Can You Purify Beast Cores?

Fortunately, Gree still had a last resort. At least he could save his own life. He raised a hand slightly, and an inconspicuous scroll appeared between his fingers.

"Don't let him tear that scroll! He's trying to run!"

Before the shout had faded, Gree tore the scroll open. Dazzling white light flared—the light of spatial teleportation. Gree knew he had offended plenty of people, so he kept a supply of rare scrolls on hand to avoid trouble. The Darkness Cage had been one. This teleportation scroll was another.

Red Beard was already right in front of him, close enough to grab him with a single reach. But he was still too late.

Everyone could only watch as the light slowly faded. Then they saw Gree standing frozen where he had been. The sun was about to rise, and in the dim light, his dark figure looked almost pitiful.

Ye Chuqi waved the dagger in her hand and smiled with sweet innocence. "Caught you!"

Chapter 15: Kru Town 05—Can You Purify Beast Cores?

Everyone there had the same question, but no one knew how to ask it. How had Ye Chuqi managed to make spatial teleportation fail?

No wonder Gree was stunned. He still held the pose he had struck while tearing open the scroll. That was a blow anyone would have trouble taking.

The members of the Red Wind Mercenary Group who had come along all chose, without a word, to stay silent.

Ye Chuqi stood there smiling and waved to everyone. "You're here!" Judging by the distance and their usual speeds, they had arrived quickly—even earlier than she had expected. That was thanks to the Starhorn Horses running flat out.

Red Beard reached Ye Chuqi and looked her over. Once he saw that she had only a few superficial wounds and was in good spirits, half the tension left him. The other half would have to wait until Xiya examined her. He hadn't forgotten that Ye Chuqi had already been injured before this.

What she had accomplished was beyond anything they had imagined.

"Why didn't you wait for us?" The plan had only been for Ye Chuqi to draw out whoever was attacking from the shadows. They would handle the rest. But things had gone wrong from the start. No one had expected Ed to be so useless.

If Ye Chuqi hadn't thought to leave them a message, they might still have no idea she was in trouble.

"Things happened too fast. I didn't want to be taken into the Lost Forest."

Ye Chuqi raised a hand to wipe the blood from her face. The wound itched, but Red Beard stopped her. "It's your face. Don't you care?" If she touched it so carelessly, she might leave a scar.

"It's... probably fine?"

Then Red Beard noticed that Ye Chuqi hadn't moved from where she stood. "You can't move?"

"Mm. It's not that I can't." She had laid a Demon-Trapping Formation, and the spot beneath her feet was its core. By standing there and activating it, she had stopped Gree when he tried to escape with the teleportation scroll.

Even though it was only a simplified Demon-Trapping Formation, it created a separate space while active. Naturally, the teleportation scroll had failed. Ye Chuqi hadn't expected the formation to have that effect when she laid it. She had only realized what happened after Gree's teleportation failed.

It had been a lucky accident.

"Catch him." Ye Chuqi pointed at Gree. "He isn't the mastermind. There are others."

Red Beard smiled helplessly and rested a hand on Ye Chuqi's head. "Leave the rest to us." Her long golden hair glowed beneath the rising sun, and his hand suddenly felt hot.

As long as they caught one person they could question, they would soon find more clues. Besides, this one looked like a major catch.

"What's this?" One of the group, checking the area, noticed something unusual on the ground and bent down to inspect it.

"Don't touch it!" Ye Chuqi rarely raised her voice, but she was afraid she wouldn't stop him in time.

He froze mid-bend and turned toward her. "W-what is it?"

"Don't move. Anything on the ground—don't touch it."

At her warning, everyone pulled back their reaching hands. Soon, a deeply unwilling Gree was bound and secured. In case he had more strange scrolls, they searched every place on his body where he could hide something and even forced him to change clothes.

Only then did Ye Chuqi breathe easier and step away from her position. She bent to pick up the Low-Rank Beast Core she had thrown onto the ground as an energy source for the formation node. "You can pick them up now."

A complete Demon-Trapping Formation wouldn't have needed her to serve as its core. But this was a simplified version, so she had taken that position to strengthen it. It seemed she had been right. The energy in the Low-Rank Beast Core had been completely spent. All that remained was a dull gray lump that crumbled to powder under the slightest pressure.

The persistent mercenary bent and picked up another. "What's this?" The one in his hand was in much better shape. The cores nearest the formation's center had supplied most of the energy, while those farther away still held quite a bit. He stared at the pale-green crystal, hardly daring to voice his guess. "A Beast Core?"

Ye Chuqi nodded.

The Beast Cores at the center had no energy left and weren't worth collecting. Only the outer ring held anything. She might as well take those back as snacks for Big Black Fish.

Clutching the Beast Core, the mercenary's gaze drifted. "A Purified Beast Core?"

Ye Chuqi nodded again.

"A low-rank Purified Beast Core?"

Ye Chuqi watched him silently, as if waiting for his next question.

"Oh my heavens!" He circled the area in a frenzy, gathering every Beast Core worth picking up. He even checked the spots where the cores had been completely drained. Only then did he rush back to Ye Chuqi. "All of these? How did you do it? ..."

He swallowed the rest of his questions, but Ye Chuqi understood.