The Wolf Head Mercenary Group's Camp

Dusk pressed down on the outline of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, bit by bit, like cotton soaked in ink. The forest wind carried the chill of night, and the calls of unknown insects rose and fell, making the area seem all the more deep and secluded.

With a herb basket on his back, Xiao Yan "staggered" through a dense stretch of forest before the view suddenly opened up. A camp built against the mountainside appeared before him—dozens of gray-black tents stood scattered about, and a bonfire danced in the center, illuminating the patrolling mercenaries. The air smelled of charred roast meat and a faint trace of liquor.

The Wolf Head Mercenary Group's camp.

An almost imperceptible sharp glint flashed through Xiao Yan's eyes, then vanished beneath "fear." He hunched his shoulders as though afraid of being discovered and hid behind a large tree, peeking around it with half his head. "Th-this is a mercenary camp?" he muttered. "I heard mercenaries are really fierce. Will they beat me up...?"

He acted like an inexperienced boy who had stumbled into the place, curious yet frightened. His fingers nervously picked at the bark, and even his breathing grew much quieter.

At the edge of the camp, two mercenaries carrying long sabers were chatting beside a tent. One caught movement behind the tree out of the corner of his eye and immediately shouted, "Who's there? Come out!"

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Xiao Yan jolted in fright. He hurried out from behind the tree, nervously holding his hands behind his back, and lowered his head. "I... I came to gather herbs, but I got lost..." he said softly. "I wanted to ask what this place is, and whether... whether I could have some water..."

His voice was thick with tears, and his shoulders trembled slightly. He looked pitiful and helpless, exactly like a low-level cultivator frightened by unfamiliar surroundings.

The two mercenaries looked him up and down. Seeing his ordinary clothes, his half-full herb basket, and the Black Ruler he dragged in one hand, absurdly oversized for his frame, with not even a decent weapon at his waist, their eyes filled with disdain.

"Gathering herbs?" The mercenary on the left, his face heavy with brutal-looking flesh, sneered. "You've got some nerve, kid, wandering onto the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's turf. Don't you know we control this area?"

"S-sorry, I really did get lost." Xiao Yan hastily bowed in apology, lowering his head even farther. "I'll leave right now. Right now..."

He started to turn away, but the tall, thin mercenary on the right stopped him. "Wait. From the look of you, you're from Wutan City, aren't you? Which clan?"

"I... I'm from the Xiao Clan." Xiao Yan's voice grew even quieter, as though he feared being recognized.

"The Xiao Clan?" The heavy-faced mercenary paused, then seemed to remember something and sneered. "Don't tell me you're that famous good-for-nothing, Xiao Yan? Dou Qi Third Stage, and you still dared to enter the mountains alone. You're lucky to be alive."

Xiao Yan flushed with "embarrassment," pinching the hem of his clothes without saying a word, as though the man had struck a sore spot.

The tall, thin mercenary kicked a pebble at his feet, his tone hostile. "Since you're from the Xiao Clan, that works out nicely. Our leader's been short on healing herbs lately. What have you got in that basket? Take it all out and let us see."

"B-but... it took me so much trouble to gather these..." Xiao Yan looked troubled and shrank back. "I still have to take them back to fulfill my assignment..."

"Your assignment?" The heavy-faced mercenary glared and stepped forward to snatch the basket. "Here in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, my word is law! If I tell you to take them out, you take them out! What's with all the damn whining?"

In "panic," Xiao Yan hugged the basket and turned to run, only for the heavy-faced mercenary to seize his collar from behind and hoist him up like a chick.

"Run? Where do you think you're going?" the heavy-faced mercenary snarled, reaching for the basket with his other hand.

Just then, Xiao Yan's restrained wrist moved slightly. An exceedingly faint strand of soul power seeped from his fingertips and drifted silently toward an Old Locust Tree in a corner of the camp. A basketball-sized hive hung from the tree, with several black-and-yellow Poison Bees perched at its entrance, grooming their wings.

The strand of soul power carried no offensive force, yet it precisely disturbed a thin membrane on the hive's surface, as though someone had gently poked it with a twig.

Bzzzz!

The hive shook violently. Dozens of Poison Bees were instantly alarmed and poured out in a dark swarm, their piercing buzz filling the air as they lunged toward the nearest living creatures—the two mercenaries.

"What the hell?" The tall, thin mercenary instinctively looked up. The moment he saw the swarm filling the air, his expression changed drastically. "Poison Bees! Get out of the way!"

The heavy-faced mercenary was startled too and instantly released Xiao Yan. Forgetting everything else, the two men frantically swung their sabers at the bees and ran for cover behind the tents.

"Aah!" The tall, thin mercenary screamed as several Poison Bees stung his neck. It immediately swelled red, and his breathing grew rapid.

Amid the chaos, Xiao Yan "seized the chance" to drop onto his backside, covering his head and curling into a ball. "Don't sting me! Don't sting me!" he shrieked.

The mercenaries' resistance seemed to enrage the swarm, which chased them relentlessly, throwing the edge of the camp into utter pandemonium. Other patrolling mercenaries heard the commotion and gathered around. Some helped drive off the bees, while others supported their stung companions and went looking for a physician. The scene was a complete mess.

No one paid any more attention to the "good-for-nothing" huddled on the ground.

With his head lowered, an almost imperceptible smile curled Xiao Yan's lips. These Poison Bees were third-rank magical beasts called Black-Tailed Poison Bees. Their venom was not especially lethal, but their stings caused unbearable pain, swelling, and numbness—enough to leave those two fellows miserable for several days.

He had counted on the mercenaries' bullying nature to provoke trouble, and had accounted for both the hive's location and the Poison Bees' habits. With only a strand of soul power to guide them, he could use the swarm to create an opportunity to escape.

By the time the swarm gradually dispersed and the chaos at the camp's edge subsided a little, the two mercenaries were clutching their red, swollen wounds and swearing viciously. Xiao Yan was already nowhere to be seen.

By then, Xiao Yan was crouching in the shadow of a tent on the camp's western side. Taking advantage of the confusion, he had silently circled deeper into the camp. His emperor realm soul swept through every tent like a searchlight, picking up useful information.

The Wolf Head Mercenary Group's strength was far from exceptional. Its leader was at the Peak Ninth Stage of Dou Qi, with three captains at the eighth stage of Dou Qi beneath him. Most of the other mercenaries ranged from the Fifth Stage of Dou Qi to the seventh stage of Dou Qi. They made their living plundering the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, and their ruthless conduct had earned them a dreadful reputation.

More importantly, inside the largest tent at the center of the camp, Xiao Yan's spiritual perception detected a faint but abnormal fluctuation—a residue of energy that did not belong to the Dou Qi Continent, faintly resonating with the Otherworlder aura he had sensed before.

So he really is here. Xiao Yan understood.

Rather than approach rashly, he remained hidden in the shadows and watched the activity around the tent. Two mercenaries at the eighth stage of Dou Qi guarded the entrance. Their auras were steady; they were clearly elites. Muffled conversation drifted from inside from time to time. One voice sounded deliberately gruff, while another sounded rather young and occasionally used words that did not belong to this era.

"...We need to move that shipment as soon as possible. The Mo Family is pressing us hard..."

"Don't worry, Captain. Once we get that Xiao Clan brat's head and the Mo Family pays us, we'll head to the Black-Corner Region..."

"Heh, the boss really does have foresight, knowing that good-for-nothing would enter the mountains..."

Xiao Yan's gaze turned cold. It seemed the Mo Family had not only planted spies but also colluded with the Wolf Head Mercenary Group to kill him here. And the speaker using unfamiliar vocabulary was almost certainly the Otherworlder.

He needed an opportunity—one that would let him eliminate the Otherworlder while leaving the Wolf Head Mercenary Group to "take the blame."

Just then, a commotion broke out in the center of the camp. A mercenary hurried up to the large tent and whispered a few words to a guard. The guard's expression changed, and he immediately lifted the flap and went inside.

A moment later, the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's leader emerged—a burly man with a full beard and vicious eyes. Behind him came a young man in a gray robe and a bamboo hat. The young man was rather slight, his hat pulled low enough to conceal most of his face, but Xiao Yan still spotted a metal wristwatch on his exposed wrist, utterly out of place in this era.

An Otherworlder!

"They're just a few Poison Bees! What are you panicking for?" The bearded leader's voice boomed as he berated the surrounding mercenaries. "Get your damn acts together! Double the patrols tonight! Don't let any stray cats or dogs sneak in!"

After speaking, he turned to the young man beside him. "Sir, sorry you had to see that. I'll take care of this little matter."

The young man nodded slightly, his voice somewhat hoarse. "No matter. Business comes first. The Mo Family's people said Xiao Yan has most likely already entered the depths of the mountain range. We..."

Before he could finish, a gust of wind lifted the edge of his hat, revealing half his face—fair-skinned and somewhat scholarly, yet his eyes held a shrewdness and greed at odds with his age.

Xiao Yan's spiritual perception instantly locked onto his soul fluctuations. Compared with those of this world's inhabitants, his soul fluctuations seemed somewhat "restless," carrying a sense of "foreignness" that did not belong to this plane.

It's him.

Xiao Yan quietly retreated, slipping into deeper shadow. He watched the bearded leader exchange a few more words with the Otherworlder. Then the Otherworlder entered a slightly smaller tent nearby alone, with two mercenaries posted at its entrance.

Here's my chance.

Xiao Yan spread his spiritual perception again. This time, his targets were several barrels of kerosene and a pile of firewood in a corner of the camp, which the mercenaries used for warmth and roasting meat. Like invisible threads, his soul power gently wound around one wooden barrel of kerosene and silently applied a trace of force.

Click.

With an almost inaudible sound, the wooden plug at the bottom of the barrel was quietly pushed loose. Kerosene flowed out without a sound, following cracks in the ground toward the Otherworlder's tent. Since most of the camp's ground was bare earth, the kerosene soaked in extremely quickly, leaving almost no trace.

Once this was done, Xiao Yan directed his spiritual perception toward the bonfire burning in the center of the camp. He singled out a piece of wood that was almost burned through and gave it a gentle push with his soul power.

Whoosh—

The ember-studded piece of wood rose on the wind, traced an arc through the air, and landed precisely on the kerosene-soaked ground.

Boom!

The embers met the kerosene, instantly igniting a roaring blaze! Fanned by the wind, the fire spread with astonishing speed and reached the edge of the Otherworlder's tent in the blink of an eye.

"Fire!"

"Put it out! It's the gentleman's tent!"

The camp instantly erupted. The mercenaries shouted in panic, grabbing buckets and blankets before rushing toward the blaze. His eyes almost splitting with fury, the bearded leader seized a bucket himself and charged at the front.

The Otherworlder inside the tent was clearly alarmed as well. He rushed out in a panic, losing his hat as he ran, his hair disheveled and his face full of terror. He had barely taken two steps when a burning piece of the tent's frame snapped off and crashed down right beside his feet.

He recoiled in fright, failing to notice several panicking mercenaries moving heavy objects behind him.

"Move!"

A mercenary shouted and shoved a thick wooden post away from the fire. The Otherworlder happened to retreat directly behind it.

Thud!

A dull impact rang out. Caught completely off guard, the Otherworlder took the wooden post squarely in the back. He flew like a kite with its string cut and slammed hard into a nearby rock, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His eyes bulged wide. Clearly, he would not survive.

The mercenary who had pushed the post was stunned too. He had never expected someone to suddenly appear behind it, and his face went deathly pale with fright.

The surrounding mercenaries were busy fighting the fire, and no one noticed this brief incident. Only Xiao Yan, hidden in the shadows, saw everything.

The flames were soon extinguished. By the time the Otherworlder's body was discovered, it was already cold. Staring at the corpse, the bearded leader's face turned livid, but all he could do was clench his fists and roar, "Useless! Every last one of you! You couldn't even keep an eye on one man!"

He could never have imagined that this seemingly accidental fire, this seemingly inadvertent killing amid the panic, had been a meticulously planned "accident" from beginning to end.

Xiao Yan silently withdrew from the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's camp and melted into the boundless night. The Qi-Gathering Grass remained in his basket, and the Heavy Xuan Ruler was as heavy as ever. Only his eyes were a little colder than when he had arrived.

The threat of the Otherworlder had been eliminated.

But this was not over.

The Wolf Head Mercenary Group, the Mo Family... He would not spare a single person who tried to drag him into the abyss.

The night wind swept through the mountain forest, carrying faint sounds of arguing from the distant camp. Xiao Yan's figure vanished into the darkness, leaving only a trail of shallow footprints. Fallen leaves soon covered them, as though no one had ever passed through.