Great Peril

Qin Meng collapsed as soon as the horse stopped moving. The veins bulged on his templates and his hair was covered in dirt. His duster had been lost somewhere behind, stuck under the sand, though no one cared about it at the moment. Not even Qin Meng himself. His legs quivered in spasm and his cracked lips looked miserable. He was like a beggar who had not eaten or drunk water for many days.

He tried to ask for water, but no one paid him any heed.

Although there was water inside his storage ring, he dared not take it out, no matter how worse his condition became. Such an act would only hasten his death. He needed to think with a calm mind.

"Sir, I—I will di—die if this continues. I know I am going to die anyway, but it would definitely int—interrupt whatever you are planning," he said in a trembling voice. He knew that they needed him alive, otherwise, they would have killed him a long time ago.

The one-eyed leader peered Qin Meng and frowned before turning towards Yao Ying. "Give him some water."

Yao Ying fetched the water skin from the side of his horse and snorted, "Humph, consider yourself lucky." Then he threw the water skin toward Qin Meng. He failed to catch it due to his weakness, and the water skin fell on the sand.

"Useless," cursed Yao Ying.

Qin Meng had an urge to bounce back some profanities, but somehow, he controlled himself and grabbed the skin with his shaking hands before unstopping it. Only after drinking water did he feel some coolness and strength inside his body.

"We need a half hour more to reach our destination," said the bandit leader. He looked at Qin Meng, standing on his quivering legs, and said, "Let's go."

Qin Meng gritted his teeth furiously. But other than this gritting his teeth, he could do nothing. The dragging started once more. As they entered the Burning Mountain Range, the strength of the creatures attacking them increased. Even injuring a few members of the gang. Though none of those bastards died. Qin Meng felt deep regret about it.

They continued and the attacks of the beasts became less frequent, and finally the time came when they completely halted. It was such a strange thing in this perilous place.

The first reason for it could be that there was no monster left in this area, which looked quite impossible to believe. As soon as they entered the Burning Mountain Range, the attacks increased. The assaults should have continued to grow stronger the deeper they went—but they stopped, instead. The second reason could be that this territory belonged to a monster that was way stronger than the other beasts. No beast dared to enter its territory.

Anyway, they arrived at their destination in half an hour, as the one-eyed man predicted. Qin Meng glanced in front of him and found a cave. It had a gigantic mouth, large boulders lay on either side of its entrance, and they failed to see anything inside the cave other than darkness.

"There is still some time," said the one-eyed boss. "Make the preparations."

All of them started to work. There were containers on the horses—which Qin Meng failed to notice previously—and one container they dragged towards the cave. Another about a hundred meters away and then the next container two hundred meters away. Just like that, they placed ten containers in a straight line, covering an area of a kilometer.

Qin Meng watched everything confusedly when the man—Yao Ying—started to drag him. He didn't resist and went along with the man. Soon they arrived at the farthest container from the cave. Qin Meng had no idea what they were planning, but he knew it had something to do with the monster they called Flaming Wind Panther.

Suddenly, Yao Ying grabbed his hands from behind, startling him. He knew he was no match against this man, or any other man in the gang. He didn't struggle against him. Nor could he.

Yao Ying untied his hand and once again tied them, tighter. When Qin Meng thought it was the end, Yao Ying grabbed his legs and brought another rope. These bastards were making sure that he could not run away when the monster arrived.

"Drink this," said Yao Ying as he handed a vial filled with green liquid. It was some kind of elixir.

"What is this?" asked Qin Meng, taking the vial from him, with his tied hands.

"You don't need to know," scowled the man and shoved the vial into his mouth. "Drink it."

Qin Meng looked at the vial and gritted his teeth. He didn't know what would happen to him after drinking it, but he had no other option. He hesitated and sucked the content of the vial into his mouth.

Yao Ying eyed him and then said, "Open your mouth."

Qin Meng's eyes widened. The man looked at him and sneered, "Do you think it is so easy to deceive me? I have seen a lot of boys like you."

Left with no choice, Qin Meng swallowed the content that was gathered inside his mouth. He waited for a few seconds. Nothing happened. "What kind of elixir is this?" asked Qin Meng. "Why don't I feel anything?"

"You will know about it very soon," smirked the man before strolling towards his companions in the distance. They talked about something, looking again and again towards him, but he could hear nothing. Neither could he move.

Qin Meng eyed in the distance and his eyes lit up. "Maybe now they won't be able to see it." He tried to activate his Martial Spirit to free himself from the ropes—only to be left gobsmacked. He could not sense his Martial Spirit! "So this is the use of that elixir?" Qin Meng's face paled.

Only now did he realize how naïve he had been. How could they leave such a loophole behind?

At this moment, he heard the sound of something breaking. He hoisted his gaze and found that all the ten containers were punctured with arrows, and the red liquid was spraying out of them. "Blood!" he screamed. He started to struggle even harder, but to no avail. He was unable to free himself, no matter what he did.

However, at this moment, he remembered something. "Damn, how did I forget about it?!" he cursed, and then used his Soul Power, and a sharp knife appeared in his hand. All this time he was thinking about Martial Spirit to free himself. Not even bothering to assume that something like a knife would come in handy in this situation.

"Roar!"

"Holy shit!" As he freed himself from the shackles, a roar of the beast echoed in the distance. Qin Meng turned around, and his mouth fell agape. His legs trembled, but he somehow controlled himself from wobbling down and peeing his pants wet. He had never seen such a ferocious beast ever before in his life.