"Greetings, Mentor Yao," Linlong said respectfully.
"Lin Li, are you sure you're not lying to me?" Yao Hongsheng said coldly, his eyes glaring at him.
"Mentor Yao, I wouldn't dare lie to you. I really didn't see any Iron Sword rank warriors," Linlong said.
"Did you know that I was the one who asked Kong Wu to follow you? Moreover, he brought the wolf dog with him to follow you. In other words, he was definitely following you at that time!" Yao Hongsheng said.
"Is that so … But I really didn't know," Linlong said. He would never admit it even if he was beaten to death.
"Haha …" Yao Hongsheng laughed coldly and said, "Fine, then tell me, where did you go at that time?"
"I was heading to the vicinity of Wuyang Lake to kill some beasts," Linlong said honestly.
He said this because he was afraid that someone would see him go in that direction. If Yao Hongsheng really found someone like that, then his lie would fall apart.
"Alright, then take me there now," Yao Hongsheng said.
"Alright," Linlong said helplessly.
Yao Hongsheng looked at Fang Liang and said, "Fang Liang, bring a few more people. We'll follow Lin Li."
"Alright," Fang Liang answered. Soon, he brought a few people with him, all of them of the Iron Sword rank.
Yao Hongsheng led these people to follow Linlong in the direction of Wuyang Lake.
Along the way, they naturally searched the surroundings carefully, hoping to find some clues.
However, when they arrived at Wuyang Lake, they found nothing.
"Lin Li, where did you kill the beasts?" Yao Hongsheng asked as soon as they arrived at Wuyang Lake.
"Over there … here …" Linlong pointed to a few places.
Yao Hongsheng immediately led everyone over and carefully searched the vicinity of the locations mentioned by Lin Long. However, they still couldn't find any traces.
The places Linlong pointed out were naturally not where he, Hu Wen, the man in black, and Kong Wu had fought. So, how could Yao Hongsheng and the rest find anything?
However, Yao Hongsheng naturally wouldn't stop there. Since they couldn't find anything in these places, he immediately got everyone to search around Wuyang Lake.
In this way, he might be able to find the place where they fought earlier.
After searching for a while, Yao Hongsheng actually came to the pit where the underground stone room was located.
Arriving at this place, Yao Hongsheng seemed to have discovered something. He carefully searched the ground, and after a moment, a clicking sound was heard. He actually opened the entrance.
"Eh?"
Looking at the stairs that appeared, the two people next to him immediately exclaimed.
Linlong couldn't have discovered anything, right? He couldn't help but frown.
"You guys stand guard outside. Lin Li, Fang Liang, the two of you come in with me," Yao Hongsheng said to the people around him.
With Fang Liang following behind him, Linlong could only follow suit.
Soon, they arrived at the stone room below. After searching for a while, Yao Hongsheng's brows furrowed because he didn't find anything. There were signs that someone had been here, but nothing was left behind.
"Lin Li, have you been here before?" Yao Hongsheng asked Lin Long.
"Teacher Yao, I haven't been here before. This is my first time seeing this place," Lin Long replied.
Hearing Lin Long's reply, Yao Hongsheng didn't ask any more questions. After looking around a few more times, he walked out with Fang Liang and Lin Long.
"Teacher, did you find anything inside?" Someone asked as soon as they came out.
"We didn't find anything. Let's continue searching," Fang Liang said.
The group of people continued to search nearby. Soon, they arrived at the place where Lin Long and the others fought.
After searching for a while, they didn't seem to find anything.
Just as they were about to leave, someone suddenly said, "Teacher Yao, there are bloodstains here, and it seems to be from two days ago!"
"Oh?" Hearing this voice, Yao Hongsheng's eyes lit up, and he immediately led the group over.
With just one look, Yao Hongsheng was sure that the bloodstains were from two days ago. He could also tell that the bloodstains were from a ferocious beast.
Apart from that, there were no other traces in the surroundings.
Since that was the case, they naturally couldn't determine anything. Hence, Yao Hongsheng could only lead these people to continue searching.
This situation made Lin Long heave a sigh of relief. He was really worried that Yao Hongsheng would notice something.
Unknowingly, after searching for half a day, they had searched the vicinity of Wuyang Lake, but Yao Hongsheng and the others still didn't find anything.
In the end, Yao Hongsheng could only bring these people back to the camp.
Because of this, although Yao Hongsheng suspected Lin Long, there was no evidence to prove that Kong Wu's disappearance was related to Lin Long. Hence, he could only give Lin Long a warning.
On the second day after they returned, someone from the camp found an iron sword in a cave in the east of the camp. Because of Kong Wu's recent disappearance, the disciple didn't dare to take the iron sword for himself. Instead, he directly reported the matter to Fang Liang, who hurriedly informed Yao Hongsheng.
"Teacher Yao, someone found a bloody iron sword in a cave in the east of the camp. Looking at the bloodstains, it seems to be from two to three days ago. There are also traces of a fight on the ground." Fang Liang said to Yao Hongsheng.
After speaking, he took out the iron sword from his body and handed it to Yao Hongsheng. After taking a look at the iron sword, Yao Hongsheng discovered that there were bloodstains on it, and just as Fang Liang said, the bloodstains should be from two to three days ago.
Yao Hongsheng nodded and immediately said, "Ask that disciple to bring me over to take a look."
Soon, Yao Hongsheng led the few people to the stone cave.
Not long after, under the guidance of the disciple, they arrived in front of the stone cave.
Before entering the stone cave, Yao Hongsheng saw traces of a fight on the ground, but the traces weren't very obvious and he couldn't tell what it was.
"Teacher Yao, this disciple found the iron sword in this stone cave." The disciple pointed to the stone cave in front of him and said to Yao Hongsheng.
"En, you guys wait outside, I will go in and take a look." Fang Liang said.
After speaking, he stepped into the stone cave. After entering the stone cave, there were even fewer traces of a fight. Although according to his own experience, he could tell that the traces were left two to three days ago, because the traces were too small, he couldn't tell anything at all.
Apart from that, he didn't find anything else useful.
Soon after, he walked out of the stone cave and said to the people who followed him, "Carefully search the surroundings."
The group of people began to search the surroundings, and soon, someone said. "Teacher Yao, there is a waist token here."
Hearing those words, Yao Hongsheng immediately walked over.
After taking a closer look at the waist token, his brows furrowed because this waist token belonged to Kong Wu.
Since Kong Wu's waist token was here, it pointed to a disaster.
However, other than a little bloodstain, there was nothing else useful, so he couldn't find anything.
"Teacher Yao, is this Senior Brother Kong Wu's waist token?" Seeing that Yao Hongsheng's expression wasn't right, someone carefully asked.
"That's right, this is Kong Wu's waist token." Yao Hongsheng said in a deep voice.
"I'm afraid that Kong Wu is in trouble!"
Hearing Yao Hongsheng's words, the surrounding people's expressions changed.
"Continue to search the surroundings!" Yao Hongsheng said coldly.
The group of people got into position and began to search again. Not long after, they found a large amount of bloodstains and traces of a fight in front of them.
After a closer look, they discovered that there were strange claw marks on the surrounding trees. These claw marks were obviously left behind by a fierce beast, but they were extremely strange. It was as if four sharp swords had slashed the trees at the same time.
There was only one such claw mark on each tree, but they could tell that if these trees weren't big enough, such a claw would be enough to tear them all down.
"Teacher Yao, what kind of fierce beast's claw mark is this? It looks so powerful!" Looking at the claw marks, someone couldn't help but ask.
Yao Hongsheng, who was frowning, said, "This is the claw mark left behind by a Saber-Claw Tiger!"
"Saber-Claw Tiger!"
After hearing Yao Hongsheng's words, the surrounding people immediately cried out in surprise. In this Stone Wood World, the Saber-Claw Tiger was a Class 5 Vicious Beast, the strongest Vicious Beast in the Stone Wood World. Its strength was similar to that of an Iron Sword Rank.
"It seems that Kong Wu died under the claws of this Saber-Claw Tiger!" Someone said with a frown.
"But, didn't such a level 5 fierce beast disappear a long time ago? Why did this one suddenly appear?" Someone asked doubtfully.
"Continue to search the surroundings!" Yao Hongsheng didn't answer.
The group of people began to search again. Soon, they found another place where a fierce battle took place not far from where they were. There, they found the things that fell from Kong Wu's body and the footprints of the Saber-Claw Tiger.
This further proved that Kong Wu was injured by the Saber-Claw Tiger.
After confirming this, Yao Hongsheng's expression naturally became even more unsightly.
"Fang Liang, immediately inform all the disciples to return to the camp and tell them that a Saber-Claw Tiger has appeared. Before we find this Saber-Claw Tiger, no one is allowed to leave the camp!" Yao Hongsheng immediately said.
Other than Fang Liang and a few others who had the strength of an Iron Sword rank, the rest of the people's strength was below that of the Saber-Claw Tiger. Yao Hongsheng was naturally worried that they would be injured by the Saber-Claw Tiger, so he made this decision.
Most importantly, he didn't know if there was only one Saber-Claw Tiger or many.
"Yes, Mentor Yao!" Fang Liang immediately replied.
"Mentor Yao, should we search for the Saber-Claw Tiger nearby?" someone asked.
"Not yet," Yao Hongsheng said.
It wasn't that he wasn't anxious to find it, but that he had to report this matter. The level-five savage beasts in the Stonewood World had long been extinct. Now that they had suddenly appeared, he naturally couldn't let his guard down.
After following these people back to the camp, Yao Hongsheng directly returned to the Runes Institute outside.
As soon as he came out, he found the Great Elder to report this matter. At this time, there were two other elders beside the Great Elder.
"Three elders, someone in the Stonewood World has been killed by a Saber-Claw Tiger," Yao Hongsheng said to the three elders.
"What?" The other three elders couldn't help but be surprised.
"Mentor Yao, previously you said that level-five savage beasts may have reappeared in the Stonewood World, and you have already sent people to investigate. Were they killed by the Saber-Claw Tiger?" The Great Elder looked at Yao Hongsheng and asked.
Had they already found traces of it? The other two elders thought to themselves.
The Great Elder hadn't mentioned this matter to them, so they naturally didn't know.
"It's not them. They haven't returned yet." Yao Hongsheng shook his head and then said, "Instead, someone was killed by a Saber-Claw Tiger near the camp. At present, it seems that there was only one Saber-Claw Tiger, but we can't rule out the possibility of other Saber-Claw Tigers."
"To think that someone was killed by a Saber-Claw Tiger near the camp!" Hearing Yao Hongsheng's words, the two elders were again surprised.
"Won't that threaten the other disciples?" The Great Elder frowned.
"I have already sent someone to call them back. At the same time, I have also ordered the Iron Sword rank disciples to guard the camp. Nothing major will happen," Yao Hongsheng said.
"Mm." The Great Elder nodded, then looked at the two elders beside him and said, "How about this: you two elders will bring a hundred Iron Sword rank disciples from other worlds to help. Stay in the Stonewood World for half a month and see if you can find that Saber-Claw Tiger."
Although they had only found one Saber-Claw Tiger so far, the Great Elder had to be cautious. After all, the disciples in the Stonewood World were the future of the Runes Institute.
"Yes, Great Elder," the two elders immediately replied.
"Then I will take my leave first." Saying so, Yao Hongsheng immediately left and returned to the Stonewood World.
After a few hours, the two elders brought a hundred Iron Sword rank disciples into the Stonewood World.
These hundred Iron Sword rank disciples were dressed uniformly in dark red. Of course, what the disciples in the Stonewood World were most envious of was not their clothes, but their strength.
The strength of the Iron Sword rank was what every one of them yearned for.
Yao Hongsheng naturally welcomed the two elders and the Iron Sword rank disciples in the training field.
"Thank you for your hard work, Elders," Yao Hongsheng said with a smile as he looked at the two elders.
"Teacher Yao, have you found anything during your return?" one of the two elders asked.
"Nothing." Yao Hongsheng shook his head.
"Then let us start searching around the camp and see if we can find that Saber-Claw Tiger," the other elder said.
"Then I will have to trouble the two elders," Yao Hongsheng said with a nod.
"Teacher Yao, you just need to follow us. Let the Iron Sword rank disciples who were originally in the camp continue to guard the camp," the two elders said.
Subsequently, under Yao Hongsheng's suggestion, the team of a hundred was divided into three groups. He and the two elders each led a group, and then they began to search around the camp.
At this time, Linlong had already returned to his residence.
Of course, not everyone could return immediately after hearing the news, so only the majority had returned.
During this time, the news of Kong Wu being killed by the level five Saber-Claw Tiger had already spread throughout the camp, and Linlong had also heard about it.
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