Chapter 3470

“I want to join the next battle too!” Chen Yueying took the initiative to ask Ye Liuyun.

“Sure. The natives here aren’t very strong, so they’re just right for you to practice against.”

Ye Liuyun didn’t think much of it. Chen Yueying taking the initiative to improve her strength was a good thing as far as he was concerned. The stronger she became, the easier things would be for him.

He also released all the martial cultivators he had subdued in the Carefree Grotto Heaven. There were ten of them, and he had Peng Lie lead them in protecting Chen Yueying.

When the time came, he would merge into the void to investigate the natives’ true situation.

Their flying vessel also stopped at a place called Forbidden Zone Relay City. This was the last city on the way to the local natives. Beyond it lay the territory of the native martial cultivators.

The reason Ye Liuyun and the others had not rashly landed directly in the natives’ territory was that they wanted to come to this relay city and find a guide familiar with the situation.

There were both human martial cultivators and native martial cultivators in the relay city, and they were able to coexist peacefully.

These local native martial cultivators still lived in tribes. They went bare-chested and wore animal skins, their skin the color of burnished bronze. Their physical bodies looked extremely sturdy.

Most of them were at the first or second level of the Taixu Realm. When people said their realms were low, they meant only that they were below those of experts; they were not weaker than martial cultivators at Ye Liuyun’s level.

They generally sold lean meat from vicious beasts, animal hides, and various medicinal herbs here in exchange for other cultivation resources they needed.

Ye Liuyun and the others first found an inn to stay at, then had Peng Lie take some people out to find a guide.

There were several other groups at the inn preparing to go adventuring. One of them had fifteen or sixteen people. Their attire made them look like mercenaries, though they could just as easily have been bandits. When they saw that Ye Liuyun and the others were fairly strong, none of them dared provoke them.

Another group turned out to be a team of inner disciples from the Thousand-Spirit Sect. They were the same size as Ye Liuyun’s group and had come to carry out a mission as well. What was more, one of the disciples leading them recognized Chen Yueying.

“Junior Sister Chen, what a coincidence! I didn’t expect to run into you here. You’re here to carry out a mission too? How did you end up with these people?” The leading disciple was named Li Jingxuan. He was at the sixth level of the Taixu Realm, and his strength was considered quite good even among the inner disciples.

“Tianheng!” Chen Yueying hadn’t expected to run into him here either. She immediately stood up to greet him. “I’m here to carry out a mission too. I met these people during my last mission. We got along well, so we came here together to carry out another mission!”

“Oh!” Li Jingxuan didn’t interfere much in Chen Yueying’s affairs. After chatting with her for a few moments and seeing that she was doing well, he was reassured and led his group away.

However, Ye Liuyun keenly noticed that the mercenaries’ divine senses seemed to be monitoring the movements of Li Jingxuan’s group.

“Could these mercenaries be planning to rob Li Jingxuan’s group? Do they have accomplices waiting outside?” Ye Liuyun immediately realized that the mercenaries were no match for Li Jingxuan’s group. If they intended to make a move, there had to be others outside ready to assist them.

However, this was only a suspicion for now, and he couldn’t be certain, so he could only keep an eye on them.

Before long, Peng Lie returned with a young guide who was known as the “Know-It-All.”

The boy really was quite shrewd. The moment he saw them, he realized that Ye Liuyun was their leader and began boasting to him about how familiar he was with this place, claiming there was nothing he didn’t know.

He also used a treasure that concealed his realm to make himself appear to be at the second level of the Taixu Realm. However, Ye Liuyun’s Golden Eyes saw that he was actually at the late stage of the fourth level of the Taixu Realm and was nearly at the fifth level—his realm was even higher than Chen Yueying’s.

Using the opportunity to test his knowledge of the natives as a pretext, Ye Liuyun had him explain the local situation to everyone while he and Peng Lie analyzed the group of mercenaries.

“That’s right. I think they’ve also set their sights on those disciples from the Thousand-Spirit Sect! And those disciples from the Thousand-Spirit Sect don’t seem to have taken them seriously either.” After observing for a while, Peng Lie confirmed this to Ye Liuyun.

“Mm. Those disciples from the Thousand-Spirit Sect will probably suffer for it. We need to think of a way to rob these mercenaries after they succeed. The disciples of the Thousand-Spirit Sect are loaded. At the very least, it’ll earn everyone some cultivation resources!” Ye Liuyun discussed the matter with Peng Lie.

“Then let’s hire this Know-It-All. I think he knows those people! Look at him—he’s doing his best not to glance in their direction, but he’s thoroughly sized up all the other groups!” Peng Lie suggested.

Ye Liuyun admired Peng Lie inwardly for observing so carefully, but he still asked him, “Can this little sly fox be trusted? He’s concealing his realm; his actual realm is the fourth level of the Taixu Realm. Will he help us when the time comes?”

After hearing the Know-It-All introduce himself, Ye Liuyun realized that he was probably still holding a lot back. Since Ye Liuyun hadn’t promised to hire him, he likely hadn’t said much. He was probably someone who had been making his way through society for a long time—a seasoned old hand.

Peng Lie replied, “A guide in a place like this can’t really be called trustworthy or untrustworthy. It’s simply a matter of mutual use. If you’re worried when the time comes, you can just plant a slave seal on him or force him to sign a contract.”

Hearing this, Ye Liuyun immediately took out a high-grade divine crystal and transmitted his voice to the young guide: “Tell me about the origins of that group of mercenaries. If you know, I’ll acknowledge your abilities, and this divine crystal will serve as our deposit for hiring you.

If you don’t know, then your title of Know-It-All is nothing but an empty name—you’re just bragging. You can go back wherever you came from!”

The boy was explaining the characteristics of the local martial cultivators to the others, portraying them all as having skin of bronze and bones of iron. Chen Yueying was listening with great interest.

The boy glanced at the crystal in Ye Liuyun’s hand and secretly swallowed. Then he transmitted his voice to Ye Liuyun: “They’re a local group of martial cultivators. There are more than a hundred of them, and they have an unusual relationship with the local natives. They make a living by entering the natives’ territory to gather medicinal herbs.”

At the same time, the boy continued vividly telling Chen Yueying interesting stories about the native martial cultivators, completely unaffected by what had happened.

“Gathering medicinal herbs is just a front, isn’t it? If that’s all you know, you can go back now!” Ye Liuyun merely curled his lips in disdain before instructing Peng Lie to find another guide with more experience.

The boy immediately grew anxious. No longer concealing anything, he told Ye Liuyun directly, “Fine, I’ll tell you! They’ll do any kind of business, including blocking roads to rob people and killing for their possessions. They’re also in league with the natives and often join forces to target martial cultivators who come exploring.

But you mustn’t provoke them. Not only are they numerous, they also have connections everywhere. They’re tied to the garrison and the city lord’s manor here. Offending them is equivalent to offending everyone on this entire planet.”