Nine Treasures Has a Name, Fourth: Defense

A rainstorm had passed over the outskirts of Sunset Forest.

The forest floor was soft, and droplets clung to the bushes. The Shrek group had gone less than five li when Ma Hongjun stepped into his second mud puddle, coating the cuffs of his black uniform in yellow mud.

"I shouldn't have worn this."

"You'd get just as dirty in red." Oscar offered him a Recovery Sausage. "Want one?"

Ma Hongjun glanced at it. "We've barely left the city, and you already want me to eat that?"

"Suit yourself. Two silver soul coins."

"That's robbery!"

The two bickered as they walked, but Ning Rongrong suddenly stopped ahead of them. She raised a hand for silence, then looked down at a patch of flattened grass.

Several tiny scales lay on the leaves, gray-green with a metallic sheen along their edges. A scrape marked the nearby tree trunk, only knee-high but two inches deep.

"A Scale Armor Beast."

Tang San picked up a scale. "It should be about three meters long and over five thousand years old. Its armor can withstand physical blows and Soul Power attacks. It's a good match for the defensive boost Rongrong needs."

Ning Rongrong's eyes lit up. "Let's find it."

Zhao Wuji examined the scrape. "Scale Armor Beasts are timid. Once attacked, they like to burrow into rocky places. There's a scree slope ahead. It shouldn't be far."

The group changed formation. Zhu Zhuqing scouted ahead, Tang San and Xiao Wu guarded Ning Rongrong's flanks, and Dai Mubai took the lead. Yuan Yu brought up the rear, the Rock Pattern inside his blade slowly brightening with the faint tremors beneath his feet.

The Scale Armor Beast's trail was broken.

Every so often, it slipped into a crevice and emerged somewhere else. Zhu Zhuqing lost its scent twice,