The Second Route

The elderly manager of the farm spoke in a firm voice: “Lord Gibson, the Professor has not yet arrived! Please head up to the mountain peak, and only *you yourself!”

“Are you saying that I might have brought some helpers?” Gibson’s smile immediately exuded contempt, “For such a trifling Professor, I alone am enough to kill him. Why would I need any helper?! I, Gibson, conduct no questionable business in secret! If anyone here doubts me, then examine me as much as you’d like!”

“Lord, you overthink my words. I would not dare to suspect you, Lord! Please ascend the mountain!”

The manager laughed in embarrassment, but he still inspected Gibson diligently. Seeing that Gibson had only conjured some ‘wind’ to condense a cloud and that he only stepped on it to ascend to the mountain peak, the manager did not find anything suspicious throughout his entire inspection. As such, the manager’s heart eased up.

As for the crowd who was displeased with the fact that West Farms had sealed off the mountain, when they saw Gibson ascending the mountain, a person whose rims were already red began howling: “Lord Gibson, kill the Professor, kill the Professor!”

Gibson only responded with a fully smiling expression, and then his body abruptly sped up. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared in the boundless cover of the night, “For this battle, the Wind is destined to win!”

“Hmph, how artificial!”

Victor retracted his gaze from Gibson’s figure and snorted in disdain, “Talik, Gibson has already gone up. How about us? Are we going to barge through or loop around some other way?”

“As a court official of the empire, how can I barge into the matters regarding a family’s estate? It’s still better that we find another route.” After he said this, Talik’s eyes gazed distantly towards Mount Longinus.

However….

Mount Longinus was abnormally steep. Precipitous cliffs and sheer rock faces covered the entire mountain face, and besides going through this small town, Talik truly could not find any other route of entry.

Furthermore, Talik’s faith totem was steel, and he could not ride the wind or step on it like Gibson to fly up to the mountain peak.

Talik’s eyes were a bit troubled, “If there truly is no other way…. We’ll just enter by force!”

“Calm down, gentlemen. There’s no need to barge through. Please keep in mind that you have me as a guide!”

Jiang Nan suddenly stepped out with a dazzling smile.

For a time, three pairs of eyes fixed onto Jiang Nan’s figure, then Eddy let out some hearty laughter: “My, I nearly forgot! You are a member of West Farms! Young chap, do you know of any other way to ascend the mountain?”

“Of course I know. From here, walk westward until you see an overhanging cliff, then turn left. By doing so, you’ll be able to reach the mountain peak, but….” Jiang Nan’s face grew a bit unsightly as he pointed towards the soldiers who were maintaining a strict and heavy guard, “Looking at the situation, Miss Weylin has most definitely sent people to guard that path as well. You three won’t be able to go up. At most, you can just try.”

Their three faces all grew downcast.

However, Jiang Nan soon followed up with yet another option: “If you discover that you cannot go through that small path after testing it out…. Alright, you can still follow along that overhanging cliff and walk westward. Around five kilometers out, there will be several valleys. Of those valleys, the second can lead you to the mountain peak. However, please keep in mind that the topography of the area will make it very easy for you to get lost.”

Eddy responded with a laugh: “With you to guide us, why would we need to be afraid of getting lost?”

“Gentlemen, I regret to inform you that I must walk my own path now, because….” Jiang Nan pointed towards the farm’s banner in the distance, “I am a member of West Farms, so I can directly go in. It isn’t necessary for me to take the route with you, right?”

The three of them went blank.

However, by the time they came to their senses, Jiang Nan had already walked afar off with a final warning: “Remember! If you cannot go through the first route I tell you, you three can try the second route. However, you absolutely must keep in mind that it is very easy to get lost by going that way!”

The three of them exchanged glances, then Talik took the initiative to speak: “Let’s go. According to Rodi, we’ll go check out the first route first. If we can’t use it, we’ll just use the second route!”

Hearing his words, Jiang Nan chuckled.

Of the two routes he just mentioned, the first was a genuine path. However, Weylin would have definitely sealed that route off, so Talik and the others would not be able to get through.

As for the second path….

Don’t forget, Jiang Nan had come to mislead…. Oh, no, he had come to help these three people make the most accurate decision! In truth, there was no second route. If the three of them really followed according to Jiang Nan’s explanation, they could only get lost in the dense forest deep within the mountains for several hours. Perhaps they would even encounter some excessively thirsty female savages!

Jiang Nan could already imagine the following scene: the three of them would arrive at the first path and see that it was impassable. They would then hastily take the second route only to tragically discover that they were lost….

And by that time, the match would have already started long ago, and they would no longer have a chance to ruin the carefully arranged ‘sealing off’ that Jiang Nan set up!

Furthermore, if the three of them later came to find Jiang Nan to settle their grievances, accusing him of directing them to the wrong path, Jiang Nan could easily stare them straight back in the eye, “Aiyah, you all were too careless. Did I not say? It is very easy to get lost there….”

“……”

These were the thoughts that ran through Jiang Nan’s mind, but it was a pity that the true reality of the situation was a bit different from Jiang Nan’s imagination.

When Eddy and the other two came to the first route where the overhanging cliff Jiang Nan spoke of was located, as expected, Weylin had personally brought fifty mercenaries to personally guard the entrance!

However, there were two additional people who were currently trying to enter this way. One of them was Sauron, and he was currently in the middle of laughing brightly and saying, “Miss Weylin, what is the meaning of blocking me? Tomorrow, Mount Longinus will belong to our Suzanne Farms. Is it not permissible for me to inspect Mount Longinus one day in advance?”

The other person was an elder dressed in black whose entire figure was enveloped within a faint radiance.

This person was a surveyor of the ‘Totem Advancement Association’. In today’s match, there was a possibility of a change occurring within the Totem Ranking, so he requested to observe the match between the Professor and Gibson.

However, no matter what kind of identity they had, Weylin glared at them with round eyes and roared: “You damned lowlives! Beat it! Hurry up and beat it! Tonight’s match will be completely sealed off, so if you don’t beat it…. Brothers, seize these guys!”

Shua!

The fifty mercenaries behind Weylin all drew their weapons!

“Ai, Miss Weylin, your temper….” The black-garbed elderly surveyor of the Totem Advancement Association shook his head helplessly. He was a neutral power who did not need to have a fall out with Weylin, so he spoke in a defeated tone: “Miss Weylin, since you do not permit me to go up, then…. Is it okay if I stay here and observe the changes that occur on the mountain peak from this distance?”

Weylin looked at the mountain peak. There was at least a 500 or 600 meter difference in altitude between the overhanging cliff adjacent to them and the mountain peak, so the surveyor probably would not be able to influence the course of the match, “Alright, just sit here. However, you must always remain in this woman’s line of vision! If there’s no sight of you for just one second…. This woman will go and destroy the Totem Arena stadium!”

After she said this, Weylin glowered at Sauron, “Sauron, why isn’t a lowlife like you leaving? Do you really want to force me to fight?”

“Tsk tsk. Since Miss Weylin is speaking as such, all right, I’ll just come tomorrow then….”

Sauron watched Weylin as he retreated. The neutral surveyor was here and there was a great force of men at Weylin’s side. For a time, he truly did not dare to just break through!

However, right as he left Weylin’s line of sight, Sauron suddenly swivelled around and came to a precipitous cliff. He then took a look at the mountain peak within the clouds and lightly shouted: “Carnivorous Flower Array, Flower Battle Armor, materialize!”

Suddenly!

Buds and buds of bright flowers bloomed at Sauron’s side, and Sauron’s body had already turned into a winding vine of flowers that crept up the steep cliffside towards the mountain peak!

Sauron’s faith totem was a Carnivorous Flower, so he could not fly either. However, within the species of Carnivorous Flowers was a type of climbing vine, wasn’t there?!

Hence, Sauron turned into a climbing vine and slowly inched his way closer to the mountain peak. However, his speed was much too inferior to the speed he could achieve by taking the main path, so he would probably need to take a long time before he could rush to the actual site of the match.

From a distance away, Talik’s group of three caught sight of Sauron, causing them to share bitter laughs.

Talik spoke dejectedly: “Hmph, so Sauron can actually pull off such a sneaky and crafty method so quickly! We don’t have the ability to climb the mountain like he does, but no matter. We’ll just follow according to Rodi’s instructions and take the second route!”

Turning around, Talik’s eyes gazed determinedly in the direction of the ‘second route’. That place was a location where one would not be able to see their own five fingers in front of them. Occasionally, one could hear the shrieks of one or two savage women from within the dense and boundless forest….