Seven modified SUVs exited Shenwei Military Academy. They moved forward at a high speed and soon exited the city gates.
Twenty over days later, it was the 15th of October, year 2115. Under the leadership of Feng Da, a group of 25 Warriors assembled with Zhou Dadao's group.
In those twenty-odd days, Zhou Dadao led his group of 14 Warriors to tail Yang Tian. They could sometimes find some traces he left behind, like dead Monsters or bonfire ashes.
As they got deeper into the Danger Zone, even Zhou Dadao had to stop his pursuit because there were more and more high-graded Monsters toward the heart of the zone—it even resulted in a few casualties because of that. He dared not continue pursuing, so he turned around with the group.
As for Xiao Fei's group, they immediately took their return route after alerting Yang Tian and were most probably almost out of the forest, returning to Tianxiong City.
In Feng Da's group of 25, there were four Class Five Warriors, ten Class Three's, and the rest were Class Two's.
Except for Zhou Dadao who stayed back as navigator, the rest of his team could finally take a break and go home since the rest of the journey did not concern them anymore.
"Brother Feng, what we can be certain of right now is that Yang Tian didn't really get to the very heart of the Danger Zone. He just kept leading us in circles in the forest…"
Under a small hill, Zhou Dadao took out a map and pointed at some markings and gave Feng Da a briefing about the route that Yang Tian picked. With the help of the Warriormate, the markings on the map were crystal clear.
The map showed an area of 300 kilometers in diameter.
This was forbidden territory for the Warriors, and not even Class Seven Warriors would dare to go in without a good reason.
On the map that Zhou Dadao marked was a big circle. That circle was the route Yang Tian had taken in the past twenty over days.
Looking at the big circle, Feng Da's face turned grim. He asked Zhou Dadao, "Did you say he dumped his Warriormate? How does he have such a strong sense of direction?"
Zhou Dadao did not have an answer to that question, so he just shook his head.
Feng Da looked at the endless mountains and dense forest that surrounded them, then he looked at the team members around him and said, "If we stick together, the movement would be too obvious; we'd be discovered in no time. Let's split into five groups with five persons each, and spread out. If any of us finds Yang Tian in the process, keep him occupied and get in touch with the other groups."
"Yes, sir!" answered everyone.
There were 27 of them if Feng Da and Zhou Dadao were included.
With Zhou Dadao in the number, there were exactly five Class Four and Class Five Warriors. Each of them could lead a team.
As for Feng Da, he only brought a Class Two Warrior as his assistant in the search for Yang Tian.
Feng Da was done assigning the teams very quickly and waved his hand. "Let's go! We must find Yang Tian within a week, dead or alive."
Du Xiongwu's order was to catch him alive, but it was very difficult to achieve in such a situation. Feng Da only gave them the 'dead or alive' order to prevent his teammates from taking too many risks. That was the meaning of the proverb, 'When the general is on the battlefield, there are orders he can't obey'.
Feng Da's weapon was a chain saber, and he had a silver-white chain around his waist that made him look plump even though he was not big-sized. However, his movements were very swift and flexible. As soon as he gave orders, he led the Class Two Warrior into the woods and soon disappeared.
After Feng Da left, the five small team leaders followed the plan that they made beforehand and blocked Yang Tian from two different directions.
At that moment, Yang Tian was not moving on the outer rim of the Danger Zone as Zhou Dadao had thought. Instead, he went deeper into the heart of the Danger Zone.
With Drago around, he would not get lost in the dense forest.
In the past twenty-plus days, Yang Tian gained a lot with Drago's help. He had already pocketed five Grade One, three Grade Two, and one Grade Five Beast Cores.
He could have gotten even more if it was not for Zhou Dadao and his team following behind him, making him be on guard at every moment.
Through continuous battles with various Monsters, Yang Tian's skills progressed at great speeds. He had already perfected Lightning Sword and Thunder Fists to a pure state. He had reached the peak of Class Three with those levels of skills.
Someone was coming, but Yang Tian already foresaw that. He also anticipated that Shenwei Military Academy would send someone even stronger than Zhou Dadao to kill him.
That was certain!
The reason Yang Tian went deeper into the Danger Zone was that he knew somebody else was coming since Zhou Dadao and his team had suddenly retreated.
If it was not because Zhou Dadao got tired, it was probably because someone else was there and they had to meet up.
The deeper in the Danger Zone, the more high-graded Monsters there were, which was exactly what Yang Tian was hoping for. Only by continuously hunting for high-graded Monsters could he upgrade himself sooner.
…
One week flew by.
The five small teams assembled with Feng Da in the forest.
They were 250 kilometers away from Danger Zone and searched as far as 320 kilometers in diameter throughout the whole week, but they did not find any trace of Yang Tian. They only found an extinguished bonfire he left behind with some Monster's bones on the side.
"Looks like he predicted that we were coming and went deeper into the Danger Zone," said Feng Da after some thoughts, frowning at his men.
"What do we do then?" Zhou Dadao frowned as well, feeling that Yang Tian had become more cunning.
After a few moments of pondering, Feng Da said, "All of you in the five small teams continue patrolling the outer rim. I will pursue him alone. I just don't believe a Class Three Warrior like him could escape under my blade!" he sneered.
That was the best idea one could think of. If all of them went into the heart of the Danger Zone, not only they may not find Yang Tian, they could risk losing personnel as well.
After making the arrangements, Feng Da went for the hunt by himself.
On the outer surroundings, the rest of the Warriors still distributed themselves into five small teams, moving in patrolling mode and ready for action anytime.
Feng Da, who was alone at that point, moved a lot more swiftly. Relying on his senses, his body mobilized flexibly between the trees and toward the Danger Zone.
…
Thud!
A swift slash from Yang Tian and a Grade One Green Python was killed. He cut open its head and picked out a Grade One Beast Core.
"Squeak squeak!"
Drago jumped up from Yang Tian's shoulder and opened its mouth, catching the Beast Core and swallowing it whole.
Under the guidance of Drago, Yang Tian never missed a catch and found Beast Cores in every graded Monster he killed.
Within twenty odd days, the little dragon ate quite a number of Beast Cores and had grown a lot. He seemed to have become a fat dragon.
The one thing that Yang Tian wondered about was, why did Drago not grow larger? It had been so long, but he could only grow fatter but not longer.
However, knowing what amazing creatures the dragons were, Yang Tian guessed that the little guy could change its size at will. If need be, he could become bigger, and if he wanted to become small, he might be able to turn smaller than he already was. Just like the dream that he had, the dragon that Yang Tian transformed into could change its size as well.
After swallowing the Beast Core, Drago turned around and hopped back onto Yang Tian's shoulder, curled into a donut, and shut its eyes.
Seeing the way he acted, Yang Tian knew there were no more high-graded Monsters around. He found a big tree and rested underneath it.
Since losing his backpack, life had been hard for Yang Tian—he did not even have clothes to change. All he could do was wait for a sunny day, and find a stream to bathe and wash his clothes in, then hang the garments to dry.
If there were not much sunlight for a long period of time, he would become really filthy and incredibly uncomfortable.
After resting for an hour or so, Yang Tian was on the move again. He could be discovered if he stayed in one place for too long. Only by perpetually mobilizing could he avoid people from figuring out the route he was taking.
"Squeak squeak squeak…"
After more than ten kilometers, Drago suddenly opened his eyes and squeaked urgently.
'There's a Grade Four Monster!' Yang Tian thought in surprise, widening his eyes.
Drago told him there was a Grade Four Monster a few kilometers ahead of them.
Feeling excited, Yang Tian stuck out his tongue to wet his dry lips.
If they could kill this beast, he would be able to upgrade once again and become a Class Four Warrior.