"Whoosh!"
A black blur suddenly sprang onto Lin Feng's shoulder. It propped itself up on its hind legs, waving its paws excitedly and squeaking nonstop. At the same time, it sent Lin Feng a Soul Transmission: "Boss, hurry and open their bags. Let's see what we got.♡♢ 👌💢"
"Beibei really does love counting Magic Cores." Lin Feng shook his head and ignored him, walking instead toward Delia, who had already gotten to her feet.
Delia's pretty face was pale, and fear filled her eyes. She stared at the scene before her—severed limbs, decapitated heads, and blood everywhere—with her little hands clenched tightly.
When he reached Delia, Lin Feng gently drew her into his arms and softly reassured her, "It's all right now. They're all dead."
"Waaah!"
Delia was only a nine-year-old girl, after all. What she had just witnessed had dealt an enormous blow to her young heart. Hearing Lin Feng's comforting words, she let her vulnerable side show, burying her face in his chest and bursting into tears.
"Ah." Lin Feng sighed. This was the first time he had ever killed anyone, and it had shaken him deeply too. But he had the mind of an adult, and he hadn't let his fear show.
"Delia, this was our first battle. Once we enter the Magical Beast Mountain Range, we'll encounter scenes ten or even a hundred times more dangerous than this. If you can't handle something like this, I might as well send you back." Lin Feng was beginning to wonder whether bringing Delia here had been the right decision. His intentions had been good: letting her experience the cruelty of life and death from a young age would greatly benefit her future cultivation. But no matter how he looked at it, Delia was only a nine-year-old girl. Forcing a girl of nine, both physically and mentally, to face life and death was undeniably cruel.
"No. I want to stay with you. I think I can overcome it," Delia said with chattering teeth, her expression resolute.
Lin Feng smiled—a happy smile. The fact that Delia could say those words proved he had made the right choice.
After comforting Delia again, Lin Feng got ready to collect their spoils.
He walked over to the dozen or so bandits he had dismembered and bent down to search them. They had very little on them. Apart from their weapons, each man had only a few dull-colored Magic Cores and a few gold coins.
"Looks like most of these bandits' wealth was in their leader's possession."
Lin Feng casually picked up the Magic Cores and gold coins, then headed over to the bandit leader's corpse.
"Huh? There's nothing?" Lin Feng was surprised. He searched the bandit leader's corpse from head to toe but found nothing at all—not even a single gold coin.
"Could these bandits have a hideout? Maybe they kept all their wealth there?"
Lin Feng was about to leave when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a ring on the bandit leader's finger.
"What's this? A ring? Could it be..."
Lin Feng grew excited and reached for the ring, trying to pull it off the bandit leader's finger. But no matter how hard he tugged, it wouldn't budge.
"Damn it. You're dead, and you're still guarding your belongings so tightly." Cursing under his breath, Lin Feng swung the Flat Blade and chopped off the bandit leader's finger at the root.
Just then, Doehring Cowart flew out of the Coiling Dragon Ring. He glanced at the ring in Lin Feng's hand and smiled. "Lin Feng, you're in luck. If I'm not mistaken, that should be a Space Ring."
Lin Feng was thrilled. He had never doubted Doehring Cowart's judgment. Even if he had never used a Space Ring, as a former Saint-level Magus, he must have seen one before. Lin Feng, on the other hand, had only heard of them and had never seen one.
Lin Feng wasn't planning to leave the Magical Beast Mountain Range anytime soon to complete his training. According to his plans, he would spend at least a few years in the mountains before returning. But that posed a problem: he was bound to collect a great many Magic Cores over those years. Even with packs on both his and Delia's backs, they wouldn't be able to carry them all. And even if they somehow managed to fit everything in, Lin Feng wouldn't be able to fight.
"When you're sleepy, someone brings you a pillow. My luck really is amazing."
Lin Feng chuckled to himself, pricked his finger with the Flat Blade, and let a drop of blood fall onto the ring.
Lin Feng stared intently at the Space Ring. When he saw it absorb his blood and felt a connection form between them, he was finally one hundred percent certain that it was a Space Ring.
"Hiss!"
Even Lin Feng, usually so composed, couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath when he saw the wealth inside the Space Ring.
A small heap of Magic Cores in every color filled the space. A rough estimate put their number at four or five hundred. Most were low-grade Magic Cores with only faint energy fluctuations, but there were quite a few high-grade ones as well. In addition, a pile of glittering gold coins lay in the ten cubic meters of space.
"This heap of Magic Cores has to be worth at least fifty or sixty thousand gold coins. Add in this pile of coins, and there must be at least a hundred thousand altogether. No wonder so many people turn to banditry and robbery. It really is true that wealth comes from a windfall, just as a horse grows fat on nighttime feed. Ha ha!"
Lin Feng burst into delighted laughter. With a hundred thousand gold coins, he could consider himself a wealthy man. An ordinary family of three could get by on a dozen or so gold coins a year. A hundred thousand was indeed a tremendous fortune.
"It's a Space Ring, isn't it?" Doehring Cowart asked with a chuckle.
Lin Feng slid the Space Ring onto his finger and said regretfully, "It is, but the space inside is a little too small. It's only about ten cubic meters."
Seeing Lin Feng's insatiable greed, Doehring Cowart couldn't help laughing and scolding him. "You should be grateful! Space Rings are extremely rare on Yulan. Even I couldn't get my hands on one back then. That tells you just how precious they are. Finding one here is already astonishingly lucky, and you're still complaining that it's too small. I don't know what to do with you."
Lin Feng thought it over and realized Doehring Cowart was right. Although everyone had a Space Ring in the Infernal Realm, Yulan was only a Material Plane. Getting his hands on one at all was a stroke of luck.
After gathering their spoils, Lin Feng and Delia continued on their way with Beibei.
Just then, the gloomy sky suddenly boomed with a violent crash of thunder. Lin Feng looked up. Lightning flashed across the heavens, and rumbles of thunder echoed overhead.
"Looks like there'll be a downpour soon." Lin Feng furrowed his brow. With a wave of his hand, a Wind Shield several meters across slowly took shape above his and Delia's heads.
The Wind Shield was highly effective at defense. To keep the raindrops off them, Lin Feng only needed to use a small amount of magical energy to maintain it.
Wind was formless, and the Wind Shield was only a faint, transparent green.
The two humans and one beast hadn't walked far when an immense mountain range, stretching endlessly from north to south, appeared before them. This vast range, which nearly divided Yulan in two, was none other than the greatest mountain range in all of Yulan—the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Looking at the endless range of mountains stretching on for miles, Lin Feng couldn't help holding his breath.
"What an enormous mountain range."
The range was simply too long. Looking east, he saw endless peaks rolling into the distance, while mountains stretched on to both the north and south. Facing the boundless Magical Beast Mountain Range was like standing before an endless ocean.
Boundless!
"This is the Magical Beast Mountain Range, the greatest mountain range, home to countless magical beasts—including many Saint Realm magical beasts." Doehring Cowart appeared beside Lin Feng. His gaze turned distant. "The Magical Beast Mountain Range... It's been a long time since I last came here."
Excitement blazed in Lin Feng's eyes.
"Let's go!"
Full of confidence, Lin Feng and Delia hurried toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range through the heavy rain. Shadow Mouse Beibei squeaked excitedly on Lin Feng's shoulder. Beneath the boundless curtain of rain, the two humans and one beast soon disappeared into the distant mountains.
Before you continue