The carriage was trekking through the mountains.
Zhuang Hao stepped out beside Yi Fan and Mu Ting Xuan who were driving the carriage.
Yi Fan looked at Zhuang Hao, who had suddenly appeared, and asked, "Young Master Zhuang, what's the matter?"
"There's no need to continue moving forward." Zhuang Hao said.
"Why?" Yi Fan asked, puzzled.
Zhuang Hao frowned and said, "There's something wrong with this mountain, we've been driving around in circles here for the past two hours."
Yi Fan froze for a moment and said, "Are you sure?"
"There's no way I'm mistaken." Zhuang Hao said.
Yi Fan looked at Zhuang Hao and said, "Young Master Zhuang, are you implying that there's someone here who's playing a trick on us?"
Zhuang Hao nodded and said, "It could be the work of an illusory fox [1]." Their country had many enemies, there were probably some people who didn't want Yuan Country to form a relationship with the Business Alliance, so they��re trying to prevent them from going to treat Feng Yuan's illness.
Yi Fan asked doubtfully, "Really?"
Chen Yuan joined them and said, "Zhuang Hao can't be wrong, A-Hao is a golden beast tamer, his eyes are outstanding."
Yi Fan: Zhuang Hao had interacted with Qi Shaorong for so long, yet he couldn't tell that the Ghost Doctor was actually Qi Shaorong. Looking at it this way, Zhuang Hao's eyes really weren't that impressive.
Zhuang Hao waved his staff, and a huge flash of lightning struck down on a tree in the middle of the forest. The scene in front of Yi Fan and the others immediately changed.
Yi Fan frowned and said with some surprise, "So someone really was playing a trick on us."
After the illusion was broken, the figures of a man and a woman appeared.
The man was built sturdily, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, looking very simple and honest.
On the other side, the woman was wearing a cool, light outfit, with large amounts of her legs and breasts exposed, looking enchanting. The two were dressed very differently, together they looked like a beauty and a beast.
A demon fox with five tails stood beside the woman, languidly swinging its tails.
"Sister, did we get the wrong people? That person said that Qi Shaorong and his group are all handsome guys!" The man scratched his head and continued to mutter confusedly, "These guys are really too ugly."
The woman nodded her head, deep in though, and said glumly, "They're more than just ugly! Tragic, how tragic, just what happened to their looks!"
The woman looked at Zhuang Hao and Yi Fan with disgust, then her gaze fell on Chen Yuan and she said, "Compared to them, this guy's looks actually aren't too bad."
Chen Yuan looked at Zhuang Hao and Yi Fan, and thought to himself: Compared to Zhuang Hao and Yi Fan, he's actually not that bad? Chen Yuan's self-confidence, which had continuously suffered blow after blow, to the point where it had almost disappeared, finally came back to him a little.
The man nodded and said, "Right! Sister, didn't you even want to take Zhuang Hao back with you to be your husband? These people's appearances are really too bad."
Yi Fan turned his head, blinked a couple times at Zhuang Hao, and said in a low voice, "Young Master Zhuang Hao, you're so famous! Even these mountain bandits have heard of you! However, they seem to dislike you."
Zhuang Hao: "…"
Qi Shaorong walked out from the carriage, yawning, and said, "What's the matter? Why aren't we moving anymore."
"Sister, this little white face is handsome, he's probably Zhuang Hao." The man said excitedly.
Qi Shaorong heard these words and looked at the big oaf who was full of excitement.
The woman frowned and looked at Qi Shaorong, saying, "It doesn't seem like he's Zhuang Hao! It's said that Zhuang Hao has a very ascetic appearance, this guy looks flirty and way too coquettish."
Qi Shaorong: "…" What's wrong with this woman's eyes?! This wretched woman actually said that he looked coquettish, how was he coquettish? Also! Zhuang Hao actually has an ascetic appearance? Zhuang Hao, that guy's caused so many rotten love affairs before, how was he ascetic!
"Hey, are you guys from Yuan Country?" The big oaf asked casually.
"What does it matter if we're from there or not?" Qi Shaorong asked lazily, waving his fan.
"Right, there's no need for you guys to continue on your journey anymore, we were given 200,000 gold coins to block you here." The big oaf said carelessly.
Qi Shaorong: "…" The requirements for becoming a bandit in this realm was too low, even an idiot like this guy can come out here to try and rob them.
"Which one of you here is Zhuang Hao!" The big oaf asked.
Qi Shaorong rolled his eyes and shook his fan, saying, "Ah! Actually, we're not from Yuan Country, we're businessmen who are simply passing by. You're blocking the wrong people, this was only a chance encounter. It's better to make friends than enemies, how about you two just let us go this time."
The man widened his eyes, scratched his head, and looked over at the female practitioner next to him, saying, "Sister, we got the wrong people, what should we do!"
Qi Shaorong froze for a moment and though: It was actually so easy to deceive him, he'd originally thought it would be more difficult.
The woman hit the man's cheek with a punch, and said, "You idiot, he's lying to you."
"But…" The big oaf was glared at by the cold and aloof woman, and immediately quieted down.
"You are Qi Shaorong." The female practitioner asked Qi Shaorong.
Qi Shaorong couldn't help but feel a little surprised and thought: Although the man was stupid, this woman's reaction was pretty quick!
"Hey, you all changed your appearances, right? I've inquired about it before, Qi Shaorong is a master of disguise, so you've all probably put on a disguise. Speaking of, which one of you is Zhuang Hao!" The woman asked.
Qi Shaorong shook his fan and said, "Actually, I'm Zhuang Hao."
"It's you?! Zhuang Hao actually has this kind of appearance?" The woman said.
Qi Shaorong: "…" This woman really has no vision, he's clearly very handsome.
"Are you all willing to stay here for a while?" The woman asked.
"Not willing." Qi Shaorong said.
The female cultivator looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Then we have no other choice, we've already received the money so we can only follow through with our instructions. We'll have to force you to stay here."
"A-Zhuang! It's time." The woman said lightly.
The man howled and took out two big axes.
Qi Shaorong closed his fan and smacked himself on the forehead, he couldn't help but feel speechless. Which bastard asked these two people to block them? This really couldn't be better.
Chen Yuan looked at the man and said enthusiastically, "Let me take care of this one, you guys can deal with that woman."
Chen Yuan cried out in his heart. After traveling for so long, he's finally found an opportunity to do some fighting. The guy who's called A-Zhuang, looked pretty silly, and his mind was simple, so his strength probably wasn't very high either.
Chen Yuan took out the magic staff and began to chant a spell. A-Zhuang rushed towards Chen Yuan, sending Chen Yuan, who hadn't finished chanting even half the spell, flying away.
Chen Yuan only felt like a barbaric bull had rushed towards him head-on, and before he could react, he had already been flung far away. His plan was over before it even began, and Chen Yuan felt the urge to die.
The man's figure suddenly became a lot larger, and Qi Shaorong narrowed his eyes, some surprise flashing through his gaze. The big oaf actually underwent a transformation, it looked like this idiot wasn't completely useless. The 200 000 gold coins that were spent hiring these two hadn't gone to waste.
In this world, the human race and beast clans coexisted together [2], and there were many species. It was inevitable that a human-beast relationship would occur eventually, and so the half-beastmen, with the bloodline of the human race and the beasts, also came into existence.
Half-beastmen weren't accepted by the human race, nor were they accepted by the beast clans, so it was very difficult for them to carry on their bloodline.
The descendants of half-beastmen usually didn't have very high intelligence, but their brute force can't be underestimated.
A person who can transform must have beast blood running through their veins, but not every person with a beast bloodline could transform. The half-beastmen that can transform were usually all outstanding half-beastmen.
The man waved his axes and charged towards Chen Yuan. Yi Fan waved his magic staff and summoned three water dragons, pushing the man away, and Mu Tingxuan called out a few wood vines, hindering the man's movement. The guy called A-Zhuang fell and tumbled a few times on the ground.
"Are you okay?" Yi Fan asked Chen Yuan.
Chen Yuan frowned, and couldn't stop himself from turning red. Originally, he saw that that guy was just a fool, and thought he had finally found a chance to show his skills. He didn't expect that although he was a fool, his strength was huge, and Chen Yuan had miscalculated.
Chen Yuan said with some embarrassment, "I'm fine."
"You weren't hit so hard that you can't get up anymore, right." Yi Fan said.
Chen Yuan shook his head and said, "No, I just took a hard fall."
Yi Fan, "That's good then, since you're okay, you'll be in charge of dealing with that man."
Chen Yuan smiled awkwardly and said, "Maybe not."
"In that case, I'll take care of it." Yi Fan summoned several fire dragons and sent them after the big oaf.
When the big oaf saw the fire dragons, he turned around and ran, but was still caught by the fire dragons in the end.
"Sister, sister, fire! Fire! I'm on fire!"
Yi Fan: "…��
"Are you guys done yet?" Zhuang Hao asked Chen Yuan and the others, after defeating the woman. The woman was rendered unconscious by Zhuang Hao and was now dangling in a tree.
"We're done." Yi Fan said.
That foolish guy's clothes had all been burned to ashes, and his body was so hot, he was rolling around on the ground, crying miserably.
Yi Fan looked at the big oaf on the ground, and shook his head. He couldn't bear to kill off someone who was this foolish!
"Let's go." Zhuang Hao said.
Qi Shaorong nodded and said, "Alright."
Some time after Qi Shaorong and the others left, A-Zhuang finally stopped rolling around on the ground and pulled the woman down from the tree.
"Sister, they ran away." A-Zhuang said grievously.
"I have eyes, I can see it myself." The woman said angrily.
"Sister, what should we do! We already received the payment, but we haven't completed the task, will we have to return the money!" A-Zhuang said, distressed.
The female cultivator frowned and said, "I don't know, that group of people reacted too fast. We only had to trap them here for three days, I can usually trap ordinary people for up to ten days, but it didn't even take a couple hours for those guys to realize."
The little fox next to the female cultivator cried out twice.
"Sister, what's Five-Tails saying?" A-Zhuang asked.
"It said that among that group of people, there was one in particular that was very terrifying. Just one glance from him caused it to tremble all over." The woman said.
"Sister, the man Five-Tails is talking about, is it the man who used lightning to break the illusion and then cast wood magic, and hung you up in that tree!"
The woman gave A-Zhuang a fierce look, and A-Zhuang awkwardly scratched his head, saying, "Sister, the guy who used lightning was really annoying."
The woman nodded solemnly and said, "That guy seems to be capable of using many kinds of magic, and his strength seems to be the same as Zhuang Hao's from the rumours. It's just that he's too ugly, of course, it's possible he was wearing a disguise."
"Sister, let's not talk about that guy anymore, let's think about what we're going to do about the money. We've been acting as bandits for so many years now, and it wasn't easy to finally receive such a huge task, but as a result, we completely failed." A-Zhuang said, feeling distressed.
The female cultivator looked at A-Zhuang, hating iron for not becoming steel, "Wow, look at how smart you are."
"Sister, it's 200 000!" A-Zhuang said, discontented.
The female cultivator gritted her teeth, and some distress also appeared on her face! 200 000, that's a lot of money! It might be even more money than what they'd be able to make even in their entire lifetime!
"Sister, I don't think we can receive the final payment anymore, how about we just run away with the advance payment of 100 000 that we were already given." A-Zhuang said.
The female cultivator: "…"
Footnotes:
Illusory fox: So the words used to describe the fox were "lost/to lose one's way" and "trace/tracks" and I didn't know how to translate that because it's quite a mouthful, so I just went with something else instead. I find that in Chinese you can usually use a lot less words to convey a meaning than in English, like how there are all those four-character idioms in Chinese that when you translate them into English, you get a really long sentence with a whole bunch of words.
Beast clan: Okay uhhh the exact words used here literally means "beast" and "clan", google also translated it as "orc" but I don't think that's right. I sure hope that it's referring to beastmen (you know, like the ones from some other Chinese novels), and not… Actual animals/beasts lol.