Rest a little

"That seems like a good place to stay..." Chen Wei says in a low voice, looking at a solitary wooden house in the middle of the dense trees in front of him. "...Stay alert; there are people inside."

The three girls near him, as well as the three hairy women, nod slightly, acknowledging his words as they all gaze at the lone house.

The wooden house has a rustic and sturdy appearance, built from rough oak logs that are common in this region. The roof, made of straw, looks poor but effectively insulates against the cold of winter and the rains of summer.

In front of the house, there is a clothesline full of animal hides drying in the sun, along with various traps of different sizes that are scattered on the ground in an orderly and clearly visible manner, not yet armed.

Continuing in this direction, one can see a small pigsty that seems quite old and poorly maintained, with little protection from the elements, located just to the right at the back of the house.

"It really is isolated from everything... It's a hunter's house, right?" Wang Mei, who is riding on the same horse as Chen Wei, holding tightly to his back, speaks in a faint and light tone.

She is clearly a bit debilitated by the nausea of her pregnancy, which she has grown accustomed to managing, preventing it from affecting her health too much. However, the repeated days of riding on horseback have finally taken their toll.

Chen Wei simply nods in agreement, keeping his eyes fixed on the wooden house, where he can see the body heat of two people who seem unaware of the arrival of the various riders and the large, clueless-looking lizard. However, he can also clearly see the body heat of several dogs, most of whom seem to have noticed his presence, given how they turn their heads in his direction.

*Bark* *Bark* *Bark*

Suddenly, from the "backyard" of the wooden house, several robust dogs come barking furiously and desperately, although they do not dare to advance and bite any of the horses or the large lizard, who seems excited by the dogs' incessant barking.

Chen Wei simply ignores the dogs, keeping his eyes on the two people inside the house. One of them has a large body heat silhouette with stiff movements, most likely belonging to the hunter who owns the house.

"Who's there? Do you want to buy game?" the man asks as he slowly opens the door.

"And calm down, boys! Stop all that barking! Every time, the same fucking thing!" He says irritably as he steps out of the house and looks directly at the dogs with a stern expression.

He appears as one would expect a hunter to look: rugged, wearing well-made animal skin clothes, with a belt around his waist carrying a large bow and several knives, along with long hair and a beard.

He calms down with a sigh and looks in Chen Wei's direction with a look of annoyance, but in less than an instant, this look is replaced by fear and apprehension. Without any hesitation, the man falls to his knees, his fist striking his palm in a gesture of utmost respect.

"A thousand apologies, Lord Gu Master! If I had known an illustrious Gu Master would be arriving at my home, I would have prepared to receive you!" He is visibly trembling with fear upon seeing Chen Wei, speaking hurriedly without even catching his breath. "Damn those bastard dogs for daring to bark at you!"

'Hmm, does he know I'm a Gu Master because of my luxurious clothes? No, it's probably because of this lizard. I haven't seen any mortals with one of these; they must be something that only Gu Masters can acquire around here,' Chen Wei quickly reasons in less than a second.

"May I know what you need, coming to my home, sir?" he asks with his head bowed to the ground as he hears Chen Wei dismounting from his horse. "Whatever it is, I will—!!?"

He does not even finish his sentence before a sharp, cutting pain runs through his head, neck, and chest, and in that instant, his world fades into absolute darkness, for he is dead.

Seeing this, the dogs, who had been silent, immediately charge desperately at Chen Wei, barking fiercely for the whole world to hear. However, in less than a second, all these barking sounds are silenced with their deaths, leaving only the sound of quick footsteps on the wooden floor coming from inside the house.

"Mo He! What's happening?! What happened?!" a young woman with a common appearance who was also inside the house rushes to the side of the man's dead body with a shocked and fearful expression.

"Who are you? Have mercy, please—!" The young woman is cut off from continuing to plead, her sobs and tears silenced by Chen Wei, who walks slowly toward the house with a calm expression after killing her with a blood blade.

'Is that all?' Chen Wei looks around, unwilling to let any witnesses escape alive.

But aside from the horses, the cross-eyed lizard, and the girls with him, Chen Wei only saw one source of body heat belonging to some other animals when he looked at the old pigsty, which was still standing, holding some pigs stable despite its worn-out appearance.

"Do you intend to stay on the horses forever, or do you want to enter the house?" Chen Wei turns to look at the girls.

Feng Hua has a complicated expression on her face, which she fails to hide under her forced, expressionless look that carries a cold elegance.

Yu Lian, on the other hand, averts her gaze to the ground, shaking her head with her shoulders down, giving a sense of helplessness but also acceptance.

And lastly, Wang Mei is more worried about trying not to vomit due to the nausea of pregnancy than anything else, unconcerned with what just happened.

Of course, the hairy women also had varied reactions, but Chen Wei didn't care enough to note them, especially given the difficulty of reading the facial expressions of someone whose entire face is covered in hair.

Quickly, all of them begin dismounting their horses to make their way to the house, except for Wang Mei, who simply stares at him with a look that makes him understand immediately what his wife wants without a single word being spoken.

"You'll need plenty of rest, right? The effect of the Healing Gu, unfortunately, can't handle pregnancy nausea..." Chen Wei takes Wang Mei's outstretched hand, helping her slowly dismount from the horse.

"I just need to lie down and rest... Ah, how I miss the midwives I had back at the clan," Wang Mei says with a melancholic expression, still managing a weak smile as she thinks of life in the He An Clan, which now feels like an eternity ago after everything that has happened.

"...." Seeing this, Chen Wei remains silent, unsure of what to say that wouldn't make her feel even worse.

"There is only one bedroom in this house..." Feng Hua's voice comes from inside the house, as if to pull Chen Wei from this difficult situation and place him in another. "...How are we going to... well, settle this?"

Hearing this, he removes the bodies of the Gu Masters from the cross-eyed lizard and drags them to the front entrance of the house, where it would be more convenient to keep them under surveillance for now.

"You... stay here... got it, dumb lizard?" Chen Wei turns and speaks to the lizard, who looks at him before sighing and following Wang Mei, who enters the house hurriedly.

As soon as he enters, he comes face-to-face with Feng Hua, who has an expressionless and cold look, but by now Chen Wei has seen through her facade and clearly sees the hesitation, shyness, and doubt underneath that lack of expression.

"What doubt do you have? We'll sleep the four of us in the room..." Chen Wei says, shaking his head, not caring much about the piercing look Wang Mei is giving him at the moment. "Or is the bed too small for all of us?"

'Is he serious? Well... it's not like we haven't slept in the same bed before... but not all at the same time,' Yu Lian, hearing this, blushes a little, having to look up at the ceiling to hide her face. '...Besides, at this point, he's already seen me an Feng Hua naked...., so sleeping together wouldn't be the most inappropriate thing possible...'

"I... I meant where the three of them would sleep," Feng Hua quickly makes up an excuse, keeping her face expressionless.

Chen Wei hears this and tilts his head in thought. "Hmm, right... Do you three mind sleeping in this living room?"

"Of course not, Lord Wei!" the three hairywomen respond in unison with nervous expressions.

"Then there's no problem, see, Hua'er?" he says, pointing to the two bodies on the ground. "You three can clean up this mess now, please."

The three hairy women agree immediately and begin doing as he instructed diligently, not daring to complain for even a second.

And how could it be otherwise? Not long ago, the village leader Yu, a mere Rank 1 Gu Master, was a figure who inspired endless fear and terror in their hearts. But he was killed as if he were nothing by Chen Wei, who also massacred the entire Yu village without batting an eye.

Not only that, but Chen Wei had also managed to capture alive six elite Rank 2 Gu Masters sent by the human clan that inhabits this mountain. And he did it with ease. So how could they dare disobey his commands? Wouldn't that be courting death for no reason?

"I'll find a place to imprison those Gu Masters..." Chen Wei said as he headed for the door to leave the house.

Meanwhile, he caught a glimpse of an irritated look from Wang Mei, who seemed to want to have a talk with him later—something to be expected given how she liked to act. And she definitely didn't like what Chen Wei had said about the four of them sharing the bedroom.

But he didn't bother to give it a second thought, knowing she might act bossy like that but would eventually obey whatever he said after just a few words from him.

"We'll talk later…" he said as he opened the door, not seeing the large, cross-eyed lizard.

He glanced around, only to notice a large source of body heat inside the pigsty, causing him to sigh softly.

Without wasting any more time, he simply dragged the Gu Masters—still unconscious and lying beside the house entrance—toward the pigsty using the blood restraints.

As he approached the pigsty, he could see the long red tail of the lizard swaying with joy while its head and torso were fully stuck inside the enclosure.

"What are you doing here, you useless lizard? Didn't I tell you to stay in front of the house?" Chen Wei called out loudly, reprimanding the lizard, which almost jumped in fright at his sudden voice.

"...?!?!" The lizard pulled its head out of the pigsty, looking around frantically, like a criminal caught in the act.

Chen Wei stared at the lizard for a moment before shifting his gaze to the pigsty, where he saw no sign of the pigs that should have been there—pigs he had planned to use as food for the coming days.

"Where did the pigs go?Did you eat them all you idiot....?" Chen Wei felt disappointed, even though he hadn't had any expectations to begin with.

The lizard looked at him, then at the pigsty, and seemed to have an idea. Moments later, Chen Wei watched as the lizard quickly regurgitated until there was a pile of vomited pig meat, covered in saliva and digestive acid, on the muddy ground in front of him.

"...."

Chen Wei thought about many things at that moment, but not a single word managed to leave his mouth. He was genuinely left speechless by the lizard's action.

Especially when he saw the lizard now nodding its head, covered in red scales as hard as rock, in a way that seemed to expect some form of gratitude and words of thanks coming from Chen Wei.