Chapter 17 - Demon Beast Forest

This place was an adventurer's paradise because inside were a large number of demon beasts, and as a result, many mercenary groups frequently a.s.semble to venture within this ma.s.sive forest. They killed demon beasts for their demon cores which earned them money. They would also exchange them for cultivation resources and that was how they made a living. The even stronger mercenary groups were able to capture spirit beasts.

When one was at the Profound Spirit realm or higher, they would be able to refine a spirit beast's soul essence and use it to increase their own strength. Also, some with especially strong willforce would be able to form a contract with spirit beasts, making the spirit beast yield and serve them. This would increase their fighting strength. For this reason, the price of living spirit beasts was so high that they simply couldn't compare to demon cores.

In the surroundings of the Demon Beast Forest, there were only some low-level demon beasts and spirit beasts rarely appeared. Because of this, the danger wasn't great, but sometimes, the beasts would form packs which were led by a spiritual beast. If one encountered such a group it meant disaster.

In the outskirts of the Demon Beast Forest, the trees stood tall and were thick, and they could easily hide smaller demon beasts. Now, within this forest, two silhouettes were moving quickly with a little caution as if the hidden dangers were nothing to them. These two people were precisely Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian.They had come to the Demon Beast Forest three days ago, and during this time, they had been moving within the outskirts of the forest killing many demon beasts. This caused their foundations to consolidate and their fighting ability to rise sharply. Now they were about to break through into the Middle-stage of the Profound Master realm, but their faces didn't show happy expressions, instead, they seemed a little dejected.

"It has already been three days, and we still haven't heard anything about this spirit bird. What should we do?" Lin Haoxue moved aside some brush next to a big tree before she sat down, leaning against it. These three days she came to realize that if she dared to relax just a little, it was likely that she could lose her life."That is true. We cannot keep blindly searching like this, we ought to think of another method." Shen Molian also cleared a spot before she sat down. Afterwards, she started a fire, and with practiced hands, started roasting a demon rabbit so they could eat. Very soon a delicious fragrance wafted outwards."Perhaps we should consider joining a mercenary group. At least they will have much more experience compared to us, and they also have a wider intelligence network," Lin Haoxue took a demon rabbit leg from Shen Molian and bit down happily. She had to say that Shen Molian was really good at roasting meat.

"That plan isn't bad, but how do we become a member of one? As far as I know, these mercenary groups are all quite strong and they guard against outsiders. I fear that joining one won't be easy, not to mention we are both girls. It is quite disadvantageous for us." Shen Molian picked up a demon rabbit leg and gracefully ate while she spoke.

"It isn't certain that we can become members of a mercenary group. We could find the strongest mercenary group since they are most likely to uphold justice and are also probably conceited. If we told them that we want to seek shelter under them, I believe they won't suspect us. After all, seeing our rank they would know that we aren't a threat to them. As for gender, I am young and the characteristics of my gender are not so obvious. I can change into men's clothes, as for you…" Lin Haoxue looked at Shen Molian's curvy figure. Although she hadn't said anything, her implication was quite clear.

"It won't be a problem for me." Shen Molian seemed as if she suddenly recalled something as she stood up and turned around. Her right hand touched a ring on her left finger and then turned around back to face Lin Haoxue. Lin Haoxue found that besides her facial features, Shen Molian had completely changed into that of a young man.

"What was that? So magical!" Lin Haoxue asked as she looked at Shen Molian who had in a split second changed appearances with a flash of green light.

"Trans.m.u.ting spirit tool," Shen Molian explained. "It is a spirit tool capable of hiding one's true ident.i.ty and it can change one's stature, gender, voice, and appearance. It was exactly because of this spirit tool that I managed to escape the countless people and beasts that wanted to kill me."

"Oh," This touched upon Shen Molian's secret past, and Lin Haoxue tactfully didn't ask many questions. When looking at Shen Molian's trans.m.u.ting spirit tool, she recalled the storage spirit tool storage she had used before, and she couldn't help but feel slightly envious. If she had such a spirit tool, how good would that be?

Only then she remembered her own mysterious ring, but she had no idea if her ring had any special uses.

After that Shen Molian didn't say anything else. She was still unwilling to tell others about her past, even though she had gradually approved of Lin Haoxue's character over the past few days.

During the silence, the two people finished eating their demon rabbit.

"Let's do as you said. We'll go find the most well-known mercenary group, Violent Snow, within this Demon Beast Forest." Shen Molian said then she quickly changed into male clothes. Hearing what she said, Lin Haoxue also quickly changed clothes. Afterwards, they both started heading towards more crowded areas of the forest.

A group that was quite big sat in a circle within the forest. There was quite a lot of people, nearly a hundred. Amongst these, the lowest was a Profound Grand Master realm cultivator. Their strength was tyrannical as they even had a Profound Saint keeping watch. In the middle, a young man was in the process of cooking some beast meat and the people around him were all drooling while they looked at the almost cooked demon sheep. In their minds, they were all hiding a smile. Today they were incredibly lucky to be able to find food as good as this. For them to be able to have some roast meat personally cooked by the young master, it was obvious that it would taste good.

Between these people was also a middle-aged man with a dragon-like beard. He was clearly also quite interested in the roasted demon sheep, but at the same time, he was on high alert as he kept his eye on the surroundings while listening for any signs of activity.

"Uncle Ran, sit down; you're too nervous," a young man beside him said to him.

"Danger lurks everywhere within the Demon Beast Forest, we absolutely cannot relax," the bearded man looked quite solemn, "Not to mention that this mission is very important."

When the young man saw that his words weren't useful, he didn't say anything more as this was indeed the case, one couldn't lower their guard.

"Who?" Suddenly the dragon-bearded middle-aged man shouted out loudly. At the same time, he reached down and drew his axe after hearing the sound of someone approaching.

"Senior, don't be nervous," alongside a sharp, clear voice came two attractive and intelligent youngsters from behind a big tree.

Looking at Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian and realizing that they were merely Middle-stage Profound Master realm cultivators, the dragon-bearded man's expression immediately eased up. But then he frowned, "Who are you?"

"We are the Molian mercenary group," Lin Haoxue walked forward and spoke with a happy smile. Her brilliant smile was inviting and that made it easy for one to be fond of her.

"Molian mercenary group," the dragon-bearded middle-aged man said doubtfully as he looked at the surrounding people, "Have y'all heard of it?"

Seeing the surrounding people all blankly shaking their heads, Lin Haoxue quickly said, "We are a newly established mercenary group, and this is our first time in the forest. Our other members died or ran away leaving just the two of us behind. Our strength is weak, and we are unable to compare to a big mercenary group like yours.

"And?"

"We know that our strength is limited, and we're aware that we can no longer seek riches. Therefore when we saw the strength of your group, we thought that if we were to follow you then our lives would be somewhat safe."

"Your life will be somewhat safe? Little ones, do you know what we have accepted to do? The region we are headed towards cannot be considered safe at all. You want a smooth and steady ride then you ought to find a group other than ours."

"We also think that there is nothing else to be done. There are no people who can compare to you guys, therefore we only want to follow you." Lin Haoxue seemed as if she were intimidated by the words of the dragon-bearded middle-aged man, but then she seemed as if she had recalled a terrible affair, looked a little vexed, and finally seemed helpless.

"Are you sure you want to follow after us?" The dragon-bearded man asked one more time.

"We are sure!" Lin Haoxue quickly gave Shen Molian a quick glance as if hesitating to answer.

"Young master, they want to join us," the dragon-bearded man turned around and sought the handsome youth's opinion.

The handsome, youthful man glanced at the two of them. When his eyes landed on Lin Haoxue his eyes slightly stopped. The corner of his mouth turned into a faint smile, and he said one sentence, "Allow them to stay behind us."