Bounty hunters

Chapter 19

Wolf was secretly seething in anger in his heart as he watched the two act like a loving couple. But he secretly took out something from his sleeves and secretly inserted some of his spiritual Qi in it. Then it shook for a while which signifies that the signal was sent. This little shell-like item is something his big brother gave him just in case of any mishaps that would happen to him. He knows the power of his big brother and he is more powerful than the woman. He didn't tell them about his big brother because he wanted to catch them off guard.

After some time, a very powerful aura can be felt getting closer to the area. Shin Jiao was shocked and didn't expect to see a middle-stage gold core realm cultivator running towards their location at a rapid pace. And before they know it, an old but bulky man appears next to Wolf.

"Big brother, I'm glad you came immediately. I have found the people with a bounty of 1,000 low-level spiritual stone." Wolf said excitedly while looking at Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao as if they are already dead people.

"Ho, ho! So this is the infamous couple. I really wanted to see your capability, they have said that you were able to kill a level 4 beast king wind wolf. He, he. That's a nice feat, but sometimes words are rather too exaggerated and upon looking at you, they truly are. But your beauty is another things, for once rumors are true. Girl, if you promised to be my wife, I would spare your life." the bulky old man declared as his eyes are shining while looking at Cherry Lao's face and figure.

"Humph, with your capability you think you can defeat me?" Cherry Lao sneered.

"Ha, ha. Young missy, my big brother is in the middle-stage gold core realm, while you're just in the primary stage, do you think you can defeat him? Ha, ha!" Wolf said while jeering at her words.

"Enough talk, let's just capture them. I want to take and enjoy this woman for myself, fuck the bounty they are offering." The old but bulky man said.

"But… but…" Wolf wanted to dispute but seeing the desire in his big brother's eye he just sighs in defeat.

Without a choice Wolf unsheathes his sword from his waist and look at Shin Jiao, his killing intent started to burst out.

Upon seeing this Shin Jiao just gave Cherry Lao a meaningful look and nods his head. As if with a tacit understanding Cherry Lao took out another sword from her ring and pass it to Shin Jiao. When the two men saw this their eyes went wide in surprise.

"That… that's a… a spatial ring. Big brother, we hit the jackpot!" Wolf shouted with glee as if he already guessed the outcome of the battle forgetting his defeat a while ago.

"Hmmm… It is truly a storage ring indeed. Martial sister, this one is called Wolf Fang. If I may ask, what family or sect does martial sister belongs to?" the bulky old man named Wolf Fang suddenly had a change of attitude.

Cherry Lao sneered as she knows that the old man Wolf Fang is thinking. He is a very calculative and shrewd person. And upon seeing her ring she actually noticed the change in his face, which has the look of hesitance in them. Wolf Fang knows that only those people who are in big sects or big family can have spatial rings. Wolf Fang is actually aware of this and doesn't want to go into trouble because of his greed. But then, upon looking at the two of them and analyzing the situation, his doubts that she belongs to a powerful faction waver and then greed and lust overcame his judgment. How could they belong to a strong faction? As they both are wearing plain clothing without insignia and of course there is the presence of the mortal.

He then squinted his eyes and sharply look at Cherry Lao. Then he nods towards Wolf and suddenly dashed towards Cherry Lao intending to hack the hand where her ring is. Then he condenses his Qi as it flows towards his sword which started to shine bright yellow. He made a quick slash from the side which made his sword blur. Then a sound of metal hitting each other suddenly rang out.

While Cherry Lao is facing against Wolf Fang, Shin Jiao is standing calmly and unmoving. But his eyes are showing that he knows the danger of his situation, signifying that he is powerless against his opponent. Then his eyes slowly showed despair as he looks at Wolf who is holding his sword.

"I don't know how strong you are, but if you think you can defeat me without the help of the woman, you're mistaken. She will be my big brother's woman, so blame your unlucky star." Although Wolf knows how fast Shin Jiao is, but judging from his expression right now, he knows that the young man is afraid. This made him confident in facing the young man and his killing intent was immediately raised.

"Die!"

Wolf took a stance and execute his skills not intending to give Shin Jiao a chance to run or even call for help. So he didn't underestimate his opponent even though he's just a powerless mortal.

Wolf raised his sword and using his spiritual Qi condensed a fire blade and combined with his martial skills, he became like a fire blade God, brandishing his fire sword. This made it hard for Shin Jiao to evade each attack as the fire from the sword could burn him.

Seeing this Shin Jiao's heart sunk, although he could successfully evade cold weapons, it is another story when talking about those with enchantments. His anxiety showed in his face, which made Wolf attack more fiercely. The sword would always almost hit Shin Jiao's figure as he would sometimes wobble and be out of balance. But then Wolf noticed that his spiritual energy is almost depleted as he is using his Qi to power up his sword. Then his expression suddenly changes, but it was too late.

"Huk, huk… gurgle…"

The only thing that was in Wolf's mind was how he would cut Shin Jiao into two while his body would burn automatically. What he didn't anticipate is that his throat would be slit just like that. When he attacks he can see that Shin Jiao's expression is always in a panic as if he is afraid to be killed, then when he noticed that his spiritual energy has been almost used up, that's when he saw Shin Jiao's sneering smile towards him. He felt that is was the devil's ugly smile that will slowly devour his soul. But it was too late as without a word he slumped to the ground and died as his blood continuously poured out of the slit in his neck.

"That was close. Luckily he fell for that. If his spiritual energy is too high, this blade won't be able to cut through his skin. I guess he's still too inexperienced in battles." Shin Jiao murmured to himself.

Then he looks at Cherry Lao and Wolf Fang who is fighting with all their might. Even though Cherry Lao can evade Wolf Fang's attacks she can't hurt him with his spiritual Qi barrier which is visible as it sparks every now and then. If he doesn't have that artifact, he would be dead already. The fight between them is at a stand-still but it is clearly shown that Wolf Fang is at his limits as he is already panting heavily.

"What kind of technique are you using? Even when I'm using my spiritual sense I can't see your attacks… This is truly an eye-opener… But if you think you can kill me, you're mistaken." Wolf Fang smiled craftily as he suddenly dashed towards Shin Jiao's direction.

In Wolf Fang's mind, he would kill Shin Jiao first as the young man is a mere mortal and Wolf might be playing with him, but when he spread his spiritual sense he was dumbstruck by what he saw. On the ground laid Wolf, faced down in the pool of his own blood. But being stunned in a fight is proving to be fatal as Wolf Fang suddenly felt numbness in his legs. Then his body suddenly fell to the ground.

"Ahhhh… My legs!" a blood-curdling shriek came out from the bulky old man Wolf Fang.

"You are both too ruthless! I can't accept this. How could a mere primary gold core realm cultivator defeat me?" he shouted not being resigned to his fate.

Cherry Lao sneered as she condensed her spiritual Qi in her sword.

"Wait, I can still…"

Before Wolf Fang could say another word, Cherry Lao has already released multiple wind blades cutting him into five parts, then his blood and gore were all over the place. Although Cherry Lao has killed others as she progresses in her cultivation, she hadn't done things this brutally before. So upon seeing the gruesome scene, her abdomen suddenly turned upside down and she suddenly vomited almost emptying her stomach.

"Geez, I know that having power and strength is too satisfying, but you should remember to control yourself. Okay?" Shin Jiao reminded as he walks to Cherry Lao and slowly patted her back.

She just nods her head in confirmation. Shin Jiao collected the bags and weapons and also those remaining things in the broken down carriages, then they burned them to ashes.

After walking for the whole day, they found a secluded mountainside. Cherry Lao then made a small cave for them to stay for the night. Then after they had dinner, Cherry Lao poured the contents of the bags of both Wolf and Wolf Fang. Seeing the identity plate of the two dead guys, both of them are in a shock, as the brothers are top class bounty hunters, especially the younger one, Wolf. No wonder he was able to find them that easily he is a very skilled tracker. And Wolf Fang is an elder of the Blood Moon sect, which is a small sect known for its shady businesses.

Then they also found a lot of precious medicinal plants and also some beast cores. Besides those the rest of the items in the bag are useless. When Shin Jiao was about to throw the bag into the fire, he felt something from inside the bag. Then he noticed that there is a small compartment where he found five pages of silver colored paper made from an unknown material. When Cherry Lao saw this her eyebrows creased as she tried to think what those papers are.

When Shin Jiao was about to pass them to her, he noticed something when he held them with both hands. Then all of a sudden his head began buzzing as tons of information began to imprint themselves inside his head. Because of the amount of information which basically invaded his brain, his consciousness suddenly blurred and then he fainted.

…

Meanwhile, in the mountain ranges bordering the Yi and the San empires, a storm cloud is brewing. Inside a majestic palace atop the highest ranges where one can only see boundless clouds everywhere. A blue-robed middle-aged man is sitting on a throne with his fiery gaze towards a couple of people kneeling on the ground, on their robe the insignia of disciplinary officers can be seen. Beside the blue-robed man stood a dignified and handsome man in his late 30's with anger also visible in his stares.

"Sect master, we… we didn't chase senior sister Lao out of the sect. She is the one who escaped and hurt us, her juniors. We just wanted to protect the sect's dignity." A handsome young man who seems to be the leader of the group said trying to explain what they did.

"Senior brother, my disciple is far too conceited these juniors are just trying to enforce the sect rules. But Cherry Lao that ungrateful lass hurt them and she tried to escape. If you want I will go out and will try to find her." A rather beautiful woman said with an aggrieved tone as she enters the room.

If Cherry Lao would be here, she would notice that this was her master who suddenly had a younger appearance. This is due to a beauty pill that the 1st elder gave to Cherry Lao, which she hid in her room. As she is still young, Cherry Lao didn't need to eat the beauty pill. So she kept it inside one of her spatial bag, which she left as she was in a hurry to escape the sect.

The 1st elder of the sect raised one of his eyebrows but his expression changed when he saw the appearance of the woman. A cold glint appears in his eyes as he felt furious in his heart. He didn't expect that the junior sister he treated as a family would do something like this to her own disciple. Now upon seeing her, he had an idea of what is going on. Because of her petty jealousy, the sect had lost a genius and very strong bargaining chip. As they already had an arrangement for her disciple to be wed to Li Jiang Xi. The current 2nd prince of the Xi Empire, as it seems that the prince had his eyes on her before when the royal family visited the sect.

"You… do you know what you have done? The royal family of the Xi Empire had decreed the marriage between your disciple Cherry Lao and the 2nd prince Li Jian Xi. How would we explain this to the prince that his bride is missing?" the 1st elder lashed out as he shouted towards the 3rd elder.

"What?! I… I… I didn't know about this…" Cherry Lao's master the 3rd elder stuttered as cold sweat trickled down her spine.

If she could not resolve this dilemma, her life would be forfeited. Now she truly blamed herself for being blind because of her jealousy. But still, deep in her heart, she didn't regret what she did and still prayed that her disciple is already dead. Although she is afraid of the consequence, still she knows that the 1st elder would still protect her as his junior sister. Especially now that she regained her youthful face.

The sect leader on the other hand just heaves a heavy sigh as he stood up from his seat. Then he looks at the rest of the people.

"She is still alive. Find her no matter what! Get her back to the sect. NOW!"