Chapter 207: The Grace of Saving a Life

"Yes!"

……

Several dozen cards obtained.

Chen Mu inspected the card picked up from the leading giant rat.

An "Earth Escape" shard card!

However, this shard was considerably larger than the others, roughly twice their size.

'Not bad.'

Chen Mu put away the card.

……

With the leader dead, the remaining giant rats were instantly terrified, squeaking and scattering in all directions.

"Don't let them escape!"

Huang Yuanhe shouted, and at the same time charged down the earthen slope with Xue Ranran, intercepting and pursuing, quickly cleaning up the remaining giant rats.

Chen Mu took the opportunity to pick up another eight cards, among them two "Earth Escape" shard cards.

The giant rats all dead, the wilderness temporarily returned to silence, leaving only the crackling of burning rat corpses, and Boxing Mountain Brocade, clutching her abdomen, blood at the corner of her mouth, looking up at Chen Mu.

"... Su Jin, thank you three!"

Boxing Mountain Brocade cupped her fists and gave a respectful bow to Chen Mu, Huang Yuanhe, and Xue Ranran.

"For the grace of saving my life, I will surely repay you another day!"

"If the three of you have any errands, you may command me; Su Jin will not refuse even ten thousand deaths!"

Her cool voice carried absolute resolve.

"... Miss Su needn't be so formal. We happened to be nearby, heard the commotion and came to take a look. Seeing danger, naturally we had to lend a hand." Chen Mu replied calmly.

Finished speaking, he glanced at Huang Yuanhe, passing him a look.

'Didn't you say her name was Boxing Mountain Brocade? Why is her surname Su?'

Xue Ranran also looked at Huang Yuanhe.

'No idea.' Huang Yuanhe blinked, equally puzzled. 'She really is from the Boxing Mountain family!'

Changing her name to Su Jin—there must be hidden circumstances!

"Ahem~"

Xue Ranran rolled her eyes, then walked over to Boxing Mountain Brocade, smiling. "Sister Su is amazing! By the way, Sister Su, would you like to come with us and stay at our camp for the night?"

"Thank you."

Boxing Mountain Brocade first thanked her, then politely declined. "I've already found a place to camp outdoors, so I won't trouble the three of you."

Finished speaking, she bowed once more to Chen Mu and Huang Yuanhe.

Then, leaning on her staff, she walked off into the distance.

"A bit stubborn."

Huang Yuanhe watched her retreating figure and said softly.

"Boxing Mountain Brocade, Su Jin, Su..." Chen Mu pondered. "Could this Su surname be her mother's?"

"Very possible!"

Huang Yuanhe's eyes lit up at the words. "The Eight Great Families do take in people of outside surnames, though those they marry are strictly screened. Boxing Mountain Brocade's mother very likely had the surname Su!"

"It could also be that her father's surname was Su."

Xue Ranran smiled. "The Eight Great Families never marry out, only take in. Every son-in-law is also strictly screened. Once they enter the household, they have little status—unless their talent is especially outstanding. Otherwise, they're only slightly above a personal maid or guard."

Hearing this, Chen Mu smiled. "Interesting."

The Eight Great Families strictly screening their children's spouses to control bloodlines was understandable.

As for the sons-in-law taken in, even with low status, countless people would fight tooth and nail for the chance.

Because the backing of the Eight Great Families was simply too thick and too solid!

Each family had been passed down for over ten thousand years!

Within every five generations, a Ten Thousand Manifestations realm expert was bound to appear!

Countless people wanted to curry favor with such a power.

So what if there's no status?

Living comfortably is enough!

……

A night passed.

The second day.

To more efficiently hunt exotic beasts and earn points, Chen Mu, Huang Yuanhe, and Xue Ranran decided to temporarily split up, each choosing a direction to act.

Chen Mu alone, pushed his movement technique to the limit, weaving through the forest.

The "Wind Listening" skill fully activated, sensing the life auras within range.

Giant rats, giant rabbits, and giant earthworms—the three most common exotic beasts—became his main targets.

Sword light flickered, true qi surged, and wherever he passed, exotic beasts fell one after another.

By the end of the day, the number of various exotic beasts that died at Chen Mu's hands reached three hundred.

The total number of "Earth Escape" shards also reached fifty!

……

Night fell once more. The three of Chen Mu, as agreed, returned to that patch of Lin Zi where they had stayed the night before to regroup, each sitting cross-legged on their chosen treetop.

Huang Yuanhe's face flushed with excitement, he spoke first. "Brother Chen, Miss Xue, I had a good haul today—killed a full fifty exotic beasts of various kinds! How about you two, how were your harvests?"

Xue Ranran wiped the fine sweat from her brow—she had clearly been through quite a few battles—and said softly, "I killed over forty."

After the two of them finished speaking, both looked at Chen Mu.

Huang Yuanhe asked curiously, "Brother Chen, yours must be more, right? How many did you kill?"

Chen Mu's expression was calm. He didn't mention any specific number, only saying lightly, "A bit more than you."

Hearing that, Huang Yuanhe's eyes lit up. He guessed on his own, "More than you? Then it must be a hundred! Brother Chen really is impressive!"

He automatically interpreted "a bit more" as an enormous gap.

Chen Mu neither affirmed nor denied it, merely smiling faintly.

Xue Ranran glanced at Chen Mu. Clever as she was, she vaguely felt that Chen Mu's "a bit more" was probably far from as simple as Huang Yuanhe imagined.

……

On the third day, when the morning light was just beginning to show, the three of them split up to act again.

Chen Mu once again activated the "Wind-Listening" skill, searching out giant rats and giant rabbits and cutting them all down.

Then he listened to the sounds in all directions—wherever there was fighting, he would head over afterward to collect the cards.

From morning to afternoon, the total number of "Earth Escape" fragments successfully accumulated to eighty!

Checking the time, Chen Mu headed back.

When passing through a stretch of barren foothills.

From afar, he sensed an incomparably sharp, piercing aura coming from ahead, along with dull, rumbling explosions.

Moving closer, he saw a young man in a black combat outfit, his aura awe-inspiring, hovering several meters above the ground.

True qi churned around his body, and he unleashed hundreds upon hundreds of transparent qi blades, bombarding the ground below like a raging storm!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

The qi blades sank into the earth with dull tearing sounds, precisely slicing apart and shredding giant earthworms that tried to burrow away.

Boom~ Boom~ Boom~!

The explosions never ceased.

Great gouts of soil flew and sprayed everywhere, and foul-smelling bodily fluids splattered in all directions.

"'Thousand Blades Art'?"

Chen Mu's gaze sharpened as he looked at this rather famous ultimate technique of the "World Society."

Combined with the man's appearance, age, and cultivation aura, his identity was obvious—

The youngest of the "World Society's" Twelve Month Altar masters, ranked forty-ninth on the Hidden Dragon List—Cao Shaozu!

Cao Shaozu had clearly also noticed Chen Mu's arrival. While maintaining his qi-blade storm to clear out the giant earthworms underground, he coldly shouted across the air toward Chen Mu, his voice carrying an unquestionable dominance.

"These are my prey!"

Hearing that, Chen Mu found it rather amusing in his heart.

This Cao Shaozu was indeed as overbearing as the rumors said.

Chen Mu had never intended to snatch them in the first place. He stopped his steps, stood in place, and calmly watched Cao Shaozu perform.

Cao Shaozu seemed to have decided this was a nest of giant earthworms. His qi blades poured down like an endless flood, plowing over the same stretch of land again and again, and the giant earthworms hiding within were nearly slaughtered to the last.

Just as Cao Shaozu's momentum was at its peak and he thought the cleanup was complete—

"BOOM!!"