Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 430 An Encounter With A Mysterious Man

Marin's brows furrowed in deep realization. "No wonder," she started, "the Crimson Dragon Army failed to siege the Hippo Land in all their three attempts. It turned out the defending army of the Timber Deity Empire has such a shrewd figure.”

"But I'm not sure if this person is the Commander of our enemy's army.” Sabina let her apprehension go out into the open.

Rocky found the need to stop any more discussions. "That's all for today,” he declared. "Commander Dunn, please go and order the logistics team to prepare dinner for our soldiers and lead some soldiers to hunt for dinner. It's been a long day for them; they need more meat for their dinner." He took a deep breath, and then said to all the three people in front of him, "You all must be tired. You may now leave and take some rest.” After ordering like a Commander, he turned and left.

Dunn followed suit and left Marin and Sabina alone.

As soon as she noticed Rocky was out of earshot, Marin approached Sabina with a curious face and asked, "Sabina, what kind of person do you think he is?"

"The kind who rubs me the wrong way," Sabina quickly responded.

"I used to feel the same way. But if it weren't for him, I might have been ambushed by the enemy,” Marin replied honestly with a slight frown. Rocky was younger than her and had significantly less military experience than she did. However, he had the confidence of a competent general who had undergone hundreds of battles. He was also a quick thinker. Marin was still impressed by how he figured out the ambush by the enemies in their previous battle just by staring at the footprints they left behind. An ordinary person could not have figured that out. Now, she felt less annoyed with him. On the contrary, she thought highly of him.

"Indeed, he is a capable leader. It seems like he figured out the defense methods of our enemy at the very beginning of the battle," Sabina said coldly at first and then skeptically the next second.

"If that's the case," Marin asked, "why did he still use my offensive plan?" Realization slowly crept into her consciousness. If Rocky knew about the enemy's plan to ambush, it would have been much easier to not have pursued her plan at the beginning.

"Maybe he was trying to test the enemy. Yet, I don't know what he was trying to do! No one does!" Sabina added coldly. Then, she turned and left.

Marin frowned, sighed, and then walked back to her tent.

Rocky was strolling around the camp for a while. However, instead of turning towards his own tent, he moved towards the direction of Hippo Land stealthily.

"Marin's offensive plan was excellent. However, the blind side she found out was left by the defending army of the Timber Deity Empire on purpose. Thus, such an army is not weak and should not be underestimated. The same conclusion can be made after the army had repelled the three sieges of the Crimson Dragon Group,” Rocky muttered to himself as he was flying towards the garrison camp of the Timber Deity Empire quietly and with much vigilance. With that thought in mind, he wanted to see more of the enemies’ intelligence and understand what their Commander was like in person.

The Hippo Land was near the Arno River, and some tributaries of the river even went through the land. The land had a low terrain and its soil was soft, thereby giving it a large area of swampy land in the southeast part. Many wild spirit-manipulated beasts inhabited the area, making it a dangerous place where people rarely set foot on. Also, it was free from any attacks launched by any army. Because of this natural barrier, the garrison of the Timber Deity Empire did not have guards to defend the southeast side of the land. They only safeguarded the west and middle sides and even set their camps at the southeast side.

Rocky had discovered a shortcut to the enemies’ garrison camp through topographic maps. Despite the threats and dangers along the way, he could pass the swamp easily. He had reached the Heavenly Stage and had much experience in fighting wild spirit-manipulated beasts. He was unafraid.

It took him only fifteen minutes to pass through the swamp. The moment he got out of the swamp, he had a quick look at the surroundings—unique-looking rocks were scattered on the ground and a clear river was running through the area.

In a short distance from Rocky, the campsite of the Timber Deity Empire garrison was set up. From where he stood, he could even hear some noise from the camp.

At that very moment, he suddenly heard someone whispering, "Fishes, why won't any of you bite my hook?"

After searching for the source of the voice a few moments, he spotted a large rock by the river where a handsome man who looked about 25 years old was sitting cross-legged. The man in a scholar's robe was fishing by holding a fishing rod. However, the hook and bait were merely hanging in the air and not touching the water. “Strange, * Rocky thought to himself. "How could he catch a fish if his hook isn't even immersed in water?

Could he be a soldier of the Timber Deity Empire?’ He was not convinced. The young man's demeanor did not suggest that he was a soldier, nor did he have the aura of a spirit manipulator. 'He can't be the senior leader of the Timber Deity Empire, can he?" Rocky wondered as he stared at the man, still perplexed.

Looking at the young man's fishing style, he was reminded of Master Jiang*. He thought that the two seemed to have similar fishing styles. (“Master Jiang was a Chinese expert in military affairs who helped kings Wen and Wu of the Zhou Dynasty overthrow the Shang Dynasty in ancient China.) Master Jiang was known for fishing from a river with a barbless hook, or sometimes without a hook at all. He had the power to compel the fishes to come to him when they were ready. Similarly, the man that Rocky was observing merely placed his hook above water, as if he was waiting for the fishes to jump at him. He found that the man’s fishing style was very interesting. After mulling it over, he decided that the man was not dangerous. Thus, he flew towards him.

When the man saw Rocky appear abruptly, he acted like nothing happened. His composure remained and his face looked undisturbed. This piqued Rocky's curiosity even more. A normal person couldn't remain so calm when someone unexpected showed up.

"Hey, your hook isn't even under the water. How do you expect to catch a fish?" Rocky asked as he looked at the man up and down.

"Well," the man replied calmly, "I already caught a fish, didn't I?" The handsome man looked up and smiled at Rocky. It seemed as if he wasn't fishing—merely standing by until someone found him. "So, are you waiting for anyone?" Rocky asked with his brows raised.

"This is the rear part of the camp, the only place with no guards. It has no defense because the swamp is enough as a natural barrier. If the Crimson Dragon Group is smart enough and wants to gather more information about their opponent, they should send people here to the camp. But, for the first three times, no one from the Crimson Dragon Group showed up here. You are the first person to come here," the man said leisurely as he looked at Rocky with great interest.

"So, that's why the Crimson Dragon Army all failed to recapture this place,” Rocky said calmly with a light smile. Looking around for a while, he continued, "Since you've been waiting for the spy of the Crimson Dragon Army to come, you have also set up an ambush in the vicinity, haven't you?" After that, he became alert to any possible ambush

"No." To Rocky's surprise, the man shook his head.

"What do you mean? Why not?" Rocky inquired. "Are you not afraid that the spy would take you back to the camp of the Crimson Dragon Army and torture you if you're alone and defenseless? You don't look like a spirit manipulator. As an ordinary person, you're just really brave to intercept the spy of the Crimson Dragon Army here alone.” He realized that the man in front of him was a puzzle much more than he could comprehend.