There were many reasons why this battle was won so easily.
First, the power of a Martial Soul Fusion Skill is beyond doubt.
Second, their white and yellow spirit rings, along with the fact that they were operating as shady poachers, indirectly suggested that their combat strength was not particularly high.
Third, they were unprepared; Yu Yan's terrifying combat power, which instantly killed one person, threw them into disarray. Had they joined forces or truly fought for their lives, the outcome might still have been uncertain.
Once his mind relaxed, a pale-faced Yu Yan lay directly on the ground, staring at the azure sky to clear his head.
Yu Yan, who had never killed anyone before, had killed three people in under a minute. His feelings after killing for the first time were complex.
He knew he had to kill them, or else they would have been the ones to die, yet he still felt some emotional turbulence from the act of killing.
Yu Yan didn't feel nauseous or like vomiting; perhaps it was because he was used to seeing fish, crabs, and chickens being slaughtered in his daily life.
Another reason for Yu Yan's pale face was the excessive consumption of spirit power; he was exhausted—it was still a matter of lacking endurance.
"Yu Yan, what's wrong?"
Seeing Yu Yan lying on the ground with a pale face, Xiao Wu, panicked by concern, quickly knelt by his side to check on his condition.
"I'm fine. Just like last night, I overexerted my spirit power. I'll be okay after a short rest."
Meeting Xiao Wu's worried gaze, Yu Yan explained his situation. Since those people hadn't even gotten close to him, how could anything be wrong?
While answering Xiao Wu's question, Yu Yan also looked her over to confirm that she hadn't been injured in the battle either.
Taking a deep breath, Yu Yan sat cross-legged and began absorbing the surrounding spirit power to fill his empty body.
Half an hour later, having fully recovered his spirit power, Yu Yan opened his eyes to see Xiao Wu rummaging through their luggage and interrogating the obese middle-aged man.
"Xiao Wu, you've already handled it?"
Yu Yan had intended to do these things himself after recovering his spirit power, but to his surprise, Xiao Wu had already taken care of everything by the time he opened his eyes.
"I had nothing else to do, so I interrogated this guy. He's a total coward; after a few punches from me, he told me everything I asked."
As she spoke, Xiao Wu waved her delicate pink fist, which didn't look intimidating at all.
"So, what did you find out?"
When Yu Yan asked this, Xiao Wu excitedly shared the information she had extracted. Her account was a bit disorganized, but Yu Yan didn't mind and listened intently.
The masked leader, the sturdy young man, and the obese middle-aged man were a gang. They were trespassers who had roamed this Soul Hunting Forest for years, leading people in secretly to obtain spirit rings for a bit of hard-earned money.
The old man had come from elsewhere and was the one who initiated the poaching of the Spirit Cat. The Spirit Cat was to be sold in Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire. A rare specimen with the 'Black Clouds Stepping on Snow' coloration could sell for 130,000 gold coins.
"This little fellow can sell for 130,000 gold coins?"
Yu Yan looked at the kitten in Xiao Wu's arms, his eyes filled with shock.
"I don't know if it's true or not, but that's what the Fatty said."
The Spirit Cat in Xiao Wu's arms had not yet woken up. As she spoke, she gently stroked its soft fur.
"I don't understand the World of the rich."
Although the common Spirit Beasts of the continent were described as having rare and perfect Spirit Cats that were quite valuable, it never said they were *this* valuable.
In Yu Yan's estimation, an ornamental Spirit Beast like a Spirit Cat would be top-tier if it sold for a few thousand or ten thousand gold coins.
He hadn't expected them to casually mention 130,000 gold coins.
After learning about the Spirit Cat, Yu Yan asked again, "Besides the Spirit Cat, is there any other information?"
"Yes, yes, there's some good news." Xiao Wu continued her report: "They have quite a lot of gold coins on them."
"That is indeed good news. Exactly how many?"
At the mention of gold coins, Yu Yan's eyes lit up. He was about to reach Vast Sea City to buy the Whale Dragon and was in desperate need of gold coins.
While it was true the Spirit Cat could sell for 130,000 gold coins, the problem was that Yu Yan had no connections; he couldn't sell it off anytime soon.
The gold coins Xiao Wu mentioned were ready cash that could be used immediately.
"The three of them had over five thousand gold coins in total and one bearer passbook. They only carried about a hundred gold coins on them; the rest is in the passbook from the Qian Clan Bank. This bearer passbook has three thousand gold coins in it."
"The old man has five bearer passbooks on him, but I'm not sure how many gold coins are inside. Oh, and the bearer passbook those three had was given to them by the old man as a deposit for their help."
Xiao Wu took several passbooks out of the organized bundle and placed them in front of Yu Yan.
bearer passbooks were a special product launched by the Qian Clan Bank, intended for certain special groups and not released to the general public.
The Qian Clan Bank belonged to the Qian Family, one of the seven families that jointly operated the Great Spirit Arena. Most of the money Yu Yan and Xiao Wu won was deposited in this bank.
"This is quite a haul. We won't be short of gold coins to spend once we get to Vast Sea City."
Looking at the hundred or so gold coins and the six bearer passbooks spread before him, Yu Yan, suddenly wealthy, had a very direct realization of the saying 'killing and arson bring a golden belt.'
"There's also a strange map in the old man's backpack. Do you want to take a look?"
While Yu Yan was re-planning their arrival in Vast Sea City, Xiao Wu produced an ancient-looking parchment map and placed it before him. She couldn't understand it and hoped Yu Yan could make something of it.
"A map?"
Yu Yan looked at the parchment map. Having weathered the passage of time, the map had become very faint, and many parts were illegible.
After careful identification, Yu Yan noticed that the location depicted on the map seemed to be the Extreme North Land.
He made this judgment because he saw the uniquely shaped Mad Axe Mountain Range on the map, which was located in the Extreme North Land in the northern part of the continent.
With this judgment, he could make reasonable inferences about the rest of the parchment map based on the Mad Axe Mountain Range.
There were three red crosses on the map: one in the Mad Axe Mountain Range, one in the Ice God Mountain Range, and one in an open space on the Extreme North Plateau.
There were text labels next to each red cross, but unfortunately, Yu Yan couldn't recognize the script at all. The style of the writing on the parchment was quite ancient and very different from modern script.
Unable to discern anything else, Yu Yan shared his conclusions with Xiao Wu and put the parchment map into his bag, planning to study it carefully when he had time in the future.
After putting everything away and cremating the bodies of the four deceased men to bury them in the ground, Yu Yan set off again for Vast Sea City, carrying two bags full of loot, while Xiao Wu carried the Spirit Cat worth 130,000 gold coins.