My Journey to Immortality Begins with Hunting-Chapter 131 – The Task Is Complete, Drawn into the Mass Grave’s Ghost Domain - Part 1

Chapter 131 – The Task Is Complete, Drawn into the Mass Grave’s Ghost Domain - Part 1

Several days later

The sky was dark and overcast. Outside the north gate of Gemhill County, a sturdy horse trudged at the ground in a fierce wind. Li Yuan sat astride it, wearing a mask beneath his conical hat. Hidden in his sleeve was the Dragon-Fanged Spear.

In the distance, four figures were already waiting.

At their head stood a woman dressed in white, her skin faintly pale. A beaded veil covered the lower half of her face, leaving only her eyes exposed—eyes as clear as autumn waters, filled with a gentle, forlorn beauty.

The other three were also martial wanderers—a muscular man in short fighting robes, a swordsman in a green tunic, and a black-clad figure wearing a straw raincoat and conical hat.

Li Yuan cupped his fist in greeting.

The woman asked, “Are you Mister Wood?”

He rasped, “I am.”

She said, “I’m your employer, Ming Shu. The intermediary said you’re at eighth rank.”

Wasting no words, Li Yuan mustered a thin layer of shadow blood to form a blood veil on his body—the unmistakable hallmark of an eighth rank martial artist that no one could fake. As he displayed his power, he discreetly glanced at the four around him, noting the combat power indicators above their heads.

All of them were eighth rank.

That struck him as odd. Didn’t this young lady of the Mountain Gang know that Zhao Xiantong was sixth rank, and that General Mammoth behind him was at least sixth rank as well? How did she expect to handle them? Poison? Or something else?

After confirming Li Yuan’s rank, Ming Shu drew a small pouch from her robes and tossed it to him. He opened it to find nuggets of gold inside.

“Here’s 50 taels,” she said. “Once you escort me to Autumnlake, I’ll give you the remaining 50.”

Li Yuan bowed. “So that’s all there is to it? Just see you safely to Autumnlake?”

“That’s right,” she replied. “But if anyone’s willing to keep helping me after that, I’m prepared to pay 1,000 taels of gold.”

The others reacted at once. The man in short robes, the swordsman in green, and the black-clad figure all shot eager looks her way, eyes gleaming. A thousand taels of gold was a massive fortune, enough to fund a lifetime of cultivation or a comfortable life away from danger. It was the kind of job that could set a person up forever.

The swordsman in green asked, “My lady, no offense, but you don’t look like someone who could just hand over that kind of money.”

Ming Shu answered calmly, “The Mountain Gang has a hidden vault, and I’m the only one who knows where it is. Once we open it, 1,000 taels of gold is hardly anything at all.”

The black-clad man in the conical hat asked, “How do we know you’re not lying, Miss Ming?”

Ming Shu replied calmly, “Anyone who agrees to accompany me beyond Autumnlake will be taken straight to the secret vault. My true intention is to lure my enemies into that vault, the ones who destroyed the Mountain Gang. Once you step inside, you’ll see all the gold with your own eyes. That will prove I’m not making this up.”

The three mercenaries exchanged glances, their expressions growing more intense. The muscular man in short fighting robes asked, “What do we have to do to prove our sincerity?”

“You must swear an oath on your inner demon,” Ming Shu said.

At that, the men fell silent. Swearing an oath involving one’s inner demon was no trivial matter. Many advanced martial skills or cultivation techniques required moments of profound insight to break through; a tainted conscience could trigger an inner demon at such a critical time, sabotaging one’s progress. Once your breakthrough was ruined, trying again became far more difficult.

Li Yuan listened quietly, his eyes narrowing with caution. Although the four people before him were all eighth rank—each with a combat power below 100, while he himself was already at 905—he didn’t plan to drop his guard. That kind of recklessness wasn’t his style.

He spoke up. “Miss Ming, pardon the question, but how do you plan to kill your target? Isn’t he sixth rank, backed by someone even stronger?”

Ming Shu hesitated. “The Mountain Gang’s secret vault is full of hidden mechanisms and traps. Once he’s inside, it won’t be hard to finish him. And let’s be honest, no one can resist the lure of a treasure vault.”

Before Li Yuan could press her further, the green-robed swordsman interjected, “Why ask so many questions? The lady clearly has her own plan. We’re just here to do our job and get paid.”

Just then, a lone rider appeared in the distance. A faint, metallic scent whipped through the air even before he arrived. The man was powerfully built, wearing a mocking smile. His forearms were flat and wide, and his ten fingers curved like the claws of a vicious beast.

Above his head, Li Yuan could make out a combat power reading of 180~200. He recognized the man—one of the seventh rank outside enforcers hired by the Blood Blade Sect, known as Blood Scissors.

Blood Scissors let out a guttural laugh and rode up to greet Ming Shu with a cupped-fist salute. The other mercenaries seemed to know him, too. freewebnoveℓ.com

One called out, “Hey, Blood Bro!”

Another said, “With you here, we’ll sleep soundly tonight.”

Li Yuan also inclined his head politely in greeting.

Blood Scissors glanced at Li Yuan. “And you are?”

Li Yuan replied, “They call me Mister Wood.”

Blood Scissors rolled his eyes. “Never heard of you. Why don’t you take off that mask? Miss Ming’s safety is on the line, and if we’re traveling together, we should at least know each other’s faces to coordinate in a fight.”

Li Yuan’s response was curt. “In that case, I withdraw.”

He tossed the pouch of gold back to Ming Shu and nudged his horse to step away.

Blood Scissors narrowed his eyes but didn’t stop him.

Ming Shu said coldly, “Everyone here is just doing a job for me. I don’t care about your face or your identity.”

Blood Scissors shrugged. “Miss Ming, you don’t understand how treacherous the jianghu can be. We’re all showing our faces and coming clean about who we are. Only this Mister Wood stays hidden behind a mask.”

Ming Shu fell silent while Li Yuan rode off. Shortly after, three more people joined Ming Shu’s group, bringing their number to eight. They galloped out the north gate of Gemhill County, heading toward Antelope Pass and then circling west into the mountains. Their destination was Bluepond and Autumnlake Counties, a journey of roughly three days.

High above them, a white finch seemed to follow, dipping in and out of sight. Another white finch, perched atop the pass, soon swooped down to join it. The two birds soared through the clouds, shadows flickering across the ground as they trailed Ming Shu and her entourage below.

Li Yuan, conical hat pressed low, mask still in place, hung back at a safe distance. The whole affair felt off-kilter. He suspected most of these people were after the gold, but Ming Shu and Blood Scissors definitely had other motives. Blood Scissors, at seventh rank, had to know Zhao Xiantong was sixth rank. Surely Ming Shu knew too. Everyone was harboring hidden agendas.

Rather than get entangled, Li Yuan preferred to keep his distance. With the Mountain Gang vault in play, Ming Shu was unlikely to meet her end anytime soon.

He was turning this over in his mind when a flurry of wings sounded behind him. Instantly on guard, Li Yuan tightened his grip on the Dragon-Fanged Spear concealed in his sleeve and whirled around, only to see a black crow swoop in on a gust of wind.

He froze for a moment, then watched as the crow happily settled on his shoulder, croaking out a muffled, “Ababa! Aba!”

Its shiny black claws hopped about, and its wild eyes gleamed. As it drew closer, Li Yuan picked up the faintest hint of decay—like a trace of corpse odor, so weak it was barely noticeable.

Li Yuan sighed inwardly; he knew exactly who this crow was. He patted the bird’s head.

“Go home,” he told it gently.

“Baba! Ababa!”

“Your old man has business to take care of. Go on, head home.”

“Aba! Aba!”

The crow suddenly flapped its wings and soared high into the sky. Li Yuan looked up, expecting it to fly away, but it merely circled above his head. He pointed skyward, then to the south, signaling for it to return home. After a moment, the crow flew off as instructed.