Zou Qiang and the remaining 13 guards stared at the headless corpse next to them with eyes filled with shock and disbelief, while a look of extreme fear had appeared on Ying Gui's face at the same time.
If even Zou Qiang himself could barely resist the attack of a single arrow, and if his own guard who was at the peak of rank 2 in the Nascent Soul couldn't even guard against it before dying in one shot, what kind of terrifying enemy were they facing?
Shun Long's gaze was also focused at the origin of the arrow while a serious look had also appeared on his face.
'Luckily', Ying Gui didn't have to wait for a long time to get an answer for the question in his mind, as 2 middle-aged men dressed in long black robes slowly appeared as they stood next to each other.
One of the men held a long black bow in his hands while a quiver filled with metal arrows was strapped on his back, while the other man was holding a crimson sword.
However, what made both Zou Qiang and his remaining 13 guards despair, was that the middle-aged man who was holding the crimson sword was a middle rank 6 Nascent Soul stage expert, while the man with the arrow was actually at the peak of rank 6 in the Nascent Soul!
Ying Gui's body trembled when his eyes fell on the small emblems on the 2 men's chest, as he suddenly asked in a high-pitched voice
''You... you are from the Su family??''
The 2 men inspected Zou Qiang and Shun Long for a few moments, while an amused expression had appeared on both of their faces barely a moment later as they turned their attention towards Ying Gui.
The middle-aged man with the black bow smiled warmly and nodded his head as he looked at Ying Gui before he asked in return
''Since you already know why bother asking? Tell me, do you want to take your own lives or should I do it for you?''
Although the man in front of him seemed to be smiling, the warm smile on his face looked no different than the cold smile of a demon in Ying Gui's eyes.
Even Zou Qiang started to fall into despair as he stealthily took a few steps backwards, opening up the distance between himself and the 2 monsters that had appeared in front of them.
There was no way that he could fight against even a middle rank 6 Nascent Soul stage cultivator, let alone one who had already reached the peak of rank 6.
Seeing the despair on Ying Gui's face after he revealed his identity made the middle-aged man with the black bow to smile even wider, as he took another step forward towards Ying Gui and asked mockingly
''Hehe, who gave you, a small rank 1 Spirit realm trash, the guts to meddle between the fight of our family and the Yao family? Did you really think that you could purchase 4 peak rank 5 magic beasts from the Holy city for the Yaos and avoid being discovered by us? Hehehe, idiot. How could we not notice it when the Yaos used more than 1 million middle-grade spirit stones from their treasury for this?''
Ying Gui's face that had already started to turn pale in front of the middle-aged man's imposing presence, ended up turning even paler as the blood was all drained from his face.
He had originally thought that even if this mission was leaked, the Su family wouldn't know the exact details of it.
It was only now that he realized, that they most likely had a spy among the higher echelons of the Yao family!
Otherwise, how could they know it when the Yao family took out a million middle-grade spirit stones from their treasury?
From the moment that he accepted this mission, he had already been noticed by the Su family!
After all, even for a family backed by Dao Kings like the Yao family, taking more than a million middle-grade spirit stones all at once from their treasury wasn't something that they could do at a whim, as it would definitely affect the family's financial ability to do anything else in the near future.
Without any hesitation, Ying Gui suddenly fell on his knees as he begged with a face filled with snot and tears
''I am sorry! Please! Please don't kill me! Take the 'Solar hound' and the other 3 peak rank 5 magic beasts if you want, but let me live. I don't want to die!''
More than half of the remaining 13 guards instantly fell on their knees as well when they saw Ying Gui doing so, as they too echoed out their pleas
''Please don't kill us! We were only following orders!''
''It was just the boss who spoke with Yao family.''
At the same time, the guards threw looks of hatred towards Ying Gui, both for making them take on this dangerous mission, as well as for choosing to go through the 'Flame Lion's canyon' instead of taking the long way around.
After all, it was obvious that if they took the long way around, they wouldn't have met with these monsters who could so effortlessly kill them.
Although Ying Gui couldn't understand how terrifying these people were, his guards who were all at the Nascent Soul stage could clearly sense that these people were just steps away from entering the late-stages of the Nascent Soul!
Even if they were willing to give up their lives, it was impossible for the guards to fight even one of them, let alone 2!
The middle-aged man who was holding the red sword and had stayed silent for so long suddenly started to laugh mockingly before he said in a derisive tone as if he was looking at a group of idiots
''Hahaha! Let you live? You dared to meddle into our family's matters and now you want to ask for forgiveness? Keep dreaming fools! As for the magic beasts, hehehe, of course I'm going to take them all! Do you think that I need your permission?''
The middle-aged man then turned his gaze towards the guards who were pleading for mercy, and seeing that their thoughts were almost painted on their faces he didn't hesitate to mock them as he said
''Pathetic worms, do you regret entering the 'Flame Lion's canyon'? Too bad that it wouldn't have mattered whether you really entered it or not. Even if you decided to take the long way around to get to Yanzhu city, do you really think that you could escape so easily from our Su family?''