The Sacred Beast Egg, the Kneeling Lineage of the Kong Mansion! (Two chapters in one, over eight thousand characters-please send monthly votes)

The ancient forest loomed dense and dark, like a gaping maw waiting to devour its prey.

Several Beggar Gang members in patchwork robes, begging bags hanging at their waists, raced through the trees. Every footfall sent a spray of black mud flying from the humus-covered ground.

"Elder, trouble!"

A young beggar at the rear looked back. Through the overlapping branches and leaves came faint, piercing screams, like cloth being torn—or bones being chewed to pieces.

His face went deathly pale. "The Ironback Gray Wolves are about to catch those rogue cultivators behind us!" he cried urgently.

Li Jingtao, the Beggar Gang elder flying ahead of them, never looked back. He did not slow in the slightest; instead, he drove the suppressed power within him harder and picked up speed.

"Leave them."

Li Jingtao's voice was cold and hard as iron, merciless amid the howling wind. "Don't forget our real business. On the surface, we're leading a party to gather spirit herbs and letting these rogue cultivators have a sip of the soup. But that's nothing more than a smokescreen."

"But—" The young beggar gritted his teeth, his steps faltering. "If we abandon them and they're all wiped out, when someone asks us afterward—"

"Who would care whether a handful of rogue cultivators lived or died?"

A sinister gleam flashed in the deeply creased corners of Li Jingtao's eyes. "Once they entered the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land, their lives were in fate's hands. We'll say we encountered a spirit beast rampage and got separated in the chaos. Any excuse will do."

"In this world, a soft heart is the most useless thing you can have. Especially now."

He planted his toes hard against a tree trunk and shot several yards forward.

"Remember, in this world, a soft heart is the most