Chapter 149 Wu Tianyu The Flower Picker
Wu Tianyu the Flower Picker
Unlike most places in the Southern Continent that called themselves cities, towns, or capitals, Iron Fang Base was an outlier and chose to call itself a base.
The founders of Iron Fang Base were originally a group of brothers who once were disciples of Wushen Academy. However, they weren't very talented, and after they reached the limit of their middle Yellow-grade Martial Veins, they all chose to stay together and build a force that could protect and help untalented men like them.
And that's how they decided on the term base instead of city. It wasn't the smartest idea they had ever thought of, but it also made them unique. So with the protection of Wushen Academy, a few hotblooded brothers made Iron Fang Base and welcomed citizens.
That was a few hundred years ago, and now the original small few miles diameter Iron Fang Base that only held a few hundred people now currently holds almost 100,000 people and was dozens of miles in size.
However, no matter how large they grew, they couldn't ever recruit a stronger Base Lord than the founder. So even now, the Base Lord was only in the Dharma Idol realm.
Entering the city gates, Xue Bai walked through unfettered.
There weren't many people on the Southern Continent who didn't recognize the Core Disciple robes of the Soaring Sword Sect. Especially since the Base Lord himself sent a request to the sect asking for help.
After Xue Bai accepted the request, the Base Lord was notified and promptly told the city guards not to block any Soaring Sword Sect disciples but instead guide them directly to his estate.
"Young Master Bai, you've come at such a great time!" An old, heartful voice sounded as Xue Bai entered the estate gates.
Following the shout, the doors of the mansion swung open, and out came an old gray-haired man walking with a cane and a young man who helped him over.
Unlike most old men that Xue Bai knew, though, this man couldn't keep his wrinkles hidden and his spine straight.
It was obvious he wasn't long for this world. Dharma Idol realm cultivators were indeed strong, but sadly, they didn't have very long lifespans. The limit for a Dharma Idol realm cultivator's lifespan was 250 years.
Though most cultivators couldn't last until the limit and would end up dying a few years before it. The Base Lord was no different.
From what Xue Bai knew, this old man was about 230 years old, which was more than twice the age of his father, Xue Feng.
"Base Lord, you're too polite. It's only right for a Soaring Sword Sect disciple to come and rid the world of such scum." Xue Bai politely responded with cupped fists.
While he didn't like speaking so eloquently and hated pleasantries, Xue Bai was damn good at it. So in order to get as much information about the flower picker, Xue Bai planned to get on the Base Lord's good side.
Who knows if the Base Lord was in a bad mood and withheld vital information that could cost Xue Bai his life?
Xue Bai didn't have the plot armor needed to survive calamity after calamity and needed everything available to continue living.
"Haha, good! It's youngsters like you that help this continent be so clean." The Base Lord laughed. However, as he did, it seemed like the hard laugh made an old injury flare up, and he immediately started hacking up a lung.
"Father!" The young man at the Base Lord's side hurriedly pulled out a bottle of pills and tried to feed the old man a few.
"Tuo'er, stop. I know how bad my injury is. There is no need for you to waste those pills anymore." The Base Lord pushed his son away.
Hearing the morbid words spoken by his father, the young man wanted to say something else, but after being glared at, his voice died down.
"Young Master Bai, please follow me into our humble abode. I will give you the details of the damn renegade there." The Base Lord spoke as he turned around, once again walking back into the mansion.
Xue Bai had no objections and followed the man into his home.
Though Xue Bai wasn't sure, he had a faint suspicion that the Wang Twins were near him. While Xue Bai hadn't met up with them and told him where he was going, they were his bodyguards. So they must've had some method of tracking Xue Bai even if he didn't tell them to.
Meaning even if this old man had malicious intentions, Xue Bai would be safe.
Inside, Xue Bai was led into what he assumed to be a Main Hall. He was also allowed to be set in the main seat and was promptly served a cup of tea by a maid who stood on standby.
However, he didn't take a sip and instead placed it on the armrest.
"Base Lord, there can be a time for celebration after," Xue Bai didn't like tea much, "For now, I would like to find this scum and complete the mission."
"I see Young Master Bai is a righteous man. Alright, this old man won't waste any more of your valuable time." The Base Lord nodded and started to give Xue Bai a background on the flower picker.
The renegade in question was a man named Wu Tianyu. He was once a soldier in the Iron Fang Base's guard unit.
But one day, during a routine scouting mission, all of Wu Tianyu's unit was killed, with only him surviving.
After that, Wu TIanyu went missing for almost 2 months before once again returning to the Base looking a completely different man.
He left a normal middle-aged man with a Low Yellow-grade Martial Vein who had reached his innate limit of the Muscle Nourishing realm. Yet returned a young 25-year-old man with a cultivation base of the Bone Strengthening realm 8th stage.
If it weren't for the fact that Wu TIanyu knew everything about himself and that his current appearance looked like him in his youth, no one would've even connected the two completely different people.
At first, everyone thought the man had a fortuitous encounter during his disappearance and ignored it after a few days of gossip, but like his appearance, his personality changed completely.
Every night of Wu Tianyu was spent in a brothel ordering dozens of girls at once. He was a total pleasure seeker drowinng in debauchery every second of the day.
And while it did disgust his former acquaintances, no one cared much. It was his life, and he wasn't breaking the law, so why should they care?
Until the brothels weren't enough.
One day Wu Tianyu was caught trying to sneak into the mansion of a wealthy merchant near the courtyard of his daughter. And after an intense brawl between the merchant and Wu Tianyu, eventually, the right arm of Wu Tianyu was severed and forced the man to retreat and escape town.
The fight was mind-blowing, to say the least, since the merchant was in the early stages of the Organ Tempering realm, while Wu Tianyu was supposed to be in the later stages of the Bone Strengthening realm.
Yet that wasn't the most surprising outcome of the fight. After they confiscated the severerd arm they looked inside the spatial ring that was on his finder and, they found the mummified corpses of many different young men and women who were sexually assaulted and then wrung dry of their blood.
Instantly everyone knew that Wu Tianyu's 'fortuitous encounter' wasn't a righteous one, and a bounty was promptly ordered.
"But Base Lord, this Wu Tianyu's cultivation is only in the early stages of the Organ Tempering at most. So why don't you or one of your capable subordinates find him yourself? Why go through the trouble of sending a request to my Soaring Sword Sect?" Xue Bai asked once he was given all of the information.
The estimation of Wu Tianyu's strength was accurate since, if he had a higher cultivation base, he would've not only been able to kill the merchant but also kept his right arm attached.
And while the Base Lord was old and had a foot in the grave, he was still at the peak of the Dharma Idol realm. He also had a few capable subordinates who were in the Qi Sea realm as well.
So why couldn't they find and kill this Wu Tianyu themselves?
"Young Master, surely you know of how dangerous the waters of the Southern Continent are, right?" The Base Lord wryly answered, "While we have Wushen Academy as a backer, the other cities around us have backers too. So if I or someone else of equal strength leaves, that is almost begging for the wolves around us to come and take a bite."
Xue Bai wasn't fully convinced of the answer, but since the Base Lord didn't seem to want to delve deeper into the topic, he nodded simply.
"Base Lord since we can assume that Wu Tianyu's fortuitous encounter is something that needs the Yin Essence of females, he will continue going after young women even after he was forced to run. So are there any villages near and around the Iron Fang Base?" Xue Bai asked.
"There are four, and I have already marked them on this map." The Base Lord then pulled out a scroll from his sleeve and handed it to Xue Bai.
"Then, Base Lord, I will be off. Leaving that scum alive any longer would only cause more harm to the world." Xue Bai cupped his fists once more and left.
The old man didn't have much information about the flower picker's whereabouts so staying any longer served no meaning.
Since he already had a detailed map of the surroundings of Iron Fang Base, Xue Bai found his horse and left.
Of the four villages near Iron Fang Base, Xue Bai first went to the furthest one away.
While he thought of the chance that Wu Tianyu would choose to hide in the most dangerous spot, he still chose to check the furthest one first.
Wu Tianyu right now was an injured man at the ends of his ropes. So most likely, he wouldn't be able to think calmly and would choose the safest option in order to live longer.
The village, thankfully, wasn't far from the Iron Fang Base, and after traveling a few hundred miles, Xue Bai eventually reached the village in about 2 hours.
However, once the village came into his line of sight, Xue Bai's expression darkened, and he cursed.
"Fuck!"