A Tail?

Xiao Yi Xian stood on a wooden crate, lowering her head as she bandaged the arm of a burly man with a face full of beard.

She held a roll of white cloth in her hands, her movements highly practiced. In just a few motions, she wrapped the still-bleeding wound tightly.

The burly man grimaced in pain and was just about to howl when the girl pressed near his wound. He forcibly swallowed the scream that had reached his lips, replacing it with a foolishly blissful grin.

"Thank you, Miss Xiao Yi Xian! Your hands are truly miraculous!"

"Next."

The girl did not respond. She merely tossed the used cloth into the bamboo basket beside her.

Lu Heng stood at the doorway and did not move closer.

He had only come to take a look, to confirm whether Xiao Yi Xian was at the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion at this point in time.

The current Xiao Yi Xian looked no older than twelve or thirteen. A light green silk sash was tied around her waist, outlining a figure that had not fully matured but was already beginning to take shape.

Her face was indeed delicate. She did not possess Ya Fei's seductive allure, nor did she have Xiao Xun'er's distant coldness. Instead, she had a gentleness that made one feel comfortable just looking at her.

Lu Heng watched from afar, with no intention of going over to strike up a conversation.

Now was not the time.

If he approached rashly, he might end up being treated as a lecherous scoundrel with ulterior motives.

Lu Heng tugged at the brim of his hat and turned to leave.

The moment he turned around, the girl standing on the crate suddenly raised her head and glanced toward the street corner.

There were plenty of people who stared at her every day. Some were greedy, some lewd, and some wore ingratiating expressions.

But this gaze seemed different.

As for exactly what was different, Xiao Yi Xian could not say herself.

"How strange."

Xiao Yi Xian did not pause her work. She picked up a bottle of medicinal powder and sprinkled it over the next injured person's leg, soon casting the figure of that black-robed youth out of her mind.

Lu Heng found a reasonably clean inn next to the Ten Thousand Medicine Pavilion and settled in.

The room was small, but it was quiet.

He was in no rush to visit the Mercenary Guild to find a team.

Those makeshift mercenary squads were quick to draw blades when it came time to split the money, and ran faster than anyone when danger appeared.

Acting alone was somewhat more dangerous, but it was also more liberating.

After a simple dinner, Lu Heng sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Tonight, I'll adjust my condition. Tomorrow, I enter the mountains." Lu Heng closed his eyes and began cultivating, his breathing becoming long and steady.

Meanwhile, inside a dilapidated house in the western part of Green Mountain Town.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

A fit of violent coughing shattered the night's silence.

Lai San curled up on a moldy wooden bed, his whole body shaking like a sieve.

He clutched his chest. Every cough brought up a trace of dark red bloody froth.

"Damn it... that little bastard... his strikes were too sinister..."

Lai San cursed, then retched dryly again.

That black-robed brat's palm strike had looked light and harmless, yet when it hit, it was like a venomous snake had burrowed into his body.

A strange force remained lodged in his chest. Not only could it not be dispersed, it was steadily devouring his Dou Qi.

If he had not spent a hefty sum on a bottle of healing medicine and gulped it down earlier, he would probably be in a coffin by now.

"Creak!"

The broken wooden door was pushed open, and two tall, sturdy figures walked in.

The one in front was bald, with a scorpion tattooed on his head and a face full of flesh.

The one behind him had a scar running from his forehead to his chin, making him look like someone not to be trifled with.

"Yo, Lai San, I heard you got played like a monkey in the street today?" Baldy grinned as soon as he entered, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "By some little brat whose hair hasn't even grown in yet?"

"Go screw yourself, Scorpion!" Lai San struggled to sit up, his face deathly pale. "I was careless! Who knew that kid had such a bizarre Dou Technique?"

Scarface said nothing. He dragged over a broken chair, sat down, and stared at Lai San. "You didn't call us here just so we could listen to you complain, did you?"

Lai San drew a deep breath, suppressing the sharp pain in his chest. A trace of venom flashed through his eyes.

"That brat is a fat sheep."

"How fat?" Baldy became interested.

"He wears brocade. Even though he has a black robe draped over himself, I saw it clearly. It's fine material."

Lai San licked his cracked lips.

"Also, he definitely has a high-grade Dou Technique! At least Profound-tier!"

A Profound-tier Dou Technique!

Baldy and Scarface exchanged a glance, and both their breaths grew heavier.

In a backwater like Green Mountain Town, even a high-grade Yellow-tier Dou Technique could be passed down as a family heirloom. A Profound-tier Dou Technique was the stuff of legend.

"Are you sure?" Scarface narrowed his eyes. "If he really has a Profound-tier Dou Technique, even a low-grade one, then that kid's background can't be simple, right?"

"Background?" Lai San sneered.

"A powerful dragon cannot suppress a local snake! This is the Magical Beast Mountain Range! As long as we keep it clean, who will know we did it?

"Besides, that kid's Dou Technique may be impressive, but he's only a six-star Dou Zhe, seven-star at most! His Dou Qi is extremely unstable!"

Lai San's words were half true and half false.

He could not actually gauge Lu Heng's strength, but he had to get revenge.

And the grudge from that palm strike had to be washed away with that brat's blood.

"I was careless today. He caught me off guard." Lai San gritted his teeth.

"You two are a nine-star Dou Zhe and an eight-star Dou Zhe. Add me in... the three of us attack together, and we'll leave his life here!"

Baldy rubbed the tattoo on his head and chuckled. "If he really has a Profound-tier Dou Technique, won't we brothers be able to swagger through Green Mountain Town from now on?"

Scarface pondered for a moment, lightly tapping the tabletop with his fingers.

"Do it." He spat out two words. "But we take seventy percent of the spoils."

"Deal!"

Lai San agreed readily, but a cold glint flickered in his eyes.

As long as he could kill that brat, forget seventy percent—even if they took it all, it would be fine.

Early the next morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten, Green Mountain Town was still shrouded in a thin mist.

Lu Heng checked out early.

He changed into a set of light, fitted clothes, though he still wore that loose black robe over them. With a simple pack on his back, he looked like a clueless newcomer who had just set out to gain experience.

South of town lay the entrance to the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

The trees here were far taller than those outside, often dozens of meters high. Their massive canopies blocked out the sky and sun, making the forest feel somewhat gloomy even in broad daylight.

The instant Lu Heng stepped into the woods, his pace faltered slightly.

That feeling of being watched had returned.

And it was more obvious than it had been in town yesterday, carrying even an undisguised malice.

"So you're not even pretending anymore?"

The corner of Lu Heng's mouth lifted. He did not look back, merely rolled up the map in his hand and tucked it into his robes. His pace did not slow; instead, it quickened as he headed straight into the depths of the forest.

Because he had transmigrated, his soul perception was far stronger than that of Dou Zhes at the same level.

Those three tails behind him had deliberately softened their footsteps, but to Lu Heng's senses, they might as well have been beating gongs right behind his back.

One was a seven-star Dou Zhe, with unstable and somewhat chaotic aura—it was yesterday's Lai San.

The other two were a nine-star and an eight-star Dou Zhe.