Chapter 14: Crisis, Sudden Death
A Mercenary Group naturally had its own structure.
The attack system Spirit Master, the team's tank, Wu Qianming, a Spirit Master with the Adamantine Violent Bear Spirit, who was short, stocky, and honest, walked at the very front.
Ever since he almost died from being sprayed with poison through his open mouth last time, he now kept his lips tightly sealed every time he entered the forest, fearing a repeat.
Beside him was the Mercenary Group leader, Tian Wenlong, also an attack system Spirit Master. His Long-Tusked Elephant Spirit, with its thick hide, was also excellent at clearing paths.
The only female in the team, the agility-attack system Spirit Grandmaster Zhu Qiaoqiao, was on the left.
She was gentle with others and took good care of Zhao Liuyun.
On the right was Bai Feng, an agility-attack system Spirit Master with the Water-Treading Deer Spirit. He seemed weak and easily bullied, but his pair of antlers gleamed with cold light, and their charge was astonishingly powerful.
The tall and thin Fang Rui, whose Spirit was the Azure Gale Tiger and who had almost been punished for falling asleep while on night watch, was the free man.
He was between attack and agility-attack, ready to support all sides at any time.
Walking at the very back was the attack system Spirit Grandmaster Wu Xu, who looked like a savage and whose Spirit was the Red-Haired Gorilla.
He was the rear guard.
Ye Ye, a young man whose Spirit was the White-Headed Eagle, couldn't fly yet, but his First Spirit Ability, Eagle Eye, gave him exceptional eyesight. He would usually climb trees to scout, overseeing the movements in the forest.
Zhao Liuyun, as the strategist and control system Spirit Master, naturally stayed in the center of the team, well-protected. He only needed to calmly issue commands and then choose the right moment to release his Spirit Abilities.
This was an extremely efficient team composition.
The group slowly delved deeper into the Soul Hunting Forest, beginning their search for suitable Spirit Beasts.
The Moon Secluded Epiphyllum was a plant-type Tool Spirit. Logically, the most suitable would be a plant-type mental system Spirit Beast.
Plant-type Spirit Beasts were not uncommon in the forest, but most of them acted on instinct.
If one only sought attributes inherent to plants, such as toughness, toxins, pollen, or vitality, it would be fine.
But mental force... without ten thousand years of cultivation, plant-type Spirit Beasts found it difficult to nurture a sufficiently powerful soul like animal-type Spirit Beasts.
This was an innate deficiency!
Even now, with relatively abundant Spirit Beast resources, Spirit Beasts with strong mental force were still rare.
Not to mention plant-type Spirit Beasts with strong mental force... Zhao Liuyun remembered that the Demonic Eye Demon Tree once nurtured the Fierce Beast, Myriad Demon King.
However, that was entirely due to the power of the Immortal Herb, which qualitatively improved its physique, attributes, and potential.
Essentially, the Demonic Eye Demon Tree was still just a relatively rare high-level plant-type Spirit Beast, not a top-tier one.
It also possessed the defect common to plant-type Spirit Beasts: difficulty in nurturing a soul and innate weakness.
Although mental force was its basic attribute, its early methods primarily involved toxins, and it only became truly powerful after at least ten thousand years of cultivation.
Zhao Liuyun didn't demand the most perfect Spirit Beast; he only hoped to encounter a relatively suitable one.
As long as the mechanism was clever, he could make up for the numerical values himself.
This was different from how Blue Silver Grass would inherit the toughness of animal-type Spirit Beasts at a discount.
mental force was a fundamental attribute derived from the soul; all sentient beings were connected through it!
The Moon Secluded Epiphyllum was extremely beautiful. Although it had never appeared in the Spirit Master's world, its ethereal and transcendent appearance indicated that it was a top-tier or high-level Spirit itself.
Zhao Liuyun didn't hope for Spirit evolution; he feared that even an Immortal Herb couldn't make it evolve.
He only sought to improve his talent, to accelerate the speed at which the 'Spirit Master' gained experience, and then, with the power of the spirit ring, to compensate for the relative weakness of his physical body!
...The group searched the Soul Hunting Forest for three days.
They encountered many Spirit Beasts, but only one mental system one: a Phantasm Spirit Bird.
Its age was around seven hundred years, exactly what Zhao Liuyunneeded.
But the bird flew high in the sky, a height Zhao Liuyun couldn't reach.
They also didn't know the location of its nest. To guard against hidden dangers in the forest, the group could only slowly grope forward in the general direction... "Damn it, this feathered beast flies too fast! Where did it disappear to?"
The one cursing was Ye Ye, the scout who often had to climb trees to find observation points.
His tone carried undisguised weariness.
When there was no combat, he was the most exhausted.
He had to frequently go up and down, and also constantly guard against potential dangers lurking among the branches.
"How about we rest for a bit?" Zhu Qiaoqiao, the Variegated Leopard Spirit Master, softly suggested, her voice gentle.
Tian Wenlong wiped the sweat from his brow and nodded in agreement:
"Spirit Beasts with strong mental force are hard to find. Everyone, let's eat something and catch our breath first."
"Okay!"
"Rest, rest~"
The group checked their surroundings and found a relatively clean clearing to take a temporary break.
The terrain in the Spirit Beast forest was undulating and difficult to traverse. Not just the scout Ye Ye, everyone was tired from walking.
A rest would help them recover.
To avoid being ambushed by a Spirit Beast that might suddenly appear from nowhere.
Among the experiences Tian Wenlong shared with Zhao Liuyun, many Mercenary Groups had fallen to ambushes after becoming exhausted and their combat strength significantly diminished.
Zhao Liuyun also felt tired, but with a gentle tremor of his spirit power, his fatigue dissipated faster than others'.
He sat on a large tree root.
He rehydrated and ate some dry rations.
"Thank you all for your trouble." Zhao Liuyun released his Spirit, and a faint floral fragrance permeated the air, soothing everyone's slightly irritable emotions.
Zhu Qiaoqiao covered her mouth and smiled: "No trouble at all, this is nothing!"
Wu Xu, with his bushy Red-Haired Gorilla Spirit, took a big bite of dried meat and agreed heartily, saying, "What's this little bit of tiredness? The last time, searching for six or seven days, that was truly torturous."
"Yes, yes, why is Liuyun still being so polite with us?" Bai Feng, the Water-Treading Deer Spirit Master, was timid by nature and usually just echoed others, never speaking up on his own.
"Liuyun, I'm the most tired, my eyes are almost blurry." Ye Ye plopped down beside him, rubbing his aching eyes and complaining half-jokingly.
He joked: "When we go back this time, you really have to treat me to a good meal."
"Eat, everyone eat. When we go back, after we finish Uncle Tian's treat, I'll treat you again—!"
Zhao Liuyun laughed heartily at his words, readily agreeing.
But before he could finish, his body suddenly tensed, and a bone-chilling coldness crept up his spine.
"Something's wrong!"
He abruptly stood up, his Spirit appearing in his hand, entering a state of alert.
The keen perception granted by [Acute] fully awakened at this moment.
[Combat Instinct] was triggered!
A dangerous aura spread like a spiderweb, yet its source couldn't be discerned.
"Danger?" The tank, Wu Qianming, suddenly leaped up, his Adamantine Violent Bear possessed, his beast eyes wide with fury.
"What happened?"
The tall and thin Fang Rui hadn't been resting; he was on alert.
The moment Zhao Liuyun spoke, he immediately had his Spirit possess him.
"I feel danger, but I can't pinpoint its location." These words made everyone frown.
"I'll go scout in the trees." Without another word, Ye Ye agilely leaped onto a tree like a monkey.
"This place is not safe to stay," Zhao Liuyun said in a deep voice.
Tian Wenlong immediately made a decision:
"Alright, once Eagle Cub returns, we will—!"
"Hoo, hoho..."
A strange gasping sound came from above their heads, hoarse and intermittent.
This sound was all too familiar to the Spirit Hunting Mercenaries—
It was the desperate sound of gasping as blood poured into the windpipe when the throat was pierced by a sharp blade.
The group looked up in horror.
They saw a sharp, black-and-red gradient spider leg pierce Ye Ye's neck like a spear, pinning him firmly to the tree trunk.
Blood trickled down the tree bark, and life extinguished in an instant.
"Brother Ye!"
Ye Ye was straightforward and not good at socializing, always telling cold jokes that no one responded to.
Within the Mercenary Group, only Zhao Liuyun would occasionally humor him with a laugh.
"Eagle Cub!"
"Little Ye!"