Traveling Alone

Traveling Alone

Chen Xiao watched as his temporary teammates buried the dead mercenary, then looked at the Rock Serpent lying on the ground, cut in two.

A Rock Serpent, as its name suggested, was a serpentine magical beast that lived among cliff walls. It was a first-rank beast.

This kind of magical beast, with the advantage of its long, flat, winglike body, could glide briefly through the air like a hawk. And because its attribute was a mutated stone attribute, its body was as hard as rock. An ordinary Dou Zhe had no way to deal with it at all.

"Rock Serpents usually only move around cliffs and rock walls. If one appeared here, that means there's a cliff nearby. I remember that in the original path, Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian also ran into this thing when they were exploring the cave. Could it be the same place?"

A little suspicion rose in Chen Xiao's heart, but he could not be certain.

After all, Rock Serpents were fairly common, not anything rare.

Still, the fact that there was another cliff nearby gave Chen Xiao another target for his future search.

"To be able to cut a Rock Serpent in half with a thrown blade—little brother, your strength is quite impressive. Do you have any intention of joining a mercenary group? I can recommend you."

Just as Chen Xiao's thoughts were wandering, a mercenary wearing a badge on his chest approached and asked with a smile.

The badge bore a mountain-shaped design, along with the two characters "Green Mountain," representing that the man belonged to the Green Mountain Mercenary Group.

It was not just the man in front of him. Chen Xiao had long since noticed that among the fifty mercenaries who had accepted the Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion mission today, nearly half wore this badge.

And during his seven days in Green Mountain Town, Chen Xiao had also learned a little about the town's situation.

In Green Mountain Town, three great mercenary groups had the loudest reputations.

They were the Green Mountain Mercenary Group, the Wolf Head Mercenary Group, and the Mad Lion Mercenary Group.

Within all three great mercenary groups, there were Dou Shi–level experts.

As for this Green Mountain Mercenary Group, its strength was undoubtedly the greatest.

"Thank you. I'll think about it."

Chen Xiao had no intention of staying in Green Mountain Town for long, so he tactfully refused.

The man could hear what he meant. A trace of regret flashed across his face, but considering the strength Chen Xiao had shown, he still did not give up and wanted to make one more attempt.

"No decision should be made casually. I understand. But if you have any intention of joining a mercenary group in the future, little brother, please consider the Green Mountain Mercenary Group more. My name is Mu Ying. Vice Commander Mu Yang is my cousin. When the time comes, little brother, you need only give either of our names."

"I'll remember. Definitely!"

Hearing this, Mu Ying smiled, then withdrew helplessly.

He had walked more roads than Chen Xiao had even seen; how could he not tell that Chen Xiao was simply brushing him off?

Fortunately, the Green Mountain Mercenary Group acted relatively uprightly, unlike the Wolf Head Mercenary Group, which had no bottom line. Thus, they would not feel displeased because of Chen Xiao's refusal.

After suffering a wave of attacks from the Red Ice Serpent and the Rock Serpent, all the mercenaries became even more vigilant.

Fortunately, for the entire afternoon, they encountered no further danger, and the road back to Green Mountain Town was just as smooth.

The next day.

Chen Xiao was no longer in a hurry to leave the inn early in the morning. It was not until noon that he took his waist blade and headed alone toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

He had originally thought that after the mercenaries ahead had opened the way, entering the Magical Beast Mountain Range at this time would make the journey relatively smoother.

However, the sheer number of magical beasts in the Magical Beast Mountain Range surpassed Chen Xiao's imagination.

These low-rank magical beasts might retreat when they encountered mercenaries moving in groups, but when they saw someone alone and isolated, they absolutely had no intention of letting him go.

As a result, the magical beasts Chen Xiao encountered today were more numerous than on any of the previous days!

Red Ice Serpents, Azure Wood Wolves, Fan-Backed Porcupines, Snake-Tailed Leopards...

Each magical beast seemed to think Chen Xiao was easy prey, one dying just for the next to step onto the stage.

In just one short hour, Chen Xiao encountered seven magical beast attacks!

However, they were all first-rank magical beasts, so they were not much of a threat.

Relying on the Profound High-Rank Ice Emperor Scripture, the Dou Qi within Chen Xiao's body was abundant enough. Even after seven consecutive battles, he still showed no sign of decline.

"After adapting over these past few days, first-rank magical beasts pose no threat to me at all. But being targeted by magical beasts all the time isn't good either. If this goes on, I'll at most be able to finish investigating three cliffs today."

After chopping off and putting away the sharp claws of the Azure Wood Wolf, and finding no magic core, Chen Xiao could not help but shake his head slightly.

Indeed, the materials from these magical beasts would fetch a considerable income if sold in Green Mountain Town, even exceeding the total of his past commissions.

The problem was that hunting magical beasts was not his goal.

First-rank magical beasts were extremely poor even for training. Chen Xiao had no intention of wasting time on them.

With a soft sigh, Chen Xiao grabbed the Azure Wood Wolf's fur and rubbed it hard over his body, making the scent on him even more mixed.

This was also experience he had learned from the mercenaries. Doing this could greatly reduce the chances of being coveted by magical beasts.

"Let's keep moving. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll find the cave at one of the cliffs ahead."

After comforting himself inwardly, Chen Xiao followed yesterday's route and began heading deeper in.

After a while, he arrived at the first cliff.

Filled with anticipation, Chen Xiao began to search carefully.

Then, while he did not find a cave, he did see two unbearably lustful Conjoin Apes...

"You can't even tell men from women. How unlucky!"

Chen Xiao kicked the Conjoin Ape corpses hard a couple of times, then lowered his head and continued onward.

The second cliff was completely bare.

At the third, he gained nothing at all.

Glancing at the sun gradually slanting westward, Chen Xiao silently shook his head, immediately hoisted the bulging sack of Spoils of War onto his back, and returned the way he had come.

By the time he arrived at Green Mountain Town, the sun had already set completely.

That day, Chen Xiao gained one thousand nine hundred gold coins!

After eating and drinking his fill, the exhaustion of a full day made it the perfect time to cultivate. Chen Xiao forced down the urge to lie down and meditated in cultivation for the entire night.

A new day.

Chen Xiao threw himself into it with full drive and entered the Magical Beast Mountain Range again.

This time, he finally reached the fourth cliff.

Unfortunately, there was no cave there.

Although a day of fighting had raised his gains another level, reaching two thousand three hundred gold coins—an amount ordinary mercenaries would envy—the waist knife he had picked up had also snapped into two, forcing Chen Xiao to face two First-Rank Magical Beasts with his bare hands.

The price was that his right arm had once again swollen red over a large patch.

After bundling and selling off his Spoils of War, Chen Xiao stepped into Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion for the second time.

He still looked for that White Dress Girl.

For no other reason than she was good value!

Xiao Yi Xian lifted her eyes and glanced at Chen Xiao. Seeing that delicate, handsome face that had left quite an impression on her, she instantly knew he had not taken her words to heart.

Little did she know, Chen Xiao really had listened. He simply had not known the waist knives used by mercenaries were of such poor quality.

"How old are you?"

Thanks to there being no one in line behind Chen Xiao, Xiao Yi Xian casually asked while fiddling with medicinal powder.

"Not yet fifteen."

That was the truth.

Hearing this, the girl lifted her eyes and rolled them at him.

"I'm older than you and I'm not even fifteen yet. I told you last time, your body is still very fragile, so avoid intense battles as much as possible. A situation like this is still easy to handle, but if you end up with some hidden injury, it won't be worth it."

"I used a weapon today. It broke halfway through."

Xiao Yi Xian nodded slightly, indicating she understood.

Then she added, "There's a Weapon Forge in town. I heard the mercenaries say the weapons there are pretty good quality, but they're rather expensive."

"Thanks. I'll go take a look."

Taking the medicinal powder, Chen Xiao took out the money and paid the bill, then turned and left.

He did not return directly to the inn. Instead, he went to the Weapon Forge the girl had mentioned and bought a long saber embedded with a magic core, spending a full seven hundred gold coins.

This price was indeed not low.

Fortunately, Chen Xiao had earned quite a bit over the past few days, so it was still within an acceptable range.

In the blink of an eye, another five days passed.

Chen Xiao, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, trembled slightly. His tightly shut eyes slowly opened, and he could not hide his delight.

"Nine Star Dou Zhe! A little faster than the breakthrough time I estimated. Looks like this is the effect of high-frequency combat."

During these days traveling alone in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, although Chen Xiao had not encountered any real danger, he had felt utterly exhausted every day. Even after returning to Green Mountain Town, he had not let his cultivation fall behind.

Looking at it now, it had all been worth it!

"Today, I'll definitely be able to reach the cliff near Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion's herb-gathering area!"

With his weapon upgraded, his experience accumulated, and now his strength raised another level, Chen Xiao's confidence surged.