Chapter 286: The Prey

As Shen Wei and Song Li stepped forward to cut out the Blood Eye Crocodile’s eyes, Yin Tuo whispered to himself, standing where he was, “He really knows which parts to take.”

The most valuable parts on a fourth grade Blood Eye Crocodile were its blood-colored eyes, which could be used to forge high grade spiritual tools.

If they traded the set of eyes in Shatter City, they could get at least 4,000 spirit stones in return.

Meanwhile, the Blood Eye Crocodile’s skin, bones, and teeth together were worth no more than 1,000 spirit stones.

Furthermore, Shen Wei had also decided for himself and taken the 3,000 spirit stones the other group had coughed up.

From Yin Tuo’s point of view, Shen Wei’s distribution was very unfair.

Yin Tuo whispered to the other two, complaining that Shen Wei only wanted to play up to Song Li, and had completely ignored their feelings.

However, after all was said and done, Shen Wei was at the late Heaven stage, and was the leader of their team; despite their discontent towards him, they forced themselves to bear the injustice and didn’t confront Shen Wei.

With an expressionless face, Nie Tian stood beside the three of them and didn’t utter a word.

To him, as long as he could get the Blood Eye Crocodile’s meat and blood, his interests were secured.

In fact, he didn’t have a problem with Shen Wei taking the 3,000 spirit stones.

He had already accumulated enough spirit stones by killing a large number of Dark Moon members. The valuables he had obtained from their bracelets of holding could be traded for even more spirit stones.

Therefore, he didn’t attach much importance to how Shen Wei distributed the spirit stones.

The only thing he valued were the fourth grade spirit beast’s meat and blood, which he could use to help his green aura transform and advance to the next level.

Soon, Shen Wei and Song Li took away the Blood Eye Crocodile’s eyes and rose up, their faces filled with smiles.

“All the rest is yours to take.” Shen Wei assumed the tone as if he was being very generous.

Yin Tuo and the other two didn’t say anything. They walked over and stripped away the Blood Eye Crocodile’s skin, bones, and teeth, leaving nothing but the flesh and blood to Nie Tian.

With a good mood, Nie Tian tapped a few barrels of the Blood Eye Crocodile’s blood and then carved its gigantic body into pieces.

By the time he finished and stockpiled everything in his bracelet of holding, Shen Wei urged everyone to get moving again.

It was at that very moment that the tip of one of Nie Tian’s eyebrows rose slightly.

He had been observing the movements of the three explorers they had set free via one of his Heaven Eyes, in case they might take up actions against them.

Originally, he had been able to sense their life auras moving further and further away, and it seemed that they didn’t plan on retaliating.

However, at this moment, Nie Tian discovered that the fluctuations of their life auras had sudden disappeared.

They disappeared so abruptly that it seemed unnatural.

Nie Tian gathered his attention and tried to gain a better view of the situation over there via that Heaven Eye of his.

Moments later, he sensed one strong life aura at the location where the three explorers had been.

However, when he commanded his Heaven Eye to fly closer to get a clearer view, he discovered that it would exceed his range of control.

What he was certain of was that the life aura was so strong that it didn’t seem to belong to a Heaven stage Qi warrior.

“Greater Heaven stage!” The notion shocked Nie Tian as he secretly recalled that Heaven Eye.

He speculated that the three explorers must have encountered and died at the hands of a Greater Heaven stage expert on their way out of the forest.

That was the only rational explanation for the sudden extinction of their life auras.

After drawing such a conclusion, Nie Tian immediately had a feeling that the man who had killed the three explorers was probably one of the Hunters that Song Li had told him about.

“Let’s go that way.” The direction Shen Wei pointed out was none other than the one Nie Tian had speculated a Hunter was active in.

Even though Nie Tian’s face didn’t change a bit, his mind flickered as he thought to himself, “Shen Wei is not aware of the situation over there, is he?”

Song Li smiled as she said to Shen Wei with a teasing, soft voice, “Let’s not go there. You really have a bad memory. That’s the direction those three men fled in. They must have explored this region before we got here. Considering their condition, the direction they picked must be secure, and no spirit beast activity was found, so that they could find a location to recuperate.”

By saying those words, Song Li meant that there probably weren’t any spirit beasts in that direction.

“Ah, you’re right. How forgetful of me!” Shen Wei smiled. “Well, where do you think we should go?”

Song Li pointed in the opposite direction. “Let’s go that way.”

“Good, then that’s where we’ll go.” Shen Wei immediately agreed.

Seeing that Nie Tian, Yin Tuo, and the other two didn’t object, Shen Wei led the team as they headed out again.

Marching with the team, Nie Tian secretly let out a sigh of relief. After all, he didn’t want to encounter a Greater Heaven stage Hunter either.

If Song Li hadn’t said anything, he probably would have. Otherwise, Shen Wei would have led the team into that Greater Heaven stage Hunter’s ambush.

However, he knew it in his heart that if it had been him who had made the proposition to Shen Wei instead of Song Li, Shen Wei probably wouldn’t have agreed outright like he had.

It was even possible that, after Nie Tian had advised him against it, he would have led his team there anyways, even knowing that it was a fiery pit.

From the way Shen Wei had looked at him during the past couple of days, Nie Tian suspected that something like this could really happen.

Nie Tian walked after Shen Wei and Song Li, who were walking side by side, talking and joking. His mind wondered, “This Song Li woman is nothing but a troublemaker. If she hadn’t approached me, Shen Wei wouldn’t treat me like this. Did she do it out of good intentions, or did she intentionally cause alienation between me and Shen Wei?”

The tightly-dressed Song Li, looked at from behind, was extremely curvaceous. As she swayed her waist from side to side, her full bottom trembled slightly, making her body almost irresistible.

As she talked to Shen Wei, smiling, she occasionally turned her head back to remind Nie Tian and the others to be careful, as if she was afraid that they would feel left out.

Then, Nie Tian noticed that although Yin Tuo and the other two were rather discontent with Shen Wei, they were all quite warm towards Song Li.

Every time she turned her head back to chat with Shen Wei with a smile on her face, Yin Tuo and the other two couldn’t remove their gazes from her slender waist and full bottom. Apparently, they were all very interested in this increasingly flirtatious woman.

“Women are dangerous.” Nie Tian thought to himself. “If this team ever has major differences or breaks up, it will be all because of this woman.”

About fifteen minutes later, one of Nie Tian’s Heaven Eyes caught sight of a Golden Stone Rhino.

The fourth grade Golden Stone Rhino was covered in wounds and chewing the flesh from a dead Qi warrior on the ground.

The Qi warrior must have come to the dense forest to hunt powerful spirit beasts by himself.

However, for some reason, he had failed, and became food for the Golden Stone Rhino instead.

Immediately after seeing this via his Heaven Eye, Nie Tian raised his guard.

This time, he didn’t say anything to Shen Wei, as he was confident that, considering their strength, the six of them would be able to overtake and slaughter the Golden Stone Rhino if there were no mishaps.

Moments later, when they were close enough to the Golden Stone Rhino, Shen Wei looked rather excited as he blurted, “Bloody aura! I’ve sensed a bloody aura!” Then, he bragged to Nie Tian, “Do you smell it?”

Nie Tian shook his head.

Disdain could be seen on Shen Wei’s face as he said, “It seems that your keen sense of smell isn’t so keen after all.”

“Yeah, I guess it comes and goes.” Nie Tian chimed in.

“Let’s go and take a look!” With those words, Shen Wei was the first to speed off.

Within a short time, the group of six arrived at the location of the Golden Stone Rhino.

By the time they arrived, the fourth grade Golden Stone Rhino had already devoured the Qi warrior’s whole body, and it was puffing and dusting off its hooves as it prepared to leave.

The sudden appearance of Nie Tian’s group took it by surprise.

A fierce, bloodthirsty look instantly appeared in its wide eyes as it stared at Nie Tian and his group, as if it was assessing if it could take the six of them in battle.

Golden Stone Rhinos were a common breed of spirit beasts in the Void Illusion Mountain Range. They were usually grumpy, and would attack anyone in their view, unless it sensed a great threat.

The same went for this Golden Stone Rhino.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

After merely a moment of hesitation, the fourth grade Golden Stone Rhino charged madly towards Shen Wei, who was standing at the forefront of the group, the razor-sharp horn jutting out from its snout emanating a cold light.

Overjoyed, Shen Wei exclaimed, “Great! Let’s do this! After we kill this Golden Stone Rhino, I’ll only take its horn and leave the rest to you!”

He seemed rather psyched.

The only reason he had come to the Void Illusion Mountain Range was that he had set his mind on a spiritual tool in Shatter City that agreed with him perfectly, and he needed enough spirit stones to purchase it.

According to his assessment, he would have to spend a much longer time in the Void Illusion Mountain Range in order to gather the valuables he needed to trade for enough spirit stones.

However, he found that his luck was unexpectedly good. He had already obtained 3,000 spirit stones and a Blood Eye Crocodile’s eye from the other group.

If he could add this Golden Stone Rhino’s horn to his possession, he would have gathered enough valuables and spirit stones, and he could immediately return to Shatter City, where he could purchase the spiritual tool.

“The rhino’s horn is the most valuable part of it.” Yin Tuo murmured.

Shen Wei heard him and shot a cold glance at him, asking, “Do you have a problem with that?”

Yin Tuo shook his head. “No.”

“That’s good.” Shen Wei let out a snort and took the initiative to charge towards the Golden Stone Rhino while shouting, “Song Li! You attack its front and I’ll attack its sides! The others fan out and attack its abdomen!”

The Golden Stone Rhino’s weaknesses were its neck and abdomen.

Shen Wei had explored the Void Illusion Mountain Range for years and had fought Golden Stone Rhinos more than once, so he had a full understanding of their weaknesses.

One after another, numerous arm-length silver daggers flew out of Shen Wei’s bracelet of holding and formed a web of blades as they whizzed towards the Golden Stone Rhino.

Song Li gave a soft chuckle and also bolted forward, her robust leopard-like physique piercing towards the Golden Stone Rhino like a sharp lance.

As she did, a green awl whizzed out of her sleeve, its sharp tip sputtering frosty light.

The Golden Stone Rhino, however, seemed to have sensed the threat, and immediately lowered itself as it charged madly towards Shen Wei and Song Li.