Tales Of Demons And Go...What Is This !

The expedition group has been traveling non-stop for a few days and finally they found the entrance to the Orchid City Ruins. As it is, the entire place looks like ruins. Buildings looked incomplete as they were destroyed, there was moss everywhere and the jungle has extended over the city perimeters.

The entire group came to a stop and some people gathered around Chen Linjian while others were close by listening into their discussion. Chen Linjian has taken out a map that he had found that is slightly more complete than other maps. However, even with the knowledge of the map they still did not know where there could be treasure and hence this discussion was over that.

Nie Lan, slightly interested wanted to go up front to take a look. She had a bothered look because she was near the back and cursed her small physique as she would need to expend a lot of effort into moving up.

As she started pushing her way many people looked at her and saw her struggling to move forward. Everyone's hearts melted at the sight of this adolescent girl trying her hardest and could not bear to trouble her.

Like a red carpet had been laid down on the floor everyone parted to make way for her to walk through. This caused her to look awkward and blush causing even more nosebleeds as her embarrassed face aroused men and women alike.

Chen Linjian's group that was discussing also paused because they sensed the movement of the crowd only to see the group parting aside. They were enraptured by the beauty that appeared in that emptiness like curtains that rose up before the show. Many of the people who were discussing were no different from the group, only Chen Linjian had a bit more disposition.

"Ahem, Miss Nie, would you care to join us in our discussion?" Chen Linjian gave a look of composure as he had a more gentlemanly disposition. This did not mean he was immune but rather his will forced him to look at the bigger picture as he was the leader.

Nie Lan nodded her head while moving forward and keeping her head down. She felt like her brain was going to melt from the embarrassment so she rushed forward only to trip over herself.

Everyone was shocked and wanted to move forward to catch her but at this moment Ye Ziyun appeared behind her and took her by the waist as she corrected Nie Lan's posture.

"Are you alright? You shouldn't rush like that" Ye Ziyun put on a worried expression thinking 'what am I going to do with her' with a sigh.

Nie Lan recomposed herself and quietly said "Thanks" and moved to the middle with Ye Ziyun.

This small interaction earned a spot in everyone's hearts as a framed picture as they swore to never forget that beautiful scene of two beauties hand in hand.

Nie Lan had a red face even as she entered the discussion and was only able to calm herself when she saw the map and started speaking.

"I think the most suspicious place would be the academy training field, stone fortress, and wide stretch of grass." Nie Lan suggested in a small voice.

Chen Linjian was surprised that she would give her opinion but he still gave her the benefit of the doubt "Oh, why would you say that?"

"Well, I believe this spot would be the nobles housing and this as the peasant housing. Both of those should already have been explored as nobles were of course supposedly rich while peasants although poor had a minor amount of places they would hide their treasures. Thus, even if they had something they should already be taken." Nie Lan explained her reasoning.

Chen Linjian and the group thought for a moment and nodded their heads, this is sound reasoning and there are no loop holes. Besides, those two really were the noble and peasant housing so it could be seen that Nie Lan had some knowledge.

Nie Lan continued, "Thus the only other big areas where treasure can possibly be hidden would be those tree, meanwhile the academy training field is the most suspicious as it is close to the city lord's manor which tells us it is significant."

Chen Linjian thought for awhile and understood these theories, and since they had no hunches to go on they should at least explore what Nie Lan said, thus they were going to head to the academy training field.

They were walking towards the center of the city where the training field was but it wasn't long till they encountered some trouble. They encountered some demon beasts along the way, and this one was a pack.

"It's blue armed apes!" someone yelled, alarming everyone. They all scrambled to get their weapons out and readied to fight. Some people chose to fight in close quarters while others were using crossbows to shoot at the apes.

However, the crossbows had little to no effect, the shots mostly missed and if it hit the arrow would barely go an inch before it stopped. This alarmed the crossbow users as they did not know how to help out.

*Swoosh* as arrow from the back line swiftly made it's way to an ape and pierced it's skin, it was stopped however there was a strangle liquid on the arrow tip.

It didn't take long for the ape to fall, paralyzed which surprised everyone but the ones in front quickly went to clean up the ape and beheaded it. This continued on for a few minutes until the apes dispersed but did not leave the area.

After the apes left, the people were finally able to see who it was that shot the arrows. It was a petite girl with a bedazzling countenance. Who else could it be but our very own Nie Lan.

Many people looked at her with admiration as they did not know how she stopped the apes. She had an aloof expression as if saying it was nothing much.

Chen Linjian now thought that this was the best idea he has had, to bring along Nie Lan. This group of blue armed apes, although it could be dealt with, would cripple their forces by a bit and cause them to have some trouble. With Nie Lan here, they had a place to search and support to kill scoring a double plus in his book.

They continued on towards the field and met a few more apes. They were able to dwindle down the numbers quite significantly but they heard a soul shocking roar.

"It's a peak silver rank spirit grade ape!" Nie Lan shouted in alarm.

"What?""Spirit grade?""Peak silver rank?" many people shouted as they were even more shocked at Nie Lan's words.

"This is bad...Everyone run back, we'll bring up the rear!" Chen Linjian commanded as he rushed forward.

Everyone ran at this command and tried to escape while Nie Lan stood there and shot a few more arrows.

"My arrows can incapacitate the beasts, you should kill the ones that are hit." Nie Lan tells the group that is holding the apes back.

They killed a few apes and the group was almost done evacuating when the spirit grade ape roared louder and it sounded closer. The group was slightly shaken as they felt a slight pressure on their soul realms not due to the difference in cultivation but rather they were shaken a bit as they thought of the existence of this beast.

Nie Lan ran forward to take on the beast and told the group "You guys leave now, I can escape from it when you are safe."

The group was reluctant as they saw the brave sacrifice that Nie Lan was putting up but she had already disappeared into the forest so all they could do was pray for her safety.

Meanwhile Nie Lan dragged the beast on for a few hundred meters by twisting around trees and using them as cover. She kept running but then noticed something from her extended spirit range which was a part of her new body as she seemed more s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e to her surroundings and found some people dressed in black cloaks. She decided to leave off the ape to them and applied a technique to blur herself on top of a smoke bomb that she set off. The ape moved through the smoke only to find more humans which it assumed were in cohorts with the earlier ones. It gave off a frenzied yell as it charged forward.

Nie Lan had already escaped so she continued on her way towards the training field.

Nie Lan was counting her good fortunes as she arrived and was shocked to see that there was a monument in an unmarked piece of land and went to see it.

The monument had words written on it, "Those who are compliant to me will become distinguished, those who go against me will definitely be destroyed."

Such arrogant words earned the disdain of Nie Lan, after all the Orchid City was located far away from any civilization she knew so she assumed that it was not a powerhouse city and to write such words would be like an ant going against a giant. She stepped away a few steps but noticed that the ground felt a bit loose.

Not even a few breaths after she had that feeling did she fall into a hole. She was surprised but she quickly took out a grappling hook and hoped it would be able to help her, unfortunately she was a little late so she missed it. Nie Lan then took out a sword and lodged it into the wall.

Luckily there was a gap on the wall so she was able to slow down her descent but the sword snapped and she was sent plummeting down to her demise... or not, she was close to the ground at this point so she fell on her b.u.t.t and it stung for a bit.

"Tsss, that hurts! I got lucky that it wasn't too deep or else I might've been a goner..." Nie Lan's plot armor was too thick to die here...