They were now at the lake, and the tents had been set up again. The Muxue Mercenary Unit’s members were all laughing cheerfully, drinking as much wine as they could in celebration.

This battle had truly been fought too beautifully by them. Not one of them had died. In fact, only a few of them had even been injured before they managed to cut down the Hidden Ground Spider.

The most exciting thing was that their leader had truly broken through to the Xiantian realm. That made their unit’s strength increase to unprecedented levels.

Perhaps that was what it meant for happy things to occur in pairs. They no longer had any reservations and went all-out drinking and eating. Even Mu Xue drank over ten cups of wine, her face becoming slightly rosy.

Long Chen was also celebrating with them. There were over twenty cups that challenged Long Chen in succession. Anytime someone touched their cup to his, he would down all his alcohol without the slightest hesitation.

Over two hundred cups had gone down his belly. Even with his tolerance, he was starting to feel a bit woozy, as he hadn’t used any spiritual qi to suppress it.

He actually very much enjoyed this kind of feeling. They were all hot-blooded men, saying anything they wanted to say, their emotions painted on their faces. They lived very sincerely.

From them, Long Chen learned they had come from powerful families or some other powers. After having been squeezed out by others, they had ended up leaving in fury to become wandering martial artists.

Their talent was actually very high, but they had given up any hope in the powers they came from. They would rather be wandering martial artists than stay.

They no longer treated strength as the most important thing. Their number one priority was their freedom, their emotions. It could be said that they were extremely unconventional cultivators.

Although they had to work for their cultivation resources by completing missions, making their lives dangerous, it was also extremely thrilling.

They all lived this kind of life. Perhaps in other people’s eyes, they were just a bunch of minor characters that would never have any success, but they still liked being themselves.

“Long Chen, you still haven’t explained why you pinched me today!” Their tongues had already grown loose now, and one of the mercenaries patted Long Chen on the shoulder while drinking.

That person was the one who Long Chen had pinched earlier today in order to make him wail. Afterward, they had been too busy and there had been no time to get his question answered. However, he hadn’t forgotten it.

Now that he said it, everyone turned to Long Chen, wanting to know what had happened.

Long Chen hiccuped, laughing and patting him on the shoulder. “Brother, are you dissatisfied? In truth, you should be very happy! Originally, I was planning on crushing your balls!”

That person shivered, and he half came out of his drunken state. “Fuck, when did I piss you off this much?”

“This is called sacrifice! If it weren’t for your shriek, do you think the leader would have become so furious and berserk, completely breaking through any restrictions?

“If it weren’t for you, how could she have caught the chance to advance? And without advancing, how would we have stopped the Hidden Ground Spider from escaping?

“Without killing the Hidden Ground Spider, what would we be celebrating here? In truth, you’re the one who contributed the most towards killing the Hidden Ground Spider. Here, let me raise a cup for you!”

Long Chen’s words made him very muddleheaded. He made it sound like their victory had relied entirely on him. Now seeing Long Chen drink, he also drank down his cup.

He might be too drunk to understand, but the others also heard it, and now they finally understood that everything had been within his control.

Mu Xue was the most surprised. It really was as Long Chen said. If she hadn’t advanced to the Xiantian realm, not only would many people have died, but they also wouldn’t have succeeded in the end.

This meant Long Chen had already thought of this plan before they even began attacking the Hidden Ground Spider.

Mu Xue couldn’t help feeling blessed. Long Chen was like her lucky star. If it hadn’t been for him, she really didn’t know what she would be doing right now.

“Long Chen, let me offer you a cup!” Mu Xue raised her glass to him.

“Haha, for the beautiful leader to offer me a cup of wine, I really am honored!” Long Chen hastily raised his cup.

“Thank you.” Mu Xue looked sincerely at Long Chen.

“Haha, you’re being too courteous. If you hadn’t helped me out, I would still be lost.” Long Chen touched his cup to Mu Xue’s cup and then downed the alcohol. “Come, you two beauties, let me also offer you a cup!” Long Chen raised his cup towards the other two women.

“Ah, I don’t really have much capacity for alcohol. If I end up drunk, you’ll have to protect me.” That woman, who had once helped clean him up, spoke bashfully, but the passion in her eyes was extremely brazen.

Long Chen laughed. “Don’t worry, with this many brothers protecting you, even if the heavens were to collapse, there would be someone to prop them up.”

An undetectable trace of disappointment flashed within Mu Xue’s eyes. Long Chen was intentionally keeping his distance from the woman, acting as if he didn’t understand her flirtation.

Mu Xue quietly retreated to her own spot. She watched as Long Chen drank with the others, playing a finger-guessing game and even occasionally spouting profanities.

She quietly stared at this man. She felt this man to be very different from others, and yet his appearance wasn’t so out of the ordinary. It was food for thought.

This night, everyone drank a great deal, and even Long Chen was snoring afterward. It had been a long time since he had had such a good time drinking.

When morning came, everyone got up refreshed. After all, they were cultivators, and this amount of wine was unable to affect their powerful constitutions.

After putting things away, they were preparing to head back to the city when Zhang Wu suddenly said, “Long Chen, do you think we can cut down the other brute?”

This suggestion was very enticing to Long Chen. He had noticed the small trees in his primal chaos space had grown a great deal overnight. They had already reached a height of over one hundred and fifty meters. They were already able to provide a significant amount of life energy to him.

Although each one could only give him a small amount, there were over a hundred of them. Each day, he could draw out life energy for himself.

If he gained another Xiantian Magical Beast’s corpse, then that would be even more perfect, allowing the trees to grow even more.

But he didn’t want them to face danger for his own benefit.

“Long Chen, do you want to try it?” asked Mu Xue eagerly.

After all, a Xiantian Magical Beast’s core was an expensive commodity. Whether it was used for refining pills or forging items, they were rare treasures.

As mercenaries, when there weren’t any good missions available, they would go out killing Magical Beasts to exchange for cultivation resources.

“What kind of Magical Beast is it?” asked Long Chen.

“It’s an Ironwing Horned Eagle. When we noticed it last year, it was in the early Xiantian realm,” said Mu Xue.

This time, Mu Xue didn’t say anything definitively. After all, from their experience with the Hidden Ground Spider, she knew she couldn’t be sure whether a Magical Beast would have already advanced or not.

Although it was said that Magical Beasts could spend decades or even centuries without advancing once, people still had to be prepared for bad luck. There was no way for her to be sure.

“That’s something even harder to deal with than the Hidden Ground Spider.” Long Chen frowned.

The Hidden Ground Spider was a dark attribute Magical Beast, so it wasn’t specialized in attacking. It was a specialist in running. When it hunted, it would stay underground and lay a trap. It rarely fought head-on.

The Ironwing Horned Eagle was different. It was a flying Magical Beast, and its build was much larger than the Hidden Ground Spider. Furthermore, it was extremely fast. If they weren’t able to defeat it, then they wouldn’t even have a chance to flee.

Right now, Long Chen was still in the process of forming his new meridians. He had already strengthened them over thirty times, but there was still no sign of them reaching their limit. He could only continue with this process.

Thinking of its immense body enticed Long Chen.

“How about I go by myself to try it?” asked Mu Xue.

Long Chen understood her idea. She would fight it on her own, and even if she couldn’t beat it, it wouldn’t be able to kill her.

“I’ll accompany you.” In the end, Long Chen decided to go with Mu Xue to take a look.

Although his cultivation base was the lowest here, they all respected him a great deal. They didn’t have any objections.

After traveling for half a day, a sharp cliff appeared before them. What Long Chen hadn’t expected was that the Ironwing Horned Eagle was different from ordinary flying Magical Beasts. It didn’t have a nest. Instead, it had excavated a cave in the cliffside.

Just looking at the huge cave, he could tell that the Ironwing Horned Eagle had to be shockingly huge.

“The rest of you should wait here. You absolutely can’t follow.”

Long Chen had the others wait at a certain mountain. They would be able to see the cave from a distance, but it would be difficult for the Ironwing Horned Eagle to notice them from there.

Long Chen and Mu Xue arrived in front of its cave. They didn’t sense any danger, surprising Long Chen. He sent his Spiritual Strength in to investigate.

“The Ironwing Horned Eagle isn’t here. It probably went hunting,” he said.

“Then what should we do?” asked Mu Xue.

“This is a good thing, we’ll take advantage of this opportunity to set up a trap. That’ll save us effort.” Long Chen smiled mischievously.

Setting up traps was something Long Chen delighted in. Setting up a trap in its own nest was especially delightful.

Suddenly, the sky darkened, and a large figure appeared above the two of them. A powerful pressure spread.

“Oh, looks like there’s no need to set up anything. The master has returned.” Long Chen spread his arms and dashed to the side, leaving the battle to Mu Xue.

Right now, it still wasn’t suitable for him to fight. If it left a mark on his meridians, that would be something impossible for him to erase in his lifetime. He didn’t dare take that risk.

BANG!

The immense figure crashed to the ground. What startled Mu Xue and Long Chen was that it was a flying Magical Beast that was only at the fifth rank. It was three hundred meters long and was now unconscious.

It seemed to be the prey the Ironwing Horned Eagle had obtained. It had been preparing to enjoy it once it returned to its nest, but seeing people had invaded its territory, it directly dropped its prey and charged at Mu Xue.