C22 Cooperation

As they chatted, the carriage entered the Blood Maple Forest.

The forest extended for a thousand miles and was formed by tens of thousands of maple trees as thick as a person's waist. Even the surrounding lofty mountains were covered by the forest. Every time the sun set in the west, the sun would shine on the maple trees, making them look like a sea of blood. Also this maple forest often occurs in the killing of blood, so it is called "Blood Maple Forest."

Although the Blood Maple Forest was infamous for its ferocity, this passage was a must-go route to the north and south of the forest. If one wanted to find safety, they had to go around a thousand miles, which was unbearable for many people, so they had no choice but to pass through.

They thought that they had no money on them and were not afraid of being robbed, but those wealthy merchants could not do so. For the sake of their property and their family and life, they could only hire warriors to protect them.

Just as Ye Daoxuan and the other two's carriages entered the Blood Maple Forest, a few other teams also followed behind. Those teams, were composed of ordinary people passing by, customers transporting goods, and a team of seven or eight warriors.

In that team of fighters, there were both men and women, young and old, and most of them were between the two star realm and the third level. Everyone was riding a big horse, and each of them was armed with a sword, including two archers. They had the scent of blood on them, and their gazes were filled with a terrifying light.

"According to experience, this should be a small hunting team that specializes in hunting spirit beasts." Ye Wusheng swept a few glances at the fighter squad and said in a low voice.

To the martial artists of the continent, a spirit beast was a treasure. Its meat was fresh and delicious, far surpassing the smell of ordinary poultry and wild beasts. Consuming it regularly would have unimaginable benefits in terms of strengthening the body of a martial artist and increasing their strength. Its toughness could double the toughness and sharpness of a weapon if it was mixed with bone dust while refining weapons, and its spirit core contained the true energy of heaven and earth.

The number of martial practitioners on the continent who hunted spirit beasts for a living was countless. However, since spirit beasts were fierce, it was not easy to kill them. The number of martial practitioners who died in their mouths every year was also countless. Even so, the high rewards still attracted a large number of candidates.

"Hunting a Low Rank Spiritual Beast? Even the weakest of the Ten Years Old Spiritual Beasts would sell for over a thousand Spirit Coins. No wonder so many warriors risked their lives to enter the deep mountains and forests to hunt Spiritual Beasts." Ye Qingtan sighed and said: "Take our Ye Clan for example. In order to let our clansmen live a better life, every six months, our clansmen would team up to enter the Gold Mountain Range to hunt for spirit beasts. Many clansmen would die because of this, but for the sake of the clan, no one complained."

The Ye Clan, where Ye Daoxuan and the other two were from, had a population of more than a thousand and could be considered as a big family in the town. Normally, they only relied on small businesses like growing herb gardens and selling Ling Dans to support so many people, so the family had no choice but to organize more than ten martial artists to hunt spirit beasts every year in order to subsidize the family.

The warriors of the Ye Clan were originally from some of the big sects nearby. When they reached a certain age and could not continue to improve their martial arts, they would choose to leave their sects and gangs, return to the family, and sacrifice for the family.

The Ye Clan's warriors had entered the mountains to hunt spirit beasts. If they were lucky, they would be able to hunt a few low-level spirit beasts. If they were unlucky, not only would they return empty-handed, they might even lose a few people.

"If I am unable to continue on my path of martial arts in the future, I will also return to my clan and fight for my clansmen's lives with my clansmen!" Ye Wusheng waved his fist as he spoke.

Ye Daoxuan patted Ye Wushang's shoulder, and said, "Brother Ye Wushang, I think highly of you, your future will be bright! "One day, when you become a middle level Sky Realm master, or even higher, will our Ye Family still need to worry about our lives?"

Ye Wushang's eyes lit up and said, "That's true! "Alright, I will work hard to cultivate in the future so that I can form a bright future for my family!"

After entering the depths of the Blood Maple Forest, the mountain road became even more uneven. The carriage's speed had no choice but to slow down. The carriage driver ahead of them cursed and complained about the mountain road continuously.

The group of warriors following behind Ye Daoxuan and the other two carriages looked into the maple trees on both sides of the mountain road. Some people even had swords and sabers in their hands as they were on high alert, as if there would be bandits rushing out from both sides of the mountain at any time.

Ye Wushang laughed, "Look at how nervous they are! There are seven to eight of them, and they are all 2-star realm or 3-star warriors. Even if there are bandits, they would be too scared to come out! "

These true essence fluctuations came from deep within the forest. It was obvious that there were martial artists lying in ambush here. He frowned and said to Ye Wuming and Ye Qingtan in a deep voice, "Someone is lying in ambush here, you guys be careful!"

Ye Wushang stuck his head out, looked to both sides, and laughed: "There's no one here! "Ye Daoxuan, you must be scaring yourself ?"

Before he could finish his sentence, he heard a loud swooshing sound. A sharp arrow pierced through the air and flew towards his head.

That arrow was extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, it had already arrived in front of him. Ye Wushang had no time to retract his head even if he wanted to. He could not help but be scared out of his wits.

Just as Ye Daoxuan was about to make his move, he suddenly saw a flash of black light, followed by the sound of metal clanging against metal. As Dingqing looked over, the arrow that was shooting towards them was knocked to the ground by another arrow that came from behind.

The one who saved Ye Wusheng was an archer from the group of warriors at the back. The archer was a woman, and in her twenties, she was also a Third Martial Stage practitioner. In between her brows, she gave off a vigorous and heroic vibe. Although her appearance was not as beautiful as Ye Qingtan, she could still be considered a beauty.

"Thank you!" Ye Daoxuan extended his hand to pull the stunned Ye Wushang back into the coach, then he cupped his hands towards the female archer to express his gratitude.

The female archer nodded and smiled. Then, she turned her gaze towards the maple trees on her left, her face full of caution. The arrow aimed at Ye Wushang's head had come from that direction.

A flurry of gong sounded on both sides of the mountain road. Along with the sound of the gong, hundreds of bandits carrying swords, spears, blades, and axes cried out loudly and rushed out of the forest, surrounding a few teams on the mountain road.

"Oh my god, how come so many bandits suddenly appeared?" Ye Wusheng's eyes widened, his face was filled with shock.

"There are more than a dozen warriors, and most of them are level three. This is going to be troublesome." Ye Qingtan's expression changed slightly.

Not only them, even the martial practitioners who had followed them from behind also had their expressions change.

On their side, there were about twenty warriors, which was a force to be reckoned with. Normally, normal bandits would not dare to block the way, but among the hundreds of bandits that surrounded them, there were more than ten warriors, and most of them were warriors of the third step. It was no wonder they were so daring.

What made Ye Wushang and the others even more shocked was that among the ten or so warriors on the bandit's side, although one was short, skinny, and fat like a pig, while the other had a strange appearance, they were both at the fourth stage of cultivation.

Ye Daoxuan, Ye Wushang, and Ye Qingtan all jumped off the carriage. Leaning against each other, they circulated their True Essence and prepared to deal with the bandits' attacks.

As for that wagon driver, he was facing a great enemy, so no one cared about his life.

However, no one would have thought that at the moment when everyone was extremely nervous and confronting the bandits, the carriage driver would calmly sit there. A sinister glint appeared in his eyes that were concealed by the straw hat.

Ye Daoxuan's gaze intentionally or unintentionally glanced at the coachman, as a grave expression appeared on his face.

The seven to eight warriors in the Beast Hunt Squad exchanged glances, then quickly closed in on Ye Daoxuan and the other two. One of them, a skinny man who was in his forties, seemed to be the leader of this squad, his gaze locked onto Ye Daoxuan, and he quickly spoke to Ye Daoxuan with a low voice: "This little brother, bandits are powerful, if we were to fight on our own, we would probably be broken into pieces. We will not even be able to escape death! There was only a slim chance of survival if they worked together! "What do you think, little brother?"

The skinny man was at the peak of the third step and was the strongest in this group of martial artists. But when he had observed Ye Daoxuan and the other two in secret just now, he had not been able to see through Ye Daoxuan's strength, and had guessed that this youth's strength had definitely surpassed his own. Naturally, he considered Ye Daoxuan to be the one with the most authority amongst the three.

However, those ten odd bandits, especially the two warriors of the fourth step, were difficult to deal with. Moreover, among the bandits, there were also a few archers lying in ambush, and although Ye Daoxuan was fearless and was confident in being able to break out of the encirclement, it was hard to say if Ye Wusheng and Ye Qingtan were careless, but it was possible that they would lose their lives.

"Good!" I'll deal with those two bandits! The other bandits, I'll leave it to you! Brother Ye Wushang, Sister Qingtan, you two be careful! "

Ye Daoxuan let out a long howl after he finished speaking, and his body dashed forward, throwing himself at the two rank 4 bandits.

He did not know if Ye Daoxuan had the ability to do so, but at this time, he knew that he could not hesitate, otherwise it would be bad, so he shouted, "Brothers and sisters, kill!"

As soon as he gave the order, he rushed forward with the other seven warriors towards the ten or so bandits with the power of a lesser celestial.

"Qing Tan, let's go too!"

Ye Wushang's eyes burned with fighting spirit. With a roar, he punched a bandit closest to him, causing him to fly away. Then, with a loud laugh, he charged into the bandit and started fighting his way in.

There were about a dozen warriors hired by the other caravans, but these warriors were only average in strength. Their goal was to protect the property of the customers from being violated, so they didn't take the initiative to fight the bandits. They just took out their weapons and stood around the trucks to prevent the bandits from coming.

However, bandits came to kill people for their goods, so how could they let them go? Although a majority of the bandits' martial artists were entangled by Ye Daoxuan and the others, there were still several people leading bandits and brandishing their swords, rushing towards their truck. The scene immediately fell into a chaotic battle.