A helper (1 / 2)

"This little fellow is so smart!"

Watching White Marten's movements, Zhao Er could not help marveling.

He had actually noticed it last time, but their encounter had been too brief then, and he had been weak, with too many concerns weighing on him.

"Go play by yourself. I have work to do!"

Zhao Er remained vigilant at all times in these mountains. He had just stabbed the wild boar to death with his halberd, spilling blood all over the ground. If he did not deal with it quickly, who knew what animals the bloody scent might attract?

So, with limited time, Zhao Er needed to undo the iron chains binding the boar. If conditions allowed, he would also need to reset the trap.

While Zhao Er worked, White Marten finished eating the little black snake. Instead of leaving, it stayed nearby with its head tilted, watching what he did.

Especially after seeing how easily his iron halberd could cut down a small tree and sharpen it to a point, it focused more of its attention on the weapon.

In roughly seven or eight minutes, Zhao Er finished everything. He even used a few small trees and some iron chains to set another trap around the pool of blood.

"Hey, I'm heading down the mountain. I'll take you snake hunting next time!"

With everything done, Zhao Er casually hoisted the wild boar onto his shoulder and turned to head down the mountain.

The weather was too hot, and he had no intention of gutting the boar in the forest. If he delayed too long, the meat would spoil, so he decided not to hunt snakes today.

In truth, he coveted White Marten. If he could catch it and sell it... it was worth two thousand taels of silver. Forget two thousand—even five hundred taels was an unattainable sum to Zhao Er.

Unfortunately, White Marten was far too nimble and seemed to hold a fierce grudge. There was no need to provoke it now.

"Coo, coo~~ Coo, coo, coo, coo~~"

Yet just as Zhao Er turned with the boar on his shoulder, White Marten called out again.

This time, it did more than call. It came over and placed a little paw on the iron halberd strapped to his back.

Its tiny paw gripped the halberd's iron shaft as it gazed at Zhao Er with wide eyes.

"You want this? Or... do you not want me to leave?"

Zhao Er looked down at White Marten, curious.

"Coo, coo~~"

Only when Zhao Er stopped did White Marten release its paw. Calling out, it gestured several times with its little paws, then even tucked them away and wriggled on the ground like a snake.

"...What does that mean?"

Zhao Er frowned, unable to understand what White Marten meant.

"Yah, yah~~"

Seeing that Zhao Er still stood where he was, White Marten flashed away, instantly appearing on the fork of a large tree. Once it had settled, it turned back toward him and gave several urgent little cries, just like the sounds it had made earlier to attract his attention.

"You want... me to follow you?"

As Zhao Er spoke, he tentatively took two steps toward White Marten.

"Yah, yah~~"

Seeing Zhao Er move, White Marten flashed away again, landing in the next large tree. It stopped once more and continued calling.

Now Zhao Er understood. White Marten apparently wanted him to follow it somewhere.

If a person had asked Zhao Er to follow, he would certainly have shouldered the boar and headed down the mountain. But for a little animal, he was willing to give it a try.

"All right, I'll trust you this once!"

After only a moment's hesitation, Zhao Er made his decision. With that, he set the boar down, took the Twin Iron Halberds in hand, and followed White Marten.

"Yah, yah, yah..."

Seeing Zhao Er follow, White Marten spun in a circle, then darted onward.

Zhao Er followed White Marten deeper into the mountains.

Ahead of him, White Marten moved in fits and starts, often darting far away before returning to check whether he had kept up. It also seemed thoroughly familiar with its surroundings, sometimes leading him on a wide detour. Zhao Er guessed it was doing so to avoid danger.

Zhao Er followed while keeping watch over his surroundings. He did not move quickly, but he made little noise.

Are we going to a cave hiding a secret manual or a peerless divine weapon? Or does it have some rare treasure to give me...?

All the while, he kept wondering where White Marten was taking him and what it wanted.

He had no idea how far they had gone. As they ventured deeper, Zhao Er felt the surroundings grow increasingly damp, and the miasma he had rarely encountered before appeared ever more frequently.

Fortunately, Zhao Er's poison resistance had already reached lv.2. Ordinary miasma entering his body caused no sensation at all, while even highly toxic miasma could be swiftly absorbed in full by circulating his cultivation technique, leaving him unaffected.

The route White Marten took was safe. Aside from a few venomous insects and small animals, they encountered no danger along the way.

After Zhao Er had walked for nearly an hour, a large stretch of shrubs abruptly appeared ahead. Light glimmered beyond them, as though they had suddenly reached the edge of the forest.

"Coo, coo..."

White Marten, which had been leading the way, suddenly stopped before a patch of shrubs. It jumped down from a tree trunk, then turned back and called softly to Zhao Er twice.

"We're here?"

At the sight, Zhao Er immediately grew alert. He knew they must have reached their destination, and he had already begun to suspect that White Marten had brought him here to help in a fight. He simply did not yet know who the opponent was.

But White Marten was incredibly fast and carried potent poison in its body. Anything that forced even it to seek help could not be easy to deal with.

Whoosh~~

Just as Zhao Er cautiously prepared to crouch down and peer through the shrubs, White Marten gave him no chance to inspect the situation. In a flash, it became a white streak and shot out.

"Hiss!!!"

"Hiss, hiss!!!"

Immediately afterward, the sound of a snake flicking its tongue came from ahead, along with something like a cat hissing.

Its opponent is a snake? Doesn't White Marten eat snakes like spicy snack strips? Why does it need me?

Hearing the snake's hissing, Zhao Er immediately caught on.

Crack!! Bang!!!!

Before he could figure it out, a series of violent collisions rang out.

The sounds were loud, like a long whip slicing through the air, mixed with the noise of impacts.

Zhao Er did not charge out. Instead, he edged forward and slipped into the shrubs. Only when the brush ahead grew thinner did he stop and peer through it.

Ahead lay a lake that was not particularly large. The glimmer he had seen from inside the forest had been sunlight reflecting off its surface.

But that was not the important part. What mattered was that, in a hollow beside the lake, White Marten was fighting a huge black snake.

At the sight of that huge black snake, Zhao Er's breath caught for an instant. He also understood why White Marten could do nothing against it.