Chapter 10: Tracking the Beasts

They had been inside the trial tower for an hour, and Lin Yaoyao’s group still hadn’t run into a single demon beast.

Instead of beasts, they’d “made contact” with Lin Feiyuan and Gu Mingchun early on.

The four of them stared at each other, then wandered around, but after a long while, they still hadn’t seen a trace of any beast. Even Lu Yan’er, who had been tense, relaxed.

Low-tier demon beasts had weak spiritual power, so they naturally wouldn’t show themselves. Finding them was the real challenge of the second level.

Lin Yaoyao suggested that the four of them split up and search in four different directions. Once someone found a beast, they’d use jade slips to notify the others.

After splitting up, Lin Yaoyao looked around, saw no one, and quickly turned her bracelet.

“System, can you find where these demon beasts are?”

A gentle voice answered: “Of course! This system has the highest-level map. Nothing within a hundred li can hide from it!”

“Stop boasting. Just mark the beasts’ locations!”

She didn’t want to hear pointless talk. She needed useful information.

“Host, this system doesn’t provide extra services. This service costs three hundred points. Current balance: zero.”

No money, no service. Damn system, you win.

Then Lin Yaoyao had an idea. “Then mark all the treasures within a hundred li on the map!”

“This……”

The system hesitated.

“What do you mean ‘this’? You’re a treasure-hunting system. This is your job. Keep stalling and I’ll smash you to pieces!”

Between threats and coaxing, the system gave in.

A map of the surrounding hundred li unfolded before Lin Yaoyao, covered with markers.

She was puzzled. Were there really that many treasures here?

Or was the damn system slacking off, trying to brush her off?

“Host, the red markers are spiritual fruits. Many demon beasts feed on them, and the fruit trees are plentiful in this area.”

No wonder.

“Then what are the black markers?”

She noticed that, besides the red ones, there were also many black markers, and those markers were moving.

“That is……”

The system stumbled, as if hiding something.

Lin Yaoyao called out, “Those are demon beasts, right?”

“Well… they can’t exactly be called demon beasts. They’re just animals that carry spiritual energy, so they still count as treasure!”

Explaining was just covering up. Damn system!

Following the map markers, Lin Yaoyao found the nearest hiding spot. Sure enough, there were two demon beasts in a cave, with wild chicken and rabbit pelts and bloodstains on the ground. They were clearly fierce beasts that ate flesh and blood.

Lin Yaoyao pulled back and sent a message to Lin Feiyuan and the other two via jade slip.

She had no idea whether she alone could take down these two beasts. But four people against two was practically a sure win.

A quarter hour later, she paid the price for that naive thought.

After receiving her message, Lin Feiyuan, Gu Mingchun, and Lu Yan’er rushed over, and the four of them discussed a plan.

They split into two groups. Lin Yaoyao and Gu Mingchun took one, Lin Feiyuan and Lu Yan’er took the other. Two against one was a fair fight.

“Demon beasts, die!”

Lin Feiyuan charged first. But instead of attacking by surprise, he shouted, alerting the two beasts. They vaulted lightly and dodged his sword.

Lin Yaoyao was speechless. With Third Brother Lin Feiyuan’s rash, impulsive personality, if the Lin family ever fell into his hands, they’d be cleaned out.

The two beasts didn’t seem flustered by the four newcomers. They smoothly retreated deeper into the cave.

At a turn, one went left, the other right. Lin Feiyuan and Lu Yan’er chased right, so Lin Yaoyao and Gu Mingchun had to follow the left one.

Gu Mingchun led the way, Lin Yaoyao right behind. The deeper they went, the dimmer the cave became. The temperature dropped sharply, and they could no longer sense the beast’s presence.

She had an uneasy feeling. This cave was strange.

“Senior Brother Gu, that beast is probably hiding. Let’s go back and rendezvous with Third Brother.”

Gu Mingchun sensed it too, so they stopped and returned to the cave entrance.

Lin Yaoyao messaged Lin Feiyuan and Lu Yan’er, but their jade slips went unanswered.

Had something gone wrong? Her anxiety grew.

Lin Feiyuan was reckless, and Lu Yan’er was loud and scatterbrained. Together they didn’t have one working brain between them. She shouldn’t have put those two in a group. But it was too late to say anything now.

Lin Yaoyao and Gu Mingchun turned back and headed down the right side of the cave, searching for the missing pair.

“Third Brother! Lu Yan’er, where are you?”

She kept shouting as they went. In a place with poor communication and dim light, this was the only method, however crude.

But a crude method didn’t mean it wouldn’t work.

From the darkness came a faint reply.

“Yao… yao!”

She followed the sound and quickly found Lin Feiyuan and Lu Yan’er lying on the ground.

Luckily they weren’t hurt, just on the ground, unable to move.

“Take this detox pill!”

Lin Yaoyao took the pill from Gu Mingchun and gave it to the two without a second thought.

People who rarely speak tend to weigh every word. Gu Mingchun was exactly that kind of person.

Along the way, he hadn’t said a single wasted word. He was far more reliable than Lin Yaoyao’s flaky Third Brother.

Sure enough, as soon as they swallowed the pill, Lin Feiyuan and Lu Yan’er could move again.

Lu Yan’er threw herself into Lin Yaoyao’s arms. “Wuwu, Yaoyao, I almost never got to see you again!”

Lin Feiyuan began pouring out his grievances, cursing how cunning those beasts were. They had led them deep into the cave, then vanished.

Before Lin Feiyuan could recover, another beast popped out from somewhere. Two beasts surrounded them and attacked. Lin Feiyuan and Lu Yan’er could hold their own, but they hadn’t expected to get taken down by these low-tier monsters.

“They couldn’t beat me, so they pulled a dirty trick. They puffed out some smoke, and we passed out. They ran off!”

Lin Yaoyao didn’t think the two beasts had left. She and Gu Mingchun had been watching the cave entrance the whole time and hadn’t seen any sign of them.

To test her guess, she snuck a look at the system map. The two beasts were nearby, deeper in the cave, three or four hundred meters away.

“Third Brother, those beasts didn’t flee. They have to be hiding deeper in the cave. Let’s keep going.”

Lu Yan’er didn’t want to go deeper. It was dark and eerie, with a chill creeping through the air.

“Yaoyao, it’s too dark in there. We’re in the open, they’re in hiding. It’ll be easy for them to ambush us.”

Lu Yan’er had a point. In the past, Lin Yaoyao wouldn’t have risked it. But now, with the system’s help, the map clearly marked where the two beasts were hiding.

Most importantly, this cave connected to the other beasts’ dens. Catch these two, and they could take out the rest one by one.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

I Heard I’m the Villainous, Hated Character in a Pampered Novel?

BLDramaFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested