During the treatment, the mother and daughter introduced themselves as Wu Ya and her daughter, Wu Xin. They explained that they hailed from a small settlement nestled just beyond the denser thickets of the forest.
After finishing the bandages, Feng Luotian offered a small, reassuring nod. "The herbal essence will close the skin quickly. Your wound should be entirely healed within two days, Aunt Wu."
"Thank you, Benefactor. We truly don't know how we could ever repay you for such kindness," Wu Ya said, a helpless, weary smile touching her lips. Her gratitude was genuine, yet it carried a heavy layer of uncertainty.
"It's alright. You don't owe me anything, but I do have one question," Feng Luotian said, his gaze steady.
Wu Ya felt a familiar, cynical weight settle in her chest. She sighed internally, her mind already leaping to a dark conclusion. Of course. After hearing that bandit mention a 'goal,' he must want to know what treasure we're hiding that could attract such scum. In the end, all men are driven by the same greed, aren't they? she thought bitterly.
Despite the flash of disdain, she felt the crushing obligation of her life being saved. She nodded stiffly. "You want to ask what they're hunting for in our village, right, Benefactor?" she said, her voice dropping into a flatter, colder register that betrayed her sudden lack of warmth.
"Why would I care about that?" Feng Luotian replied, raising a brow in genuine confusion. "I just want to know if you happen to know where their hideout is."
"What?" Wu Ya blinked. His question caught her completely off guard.
"You don't know where they've set up camp, Aunt Wu?" he asked again, his tone patient but inquisitive, devoid of the avarice she had expected.
For a moment, she could only stare at him. She had expected an interrogation about the treasure, not a question about the bandits' hideout.
Finally, after a long, stunned pause, she found her voice. "I… I do know where they are. They've taken over an old mining outpost to the north. But… what are you planning to do, Benefactor?"
"Nothing serious," he said, his lips curling into a playful, almost boyish smile that didn't quite reach the cold depth of his eyes. "I just thought I'd pay them a visit."
"No, you can't go there, Big Brother!!"
A small but remarkably firm voice piped up from behind Wu Ya's skirts. Wu Xin stepped forward, her tiny face scrunched with a mixture of adoration and intense worry.
"Xin'er!" Wu Ya scolded, her voice sharp with maternal reflex as she turned toward the girl. "Forgive her, Benefactor. My daughter hasn't had many chances to interact with anyone beyond our borders. She... she is not very disciplined when she is frightened."
"It's fine, Aunt Wu." Feng Luotian waved away her apology and crouched to meet Wu Xin's eyes. His expression softened. "Why can't I go there, Little Girl?"
"Because they are all bad guys, and they are all too strong!!" Wu Xin declared, her small voice ringing with the absolute, unshakeable conviction that only a child can muster.
Feng Luotian chuckled and gently stroked her hair. "You're stronger than them in one way, you know. You stood in front of your mother to protect her, even when you knew you couldn't win. I admire that."
Wu Xin's cheeks flushed a deep crimson, her eyes widening as she processed the praise from the "Lightning Big Brother."
But before she could bask in the moment, Luotian's fingers moved with playful speed. He pinched both of her cheeks, stretching them out gently until she began to squirm in muffled protest.
"And how do you know I am not strong enough to handle a few vultures, hmm?" he teased, his tone light and brimming with a mischievous energy.
"Oww! That hurts, Big Brother!" Wu Xin exclaimed, wriggling free from his grasp with a huff. She glared up at him, puffing her cheeks out like a disgruntled squirrel before confidently declaring, "Because I have seen their boss before! He is scary!"
"Oh?" Feng Luotian arched a brow, his tactical interest piqued. "What is he like? How strong do you think he is?"
"He is super strong! No one in the village can even stand near him. If not for Big Sister Tu, that bad guy would have already killed everyone!"
Feng Luotian glanced toward Wu Ya. Wu Xin's warning told him the boss was dangerous, but he needed a clearer measure of the man's strength.
Wu Ya let out a long, weary sigh and stepped forward to elaborate. "The leader of that troupe is an Eight Fangs Fighter. There is also another—likely his vice-leader—who is at the Seven Fangs level. They are... they are beyond our ability to resist."
"Mhm." Feng Luotian nodded slowly, rubbing his chin as he processed the numbers.
An Eight Fangs Fighter, a Seven Fangs subordinate, and likely an entire troupe of battle-hardened bandits. Luotian's mind immediately began calculating the odds. In a strictly one-on-one duel, he could likely bridge the gap to an Eight Fangs opponent using his superior Skill Proficiency and the Last Dance Curse. But with a Seven Fangs vice-leader and a small army of reinforcements? Victory leaned toward the impossible.
Luotian considered their options. "And who is this Big Sister Tu?"
"I believe she hails from the Vermilion Kingdom," Wu Ya replied, her voice carrying a hint of reverent speculation. "I managed to spot a sigil unique to that royal territory engraved on her spatial bag. She has been our guardian shadow—ambushing the Vulture hideout every time their boss leaves to target our village."
"Your village and their nest must be quite close, then," Feng Luotian remarked. For someone to effectively strike the base the moment the leader mobilized, they would need either god-like speed or a very short distance to travel.
"No, it's about ten kilometers apart!" Wu Xin interjected, her chest puffing out with confident pride.
Feng Luotian turned to the young girl, his intrigue deepening. "Ten kilometers? Then how could this Big Sister Tu ambush their base that quickly without being intercepted?"
Wu Xin giggled, her eyes sparkling with a childish, infectious amusement at his confusion. "That's easy, Big Brother! She can fly."
"!!"
Feng Luotian's eyes widened, a rare ripple of genuine shock crossing his features before he regained his composure. He turned back to Wu Ya, his voice dropping into a serious register. "Is she a Wing Realm Master?"
The moment the question left his lips, a twinge of embarrassment colored his thoughts. If she were truly a Wing Realm expert, she wouldn't be playing cat-and-mouse with mere bandits. A single breath from a Wing Realm master would turn an Eight Fangs fighter into ash.
Noticing his uncharacteristic fluster, Wu Ya chuckled softly. "No, no, Benefactor. She is currently at the Six Fangs level."
"Hmm?" Feng Luotian's eyebrows furrowed, the mystery deepening. "How old is she, then?" If Wu Xin called her "Big Sister," she had to be a teenager or perhaps close to his own physical age.
Wu Ya giggled again, clearly enjoying the surprise of their savior. "I actually believe she is younger than you, Benefactor. Perhaps twelve or thirteen."
"Interesting!" Feng Luotian exclaimed, his intrigue now fully ignited. "Someone under fourteen years old, already at Six Fangs, and capable of flight? She is more than talented."
He paced a few steps, his mind racing through the archives of his memory.
Innate Skills or bloodline traits that granted flight within the Fang Realm were exceedingly rare, their occurrences so few they could be counted on one hand across the entire continent.
Even the direct descendants of dragons or soaring phoenixes typically couldn't achieve true flight until reaching the Wing Realm. As someone who carried the phoenix bloodline himself, Luotian knew better than anyone that defying gravity in the Fang Realm was a feat that bordered on the divine.
"Mother, let's take him back to our village! I think he's desperate to meet Big Sister Tu," Wu Xin proposed, a teasing, mischievous glint dancing in her eyes as she looked up at Feng Luotian.
"That sounds sensible," Wu Ya agreed with a nod. "You should learn more about the situation before going to their hideout, Benefactor."
Feng Luotian considered her words with the detached air of a strategist. He noticed the shift in her demeanor; the icy wall of suspicion she had erected earlier was melting. Since their conversation began, Luotian had neither pried into the mysterious item the bandits coveted nor expressed any interest in the village's internal affairs for personal gain. His silence on those matters had done more to earn her trust than any oath of honor could have.
"Are you sure it's alright for an outsider to visit?" Feng Luotian asked cautiously. "I don't want to disturb your village."
"It'll be perfectly fine as long as we vouch for you!" Wu Xin declared with a cheerful, toothy grin. Not waiting for a formal acceptance, she reached out and snatched his hand, her small fingers tugging him forward with a surprising amount of maternal bossiness.
"And what is this home of yours called, Little Xin?" he asked, allowing his much larger frame to be led along the winding, moss-covered trail.
"It's called Raven. Raven Village!" Wu Xin replied, her chest swelling with a fierce, local pride.
"Raven Village?" Feng Luotian echoed, the name vibrating through his mind like a low-frequency bell.
* * *
Two hours later, they reached the settlement.
Although the distance from the skirmish site wasn't vast, the group had maintained a leisurely pace to accommodate the wounded Wu Ya and the small steps of Wu Xin. The village that finally emerged from the treeline was painfully modest, consisting of no more than twenty cramped huts fashioned from sun-dried mud and brittle straw.
Feng Luotian looked at the structures with a critical eye; a single swipe from his former training partner, the Six Fangs Blade Tail Silver Lion, would have been enough to obliterate this entire community in a matter of seconds. And yet, despite being surrounded by thousands of hungry monsters, these people were somehow enduring.
As Luotian crossed the perimeter, Bloodline Sensing revealed a shared lineage among the villagers. He recognized it in Wu Ya, Wu Xin, and the elders watching from their doorways:
///// Underworld Raven Bloodline
///// [Guide of Soul]: Allows the user to deport a soul to the underworld. A successful attempt grants the user a fragment of the soul's remnant power.
A cold, knowing look settled into Feng Luotian's eyes. For the vast majority of lower-planet cultivators, the Underworld was a bedtime story—a parallel dimension dismissed as myth because no living soul could cross its threshold and return to tell the tale. Even these villagers, whose very blood sang with the frequency of that dark realm, likely lived their lives in ignorance of its reality.
But for Feng Luotian, the Underworld was not a legend. It was his backyard. It was the sovereign domain of the Demon God Clan, the empire ruled by his father.
In the grand design of the cosmos, souls deported via the Guide of Soul Ability didn't simply vanish; they transformed into Demons—spectral soldiers drafted into the eternal ranks of the Demon God Clan. Whether they were human or monster souls, they were the raw material that fueled his father's undying army.
Luotian sighed, his jaw tightening. These people work for my clan, yet look how they live. What has Father been doing to allow this?
By ancient decree, any branch of Underworld workers was supposed to be a fortress. They were to be supplied with high-tier resources, fortified by defensive arrays, and equipped with specialized Skill tomes to ensure their cultivation reached the levels necessary to harvest more powerful souls. They were the harvesters of the empire, meant to be cherished and protected.
But the reality before him was an insult. No protection. No resources. Not even a stable roof. These people had been abandoned to fend for themselves against "Fang Realm trash"—creatures so insignificant that the weakest Demon God Clan guard wouldn't even deign to step on them.
The clan's most basic arrays could stop even a Wing Realm Master from entering, he thought bitterly. Yet these people are at the mercy of common bandits. Why has their protection been severed?
The weight of the injustice filled Feng Luotian with a cold, unshakable sense of responsibility. This wasn't just a random act of heroism anymore. These people were his subjects, his responsibility, and their suffering was a direct stain on his family's honor. He didn't just want to kill the bandits now; he wanted to know who had dared to cut off Raven Village from the grace of the Underworld.