Chapter 306: Get Out
Jian Chen grew solemn the moment he saw the sight before saying, “It would be unwise to approach them now. Let’s hurry up and leave.” If he didn’t have the injured Qin Xiao draped over him, then he would have investigated the sight above. For the sake of Qin Xiao, he would place safety as their priority.
Jian Chen took the stretcher and led the girl away from the place as Tian Jue bit his lips and followed close behind.
The ground began to shake once more as the mountains shook violently. Even the ground near Jian Chen’s feet began to crack as the sounds of a fierce battle could be heard, his ears shook from the vibrations.
A few of the more courageous men were attracted by the sight and flew toward the sounds of the battle. The vast majority of them had already lost their Space Belts and were heavily bandaged while some looked quite miserable. The moment they saw the injured members behind Jian Chen, two of the more well off looking men flew at Jian Chen in a hurry.
The two were extremely fast and had traveled several hundred meters in a flash. Swiftly coming to a stop to measure Jian Chen and the others, they both noticed that Jian Chen and the other girl were no older than twenty five years at the most. Their confidence couldn’t help but go up as one of them shouted, “You there stand still!” With that, they closed the distance.
Jian Chen’s eyes flashed as the girl instantly grabbed at her longbow and shot two golden arrows from it. They traveled at an extremely fast pace.
The two golden arrows traveled through the air with a golden trail as if they were shooting stars that flew closer and closer to the two men.
When the two saw the girl take out her bow they immediately took out their Saint Weapons as a precaution. As the golden arrows were shot, they were already waving their swords in an attempt to cut them down.
“Earth Saint Masters!” Jian Chen’s heart skipped a beat. From the pulse in their Saint Force, Jian Chen could tell just how strong the two were.
Bang! Bang!
Following two metallic sounds, the smoke from the explosions, created when dirt and grass was kicked into the air by the collisions, masked the two men from view. The two men then shot straight into the air as a result of the energy. They involuntarily spat out a mouth full of blood.
While the girl was very young in age, she was very firm in her killing strikes unlike those born and raised in a sheltered lifestyle. Just like a hardened battle veteran that has experienced countless of battles, she readily stepped forward as her dainty jade like fingers stretched the bowstring on her bow. Slowly stretching it taut, she immediately let go and released a golden arrow away from her.
“Whoosh whoosh!”
Two twangs could be heard as the two golden arrows left a trail of golden light as they shot toward the two men. Before they could even react, the arrows had shot through their chests.
“Ah!”
The two men let out simultaneous cries of anguish as they felt a fist sized hole punch through their chests. As the golden arrows pushed past their bodies, the remnants of the energy exploded within their body and instantly destroyed their inner organs. As soon as the men screamed in pain, they instantly went silent.
The two of them were Earth Saint Masters, but they both had been easily killed by the girl and her longbow.
Everyone around the area could see this fight clearly. Those who initially had thoughts about robbing Jian Chen and his group instantly withdrew all notions of fighting.
“Just who is that yellow robed girl, and how strong is she? The two men who were after their tokens were Earth Saint Masters, but even they were easily killed by her…”
“I can see that this girl isn’t that old, but just how could she be that strong in such a young age? Whoever marries her in the future will be truly blessed…”
“Shh! Speak quietly, what if she hears you! If she gets angry then it’ll be all over for us once she starts shooting…”
“That’s right, a youngster like you should keep your mouth shut. A loose tongue may bring you trouble. Be careful with what you say, and for heaven’s sakes, don’t say anything unnecessary…”
From far away, three men began to talk among themselves. Looking at Jian Chen, no one dared come close to him.
After that, barely any people dared to block Jian Chen and his group’s path. Jian Chen continued to hold the stretcher in front of him while he rushed forward. After he had came across the two who blocked their path, he collected their belongings: a Space Ring and a nice looking Space Belt.
The girl watched as Jian Chen rifled through the men’s belongings without saying a word. Strapping the longbow to her back, she followed Jian Chen from behind as they both left the place.
Shi Xiangran continued to fight for a long period of time, allowing Jian Chen to travel several kilometers away. Even after hearing several explosions, Jian Chen and the group didn’t turn back and continued on.
Six hours later, Jian Chen and his group were farther away now and finally stopped at a cave to rest. Within the dark cave, a small campfire could be seen burning.
“This cave has someone recently staying here, forget it, let’s occupy it.” Jian Chen muttered before carefully setting Qin Xiao down on the ground. Collecting several untouched branches around the cave’s opening, Jian Chen lit them on fire to use as a torch.
“The branches won’t burn for long, you should all go inside to rest first, I’ll go find some more branches.” With that, Jian Chen turned to climb down the slope and collect some more branches and dried sticks.
While Jian Chen continued to collect branches, the sounds of footsteps could be heard. Ignoring the sound, Jian Chen continued to collect the tree branches on the ground.
Quickly, two shadows flew into view. From their appearances, the two were around forty years old. One was quite sturdy in stature and wore a black sleeveless gown. Both of his dark skinned arms bulged with muscles and he wore blue colored trousers with clothe shoes. The other man was quite even in his build and was not tall at all. His face was rather suited to talk to the crowd but his ordinary looking eyes shone with light. He wore a white robe that was quite damaged and there were green stains from the grass nearby.
As Jian Chen measured the two, they looked at Jian Chen in return. Realizing that Jian Chen was no older than twenty years old, the two men both dropped their guards.
Jian Chen looked at the two for a moment longer before he resumed picking up branches from the ground. With a single strand of rope, he tied a bundle of sticks together before putting them in his Space Ring.
Now that Jian Chen was an Earth Saint Master, he had no reason to hide his Space Ring any more. His strength was sufficient enough to protect himself, so the Space Ring he had originally hidden in the Tianqin clan was now worn proudly on his hand.
When the middle age man saw the Space Ring on his hand, a barely detectable glint of light flashed through his eyes but his expression remained impassive.
The sturdy man took out a wine gourd and began to take a large gulp from it before sighing carefully. Then looking at Jian Chen, he said, “Fellow brother, you sure are quite brave. With a young and brazen kid like you participating in the Gathering of the Mercenaries, I truly admire you. Just what are you gathering up branches for?”
Jian Chen tilted his head to look at the man; he looked simple and honest enough with those clear eyes.
“I’m using them to start a fire.” Jian Chen replied.
As soon as all the branches were collected and bundled, Jian Chen stored them into his Space Ring and quickly left without a look back.
As the sturdy looking man stood where he had been talking to Jian Chen and looked at him run farther away from them before slowly saying, “That kid is quite mysterious.”
“Haha, even I think he is quite mysterious too! For a kid this young to participate, he’s stronger than me when I was his age. What an admirable achievement.” His companion laughed.
The man then revealed the tiniest of sneers, “Senior An, did you see that on his person, that ring on his finger was actually a Space Ring?”
“A Space Ring!” The sturdy man gasped with a bitter smile before scratching at his bald head in embarrassment. “I wasn’t paying attention at all. Yun Zheng, I could detect that that kid was stronger than me several times over. Despite him having a Space Ring, a simple Space Belt is well enough for a person’s everyday use. As long as one prepares one in advance, then they will save themselves some money.”
The middle aged man didn’t say anything and continued to look in the direction Jian Chen ran in. After a little while he left in another direction with the other man.
Jian Chen quickly returned to the original cave and immediately took out the branches from within his Space Ring to begin the campfire. With Qin Xiao’s heavy injuries, mobility was severely restricted, so Jian Chen had calculated that they would have to stay within the cave for half a month and wait for Qin Xiao’s condition to at least stabilize. For that reason, he had stockpiled a large amount of branches that filled a corner of the cave with a pile of wrist sized sticks.
Adding a few more sticks to the fire, Jian Chen continued to take out some medicinal herbs from Qin Xiao’s Space Belt to treat his wounds and then wrapped some bandages over them. At the same time, the equally injured Qin Jue had taken out a few medicinal pills to swallow before sitting in a meditative state as he closed his eyes to allow his body to concentrate on healing.
The girl sat on a rock in a corner of the cave as she gently stroked her golden longbow with a concentrated expression.
The entire cave was rather peaceful and only the sounds of the crackling fire could be heard.
At that moment, the sounds of footsteps could be heard walking into the cave, causing Jian Chen who was tending to Qin Xiao’s wounds to instantly stop his movements and look toward the entrance. He was already prepared to fight, although Qin Xiao was in a better state than before, he was in no state to fight at all. With his waist damaged, he was unable to exert much force, so Jian Chen would have to protect him.
The girl slowly raised her head as she stared at the cave’s entrance as well while clenching the longbow in her hand. Although there weren’t many that could challenge her, after seeing Shi Xiangran and the other user with a Ruler Armament, the two of them were equally paranoid and vigilant.
In a flash, two figures entered Jian Chen’s eyesight. With the light from the campfire, Jian Chen could see the appearances of the two men. One wore a black sleeveless gown and was quite sturdy in stature that revealed his dark skinned and muscular arms. The middle aged man behind him was well distributed in build, they were the two that Jian Chen had seen when he was collecting branches earlier.
“Get out!” The girl commanded coldly at the two.