First Venture into the Magical Beast Mountain Range

In the Magical Beast Mountain Range, magical beasts ran rampant and danger lurked everywhere. Traveling alone through it made one very likely to draw a magical beast's attention.

Because of that, aside from a few highly skilled and daring types, most mercenaries who entered the mountains did so in groups.

Chen Xiao was in no hurry to join any particular team. He stood quietly by the street and waited for half an hour, watching one group after another gather enough mercenaries and depart, while employer after employer appeared.

Unfortunately, none of them were recruiting for the Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion's herb-gathering team.

In Chen Xiao's plan, following the Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion's herb-gathering route into the Magical Beast Mountain Range should make it easier to find that cave.

"Six-Star Dou Practitioner or above! Need one more!"

The mercenary intending to hunt a Fire Fox waved a money pouch, his sharp gaze sweeping through the crowd again and again.

In tiny Green Mountain Town, aside from those major mercenary groups, low-ranked Dou Practitioners made up the majority. The Six-Star threshold was truly a bit high, which was why this man still had not filled his team after recruiting for so long.

Seeing this, Chen Xiao hesitated no longer and moved through the crowd.

"Me!"

The mercenary standing up high looked over at the voice, his dark brows furrowing slightly.

"Little brother, you probably aren't even an adult yet, right? What I want is a Dou Practitioner above Six-Star!"

The mercenary emphasized the words "Dou Practitioner."

Clearly, he did not believe that someone of Chen Xiao's age could possess such strength.

Explanations were too flimsy; facts spoke louder than words.

Chen Xiao swept his gaze around and soon spotted a tree by the street as thick as the mouth of a bowl.

Without wasting words, Chen Xiao strode forward and drew in a light breath. Ice-blue Dou Qi, like a faint screen of light, covered his palm.

After a brief stillness, Chen Xiao let out a low shout. His palm, wrapped in fierce force, struck the tree trunk hard.

Crack.

As a crisp snapping sound rang out, the bowl-thick tree toppled to the ground with a creak under everyone's stunned gazes, sending dust scattering across the ground.

"How's that?"

Chen Xiao looked at the mercenary up above.

The mercenary grinned and jumped down, clapping Chen Xiao twice on the shoulder with two solid thumps.

"Not bad, kid. You're in. This is your pay."

Money first, work later—most mercenaries followed this rule. After all, no one knew whether they would come back alive. If they received their reward in advance, those with families could still leave it to their families.

As he spoke, the mercenary took two coins out of the gold pouch and kept them, only then handing the rest to Chen Xiao.

Chen Xiao looked puzzled. He had watched from the side for a full half hour, and he had not seen the other party dock anyone else's pay.

Being treated differently, he needed an explanation.

"Don't misunderstand, little brother. I, Wang Meng, am very satisfied with your strength. But you smashed my family's tree, so two gold coins as a token compensation isn't too much, right?"

The big man spread both hands, as if asking the people around them to judge fairly.

The gathered mercenaries nodded in agreement.

Chen Xiao could not help laughing.

"All right, it was indeed my fault."

"That's more like it. If anyone still needs to prepare anything, hurry up. In fifteen minutes, everyone enters the mountains with me."

After patting Chen Xiao's shoulder again, the big man raised his hand and called over the other five people he had recruited.

Chen Xiao swept a glance over them: four Six-Star Dou Practitioners and one Seven-Star Dou Practitioner.

As for Wang Meng, his strength was the same as Chen Xiao's, making him a fairly capable hand among Green Mountain Town's mercenaries.

The five mercenaries all shook their heads. This was not their first time doing something like this; they had prepared everything they needed long ago.

Chen Xiao had nothing on him and did not need to prepare anything either, so he likewise shook his head in response.

"Good. Then let's make the most of our time and head straight into the mountains. We'll try to come back early, or else when we go looking for girls, we won't even get the first round."

Wang Meng made a rather crude joke, drawing knowing laughter and nods from several mercenaries.

Chen Xiao gave a dry laugh and did not join in.

In this world where entertainment was severely lacking, the daily amusements of low-level mercenaries were probably limited to wine and women.

Respect it, and understand it.

In the silent forest, the party of seven walked quietly. Their wary gazes continually swept over the dark places among the surrounding trees, their hands gripping the weapons at their waists tightly, ready to deal with any sudden situation.

When they reached an area with a relatively open view, Wang Meng took a crude map from his waist and unfolded it.

"Our destination is this valley. Fire Foxes often appear inside. Although those things are Second Rank, aside from when they're mating, they never move in groups, which makes it very convenient for us to strike."

"Mm, this should be little brother's first time entering the Magical Beast Mountain Range, so I'll say a bit more. A Second Rank magical beast, the Fire Fox, has strength comparable to a low-star Dou Master. However, the Fire Fox's attack methods are fairly ordinary. It's better at speed..."

Chen Xiao had never said this was his first time entering the Magical Beast Mountain Range, but to these old hands who had spent years roaming this place, it was easy to tell from many small details.

That forced alertness he had raised was fundamentally different from their instinctive vigilance. There was no faking that.

"The Fire Fox's general situation is like that. To make the encirclement and kill easier, everyone state what you're best at and your respective Dou Qi attributes. I'll formulate the plan."

Plan before acting; know when to stop, and you would gain.

Everyone understood this principle.

"I'm good with a blade. Gold Attribute. My killing power should be a bit stronger." The Seven Star Dou Zhe mercenary flicked the curved saber at his waist and spoke coolly.

"I'm Gold Attribute too."

"I'm Wind Attribute. My speed is fairly fast."

"Wood Attribute. I have an Entanglement technique. It should be very useful against the Fire Fox."

"Gold Attribute..."

Chen Xiao was the last. Seeing the others look over, he immediately said, "Ice Attribute. What I'm best at is... defense!"

Hearing this, the others were instantly surprised.

Earlier in town, when they had seen him show just a little of his ability, his attacking power had not been any worse than any of theirs. They had thought Chen Xiao would excel in attack, but unexpectedly, they had guessed wrong.

Wang Meng nodded slightly. "I'm Gold Attribute too. You know, our team is pretty well balanced. Then let's do this. Once we reach the destination, Old Jiang, you're fast, so you'll be responsible for driving it out. The three of us Gold Attribute fighters will fight it head-on. Old Wang's Wood Attribute will support from the side and restrict the Fire Fox's movement. Little Brother Chen, guard the valley exit. We absolutely can't let the Fire Fox get away!"

After a brief setup by an experienced mercenary, an encirclement-and-kill plan was officially settled.

Everyone nodded in agreement. This plan played to their strengths and avoided their weaknesses, and there was nothing wrong with it.

They delayed no longer. The group put away the map, and under Wang Meng's lead, accelerated toward the target valley.

At the outermost edge of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, almost all the active magical beasts were first-rank. Although their group of seven could not be said to move about completely unhindered, it was still enough to make those magical beasts give them a wide berth on their own.

The journey went smoothly. After roughly half an hour, the seven of them finally arrived at the target valley.

"Shh!"

Wang Meng, at the very front, gave a soft hush, and the six behind him immediately stopped and fell silent.

Chen Xiao raised his head slightly and looked into the valley. He saw a beautiful magical beast covered in crimson fur, lowering its head to drink beside a small stream in the valley, completely unaware that danger had already arrived.

"Not bad luck. We found one as soon as we got here. Act according to the plan!"

Wang Meng lowered his voice and laughed. With a slight wave of his hand, all the mercenaries except Chen Xiao lightened their steps and slowly crept inward from both sides of the valley.

It was only a second-rank magical beast that was not skilled in attack, yet seven people had made a plan and still needed to be this cautious.

This was not excessive prudence. In truth, compared to humans of the same rank, magical beasts mostly held the advantage.

Take this Fire Fox, for example. It was already equivalent to a human One Star Dou Shi. If it were not bad at attacking, and seven Dou Zhe dared set their sights on it, at least half of them would be dragged down with it, or they might even be wiped out.

Chen Xiao's task of guarding the valley entrance was relatively simple. If the others went smoothly, he might not even have a chance to make a move.

That, in turn, allowed him to carefully observe the mercenaries' movements and learn from their experience.

Under Chen Xiao's gaze, the six of them were like thieves. Every few steps forward, they would stop to observe the Fire Fox. Only after seeing that they had not been discovered would they continue feeling their way ahead.

The distance was only a little over two hundred steps in total, yet the six of them spent a full ten minutes before finally creeping within thirty meters of the Fire Fox.

Just then, the Fire Fox strolling through the valley seemed to sense something. It suddenly raised its head and warily scanned both sides of the valley.

The six veteran mercenaries reacted extremely quickly. By dodging aside in time, they were not spotted by the Fire Fox.

However, the vigilant Fire Fox still pushed off the ground and, without the slightest hesitation, leapt toward the right side of the valley, attempting to vault over it and leave, for the time being, this place that had given it a sense of danger.

"We've been discovered! Move!"

With a clang, Wang Meng drew the saber at his waist and shouted. The Wood Attribute mercenary swiftly jumped out.

"Dou Technique: Entanglement!"

Following the mercenary's low shout, his emerald-green Dou Qi shot out fiercely, fully displaying the traits of Wood Attribute Dou Qi. It was like a green vine sweeping over the Fire Fox, turning at an angle as it coiled toward the Fire Fox, catching anyone—no, any fox—completely off guard.

It was only because this mercenary had the strength of a Dou Zhe. If he had reached the Dou Ling level, where Dou Qi could condense into solid forms, this Entanglement technique would definitely be even harder to deal with.