Chapter 21: Meeting the Wolf Head Again

Lin Feng had just stepped away when several uniformly dressed sturdy men appeared here.

The men warily glanced around, and soon saw a wide pool of blood on the ground.

The men immediately gathered at the spot where the Blizzard Magic Beast Ape had just died.

One of the men who looked like a leader smeared a handful of the blood and sniffed it near his nose.

He then pinched it between his fingers and said to one of them, "This is magic beast blood; someone just fought a magic beast here. Quickly send a signal to the vice captain and the two captains."

After saying that, he looked at the others and said, "You few follow me to search nearby; if it's really that kid, we'll quickly capture him and see the captain. Once there are more people, we won't even get any soup."

"Captain, that kid can even defeat the vice captain who possesses Mysterious Tier combat skill; aside from you being a Six-Star Fighter, we are all Three/Four-Star Fighters—wouldn't that be too risky?"

One mercenary flashed a hint of fear in his eyes, recalling how he had once seen Mu Li's palms in a twisted, gruesome state, and said worriedly.

Hearing this, the other mercenaries' hearts also sank; they whispered, "Yeah, captain, why don't we wait for the others to arrive first?"

Hearing the opposition, the captain thought of how he still needed several thousand gold coins to purchase the Yellow Tier Advanced Technique, and his face darkened slightly.

He glanced at their fearful expressions and coldly said, "I'm fine; the money is still enough. It's you lot who are still cultivating the Yellow Tier Basic Technique, right?"

Upon hearing that, they all nodded, not quite grasping the captain's meaning.

The captain smiled faintly and continued, "Originally I thought that if we caught that kid, I'd split the gold coins with you, adding to the money you've saved over the years, enough to upgrade your technique or combat skill..."

He paused, then went on, "By then, not only would our own strength surge, but our descendants could, upon newly becoming Fighters, cultivate higher-level techniques and combat skills, thus gaining an edge from the start..."

Seeing the men's breathing grow hurried, the captain shifted his tone, saying regretfully, "But if you're unwilling to go, I can't force you; better to first rendezvous with the main force."

"No, no, captain, hehe, we were just joking earlier; we all want to go." After saying that, the captain slowly rose to his feet.

The men, whose eyes were glazed over by the lure of techniques and combat skills, upon hearing the captain wanted to leave, hurriedly grabbed him as he was about to depart and changed their words.

"Well, since you all say that, I'll take you along." The captain nodded, reluctantly agreeing.

"Hehe, then it's trouble for you, captain." Seeing the captain agree, they all flattered him.

Upon hearing that, the captain nodded, assigned the tasks, and the men scattered to search...

"You idiots actually thought I'd share the gold coins with you? I just wanted to let you drain his battle qi when we meet that kid, then it'll all be mine, hehe..."

Watching their retreating backs, the captain snorted coldly in his heart, then turned and entered the forest to search as well.

Meanwhile, Lin Feng hurried back to the waterfall by the mountain stream, took a few leaps and climbs, and immediately arrived at the cliff face where the sunlight was most intense.

Sitting cross-legged, he tended to his bodily injuries, then began searching inside his Space Ring...

After a short while, Lin Feng helplessly stopped searching; his Space Ring contained no remedy for the Cold Qi.

Feeling the Cold Qi gradually spreading inside his body, he could only resort to the most primitive method: circulating his Battle Qi to consume the Cold Qi.

Exhaling a mouthful of cold air, he fully activated the Scarlet Fire Technique; the battle qi in the vortex surged toward the cold source in his abdomen, forcing it to continually expend energy to resist Lin Feng's battle qi driving it out...

Over the following days, aside from basic eating and drinking, Lin Feng spent almost all his time dispelling the Cold Qi.

Until the morning of the fifth day, Lin Feng felt his body warm again, and he let out a relieved sigh; that damned Cold Qi was finally exhausted completely.

Suddenly, Lin Feng leapt to his feet, his eyes like an eagle's gazing toward the direction where he had previously slain the Blizzard Magic Beast Ape.

There, at that moment, several people were approaching from that direction to search.

Lin Feng's pupils contracted slightly; he looked with a somewhat solemn expression at those uniformly dressed individuals, certain they weren't out for a stroll.

After a few leaps, he entered the forest and stealthily approached those strangers.

"The Wolf Head Mercenary Group folks are really persistent."

Perching on a tree branch, Lin Feng gave a soft hum, peering through the dense leaves at those people; on the side of their upper garments, a howling wolf head emblem was especially conspicuous.

After observing for a long time, Lin Feng confirmed that aside from a few Three/Four-Star Fighter mercenaries...

... there was only one leader who was a Six-Star Fighter; Lin Feng then gently drew near that leader mercenary.

If he didn't take care of him first, it would be easy for that leader to escape while Lin Feng was killing the other mercenaries.

But once that leader was dealt with, the other Three/Four Fighters could not escape his grasp.

Approaching not far behind the Six-Star Fighter, Lin Feng drew his right foot back slightly, then stomped hard, launching his body upward in an instant.

"Scarlet Fire Palm!"

The Five-Star Fighter heard the commotion, turned, saw Lin Feng less than ten meters away, and exclaimed in shock, "Lin..."

"Boom!"

Before he could finish, he was blasted several meters away by the violent scarlet-red battle qi, crashing heavily onto the trunk of a huge tree.

In his final moment, his mind held only one thought: "I've been tricked—this guy is absolutely not a Two-Star Fighter! And why was I so greedy?"

"Captain, be careful... no, run!"

The sudden loud noise instantly startled the others; they were about to rush forward to help, but saw their captain violently flung back.

He smashed into the trunk beside them, then immediately turned and fled at full speed toward the outskirts of the Magic Beast Mountain Range.

"Want to run? Did you ask me?"

Seeing their reaction, Lin Feng snorted coldly and then charged toward them...

After a moment, Lin Feng stepped over the two corpses before him and came to the sole surviving mercenary.

He grabbed the mercenary's collar and coldly said, "Tell me, who led your Wolf Head Mercenary Group team this time, and how many people entered the Magic Beast Mountain Range in total, or else..."

As he spoke, his gaze unintentionally flicked toward the two corpses beside him.

"It... it's our vice captain and the third captain, each leading a squad. The numbers... roughly about twenty each."

Following Lin Feng's line of sight, the mercenary looked at his fallen comrades, swallowed, and hurriedly spilled everything he knew.

"So that's forty people total..."

Lin Feng murmured softly, pondered for a few seconds, then continued asking, "Where are they now?"