Into the Mountains

Into the Mountains

Everyone in the shop had thought this fellow was a greenhorn. They had not expected him to be a Dragon Crossing the River.

Some of them recognized the burly man on the floor. He was a Four Star Dou Zhe, yet a light, airy "scram" had knocked him flat.

Just what level of cultivation did this white-haired, black-robed man have?

Xiao Bai did not care about their stares. He swept his gaze around, and everyone his eyes passed over lowered their heads one after another, not daring to meet his eyes.

He turned to look at the shop assistant, whose legs were trembling slightly, and saw that there was not the slightest trace left of the impatience he had shown earlier.

Seeing Xiao Bai look at him, the assistant hurriedly spoke with a fawning smile.

"Esteemed guest—no, young master, Xiao Yi Xian isn't at the medicine shop right now. She went into the mountains with the Mercenary Group to gather herbs this morning!"

"Do you know which direction the Mercenary Group went?"

"Replying to young master, this lowly one does not know. Every trip into the mountains is decided by the Mercenary Group, and it's kept secret! Truly, this lowly one isn't lying!" The assistant was afraid Xiao Bai would not believe him and raised his hand as if to swear an oath.

"Enough. Thank you for the trouble." Xiao Bai interrupted him and nodded to him.

With that, Xiao Bai strode toward the outside of the shop.

"Y-young master!" Just then, a middle-aged mercenary in the crowd spoke up somewhat timidly.

Seeing Xiao Bai stop and turn to look at him, he shrank his neck back in fear. The woman beside him carefully tugged at him, signaling for him not to speak, but the middle-aged mercenary patted the woman's hand, mustered his courage, and said to Xiao Bai, "Young master, if Xiao Yi Xian has offended you in some way, this lowly one is willing to apologize on her behalf. Please be magnanimous and spare her this once. She's only a little girl who has just come of age!"

At first, he had thought Xiao Bai was just some young noble. But after Xiao Bai's earlier move, and his persistent questioning about where the Mercenary Group had gone, he had assumed Xiao Bai was planning to make trouble for Xiao Yi Xian.

Xiao Yi Xian had saved his life. No matter what, he did not want anything to happen to her. Even if it might cost him his life, he still had to try.

"What's your name?" Xiao Bai asked calmly, his tone betraying neither joy nor anger.

After hearing this, the middle-aged man gritted his teeth and said shakily, "Replying to young master, this lowly one is called Jia En!"

After saying that, the man was somewhat afraid. He tightly gripped his wife's hand, his palm slick with sweat.

Xiao Bai glanced at him and said nothing, then turned and left.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man let out a long breath. His wife threw herself into his arms at once, lightly pounding his chest as she sobbed, "I told you not to show off, I told you not to show off... sob..."

After Xiao Bai left, someone in the crowd hurriedly went over to check on the drunken burly man's condition. Finding that he had only fainted, they also breathed a sigh of relief.

After Xiao Bai walked out of Ten Thousand Medicines Hall, the sky had already gone completely dark. Seeing that there happened to be an inn across the square, Xiao Bai walked over, booked a deluxe king room, and settled in.

Once in the room, Xiao Bai closed the door and opened a map beside the table. He had bought it at the inn just now.

Because outsiders constantly streamed in to the Demon Beast Mountain Range to seek opportunities and hunt Demon Beasts, the inn had started this line of business, offering all kinds of maps in a complete range.

The map had cost one thousand Gold Coins, making Xiao Bai curse them as profiteers.

This inn sold maps for one thousand Gold Coins if you stayed there, and two thousand Gold Coins if you did not, while the price of an inn room just happened to be one thousand Gold Coins.

This map mainly marked the various terrains of the Demon Beast Mountain Range. Xiao Bai counted them, and there were over twenty cliffs near Green Mountain Town alone. This was only the outer area of the Demon Beast Mountain Range. If one went farther inside, there would be even more.

This gave Xiao Bai a terrible headache. Where the hell was he supposed to start looking?

Just then, Yao Lao floated out from the ring. Seeing Xiao Bai using a brush to circle the cliffs on the map one by one, he was somewhat speechless.

"Kid Xiao Bai, don't tell me all you know is that this tomb is on a cliff, and you know nothing else?"

Xiao Bai was feeling rather gloomy at the moment. Hearing this, he glanced sideways at Yao Lao and said, "Knowing it's on a cliff is enough. Why would I need to know anything else?"

Yao Lao choked for a moment, glared fiercely at the brat, and said, "Where is this old man's medicine?"

Xiao Bai took that piece of Yellow Lotus Essence from his Storage Ring and handed it to him casually.

"Kid, aren't you curious why I asked you to help buy this piece of Yellow Lotus Essence?" Seeing that the brat did not even ask and just handed him the medicinal material, Yao Lao could not help asking.

"Isn't it just a piece of Blood Lotus Essence? What's there to make a fuss about?" Xiao Bai did not even raise his head, continuing to draw on the map as he spoke calmly.

"Hm? This Blood Lotus Essence is a Fifth Grade Medicinal Material. Even some Fifth Rank Alchemists can't identify it without cutting it open. How did you know?"

Yao Lao was truly a little curious now. He had relied on the eyesight of a Rank 8 Alchemist. What was this brat relying on?

It seemed he had not given him the alchemist inheritance yet, had he?

Xiao Bai rolled his eyes. I knew because I read "Battle Through the Heavens."

Seeing that Xiao Bai did not answer, Yao Lao no longer pursued the question. In any case, this brat was always mysterious, and who knew how many things were hidden in his head.

"Kid, you're not planning to search them one by one like this, are you?"

Seeing that he first circled the cliffs near Green Mountain Town on the map, then planned a route based on distance, Yao Lao stroked his small beard and asked.

After hearing this, Xiao Bai rubbed the space between his brows in irritation. "For now, that's the only way!"

Fortunately, his Soul Strength was decent. As long as he reached a cliff, he could sweep it with his Soul Strength and know whether there was a cave entrance below.

Otherwise, having to climb down and back up one by one would be very troublesome.

Hearing this, Yao Lao pondered for a moment. It seemed they could only follow Xiao Bai's method. They had too little information, and he had no better ideas either.

After Xiao Bai finished planning his route on the map, he went to wash up, then collapsed onto the bed, let out a long breath, and slowly fell asleep.

Night slipped by in silence. At daybreak, Xiao Bai opened his eyes, got up, stretched, and leaped down from the bed.

After getting everything in order, Xiao Bai prepared to set out.

He walked slowly down the street, and before long, he arrived at another exit of Green Mountain Town. This was also the entrance to the Demon Beast Mountain Range.

The place was already packed with people, all mercenaries preparing to enter the mountains today.

Magical Beasts roamed the Demon Beast Mountain Range, and danger lurked everywhere. One careless move could draw a swarm of Magical Beasts, so aside from those with great skill and greater nerve, most mercenaries chose to travel in groups.

There were three kinds of mercenaries in Green Mountain Town:

The first were Mercenary Groups. Each Mercenary Group had over a hundred members, with the leader at the Dou Shi level, while the rest were Dou Zhe of varying strength.

The second were Mercenary Squads. These were small teams of several people, either fixed or gathered temporarily, and they might disband as soon as they came back from a trip into the mountains.

The last kind were lone wolves. Almost everyone who could survive as one was ruthless, and each of them had some trump card hidden away.

Xiao Bai had no need to choose companions. He had his own route to follow, and besides, at the outer edge of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, the strongest things that might appear were only some Third Order Magical Beasts.

As for Fourth Order and above, they were basically all in the middle or innermost parts of the Demon Beast Mountain Range. Very few ever wandered out to the outskirts.

Xiao Bai silently walked into the entrance of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, drawing many surprised looks from the mercenaries. They wondered which young master's family this one had come from, walking straight in like that without finding a Mercenary Squad—was he going in to feed himself to the Magical Beasts?