Snake Nest Mercenary Group

"Boom!" With another sweep of the heavy ruler, yet another magical beast was cleaved in half at the waist by the Xuan Heavy Ruler. Xiao Yi Xian immediately hurried over, took out her dagger, and cut open its head. After rummaging around for a while, she pulled out a green crystal with a delighted expression. "This magical beast has a magic core too!"

"Mm, hold on to it for now." Xiao Yan merely glanced at it before looking away. Keeping a wary eye on their surroundings, he said calmly, "This one isn't a fire-attribute magical beast, so there's no need to collect its blood. Let's hurry, or more magical beasts will come after us."

"Oh." Xiao Yi Xian nodded. She carefully wiped her newly acquired magic core clean before putting it into the little pouch at her waist. Along the way, they had already encountered more than twenty magical beasts. Although most were Tier 1 Magical Beasts, they had still caused Xiao Yan and her considerable trouble.

Still, along with that trouble came considerable gains. So far, Xiao Yi Xian had collected six or seven magic cores and had even helped gather several varieties of the fire-attribute magical beast blood Xiao Yan wanted. Naturally, she couldn't put something like blood into her pouch, so Xiao Yan had stored it in his Storage Ring.

"Honestly, I'm starting to regret offering to take you back." Looking at the carcasses behind them, Xiao Yan panted lightly. They had already fought more than twenty battles along the way. Several of their opponents had been Tier 2 Magical Beasts no weaker than the Red Flame Demon Bear, and there had even been occasions when several magical beasts had surrounded and attacked them together.

With such intense fighting, he might not have lasted this long if his Storage Ring hadn't still contained the Qi Recovery Pills Yao Lao had refined earlier. Had he been alone, it would have been manageable, but he also had to divide his attention to protect Xiao Yi Xian, making the battles far more difficult.

"My luck really is terrible." Xiao Yi Xian looked helpless too. She hadn't expected to encounter so many magical beasts as soon as she came out. She wasn't the sort who excelled at fighting to begin with, and she wasn't even a Dou Zhe, so she couldn't offer much help at all. She could only lend Xiao Yan a hand with the little things.

"I don't think it's as simple as bad luck..." Xiao Yan glanced at the little pouch at Xiao Yi Xian's waist. If it were merely bad luck, they would have encountered two or three magical beasts at most. But bad luck alone couldn't explain so many of them attacking in wave after wave. The only explanation was that something must have attracted them...

"We're almost there. Another ten minutes or so, and we'll reach the village where I live. Once we get there, those magical beasts won't dare act so brazenly." Standing on a rock and gazing into the distance, Xiao Yi Xian spoke with a hint of delight.

"Easy for you to say. Who knows how many more magical beasts we'll run into over this short stretch?" Xiao Yan shook his head helplessly and continued forward with Xiao Yi Xian. Somewhat unexpectedly, however, they didn't encounter a single magical beast over the next few minutes.

Seeing this, Xiao Yi Xian said happily, "Looks like my streak of bad luck is finally over!"

Xiao Yan didn't answer, merely furrowing his brow slightly. For some reason, now that the magical beasts had stopped attacking, he felt a little uneasy instead. "Be careful. I keep feeling that something's wrong."

"I think you're just being too cautious. How could there be that much wrong? Besides, as long as we don't run into magical beasts, anything else is easy enough to handle." Xiao Yi Xian had barely finished speaking when a strange rustling came from the leaves overhead. Before Xiao Yan could get her out of the way, a large net suddenly fell from above, trapping them both beneath it.

"We caught something! We caught something!" The instant Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian were caught in the net, a group of burly men dressed in black rushed out of the surrounding forest. Each wore a badge on his chest engraved with the image of a venomous snake. Presumably, it was the emblem of some faction.

The men were excited to see that the trap they had set had caught something, but when they saw Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian in the net, their leader looked thoroughly disappointed. "Why is it a couple of kids?"

"They're probably from the Snake Nest Mercenary Group. They were lying in wait here to capture a few magical beasts alive, and we happened to stumble into their trap. We just need to explain." Recognizing their affiliation from the badges on their chests, Xiao Yi Xian leaned close to Xiao Yan's ear and whispered.

"Uncles, we were just passing through and accidentally stumbled into your trap. Could you help let us out?" Xiao Yan put on a harmless smile. He had tried to break free as soon as the net caught them, but it seemed to be made of some special material. Even he couldn't tear it apart right away, or he wouldn't have remained trapped there.

Of course, if he used that black flame, breaking out of the net would be easy. But there were too many prying eyes here, and he wasn't particularly eager to reveal this trump card in full view of everyone.

"What rotten luck." A mercenary at the side was about to step forward and release them from the trap when the leader stopped him. "Wait."

"What's wrong?"

He circled Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian, studying them for a while before smiling. "This little fellow is quite good-looking. A pretty face, too. The commander might be very interested in him."

Remembering their commander's peculiar proclivity, the others smiled knowingly as well. At the sight, Xiao Yi Xian instinctively tightened her grip on Xiao Yan's arm. "Don't come any closer! I'm warning you, the person beside me is incredibly strong! He can kill a Tier 6 Magical Beast with one punch! If you dare do anything to me, he won't let you off!"

"Could you leave me out of your tall tales? A Tier 6 Magical Beast, seriously? Why don't you say you can kill a Tier 9 Magical Beast with one punch?" Xiao Yan's mouth twitched.

"Even if I said that, they wouldn't believe me."

"As if they'd believe you when you say I can kill a Tier 6 Magical Beast with one punch..."

"If he were really that strong, he wouldn't have been caught by us." Listening to their bickering, the lead mercenary smiled disdainfully. "Besides, what does this have to do with you? Stop flattering yourself. We weren't talking about you. We meant the boy beside you."

At that, Xiao Yi Xian was left rather speechless. Indeed... there were people in this world with peculiar tastes who didn't like women. She had only heard about them, though, and hadn't expected to actually run into them today...

At that thought, her gaze filled with sympathy as she looked at Xiao Yan.

Feeling Xiao Yi Xian's gaze, Xiao Yan's mouth twitched slightly. Naturally, he understood what even she had figured out. "Fuck, I've run into a priest..."