Bounty

Chapter 18

In a forest of thick and lush greenery where the sunlight rays seldom touch the ground. A young man sitting on top of a tree is leisurely looking down below with his sharp gaze. He is looking at a beautiful white dressed young woman facing against three large mastiffs with green stripes around their bodies. The young woman's face is in distress as she looks at the fierce beast in front of her. She wanted to exert her power to defeat them, but her meridians were blocked so she is unable to use spiritual Qi.

"Shin Jiao! A little help, please… I can't face the three of them while my meridian is sealed." she shouted while being vigilant at the enemies in front of her.

"I already thinned out the pack. Don't tell me that you cannot take on only these three? Tsk, Tsk." He said with a challenging voice.

"You... okay you win. I'll show you that I'm stronger than you are… mortal." she said grumpily.

Shin Jiao just laugh it off as he just sits and continues to watch. Without a choice, she tried to recall all the things he taught for the week and the movements he made while fighting against multiple opponents. Actually, what Shin Jiao showed her, are the things he perfected while hunting strong beasts in the deep forests. It's an almost perfect system combination of defense and offense, very simple but practical martial arts which use little movements and far less energy, which in turn gives the body lesser stress and pressure.

After putting her concentration on the battle, she discovered that she had gained some confidence. Then all of a sudden the smallest mastiff with a gray mane dashed towards her baring its fangs, its target is her neck.

But when the mastiff closed its mouth it only bit into thin air, but it didn't gave up and follow up with its claws while still in mid-air. But still, it hits nothing as if the woman in front of it is like water, following its movements and attacks. Then a thin line suddenly appears in its throat and ran towards its stomach. When the attacking mastiff landed on the ground the thin line suddenly burst open as its inner organs fell from it, and the mastiff slumps dead to the ground.

Upon seeing this Shin Jiao had a wide smile in his face. He suddenly recalls a woman clad in black leather clothing when he was still on earth. This woman is called the Whistling Death as her enemy could hear a faint whistle from her sword before they die. She would always kill her opponent brutally by cutting from their throat to their stomach. One time in one of his assignments he faced her in battle which he almost lost his life, luckily his reflexes and luck are good. After a couple of exchanges, he was able to sever her hand which ended her carrier as an assassin.

The way Cherry Lao moves right now is like Whistling Death, even the sound of her sword while cutting through the air. The difference is that because of the speed of her sword her cut goes first before the sound.

After getting the hang of the skill which Shin Jiao taught her, Cherry Lao became proficient and refined in her movements. This made her have enlightenment in her Dao of swords, she then was able to comprehend something touching the Dao of swords which is almost impossible considering her young age. This comprehension she has begun to slowly form its own Qi, and the fluctuation of that Qi is within her sword. With an astonished and confused look in her face, she decided to take out another sword ring. Then the same thing happened as if every time she held a sword in her hand, living Qi would flow and make the sword alive.

"This... I think this is my sword heart. I finally found my sword heart!" she exclaimed.

Sword's heart is the beginning stage of a sword-wielding cultivator in which they began to emit and control their swords more proficiently. If a person already discovered their sword heart, they are many times more powerful than their enemy in the same realm, or even the realm one stage higher.

Now that Cherry Lao discovered her sword heart she is truly happy and pleased with herself.

The two mastiffs will become the sacrificial lamb to the birth of her sword heart. Even without using spiritual Qi, she was able to emit powerful aura within her sword.

Upon seeing this Shin Jiao's jaw almost dropped in disbelief, as he didn't expect her to suddenly comprehend her own sword heart.

The two mastiffs suddenly tremble in fright, knowing that they don't stand a chance against the human in front of them, both suddenly had a tacit understanding to escape. Upon seeing her two targets about to escape, she suddenly smiled, then with just a blur she already hid her sword and walked towards Shin Jiao who still had his mouth wide open in disbelief upon seeing the two mastiffs fell on the ground while their heads rolled.

"This is her sword heart? So when someone gained a deeper understanding of the sword on their own and not through other's experiences, their sword becomes like them. The man becomes the sword and the sword becomes a living man." Shin Jiao murmured to himself.

When she stopped below the tree where he sat, she then closed her eyes and started to digest what she had gained and engrave it to her mind. After some time, she opens her eyes and then happiness can be seen in them. She actually could not believe that she would be able to comprehend her own sword heart at her age. She then jumped up the tree towards Shin Jiao and into his arms.

Meanwhile…

In the town of Dis, a meeting is being held by the 5 leaders along with other high officials of the town. The town hall was silent as everyone is attentively listening to a middle-aged man who is standing in the middle. It was the 4th elder of the town council who first went to investigate the situation about the beast wave.

"From the first report I have sent earlier, I have gathered a lot of information about the area where the swarm of Rock Ants change of rule. The reports are true, the whole area was turned into ice. A fourth of the colony was frozen solid along with other types of beasts, that totals to around 20,000 plus."

"What! Who could do that? Is there a Saint nascent realm cultivator that descended?"

"This is truly terrifying… with that kind of power, it could wipe out our town in one go. Who would be able to stop this monster?"

A clamor of discussion suddenly ensues after the first report of the 4th elder.

"Everyone calm down… Let Elder Ping continue his report." One of the 5 town heads wearing a dark blue robe raised his voice.

This made everyone calm down and waited for the report from the 4th elder. Upon seeing that everyone is already quiet, Ren Ping the 4th elder of the town took out a couple of rings and put it on the table in the middle.

"This is all the beast cores and the still usable materials that we have collected. Since most of the outer layer of the beast are frozen solid and became brittle we can only harvest the inner organs. We also discovered... the carcass and core of a level 6 beast."

"What!" almost everyone in the town's hall stood up in shock.

A level 6 carcass of a beast, what does that signifies? It is equivalent to a nascent realm cultivator, the peak existence in the land of Xi. Although it is unknown how many nascent cultivators are there in the Land of Xi as a whole as the land is far too huge. But it is known that the ancestor of the Xi Empire is one of them.

Since the town has got itself a level 6 beast, it would be of great help to advance one of the 5 town heads to a nascent realm cultivator which would boost the power of the town.

"How about the core? Is it still intact?" the white-robed old man which looks to be the oldest among the five heads asked.

"Yes, town head." Ren Ping replied with a bow.

"Good! Good! With the beast core at least two within our group could advance at least a step towards the nascent realm." The white-robed old man exclaimed as excitement can be seen within his eyes.

…

The next day Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao resumed their journey to town. When they reached the main road, they noticed that something is wrong. As they saw a man in his 30's wearing a black beast skin garb while sitting in the middle of the road in a lotus position cultivating. What amazed them was that this man is only in the core forming late stage, but has the audacity to block the road. And on each side of the road, they can see at least 2 or 3 broken carriages and the smell of blood is thick in the air.

"Ha, ha! I guess you two finally showed up! It's been many days since I started to wait here. My patience is running out if you wanted a quick death come here obediently." The man said with a grin in his face.

When he opened his eyes, he was suddenly dumbfounded and his mouth began to drip with saliva. His gaze was directed towards the cold beauty of Cherry Lao as he looks at her like a hungry wolf seeing its prey.

"Truly a beauty. I will have you no matter what! He, he, he." The man said as his expression turned into a sex maniac.

Shin Jiao wanted to laugh at this situation, but he held himself back. He is still unable to fight against the man, but this would also be a good exercise for Cherry Lao, who didn't bat an eye at the man who quickly stood up and approached them. But since they know that there is no other way behind this, both of them decided to face the man.

"Sir, we would like to just pass. We mean you no harm." Shin Jiao politely said to the man.

"Ha, ha! I Wolf have always got what I wanted and no one could stop me." The man calling himself Wolf arrogantly said.

"Shin, I don't like this person. Although I don't want to kill anyone for nothing, this guy is an exception." She said with a tone of annoyance in her voice.

"Sigh… okay. But be careful, his aura is different." Shin Jiao warned her.

"Ha, ha! A man is going to let his woman fight against me? Truly mortal trash. I will teach you first a lesson." Wolf just said that and quickly dashed towards Shin Jiao with his fist covered in red Qi.

"Hmmm… a condensed Qi fist." Shin Jiao said as he suddenly appears behind the Wolf.

"What? How?" Wolf is still confused as his punch only hit the air and the voice is behind him.

"Although you are truly strong with regard to your strength, your ability is far too weak." Shin Jiao said taunting Wolf.

Although Shin Jiao was not able to utilize his natural energy, with his boots and fighting experience he was still faster than Wolf who only knows how to use brute force.

"Roar! Mere mortal trash wanted to show off in front of me? Die!" Wolf shouted as he attacked while in a rampage.

Every time his attack missed he would howl and continue attacking, but no matter what he did the young man is still able to evade.

"This is how you use Phantom steps evasion… Now you try it." Shin Jiao's suddenly appear beside Cherry Lao who is too focused while absorbing and combining the forms taught by Shin Jiao.

With a nod, she suddenly steps forward.

"Wait! Don't kill him yet." Shin Jiao added.

She just nods then she walks quickly towards Wolf who is now truly angered. He could not accept that fact that he was played by a mere mortal. And now that he found out that he is being used as a sparring partner for the woman, he almost vomit out blood in his anger.

Then without minding of whether he kills the beautiful young woman or not, all he wanted to do now is to kill the two annoying pests in front of him. But then all of a sudden, he was stunned as the woman almost copied what the mortal man did. As he scanned the woman's cultivation, he can see that she is only at the body refining late stage but he felt once again angered that he is still unable to hit her.

"I think he's getting weaker. Let's stop here for now. Let's ask him, why he is looking for us." Shin Jiao said after noticing that the man is getting weaker after a couple of hours have passed.

Shin Jiao then walks near Cherry Lao and unseal her meridian. Then a sudden strong aura suddenly burst forth from her body which frightened the man.

"A… A… gold core realm… this… how could this be?" he said while shaking in fear, then he shakily took out a paper from his sleeves. Which made his face turn pale more.

He then just noticed that there is a small reminder down the paper, which says that the target is a gold core realm cultivator. Then he looks back and forth towards Cherry Lao and the paper, as helplessness appears in his eyes. He knows that because of his greed and stupidity, his life would be over. Then without a second thought, he suddenly dropped down the ground and started to kowtow.

"Master! Please forgive this plebian. I have eyes but is unable to see your greatness. I promise to serve you, young goddess. Please spare me just this once." Wolf suddenly pleaded.

Shin Jiao and Cherry Lao were stupefied at the man's reaction. They could not believe that the fierce and raging man a while ago was turned into a submissive and cowardly lamb.

"Hey, that's enough. Answer my question and you might yet live." Shin Jiao said in annoyance.

"You…"

Upon hearing Shin Jiao's words, Wolf was about to lash out again but was able to remember that a gold core cultivator is also there. So he just nods his head and gritted his teeth. Seeing this Shin Jiao sneered, he thought that having someone with great power is truly great.

"Anyway, how did you know about us?" Shin Jiao asked.

"There is a bounty on her head, and this is known throughout the outer layer and mercenary camps of the town of Dis."

"A bounty? How much?" Shin Jiao asked in curiosity.

"Around 1,000 low-grade spiritual stone for the right information, and an additional 1,000 if brought back dead or alive," Wolf replied not looking at Shin Jiao but at Cherry Lao.

"Wow! You're famous… I guess if I turn you in, I would be able to live a comfortable life in the town for a while. He, he." Shin Jiao said with a grin.

"You… See if I don't kick you to death before you can do that." Cherry Lao said as she chased after him.

The two just casually joked around as if there is no one around them. Wolf, on the other hand, was dumbfounded by what he is seeing. Deep inside his heart, he is jealous of the mortal man who caught the goddess' heart. He was jealous of why his luck is not as good as his.