With Lu Yan gone and Nie Tian in, there remained six people in the team.
Due to Lu Yan’s absence, the team reached a consensus.
Nie Tian followed Shen Wei, Song Li, and the other three towards the deeper parts of the forest.
They encountered some scattered low grade spirit beasts along their way.
Since they were all at the second or third grade, Nie Tian only displayed his battle skills with the Flame Spirit Incantation.
Therefore, in Shen Wei and Song Li’s eyes, Nie Tian was no more than a Qi warrior who cultivated fire incantations, and his battle prowess was about the same as Lu Yan’s.
However, they didn’t know that that was only what Nie Tian had let on.
They were both slightly impressed to see that Nie Tian possessed such battle prowess while he was only at the early Heaven stage.
However, the thought of the fact that Nie Tian was a guest elder of the Blood Skull put their minds at ease. After all, Nie Tian’s competence had been acknowledged by the Blood Skull.
Therefore, they weren’t very surprised by Nie Tian’s performance.
Of all five people, Song Li paid the most attention to Nie Tian. Every time they were engaged in battle with spirit beasts, she would keep an eye on Nie Tian, but she wasn’t able to see that Nie Tian was intentionally reserving his strength.
The woman appeared quiet, and had a look of holding herself aloof from earthly matters. However, Nie Tian suspected that she was by no means ordinary.
Nie Tian made quite some gains hunting with the group for a few days.
Both Shen Wei and Song Li were at the late Heaven stage. Adding in the other three middle Heaven stage cultivators, and their efficiency was exceptionally high.
Nie Tian kept his word.
He only took the spirit beasts’ blood and meat, leaving the skin, teeth, and horns to the others.
Thanks to the team, the speed at which he stockpiled spirit beast meat and blood improved by a great margin.
Meanwhile, the other five team members were satisfied with his good faith.
When they found out that Nie Tian really took nothing but the spirit beasts’ blood and meat, the way they looked at Nie Tian grew more and more pleasant.
If Lu Yan was still on the team, she would have taken a share of the valuable parts of the spirit beasts.
Now that Nie Tian possessed the same battle prowess as Lu Yan, but claimed no share of the valuable spoils, it was like the five of them were splitting the share they should have given to Lu Yan.
Of course, that made them happy.
However, they were somewhat curious as to why Nie Tian would separate himself from the group every time they stopped to recuperate.
Nie Tian never used spirit stones to recover his strength with the rest of the group.
The reason why Nie Tian did this was because he had to consume large amounts of spirit beast meat.
If they saw Nie Tian wolfing down spirit beast meat, which was filled with filth and impurities, they would consider him a monster.
Furthermore, Nie Tian needed to channel star power to form stardew in a secluded location. In order to keep his secrets, he had to separate himself from the group.
In the middle of one night…
Nie Tian had sought a secluded location far away from the other five, where he had consumed almost fifty kilos of spirit beast meat, before he adjusted himself and returned to the location where the rest of the group had set up camp.
At that time, he had already learned via his Heaven Eyes that Shen Wei and the others were about to finish their cultivation.
Sitting under a leafless tree, Shen Wei raised his chin and saw Nie Tian appearing in the distance and returning to the group, and then his expression became somewhat suspicious. “This guy always returns when we’re just about to finish recuperation.”
Song Li was sitting right next to him.
Just now, the two of them had been discussing and analyzing Nie Tian. Nie Tian’s return didn’t stop them.
Song Li slowly rose to her feet.
Having changed into short battle garments, she looked very well-built, like a female leopard. The battle garments emphasized her curves and make her look full of explosive power.
Shen Wei, who was still sitting on the ground, had his burning gaze fixed on her waist as he said with a fairly calm tone, “Song Li, do you think this Li Tian person has displayed all of his battle prowess in the past few days?”
For some reason, as they marched deeper into the forest, Song Li’s clothing, as well as the impression she gave people, had quietly changed.
In the beginning, she had been dressed in a long dress, which had given her a quiet and graceful look.
However, ever since they had decided to march deeper into the forest, she had changed into tight battle garments, which instantly highlighted her covered, hot body.
Actually, Shen Wei hadn’t known her for long, and he had only considered her as a rather competent teammate, nothing more.
However, as Song Li changed into tight garments, which brought out her perfect curves, Shen Wei couldn’t help but become interested.
During the past few days, he had sought Song Li out to talk to her from time to time. When he had distributed the spoils, he had firstly distributed the parts that she had set her mind on to her.
“No.” Song Li said in a soft voice. “The way I see it, every time we fought, Li Tian didn’t go all out.”
Shen Wei’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he said, “There’s something more to this Li Tian person. He showed up out of nowhere and demanded to join us. Do you think he has ulterior motives? We both know that the spirit beast blood and meat he demanded is of absolutely no value. Can it be that his demand for spirit beast blood and meat is only a disguise?”
Song Li pursed her lips into a smile as a taunting look appeared in her bright eyes. “There’s nothing to worry about. No matter how resourceful he is, he’s only at the early Heaven stage. Are you afraid that we can’t take him if he turns on us?”
After sensing Song Li’s teasing tone, Shen Wei let out a snort and said, “Of course I’m not afraid! I’m saying that he may not be alone.”
“Let me go and find out his real intentions,” Song Li said softly.
Then, with a faint smile on her lips, she swayed her waist as she slowly stepped towards Nie Tian.
Shen Wei swallowed his saliva as he watched her slightly exaggerated movement from behind, cursing in his heart, “Slut!”
Song Li paced her way to Nie Tian’s side and asked with a smile on her face, “You’ve traveled and hunted with us for a few days now. How do you feel? Have you found something you don’t like? If there’s anything you’re not happy with regarding our cooperation, you can tell me. I’ll talk to Shen Wei.”
At that moment, the other three middle Heaven stage cultivators were still recuperating and adjusting themselves with their eyes closed.
Only Shen Wei was looking at them from afar, sitting with his back against the tree.
Nie Tian was somewhat puzzled to see Song Li walk towards him, twisting her bottom and turning her waist.
Song Li had a rather beautiful face. She had worn a long dress before, which had concealed her alluring body. Furthermore, she had pretended to be quiet and understanding, which had also deducted from her charm.
However, now that she had completely overturned her previous look and manner, she had become much more attractive.
The way Shen Wei looked at her testified to this; it was almost as if he couldn’t wait to eat her up.
The other three middle Heaven stage cultivators also awoke from their cultivation and began to quietly discuss her, each of their eyes filled with burning desire.
Ever since Lu Yan had left, as the only female member on the team, Song Li seemed to have turned on her charm.
It was just that, at this moment, she seemed to have shifted her target from Shen Wei to Nie Tian.
Seeing her like this, not only was Nie Tian not thrilled, but he became even more alert.
He had long since had the feeling that she had ulterior motives for talking Shen Wei and the others into exploring deeper parts of the forest.
“No, everything is fine.” Nie Tian smiled and said with a plain tone. “Everybody takes what they need. It’s been rather pleasant working with you all. I only wish our journey ahead can be just as pleasant. I hope we won’t have differences and jeopardize our cooperation when we encounter fourth grade spirit beasts.”
“How can that be?” Song Li said with a charming smile. Then she sat down right next to Nie Tian and said, “I’m really curious as to how you got the Blood Skull to give you a guest elder’s identity medallion. Do you care to share the story?”
Smiling, Nie Tian shook his head. “I can’t, sorry.”
“Stingy…” Song Li pursed her lips, but she still had a broad smile on her face. “Alright then. Don’t tell me if you don’t want to. I’ve come to tell you that, from now on, we’re officially deep into the forest, and we can encounter fourth grade spirit beasts at any moment now. Therefore, don’t expect that our battles will go as smoothly as before.”
“I understand,” Nie Tian answered.
“One more thing,” Song Li hesitated for a moment before she lowered her voice. “Perhaps you don’t know it, since you don’t come here very often. Other than fourth grade spirit beasts, we might also encounter Hunters here, people who usually lurk outside of Shatter City, Ash City, and the Land of the Abandoned.”
“Hunters?” Nie Tian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Are you talking about people who make a living by killing explorers and taking their valuables?”
“Exactly,” Song Li said with a serious face.