The haul, a white marten repays a kindness

"Squeak, squeak~"

The White Marten licked its fur all over, then tilted its head and stared at Zhao Er for a while before opening its mouth and squeaking twice. It showed no intention of leaving.

Its cries were soft, and with its slender white body and large, glossy black eyes, it looked remarkably intelligent.

Had they not just witnessed it poison all three martial artists to death, no one would have imagined that such an adorable creature could possess such vicious methods.

Just then, however, text appeared before Zhao Er's eyes:

"Event complete. Beginning settlement!"

"Settlement event: surprise attack!"

"Successful surprise attack resulted in the death of one martial artist (assisted kill)!"

"Experience gained: Five Poisons Fist +20, available skill points +2"

[Cultivation: not yet entered a realm]

[Cultivation method: Five Poisons Returning to Origin Body (blue) lv.1 (88/100)]

[Combat technique: Five Poisons Fist (white) lv.1 (54/100)]

[Poison Resistance (passive): lv.2 (1/500)]

[Available skill points: 2]

To think that taking a single punch would give me twenty points of progress in my fist technique, and even an assisted kill earns two skill points. It must have something to do with killing someone above my level.

Only when the Settlement Panel appeared did Zhao Er relax completely. From his previous experience, if he was not somewhere safe, the event was not yet over, and no settlement would occur.

By now, aside from some pain in his back, Zhao Er had recovered his strength.

Using his brush-clearing knife for support, Zhao Er stood up. Rather than pay any more attention to the White Marten, he first looked at the Wang Family steward lying before him.

Though the Wang Family steward had stopped breathing, his eyes remained wide open, staring at Zhao Er.

Zhao Er cared nothing for that stare. He turned the man's body over and felt around inside his robe and sleeves.

There was nothing inside his robe, but one sleeve held a coin pouch and a bottle of pills.

Aside from a few copper coins, the pouch did not contain even a scrap of silver. After a moment's thought, Zhao Er tucked it back where it had been, but kept the bottle of pills.

"You still owe me a sheep. This will cover it. From now on, neither of us owes the other anything!"

He recognized these pills. This was the very bottle the Wang Family steward had used to feed the poisoned martial artist. It was obviously poison.

After saying that, Zhao Er got up and went to search the other two martial artists, whose bodies had already stiffened.

There were no martial arts manuals, only two coin pouches and two porcelain bottles. The pouches likewise contained a few copper coins, while he could not tell whether the bottles held poison or pills used for cultivation.

"Are all martial artists this poor? Three of them couldn't scrape together even one tael of silver?"

Putting away the copper coins and porcelain bottles, Zhao Er spat in disgust.

He had hoped to loot them and at least make a little money, but it turned out these martial artists were each poorer than the last.

In the end, Zhao Er could only gather up the three nets.

Though the white marten had bitten a hole in each net, their material seemed quite good. He tugged at them and found that he could not tear them at all, which made him glance again at the white marten, still sitting there looking cute.

He had not expected such a little creature to possess not only deadly poison but such sharp teeth as well. Then again, that made sense. Without good teeth, it probably could not have bitten through a martial artist's skin.

Zhao Er glanced around. During the fight, the ceramic jars he carried had been smashed, and his bamboo basket had been shattered by a punch. Only half of each of the snakes he had caught remained.

After some thought, Zhao Er picked up the remaining halves of the Flat-Head Wind and Bamboo Pit Viper.

Though the snakes were dead, their venom glands remained intact. With a little preparation back home, he could still use them for cultivation, and their bodies could go into soup.

"I'm about to leave. Do you want to come with me?"

Once he had packed everything up, Zhao Er looked at the White Marten crouching nearby and asked tentatively.

The White Marten's ability to recover was astonishing, too. Its leg had apparently been injured to begin with, and the Wang Family steward had nearly squeezed it to death.

Yet in the short time he had spent gathering his things, the bloodstains on the White Marten's body had vanished, and its wounds were no longer visible. It looked completely uninjured.

"Chrr, chrr, chrr~~"

When Zhao Er looked its way, the White Marten chattered and rolled around on the ground. Then, without any visible effort, it vanished from the spot.

"Ah... figures. How could taking in a spirit pet ever be that easy?"

Seeing the White Marten disappear, Zhao Er sighed. He lingered no longer, gave the scene one last look, and headed straight toward the stream.

As for the three bodies, he did not need to trouble himself with disposing of them. In the Clear Radiance Mountains, corpses like these could never last the night. Once darkness fell, animals would naturally come and clean them up.

With both his bamboo basket and ceramic jars gone, neither catching more snakes nor checking his centipede traps was practical.

Zhao Er simply headed down the mountain instead.

"Chrr, chrr, chrr~~"

However, just as Zhao Er was about to leave the mountain range's outer reaches, he heard those familiar cries again.

He looked up. The White Marten that had left earlier had returned at some point and was now crouching on a rock.

The White Marten held a venomous snake in each of its tiny paws.

The two snakes seemed not quite dead yet and were writhing together.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak~~"

When Zhao Er looked over, the White Marten squeaked and placed one of the venomous snakes on the ground.

As though afraid Zhao Er would not understand, the White Marten pushed the coiled, writhing snake toward him, then grasped the other snake with both little paws and brought it to its mouth.

Then, right before Zhao Er, the White Marten held the venomous snake and began crunching away.

The White Marten ate the venomous snake just like the children Zhao Er had once seen eating spicy snack strips, savoring every bite. Before long, a snake two fingers thick had disappeared into its belly.

"Is this for me?"

Zhao Er pointed at the venomous snake in front of the White Marten and asked.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak~~"

The White Marten rolled around on the ground again, then nudged the snake forward before turning into a white blur and vanishing.

"Heh, what a clever little fellow. It knows how to repay a kindness."

Watching the White Marten disappear, Zhao Er walked over and picked up the venomous snake.

Both snakes were probably pit vipers. Though their bodies had still been writhing, each had a clear bite mark at the vulnerable spot seven inches below its head, evidently the White Marten's work.

Putting away the pit viper, Zhao Er strode down the mountain in high spirits. Just before he left the stream behind, he looked back and saw a distant flash of white dart through the woods.

Zhao Er had a feeling that he would meet this White Marten again someday.

Back home, Zhao Er did not head up the mountain again. Instead, he removed the Poison Glands and fangs from all the snakes and gave the meat to his mother to stew as an extra dish. He then took the fangs and Poison Glands into the side room.

Today's haul had actually been quite good. Aside from the venomous snakes, those bottles of pills were worth a considerable sum. Now it was time to turn those gains into strength.