Chapter 20 – Unexpected Even

Within the pitch black and dense forest, an indistinct campfire was flickering in a quick and lively manner, and it brought strands of warmth and light to the deathly silent night.

A few people sat cross-legged around the campfire.

Yang Ye had his back to a large tree, and the branch in his hand frequently jolted towards the fire before him. From the conversations they had before this, Yang Ye had obtained a slightly better understanding of the three of them.

All three of them were from a city called Green Mountain City, and it was the city closest to the Sword Sect. Man’zi and Qing Hong were actual siblings, and a few generations of their family before them were all mercenaries that relied on hunting Darkbeasts to provide for their family. As for Xiao Hei who hadn’t spoken all along, it wasn’t because he had a cold and indifferent bearing, and it was instead because Xiao Hei was mute!

“Brother Yang, are you really not a disciple of the Sword Sect?” At this moment, Man’zi gazed at Yang Ye and asked with slight curiosity.

When they heard Man’zi, Qing Hong and Xiao Hei gazed at Yang Ye as well. Needlessly to say, that scene from before where Yang Ye slashed the Twin Wing Python apart with a single strike had truly shocked them. This sort of strength was absolutely not something an ordinary independent cultivator or the disciple of a small clan could attain.

When they thought about how they’d asked Yang Ye to clean up the battlefield, their faces could help but burn slightly with embarrassment.

“I can’t be considered to be one for now. Right….” Yang Ye stopped prodding the fire with the branch and looked at the three of them before he said, “What do all of you intend to do if you encounter that companion of yours, Xiu Yuan, in the future?

When they heard this name, all of their expressions became slightly unsightly.

Qing Hong grunted coldly while she didn’t conceal the disdain on her face at all. She said, “This fellow didn’t have pure intentions when he joined us. I originally thought that he was just slightly proud, yet I never imagined that he would be so cowardly. He actually abandoned his companions to seek survival. I’ll definitely shoot an arrow through his head when I see him again!”

Yang Ye shook his head and smiled as he gazed at Qing Hong who was angry. Looks like that Xiu Yuan who fled by himself has really infuriated her.

Man’zi shook his head and sighed before he said, “Forget it, let’s just not have anything to do with such a person in the future.”

“Forget it?” Qing Hong said with slight anger, “Big Brother, if it wasn’t for Yang Ye, the three of us would have already perished beneath the attacks of the Twin Wing Python. How could we just forget this?”

Xiao Hei revealed a gloomy expression as he casually swung the dagger in his hand through the air, and he used this sort of method to display his displeasure towards Xiu Yuan.

As he gazed at the two of them who were angry, Man’zi shook his head and sighed before he said, “How could I desire to just forget it? Qing Hong, you’re right. If Brother Yang wasn’t here when he fled in the midst of battle, then it would absolutely cause us to be annihilated. However, all of you are unaware that his older brother is a general in Green Mountain City. If we deal with him and news of it spreads, then we’ll be unable to gain a foothold in Green Mountain City.”

When they heard this, Qing Hong and Xiao Hei’s lips moved, yet they kept silent in the end. One had to at least be a First Heaven Realm expert in order to become a general at Green mountain City, and such an expert wasn’t someone they could go against.

After a moment of silence, Qing Hong grunted coldly and said, “We can’t let it go just like that. After we return to Green Mountain City, we’ll spread the news of him abandoning his companions. Let’s see who’ll allow him to join their group.”

Man’zi and Xiao Hei nodded when they heard this. If they didn’t do anything at all, then they themselves would feel slightly aggrieved in their hearts. Just like Qing Hong had said, so long as they spread the news, then Xiu Yuan would absolutely become the shame of the mercenary world in Green Mountain City. After all, fleeing in the midst of battle and abandoning one’s companions were taboos of the mercenary world.

“Is Green Mountain City close to Southpeace City?” Meanwhile, Yang Ye suddenly asked this question.

The three of them were stunned and didn’t know why Yang Ye asked such a question. Man’zi smiled and said, “Even though we’ve never gone to Southpeace City, it should be close. Because we’ve sometimes encountered mercenaries from Southpeace City that came to the Grand Myriad Mountains to hunt Darkbeasts.”

When he spoke up to here and glanced at Yang Ye before he said, “Could it be that Brother Yang is from Southpeace City?”

Yang Ye nodded, and then he glanced at them while seeming to be lost in thought.

When they noticed Yang Ye didn’t feel like talking about it, the three of them were very sensible and didn’t continue asking about it.

After a short period of silence, Man’zi seemed to feel as if something was off, and he stood up and glanced at the surroundings. The surroundings were completely pitch black and deathly silence. He frowned and thought for a moment before he said to Xiao Hei who sat silently at the side, “Xiao Hei, let’s sprinkle some Beast King droppings around us. It’s too quiet, and something doesn’t seem right.”

Xiao Hei nodded when he heard this, and then the two of them walked towards the distance.

Yang Ye was thinking about something when Qing Hong suddenly sat by his side. As she looked at Yang ye, a wisp of an unusual glow flashed past Qing Hong’s beautiful eyes. Yang Ye’s face was slightly thin, his features were clear, and he had elegant black hair. Even though he couldn’t be called a pretty boy, but he was still handsome as well. Of course, the key was Yang Ye’s strength. Even though he was only a Profounder at the seventh rank of the Mortal Realm, his strength could be described as terrifying.

She had a slightly good impression of Yang Ye because Yang Ye’s gaze wasn’t so invasive like the gazes of others towards her. So, she’d looked after Yang Ye all along the way. But when she saw Yang Ye stand in front of her like a god of battle and split the Twin Wing Python into two with a single strike, she knew that she had a trace of an unusual feeling towards this young man from that moment onwards.

In the southern territory, the strong were always attractive.

When he sensed the gaze of the beautiful woman by his side, Yang Ye turned his head to look at Qing Hong before he said, “What is it? Is there something on my face?”

Qing Hong hurriedly withdrew her gaze while her face blushed slightly. Fortunately, it was deep into the night, so it was impossible to see clearly. After a short moment of silence, Qing Hong looked once more at Yang Ye and said, “Little Brother, since your strength was so formidable, why didn’t you resist when we asked you to clean up the battlefield or when Xiu Yuan ridiculed you repeatedly?”

Yang Ye smiled and said, “It’s better to keep a low profile. It’s fine if one’s strength is extraordinarily formidable, but if it’s strength like me, then there are at least countless people with strengths that are more formidable than me within the Grand Myriad Mountains. If I keep a high profile, then I would be truly courting death.” A year of living as a Labor Disciple allowed him to understand many principles. If one kept a high profile while not possessing any strength, then one would truly be courting death. Just like Manager Xu and Du Xiu, if they kept a comparatively low profile on the Labor Peak, then they probably wouldn’t have faced such consequences.

A wisp of surprise flashed past Qing Hong’s eyes. Living as a mercenary all year round allowed her to witness all sorts of geniuses, and almost all those strong geniuses were extremely arrogant and seemed as if they were deeply afraid that others wouldn’t know of their strengths. On the other hand, this young man before her didn’t have the arrogance of those geniuses at all, and he knew how to keep a low profile instead.

This sort of mentality and maturity caused her to truly be slightly surprised.

After engaging in small talk for a while, all the others besides Man’zi had gone to rest. Even though the droppings of Beast Kings had been sprinkled in the surroundings, Man’zi and the others didn’t dare be careless at all. So, they took turns to stand on guard.

Deep in the night, the dense forest was covered in pitch black darkness. Within this pitch black and deathly silent forest, the campfire in front of Yang Ye was like a ghastly flame that seemed gloomy and slightly terrifying.

Hiss~

Suddenly, a hiss resounded in the originally silent forest. It was only a single hiss at the beginning, but it seemed like over a hundred in a short moment, and in a short moment later, it seemed like the entire forest was filled with hissing!

Yang Ye and the others had awoken when the first hiss had resounded, and Yang Ye was just about to stand up when Qing Hong who lay by his side had placed her hands on his hand before lightly shaking her head to him.

When he noticed the serious expression Qing Hong had, Yang Ye looked towards Man’zi and Xiao Hei who similarly had serious expressions, and when he saw them shake their heads towards him as well, he knew that he couldn’t move at this moment. He immediately nodded slightly, and then stayed on the spot and silently watched the situation develop.

For a time, the four of them were like statues.

The hissing didn’t end. Conversely, they grew more and more in number, and by relying on the weak illumination of the campfire, the few of them were able to notice numerous things wriggling about in the surroundings. Fortunately, the Beast King dropping were sprinkled in the surroundings, so those wriggling things didn’t crawl towards them, and they wriggled around outside the ring of Beast King droppings.

As they gazed at those wriggling things, Yang Ye and the others felt their scalps go slightly numbs. Those things were naturally snakes. If there were only a few tens of snakes, then all of them wouldn’t be fearful at all. Yet now, there were at least over 10,000 snakes in the surroundings. Moreover, there were even some enormous pythons.

At this moment, Yang Ye really wanted to ask the beauty by his side about what exactly was going on, but he didn’t dare ask her. He was afraid that as soon as he did ask about it, then those snakes would charge over fearlessly. Even though his strength wasn’t weak, if he was encircled by these snakes during the night, then even he would only have a slim chance of survival.

Especially when this was Snake Forest. He didn’t know how many snakes there were in Snake Forest, but there definitely wouldn’t be a small amount of them. When he thought about being encircled by a dense mass of countless snakes, Yang Ye’s scalp felt slightly numb.

It wasn’t just Yang Ye who didn’t understand what was going on, even Man’zi and the others didn’t understand what was going on. In the past, they’d rested countless times in Snake Forest, but they’d never encountered such a situation. So, Man’zi and the others felt both terrified and bewildered.

More and more snakes arrived in the surroundings, and they ceaselessly moved over to encircle them. Snakes crawling over each other and forming pile after pile, such a scene caused Man’zi and the others to shudder with fear. Fortunately, those snakes didn’t dare charge through the area encircled by Beast King droppings, otherwise, all of them would definitely be dead.

Qing Hong’s hand pinched Yang Ye’s hand with force while her forehead was covered in cold sweat. In the end, she simply closed her eyes. However, the countless sounds of hissing still caused her to be unable to help but feel terrified, and then this terror transformed into the strength that kneaded and tortured Yang Ye’s hand.

Even with Yang Ye’s skin that was hard like copper, he still felt pain from this. He turned his head to glance at Qing Hong yet noticed her eyes were closed tightly, and her countenance was pale while her body trembled slightly. After that, he turned to look at Man’zi and Xiao Hei, and he noticed both of them were in a similar state as well.

Yang Ye frowned. He knew that if this continued, then they would definitely go mad from the pressure they experienced under such a situation. Moreover, it was fine while they stayed still now. But once they moved, then those snakes in the surroundings would definitely surge fearlessly at them like tidewater.

At that time, all of them would definitely be unable to escape death!

Calm down, calm down! When he thought about the scene of them being encircled and attacked by a myriad of snakes, Yang Ye forced himself to calm down. He knew that such a situation had definitely not occurred in the past, otherwise, they would definitely not choose to rest in Snake Forest. So, even though it hadn’t occurred in the past, it had occurred now, and the reason ought to be because they’d offended these snakes.

We offended these snakes? When he thought up to here, Yang Ye’s brows knit together tightly, and he made great efforts to think of the reason.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Right at this moment, those snakes had finally disregarded the Beast King droppings, and they charged wave after wave towards Yang Ye and the others….