Chapter 17

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

The hunter had run far away, but seeing that Lin Xuan didn’t catch up, he slowed down and said while panting, “What kind of demonic beast was that? It’s so strange. A tortoise can’t have such a strong power. It can’t be a disguise, right?”

They had never heard of a demonic beast that could disguise itself.

“That’s unlikely. I’ve never heard anything related to it.”

His other companions, however, did not look too good. “No matter what, we didn’t complete our mission. We didn’t even manage to bring back the animals we hunted earlier.”

“Forget it. It’s already good enough that we can keep our lives. We need to go back and report the situation.”

They walked through the valley, surrounded by mountains. They were clearly very familiar with this place.

After walking such a long distance, aside from the beads of sweat on their foreheads, their breathing remained steady. The steep mountain road was like flat ground to them, with no difficulty at all.

Soon, a small town appeared before their eyes.

If Lin Xuan saw it, he would be shocked that there was such a town in the mountains. As mentioned before, the terrain of the coastal forest was complicated and covered a large area, but there were few people in it.

There were almost no traces of human survival in the area. The current performance indicated that this place was not simple. In the vast mountains, when did there appear a human gathering place, and it looked like it was not small.

Lin Xuan did not know that there were many unknown secrets in this world. For example, this group of people mostly could not be found in the city. They usually hid in the mountains and forests. Even if they did mix into the city, no one would notice anything unusual.

These people were ancient martial arts practitioners and more or less had the inheritance of ancient martial arts. It was just a matter of strength. They had their own set of rules and systems and thought that their destiny was extraordinary, so they did not have much contact with outsiders.

Most of them remained isolated from the world, and only a few were active outside. The reason why they were hunting animals now was because the leader of the jurisdiction region was about to celebrate his birthday.

However, Lin Xuan knew very little about ancient martial artists. After all, he was a social animal in his previous life, so he had no time to care about that. After the whole world was beastified, he had to run for his life every day, so he had no way of knowing.

“Why did you guys come back empty-handed?” The captain sized them up and saw that they had nothing in their hands. He frowned, looking dignified.

“Captain, please spare us. We couldn’t complete the mission, we’re really…”

Before one of them could finish his words, the wind from the captain’s palm came, wrapped in a powerful airflow, and hit the bodies of several people. Their faces turned pale, and blood flowed out of the corners of their mouths, but they did not dare to act rashly.

The captain in front of him was extremely young. He had a kind smile, but the ruthlessness in his eyes was obvious.

“I don’t want to listen to your nonsense. The leader’s birthday is around the corner. Are you trying to be sneaky?”

The hunters trembled when they heard this. They replied with trembling voices, “Captain, we’ve been wronged. You don’t know this, but we encountered a strange turtle-type demon beast. We couldn’t deal with it at all. Even the well-trained hounds that we had prepared were all wiped out. In panic, we managed to escape. However, all the prey we had hunted earlier was also…”

The team leader frowned slightly and looked at them suspiciously. As he released his aura, it was like a towering mountain was pressing on their shoulders. Their faces turned pale and they trembled in fear.

“Are you trying to trick me? You’re just making up excuses. What kind of strange turtle demon beast is this powerful? Do you know the consequences of lying to me?”

“What we said is true. Captain, you can tell at a glance that the turtle is really strange. The hounds attacked it, but they got heavily injured and fell to the ground. Even the arrows we shot broke.”

Seeing that they were speaking clearly and didn’t seem to be lying, the team leader gradually believed them, but he still had one doubt.

What kind of turtle could actually have such great ability? One must know that even if it was a mutated demonic beast, turtles were publicly acknowledged to be weak in combat. How could it possibly have such strength?

“Take me to see the situation. If you lied to me, you know what would happen…”

Even though they didn’t know how strong their leader was, he was still a publicly acknowledged powerhouse. The few of them were relieved and brought their leader to the place where they met Lin Xuan.

They went back the way they came and saw the animal corpses still piled up on the spot. Lin Xuan could not move them because they had been dead for too long and he could not devour them, so they naturally remained in place.

It gave off a stinky smell from far away, and there were flies flying around it.

When they arrived, the vultures and hyenas were already feasting on the meat. There were bite marks all over the bones, and there was barely any flesh left. It must have been eaten by animals that smelled it.

Only then did the captain believe what they had said, and his expression revealed a rare surprise.

“We’ve already completed our mission and were only missing a few turtles. We wanted to capture them, but we didn’t expect things to turn out like this.”

The captain was instantly enraged. “This is preposterous! A mere turtle-type demonic beast dares to be so impudent. The leader’s birthday is just around the corner, yet you’ve spoiled my plans.”

When his subordinates heard this, they rolled their eyes and immediately came up with a plan.

“Captain, don’t be angry. This turtle seems to be quite mysterious. If we capture it and offer it to our leader, it might be a great merit. Moreover, turtles are known for their long lifespans. If it’s a mutated demonic beast, its lifespan will be longer, and it will be good for us.”

The captain nodded, thinking that what he said made sense. “It’s as you said…”

After he finished speaking, his gaze fell on the few people. “I’ll give you a chance to make up for your crimes. You’ve seen that turtle before. Join the team and catch it as soon as possible. Remember, it has to be alive!”