Chapter Ninety-Three: The Chen Family’s Second Uncle

Two of the three wild boar demon beasts had somehow been killed by their own companions, leaving only the last massive one. Though it still raged like a mad thing, that was nothing more than a final frenzy before death. It would not be long before it bled out as well, and he would become the ultimate victor with effortless ease.

But there was one concern: the mysterious Third Sister and the young man had fled. Before long, they might bring reinforcements back with them. To avoid complications, it would be wiser to drain the blood quickly and leave this place of chaos at once.

With that thought, Xiao Wenzi spread his wings and darted toward the weakening Red-Maned Tusks Pig. Above its head, he swiftly exchanged for a Demon-Fire Talisman and activated it, sending a blazing mass of fire crashing down.

Struck by the fireball formed from the talisman, the already grievously wounded Red-Maned Tusks Pig could not resist at all. In no time, it was engulfed in searing flames that spread across its entire body.

Its cries and roars grew fainter and fainter, until in the end only two boar tusks remained, fallen into the dust. The rest of its flesh and fur had already turned to ash and vanished.

With the strong enemy slain, Xiao Wenzi did not even have time to collect the spoils. He flapped over to the mutilated remains of the Fourth Brother and began rapidly drinking blood to exchange for system coins.

A few minutes later, after acquiring several hundred Seventh-Heaven system coins, he exchanged two Demon-Fire Talismans, incinerated the bodies and minced meat at the scene, then grabbed the two storage bags and flew back toward the forest where he had hidden the other bags earlier.

The reason he took the two men’s storage bags was not because he coveted the crystals and treasures inside, but because he needed to disguise the scene as the work of a cultivator who had slaughtered the boars. In that case, he could not leave the bags behind.

After all, even a tiny gain was still gain. By common sense, if a high-level cultivator had happened to pass by and slain the Red-Maned Tusks Pig, he would certainly not leave such easy spoils untouched.

Moreover, the tusks of the two stronger Red-Maned Tusks Pigs could not be completely burned away by the limited power of the Demon-Fire Talismans. Along with the two magical implements whose glow had dimmed to nearly nothing, he stored them all in the Fourth Brother’s bag.

With Xiao Wenzi’s current level of demonic sense, breaking through the soul imprints left by a Seventh-Heaven cultivator was hardly any problem. Otherwise, he would not have been able to take the flying sword and tusks with him.

“This place cannot be stayed in for long. I need to hurry back to the cave and tell Xin’er to leave.”

After finding the storage bags he had hidden earlier, Xiao Wenzi lost all interest in searching for poisonous herbs or spiritual medicines.

The battlefield was not far from the cave Chu Xin’er had opened, and he feared that if the others failed to find the Red-Maned Tusks Pig and turned their anger elsewhere, they might vent it on Chu Xin’er instead.

Her cultivation was too low, and the world of cultivation cared nothing for benevolence or righteousness. Such a possibility was far from paranoid.

If he could still make it back in time, Xiao Wenzi intended to persuade her to dig up the Seven-Leaf Purple Wisteria at once and leave as quickly as possible.

After transferring all the contents from his own storage bag, he flew at full speed toward the valley where the cave dwelling was located.

Yes, the storage bag he had used before was simply abandoned.

It was not that Xiao Wenzi was extravagantly wealthy; rather, carrying three storage bags while flying was a considerable burden. Even the Second Brother’s storage bag would have been discarded without hesitation if he had not feared that leaving it too close might allow the other side to find it too easily.

With system coins exchanged into demon spirit dew, and with no need to worry about exhausting his cultivation, Xiao Wenzi could continuously cast the Swift-escape Art. A little over an hour later, he had already returned outside the valley.

Looking at the sunset glow on the horizon and the valley, unchanged from the way it had been when he left, he finally let out a long breath.

“Xiao Wen, where have you been? What are these storage bags?”

Just as Xiao Wenzi flew to the edge of the cave’s protective light screen and was about to take out the formation talisman, the Mist-Hiding Demon-Subduing Array rippled. A pretty figure emerged from within, the doll-faced girl’s expression full of worry and delight.

It turned out that Chu Xin’er had happened to finish her secluded cultivation today and, not seeing Xiao Wenzi, had assumed that enemies had come to attack. Now that she saw the outside of the cave was still calm and he had even returned with two storage bags, her worry immediately turned into joy.

“Xin’er, pack your things quickly. We’re leaving at once. I’ll explain everything to you in detail later...”

Chu Xin’er’s timely emergence from cultivation was an unexpected blessing, sparing him much trouble. Still, the earlier they left, the safer they would be. Xiao Wenzi flew before her and urgently sent her a message to hurry.

“All right.”

Xiao Wenzi would not speak without reason. Hearing the urgency in his tone, Chu Xin’er answered at once and quickly headed toward the rock wall where the Seven-Leaf Purple Wisteria was growing.

She dug up the two Seven-Leaf Purple Wisteria plants, carefully placed them into a jade case, then entered the cave to pack up simply before taking Xiao Wenzi with her and transforming into a streak of escaping light that vanished into the distance.

With Xiao Wenzi’s guidance, Chu Xin’er naturally did not flee in the direction taken by the Third Sister and the young man. Instead, she chose to leave the Forest Sea Mountain Range from another direction.

Half an hour later, three streaks of light came racing to the hillside where the Red-Maned Tusks Pig had died. Among them, one man and one woman were precisely the Third Sister and the young man.

They stopped above the barren hillside. The young woman’s delicate brows were slightly furrowed, but she still said to the green-robed man who looked to be in his forties, “Second Uncle, it was here. Third Brother and Fourth Brother perished here just now...”

“That is right. Third Sister is correct. Only, after we left, something seems to have happened here again. The bodies of Second Brother and Fourth Brother are gone...”

As soon as the Third Sister finished speaking, the young man beside her added in confusion.

They had only left for a little over two hours. Even if the Red-Maned Tusks Pig had torn the two men apart, there should at least have been some flesh and blood left behind. Not to mention the magical implements that could not be swallowed.

“It was another cultivator who came through. Those Red-Maned Tusks Pigs should all have been slain by that person. Enough, you two go back first. I’ll investigate the area more thoroughly.”

The middle-aged man, with three wisps of long beard and the bearing of a Confucian scholar, was a Foundation Establishment expert of the Chen family. Though his cultivation was not the strongest in the Chen family, he was still a notable figure apart from the ancestor and the family head.

Upon hearing that several collateral juniors of the family had encountered demonic beasts while out training and might be in mortal danger, he had immediately brought the two of them here to investigate. After carefully examining the scene Xiao Wenzi had deliberately left in disarray, he did in fact discover some traces.

For instance, the faint lingering demonic aura, and the ashes left behind by the Demon-Fire Talismans. At first, he suspected that some high-level demon cultivator had merely passed through and acted on a whim.

However, if it had been a demon cultivator at the transformation stage, why would he covet the meager wealth of mere Qi Refinement novices? Besides, the demonic aura was far too faint.

There was another possibility: perhaps it had been the aura emitted by a demon beast kept as a spiritual pet by an ordinary cultivator.

After analyzing the evidence, he leaned toward the latter. He believed that a low-level cultivator had happened to pass by, slain the Red-Maned Tusks Pigs, and taken the two nephews’ storage bags and magical implements as well.

To prevent leaving behind any clues, that person had then destroyed the corpses to erase all traces.

A cultivator capable of taking advantage of the chaos to kill the younger members of his family had to be investigated thoroughly.

Besides, the Seven-Leaf Purple Wisteria they had discovered last time should now be three hundred years old and ripe for harvest. They could also slay the demonic serpent in the valley and dig it up, which was why the man told the Third Sister and the others to return first.

“Yes, Second Uncle.”

The young man and the Third Sister did not dare disobey their elder’s order. After answering, they turned into streams of light and departed.