Shennong Dao Master
Chapter 413 - 36: Fate Cannot Be Changed? Strange Encounters in Flame Mountain! (10,000 Words Da Zhang)_4

Chapter 413: Chapter 36: Fate Cannot Be Changed? Strange Encounters in Flame Mountain! (10,000 Words Da Zhang)_4

"Meow!" Aotian Cat suddenly let out a fierce roar.

Zhao Xing looked down and saw that it had taken advantage of Long Xiao’s military boots moving away from the gap, and couldn’t help but lick the flame with its tongue.

"This unlucky kid." Zhao Xing pushed the Mountain Cat away, "Why do you want to taste everything?"

After a while, a figure leaped over from a distance and appeared in front of Zhao Xing. It was Long Xiao: "How’s the rear team? No issues, right?"

Zhao Xing shook his head: "No discoveries, even if there are Mountain Patrol Envoys, they shouldn’t have found us this quickly. We just entered the mountain."

Long Xiao said, "We’d better be cautious. In this place, other soldiers won’t be able to fight easily. Only Seventh-rank Commander Level can."

"The military flag battle formation can’t be deployed here either."

"If we run into a Mountain Patrol Envoy, it will be troublesome."

Zhao Xing said, "Generally, there’s only one Sixth-Rank Mountain Patrol Envoy within a hundred kilometers. I’ve always had good luck."

Long Xiao nodded: "This damn place is too hot. At full strength, I can only last for fifteen minutes at most."

Zhao Xing said, "It’s not just the heat. The fire veins of the Flame Mountain are already at nearly the same level as Master Li Fire’s Dao."

"Historically, there was a First-rank Minister of Agriculture who tried to extinguish the Flame Mountain but ultimately failed."

"Is it that terrifying?" Long Xiao exclaimed.

"But the place is large enough to spread out the power. Plus, we are wearing robes made from Earth Fire Lotus, which itself is part of the Flame Mountain. This kind of Fifth Rank rare item is born in the Flame Mountain and has unique bonus effects."

"Alright, enough chatting. Save your strength. If we get thirsty here, we won’t find any water." Zhao Xing said.

The three-thousand-man army moved slowly through the Flame Mountain. Qicun Valley stretches fifty kilometers in length, and after an hour of marching, they had only covered one-tenth.

"Ah!" Suddenly, an Eighth Grade Martial Artist let out a miserable scream, causing Zhao Xing to stop in his tracks.

"What’s going on?"

"Someone got burned."

"Where’s the military doctor?!" Zhao Xing shouted, "Come take a look."

"Can’t save him." A Sixth-Rank Military Doctor ran over, took one look, and announced the Eighth Grade Martial Artist’s doom, "The fire poison attacked his heart in an instant."

"What happened?" Zhao Xing looked at the comrades beside the man.

"He was climbing when he accidentally touched a tiny flame, which got into his mouth."

Zhao Xing sighed. This was purely a matter of luck.

The vestment robe made from Earth Fire Lotus barely protected them, only meeting the threshold for passage.

The Earth Fire eruption sometimes suddenly increased in power. If it directly hit a fragile part of the vestment robe, it still wouldn’t be enough.

Zhao Xing wore a Fifth Order Supreme vestment robe made of Earth Fire Lotus, but this Eighth Grade Martial Artist wore only a Fifth Order lower-grade robe. There was no way he and Dong He could have managed to get enough materials for everyone to have top-tier robes.

It was destined that only high-ranking officers could wear better vestment robes.

"You won’t survive this. I’ll send you on your way now to spare you from more pain." The military doctor squatted down, pulled out a needle, and looked at the martial artist.

The latter couldn’t speak anymore and just nodded.

"Ssss~"

The needle pierced the injured man’s neck, ending his life in an instant.

The military doctor stood up: "Commander Zhao, tell the brothers to be more careful."

Zhao Xing nodded silently.

The camp continued to trudge forward another ten kilometers in stifling silence.

Despite extreme caution, there were still casualties during this journey.

The three-thousand-man army, divided into small squads, encountered varying degrees of incidents as they traversed.

By the halfway point, thirty-five people had already died.

Among them was even a Seventh-Grade Martial Artist.

Once injured in the Flame Mountain, it was nearly certain to mean death.

There was simply no way to save them. Removing the vestment robe meant death.

By the halfway point, Zhao Xing’s rear team, which he led, had only lost one person out of five hundred.

But the other commanders had each lost several men.

Suddenly—

Another accident occurred.

Zhao Xing rushed over to see Chen Shijie standing in front of a crack, his face ashen, his fist clenched.

"What’s happening?"

"The vanguard stepped on a fragile spot and caused a collapse. A whole team of ten was engulfed by heavy fire veins." Long Xiao said quietly, "This is the twenty-first person Old Chen has lost."

Zhao Xing frowned. Was Old Chen’s luck really that bad?

"Has he always been this unlucky?"

Long Xiao thought for a moment, then nodded: "I’ve had two life-and-death crises ten years ago, both with Old Chen. But he has been injected with Qi Fortune three times by now, it shouldn’t be like this."

A sudden realization struck Zhao Xing.

Life Fate and Qi Fortune were separate. If Old Chen had a turbulent fate, the Qi Fortune gained from rising from Secondary Ninth Rank to Seventh Rank wouldn’t change much.

Moreover, he now bore the command of three thousand people. His Sixth-Rank Camp General position was temporary, not an officially conferred Sixth-Rank title.

If Chen Shijie was naturally weak in Life Fate and Qi Fortune, he couldn’t bear the fate of three thousand people. This would burden him even more!

Typically, those commanding hundreds of thousands of soldiers were people with strong Qi Fortune blessings.

When placed in dangerous terrain, one’s fortune waned.

Zhao Xing, having triple layered Qi Fortune, would still suffer if he went to the Golden Feather Royal Court. Placing himself in such danger would shake his Qi Fortune, temporarily lowering it to a single layer.

Now they were in the Flame Mountain. For Chen Shijie, it was likely that his fortune had already reached a dangerously low level.