Clop, clop, clop...
Urgent hoofbeats sounded from the official road, as a convoy of over twenty people traveled along, kicking up clouds of dust.
Leading the way was a strong man in a yellow uniform, wearing a black headscarf and a steel saber at his waist. An fierce black tiger head was embroidered on the back of his uniform.
The man sat steadily on his horse, his gaze constantly scanning his surroundings.
Behind him, most of the team wore the same yellow clothes and black headscarves, clearly belonging to the same group.
They were the escorts from Wanhua City's Black Tiger Escort Agency.
The Black Tiger Escort Agency was quite well-known in Wanhua City.
Leading this group was the strong man with the saber, Yan Kuan, the leader of this team of escorts and a master who had stepped into the Blood Transportation Realm.
"Leader Yan, this trip is just delivering goods for Listening to the Moon Pavilion to Fu City. It'll take at most five days. We've traveled this road dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Do we really need to be so careful?"
Behind Yan Kuan, a young escort, seeing his Leader's serious expression, couldn't help but speak up.
"Xiao Tong, how many times have I told you? In our line of work, you can't afford to be careless in the slightest. Otherwise, if you really encounter trouble and aren't prepared in time, you could pay a cruel price."
Yan Kuan extended his rough, calloused hand and patted the young man behind him, offering advice with a tone of admonishment.
He had been in the escort business for 20 years, and it was precisely his caution and prudence that allowed him to reach this point. He had seen too many former colleagues pay a bloody price due to momentary carelessness, so he always offered a few words of advice to these newcomers.
Of course, he knew the young man was right. This route was a common one for their Black Tiger Escort Agency, and everything along the way had already been arranged. Other than potentially some wild beasts near the official road, there was basically no danger.
However, the situation in the city had been much more chaotic recently compared to the previous peaceful period, so being careful was still better. At the same time, for some reason, he had felt a faint sense of unease ever since leaving the city.
So he had specifically requested a few more escorts from the agency. It was always better to be prepared.
"Got it, Escort Leader Yan."
Xiao Tong responded, but his face still wore an indifferent expression. Although he had only joined the escort agency a few months ago, he had already been on several escort missions, and each time had been calm and uneventful, with no danger. Even if they encountered some bandits, they would ignore them and not hinder them at all after seeing the Black Tiger Escort Agency's banner.
Some bandit leaders would even come over and chat for a bit after seeing Escort Leader Yan.
Therefore, he didn't care much and only thought Escort Leader Yan was too cautious, even a bit timid.
The convoy continued forward. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind blew, kicking up a large amount of dust from the ground, blinding everyone.
"Wait in place."
Yan Kuan's voice sounded, and the convoy halted.
The weather had been unpredictable recently, and it happened to be the windy season. Strong winds would blow from time to time, but they would pass quickly, so they were used to it.
The situation was indeed as they expected. Soon, the strong wind gradually dissipated.
Everyone tidied up and continued forward, but there were now two more people ahead.
One was a short man, like a thin monkey, in gray clothes. The other was a bearded man, also in gray clothes.
Seeing these two blocking the center of the official road, Yan Kuan frowned, his hand already on the hilt of the saber at his waist. He then spoke loudly.
"May I ask who you are, friends? I am Yan Kuan from the Black Tiger Escort Agency. Please make way, friends."
"Black Tiger Escort Agency? It seems it's them."
Hearing Yan Kuan's words, the short man's face showed a sneer.
"That's right, Deputy Branch Master, it's them."
The bearded man quickly responded.
"Since that's the case, let's not waste time."
A Gou stretched his hands and walked towards the convoy.
"Friends, it's better not to get too close, lest it cause unnecessary misunderstanding..."
Seeing that the person opposite didn't seem to be paying attention to him and was instead walking towards them, Yan Kuan already realized something.
"You shorty! Get lost, don't block the way!"
The young man behind him, named Xiao Tong, couldn't contain his anger and immediately shouted, drawing his weapon as he spoke.
"Escort Leader Yan, ignore him. If he gets any closer, I'll just kill this shorty!"
He spoke to Yan Kuan beside him, but soon noticed that the short man who had been walking towards them had disappeared from sight.
"Where is he!? Where did he go!!"
Xiao Tong was full of confusion, looking left and right, but soon felt a cold touch on his cheek.
It was a black metal claw, slowly stroking his cheek.
In his shock, he looked up and back, only to see a face full of cold smiles.
Before he could say anything, a sharp pain came from his cheek.
"Xiao Tong!!"
At this moment, Yan Kuan reacted. His long saber instantly unsheathed and went straight towards the short man standing behind Xiao Tong.
However, it was already too late.
The short man retreated nimbly, and a large, terrified human head was already in his hand.
"Grab your weapons and kill him!!"
Yan Kuan roared, no longer hesitating, and immediately used a secret technique to rush towards A Gou.
But his movements were fast, and A Gou's movements were even faster.
In just a few breaths, he saw the escorts he had brought fall down like straw, their chests ripped open, blood gushing out, and collapsing powerlessly.
In two breaths, all the good men he had brought were dead or injured.
At this moment, other than those two people standing in the field, only he remained.
He clenched the large saber in his hand and was about to charge up and fight for his life.
A Gou's face, however, showed disdain.
He extended his somewhat darkened tongue, licked the scarlet bloodstain on his sharp claws, and then his figure disappeared like a ghost.
Yan Kuan's heavy and powerful saber strike missed again.
The next moment, he felt a pain in his chest, and a black sharp claw had extended from within his chest.
His body swayed, and he felt his consciousness rapidly fading. He struggled to turn his head and look at A Gou behind him. Only now did he notice the white dragon imprint embroidered on the other person's clothes.
"Whi... White Dragon..."
Pfft...
Before he could finish speaking, he felt strength release from the sharp claw in his chest, instantly shattering his internal organs. Finally, he could no longer hold on, his life force completely gone, only his eyes still wide and staring with furious rage.
"What Black Tiger Escort Agency, just a bunch of trash..."
A Gou spat, and with a twist of his hand, he removed the other person's head.
"Have someone take the goods away..."
"Yes, Deputy Branch Master."
Soon, the carriages on the official road changed direction and quickly drove away, leaving behind only a strong smell of blood and a ground full of broken corpses.
...
"Ten days, in ten days, three of the convoys we sent out have been robbed, and not a single person was left alive. Sister, are we being targeted?"
Inside Listening to the Moon Pavilion, Cao Luan's face was full of anger, his fists clenched tightly, as he spoke resentfully.
And opposite him was naturally Cao Ying, her brows tightly furrowed.
Cao Ying was also feeling quite irritated at this moment. She had thought that restarting the cosmetics business might attract the covetousness of some people, but she hadn't expected it to come so quickly, and the other party's methods were so ruthless that they didn't leave a single survivor.
Three convoys, this caused them to lose a lot of profit.
Profit was a small matter; what was more urgent was not being able to explain to their customers. Being targeted, having their trade routes cut off, and being unable to deliver goods would undoubtedly cause a huge blow to future cooperation.
If they didn't find a way to solve this, their Listening to the Moon Pavilion would likely find it difficult to continue.
"If Sister Yue were here, no one would dare to act against us..."
The Sister Yue he mentioned was the young lady from the Situ Family who had some connection with them before.
"Xiao Luan, although Situ Yue has some friendship with us, she might not necessarily think highly of us, let alone the fact that she is no longer in Tiannan Prefecture..."
Cao Ying shook her head slightly. She was not as naive as her brother and understood that among those large forces, especially these aristocratic families, open and covert struggles were commonplace.
What about their Cao Family? How could they possibly catch the eye of that Situ Family young lady?
"Then what do you say we do? Ask Lin Sheng to come over. After taking so much money, it's time for him to contribute."
Cao Ying didn't speak, just pondered in her heart. After a long while, she finally sighed softly. Besides Lin Sheng, she really couldn't think of any other way.
"I hope the name of the Seven Forms Sect can make those people retreat in the face of difficulty."
...
Wanhua City South District.
In the spacious courtyard, a two-meter-tall crimson figure stood. Sharp white bone spurs grew out from its muscles.
On its resolute face, a vertical pupil opened between its eyebrows, revealing a sense of emotionless, aloof indifference.
The crimson hand grabbed a handful of Star Insects shimmering with faint blue light and stuffed them into its mouth. Seemingly still unsatisfied, it simply took out a stalk of sharp-leaved grass from a wooden box nearby. The grass was deep blue all over, and even had specks of frost on it.
It tore off a leaf from the grass and threw it into its mouth, then a second time... a third time... In a short while, the entire stalk of sharp-leaved grass had disappeared.
"Twenty-five breaths..."
The tall crimson figure exhaled heavily. Afterwards, the bone spurs on its surface quickly retracted into its body, and its crimson figure gradually returned to normal, revealing a somewhat tired Lin Sheng.
"Indeed, the effect of Star Dew Grass is much better than Star Insects, but this cold poison is also quite potent..."
Looking at the veins on his palm that had turned ice blue, Lin Sheng said with some emotion.
Because of the Phantom Demon Beast's Magic Seed, he had rarely gone out during this period. Even if he left Wanhua City, he wouldn't go too far.
Even when going to the Seven Forms Sect, he would basically go with Zhao Kongfang and the disciples stationed there.
During this time, he was either cultivating Ape Embryo Skill or adapting to and mastering Heart Monkey Talent.
In his cultivation of Ape Embryo Skill, he could feel himself getting closer to a Breakthrough. The Bottleneck for the Breakthrough was already as thin as a cicada's wing. It wouldn't take long before he could successfully cross that threshold and enter a new Realm.
And the progress of Heart Monkey Talent was also obvious. With sufficient supply of Star Insects, he could now last for 25 breaths of time, and he had also tested that even without the assistance of Star Insects, he could last for seven breaths when Heart Monkey Talent was activated.
The reason for such progress was entirely because, under the stimulation of Heart Monkey Talent, his mental attribute had actually increased by one point.
He hadn't expected that under such intense pain, his mental attribute could grow.
This also made him value this talent more than ever before.
Although he couldn't see any obvious manifestation of the mental talent for the time being, judging from the difficulty of obtaining it, this mental attribute was definitely not as simple as he had imagined.
Huang Quan had told him before that the further one progressed in the martial arts Realm, the more restrictions one faced, besides Bloodline, aptitude, and comprehension, there were also high requirements for one's mind and will.
Moreover, with the increase in his mental attribute, he could also perceive that the heavy burden when activating Heart Monkey Talent had been reduced to some extent.
It was not difficult to imagine that to completely master this talent, one had to start from the mental aspect.
In addition, he had gained more understanding of the vertical eye that appeared between his eyebrows after activating Heart Monkey Talent. Besides being able to sense malice directed at him, this vertical pupil could also serve as a deterrent. More accurately, it should be some kind of mental attack.
And the attack effect was quite impressive, greatly exceeding his expectations.
He had tested it on a high-grade ordinary beast. Under the deterrence of the vertical pupil, it was actually scared into standing still, not reacting for a long time, until Lin Sheng frowned and went over to examine it. Only then did he discover that the pupils of this high-grade ordinary beast had dilated. Although it wasn't dead, it had lost consciousness.
It was as if its original consciousness had been directly shattered.
Of course, using the deterrent effect of the vertical eye between the eyebrows also consumed a lot of his own energy.
That time, the time he could last was a full 1/3 less than before.
Clearly, although the deterrent effect was extremely powerful, it couldn't be used indefinitely. In his current state, if used continuously, his own consciousness would likely be damaged.
However, discovering this wonderful use of the vertical eye still made him overjoyed.
With the powerful effect of the deterrence, it could definitely serve as one of his trump cards.
Of course, after multiple tests, his wallet had long since become empty, and he had even borrowed ten thousand taels of silver from Zhao Kongfang.
Fortunately, by chance, he discovered that the effect of Star Dew Grass was even more impressive and also more suitable for him. So, for subsequent purchases, he focused on Star Dew Grass. Otherwise, even borrowing ten thousand taels of silver from Zhao Kongfang might not have been enough to meet his consumption.
However, although the effect of Star Dew Grass was good, the intensity of the attached cold dew also greatly exceeded his expectations.
Even though he had the Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm and resistance to cold poison, he still suffered quite a bit at first. But now, he was quickly getting used to the experience of having the cold poison in his body.
He would use his high and powerful Physique to withstand the invasion of the cold poison, and then refine it with the Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm to eliminate the cold poison.
It just took a relatively longer time, but while refining this cold poison, the progress of his Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm was also much faster than before.
This could also be considered an unexpected bonus.
Returning to his residence in the city, he saw Wang Dehai waiting in the courtyard with a somewhat anxious expression.