Hate Mountain Corpse Scavenger!

"See? What did I tell you?" Old Man pointed at Little Fatty and said smugly.

"You just got lucky," Tang Fei said unwillingly.

"Lucky? Why don't you get lucky for me, then? I'm telling you, these eyes of mine are like Sun Wukong's Fiery Golden Eyes. They can see through appearances to the truth." Old Man patted Little Fatty on the shoulder. "Don't be fooled by how simple-minded this guy looks. He isn't stupid at all. Little Fatty, did you deliberately let that hammer fly out of your hand?"

Little Fatty nodded and said sheepishly, "I was too tired. I felt like I could barely lift the hammer anymore. I knew I'd definitely lose if we kept fighting like that."

"So I decided to leave an opening and see if I could find a chance to kill him in one strike. That's what Big Brother always did when he fought people."

Tang Fei rubbed Little Fatty's head, then got a handful of sweat. Little Fatty had used too much force just now, and his hair was soaked through, all sticky and damp.

Tang Fei wiped his hand on Little Fatty's clothes in disgust. "Well done. What do I always tell you? In a fight to the death, it's either you die, or I find a way to make you die."

"If it keeps you alive, there's nothing you can't do. Only victors receive praise from others. If you were the one lying on the ground, what meaning would noble character have for you?"

"Got it. I'll listen to you, Big Brother," Little Fatty said, nodding.

"Is everyone all right?" Old Man asked.

"We've been standing in front of you for ages, and you're only asking now?"

"Wasn't I busy overseeing Little Fatty's battle? How could I have had time to think about that?" Old Man said. "Those assassins should all be dead, right?"

"For now, we haven't found anyone else," Tang Fei said.

He kicked Flying Dagger, who lay on the ground, and said disdainfully, "What kind of assassin squad was this? More like a suicide squad."

Old Man shook his head. "These were all first-rate experts. Every one of them had some real skills. They were just too careless. They never expected to run into a group like us."

Phoenix nodded. She knew Old Man was right.

If random people on Old Earth all possessed strength like theirs, Old Earth would have risen long ago. With a few technological breakthroughs, they might even have fought their way onto New Star.

Unfortunately, they were ultimately only a tiny minority, as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

If Tang Fei had not been the one to find her, but some other Old Earth refugees had, they would probably have dealt with her long ago.

Thinking of this, she could not help looking toward Tang Fei.

Tang Fei happened to be thinking of the same thing. He looked over at Phoenix, and their eyes met.

Tang Fei hurriedly turned away, then felt that made him seem like he had a Guilty Conscience. So he stiffly turned back and stared openly at Phoenix.

This time, Phoenix was the one who became shy. Her cheeks reddened slightly as she looked away.

Only then was Tang Fei satisfied.

I can be shameless, but I can't lose.

Old Man watched the exchange between the two youngsters and could not help chuckling.

Little Fatty was utterly baffled. What was so funny?

"The main thing is that they came to the wrong place," Tang Fei said.

This was Hate Mountain. It was his territory.

He knew this place too well. There were too many things he could use, too many traps he could set.

Take that row of arrow traps, for example. He had made them earlier to hunt King Kong boars. After a few minor changes, they had come in handy this time.

And then there was Hell's Gate. It had always worked without fail. No matter what animal followed Tang Fei inside, only its body came back out, while its soul was handed over. He had not expected it to nearly backfire this time.

"Exactly. You've been running around these mountains since you were a kid. No one knows them better than you. Once they came in, weren't they walking straight into death?" Old Man rarely praised Tang Fei. "But what happened with that Hell's Gate? How did you let someone force you into such a state? If Phoenix hadn't shown up in time, you might have left your life there. This time, you performed worse than even Little Fatty."

"How is that my fault? How was I supposed to know they had a transforming aircraft? What do I have besides a pair of hands?"

"The dead have no way to defend themselves," Old Man said with a grave expression.

"..."

Tang Fei knew Old Man had a point, so he did not want to talk to him anymore.

He looked at Phoenix and said, "They must have come here in a spaceship or a starcraft of some kind. If we can find it, you can go home."

"Mm." Phoenix nodded happily. "At the very least, I can use their communications equipment to contact my family on New Star."

"That's right." Tang Fei was happy too. Thinking about Phoenix sending him a huge supply of weapons and materials after she returned, he felt like his good days were about to begin. "It's a shame we didn't leave anyone alive. Otherwise, we could have asked where they parked their ship."

"Use your brain." Old Man tapped his own head.

Tang Fei looked at Old Man. "What do you have in mind?"

"What could I possibly have in mind? I'm already this old. What else can I think about? I'm telling you to use your brain and figure out where they might have parked their ship."

Tang Fei looked around and said, "If I were them, I'd park the ship at the highest point in this area. I'd leave it on the summit of Hate Mountain, where I could see everything around me. And if anything happened, it would be easier to make a getaway, wouldn't it?"

No sooner had he finished speaking than a blinding blaze lit up atop Hate Mountain.

Soon, the fire shot into the sky and vanished from everyone's sight.

They stared at one another.

Little Fatty looked at Tang Fei with worshipful admiration. "Big Brother, you're amazing. You guessed it right on the first try."

"What good is guessing right?" Old Man flew into a rage. "They got away! How could we let them get away? That was a starcraft! If we'd managed to keep that starcraft..."

"You know how to fly it?" Tang Fei asked.

"What the hell do you know? Starcraft technology is so advanced these days. You only need voice controls and to enter the coordinates. You don't have to do anything else." Old Man grumbled furiously.

Something that should have been his for the taking had escaped right under his nose.

To someone like Old Man, anything he failed to pick up was something he had lost.

It was utterly infuriating.

Tang Fei's heart ached so badly he could barely breathe. He stared at the sky for a long while before sadly telling Phoenix, "You can't leave after all."

"Yes, what a shame," Phoenix said, and there was even a hint of lightness in her voice.

She truly wanted to go back, but if she could not return for the time being, she was not all that upset.

Tang Fei found Phoenix's tone a little strange, but did not dwell on it.

He looked thoughtfully at Phoenix and asked, "Were these the people who came with you to search for the Monarch's Great Tomb?"

"No." Phoenix shook her head.

"They really didn't seem like it. You're a student at some school on New Star, right? How could these people be students? What kind of student is that old? What kind of student is that twisted?"

"Exactly," Phoenix agreed.

"These people were professional assassins." Tang Fei smiled at Phoenix, carefully watching the changes in her expression. "What terrible thing did you do that someone was willing to spend a fortune sending assassins to kill you?"

Phoenix knew Tang Fei and the others had begun to suspect her identity. Without changing expression or missing a beat, she said, "There was someone in our group with a very powerful background. He wanted to seize the Monarch's Great Tomb for himself, so he ordered people killed. He even slaughtered his classmates and teachers."

"They were afraid that once I returned to New Star, I'd expose the evil things he had done, so they sent assassins here to kill me."

Tang Fei looked at Old Man. Old Man said irritably, "Believe it if you want. Don't believe it if you don't. Why are you looking at me?"

"I want to know whether you believe it."

"I don't." Old Man answered decisively. "Haven't I always told you two? Women are all liars. The prettier they are, the better they are at lying."

"You say that like you've suffered countless heartbreaks," Tang Fei said irritably.

"Sigh, I broke the hearts of young maidens. If not a thousand, then at least eight hundred." Old Man sighed deeply over his unbearable past.

"What happened? Did you sell them fake face masks?"

"..."

"Pfft!"

Phoenix knew she should not laugh at a time like this, but she could not hold it in and burst into giggles.

When Tang Fei and Old Man looked at her strangely, Phoenix forcibly stopped laughing and took the initiative to apologize to Old Man. "Uncle, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"Forget it, forget it." Old Man waved magnanimously. "Laugh if you want. That little story you made up might fool these two foolish brats, but fool me? No chance."

"Uncle..."

"If you don't want to talk, we won't force you." Old Man looked at Phoenix and warned, "But if you hurt them, don't blame me for showing no mercy."

"Uncle, don't worry. They're my friends. I would never hurt them."

Old Man stretched his arms and yawned. "Let's go back, let's go back. We've been busy all night. I'm exhausted."

Then he said to Tang Fei, "Go search the bodies and see whether they have anything useful on them."

"I already did," Tang Fei said.

He was very good at looting corpses. Every time he killed someone, he searched them, and he never came away empty-handed.

"Good." Old Man was quite satisfied with Tang Fei's performance.

This brat's way of handling things was far too much like his own.

Not at all like his father.

The night was deep, and the mountain forest was dense.

Tang Fei led Phoenix, Little Fatty, Old Man, and the others over mountains and through rivers back home. It took more than an hour. They had not noticed how far they had run while fleeing, but on the way back, they realized they had gone quite a distance.

Everything in the courtyard was as it had been. Even the meat Little Fatty had hidden away had not been stolen.

Tang Fei looked at Phoenix and Little Fatty. "You go sleep. I'll keep watch."

Although they had taken care of several assassins, there was no guarantee that others were not hiding in the dark. A little caution was necessary.

"Brother, should I stay with you?" Little Fatty asked.

"No." Tang Fei refused. "Go get some sleep."

Little Fatty was not a Cultivator. He had also fought for most of the day, and his stamina had been severely depleted. He was probably exhausted already.

"I'll stay with you." Phoenix looked at Tang Fei. "I'm a Cultivator. Even while sitting still, I can use Yin Yang Qi to regulate my body... Besides, I can keep you company and talk with you."

"It's settled, then." Old Man yawned and dragged away Little Fatty, who still wanted to act tough.

Why were you competing over something like this? You were getting in the way of your brother finding you a Sister-in-law.

(P.S. Please send all the firepower support you can!)