The Wolf Head Mercenary Group? I'll Deal with Them Too!

By the time they returned to Qingshan Town, the sky had begun to darken.

Xiao Yi Xian led Xiao Yan through the side entrance into the Myriad Medicine Pavilion's rear courtyard. Once the door closed, Xiao Yan took several wooden chests filled with medicinal ingredients and gold coins out of his Storage Ring.

"It's all here. Check it."

Xiao Yi Xian lifted a chest's lid. Her eyes curved into crescents at the sight of the neatly arranged jade boxes inside.

"No need. I trust you."

She put the medicinal ingredients in a cabinet and hid the gold coins separately, only turning back once she had finished.

"When are you leaving for Stone Desert City?"

"Once I've replenished a few supplies."

Xiao Yan sat down and casually poured himself a cup of water.

"What, reluctant to let me go?"

"I'm reluctant to lose your knack for helping me refine medicinal liquids."

The girl rolled her eyes at him, but a smile lingered on her lips.

She had originally gone into the mountains merely to gather herbs, yet she had ended up with a Poison Scripture and riches she would never have dared dream of before.

Rarer still, her companion had remembered every promise he had made to her, from beginning to end.

As they chatted, a sudden jumble of footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.

Then came a shop assistant's angry voice.

"You can't just barge into the back! Xiao Yi Xian only just returned. Whatever you want, wait out front..."

Bang!

Before he could finish, a heavy crash rang out.

The smile instantly vanished from Xiao Yi Xian's face, and she hurried over to pull open the door.

A shop assistant lay slumped beside the wall, while several saber-wearing mercenaries had already barged into the courtyard. The sturdy young man leading them had a snarling wolf's head emblem embroidered on his chest.

"Mu Li?"

Xiao Yi Xian's gaze turned cold.

"What are you doing here?"

"I heard you went into the mountains today and found some good things. I came to take a look."

Mu Li spoke with a smile, his gaze passing over her to settle on Xiao Yan inside the room.

"This must be the fellow who went with you?"

Xiao Yan set down his cup and slowly rose.

The Wolf Head Mercenary Group.

He had thought he would leave after collecting what he needed and might never encounter these people. Instead, they had come looking for him themselves.

Xiao Yi Xian helped the shop assistant up, then turned back. "What business is it of yours what herbs we gather?"

"Just gathering herbs?"

The smile on Mu Li's lips faded a little.

"The cliff east of town, freshly cut vines, and a cave dwelling stripped of its treasures. Xiao Yi Xian, surely you aren't going to claim none of that had anything to do with you?"

As he spoke, a mercenary behind him stepped half a pace forward.

"Young leader, we saw them climbing up from beneath the cliff while we were patrolling the mountains. After they left, we followed their tracks down. The herb garden inside had been dug up, and the stone boxes were empty."

So that was it.

Xiao Yan understood now, his gaze sweeping over them.

Unable to pick up ready-made spoils, they had followed the trail to rob us instead.

"We found the cave dwelling, and we took its contents."

He walked over to Xiao Yi Xian's side.

"Got a problem with that?"

Mu Li narrowed his eyes, sizing up the unfamiliar youth.

He had heard that a young man in the medicine shop yesterday knew how to refine medicines. But as the story passed from mouth to mouth, no one could say exactly what he had refined, and he did not even have an Alchemist rank.

With a cave dwelling's treasures now before him, how could Mu Li let them slip away so easily?

"Some things aren't necessarily good for you to keep."

Mu Li extended a hand and pointed at Xiao Yan's Storage Ring.

"Hand over the ring. Xiao Yi Xian, bring what you found and come with me to our base. If there's really nothing valuable, we'll naturally let you come back."

Xiao Yan laughed.

"You dare make promises on your father's behalf that even he wouldn't dare make."

"You're courting death!"

A mercenary immediately drew his saber. Its edge flashed coldly as he slashed straight at Xiao Yan's shoulder!

Xiao Yi Xian was about to warn him when Xiao Yan raised his hand, his fingers closing precisely around the back of the blade.

The Eight-Nine Arcane Arts circulated, and not even the skin of his palm broke.

Crack!

The steel saber snapped.

Before the savage expression could fade from the mercenary's face, a palm struck his chest. He flew backward, smashed through the courtyard gate, and lay motionless after hitting the ground.

The courtyard fell abruptly silent.

Mu Li's eyelids twitched. At last, he realized something was wrong.

He was just about to retreat when Xiao Yan looked his way.

"You barge in to rob us, then have the nerve to draw a blade first."

The youth rested his hand on his sword hilt, his voice growing flat.

"Then don't bother leaving."

"Everyone, attack!"

Mu Li shouted fiercely, yet suddenly reached for Xiao Yi Xian himself.

Since this brat was hard to handle, he would seize the person beside him first!

But the instant he extended his hand, a gleam of sword light flared.

Xiao Yan stepped half a pace sideways, shielding Xiao Yi Xian behind him. The Taiji Liangyi Sword swept from its sheath, clear and black hues flashing along its spine.

Origin-Returning Sword!

The weapons lunging toward him snapped in unison, and Mu Li's body suddenly stiffened.

He looked down at the blood rapidly seeping across his chest. His lips moved, but before he could utter a single word, he collapsed heavily to the ground.

The remaining mercenaries who had charged fastest likewise failed to stay on their feet.

The sword light had already faded, but no one in the courtyard dared take another step forward.

"My son!"

A furious roar suddenly rang out from the street.

Outside the courtyard wall, a middle-aged man leaped down. His gaze swept over Mu Li on the ground, and his face instantly twisted with rage.

It was Mu She, leader of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group!

Before coming, father and son had agreed that Mu Li would enter and demand the treasures while Mu She blocked their retreat at the street entrance. Even if the Myriad Medicine Pavilion summoned help, those reinforcements would have to get past him first.

Who could have known that he would only just hear the commotion when the sword light flared in the courtyard, then arrive to find his son on the ground?

He had not even been given a chance to save him!

"You little bastard! You'll pay with your life!"

The aura of a two-star Dou Shi erupted. Mu She stamped down, Dou Qi churning in his palm as he lunged straight at Xiao Yan's face.

"A Dou Shi..."

The shop assistant beside the wall went pale, and Xiao Yi Xian instinctively tightened her grip on her medicine pouch.

Xiao Yan could not even be bothered to raise his sword again.

He turned his left hand palm upward and lightly curled his fingers.

Five tiny strands of lightning—gold, green, blue, red, and yellow—suddenly lit up between his fingers.

Command the Five Thunders!

The instant the lightning appeared, every hair on the charging Mu She's body stood on end.

Sensing danger, he forcibly halted his attack. Dou Qi swiftly condensed into a barrier before him as he desperately dodged aside.

Too late.

Xiao Yan flicked a finger.

Boom!

A bolt of five-colored lightning streaked across the courtyard. The Dou Qi barrier before Mu She instantly shattered, and he was blasted backward, breaking a wooden post beside the street.

Scorch marks spread from his chest. He struggled to lift his head, his eyes filled with nothing but horror.

"You... just who..."

Before he could finish, his last breath faded completely.

The mercenaries who had followed him from the street watched the scene, the sabers in their hands beginning to tremble.

Their leader, a mighty Dou Shi, had failed to withstand even a single move!

Xiao Yan dispersed the remaining lightning at his fingertips and sheathed his sword before looking at them.

"Who else wants me to hand over my ring?"

No one answered.

Clang.

No one knew who loosened their grip first, but the sound of a saber hitting the ground rang especially clearly through the silent street.

Then came a second, and a third.

Xiao Yi Xian stared at the youth standing before her, taking a long while to come back to her senses.

Xiao Yan turned and pointed at the shop assistant beside the wall.

"Check on him first. That kick hit him pretty hard."

The girl hurriedly nodded, took out a medicine bottle, and walked over.

The shop assistant clutched his chest, but his gaze remained fixed beyond the courtyard, as though he could not believe that Mu She, whom everyone in town ordinarily feared, had died before his eyes just like that.

Only now did Xiao Yi Xian realize that the sword strike outside the cave had been far from the full extent of his abilities.