Snake Carav

The sun was in the middle of the sky overlooking the plains.

The group continued their fast pace, afraid they'll encounter another disaster.

No one spoke ever since surviving from the spirit beast, Deng Wuyan was embarrassed to discard someone; his moral compass cultivated from being a vice-captain for a long time didn't allow him to be at ease,but what worried him the most was the possibility of themselves being Abandoned, considering how these people acted; it was highly possible for that to happen.

But he was helpless to do anything, he could only make sure to stay in position where he's not too far behind or too far ahead, just right to make sure he won't suddenly become a meat shield.

The mercenaries on the other hand were always quiet, since Kong Donghai didn't mention what happened, they naturally won't either. In fact, things like that weren't uncommon, although reputation was important to a mercenary; life was naturally more valuable.

They didn't join this group for brotherhood, they did for the merits.If not for the benefits of joining a group, staying alone is more convenient, especially for experienced people.

Those who are part of one don't have to worry about finding a task, or doing the preparation and research before fully committing to a job, they only need to make arrangements and get to work.

Clients tend to choose hiring people under the same team rather than picking mercenaries themselves until they have enough numbers to do the job. Even if it was a little more expensive.

The reason is simple and linked to a human's perspective, a team under the same banner gives the image of unity and professionalism, making them look more reliable.

In order to do that, someone or a group of good friends create a mercenary group by inviting new members in order to increase the service fees. If these new teammates were ignorant to how this works, they will receive a lower payment under the excuse of ' Newbies get lower cut '.

The result of all of this is something like Kong Donghai's team, where only 5 people were willing to risk it with their leader and rest escaped without hesitation.

Cui Ling was currently analysing the information he got from the recent event, those 10 people were cultivators, even without Kong Donghai's attitude he would have still been able to tell.

Cultivators had this superior mannerism towards mortals, even the most humble of them wouldn't think they were equa.

This is a belief one will get when they know they can crush a human effortlessly. and actually doing it multiple times.

Different worlds but the human heart is the same.

This is the reason why Cui Ling didn't feel frustrated for losing most of his achievements in the past life, because he knew that his most valuable knowledge will always be useful as long as free will and emotion exist in the world.

Cui Ling lifted his head and asked Hao Niu who was thinking that he should hire different mercenaries next time.

"Uncle Niu, do you know those ten people? "

Hao Niu looked at this daring child, while controlling his anger he said " Brat! You kept twisting and turning around, peaking that head of yours, do you know how dangerous that was, you almost fell multiple times, your father…. forget your father, your mother would have killed me if anything happened to you…"

Cui Ling lowered his head and shoulders, showing a pitiful demeanour,then waited for the scolding to end.

After a while, when he saw that he emptied his anger,fear and frustration caused by the near death experience,he asked again, but this time he used a more timid tone to show weakness " Do..you know.. those people"

Hao Niu was about to scold again,but seeing that the kid seemed to learn his lesson,he changed his mind.

"Sigh, I don't know them personally, but I recognised the uniform and the night eagle, I saw it when I was in the snake carav coming to the town"

"Every time I see that spirit beast, my hair stands and a chill pass through my spine "

Cui Ling didn't care about the night eagle much, what interested him more was the uniform.

" Uncle, what does that uniform mean?"

Hao Niu said with a stern voice "The only people who wear that clothing are disciples of the eternal night sect , An'er, remember to never offend anyone you see wearing that uniform, no one will be able to save you if they get angry "

Cui Ling tried to probe a few more details,but Hao Niu kept his mouth shut and didn't explain more; seeing this,he gave up and focused on the road again.

Soon,they reached the boundaries of the Yul forest.

In normal times they wouldn't dare to come here with their insignificant mortal abilities, but today was different.

Kong Donghai didn't rush into the forest, jumped off the horse, took a deep and cupped his hands " I'm Kong Donghai, I wish to rejoin the snake carav " with that, he bowed deeply.

After a bit of silence, an arrogant voice reached their ears " Show the azure snake stamp " followed by it, and a man walked out of the forest's shadows.

Han Niu quickly came forward and respectfully presented a square piece of jade with a distinctive azure snake symbol on it.

After the old man scanned it for a bit, he threw it back, not giving another glance he went back.

Kong Donghai told everyone to dismount before entering the forest.

Cui Ling looked around as he stepped into the darkness, he saw the old man sitting by a tree, waiting for the next passenger.

Looking ahead, he noticed a source of light and the mercenaries walking towards it.

It only took a few breaths walk through the light

Deng Wuyan's eyes widened with what he saw; Beasts, humans, carriages mixed with the towering trees filled his view

A large hairy elephant drinking from a wide bowl of water, chains linked it to a long cart.

Tigers, wolves… lazily lying down around, waiting for their next meal.

Humans were chatting and laughing, some of them dressed like Kong Donghai, some were shirtless, some had similar style to them.

This scene had nothing similar to the notorious Yul forest they had in mind.

It was peaceful, harmonious.there are no hostile spirit beasts trying to eat you, no evil creatures wanting to possess your body.

A sudden shout interrupted the wandering thoughts they had.

" Brother Niu, you returned!Come come, Umm? Didn't you have a carriage? Tsk tsk, did you encounter some bad luck? "

A man enthusiastically came forward and greeted Hao Niu with a series of questions before giving him a hug.

Hao Niu pushed him away, annoyance all over his face " Xiong Li! How many times did I tell you to stop these hugs "

Xiong Li replied with confidence " In some cultures, it is normal for men to hug each other, why are you so sensitive ?" He then looked in our direction " Brother Niu, won't you introduce us ?"

Sighing he said " This is Xiong Li, an annoying person I met during my travels. And this is Deng Wuyan and his family "

Xiong Li came forward with another hug, Deng Wuyan didn't find it appropriate to reject in the first meeting.

" Brother Niu, I have already reserved a spot for your tent,as for our new friends, there are a lot of empty places, I'm sure we will find an appropriate location for you to settle momentarily "

"Xiong Li, We lost a lot things coming here, I'll have to trouble to get us some necessities"

" Sure, just don't forget to pay me "

°°

Cui Ling sat down inside a tent, some of the tension inside of his body relaxed.

It took a few hours to reach here, but it sure felt like days.

Although he was clam and relatively relaxed during the whole thing, but he naturally didn't want to die

Taking a deep breath, Cui Ling started to ponder about his next moves and how to maximize his benifit.

Thinking about the black orb that was taken out by Kong Donghai and a strang smile appeared on his face.