Beast Core, Dust Sword Heart!

"We're back, Uncle Zhou!"

The guard behind the wire fence seemed to inspect them carefully before turning and running toward the heavy gate, welded together from scrap metal.

While they waited for the gate to open, Qiu Yashuang turned her head, a hint of barely concealed pride in her voice as she took the initiative to introduce Chen Yan:

"See? This is our turf."

Chen Yan looked up.

Though the camp bore clear signs of postwar reconstruction, it wasn't nearly as dilapidated as he'd imagined.

It was less a camp than a small settlement, fully equipped and orderly.

The buildings inside the walls were made from all sorts of materials, mostly bricks, timber, and metal sheets salvaged from the ruins. They were arranged in a haphazard but thoughtful layout, and though the streets were narrow, they were fairly clean.

Following his gaze, Qiu Yashuang's tone turned a little somber:

"These shelters were all built by the lucky Windless City residents who survived the Rift Cataclysm. Ours is just one of them."

She paused. "The first people who settled here are long gone. Most of the people here now are their descendants, along with some who fled here later."

Chen Yan asked, "Isn't it called a mercenary group? Where are the mercenaries?"

Qiu Yashuang gave him a faintly disdainful look. "That's a stupid question..."

"Mercenaries... It means that the people here with martial arts talent train until they've made something of themselves, then form teams and go out to take jobs. Mostly, they hunt ferocious beasts and trade what they get for supplies."

She pointed toward the inside of the camp. "There are over a thousand people here now."

"We have five teams that can go out on jobs. Each one is led by a Professional-rank martial artist, and has around twenty people."

She put particular emphasis on "Professional-rank," seemingly watching for Chen Yan's reaction.

"So, what do you think? Our Windless Mercenary Group is pretty strong, right?"

"Want to consider staying?" Qiu Yashuang lifted her chin slightly.

Hearing the undisguised warmth in her voice, Chen Yan fell silent for a moment, then calmly said, "I won't be staying here."

He paused, then added, "Besides, my mom probably wouldn't approve of me dating this early."

To be honest, Qiu Yashuang was indeed stunning, and the spirited brightness in her eyes was exactly the sort of thing Chen Yan appreciated.

He could also tell that she treasured her beauty. Even among a comparatively rough bunch of mercenaries, she still dressed with great care.

But for obvious reasons, Chen Yan didn't dare go around charming every woman he met.

Qiu Yashuang's pretty face turned bright red in an instant. "Pfft! Who—who wants to date you?"

"You're not just an exhibitionist, you're a narcissist too!"

Then she turned away in a huff.

Chen Yan smiled helplessly but didn't argue.

Since learning Spirit Control, he had often been able to pick up on other people's unspoken thoughts.

That was especially true of people like the Qiu siblings, who had grown up in the wilderness and had never been exposed to spiritual cultivation methods like the Mystic Meditation Method. They had no idea how to guard their thoughts.

To Chen Yan, their minds were practically open books, effortless to read.

If he had to describe it... when Qiu Yashuang had just spoken to him, there had been pink bubbles all around her.

Three or four minutes later, the heavy iron gate slowly opened a crack with a grating squeal.

An old man emerged from behind it.

He was thin and slightly hunched, wearing an old, patched-up coat.

Deep wrinkles lined his face, like land worn away by years of wind and sand.

His skin was rough and dark, and his eyes were a little cloudy, with heavy bags beneath them.

As soon as he appeared, he didn't even look at Chen Yan, the unfamiliar face. Instead, he launched straight into a scolding of the Qiu siblings in the vehicle:

"Didn't I tell you over and over again? There was a ferocious beast riot to the west last night, and the energy readings were abnormal. All teams were forbidden from going out!"

"You little brats not only sneaked out, you even stole vehicle number three!"

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? If you do it again, don't even think about staying in the camp. Get out and fend for yourselves!"

The two brothers, Qiu Rao and Qiu Jiu, had clearly grown used to this. Still grinning, they leaned out from the truck bed:

"Don't be mad, Uncle Zhou! We came back safe and sound, didn't we? We didn't even run into a single live ferocious beast on the way!"

"Just calm down and take a look at what we brought back!"

As he spoke, Qiu Jiu yanked away the waterproof cover over the truck bed, revealing a neatly piled heap of enormous snake meat that shimmered with an odd sheen.

"Hm?" Uncle Zhou's cloudy but sharp gaze swept across the darkly gleaming snake meat in the truck bed, and his brows knitted together.

"Judging by the size of the Earth Scale Python's scales and its body, it must have been at least a fifth-rank ferocious beast. Its scales would've been tough enough to turn aside ordinary blades and swords."

He looked up, his gaze scraping across the three Qiu siblings like a knife. "Don't tell me the three of you little brats hunted this thing?"

Under his gaze, Qiu Jiu shrank his neck and scratched his head sheepishly.

"Not exactly... We're nowhere near that capable, Uncle Zhou. We sort of... stumbled across it?"

"Maybe it fought with some even more powerful ferocious beast, and they both got badly hurt, so we got lucky?"

"Hmph. Wishful thinking." Uncle Zhou snorted, not believing in such a lucky coincidence. He was more concerned about something else. "What about the beast core? Is it still there?"

Seeing Qiu Jiu fumbling around, seemingly unable to find a place to cut into the snake's head, Uncle Zhou clicked his tongue impatiently and stepped forward.

He pressed his fingers together like a blade. Though his hand was thin and gaunt, it seemed to hold the power to pierce stone and metal. He casually thrust it into a certain spot on the snake's head, whose toughness far exceeded that of steel, then scooped something out!

"Splurt"—a soft sound.

When he withdrew his hand, a dark yellow crystal, about the size of a pigeon's egg, rested between his fingertips.

It was neither jade nor stone. Chen Yan could clearly sense a modest amount of energy contained within it.

Is this a beast core? Chen Yan wondered. His knowledge of the ferocious beasts of this era was truly lacking—he knew even less than Qiu Jiu, a child.

A sense of urgency, born of his illiteracy, rose in his heart. I need to get my original body to read more...

More than the beast core itself, Chen Yan was secretly surprised by how effortlessly Uncle Zhou had struck just now.

When he had fought the giant serpent, he'd struggled to penetrate its defenses.

He hadn't expected that this gaunt-looking old man could casually pierce the hardest part of its skull with such precision and ease, then extract the beast core.

That degree of control over his strength and insight into an opponent's weaknesses was no ordinary feat.

Uncle Zhou casually wiped the blood and brain matter off the beast core with his sleeve, then turned his attention to Chen Yan.

Seeing this, Qiu Yashuang was just about to introduce him. "Uncle Zhou, this is..."

Before she could finish, a formless pressure, heavy as a mountain, suddenly spread out from Uncle Zhou!

It didn't bear down on their bodies, but acted directly on their minds.

Qiu Yashuang, Qiu Rao, and Qiu Jiu were the first to be hit. Their faces instantly paled.

Their breathing grew labored, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably as beads of cold sweat sprang across their foreheads.

At first, Chen Yan hadn't noticed anything was wrong. It wasn't until he glanced at Qiu Jiu's constipated expression beside him that he understood!

He deliberately let his eyes glaze over for a moment and swayed ever so slightly.

At the same time, a perfectly convincing pallor quickly spread across his face.

The moment he looked as though he could barely hold on, that formless pressure suddenly receded like a tide, vanishing without a trace.

"What are you doing, Uncle Zhou?" As soon as the pressure lifted, Qiu Yashuang gasped for breath and cried out in anger and alarm.

"You're a Professional Rank 9 expert! Why are you putting pressure on a bunch of kids like us? Are you trying to crush us to death?"

Uncle Zhou ignored her complaints entirely. His sharp eyes remained fixed on Chen Yan, who had just "recovered." In a hoarse voice, he said calmly, "Not bad."

Only then did he offer an explanation to Qiu Yashuang, though his gaze never left Chen Yan. "I was just testing whether he was a ferocious beast in disguise."

"Why are you making such a fuss, girl?"

Chen Yan looked at Uncle Zhou and keenly sensed a sharp, hard-to-describe aura faintly emanating from him.

It was like an ancient sword hidden in a battered scabbard. Though it remained sheathed, it still seemed to send a chill across the skin.

Just then, the system notification rang out in Chen Yan's mind.

[ Ding! Detected a possessor of a special physique (Zhou Li)! ]

[ Physique: Dust Sword Heart ]

[ Current Realm: Professional Rank 9 ]