Ji Feng activated Martial Soul Possession. The draconic might erupting from him directly destroyed the snakes' central nervous systems.
They fell from Ji Feng's body and landed on the ground, twitching incessantly.
Ji Feng opened the Blood Gate and returned to the Undead Demiplane.
He withdrew his martial soul. His body was densely covered in snakebite wounds.
Holy light flashed on his right hand as he activated the Holy Dragon Right Arm Bone's soul skill. His entire body bathed in holy light and rapidly healed.
The holy light dissipated, and Ji Feng kept checking how well his body had recovered.
Suddenly, he spoke.
"Water."
A large ball of water formed in midair, continuously supplying Ji Feng with cool, clean water. Traces of coolness seeped into his skin, and his taut nerves gradually relaxed as a wave of comfort washed over him.
The Dragon Corpse spoke. "Big brother, what would you do without me?"
Ji Feng ignored the Dragon Corpse's boasting and kept surveying the Undead Demiplane. Xiang Li's soul had long since been devoured, and his corpse had been taken into the Dragon Core for refinement. Quite a few miscellaneous objects lay scattered on the ground, and Ji Feng gave the place a quick cleanup.
While the Dragon Core was still digesting what he had just eaten, Ji Feng hurriedly gathered the soul tools left behind by Xiang Li and the two Soul Master guards.
Their soul tools were all pretty good. One guard's soul tool was a longsword inlaid with a black crystal. Ji Feng called it the Black Crystal Sword.
The other soul tool was also unusual, resembling a short cannon without a handle.
Ji Feng put the soul tools away, tossed the useless clutter out of the Undead Demiplane, and continued through the stone forest, following the map Ning Yu had drawn.
After walking for over an hour, Ji Feng opened his watch and checked it. It was almost ten in the morning already, so why hadn't the sky brightened?
In Shrek City, inside a small building beside Sea God Lake at Shrek Academy.
This was the reception hall of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion. Important guests who were not quite important enough to be received in the Sea God Pavilion itself were received here.
A ray of sunlight shone into the main hall. Elder Zhuang, an elder of the Sea God Pavilion, lifted his teacup, took a gentle sip, and quietly waited for his guest to arrive.
After roughly an hour, a man of medium build entered the small building under a student's guidance. He wore a pale pink suit and a white dress hat, with false eyelashes attached to his eyelids. His face was tiny, his chin pointed, and his features exceedingly soft, making him look like a woman dressed as a man.
He removed his hat and bowed to Elder Zhuang. "City Hunter Xiao Qiuyi, at your service."
"Xiao Qiuyi?"
The person standing before him was clearly a man, yet he had given himself a woman's name. He and Elder Zhuang were also old acquaintances.
Elder Zhuang neither returned the bow nor even rose from his chair. Looking at the bowing man, he merely gave a faintly contemptuous scoff. "It's been a few years. Why do you look more and more like a woman?"
His voice was gentle, but his words grated on the ears.
Xiao Qiuyi replied politely, "Elder Zhuang, woman or man, all that matters is having grace. Grace is what matters most."
Elder Zhuang pointed at the chair beside him. "Sit."
Xiao Qiuyi put his dress hat back on. He was somewhat displeased by Elder Zhuang's arrogance, but sat down anyway.
Elder Zhuang lit a cigarette, took a drag, and slowly said, "I called you here to do three things.
"First, clearing new territory. You're an expert, and you know the going rates. Second, finding someone. Third, killing someone.
"There's no need to elaborate on clearing the territory. As for finding someone, I already explained it in my letter. He is Mu En's only remaining bloodline in this world. You must find him. This is the most urgent matter.
"As for the killing, the target's name is Ji Feng. Here are his photograph and information. Preferably, capture him alive."
Xiao Qiuyi looked at Ji Feng's photograph and sighed. "What a pity."
"What's a pity?" Elder Zhuang was taken aback.
Xiao Qiuyi smiled. "Nothing. I just thought it was a pity about this child."
Before discussing business, City Hunter Xiao Qiuyi first asked about something.
"Elder Zhuang, with your standing and position, a single order would bring a whole crowd of people running to do your bidding. How could I be your first choice for these three tasks?"
Elder Zhuang fell silent for a moment before answering, "I don't want anyone knowing about the last two, especially outsiders. There are too many eyes and ears within Shrek."
Xiao Qiuyi smiled. "Clearing territory is something you're doing for Shrek, but that should just be a smokescreen. Rescuing someone and killing someone-neither can stand the light of day, can they? The last two are what you truly want done."
Elder Zhuang frowned slightly. "Why are you so talkative now? Where has your professionalism gone? Name your price."
Xiao Qiuyi drank a cup of tea and deliberated for a moment before naming his prices for Elder Zhuang's three tasks.
"For the first task, clearing territory, the market rate for that plot you want is at least thirty jin of rare metal. There's no need to say more."
Elder Zhuang nodded in agreement.
Xiao Qiuyi continued, "The second task, finding someone, is difficult. Harder than fishing a needle out of the sea. A needle dropped into the sea won't run around on its own.
"But the person you want to find, Mu En's only remaining bloodline, has suffered a mental breakdown and is wandering all over the place. Finding him won't be so easy."
Hearing this, Elder Zhuang's heart grew somewhat heavy, but his expression remained calm. "Who told you Mu Bei Bei had lost his mind? How could he have lost his mind? He's merely missing."
Xiao Qiuyi smiled. "Elder Zhuang, you said yourself that Shrek is full of eyes and ears. This news didn't come from me, so there's no need to take your temper out on me. I'm only telling you that this will be difficult."
Elder Zhuang picked up the boiling water beside him and poured it into the teapot, refusing to dwell further on the subject.
"I know you want to raise the price. Just say it, and stop wasting time, Xiao Qiuyi."
Xiao Qiuyi held up one finger. "Ten jin of rare metal."
Elder Zhuang asked, "Can you guarantee success?"
Xiao Qiuyi shook his head. "Of course not. But if I can't find him, I'll return the ten jin of metal."
Elder Zhuang nodded. "Good. That's a fair price."
"The third task, killing someone. Killing this Ji Feng, preferably taking him alive." Xiao Qiuyi pondered for a moment. "Twenty jin of rare metal alive, ten jin dead."
Elder Zhuang raised his teacup and took a sip. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Ten jin of rare metal just to kill a ten-year-old child? Do you think that's reasonable?"
He wanted to ask how a mongrel like Ji Feng could possibly be mentioned in the same breath as Mu Bei Bei, but he did not say it aloud.
He would never put Ji Feng and Mu Bei Bei side by side for comparison. In fact, based on Xiao Qiuyi's price for capturing him alive, Ji Feng was worth more than Mu Bei Bei.
Xiao Qiuyi leafed through the information on Ji Feng and said to Elder Zhuang, "Right now, I don't have a single piece of useful information about Ji Feng. Your intelligence is hopelessly outdated, which means I could very well capsize in a gutter."
"Why do you say my intelligence is outdated?" Elder Zhuang was deeply displeased.
Xiao Qiuyi was very patient. "Elder Zhuang, you say Ji Feng is a good-for-nothing with zero innate soul power, that he only has a special martial soul and no soul power cultivation. But as far as I know, he has already reached level twenty and possesses two special soul rings."
"A level-twenty Soul Grandmaster?" Elder Zhuang did not believe Xiao Qiuyi. "How do you know he has any cultivation?"
Xiao Qiuyi smiled. "Would you believe me if I said I just saw him?"
"You saw him?" Elder Zhuang smiled and shook his head. Naturally, he would not believe such a claim.
Xiao Qiuyi did not even know Ji Feng, much less have any dealings with him.
Yet Xiao Qiuyi believed that the man with the special dragon martial soul he had encountered on the road just now was Ji Feng.
His hunter's instinct told him that man was no ordinary person.
Before you continue