170 Reunion (1/2)

When Wan Qiang left Xue Wei and Hei Gou, the duo found that no others appeared to cause problems for them.

The forbidden zone they were heading to was called Goat Mountain, due to the mountain's goat-like shape, and a dense forest connected to the foot of the mountain from every direction.

The mountain was an unmapped territory. It belonged solely to the Primordial Beasts that resided within the danger zone, and no human would enter too deep into the forest out of fear for retaliation from its occupants.

According to the map that Wan Qiang had given Xue Wei, the formation that only let youngsters enter was at the foot of the mountain. Although it could not be considered the most forbidden area, it was still not easy to get that deep into the forest without encountering some old monsters.

Fortunately, neither Xue Wei nor Hei Gou attracted any beasts. Fierce Beasts were all instinctively afraid of Hei Gou, and for some reason, they stayed away from Xue Wei as well.

The trip to Goat Mountain would take a month each way if they did not get interrupted by anyone.

Most bandits in the Skyward Empire were Sky Warriors in strength. If they were Heavenly Warriors, they would not become bandits as they could get better jobs in the cities.

Since the majority of the bandits were Sky Warriors, none of them posed any threat to either Xue Wei or Hei Gou.

They decimated a few intrepid bandits on the way, but their trip was much more leisurely than it had been last time. Their recent meteoric rise in strength heavily deterred the bandits they encountered, so many of them simply let the two pass by without finding trouble for them.

Xue Wei continued to cultivate as they were moving, his cultivation slowly climbing towards the bottleneck of the fifth layer of the Sky Warrior rank, while Hei Gou was trying to steady the sixth layer he had broken into recently.

In this fashion, two weeks had gone by in a flash. The duo had been traveling at a rapid pace as they had little need for rest at their cultivation level, but this day they had decided to rest at an inn where they could buy food and restock on supplies.

”Young masters, are you new in town?” a middle-aged man with a burly physique, asked after noting that Hei Gou and Xue Wei were both dressed in fine clothes made of Fierce Beast Silk. It was impossible to buy such high quality clothes in a small village like theirs, so these two had to have come from far away.

At the same time, many eyes were cast on the two trying to determine their level of strength. When one displayed their wealth like Hei Gou and Xue Wei were doing, then it was obvious they would attract unwanted attention, but both were indifferent. Wearing the clothes that could provide them benefits in a life and death battle was worth it, since they had been close to death's door quite a few times before. Fierce Beast Silk was many times sturdier than other fabrics, and it provided an increase in fighting strength when woven into clothes through resistances and possibly even a unique skill.

”We are indeed passing through,” Hei Gou said with a smile on his handsome face. He was so handsome that it stunned women when they looked at him, but men, on the other hand, had an urge to hit him hard. In the middle of his face.

The individual Hei Gou was speaking to at the moment was a man, and Xue Wei felt like shaking his head when he saw how friendly Hei Gou was acting.

Hei Gou was of the opinion that it would be a shame not to show off his handsome appearance. Also, he knew that Xue Wei hated talking to strangers, so he gladly took the job of conversing with these people who wanted information.

”I assume you are here for the sake of the Goat Mountain,” the man continued. His face had changed to one of awkwardness when he saw the brilliant smile that Hei Gou flashed at him.

”We are,” Hei Gou nodded his head. It was no secret that they were going to the Goat Mountain, and they needed to get as much information about the place as they possibly could. They also needed to know the state of things in this region. If there were many other experts, then the Seven Star Nightflower might have been picked by someone else.

After talking a bit with the man, they realized that this village, although not very big, was rather frequently visited by experts going to the Goat Mountain.

Because of this, it was also the best place to get rumors and information about the Goat Mountains.

”Are there many experts, experts beneath the age of forty-five, passing through this place?” Xue Wei suddenly asked. He needed to know what the situation further ahead looked like in order to prepare for the worst.

”Not many,” was the man's answer. He also seemed a bit puzzled as to why Xue Wei would ask that. Was he trying to find a group of youngsters? Seeing the man's puzzled expression, Xue Wei felt relieved. It seemed that their destination was still reasonably well-hidden.

”We had a young woman come by a few days ago. Her name was Wang Xiaoyun,” he said while looking dreamily into the distance. ”She said she was hunting Primordial Beasts, but she was quite weak to pull off something like that, only a Heavenly Warrior. Most of our Primordial Beast Hunters are Ordinary Knights.”

”What did you say she was called?!” Xue Wei lost his cool in that instant. His eyes widened in surprise and he felt his heart beating rapidly.

”Wang Xiaoyun. She was clearly a Wayfarer, but it seems that she was traveling on her own,” the man answered, clearly not noticing the shock and bewilderment on Xue Wei's face.

”When did she leave the village?” he asked. ”Two days ago,” the man answered.

”I remember it clearly. She was very popular, and all the young men in the village went to say goodbye to her, though she claimed that she already had a sweetheart and was very adamant about not wanting him to feel lonely.”

Xue Wei instantly changed his mind about staying in the village. After tossing some silver coins at the man for his information, he rushed out of the village with Hei Gou following closely behind.

Hei Gou and Xue Wei knew everything about one another. It was impossible for Hei Gou not to know about Wang Xiaoyun, so he understood how important it was for Xue Wei to rush to her side.

He had suppressed his worries for a long time now. He had heard about a Wayfarer caravan being eradicated by the Ice Harpy and had feared that it had been hers. Now she appeared here without any other wayfarers by her side. It was clear that something had happened.