28 Chapter 27: The Ten Thousand Spirit Stone

"So, you want me to give you some of my men for a suicide mission to go to a mountain where no one dares to go because someone whispered it to you?" You Xie said skeptically in his throne.

"Yes..." Lu Ren Wei replied afraid that the Demon Lord would think that he had gone mad.

The Demon Lord then crossed his hands and said, "Fine, I will lend you some of my men, after all, you won't be so stupid to go to Yao Ling Mountain to die, even I give a more merciful death," He had finished this last sentence with a laugh.

The last words made Lu Ren Wei shiver a bit, he knew the Demon Lord, and him were cut from the same piece of cloth, but that same fact was the one that made him scared. He knew that the Demon Lord only if he succeeded would praise him. If he failed, the Demon Lord would not even doubt disposing of him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Lu Ren Wei said promising himself to survive no matter what and bringing the stone back because if not, it was better for him to die in Yao Ling Mountain.

--------------------

On the day of the expedition, Lu Ren Wei saw the men that the Demon Lord had lent to him. Long story cut short, they were what you could say as completely useless. They looked scrawny, and any beast could tear them apart with little to no effort.

"Well, I hope at least he lent me enough sacrificial food so I can search for the stone," Lu Ren Wei thought while also considering that the expedition to Yao Ling Mountain was a mistake.

Suddenly the whisper came again: "Go, my child, you shall be protected, don't you want power?"

Who was the one whispering to Lu Ren Wei? It is as if whoever was whispering to him knew what he was thinking about. The general felt confused, yet whoever was whispering to him wanted him to go to Yao Ling Mountain. The other question that Lu Ren Wei was asking himself was why the whisper called him his child. His parents were long gone. "Maybe is the spirit of some member of the Demon Clan from long ago who was also searching for the stone," the general thought.

"Gen... Ge... General Lu, ev... everyone is rea.... ready..." One of the scrawny men said.

"Great, apart from useless, the Demon Lord lent me stutterers," the general thought trying to remain calm and not fall into his urge of slaughtering the entire crowd who was standing in front of him waiting for his orders.

The general then said to the stutterer, "Gather your best eight men to follow me. The rest of them can divide into two groups who will follow us from behind. We will depart in five minutes."

"Yes, sir," the stutterer said.

The men quickly assembled and Lu Ren Wei then explained that this whole mission was confidential and what were they looking for.

"If even half word is slipped out, then you are all dead! Do you understand?" The general asked with a firm voice that resonated through the mountain.

"Yes, sir!" The men shouted back.

Suddenly one of the soldiers came out all shivering and asked, "But sir, isn't the Ten Thousand Spirit Stone a myth?"

Lu Ren Wei was way too exhausted of this, so he just grabbed his sword and slashed the soldier's throat. The soldier instantly fell to the ground with his blood bathing it.

"May this be an example. So you don't go asking dumb questions. Anyone else has more questions?" Lu Ren Wei asked with a smile.

He saw how fear covered the face of the soldiers. That is what he wanted. If he could not get a useful troop, at least he would have obedient mindless soldiers.

He was the one leading the hike toward the mountain.

"There are rumors that magical creatures live in the mountain. If you want to stay alive, then stay alert!" Lu Ren Wei barked.

Lu Ren Wei prayed that the whisper was really telling the truth, and that nothing was going to happen to him because they had only hiked a few steps and the fear of his troop could already kill them all.

After a few hours of hiking, the fog and miasma grew stronger. They were almost at the top of the mountain. Lu Ren Wei could not even see the road well.

Suddenly, the whisper came again, "Turn left. You will find a cave there. What you seek is there, but a few sacrifices shall be required..."

Lu Ren Wei then followed the whispers instructions and reached the cave. He then ordered one of the groups to go inside.

"But, sir..."

Then the soldier that stutters coughed as a sign to tell the others to follow the instructions. This made Lu Ren Wei a bit glad. The one he thought was the most useless at least knew well how to play the game to survive.

The soldiers quickly light some torches and went inside. After a few minutes, screams of agony came out of the cave, and then it was followed by complete silence.

"Go now, son, it's safe..." Lu Ren Wei heard from the whisper.

"Let's go it's safe now. The stone must be inside the cave." Lu Ren Wei barked.

The other soldiers then light more torches since the ones that were light at the beginning were extinguished by whatever attacked the soldiers that went inside.

Lu Ren Wei took one of the torches and started walking. He saw that the monster that ate the soldiers was a group of snakes that were now sleeping soundly.

At the end of the cavern, he saw the shiny stone. It was on top of a pillar of stone and it was emitting a shiny red-purple aura.

"Finally," Lu Ren Wei said as he went for the stone with a grin that went ear to ear.