One Year Later

One year later, Monster Beast Mountain Range

A long, gentle rain had fallen over the Monster Beast Mountain Range last night. The soil was incredibly soft, and raindrops hanging from the leaves fell from the branches with the freshness of dawn, landing in puddles on the ground with crisp pitter-patter sounds.

This was when muddy ground was hardest to traverse. The earth had fully absorbed the moisture; with every step, one's foot would sink in. When pulled back out, the shoes would be covered in annoying clumps of wet mud. The more mud accumulated, the harder it became to walk.

It was also the season when many precious medicinal herbs sprouted and grew.

Squelch!

A large foot clad in crude beast-hide shoes stomped into the soft mud, sending filthy water splashing in every direction.

Squelch!

Squelch!

Amid those unusual Footsteps, a mercenary party of nearly a hundred people came into view. This group bore the banner of the Myriad Medicine Pavilion. Most of the mercenaries had a wolf-head emblem tattooed on their chests, while a small number were more loosely affiliated solo mercenaries. Clearly, these mercenaries did not belong to the same mercenary corps, yet their silence and concentration were remarkably uniform.

This was the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's herb-gathering party. Every mercenary was fully alert, their hands positioned near their weapons while their gazes swept the surroundings in coordinated divisions. They were all veteran mercenaries who had spent years roaming the Monster Beast Mountain Range. Most possessed the cultivation of Fighter Four Stars, while even the weakest had reached Fighter Two Stars. Under ordinary circumstances, that might have been unremarkable, but for any herb-gathering party personally led by the Little Doctor Fairy, anyone below Fighter Two Stars simply could not get in.

Although most of them were working together for the first time, perhaps even the only time, they still maintained a basic degree of tacit understanding. A single movement or glance could convey signals of danger or safety.

"Set up camp! Rest!"

At the shout of the young mercenary leading them, the party of over a hundred mercenaries collectively let out a breath of relief. Quite a few spread beast hides or other items they carried on the ground and plopped down. Having safely reached this basin, they had completed their task.

As the mercenaries rested, the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's pharmacists and servants set up the beast-hide tents they had brought, preparing to spend the night here.

Though they all knew that magical beasts were unlikely to attack such a large mercenary party, every mercenary had remained tense along the way. The Little Doctor Fairy was among this herb-gathering party. If anything happened to that fairy-like woman under their protection, they would never be able to survive in Qingshan Town again. After all, more than half of Qingshan Town's mercenaries had had their lives saved by the Little Doctor Fairy. Her prestige in Qingshan Town was obvious!

"Phew! I'm dead tired!" A young mercenary did not mind the filth and plopped down on a patch of ground that looked relatively dry.

Yet the moment he sat down, he discovered that half his backside was soaked. Still, he had no intention of getting up. Getting up would not change anything, so he might as well sit comfortably for a while.

"You still dare sit there? If another Serpent-tailed Leopard shows up later, let's see how you run!" A middle-aged mercenary laughed and cursed mockingly.

Many mercenaries in Qingshan Town were not as honest-looking as they appeared, but as long as the Little Doctor Fairy was nearby, even the fiercest wolves would show their husky side.

"Tch, what's the big deal? If I hadn't been careless just now, I would've stabbed that Serpent-tailed Leopard clean through with one thrust!" the young mercenary said indignantly.

"Give it a rest. If that little brother hadn't saved you, who knows who would've been stabbed clean through!" the middle-aged mercenary mocked without mercy.

The middle-aged mercenary's words drew the surrounding mercenaries' attention to a young mercenary in a black robe nearby, and they began praising him.

"That little brother really is impressive. He actually took a hit from a Serpent-tailed Leopard head-on!"

"Tsk, tsk. He's already this formidable at such a young age. What will he be like in the future?"

As they praised him, an indescribable gleam flickered in the mercenaries' eyes. Possessing such strength at such a young age—did that not plainly mean he had secrets? But such secrets were not something they could covet, so they could only suppress the greed in their hearts.

The black-robed mercenary had no intention of responding to the others and instead walked toward the dense forest not far away.

Seeing this, the middle-aged mercenary shook his head and suppressed the heat in his heart. Without any unexpected opportunities, he would likely never advance beyond Dou Zhe in his life. The appearance of this somewhat unusual youth naturally tempted him, but he did not have the strength to seize that so-called opportunity.

The middle-aged mercenary shifted his gaze to several younger mercenaries and warned, "Don't get any ideas about that kid. Especially you, Mu Lan. That kind of person isn't someone we can afford to touch!"

Qingshan Town had existed for decades, yet mercenaries who had lived here for five years could be counted on one hand. Every day, many mercenaries died at the hands of magical beasts or fellow mercenaries, and the cause of all that slaughter was the greed in people's hearts.

Ka Gang understood this deeply. It was also the way of survival he had realized as one of the few veteran mercenaries in Qingshan Town with more than ten years of experience.

He understood this principle, but the younger mercenaries in the squad he led did not seem to understand it at all. Especially that kid called Mu Lan—he thought highly of himself and had even done something as foolish as jumping off a cliff in search of an opportunity. If Ka Gang had not discovered him early enough, the grass on the boy's grave would have grown several yards high by now.

"Got it, Uncle Ka Gang." The young mercenary called Mu Lan nodded, then asked, "By the way, Uncle Ka Gang, why do I feel like the Monster Beast Mountain Range has become calmer and calmer recently?"

"Indeed. In the past, after killing a magical beast, there would always be Swift Swallows coming to take a share. But over the past few months, we've rarely seen this type of magical beast." The middle-aged mercenary nodded. Without thinking much about it, he leaned against a tree and continued resting.

Could some rare treasure be appearing here? Mu Lan could not help fantasizing.

"You brat, work honestly! Stop thinking about all that nonsense! If you dare jump off another cliff, I'll break your legs!"

Elsewhere, the black-robed mercenary rapidly surveyed the surrounding terrain and murmured, "There are a total of fifty-three cliffs I've discovered around this route."

"This route takes an entire day, nearly ten hours of travel. In the novel, when Little Doctor Fairy and Xiao Yan explored the cliff cave, they chose to do so at night. They could probably return to camp during the day the next day. The entire operation would take no more than eight hours. Excluding the estimated time to search for treasures and return to camp, the time spent reaching the cliff cave should be within two hours."

"In other words, the cliff cave is most likely within the last fifth of the entire route. There are only eight cliffs that meet those conditions."

"Excluding those that are too short or too barren, only three likely treasure-containing cliff caves remain!"

This mercenary was naturally Ling Li, who had spent a full year training in Qingshan Town and the Monster Beast Mountain Range. After a year of cultivation, Ling Li's information had become:

Host: Ling Li

Cultivation: Dou Shi Two Stars (0/20000)

Attribute: Dark

Bloodline: Devouring Spirit Clan (First Rank: 30/1000)

Skill: Blade Technique (Proficient: 54/100)

Weapon: Dark Night (Yellow Grade High Rank: 796/1000)

Ability: Devouring Spirit Demonic Core (Development: 1/3)

Ability Skills (1/3):

Devour LV.6 (1600/6400) (Can evolve at LV.10)

Shadow Transformation (Locked)

Dark Realm (Locked)

Other: System Space (Activated)

Energy: 300

Over the past year, Ling Li had continuously ventured deeper into the Monster Beast Mountain Range. The deeper he went, the higher his chances of obtaining First Tier Magic Cores. As for Second Tier magical beasts, after killing several of them, Ling Li gave up hunting them.

There was no other reason: Second Tier magical beasts were simply too difficult to hunt. Their attributes were several times greater than those of First Tier magical beasts, and they possessed a certain degree of intelligence. With that time, Ling Li could hunt at least five or six High Star First Tier magical beasts. Once, a boar-type Second Tier magical beast had even run off with Dark Night still embedded in its body. Fortunately, the System Space could automatically retrieve the weapon, or it would have been a tremendous loss for Ling Li!

Just as when he had hunted Low Star First Tier magical beasts in the past, Ling Li only dared operate in regions inhabited by Low Star Second Tier magical beasts. The key issue was that killing Second Tier magical beasts was not only dangerous, but also did not guarantee obtaining a Second Tier Magic Core. Ling Li had hunted eight Second Tier magical beasts, yet had not obtained a single Second Tier Magic Core.

What Ling Li was doing now was searching for the treasure-containing cliff cave within the Monster Beast Mountain Range!