"Boom!"
With another sweep of the heavy black ruler, yet another magical beast was cleaved clean in two at the waist. Xiao Yixian quickly stepped up beside it, pulling out a dagger to slice open its skull. After rummaging around inside, she suddenly exclaimed with joy, holding up a green crystal. "This one has a magic core too!"
"Mm. You hang onto it for now." Xiao Yan only gave it a brief glance before turning his eyes back to their surroundings, remaining alert. "It's not a fire-type beast, so no need to collect the blood. Let's move before more show up."
"Okay." Xiao Yixian nodded obediently. She carefully wiped the freshly acquired magic core clean before placing it in the small pouch at her waist. Along the journey, they'd encountered over twenty magical beasts. Most were only first-rank, but they had still brought no small amount of trouble.
Fortunately, the troubles came with benefits. So far, Xiao Yixian had gathered six or seven magic cores, and she had even helped Xiao Yan collect blood samples from several fire-type magical beasts. Naturally, blood wasn't something she could just carry around in a pouch, so those were stored away in Xiao Yan's spatial ring.
"To be honest, I'm kind of regretting saying I'd escort you back home." Xiao Yan let out a light breath, glancing at the numerous beast carcasses strewn behind them. In total, they had been forced into over twenty battles, some against second-rank beasts whose strength rivaled the Flamebear Demon Bear. In a few instances, they were even ambushed by multiple beasts at once.
Such high-intensity combat would've drained him dry if not for the Qi Recovery Pills Yao Lao had prepared beforehand. If he were alone, it would've been manageable, but protecting Xiao Yixian at the same time drastically increased the difficulty.
"Looks like I've got the worst luck ever," Xiao Yixian said with a helpless look. She truly hadn't expected to run into so many magical beasts on what should've been a simple herb-gathering trip. She wasn't a combat type to begin with—she wasn't even a Dou Practitioner. There wasn't much she could do besides act as Xiao Yan's assistant.
"I don't think this is just bad luck..." Xiao Yan frowned slightly and looked at the pouch hanging from her waist. If this were just misfortune, they might have encountered two or three beasts at most. But the constant waves they'd faced—it wasn't coincidence. Something was definitely drawing them in...
"We're almost there. Just ten more minutes and we'll reach my village. Once we're there, those beasts won't dare be so brazen anymore." Xiao Yixian climbed atop a rock, gazing at the landscape ahead. Her tone brightened with hope.
"You make it sound so easy. We don't know how many more are lying in wait on the way." Xiao Yan shook his head and walked on with her. Strangely enough, the following few minutes passed without a single beast in sight.
Seeing this, Xiao Yixian cheered, "Looks like my bad luck is finally over!"
Xiao Yan didn't respond. His brows were furrowed tighter than before. For some reason, now that there were no beasts, he felt even more unsettled. "Stay alert. Something's not right..."
"You're just being overly cautious. What could go wrong? As long as we don't run into magical beasts, we're fine." Xiao Yixian had just finished speaking when rustling sounds came from the trees above. Before Xiao Yan could react, a large net dropped from the canopy, completely covering the two of them.
"Got them! We got them!" A group of black-clad men burst out from the surrounding forest. Each wore a crest with a serpent emblem—likely the insignia of some organization.
They seemed excited that their trap had caught something. But when they saw their captives were just two kids, the leader's face fell with disappointment. "Just a couple of brats?"
"They're probably from the Snake Nest Mercenary Group," Xiao Yixian whispered to Xiao Yan as she spotted the snake insignia on their chests. "They likely set this trap to catch beasts. We just stumbled into it by accident. Should be fine if we explain."
"Uncles, we were just passing through and accidentally got caught in your trap. Could you please let us out?" Xiao Yan put on an innocent smile. When the net had fallen, he had tested it and found it surprisingly resilient—some special material, likely. Otherwise, he wouldn't still be stuck.
Of course, if he really wanted to break free, unleashing his black flame would do the trick in seconds. But with so many eyes around, he wasn't about to expose that trump card.
"Tch, what rotten luck." One of the mercenaries stepped forward to free them, but the leader raised a hand to stop him. "Wait."
"What is it?"
The man circled them once, squinting at Xiao Yan. Then he let out a chuckle. "This little guy's got a nice face. The boss might take a liking to him."
At the mention of their captain's... peculiar preferences, the others exchanged knowing grins. Alarmed, Xiao Yixian instinctively clung to Xiao Yan's arm and snapped, "Don't you dare come closer! The guy next to me is incredibly strong! One punch and he could kill a sixth-rank magical beast! If you touch me, he won't let you off!"
"Hey hey hey, can you not drag me into your bluffing?" Xiao Yan's mouth twitched. "Sixth-rank beast? Why not just say I can one-shot a ninth-rank one?"
"They wouldn't believe that either."
"As if they'd believe you saying I can beat a sixth-rank..."
"If he were really that strong, he wouldn't have been caught," the mercenary leader snorted. "And you—don't flatter yourself. We're not interested in you. We're talking about the kid."
Xiao Yixian went silent. She'd heard of strange men with... unusual tastes, but never thought she'd meet a group like that.
When she looked at Xiao Yan again, her eyes were filled with pity.
Feeling that look, Xiao Yan's expression twitched. If even Xiao Yixian had picked up on the problem, then he naturally understood what was going on. 'Damn it... ran into a pervert.'
(End of Chapter)
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