Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 699: Leaving The Riverglade Town
Han Yu left Riverglade Town under a pale winter sky, the river beside the town already half frozen, its surface broken by slow moving sheets of ice. He did not look back. There was nothing for him there anymore. His mission was complete, his gains were beyond anything he had expected, and lingering in one place was never wise for someone like him.
He headed toward Frost Plume Town first.
Not because he wished to see the hunters again, and certainly not because he wanted to return to the Frost Lily Pavilion, but simply because that was the shortest and safest route back toward the Harrow Mountains.
And, if he was being honest with himself, he also wanted more of that Spirit Cinnamon Whiskey.
With the fortune he now carried, such indulgence barely mattered.
He reached Frost Plume Town quickly. The roads on this side were well traveled, even in winter, and he did not meet a single beast along the way. He shifted his bearing and posture, letting the calm, cold demeanor of Ju Fan fade as he slipped back into the easier, more casual presence of Chen Xiu.
His robes changed as well, replaced with the ones he had worn before, plain and travel stained.
The guards at the gate barely looked at him.
To them, he was just another traveler.
He went straight through the town, not stopping to wander or observe. He knew exactly where the shop selling Spirit Cinnamon Whiskey was. When he entered, the shopkeeper looked up in surprise.
"Back again?" the man asked with a grin.
Han Yu nodded. "I need more."
"How much?"
"Eight barrels."
The shopkeeper stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "You trying to drown yourself?"
Han Yu placed a small pouch on the counter. "Just count."
The man opened it, felt the weight, and immediately stopped joking. His expression turned serious as he nodded and called for help. Within half an hour, eight sealed barrels were stacked neatly for Han Yu.
"That is almost all I have left," the shopkeeper said. "You emptied me out."
Han Yu shrugged. "Then I came at the right time."
It all cost less than two hundred low grade spirit stones, a laughable amount compared to what he now carried.
He stored the barrels, thanked the man, and left before anyone else could pay him much attention. By the time some curious eyes began to notice how much he had bought, he was already outside the town.
He rose into the air atop his halberd and flew toward the Harrow Mountains.
The farther he went, the colder it became.
Winter was no longer creeping in. It had arrived in full force. The wind cut like blades, and the clouds above were heavy and low, as if they might spill snow at any moment.
Han Yu did not slow.
His Qi was abundant, and he had more than enough spirit stones to replenish himself. This time, he did not plan to walk most of the way. Flying was faster, and speed meant safety.
As the outline of the Harrow Mountains appeared in the distance, he felt it.
A strange sensation.
It was faint at first, like a subtle itch in his mind. Then it grew clearer, turning into a mix of anxiety and unease.
He slowed slightly.
"This feeling…" he muttered. "Something is around. Far, but strong enough that I can still sense it."
He extended his spirit sense to its maximum range.
A full kilometer.
The mountains stretched endlessly ahead, sharp and jagged, wrapped in snow and ice. He could feel beasts here and there, some weak, some stronger, but nothing immediately near him that could explain the feeling.
Still, the unease did not fade.
He continued forward cautiously, adjusting his height so that he was not flying too high, but also not close enough to the ground to be ambushed easily.
Five days passed like this.
He did not encounter any danger.
He saw packs of Frost Hill Wolves roaming the snowy plains below, hunting in silence. They looked thin, their ribs faintly visible beneath their fur. Winter was harsh, even for spirit beasts.
But none of them noticed him for more than a moment.
He was high in the sky, and moving fast.
Unlike before, when he had walked most of the way, he now traveled almost entirely by flight. Whenever his Qi dropped to around sixty percent, he landed, found a safe spot, recovered, and then continued.
He did not want to be caught exhausted if something happened.
Yet the strange feeling never went away.
It was always there, faint but persistent, like something watching from very far away.
Then, on the sixth day, when he was firmly within the Outer Ring of the Harrow Mountains, he saw it.
At first, he thought it was a natural clearing.
A wide stretch of land, nearly a hundred meters across, where no trees stood and no snow seemed untouched.
But as he flew closer, his eyes narrowed.
There were bodies.
Dozens.
No, hundreds.
They were scattered across the ground, arranged in strange, deliberate patterns. Some lay in circles. Some were stacked into crude pillars. Others were positioned in lines, their arms and legs twisted into unnatural angles.
Humans.
Animals.
Spirit beasts.
All mixed together.
Han Yu slowed and descended carefully, landing at the edge of the area.
The air here felt wrong.
It was not just cold. It felt heavy.
As if the air itself remembered suffering.
He stepped forward slowly, his halberd already in his hand.
The corpses were in different states.
Some were fresh, their blood still dark and not fully frozen.
Others were older, their flesh pale and stiff, covered in frost.
He examined one of the human bodies. The eyes were wide open, frozen in terror. There were no obvious wounds, no cuts or slashes.
He checked the neck.
Two small holes.
Fang marks.
His expression darkened.
He moved to a beast corpse. Same thing. Two deep punctures at the throat. No other serious wounds.
