46 Aftermath of the attack. Mortals’ struggles

Having already left the area of the mortal hamlet under the Gu Yue clan, Bai Bing Yi clutched his left severed arm above his elbow, a look of shock on his face as he stared at his missing forearm.

He just lost an arm. Not only that, but his entire team of Rank 2 Gu Master veterans was also slaughtered.

He originally was hunting Chi Shan's team, the victory was near certain, but in the end it was actually his team that was hunted down, while he was sent running for his life.

He felt shocked.

If not for the fact that his team was great at movement and scouting, and he borrowed a stealth type Gu for this mission, preparing accordingly, he would have already died!

'Gu Yue Chi Yan, is he really a junior that just left the academy? Even Bai Ning Bing wasn't so terrifying when he was young,' Bai Bing Yi thought to himself with pursed lips.

In the end, his terrible loss was caused by a single person - Gu Yue Chi Yan.

Bai Bing Yi wasn't a vengeful person, in fact he was quite apathetic, but the loss that he suffered from the hands of Chi Yan caused him to lose his composure. All of his close comrades that he shared life and death with for several years were killed!

And Chi Yan was also the one who caused him to lose an arm.

"Chi Yan, Chi Shan… I will repay you for this one day." Bai Bing Yi squeezed his remaining right hand into a fist, as he whispered in a low voice, his expression sinister.

…

While Chi Yan was returning to the group with Chi She, Chi Shan was the first that hurriedly ran up to him. It looked like his chest was mostly treated, but it still required more healing.

"Chi Yan, are you wounded? What about Bai Bing Yi? "Chi Shan immediately asked after getting closer.

Chi Yan forced a faint smile as he looked at Chi Shan. "I'm fine. As for Bai Bing Yi, he escaped."

"Bai Bing Yi escaped? I see..." Chi Shan nodded solemnly. After a moment, his stern expression turned to one of praise as he placed a hand on Chi Yan's shoulder. "Well, it is good that you are fine. Chi Yan, you have done something amazing today. You saved all of us."

Chi Shan gave Chi Yan a deep look. Their primeval essence was spent. If not for Chi Yan's sneak attack that managed to kill two Bai clan Gu Masters, they would have all surely been killed by Bai Bing Yi's group.

"Yeah, yeah. Did we get any good loot?" Chi Yan asked. Although the situation was quite dangerous earlier, Chi Yan didn't feel affected much, especially since they made it in the end.

Chi Shan was stunned for a moment by Chi Yan's casual reply, before he said, "Loot? I'm not sure. I left to find you right after we dealt with the close-range Gu Master from the Bai clan."

"I see."

Along the way Chi Yan squatted down to inspect the Aperture of the tall Bai clan Gu Master that was killed by fireballs drilling through his back. He was disappointed - this Bai clan Gu Master destroyed all of his Gu worms before dying, so there was no loot for him to collect.

Chi Shan then picked up the tall Bai clan Gu Master's corpse and carried it back to the group.

A few moments later Chi Yan's group of three returned to the place where the Gu Master battle happened.

The close-range Gu Master that Chi Shan pinned down earlier was laying on the ground restrained by Chi Dan's vines, seeming dead.

Meanwhile Chi Dan and Gu Yue Shi He were using primeval stones to replenish their primeval essence while Chi Suo was healing Chi Dan.

As for the two mortals, they could be seen looking at the scene through the window of the building behind them, having hidden themselves right when the fighting began.

Chi Dan, Chi Suo, Shi He and the two mortals all looked in Chi Yan's direction once he appeared.

Chi Dan stared at Chi Yan with a complicated expression. "Chi Yan… The move you pulled off, it really saved all of us. This old man owes you." 

Chi Suo stopped healing, smiled and also said, "Junior brother, you did great. Killing two senior Bai clan Gu Masters like that, you really are a genius of our Gu Yue clan."

"Hehe, sending Bai Bing Yi running for his life… Little brother… I mean, Young Master Chi Yan, your move was really outstanding. I really thought you ran away." Gu Yue Shi He praised as he laughed, still not believing that he kept his life.

Chi Yan faintly smiled. "Thank you. My primeval essence was low just like yours, so I could only do a sneak attack to overturn the situation."

He exaggerated this fact, but although he was strong in a one versus one fight and had rapid primeval essence regeneration, Rank 2 middle stage cultivation was simply insufficient to display the true strength of a Rank 2 Gu set.

Just forming the full-sized fire snake consumed around 20% of his middle stage primeval essence, while Fire Claw Gu consumed 7%, and then with each attack of these strong Gu his primeval essence would get further expended. If Chi Yan tanked hits with Fire Cloak Gu, then his primeval essence would further dip with each attack absorbed.

Eventually his primeval essence would still run out when facing multiple opponents.

His Fire Path Gu worm set heavily relied on primeval essence reserves to display its full strength, which was its weakness, but then its power was surely outstanding.

Chi Shan nodded. He knelt down near Chi Suo to receive treatment and then looked at Chi Yan again, saying, "Chi Yan, I didn't know you had so many trump cards."

Chi Yan faintly smiled. "If everyone knew about my trump cards, then they wouldn't really be trump cards, right? I just hope that you won't spread the information that I have a stealth type Gu and Fire Claw Gu after this. This way they will become useless as trump cards or life-saving methods."

"You're right," said Chi Shan. "But we still have to report what happened here to the higher-ups of the clan."

"If it's only the clan elders who hear it, then it's fine… Just please don't tell anyone else," Chi Yan said, sighing. Tonight he sort-of had no choice but to expose some of his trump cards. As for the clan elders, some of them were already aware that Chi Yan picked up the Shadow Follower Gu from the clan's Gu room.

Chi Yan then looked down at the bound Bai clan's close-range Gu Master who had blood oozing out of his mouth, nose, eyes and ears. He asked, "Is he dead?"

"He suicided," Chi Dan answered.

"Ah, I see…" Chi Yan said indifferently. "What about the other two? Is there any loot?"

After the two assassinated Bai clan Gu Masters were inspected, Chi Yan found out that he was in luck - both of them left their complete sets of Gu worms!

Eventually two Rank 3 elders of the Gu Yue clan appeared at the scene. After seeing the four bodies of the Bai clan Gu Masters and the countless lightning wolf corpses, they questioned what happened. 

Immediately, they were relieved that no Gu Masters of their clan died here. As for the countless mortals that were killed, they didn't even spare them a single thought.

Although the clan elders first appeared skeptical regarding Chi Yan's supposed achievements during battle, after hearing out the entire report and seeing that the three of the Bai clan's Gu Masters were killed by fire-type attacks, they had no choice but to accept that it indeed must have happened.

The two complimented Chi Yan thoroughly and showed a flattering attitude, and upon seeing how humble and respectful Chi Yan was, they appeared even more flattered.

After Chi Shan recounted the events truthfully to the elders, the group of the Rank 2 Gu Masters then spent the rest of the night at the hamlet.

In the end, Chi Shan's team was exhausted after fighting hundreds of crippled lightning wolves and then still managed to beat the stronger Bai Bing Yi's team. It was undoubtedly an incredible achievement and glory for Chi Chan's team and the Gu Yue clan! 

The four veteran members of Chi Shan's group were all indeed very proud and happy with the development, whereas Chi Yan was mostly indifferent and only thought of the implications of things that happened here.

Although there was danger, Chi Yan had greatly benefitted from this event.

He not only gained valuable combat experience, but he also gained the Gu worms of the two Bai clan Gu Masters he killed. Chi Yan's attacks were simply too sudden and too powerful, so they melted the heads of the two Gu Masters before they could destroy their Gu worms.

It turned out that the two Gu Masters were a Scouting and a Logistics Gu Masters.

These two were both veteran Rank 2 Gu Masters at the top of their field in Bai Clan, and both had a few decent Rank 2 Gu and Rank 1 Gu which all amounted to a few thousand primeval stones worth of loot.

Because Chi Yan killed these two Gu Masters and in their opinion saved everyone, Chi Shan's group had no qualms with letting him take all the loot for himself.

Unfortunately the Gu worms that the two Bai clan Gu Masters owned didn't fit Chi Yan, so among them he planned to only keep the Rank 2 Scale Armor Gu and Clam Shell Gu, while he would sell all the others.

The Scale Armor Gu had sustained damage after Chi Yan's sneak-attack but was still alive and only needed time to recover.

Whereas Clam Shell Gu was a fairly easy to feed storage Gu. Chi Yan planned to gather a lot of storage type Gu to store Gu food, primeval stones, Gu materials and all kinds of loot before he leaves the Qing Mao Mountain, so he would certainly not sell this second Clam Shell Gu away.

The combat experience was definitely valuable to Chi Yan, but the unfortunate part in his mind was that more and more people apart from the elders began to know about him possessing the Shadow Follower Gu.

…

When the sun rose the next morning, Chi Shan's group began to gather the eyeballs and teeth of the hundreds of lightning wolves they killed.

Wolf eyeballs and teeth were all valuable Gu refinement materials and Gu food. Although their market price was on the low end, it could be made up by the quantity.

The lightning wolf fur also had some value, but skinning lightning wolves was simply too time consuming and not worth the time of a top Gu master team like Chi Shan's group of five. After skinning a few lightning wolves to show Chi Yan the ropes, most of the wolf corpses were simply left behind for others to skin while Chi Shan's team only collected the wolf eyeballs and teeth.

Apart from the mortal hunter and his daughter that Chi Yan saved, several other villagers also managed to survive by hiding in time in their basements and having some luck, and they came out of hiding at this point.

The elders' decision was that the remaining several mortals here had to make a journey to another village, being left out on their own.

When noon was approaching, Chi Shan's team was preparing to return to the Gu Yue village. In the face of the events, the white tiger hunting mission was canceled.

"Thank you for the meals and a place to stay. It's time for me to leave," Chi Yan faintly smiled as he bid farewell to the two mortals, preparing to leave.

The two were also taking care of Chi Yan's breakfast and lunch, and other chores in a new house that he stayed at, a house of whom original residents were already killed.

"Lord, you saved our lives. It is our duty to serve you, Lord." The mortal man kneeled, showing a humble and respectful attitude.

The man's daughter also kneeled, speaking in a soft voice, "Thank you for not leaving us behind, Lord."

Chi Yan nodded his head and took a step to begin leaving, but stopped when he noticed the mortal man suddenly kowtow, his forehead hitting the wooden with a thud.

"Lord, I know that this lowly one has no right to ask, but I beg you that you would bring my daughter to the Gu Yue village, have her work for you. Lord, you saved her and she owes you her life. She wishes to work diligently for you from now on."

"Lord, you were so kind to us, you're such a kind person. I beg you to give my daughter a better life in the village. She would definitely work hard and never betray you, Lord she can cook, she can…"

The mortal man continued begging while the young girl kept her head low while also kowtowing in front of Chi Yan's feet.

Chi Yan stood calmly as he looked down at the lowly kowtowing father and daughter, listening.

"Enough," he said after a while.

The mortal man immediately went silent.

"You want me to take your daughter to the village, but you didn't mention yourself. What about you? You are her father," Chi Yan said.

The man felt bitterness in his heart, but what could he do? He said, "Lord, I wish I could accompany my daughter, but as long as she could have a better and safer life in the village, I would be satisfied."

These were the man's true feelings.

The world is simply too cruel. Mortals can only be like a small boat in the huge waves, desperately trying to cling to the powerful to get ashore.

It is difficult to survive, let alone have a decent living. Those servants who have jobs inside the Gu Yue village were already the more fortunate ones, being safe from the wild beasts roaming about, living behind the sturdy village walls and being protected by Gu Masters.

Thus after meeting someone like Chi Yan, the man had to desperately take this chance, lower his head and pathetically beg for his daughter to be taken in as a servant. He felt that she would not suffer under someone like Chi Yan.

Chi Yan looked through the open door and noticed that Chi Suo and the others were already waiting for him outside on the street, looking at him.

The corners of his lips lightly rose as he looked back at the kowtowing mortal man, his expression turning softer. He said, "You convinced me. You love your daughter so much, I will not separate you two. But my Chi family doesn't need more servants and we even have too many servants, so I hope that you two will work hard and not disappoint me."

The two mortals, upon hearing that, immediately became overjoyed and continued kowtowing non-stop, thanking Chi Yan for his kindness.

Meanwhile, the looks of Chi Shan's team members directed at Chi Yan had also changed.

******

(AN: A new chapter is released every second day.)