Faint though the sound was, the three of them had been watching with undivided attention. "A Guizu relic!"
Beside the sand owl's shattered skull, a lump of white substance had appeared!
"What's this?" Manna muttered, but her hands moved without the slightest hesitation as she produced a leather pouch and scooped the white substance inside.
At the same time, she didn't forget to hiss, "Withdraw! Quick!"
Even as she was bending down, the youth had already spun on his heel and bolted into the distance!
"Damn, he's fast!" Giving chase immediately, Manna ran at no modest pace herself, though she couldn't resist muttering again, "He really is a cow—cautious."
Even so, there was nothing to fault. In their evacuation plan, the youth was supposed to run first.
The female knight had to record footage as she ran, keeping her in the middle, while Rossi brought up the rear.
That was the division of labor, so even Rossi was counting on Wu Youren to run as fast as possible so that he could pick up speed as well.
Of course, having the boy take point wasn't simply because of his low cultivation. People from Liang were hardly in the habit of coddling the weak.
The real reason was that Wu Youren was responsible for leading the way!
By now, both knights had tacitly acknowledged that the youth's danger sense was superior to their own!
Under normal circumstances, one of them might have harbored a bit of bruised pride, but this was a battlefield. No one was about to argue with their own survival!
As they ran for their lives, the chaotic racket they had made allowed another squad to further pinpoint their approximate location.
This squad numbered five people, led by a grim-faced grand knight, with the other four all being knights.
They moved swiftly, yet the rampaging Guizu aura severely impeded their advance.
"Damn!" one knight cursed under his breath. "These fucking ghost-destroying mines... were placed in brilliant spots!"
"No kidding," another replied. "This is a battlefield. You think they wouldn't have even that much skill?"
"Aren't they supposed to be a bunch of reckless brutes? Pulling this off isn't easy for their sort."
"Not knowing the taboos just means their social standing is lacking. It doesn't mean they lack experience... What if they're bounty hunters?"
Bounty hunters gambled their lives for fortune and were usually daring to a fault, but who would dare claim they lacked experience?
"Stop this useless chatter," the grim grand knight barked. "Keep your eyes on the pillar of Guizu aura, and steady the recording lens!"
Another knight spoke up. "Did that pillar of Guizu aura... just twitch?"
"Maybe, maybe not... It hasn't exceeded our previous observation parameters."
"Cut the nonsense and keep scattering ghost-dispelling powder!"
While those five monitored the behavior of the aberrational Guizu aura, the trio fleeing for their lives was observing just as vigilantly.
Rossi, in particular, trailing at the very back, had ample opportunity to look over his shoulder since the boy up front wasn't sprinting at full tilt.
From time to time, he scattered a pinch of ghost-dispelling powder behind them to prevent the Guizu from closing in.
Ghost-dispelling powder wasn't actually all that effective, and it was quite expensive.
Yet on a battlefield, if one wished to live, it was an indispensable measure. Waging war was essentially burning money.
Fortunately, for this outing, Grand Instructor Hong had shouldered the bulk of the supplies, so none of them needed to pinch pennies.
Even so, Rossi grew a little anxious. "Can't young Wu move any faster?"
"He has to scout the path," Manna answered from the middle. "The pillar of Guizu aura looks normal enough..."
"I wonder what that white stuff was. Felt squishy."
"It probably has something to do with bone glue." Hearing this, Rossi raised an eyebrow mid-sprint.
It was a rare chance to show off his breadth of knowledge. "I saw it once at an auction."
"Bone glue?" Manna looked pleasantly surprised. "Doesn't that mean we hit the jackpot?"
Guizu relics rarely appeared at auctions. It wasn't because they lacked the prestige to be listed, but rather that they were almost always bought up privately before ever reaching the auction block.
Only the rarer, more precious Guizu relics ever made it to an auction, usually because the owner was dissatisfied with private offers.
"It's just a guess," Rossi replied with a grin. "That sand owl was a bone sand owl."
The Guizu relics dropped by Guizu-transformed creatures generally bore some connection to the host creature itself.
Bone sand owls not only ate live prey, but could also swallow and digest bones, much like the bearded vultures of the Blue Star!
Bone glue was a marvelous material, prized equally by ability masters of the elemental branch, support branch, and mental branch alike.
"Then this gamble was entirely worth it!" Manna beamed.
Then she paused slightly. "Why hasn't that pillar of Guizu aura... changed at all?"
"Can't you hope for something good?" Rossi said, exasperated. "Don't go jinxing us!"
"I meant for our mission," Manna muttered ruefully, then sighed. "Human nature, I suppose. It's so hard to be satisfied."
"If you know that, keep quiet," Rossi said, shaking his head. "Just keep up."
After running for more than half an hour, the trio finally felt the oppressive pressure ease considerably.
Due to the thick white mist, the pillar of Guizu aura had long vanished from sight, but they still didn't dare let down their guard completely.
Another half hour passed before Wu Youren was the first to slow his pace. "No good. I can't hold out much longer."
He had been maintaining a sustained, high-intensity mental perception the entire time. The two knights couldn't detect it simply because they walked different cultivation paths.
Had Grand Knight Hong been present, she would have sensed at least a trace of it.
The two knights only saw him running and had no idea how immense a toll it was taking on his mind.
"Let's slow down, then," Manna surprisingly offered consolingly. "Don't push your body past its limit."
She wasn't certain what method he had used, but clearly, after more than an hour of travel, they hadn't encountered a single peril.
That was definitely not something that could be chalked up to mere 'luck.'
Rossi, however, was more concerned with something else. "Are you sure we're out of danger?"
"I can't say for certain," Wu Youren answered without hesitation. "I can only say the threat has dropped significantly."
"Then there's no danger," Rossi translated flatly. "Given how cow—cautious you are, if you put it that way, we're fine."
"Yeah, I feel much less pressure too," Manna agreed with a nod. "Besides, could this place ever be entirely free of danger?"
Rossi's competitive streak flared up at that. He wasn't about to be outdone by a female knight. "Another half hour of walking, then take a breather?"
"Whatever young Wu thinks," Manna replied with a smile. "I trust him."
How could she not be pleased? The bone glue was already secured. No matter how large a cut Hong Da took, everyone would still walk away with a handsome share.
"No need to rest," Wu Youren answered in a low voice. "Dropping to normal speed is enough. If we want to rest, let's wait until we're back at camp."
He was indeed tired, but far from utterly exhausted.
In such perilous surroundings, he had to maintain a sufficient reserve of energy so that if catastrophe struck, he would at least have the strength to put up a fight.
"Your stamina is actually impressive," Manna remarked. "Are kids these days all this fierce?"
"Can't speak for others," Rossi remarked casually, "but one like him is rare!"
He hadn't intended to praise the youth, but hearing the word 'kid' lifted his spirits considerably.
Half an hour later, the three of them had settled back into their initial cruising speed, easing their physical and mental fatigue as they traveled.
Yesterday, they had crept forward on pins and needles, followed by a sleepless night and a skirmish at dawn.
A martial artist's body was robust, but everything had its limit, not to mention the need to keep enough strength in reserve for unexpected crises.
"There's a one-horned lizard ahead," Wu Youren finally said. "I don't have the energy to fight it. What about you two?"
"Kill it," Rossi said without hesitation. "This is nothing!"
"I'm for killing it too," Manna said decisively. "Like I said, I'm dirt poor."
"Count me out," Wu Youren stated plainly. "Even if it drops a Guizu relic, it has nothing to do with me."
Ambushed by two knights, the one-horned lizard was sent off to meet its ancestors before it could even figure out what had hit it.
Unfortunately, it dropped no Guizu relic, leaving their already meager pockets all the more strained.
"A net loss," Manna muttered, her brow furrowing slightly.
She promptly adjusted her stance. "I don't have much battle qi left anyway. Unless strictly necessary, I'm not fighting again until we reach camp."
"Same here," Rossi agreed, realizing it wasn't worth the trouble.
When in peak condition, picking fights was always worthwhile—at worst, what didn't pay off here might pay off there.
Right now, however, they were running low on strength. For safety's sake, it was better not to take reckless chances.
More importantly, this scouting run had not only secured video footage, but they had also conducted an attack test, which would greatly elevate their mission completion rating.
Above all, they had obtained a portion of bone glue. That alone was worth more than ten resentment crystals combined!
In the eyes of commoners, knights were exalted figures.
Yet who truly understood the costs? For a knight to cultivate—nay, even to maintain a veneer of basic decency—the expenses were astronomical!
Just then, Manna let out a soft gasp. "Hm?"
Up ahead, she saw the boy flash a discreet hand signal.
"What is it?" Rossi asked. He was sixty or seventy meters behind Wu Youren, and the fog had obscured the signal from his view.
Manna flashed a hand sign in return. The two of them sped up swiftly, falling in beside the youth to form a battle formation.
The next instant, the female knight called out, "Leave immediately, or face the consequences!"
The white mist wasn't exceptionally thick, yet no one around them answered.
Rossi waited a moment, then spoke up. "Let's keep moving. Rendezvous with the main force as quickly as possible."
Namuzha was stationed up ahead; joining up with him would make them a formidable unit.
Then again, it had taken them an entire day to get here yesterday. Meeting up quickly was easier said than done.
Right at that moment, an airy voice drifted over, faint and elusive, shifting from left to right. "The main force? Whose force?"
The speaker had not recognized their identities. That was hardly surprising; back at the military camp, no one had recognized Hong Yan either.
In a place like this, none of them could wear uniforms of the Martial Academy. Red Pine had existed for so long—how could it not have enemies?
Those foes might not dare strike in the open, but looking for a chance to covertly finish them off was only to be expected.
Only around Suotu, Red Pine's own territory, would they dare wear the academy uniform openly.
This had nothing to do with courage; nearly all martial artists entering Mount Xuanling dressed in civilian clothes.
Even the people from Marquis Tanyong's Estate did the same.
"A grand knight," Rossi and Manna's expressions shifted slightly.
"So what if he's a grand knight?" Wu Youren sneered coldly. "Our New Army doesn't give a damn about that. State your name!"
Chapter 126