Chapter 135: Watching the Tigers Fight from the Safety of the Mountain

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Everyone now understood the situation. All that remained was to see what Rat decided.

Rat himself was somewhat torn. He did not want to gamble with everyone’s lives, yet he also felt that this was a rare opportunity. It would be a terrible shame to give it up without even trying.

Then his eyes suddenly lit up. By now, he had come to regard Lin Xiao as the team’s lucky star.

Whenever he could not make up his mind, he instinctively turned to Boar for advice.

“Boar, what do you think?”

Lin Xiao’s eyelids twitched violently twice. Why had this been dragged into his business again?

You’re the leader of the team, all right?

Still, since they had asked for his opinion, he shared his thoughts.

“I’m only offering my personal view. This is definitely a situation where danger and opportunity coexist. If we simply leave now, I’m sure everyone will feel reluctant. My suggestion is that we sit back and watch the tigers fight. We’re hidden at the moment, so neither the spirit beasts nor the Blazing Flame Mercenary Group should have noticed us. We can watch from the sidelines—if we can’t win, we run; if there’s an advantage to be gained, we take it!”

Rat found himself liking Lin Xiao more and more. He had reached the same conclusion himself.

But Rat had come from the military, so he naturally considered many matters more carefully.

Although the Blazing Flame Mercenary Group had a terrible reputation, there was no concrete evidence against them. From his perspective, snatching the spoils of victory from them felt somewhat dishonorable.

Lin Xiao was different. He was carefree by nature, doing whatever he pleased.

That was probably exactly what the Wolf Warriors Mercenary Corps lacked.

“All right. We’ll do as you suggested!”

Lin Xiao had noticed that as well. When he proposed the idea, he had seen traces of hesitation on the faces of the Wolf Warriors members.

If Rat had not agreed, someone might well have spoken up in opposition.

“I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t winning by unfair means; it’s fair competition. That’s the way mercenaries survive. Don’t talk about confronting them head-on or how disgraceful an ambush would be. Put yourselves in their place. If we were the ones lying in wait and the Blazing Flame Mercenary Group discovered us, do you really think they wouldn’t attack? I know some of you might say that we’re different from them, but that’s complete nonsense!”

While chatting with the members of the Wolf Warriors Mercenary Corps, Lin Xiao had learned about the Blazing Flame Mercenary Group’s reputation.

All he could say was that they were infamous. Why should anyone show courtesy to a mercenary group like that?

This was also one of the reasons he had never wanted to join the military. Those people were far too rigid.

The members of the Wolf Warriors Mercenary Corps had not expected Lin Xiao to lecture them.

Moreover, they could find no grounds to refute him. Every one of them flushed with embarrassment.

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Thinking carefully about what Lin Xiao had said, they found themselves unable to deny that it made perfect sense.

Truly, one was influenced by the company one kept. After spending so much time with Lin Xiao, they had already been infected by his way of thinking.

Rat watched everything with a beaming smile. At that moment, he became even more certain of his decision.

No matter what it took, he had to bring Lin Xiao into their team.

At any cost!

Rat was just about to deliver a concluding speech when another roar rang out. Everyone instinctively turned their eyes toward the battlefield.

Lin Xiao naturally did the same. At first, he thought the Sky-Rending Stone Beast was once again trying to intimidate the spirit beasts, but this time he was wrong.

At the command of the Sky-Rending Stone Beast chieftain, all the stone beasts charged at the spirit beasts.

The spirit beasts were no pushovers, of course. They would never simply stand there and take the beating. One after another, they began to fight back.

Lin Xiao could not possibly miss such an exciting battle. He immediately activated his spirit art so that he could see the battlefield more clearly.

Rat took out a telescope and began observing as well. The others’ eyesight was not good enough to see the battle clearly; they could only make out the vague figures of the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts. This left them practically frantic with impatience.

“Boss, have you looked enough? Let me see! You don’t get to witness a scene like this every day!”

“Get lost. I’ve only just started watching!”

…

Lin Xiao could see the battle clearly. For some time, he had been wondering about something: there were only ten Sky-Rending Stone Beasts, including their chieftain, while there were nearly a hundred spirit beasts on the other side.

With such a disparity in numbers, why had the spirit beasts held back from attacking?

Once the battle began, he understood.

The combat strength of the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts was truly terrifying.

The chieftain did not rush into the fight. Its followers were all fifth-level spirit beasts.

Faced with enemies several times their number, they showed no sign of panic. They simply charged straight into the ranks of the spirit beasts.

The creatures surrounding them came in many varieties, some suited for ranged attacks and others for close combat. Among them were even five sixth-level spirit beasts.

When they saw the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts charging forward, they began directing their own subordinates to meet the attack.

The close-combat beasts pounced forward. Some slashed with their claws, while others tore with their teeth. Their attacks rained down on the bodies of the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts.

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The results, however, were far from satisfactory. Their attacks seemed no more effective than scratching an itch. They could hardly inflict any meaningful damage.

That was the most troublesome aspect of the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts: their defenses were absurdly powerful.

Naturally, the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts had no intention of standing still while the others attacked them. They immediately counterattacked, and despite their enormous bodies, they moved without the slightest clumsiness.

With a sweep of a massive hand, they seized any spirit beast that came too close.

Then they tore the creatures in half. Blood sprayed through the air, and the scene quickly became horrifyingly savage.

Stimulated by the sight of blood, the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts grew even more ferocious. Their attacks became fiercer, and for a time they drove back enemies several times their number.

Since the spirit-beast army had dared to attack, it naturally had not come without preparation. When the close-combat beasts began to retreat, the spirit beasts that had been gathering their spirit arts launched their attacks as well.

Dozens of spirit arts struck the bodies of the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts, producing immediate results.

One fifth-level Sky-Rending Stone Beast was killed on the spot, its enormous body crumbling directly into stone dust.

Lin Xiao observed everything carefully. It seemed that the Sky-Rending Stone Beasts had exceptionally high physical resistance, but relatively low magical resistance.

Judging from the battle so far, it was genuinely impossible to say who would emerge victorious.

The stone-beast chieftain finally entered the fray. Once it plunged into the ranks of the spirit beasts, it moved as though it had entered an empty realm. No spirit beast that approached it could withstand even a single exchange.

The other sixth-level spirit beasts did not confront the stone-beast chieftain. Instead, they all kept their distance.

There was nothing the chieftain could do about that.

At that moment, the stone-beast chieftain let out another furious roar and abruptly withdrew from the battle.

The other stone beasts did not follow. One after another, they fought as though they had gone mad, blocking the attacks of the spirit beasts.

The chieftain cast a resentful glance at the spirit beasts, but it did not continue attacking. Instead, it curled its entire body against the ground and became motionless.

Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes.

The moment the stone beast had made its move, he had realized that the chieftain was probably no longer able to suppress its cultivation.

If his guess was correct, it was about to break through.

Could this become the turning point of the battle?

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