The Weakness of Mortals

"The Chen Family of Huangshan!"

The leader was shocked upon hearing this, and fear flickered in the eyes of the lackeys surrounding him.

Seeing this, Xu Bai initially thought he had secured the situation and was preparing to continue his well-meaning persuasion when he saw a ruthless glint flash in the leader's eyes. He shouted to his men:

"Brothers, you all know how vicious the Chen Family is. If we let this brat go, there is absolutely no way we'll survive.

Rather than being hunted down later, we might as well slaughter him now and take the soul storage device on his body. Forget what's inside; just selling that device alone is enough for us to live comfortably for several lifetimes.

When the time comes, we'll just crawl into some remote corner, and the Chen Family won't necessarily know it was us!"

Hearing this, the lackeys felt it made sense. Since they had already offended him, they might as well offend him to the point of no return!

Suddenly, everyone's gaze toward Xu Bai turned sinister, yet not a single person dared to take a step forward; no one wanted to be the first bird to be shot.

Seeing this, the burly man cursed inwardly. If he had known it would be like this, he shouldn't have brought this bunch of trash out. They couldn't help at all, and he would have to waste effort killing them all later...

Ordinary people might only know the Chen Family was ruthless without knowing the specifics, but as a Great Soul Master, he had witnessed with his own eyes the Chen Family executing soul masters who had provoked them. The scene still made him shudder just thinking about it.

Therefore, he could not let anyone know he had offended a member of the Chen Family, and the only people who could keep a secret were the dead.

Thinking this, the burly man decided not to waste any more time. A yellow soul ring flickered at his feet, and he prepared to unleash a soul skill to charge forward and cleanly finish off the brat along with the carriage driver.

On the other side, seeing this scene, Xu Bai knew the matter could no longer be resolved peacefully. He was just about to drop the iron ball he had prepared and let Diyi make the first move.

However, he saw the burly man use some kind of soul skill, and in the wind-up, there was actually a motion where he planted his machete into the ground.

A faint sound of metal clashing rang out, and the next moment, Diyi in the carriage moved.

Iron Skewers flew out silently, piercing toward the burly man's temples from both sides at an incredible speed.

Reasonably speaking, at the speed the Iron Skewers were flying, a Great Soul Master like the burly man might not have been hit if he had been cautious.

But the problem was that after using his soul skill, the burly man's attention was entirely focused on Xu Bai, a one-ring soul master.

Xu Bai's hundred-year first ring had truly frightened him, compounded by the "family member" buff.

As the saying goes, a lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit, let alone a genius like this; he couldn't afford to be careless.

It was just a pity that this lion only stared at the rabbit and completely failed to notice the hunter behind it.

By the time he reacted, he had already been gone for a while.

Two Iron Skewers pierced through his temples, and red and white matter slowly flowed out along the gaps, dripping onto the ground and staining a small patch of earth a dark, murky red.

"B-Boss..." A quick-witted lackey noticed the anomaly, but before he could even finish speaking, flying blades arrived. In an instant, all the lackeys fell to the ground, with not a single survivor.

Everything happened too fast. After seeing the burly man killed, Xu Bai had wanted Diyi to leave one survivor so he could ask how they discovered he had a spatial soul storage device, but before the words could leave his mouth, they were all gone.

One can only say that when faced with transcendent power, ordinary people are truly no better than ants.

"M-My Lord, look..."

The old carriage driver didn't know if it was out of professionalism or because his legs had gone soft from fear, but he had stood on the carriage the entire time and only dared to speak tremblingly once all the masked men were dead. The look in his eyes toward Xu Bai was filled with both respect and fear.

"Continue on."

Xu Bai waved his hand and turned to enter the carriage.

This was the first time in his two lifetimes—past and present—that he had witnessed a killing. Although he wasn't the one who did it, and it wasn't even his order, it still made him feel quite unwell.

It was a physical discomfort; he couldn't help but want to vomit.

Fortunately, there was enough distance that the smell of blood hadn't reached him yet, otherwise, Xu Bai might have actually thrown up.

'Beast Tamer, I was amazing, right?'

As soon as he entered, Diyi poked its face in to claim credit.

Looking at that smug expression, Xu Bai couldn't help but smile and rub its head. "You did well. You didn't lose face for me; it wasn't a waste of the long time I spent training you."

At this moment, the carriage moved. Xu Bai's hand, which was rubbing Diyi's head, paused, and he involuntarily held his breath.

'Beast Tamer, what's wrong?'

Sensing the abnormality, Diyi raised its eyes in confusion.

However, Xu Bai did not reply. It was only after a long time that he finally took a deep breath.

"It's nothing. I should get used to it after a while," Xu Bai said with a smile.

Diyi didn't understand, but seeing that the Beast Tamer seemed to be in a bad state, it showed rare emotional intelligence and didn't pursue the matter.

The rest of the journey was truly silent, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the market town outside the Hengduan Mountain Range.

After paying the fare, Xu Bai recalled Diyi back into the Beast Taming Space.

He found a random inn to spend the night, and by the next morning, he headed straight into the Hengduan Mountain Range.

Only when he reached an uninhabited area did he release Diyi.

Returning to a familiar place, Diyi felt a bit down, recalling many sad memories.

Seeing Diyi like this, Xu Bai reached out and patted its head. "Although the tribe abandoned you, you have me with you now. Don't worry, Diyi. With me here, you will definitely be able to take revenge in the future."

Feeling the touch on its head, Diyi's state of mind gradually calmed down.

That's right, the tribe didn't want me, but my Beast Tamer will surely stay by my side forever.

As for those clansmen who insisted on abandoning me, I will definitely make you all pay the price!

Stopping and going like this, with Number One providing protection, Xu Bai managed to record over forty types of Soul Beasts in a single day.

Most of them were plant-type Soul Beasts, followed by insect-type and small-sized Soul Beasts; he didn't dare to record any large ones, though he was fortunate enough to record two avian Soul Beasts.

Having recorded so many varieties, the rewards from the Manual were exceptionally generous, directly boosting his mental power by nearly threefold—it was likely even higher than the mental power of an average Soul Venerable.

In truth, if Xu Bai were willing, he could have recorded a dozen more, but a rapid increase in mental power brought not only benefits but also drawbacks.

For instance, his Sea of Consciousness was currently struggling to hold on, with a faint sensation of cracking beginning to emerge.

As the saying goes, too much is as bad as too little, and things will turn into their opposites when they reach the extreme; Xu Bai decisively stopped, bringing this journey to a successful conclusion.

With my current mental power, I should be able to withstand the "large amount" unit of measurement from the Manual now...

Just as Xu Bai was pondering this, a sharp, piercing screech echoed through his Beast Taming Space via Telepathy.

The sound came from Little Blue Silver Grass; after a month of slumber, it had finally awakened.

Well, it woke up to find the sky had fallen, discovering itself in an unfamiliar environment surrounded by a vast, white expanse.

Never mind a Soul Beast that cherished its life like Little Blue Silver Grass—anyone would have a mental breakdown in this situation.