Several more dull thuds rang out. This time, even more people fell than before—more than twenty in all. Huo Hai alone had killed half the men He Wang had brought. How were they supposed to fight now? There was nowhere to hide.
Whoosh! A flying knife suddenly shot out from the corner, aimed straight at Huo Hai. Huo Hai seemed utterly unaware, showing no reaction at all. He Wang appeared to have already seen the outcome of Huo Hai being pierced through by the knife.
This was an expert he had gone to great lengths to win over. When dealing with Ji Mu before, they could not kill her, so he had not appeared. He Wang had thought there would be no need for him today, yet Huo Hai had emerged halfway through. But what happened next filled everyone with terror. It was not that Huo Hai had failed to react—he simply had no need to.
Specks of starlight swiftly gathered around Huo Hai, forming the shape of a shield. The flying knife vanished strangely the moment it entered the starlight shield. Only Huo Hai knew that his Star Gu had eaten it.
Metal objects could not provide much energy. The Star Gu would spit out the scraps afterward, so it would not affect him. But this was no time to think about that. Huo Hai stretched out his hand and flicked a finger lightly.
Another Star Gu shot forth. Once the Star Gu struck, anyone below the Spirit Practitioner Realm had no ability to evade it. With a muffled groan, the expert He Wang had painstakingly recruited collapsed to the ground and lost all signs of life.
The smile on He Wang's face froze for the second time. What exactly was going on? What had that spiritual power defense been just now? How could the Huo Family possess such a powerful secret technique? He had never heard of it.
Damn it. His trump card had been wiped out just like that, and nearly half his men were dead. The rest had been scared out of their wits and did not dare rush forward to their deaths. Even if they dared, He Wang was unwilling. He had already suffered enough losses today. If he lost every one of his subordinates, forget gaining anything—even entering Imperial City Academy would become impossible.
"Very good, Huo Hai. I'll remember you. This matter isn't over between us. Let's go." The last sentence was directed at his subordinates. He Wang's men had long since been scared out of their wits, and upon hearing this, they hurriedly retreated.
Before long, they had all fled clean away. Huo Hai had wanted to keep them here, but when he glanced at Ji Mu beside him, he could only stop. If this woman exposed him, that would be troublesome.
A soul from Earth was never stingy about viewing others in the worst possible light. Even if she was someone he had saved, who knew what she was truly thinking? Back on Earth, even something as simple as helping an old woman cross the street had become something people did not dare do. Good people—did good people still have a way to survive in this world?
"All right, you're safe now. I should be leaving too." Huo Hai shook his head, turned around, and walked away. He did not want to become too entangled with anyone else. The secret of his insects could not be exposed for now. He would wait until he reached the Spirit Practitioner Realm.
"Hey, wait! I know you—you're Huo Hai." Ji Mu came to her senses, called out, and hurried after him. All her subordinates had died in the recent clash. With only herself left, how was she supposed to survive?
In the Southern Mountain Jungle, being born into a great Lineage while also being a beautiful woman was not a good thing. Huo Hai alone could rival such a large group of experts. For the sake of her own safety, of course she had to follow him. Besides, judging from Huo Hai's appearance, he should be a good person, right? Huo Hai did not yet know that he had already been branded a good person.
Most importantly, no matter how stale or melodramatic the tale of a hero saving a beauty might be, so long as it was not an act, the rescued beauty would always feel something a little different in her heart.
Ji Mu had already developed a trace of interest in Huo Hai. Huo Hai, however, had no such interest. He felt as if his stomach were about to boil. Too many people had died today. In the end, Huo Hai still had not fully adapted to it.
Bleurgh! Huo Hai opened his mouth, braced himself against a large tree, and vomited. He did not stop until he had emptied out everything he had eaten that day. Ji Mu, who had followed after him, widened her eyes at the sight of him vomiting his guts out.
"Pfft." Ji Mu could not hold it in and laughed. "Um, y-you don't need to mind me. I just didn't expect you to kill so decisively earlier, yet vomit like this afterward." The more she spoke, the funnier it seemed. Even she, a woman, would not care about seeing a few dead bodies. Yet this grown man was reacting like this—it was truly strange.
Although Huo Hai was several years younger than Ji Mu, that was nothing. Spirit Masters had long lifespans, and they were no ordinary people. Huo Hai's reaction was truly... truly beyond words.
"Laugh if you want. Didn't you feel bad the first time you killed someone?" The moment he mentioned killing, Huo Hai could not help but start dry-heaving again. Saying it was easy, but actually doing it was quite difficult.
Ji Mu nodded and said softly, "So it was your first time. Sorry, I didn't know." Though she said that, she did not think much of it. Having been steeped in such things since childhood, Ji Mu had not vomited even the first time she killed someone.
She had been educated that the weak were prey to the strong and had often heard of people dying. She had even seen dead people since she was little. Once they grew older, their Lineage would arrange for them to hunt wild beasts, or even bandits and robbers with little strength.
For Huo Hai to have reached this age before killing someone for the first time was quite a curiosity. Wait, had Huo Hai not lost his memories? Perhaps he had forgotten what he did before, and this really was his first kill since recovering his memories. With that thought, Ji Mu became even more interested in Huo Hai. Just how had this little fellow trained those techniques?
If she remembered correctly, it had only been around two months since he lost his memories. At last, Huo Hai had vomited his stomach clean and did not want to eat anything for a while. The Star Gu also crawled out of the wounds at this time and secretly flew back to Huo Hai's side.
"Miss Ji, you're safe now, so you should leave quickly as well. I still need to continue my trial." Huo Hai truly did not want to travel with anyone else. He did not want to expose his secrets. Ever since arriving in this world, Huo Hai had carried a kind of fear.
Whenever his secrets were exposed, the fear in Huo Hai's heart would always deepen for no reason.
"Leave? That won't do. Are you going to watch a weak woman like me wander through the mountain forest alone? What if I run into a Spirit Beast? What if I run into someone else with ill intentions toward me? Please help me—take me with you. I won't cause you trouble. Besides, I still need to repay you properly." Ji Mu rarely acted cute like this.
After acting cute, Ji Mu's face suddenly turned crimson. How could she make such a gesture? This was not home, and this fellow was not her family. How could she act like that? It must be because he had just saved her, stirring her emotions.
Ji Mu told herself this. At the same time, Huo Hai somehow felt like family to her. She did not know why, but whenever she looked at Huo Hai, her heart felt very calm. People who were neither affected nor wore hypocritical masks were truly rare.
Huo Hai showed no unusual reaction, and Ji Mu's complexion recovered a little. "Hmph, I don't care. I'm following you no matter what. Don't even think about shaking me off." Ji Mu puffed out her cheeks as she spoke. It was all this fellow's fault for making her embarrass herself. She had to make him pay.
Huo Hai shook his head helplessly. And she called herself a weak woman? Her cultivation had probably already reached Spirit Blood Peak. One step further and she would enter the Spirit Bone Realm. If she broke through, even all those people combined would not have been able to stop her. But what could Huo Hai do? He could neither beat this woman nor kill her, and in terms of cultivation, he was no match for her.
Although Huo Hai was extremely capable at killing, he was not good at speed. During this period, he had cultivated and researched some combat techniques, but they were all for attacking and defending. As for movement techniques, he only had basic dodging.
Huo Hai discovered that no matter where he went, Ji Mu followed. She was utterly carefree, not worried about her situation in the slightest. Huo Hai was helpless. If he had known, he would not have shown himself. He should have just saved her in secret and left.
"How long are you planning to follow me? How about I give you a hundred cards, and you leave the mountain forest now? That way, you'll be safe, and you'll have passed the Imperial City Academy entrance trial too." The trial could end early, so long as one obtained more than one hundred cards. Though there were surely plenty of people lying in ambush at the exit.
Ji Mu pouted, looking displeased. "Hmph, I'm following you. If you don't want me to, I'll go to your home and tell your father that you bullied me." What kind of shameless tactic was that? Was she a child?
Huo Hai did not see that Ji Mu's face had already turned red. What's wrong with me? How could I say something like that? Honestly. If he really bullied me, then wouldn't that mean... Ah, what am I even thinking? Though she was already over twenty, Ji Mu had spent most of her time cultivating. Deep down, she was still like a little girl.
Huo Hai was helpless. He could not shake her off, so it seemed he could only act in secret. After Huo Hai left, several Star Gu flew back to the site of the battle. They devoured all the corpses on the ground, along with everything else.
All of it was energy; it could not be wasted. Besides, cleaning up the corpses and erasing the traces would keep anyone from discovering them. Presumably, He Wang himself would not reveal such a matter either. If he did reveal it, all the better—Huo Hai would not need to act.
He Wang had privately raised a large force of personal soldiers. The other heirs of the He Family would never let him off. Huo Hai had not thought of this during the battle, but once it ended, he recalled it bit by bit. Thinking it over, that really was how things stood.
Before you continue