11 Trapped in the Land

Of course Xue Chang, who had just left the room, could hear all of their shouts and exclamations.

Laughing to himself wryly, he shrugged his shoulders and mumbled, "It isn't my fault my uncle is so reliable hehe."

That's right, the letter he gave was a letter of recommendation from Wu Jie himself. How could the guild master, who was only level three, doubt the words of Wu Jie, who was level eight! If he wrote a letter of recommendation saying that Xue Chang was at least an A rank, then no retort could be given.

With his newfound privileges, Xue Chang looked down at the request he took. It was asking for someone to deal with a situation in a nearby village. Apparently a bear had been wreaking havoc within the premises of the village, but most of the hunters sent before hand had either been killed or returned seriously injured.

This showed that this was no ordinary bear, but more than likely a demonic beast. Demonic beasts were creatures who had the ability to cultivate the energy of heaven and earth naturally by themselves. Unlike human cultivators who needed to go through a long vigorous process to refine spiritual force, demon beasts could naturally absorb spiritual force into their body with no drawback whatsoever.

The only difference was that the time they needed to train was dozens of times longer than humans. But their bodies were usually much stronger than the average cultivator. As such it was dangerous for cultivators to face off against them one on one.

The information on the sheet he had declared that while the bear had yet to break through to the first level of Qi refinement, its body was several times stronger than normal animals. And as such it would make a great sparring partner for him.

But Xue Chang still wasn't the type to underestimate his opponents. He knew very well how dangerous cultivators were, and demonic beasts were even more frightening than them!

As such he planned to bring help!

"Tian Kai, Tian Hai! Are you two awake yet?" Xue Chang's shouts echoed through the air as the door to his own villa opened up slowly. The two brothers groggily stepped out while wiping the sleep out of their eyes.

"Young master, what is i-, Wait a minute who are you!?" The tired Tian Kai suddenly became wide awake as he unsheathed the sword at his waist and held forward.

Xue Chang had forgotten that he was still in his weird stretched out form. That along with the mask, it was no wonder they didn't recognize him.

"W-w-Wait a minute, hold up! It's me it's me!" His body began to revert back to its original appearance as his limbs cracked and shrunken back to their original size.

The two guards stood there speechless as they watched the person they served go from a freakishly tall and spindly man, back to his childlike appearance.

They weren't exactly sure how to react to such a scene and just decided to ignore the it completely.

"Hey hey! Don't close my own door on me!"

"Hello young master, what do you want?"

Although his speech was slightly firms, the casualness of his time really got in Xue Chang's nerve. After complaining to them for the next ten minutes, he quickly slapped down the assignment form and showed them the sheet.

"I registered in the guild and can now receive these quests of hunting monsters for money! And I want you two to come with me."

Tian Hai quizzically looked at Xue Chang while rian hai just raised up his brow a little. They couldn't understand why he would register to the guild.

They knew him pretty well. Even though they did not know much about his background, considering their surrounding, it was obvious he came from a wealthy family. There was no need to take such a risk as fighting wild beasts just for a bit of money.

"I already told you two already didn't I? My life is fine as it is, but I don't want to just remain stationary like this. Even I have some ambitions you know?" Xue Chang said this while rubbing his smooth, hairless, chin.

The guards of course remembered him saying this. Although they weren't sure what he was planning, they weren't crazy enough to underestimate their young master.

"These quests will be great! I know you two have already registered as hunters and have been working for a while now. If we worked together, then not only can we increase our reputations, we can also get some combat experience!"

"Young master, I know that you are looking forward to all of these things, but fighting these creatures is no laughing matter. Besides, you would need to put in a couple months of effort to even start attempting to fight some of the stronger beasts. Since you've only recently registered, you'd be at rank E or C at most! The guild doesn't allow such a large rank hop from F to A!"

"Hehe and that's where you're wrong!"

He explained the story about how he got a recommendation letter from a secret source and as such he was directly promoted to rank A!

Xue Chang kept the source a secret as he did not think it was yet time to publicly reveal his identity. But still this story was a shock to the guards.

"T-that's absolute bullshit! You got a direct promotion to rank A while we worked our butt off just to barely reach rank C!?"

That's right, Tian Hai and Tian Kai were both registered hunters at rank C. Although their actual strength was really on the upper D levels, because they had such good teamwork they were both given rank C as they were always partied up together.

Giving off a smirk, Xue Chang gave them a derisive look as he said in a serious tone, "Money can also be considered a type of talent! And with my money, nothing is impossible."

Needless to say the two brother forgot about their last beating and immediately challenged him to a duel right then and there.

A couple hours later, all three of them were sitting in a carriage on their way out of the city.

"It says here that our target is around three meters tall and has been spotted breaking down the stone wall of a house with only a single paw strike. It's speed is pretty average considering everything, but when it charges at you headfirst it's three times as fast."

"I can't believe we are actually facing a demonic beast. We're not idiots right? Then how did we get ourselves into this situation!"

"Calm down, it's not like we are marching toward our death." While Xue Chang was reading the bear's description and Tian Kai was panicking, Tian Hai was the only voice of reason among the three of them.

He sat there meditating in order to keep his body and mind at top condition. Although he himself was not a cultivator, this did not mean he was unable to absorb spiritual force.

Most martial artist in their world had some type of cultivation method for absorbing spiritual force, it was just that because of the cost of purchasing an authentic cultivation manual was extremely high, so most people were unable to afford it.

It was a cruel thing where even some super geniuses would be unable to cultivate without enough money.

Luckily sects would hold examinations opened to the public to find hidden gems within the more poverty-stricken groups of people. If it wasn't for this then the number of cultivators in their world would only be a tiny fraction of what it was now.

Tian Hai and Tian Kai were really unlucky fellows though. Because of their situation, they were unable to afford a cultivation method to practice. And the city they lived in was on the outskirts of civilization.

As such the closest sect was possibly several hundred or maybe even several thousand kilometers away!

Luckily they were able to meet Xue Chang. Although he didn't help them too much, he did provide them with housing and materials for them to study from. With his help their basic combat skills improved constantly. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he helped bring them from nothing to top class martial artist.

As he sat there meditating, an aura of reliability began to surround Tian Hai. Anyone who was near him would feel as if they could trust him with anything. This was an effect brought out from his confidence and peacefulness.

Because he was already used to fighting and combat, he wasn't too anxious about the upcoming battle. As such anyone who saw him being so calm would be able to calm down themselves.

Of course this would only work if they didn't look at his face.

Although he had a nice feeling about him, this aura of tranquility was directly engaged by his swollen face.

Unfortunately during their last sparring session, Xue Chang went too far and accidentally exerted too much pressure when striking at Tian Hai's face.

It was now swollen up like a pig and was a cause of constant laughter from Xue Chang and Tian Kai.

"You sure speak well for a mud bather!"

"Oh shut up, you don't look any better. And at least I was able to fight back a little, you went down on the first strike!"

"Better to go down quick than to live to become a monster."

The two brothers kept going back and forth while Xue Chang pulled out something from his clothing and began writing into it.

"By the way young master, why are we using a merchant's carriage instead of a normal one?"

The three of them were currently being transported to the far off village in a large merchant carriage. Unlike normal transportation carriages which seated four to six people, merchant carriages were much larger able to hold up to twelve people.

This was because merchants would usually be transporting a large number of products to sell. These items would of course weigh a lot so they needed a big enough carriage to not slow them down. Not only was renting the carriage itself much more expensive than a normal one, but this carriage needed twice the number of horses to pull it along and they had to rent those too.

"This way it'll save us time as these carriages tend to be faster, plus we weight quite a bit so this would be better..."

"He's talking about you Tian Hai you fat ass."

"One more word and I swear I'm throwing you out of the carriage."

"...plus it's not like we can't afford it. The rewards for this hunt is more than enough to make up for our losses."

"I hope you're right young master."

Soon the carriage driver slowed down and came to a stop. They had finally made it to their destination.

The guards quickly got out of the carriage and awaited for Xue Chang to step out as well.

Unlike the others, Xue Chang was very slow and deliberate in his movements. It was as if the world was glass and he was afraid of cracking it.

Unbeknown to the Tian brothers, Xue Chang was worrying over his robes. Unlike the city where the floor was made of paved stone, the village floor was mostly loose gravel and dirt.

He had to control his strength in order to keep himself from sinking into the soft ground beneath him. Although he probably would sink that far down, it was a good chance for him to practice his strength.

"Don't worry about me. You guys go ahead into the village and prepare us some rooms. I'll catch up soon."

The brothers shrugged their shoulders and left as they watched their boss move awkwardly around.

Xue Chang, who hadn't left the carriage yet, was right at the entrance of the box. Sitting in the very edge, his feet hung over the ground beneath him.

Taking in a deep breath, he stepped off of the carriage...

...and immediately sank into the ground.

"This is exactly why I didn't want them here, I'd be too embarrassed!"

Xue Chang was stuck up to his knees in the ground. Feeling the weird shifting land beneath him, an uncomfortable expression appeared on his young cute face.

Trying to push himself out of the ground, Xue Chang places his hands down beside him and pushed. Unfortunately this only served to sink his hands into the floor as well.

Tears were welling you in his eyes as his annoyance reached its peak. Yet somehow by pure chance he could imperceptibly hear the sound of laughing.

Feeling the corner of his eye twitch and his vein bulge out of his forehead, Xue Chang screamed out, "YOU TWO GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME OR YOUR FIRED!"