Zong Ge could see everything happening in the stimulating battle.
The blue dog fox wolf’s right back leg was wounded, it was lying on its stomach and howling.
After receiving their orders, the monkey tail brown bears with unexpected coordination, surrounded Zhen Jin with an impenetrable encirclement.
Zhen Jin brandished Silver lightning, although it was very sharp, with each thrust causing bleeding and pain that could force the monkey tail brown bears back, it became visible that he did not have good enough armor, this made his attacks strong and his defense weak, thus he could not break out of the encirclement.
“Zhen Jin isn’t stupid enough to try a frontal assault.”
“The blue dog fox wolf must have used itself as bait to lure him in.”
“Zhen Jin did not believe these monkey tail brown bears would have such coordination. No, even if it was me, I would not have believed this blue dog fox wolf commanding could reach such a level.
At that moment, Zong Ge sunk into hesitation.
Zhen Jin……templar knight……the Bai Zhen Clan’s sole heir……
And him, a half beastman, although he had an even better family background, he could not speak of it.
During the camp battle, Zhen Jin’s influence certainly rose again. Zong Ge originally thought that was a chance for him to display his formidable battle strength. However in the end, he was constantly covered up by Zhen Jin’s radiance, so much so that the youngster covered up that development.
“This youngster is indeed outstanding!”
If he was being honest, Zong Ge envied Zhen Jin.
If he swapped identities with Zhen Jin, he would have done very well.
Everything he longed for could be rationally achieved.
And now, after squandering so many years and entering middle age, he still had achieved nothing. Only by leaving to the Wilderness Continent, could he try his luck.
And Zhen Jin?
He was to compete in the White Sands City Lord competition. If he succeeded, his career starting point would far outstrip Zong Ge’s accomplishments. Maybe, if Zong Ge worked for ten years, he could become a City Lord.
Jealousy?
Zong Ge recognized he had some.
He often asked himself——
“Why are there such massive differences between people?”
“Why are some born into riches, while some are born in the dirt?”
“Why can bloodlines, status, and race prejudice make even the best of efforts seem insignificant and weak?
“Why after striving for so many years, did he have no choice but to keep company with mercenaries, why was he still struggling in the lowest rungs of society?”
And Zhen Jin?
He did not need to ponder over these questions.
He never had Zong Ge’s perplexions.
He had his fiancé, Zi Di, the president of the Wisteria Merchant Alliance.
He had the Bai Zhen Clan’s support.
He had Cang Xu, Mu Ban, and others at his side. The talented people Zong Ge longed for, cheerfully attached themselves to that youngster.
He was a human, a pure blooded human, a noble, and a templar knight.
He was a natural leader, and through his noble light, almost all men would feel inferior to him, kneel to the ground, and follow Zhen Jin. For most, it was their greatest honor!
It was too much.
Zhen Jin had too many things, if Zong Ge desired them, he would need to invest ten-fold the effort.
There were even some things, even if Zong Ge used all of his strength, he would never be able to obtain.
In Zhen Jin, Zong Ge saw his childhood, he saw his childhood castle, and he saw his half-siblings. Those people had groups of servants, amicable house keepers, and devoted guards.
Zong Ge detested them!
In his childhood, he cursed his siblings.
“Why do you have such things?”
“With you around, father will look at you first, then me.”
“He will always inquire of you first, then me.”
“It is because of you, that I am here.”
During his childhood, Zong Ge would curl up in his bed.
He had to curl up in his bed, because he grew up quickly and made his plank bed seem small. If he stretched out, his feet would hang off the bed’s edge.
His bedsheets were worn out and his meager layer of hemp garments were stained.
With no way of acquiring more, he only had this set of clothes.
He had to wait for a sunny day to wash them, otherwise if they did not dry, he could only wait in his small room all day long without going out. Of course, he could not eat during this time.
Whenever Zong Ge did laundry, he would curl up in his bed and flood his mind with dark notions. He would curse his siblings and wish they would all drop dead.
Death.
A crazy horse made one fall off and die.
Due to mistakes during a sword competition, two of them stabbed each other dead.
One died when they slipped and fell off the castle during rainy weather.
Death……
Death.
Death!
“Death made me my father’s only son.”
“Death can make me the strongest person in the exploration team, no man would be more suited as the leader than I. It would make it more likely to turn these people into my team!”
“I don’t need to do anything.”
“I don’t need to be burdened, I don’t need to be a murderer, I only need to do nothing, that is enough.”
“After you die fighting, I will kill the magic beasts around you. I will gather your corpse and return, I will be sorrowful, I will cry tears, and I will become the team’s sole leader.”
“Perhaps this is a fate given opportunity!”
“How many years have I been longing for such an opportunity?”
“Relax a little, I don’t even need to do anything! I only need to watch; I only need to wait for things to happen……”
As the child Zong Ge turned in his dismal train of thought and curled up in his bed, his eyes did not look at god, but at the wooden door.
Bang!
The wooden door was suddenly pushed open.
The harsh sunlight stabbed into the room like countless swords.
The darkness screeched and frantically cowered until it was reduced to bits in the corners.
A familiar shadow appeared in front of the young Zong Ge.
Because of the sunlight behind them, his complexion was fuzzy, however his boorish voice had long been etched into Zong Ge’s heart: “Stand up smelly youngster, you are leaving this small and dark place. You will study swords with me!”
“Teach, teach me……” The young Zong Ge was stupefied.
His imagination loudly finished.
Zong Ge still found himself on the hillside, he was charging out of the undergrowth with a foot still in the air, he wanted to be a savior.
His imagination was long, however only one second passed in reality.
“Hmph, Zong Ge!”
Zong Ge’s heart coldly snorted at him.
He seemed at a loss as his complex mood was suddenly cleaned out.
He clutched the shaft of his bone hammer and pridefully lifted his head.
Each step he took, left a deep footprint in the ground.
“Ah——!” He bellowed to the sky.
He took another step forward.
He began to run.
Under the illumination of the sunlight, his long hair fluttered in the breeze. His thick body hair and resonant voice were physical signs of his half beastman nature, making it seem like a pouncing lion was running down the hill.
His constant bellows made it look like his chest was opening, allowing the external sunlight and majestic courage to imbue his heart.
His strides began to grow bigger.
As he charged, his speed increased more and more.
With the wind whistling in his ears, the distance between him and Zhen Jin was rapidly closing.
The wind seemed to change into a loud instructing voice: “Correct, do that, do that. Charge, charge. I am a soldier, and you are also one too. Charge, support your comrade in arms!”
“Persevere templar knight!” Zong Ge roared, although he did not hurry to Zhen Jin’s side, he still wanted to first give Zhen Jin his courage and hope through his roar, “Your reinforcement has come!!”
His loud voice echoed through the woods, even the ground seemed to tremble.
“Bark bark bark!” When the blue dog fox wolf discovered Zong Ge, it turned around and barked a few times.
The next moment, the entire ground seemed to rock, earth splattered all over, and an enormous monster opened its bloody mouth wide and pounced at Zong Ge.
It was the gigantic worm that had run off.
As the ground caved in, Zong Ge immediately fell into the hole, the only thing he could do was raise his bone hammer to protect himself.
Although the gigantic worm’s mouth was big, it could only swallow less than half of the bone hammer.
The creaking noise produced was ear piercing. The gigantic worm’s sawteeth was frantically grinding the bone hammer.
With one hand on the bone hammer, Zong Ge punched and kicked the gigantic worm with all his strength.
The gigantic worm’s fat body absorbed Zong Ge’s attacks, greatly reducing his striking power. Zong Ge’s punching and kicking did not hurt the gigantic worm.
After a few breaths of deadlock, the gigantic worm suddenly raised his head and spat out the bone hammer.
Many of its teeth were grinded flat, while the gigantic bone white hammer had many teeth marks and bone shavings rubbed off of it.
“What are you waiting for? The army has lighting speed, quickly, quickly quickly! The instructing voice seemed to say.
Zong Ge coldly snorted and jumped into the hole.
Next, he swung his bone hammer and knocked down the gigantic worm. Then he stepped on its body and used it to jump out of the pit.
“I am coming!” Zong Ge bellowed again.
However after running ten breaths, the ground opened again, and the gigantic worm threw itself at him again.
“Another one?!” Zong Ge turned pale.
Changing directions in a flash, he had doubts: “If there were two of them, why did it not use both to attack the camp?”
Further observations eliminated his doubts: “No, there is only one. As it turns out, this gigantic worm has a big mouth on its head and tail!”
The gigantic worm used one end to attack and the other to dig away, it made fleeing easy.
However under the control of the blue dog fox wolf, it fought with all of its strength.
Thus, when peril appears, it did not dig away at once.
But at the same time, both ends attacking made Zong Ge sink into a predicament, he could not advance.
It was already difficult for Zong to deal with one end, two of them attacking suppressed the half beastman.
On the other side, Zhen Jin was surrounded by perils.
“No!” Zong Ge bellowed, “Persevere!”
He wanted to come over.
“Wretched worm!” At that moment, the half beastman had no choice but to dodge.
“You have to take a chance; a man must take chances! All battlefields have risks, don’t fear, if you face fear, you will live and win!” The instructing voice echoed again in his heart.
Zong Ge shouted, suddenly stretched out his left arm, and allowed the gigantic worm to bite him.
The gigantic worm had a huge body, however after biting Zong Ge’s left arm, its mouth pulled back and its body shrunk to half its size. But Zong Ge tenaciously trapped it and did not let it escape.
At the same time, the other end threw itself at Zong Ge’s back.
In this moment of calamity, Zong Ge waved the bone hammer and ruthlessly slammed the gigantic worm’s head.
In order for the gigantic worm to bite Zong Ge, its body shrunk and became solid, it no longer had any defense against blunt attacks.
As the gigantic bone hammer beat it, the gigantic worm twitched about, its struggling body warping and twisting on the ground.
Zong Ge occasionally flung it to the ground and occasionally lifted it into the air.
Even if heaven and earth turned over, Zong Ge would only focus on his target as he hammered the gigantic worm’s head.
Under the ruthless pounding, the rigid enormous worm died on the spot!
Upon dying the gigantic worm’s red mouth let go, allowing Zong Ge to free his arm. His left arm was badly mangled, the steel gauntlet had been sawed through and his skin had long ago been mutilated, there was even some bone visible. The remaining steel armor embedded itself into his skin and flesh, it was a terrible injury.
The acute pain made Zong Ge profusely sweat, some of it going into Zong Ge’s eyes, making his field of view fuzzy.
“Don’t give up, don’t give up! Stand up, don’t lie down. Do you want to be trampled on and die? Are you still not a soldier? Stand up, even if you die, you will die standing!” The instructing voice seemed to repeat in Zong Ge’s ears.
“Shut up for me! Loathsome father.” Zong Ge retorted.
He dragged his unresponsive left arm and his bone white hammer and charged towards Zhen Jin.
This time, no barrier could stop him.
Notes
Hooray the dumb worm is finally dead. I can’t wait for Cang Xu to dissect and give it a long and silly name I have to repeat for future appearances. Imagine pampering your children so much they manage to kill themselves out of stupidity and recklessness, actually I don’t know that, but it’s still hilarious Zong Ge is technically the heir to his family. A family, mind you, is hinted to be greater than even the Bai Zhen Clan, since of course, that poor clan lost a ton during the unification war that occurred.