;

"Useless… Subpar… Not enough… Low Grade…"

"Damn it, the only good thing this guy has is a single High Grade Spirit Stone!"

Min Hong frowned deeply before blood began to spurt out of his body, and after about ten seconds, all these blood had become something like a red mist covering Min Hong and Fao Hai completely…

Then everyone began to hear the miserable shrieks of Fao Hai from within this cloud of blood mist, and just a little while later, an utterly shriveled corpse of Fao Hai dropped to the ground; like he was completely bony to the extent that his muscles were flatter and weaker than wet paper, his skin had shrunk miserably, and all in all, Fao Hai looked like a mummy that had been locked up in a tomb since ancient times…

The blood cloud receded back into Min Hong, who was still having a deep frown etched onto his face;

"Useless, his entire cultivation base and life force was only able to raise and reinforce my cultivation at the Peak of Awakening Stage of my three bloodlines…"

Then he looked towards the 30 experts left of the Diamond Crust Mercenary, and once these people felt the gaze of Min Hong pass over them, their hearts palpitated immensely, and they all went to their knees and begged;

"Young master, please forgive our insol-"

"Too late!"

Min Hong didn't even allow them to finish their statement as he exploded [Yeah, he exploded!] into a cloud of blood mist and moved into these thirty people who scattered in different directions, but anytime Min Hong in his blood mist form passed over an expert, the rest would just see a shriveled corpse fall to the ground with its mouth agape and an expression of pure and unrestrained terror…

The rest of the mercenaries who had just swapped sides but were still loyal to the group within their hearts saw the way Min Hong had just disposed of one of their leaders and they instantly got crippled with fear as every shred of loyalty they had to the mercenary group melted like cotton candy…

Min Hong who purposely used this technique in front of all of them did it so that they could all understand what they were going against should they try betray him…

If he was going to build an army to take over the East Wind Empire, then their loyalties have to be engraved into the depths of their bones and marrows; either by fear or showing kindness, but because these people had just decided to join his group and the fact that the Land of Stones is filled with mischievous people who wouldn't mind stabbing someone in the back just to get what they wanted;

Min Hong then decided to use fear to let them understand exactly what they would be going against should anyone of them try something funny…

He went from expert to expert and sucked them all dry one after the other, and no matter how fast they fled, he still caught up with all of them, deciding to pick the farthest ones ad feed on them, and when some of the experts noticed that he was going after the farthest ones amongst them, they paused in their tracks and simply knelt and bowed their heads to the ground in a bid to attract Min Hong's sympathy…

Unbeknownst to them, Min Hong wasn't planning on showing his group that he could have mercy on others…

Nope, he wanted to show them how merciless he could get whenever anyone crosses him, and as a result, Min Hong was done feeding in less than half an hour…

30 Dan Formation and Nascent Soul experts, gone, in the space of only thirty minutes, leaving only their bones and dried up flesh  behind…

Then everyone saw the cloud of blood mist transform into a humanoid form and then the features of this figure began to become more detailed, and by the time it stopped transforming, Min Hong was there flapping his pitch black wings which had blood red demonic runes etched over it…

Then after a while, he looked towards a direction where about five shriveled corpse were piled atop each other and he smiled to himself…

"What an unorthodox technique…"

"It seems we will be having a twisted and demonic leader…"

"It is good that I am already on his side, I can't imagine having the thought that someone like him might be coming for me, I will probably be sleep deprived in a bid to escape my nightmares…"

These experts began to whisper towards one another and Min Hong heard, but that was not what caused him to smile;

"Your mistake was piling the corpse on one another…"

Everyone was stunned when they heard his statement as they saw Min Hong disappear and appear beside the pile of bones which was about 100 meters off his current position, all in an instant…

Min Hong dug his hand into the pile of corpse and dragged out a shivering Huang Pi who had tried to escape Min Hong by piling up about six dried corpse over his body;

"I am not a beast who piles up the bones of my enemies atop one another…"

Min Hong spoke as he grabbed Huang Pi by the scruff of the neck and flew over to the rest of the group who expected him to suck Huang Pi dry once again, but Min Hong simply revealed his index finger and stabbed it into Huang Pi's abdomen, and everyone saw all of Huang Pi's cultivation begin to reduce and waste into the atmosphere;

"I have taken a lot from nature, you should count yourself lucky to be the sacrificial lamb I offer back to nature in return…"

Min Hong said with a bright smile which sent chills into Gong Yi himself, and then he threw Huang Pi towards Teng and added;

"I remember you saying something about him burning…"

"I have returned some Qi to nature ass my own spiritual sacrifice, so you can burn him as a physical sacrifice to your ancestors…"

"I'm very grateful, young master!"

Teng said before Min Hong looked towards Jun Tao and added;

"Lead the way to your hide out…"

"Yes, master!"

Jun Tao responded with a slight bow before turning towards a certain direction, and once he did that, everyone in the area climbed atop their flying sword and began to move towards the direction Jun Tao was heading...

Then Teng looked towards Huang Pi who started to beg, but he simply waved his sleeves and Huang Pi was instantly covered in raging flames as his scream reverberated through the open rocky lands;

"In your next life, remember to never bite the hands that fed you!"

Teng spoke before spitting on the burning Huang Pi and catching up with the rest…

Min Hong saw him and waved him over to stand by his side, then he spoke softly;

"That would be your position from now henceforth…"

Min Hong liked Teng's nature, he was the only one who openly criticized Huang pi after he stabbed Jun Tao in the back whilst the rest of them were too scared to say anything…

Furthermore despite being in the presence of a Saint Stage expert he still chose to deliver his master's message, this level of loyalty and trust is something Min Hong had not seen in any other person asides from the Min Family members that died for him, Little Ming and Elder Yun…

"Yes master!"

Teng changed his manner of addressing Min Hong after he heard his statement, and about half an hour later, they got to the hideout of Jun Tao's men, and Min Hong had to say, it was a relatively safe location, because it was actually underground with a massive boulder rolled over their entrance…

Daniel also nodded at the innovative mentality that Jun Tao used when he decided to build such a secure hide out…

Jun Tao rolled away the boulder as they all descended into the pit, and initially Min Hong had been worried about how crowded the place would become, but once they entered the pit and landed on the ground, he realized that he had been worried for nothing…

This place was actually a naturally formed desert cave pathway that was about 50 feet tall and very spacious, and in fact it was like as huge as half of a normal village in modern day earth…

They have built several hanging shelters all over the place causing this place to look like an elven civilization with houses built about twenty feet off the ground, causing the entire ground to be available for other activities, like training grounds, storage and meeting areas…

The place was empty, and unlike the surface which was hot due to its desert like nature, it was relatively cool underground; it was also quiet and peaceful;

"If someone wanted to build an army to infiltrate an entire Kingdom, they could do so by entering the Kingdom in scattered groups, and rendezvousing in an underground location like this to build their manpower until they are ready for the coup!"

Daniel told Min Hong who nodded in agreement…