Considerate

Since their conversation had already come to this, Wu Youren steeled his heart, brought out the small leather pouch, and parted the opening just a sliver. "There's nothing here that... huh?" The horned owl had seemed rather casual, but its round eyes instantly went blank. "May I take a closer look?" Seeing that the other party was so polite and scrupulous, the youth decided to go all in and gamble! He opened the pouch completely, revealing an oval, egg-shaped object. It was slightly elongated, tapering to a point at the top. "What is this?" The horned owl cast a suspicious glance at the fledgling perched on the youth's shoulder. *The all-important Guizu relic you spoke of is just a lump of... Who isn't a bird here? I can take a dump too!* *Wait, no!* The horned owl's pupils shrank. "All right, put it away. What in the world is that?" "I don't know," Wu Youren said, shaking his head. He emphasized, "That's why I'm asking you to appraise it, Senior!" The horned owl eyed the young snow harrier from the side. "It dropped this?" Wu Youren fell silent. At this moment, his heart was torn in turmoil; even though he had decided to take the gamble, it was hard not to feel reluctant. Chen Quanxu understood as well. "You really do trust me. If this were five years ago, I definitely would have snatched your bird." The youth remained silent. There was nothing he could do; heartache was heartache, and there was no need to hide it. The horned owl went quiet as well. After a short while, it asked, "Does it drop these often?" "As if that were possible!" Despite his inner turmoil, the youth couldn't help but chuckle. "Just this once... the very first time!" "This thing is comparable to a Guizu-luring agent. The key is..." Chen Quanxu hesitated, then sought to confirm: "You brought it out of Mount Xuanling?" Wu Youren gave a soft sigh. "I knew you would think of it. The thing the Hall of Esoteric Masters has been scouring everywhere for..." "It shouldn't be this!" the horned owl declared without hesitation. "Even if it is, it must not be. Do you understand?" The youth gave a slight nod. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "What exactly is the Hall of Esoteric Masters looking for?" "A Guizu aura refinement bead, or a refinement stone," Chen Quanxu answered without hesitation. "They are birthed naturally by Guizu domains, and when the time is right, they can elevate a domain's tier." Though he answered so decisively, Wu Youren had already gotten a feel for some of this person's speaking habits. "That's only one of the possibilities, right?" "Of course," the horned owl replied with absolute self-righteousness. "Mankind's research into Guizu domains is still quite superficial, and I don't know all that much either." The youth turned his head to glance at the little snow harrier on his shoulder. Seeing him look over, the little creature immediately opened its beak wide. "Hungry again," he muttered helplessly, shaking his head. He fished out two strips of dried meat and handed them over. "Don't go doing your business wherever you please, understand?" "I told you before, its cultivation system follows your path," the horned owl spoke up again. "So your suspicion that it's the Guizu relic sought by the Hall of Esoteric Masters is theoretically impossible anyway. The energy field doesn't match!" "That's good to hear," Wu Youren said, nodding. Though it was somewhat of a pity not to have snatched the treasure the Hall of Esoteric Masters yearned for, this thing produced by Xiao Ha was very suitable for his own use. Whatever was suitable was best. "What I'm worried about is whether it might draw out a Shenwei-tier Guizu. That would be disastrous." The Mount Xuanling Guizu domain was at least Shenwei-tier. What rank would a relic capable of advancing it possess? "That?" The horned owl visibly hesitated as well. "The probability isn't very high, but... there's no need to take the risk of entering the mountain." "Right." The youth nodded. The crux was that if the hypothesis proved true, he would simply be unable to handle the situation. "Let's head to the wilderness tonight," Chen Quanxu said, sounding somewhat deflated. "More or less, whatever we hunt is what we get." Wu Youren's plans had indeed included steps for hunting Guizu, but it wasn't originally meant to happen so hastily. Xiao Ha producing such a big surprise was entirely unexpected, and plans were naturally meant to be adjusted at a moment's notice. At the same time, he looked forward to working with Chen Quanxu. However, an objective problem remained—his reserve supplies were insufficient. Once Wu Youren laid his cards on the table, Chen Quanxu said that was easy to solve; he could arrange for a batch of supplies to be brought over. However, the actual fighting would still be up to the youth, as his true body could not be there. He did not forget to emphasize, "Going outside the mountains is just practice—first, let's figure out what this... this lump actually is." Wu Youren rested for a while. Waking near dusk, he quietly set off for the wilderness outside the mountains. The horned owl flew silently above his head. Signs of human activity here were far more numerous than in the Rust Belt. Fortunately, by the early hours of the morning, he still managed to find an uninhabited spot. As before, he began by setting up mechanical traps, though this time they were not for defense, but for slaying Guizu aura. Half an hour later, with the various traps laid out and hidden, the horned owl took the opened leather pouch in its talons and flapped its wings, vanishing into the depths of the night. Barely an hour or so later, it flew back, trailing a vast expanse of thick Guizu aura behind it. Using its other talon, the horned owl yanked the cord, cinching the pouch shut. Then it flew off toward the distance. "Over to you! Fewer than ten knight Guizu!" "Holy crap..." Wu Youren bared his teeth at the sight. Although he had survived many fierce battles, watching such a dense, pitch-black mass rolling in still made his scalp tingle. Even without that lump—he might as well call it an orange seed—the dense Guizu aura continued surging forward on momentum. Immediately afterward, the Guizu aura began spreading in all directions, thrashing and crashing about in an effort to locate the aura of the treasure from moments ago. Chen Quanxu's timing and lead distance had been calculated perfectly. As the Guizu aura began spilling outward, its center gradually drifted toward the youth's position. "How considerate!" Wu Youren sighed softly. He drew his long blade and channeled his inner breath into the steel. This was the first time he had directly faced and clashed with a massive mass of Guizu aura head-on. Faintly, it actually felt like a trial. The blade slashed out with a faint, shimmering glow, its blade qi surging and contracting continuously, extending three to five meters in length. In the next instant, wails arose. Those Guizu below the level of apprentice knight could not withstand a single strike from him. Even a glancing graze was enough to scatter them like smoke, reducing them to nothingness. With every casual slash of the youth's blade, the sweeping blade qi easily claimed three to five Guizu lives. The scattered wisps of Guizu aura vanished like snow under boiling water, melting away before anyone could even notice. Wu Youren swung his blade at a steady, unhurried pace, yet his reaping efficiency was extraordinary. Only the omnipresent wailing caused him slight annoyance; otherwise, it could truly be said to involve no pressure at all. Soon, however, more intelligent Guizu took notice of his presence. Having lost the scent of the "treasure," they were already in a furious rage when they suddenly discovered a fresh, delectable morsel of "blood food." What was utterly intolerable to these Guizu was that, in this pitch-black night, the blood food actually dared to resist! The Guizu surged forward in waves, intending to teach this fellow a lesson. Yet before long, they realized that the script... seemed to have gone terribly wrong! Since this blood food was putting up a desperate struggle, they would let more capable beings step forward to deal with him. Before long, four or five knight Guizu closed in. These creatures were far more cunning. They generally refrained from charging head-on, instead circling and observing, occasionally shoving a scapegoat or two forward to gauge the opponent's reaction. If they caught an opening, they would attempt a harassment strike. As this harassment dragged on, even the sleeping little snow harrier was startled awake. Two kilometers away, three figures stood watching, extending their perception toward the scene. "Whose subordinate is that?" one person marveled. "To dare stand his ground and take it head-on in the middle of the night?" Another spoke up. "Aren't you curious what sort of treasure he's carrying?" Earlier, when they had noticed Guizu aura approaching, they had been preparing to use their encampment to hold it off. Unexpectedly, just as the Guizu aura drew closer and closer, it had abruptly swerved and departed at high speed. The hunting parties operating outside the mountains might not have been remarkable in pitched battles, but none were lacking when it came to seizing sudden opportunities on the cheap. They had deduced immediately that something must have happened to cause such an obvious change in the Guizu aura's direction. As for whether it was a good or bad thing... wouldn't they know just by following along to see? They hadn't dared trail too closely, keeping their distance far behind. Before long, they saw that the Guizu aura had merged into even more aura and kept moving. The Guizu aura gathered in ever-greater volume, and when it finally stopped, attacks by a martial artist erupted from within the massive mass. When a situation like this arose, there was a very high probability that the person had obtained an exceptionally precious Guizu relic. This mass of aura was temporarily formed from countless smaller clusters; while certainly massive, it wasn't necessarily overwhelmingly powerful. "Let's wait and see first," one of them said. "When the timing is right, we'll make our move." In the wilderness, when killing Guizu, order of arrival meant nothing. Fighting over Guizu relics was mostly a matter of who was faster. Back then, Instructor Hong had dared to snatch a Guizu relic right in front of an ability master; if a military grand knight hadn't stepped in to claim a share, she would have gotten away with it cleanly. Wu Youren tangled with the knight Guizu for over ten minutes before his three-to-five-meter blade qi suddenly flared to seven or eight meters. With this unexpected burst, five or six slashes wiped out three knight Guizu and heavily wounded two more. It simultaneously threw the mass of Guizu aura into complete chaos. By the time he eliminated another three knight Guizu, this massive cloud of aura had finally lost its initial frenzy. Retreating was out of the question—countless low-tier Guizu were still swarming him—but the few remaining knight Guizu no longer dared approach recklessly. Seven or eight minutes later, another two knight Guizu were slain, and the youth was able to move about freely within the mass of aura. This essentially guaranteed that he stood on invincible ground; everything that followed was simply cleanup time, leaving him free to take whatever he pleased. Throughout the battle so far, Wu Youren had already harvested three Guizu relics, two of which were crystals. The other was a golden Guizu relic, which was also relatively common; favored by elemental branch ability masters, it fetched a higher price than resentment crystals. Wu Youren fought while gathering the relics, appearing completely at ease. Cleaning up the battlefield during a nighttime clash was extremely difficult, as Guizu relics could easily be swept away by other Guizu. Pocketing them as quickly as possible was the only sensible course. He had also perceived that people seemed to be watching the spectacle from outside, but he didn't pay it much mind. As long as no grand knight appeared, it didn't matter. Under his relentless slashes, the Guizu aura visibly thinned, showing faint signs of collapse. At the same time, however, the youth's figure within the aura could no longer remain concealed, gradually coming into view.