Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 168 [Golden Armor] (6400 words)
Chapter 163 [Golden Armor] (6400 words)
The monster on night watch was located at the edge of the camp, sitting on a rock and looking around.

Just as he turned his head to look south, suddenly, a white figure burst forth from the snow under the rocks behind him!

A gleaming sword blade pierced his back, the tip stained with blood emerging from his chest. At the same time, just as the monster opened its mouth to scream in pain, a hand reached around from behind and slapped a clump of snow into its mouth, silencing its cry!

The monster fell backward, hot blood gushing from its mouth, melting the ice and snow inside, but it could only gasp for breath!

The white figure behind him carried the monster's corpse down, then slid down the edge of the rock like a raccoon, silently disappearing into the camp.

The nearest target was a monster sleeping not far from under a rock, lying on its back with an axe under its head, fast asleep.

A white figure floated to his side, slowly bent down, and suddenly covered the other's mouth with one hand. The monster was jolted awake, but before he could struggle, the sharp sword had already cut into his throat, severing his trachea!

The monster's body convulsed violently, but the white figure calmly pressed his mouth shut and used his knee to press against the monster's chest, preventing his struggles from making any greater noise!

the second!
There were six monsters in the camp, and two of them are already gone!
Of the remaining four monsters, two were huddled together, dozing. The leader monster lay under a rock by the fire, with another monster serving him sleeping nearby.

The white figure slowly straightened up. In the firelight, the upright posture of this white figure, judging from its body outline and limbs, clearly indicated that it was a human.

He crept toward the two monsters dozing together, a longsword in his hand.

He walked very slowly, each step lightly treading on the snow, trying not to make a sound. This posture made his walking seem as if he were slowing down.

Finally, he walked up to the two monsters, gently extending his sword. The tip of the sword was clearly aimed at the one on the left, with its target being the heart.

However, at this moment, an accident occurred!
A sudden gust of wind swept in, causing the flames to flicker violently. With the wind, a half-burnt branch from the fire was lifted up and landed right on the sleeping monster.

He suddenly opened his eyes and saw a sword tip already piercing right in front of him!
The monster let out a startled growl, instantly waking up its companions and the other two monsters in the camp!
puff!
The sword was still embedded in the monster's heart. After half of the sword was inside, the monster let out a scream and struggled wildly for a moment, but the white figure pressed against it instead!
A dagger had already slid down from his other hand and was stabbing at the monster on his right.

The monster roared and forcefully pushed its wounded companion away, while simultaneously grabbing an axe from the ground and hacking at it.

The white figure's dagger struck the axe blade with a crisp clang.

The monster roared and shook its arms.

At that moment, the monster that served the leader ran up behind the white figure and swung its axe at his back.

Helpless, the white figure could only step back, spin rapidly, and glide past the axe blade that came slashing down from behind, almost grazing it like a ghost.

At the same time, the wounded monster leader under the rock jumped up and roared at the white figure.

The leader drew a broadsword, and with a roar, a faint red light emanated from his entire body, even spreading to the blade.

With a slash, the white figure retreated swiftly, like the wind. But as the blade fell, a burst of red light erupted. The white figure raised his dagger to block, and then his dagger was instantly split in two by the red light, with one half of the blade flying away.

The red light fell, even splitting a rock next to him in two!
The white figure reacted very quickly, immediately throwing away the dagger and leaping towards the leader with a sword in hand!

He was in mid-air, gliding towards the leader monster like a large bird. The leader monster roared and retreated rapidly, its body almost touching the rock.

The white figure's sword fell, a vertical slash, as the monster leader raised his broadsword to block.

With a snap, the broadsword broke in two!

The monster leader cried out in pain, spitting out a mouthful of blood, but the red light on its body grew even stronger.

The sword continued to fall, striking the monster leader directly on the shoulder!
However, the red light emanating from the monster leader was strange. When the sword fell, it did not sever his shoulder, but instead got stuck in his shoulder bone!
The white figure also let out a low growl. He instantly switched to gripping the sword with both hands, lowering his arms, and attempting to slay the monster leader.

The monster leader didn't care about anything else. He grabbed the sword blade with both hands, his palms were cut and bleeding, but he still roared desperately!

boom!
Behind the white figure, two monsters charged forward madly. The monster serving the leader raised its axe and brought it down, but the white figure still held the sword hilt with both hands. It lightly leaped into the air and kicked the axe blade with its toe.

The monster cried out in pain, and the axe flew out of its hand. The white figure had already hooked its knee around the monster's neck, forcefully trapping the neck under its knee. With the force of its leg, the monster made a "crackling" sound, and with a snap, its neck broke!

But with a whooshing sound, the last remaining monster swept over, holding a burning torch.

The white figure finally had no choice but to loosen its grip, release its sword, and leap into the air onto a rock. It turned its head and looked down with anger and resentment.

The leader monster gripped the sword blade with both hands, staggered backward, then turned and ran, while the last monster frantically waved its torch.

Helpless, the white figure could only retreat and dodge again as the torches swept across the room.

at this time……

call out!
A whooshing sound!

The leader monster, with a long sword stuck in its shoulder, was fleeing in a sorry state when suddenly its body jolted violently!
A sword shot directly from the side, piercing his right neck and exiting through it!
The red light on the leader monster suddenly went out. He staggered forward two steps and collapsed to the ground. His body twitched a few times and then stopped moving.

Seeing its leader die, the last monster roared and hurled its torch at the white figure before turning and running away.

After he ran a few steps, the white figure behind him leaped up and landed next to the leader monster, pulled out the sword that was stuck in the monster's body, and turned to look at the last monster that had run more than ten steps.

He took a deep breath, raised his sword and pointed it at the monster, seemingly about to attack, but suddenly lowered the sword, made a gesture towards the woods, and pointed at the running monster.

call out!
Sure enough, an arrow flew from the woods and struck the monster directly in the back, piercing through its leather armor!
The monster ran forward a few steps due to inertia before collapsing to the ground.

The white figure turned around and looked towards the woods. Suddenly, it raised its left hand and gave a thumbs-up gesture towards the woods. Then it ran over, stomped on the struggling, panting monster that had been shot with an arrow, and plunged its sword into the monster's back.

Soon, the monster stopped moving.

chap!
The sword was drawn, and blood splattered down.

The white figure crouched on the ground, grabbed a handful of snow to wipe the blade of his sword, then reversed the hilt and held the sword in his hand—a gesture indicating no hostility. He looked towards the woods, took a deep breath, and called out, "Which fellow Daoist is helping me? If it's convenient, please come out and have a word!"

A moment later, in the woods, Chen Yan jumped down from a tree and landed on the ground with a thud. He then waved to the white figure in the distance.

Chen Yan had already slung the recurve bow behind his back... This was a gesture to show that he had no hostility towards the other party.

Although he carried the bow on his back, Chen Yan still held a long-handled axe in his hand as he slowly walked towards the camp.

When Chen Yan was about ten steps away from the white figure, he stopped and stood there.

Upon closer inspection, the white figure was wearing a long robe of unknown material, which appeared to be pure white and even seemed to shimmer with a snowy sheen.

No wonder he almost fooled Chen Yan by hiding in the snow wrapped in this coat.

The person was tall and slender, and wore a hood that covered his head and face, leaving only his eyes exposed.

As Chen Yan approached, the man slowly reached out and took off his hood, revealing short hair and a handsome face.

This man had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a straight nose, giving him a rather heroic air. However, he had a thin scar on his left cheek and rough skin, which added to his weathered appearance.

"So you're also a fellow Daoist of my human race. Thank you for your help earlier."

The man held the sword hilt upside down, with the blade pointing downwards towards the ground, and bowed respectfully to Chen Yan from a distance.

Chen Yan remained calm and also clasped his hands in a fist salute to the man.

"I am Jin Jia from the Shadow Guard Division of the Sendai War Department. May I ask your name, fellow Daoist?"

Chen Yan looked at the other party and slowly said, "Wang Chuyi, a rogue cultivator."

After staring at Chen Yan for a couple of seconds, Jin Jia frowned slightly and asked, "Fellow Daoist Wang, are you a rogue cultivator? How did a rogue cultivator end up here?"

As he spoke, he squinted at Chen Yan's attire and clothing, and chuckled, "Your clothes must have come from outside, right? Do you have friends in the Patrol Division, or friends in the Foreign Affairs Division who are in charge of material collection?"

Chen Yan simply smiled and remained silent in response to this question.

Seeing that Chen Yan did not answer, Jin Jia did not take it to heart and nodded, saying, "Alright, I won't ask any more questions. Fellow Daoist Wang helped me just now, were you hiding in the woods? It seems that you have been keeping an eye on this group of ferocious beasts for a long time."

Chen Yan nodded and replied, "I waited outside the camp for two hours, hoping they would fall asleep before making my move. But Fellow Daoist Jin's infiltration was too subtle; I didn't even notice you before."

Jin Jia sighed: "I've been watching them for days. I've already attacked them twice before, but I only managed to succeed today."

He then slowly said, "Of the spoils here, I'll only take what's on the leader; the rest are yours, how about it?"

"Okay!" Chen Yan readily agreed.

The two then began cleaning up the battlefield, and after a short while, the corpses of the five ferocious beast monsters were moved together and arranged in a row.

Chen Yan searched the monsters' bodies and found three small leather pouches, which were indeed filled with black crystals that were actively pulsating with vital energy.

The leader's body, however, was moved aside by the man in golden armor.

Instead of looting the leader monster's equipment, the golden-armored man took out a short knife, brandished it at the monster's corpse a couple of times, and then plunged it into the monster's chest, tearing open the flesh...

A moment later, this guy actually dug out the entire heart of the leader monster! Then, with a swift stroke, he cut it open and finally dug out a crystal the size of a fingernail.

The golden-armored man's hands were covered in blood, but his expression remained unchanged. He simply wiped his hands with snow and cleaned the crystal, which was the size of a fingernail, before carefully putting it into his pocket. Chen Yan watched this whole process with a clear expression, witnessing the man calmly disemboweling and ripping out the leader monster.

This guy is ruthless... Chen Yan remained silent.

As for the thing that this guy dug out of the heart of the ferocious beast chieftain, Chen Yan didn't ask any further questions.

After Jin Jia put away the crystal, he seemed a little more relaxed, no longer as murderous and tense as before.

He actually walked over to the fire, threw in a few more branches, poked at the flames to make them burn brighter, and then turned to look at Chen Yan: "Come and rest for a bit?"

“…Alright.” Chen Yan nodded.

Seeing that the golden-armored creature was actually rummaging through the supplies left behind by those ferocious beast-like monsters, seemingly trying to find some food, Chen Yan waved his hand and said, "Wait a moment."

Chen Yan ran back into the forest, took his backpack down from a tree, took out a packet of dried meat strips, tore one open, and handed it to Jin Jia.

Jin Jia didn't put on any airs; he took it, glanced at it, and then put it in his mouth and took a big bite.

The chewy, dried beef strips hit his mouth, and the salty, savory flavor made Jin Jia's eyes light up. Then, while taking a big bite of the beef, he said to Chen Yan, "Fellow Daoist, you are a rogue cultivator, yet you have ventured deep into the heart of the Beast Clan. Are you here to hunt for a bounty?"

A bounty for the hunt?
Chen Yan was somewhat puzzled, but his face remained expressionless. He simply sighed vaguely, "It's not easy for rogue cultivators to cultivate. If they don't take some risks, how can they earn the resources for cultivation?"

The golden-armored man even nodded: "Indeed, it's not easy being a rogue cultivator."

As he spoke, he actually took off his boots, stretched his feet close to the fire to warm them, and whispered, "After Sendai issued the 'Seven Divisions of the Ferocious Clan Bounty Order' a few years ago, countless rogue cultivators rushed into the territory of the Ferocious Clan to hunt and kill in exchange for Sendai's rewards. But this is the first time I've seen such a deep place."

The Seven Tribes of the Fierce Clan? A Bounty Order?

Chen Yan pondered these words for a moment, then slowly said, "I've actually been following these monsters for a few days now, and I encountered two corpses on the road before..."

After he recounted his experiences of encountering two corpses on the road, Jin Jia readily admitted, "I did it."

Jin Jia sighed: "The ferocious beast tribe in the mountains rarely goes out in small groups. I was lucky to encounter this group."

I followed them for several days, secretly lying in wait for an opportunity. I heard that something had happened in the mining area, and they were out hunting something, which was why a small team had gone out. Otherwise, I don't know how long I would have had to lie in wait outside the mining area.

As he spoke, he looked into Chen Yan's eyes and smiled, "That leader has awakened a special ability, making him much stronger than ordinary beastmen warriors. He's not easy to deal with."

Of course, if it were elsewhere, his newly awakened supernatural physique wouldn't be able to withstand a single sword strike from me.

However, here both internal and external energies are suppressed, and our cultivators' strength has been weakened by 99%, making it very difficult to deal with him.

I attacked them twice before I finally managed to seriously injure the leader.

Even better, I managed to kill one of their tamed pangolins. That pangolin had an incredibly keen sense of smell; if the wind was favorable, it could detect unusual scents from ten miles away. It's fortunate I killed it; otherwise, with the pangolin in hand, tonight's ambush wouldn't have been so successful.

Pangolin?
Chen Yan immediately recalled the carcass of the animal that was the size of a dog and had the head of a crocodile.

The golden-armored man's gaze fell on the recurve bow on Chen Yan's back, and he smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist, this bow looks quite interesting. Did you also get it from outside?"

Chen Yan felt a little nervous—the manufacturing process of his recurve bow looked very modern.

"No need to be nervous." Jin Jia smiled. "Although Sendai officially forbids these things from the outside world from circulating in the realm, in reality, many of our warriors secretly use them."

The original ban was issued a century ago and is now an outdated relic. It is only because those old-fashioned people who set the ban back then are unwilling to admit their mistake that they have stubbornly refused to abolish it.

But in reality, nobody cares about this kind of thing anymore.

As he spoke, he patted the sword at his waist: "To be honest, fellow Daoist, I also had someone buy this sword from outside. It's made of some kind of alloy steel, which is very hard and much stronger than the swords made by the blacksmiths in our realm."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief, deliberately exhaling and saying with a wry smile, "Thank you for being so frank, Fellow Daoist Jin. I thought you were going to investigate me."

"I'm from the Shadow Guard, I don't concern myself with these things." The man in golden armor waved his hand.

"Since you are a member of the Shadow Guard, you must have come here on some special mission, right?"

Chen Yan actually asked that question on purpose.

In such special circumstances, deliberately not asking any questions would only make one appear overly cautious and could arouse suspicion.

Jin Jia didn't mind Chen Yan asking the question, but shook his head and said, "I have a special mission, but I can't tell you the details. You must have been here for quite a while, Fellow Daoist. There's something I'd like to ask you about."

"You said."

The golden-armored man pointed and said, "Go in that direction, beyond this forest, there should be another forest village of the Ferocious Beast Clan. I wonder if you know of it?"

Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat; the golden armor was pointing in the direction of the village where the wooden bowl was.

"Yes, I know." Chen Yan said cautiously, "I once went far into the woods and sensed it from afar."

However, there were many ferocious beasts in the village, and they also kept hunting animals. I was alone and did not dare to approach them. I stayed far away and retreated, not daring to get too close. I only moved around on this side of the mountain ridge.

Occasionally, they could only try their luck, hoping to encounter one or two lone hunters from a village on the edge of the forest.

"Did you find anything?" Jin Jia asked with a smile.

"I've killed a few," Chen Yan nodded in reply.

"Fellow Daoist, you have extraordinary courage, so your skills must be quite remarkable as well." The golden-armored man smiled and said, "The bounty on the bounty order is two hundred coins for killing a ferocious beast. Fellow Daoist, you have made quite a haul this time."

The life of a ferocious beast is worth two hundred coins?
Chen Yan remembered this information, but he didn't know what kind of currency was used here in the realm, or what the unit of currency was.

He couldn't directly ask the golden-armored man. If he asked a few more questions and accidentally mentioned something that everyone in the realm knew but he didn't, it would inevitably arouse suspicion.

Chen Yan's biggest secret right now is that he came to the realm from the outside world!

Although the phenomenon of "escaping the realm" exists within the realm, it refers to people within the realm going to the outside world.

At least Chen Yan had never heard of anyone from the outside world being able to sneak into the realm.

If this is accidentally leaked, it could cause a lot of trouble.

·
In fact, when Chen Yan attacked the beast tribe's camp earlier, he had already made up his mind to shoot the monster with an arrow at the last moment.

By staying out of the way, one could avoid contact with the golden-armored figure and thus prevent the danger of revealing one's identity.

but……

Chen Yan thought about it more deeply.

He possessed a "thumb ring," a secret passage that allowed him to enter and exit the realm at any time.

Is it...

Will I never come to the realm again?
Or, in other words, if I ever come to the realm again, I will never have any contact with the native cultivators here.

Since we're going to come here eventually, we might as well avoid contact in the future...

So, wouldn't it be the best opportunity to meet the local cultivators of this realm tonight?

Contacting one person is less dangerous than contacting many people at once.

and……

Chen Yan still harbored a thought that was difficult to express openly.

In case of any accidental leaks, I am quite familiar with the terrain of this forest and mountain ridge. Even if I were to run away from a cultivator enemy, I would be able to escape!

Even... if I wanted to kill someone to silence them, killing one wouldn't be too difficult!
·
"Fellow Daoist Jin, why are you asking about the village of the ferocious beast tribe in that forest? Is your mission related to that village?" Chen Yan asked, feigning curiosity.

Jin Jia slowly said, "I came here on a confidential mission, but an acquaintance in the department asked me to do something. If it's convenient, I'd like to take the opportunity to visit that village."

One of our Shadow Guard's secret service units recently sent a spy into this area, who should be hiding in a nearby tribal village.

The liaison for that spy was intercepted and killed by a patrol of the fierce tribe at the border a few months ago, and we lost contact with that spy for a long time after that.

"If possible, I'll also take this opportunity to visit the village of the Beastmen in the forest to see if I can bring our spy back."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan's eyes flickered slightly, and he quickly lowered his head to pretend to rub his hands together to warm them by the fire.

This guy, could he be...?

That... Du Li?
·
(End of this chapter)