Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

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The team arrived at a fortified mountain village with a breathtaking view.

The place was right beside the sea, and the terrain mainly consisted of flights of steps along a hill. The beautiful little huts were built on the waist of the hill along a delicate, white path circling to the summit. Red sweetgrass was planted on both sides of the path, making the village as stunning as a fairy tale. There was the hill, the path, the sea, flowers, and the huts...

"Shall we rest up here?" Jiang Shaoxu was the first to suggest.

"Didn't we just rest not long ago?" answered Ai Jiangtu.

Nanyu gave Ai Jiangtu a stare. Meanwhile, the girls, Mu Tingying, and Nanrong Ni agreed to the suggestion by raising their hands. From their glittering eyes, one could easily tell that they were enjoying the scenery, as it was something they could only see in their dreams. Even the sky and the clouds were more colorful than other places!

Left with no choice, the others could only follow them into the village.

The red sweetgrass along the path was emitting a faint fragrance, covering the scent of nature on the hill. It felt relaxing walking on the path, as if a few more steps were going to bring them to a little hut made of cream, cake, strawberries, and fruits.

"This place is surely a hidden gem; who would have thought there existed a mystical village in a place like this," exclaimed Mo Fan. He secretly took note of their location. It was a great option if he decided to live a shameless life with Xinxia away from the modern world. He could imagine that if they spent a few days here, their kids would soon be old enough to run errands for them!

The team was about to enter the village when they saw a huge gate at the entrance and a little shed. Inside it was a woman wearing lots of ornaments.

She took a glance at Mo Fan's group. She seemed surprised at the start, although it wasn't clear if she was curious why there would be Asians in this place, or for some other reason.

"Ah, lost travelers, are you planning to stay in the beautiful village for the night, or do you have some other plan... oh, I'm sorry, I didn't notice that you have female companions among you." The woman had a seductive smile, and did not act like she was talking to a bunch of strangers.

The woman was fairly tanned, but her skin tone had a hidden shine. Her skin looked clean and tender, and had a hint of wildness that Oriental women lacked.

Zhao Manyan enjoyed flirting with beautiful women. He immediately went forward to flirt with the woman wearing ornaments.

However, the woman tactfully revealed to them that the village was actually holding a festival, and it did not welcome visitors during the festival.

The girls felt it was a pity. Jiang Shaoxu even said she was willing to wait until the festival ended, but the team obviously disagreed with her. They still had business to attend to. If they stopped every time they discovered a beautiful place, what was the meaning of going to Venice? How were they going to stand a chance in the World College Tournament?

The team had no choice but to leave.

Zhao Manyan continued to flirt with the woman, but the latter's expression showed a mature woman like her clearly had no interest in a young boy like Zhao Manyan. He felt his ego hurting. He immediately stood on the side that suggested to stay behind for a few days, hoping that he would be able to subdue the seductive and outgoing woman. As a matter of fact, it had been a while since he had fulfilled his sexual desires!

Unfortunately, the team insisted on leaving.

They continued to descend the mountain to find a nearby town before sunset to rest up for the night.

"I'm quite interested in the festival. Why don't the rest of you go ahead first, and I'll just take a peek quickly, I'll catch up to you all before sunset?" Mo Fan suddenly suggested.

"Bring me along, I'll go with you too!" Jiang Shaoxu insisted on going with Mo Fan.

Ai Jiangtu and Nanyu were speechless about the two. They just told them to be careful, and proceeded on their journey.

"Damn it, I swear I'll subdue that woman before sunset!" said Zhao Manyan. He decisively turned around and headed for the shed.

---

The reason that Mo Fan wanted to go back to the village was very simple. It was because he had noticed the Essence Orb emitting a light, which was pointing at the village.

Filling the orb would allow him to use the Demon Element. As such, he insisted on taking a look even if he was going against the rules of the village.

However, Mo Fan was speechless when Jiang Shaoxu insisted on coming too. He had no idea what the woman was up to. Was she really still infatuated with fairy tales, despite her age? Couldn't she be more realistic, like Zhao Manyan?

Zhao Manyan went to flirt with the woman. Mo Fan and Jiang Shaoxu took hold of the opportunity to sneak up the mountain. With their cultivation, even if the woman at the entrance was a Magician, there was no way she would notice them sneaking in.

---

They continued along the path of red sweetgrass, and soon arrived at a village with clusters of huts.

"There are quite a lot of Magicians here. It's a lot safer than the places we visited along the way; i's indeed a good place," exclaimed Jiang Shaoxu.

Along the way, Mo Fan and Jiang Shaoxu discovered that every crossroad was stationed with a few Magicians. Most of them were men. It was impossible to hear what they were talking about, but they kept hearing their wild laughter!

"These seem to be Concubine Sweetgrass. Rumors said that they are nurtured with the tears of an imperial concubine from New Zealand. They can be used to create psychiatric drugs. They are quite expensive. No wonder this village seems to be richer than the ones we passed by," Jiang Shaoxu murmured after identifying the sweetgrass.

Mo Fan did not really care what the plant was. He was more concerned about why a small village like this would have something that could fill the Essence Orb...

"Follow me closely, don't let them spot you, I don't want to be kicked out of the village," Mo Fan reminded her.

"Don't worry."

Jiang Shaoxu stuck closely to Mo Fan. Mo Fan summoned shadows to conceal him and Jiang Shaoxu, allowing them to sneak into the village silently.

---

The village had quite a lot of people. Everyone was outside their huts. The place was quite packed, with around four hundred people. It seemed to be quite a big village.

The crowd was standing in the open in the village. There was another bunch of people in red outfits and wearing lots of ornaments. Judging from their appearances, they were most likely Magicians.

Mo Fan scanned the place and counted around fifty people that were wearing red outfits and ornaments. On top of that, their cultivation was not weak. There were almost eighty of them if he included those guarding the path leading to the village.

To think that a village of fewer than five hundred people would have eighty Magicians... the ratio of Magicians to villagers did not make any sense. Most importantly, the Magicians did not seem to be rookies. Their auras alone implied that they were all experienced Magicians.

"Chief, you've misunderstood us!" a man wearing a red beret shook his head, as if he was treated unjustly.

"Misunderstood? I don't want to talk to you anymore. Now that we are all under your control, the most valuable stuff we have in the village is the sweetgrass. Take all of them if you can!" the chief of the village was a middle-aged man in a black cloth gown. He had a stern look on his face.

"I, Xi Ge, am a very reasonable man. You can ask the people that used to be my prisoners if you don't trust me. They were never scared or uncomfortable with my actions. Most of them were actually grateful for how I insisted on keeping my promises. I told you, I'm no bad guy, I'm a businessman who's willing to make a deal with you. Your people, houses, lands, and sweetgrass are all mine now. By paying enough money, I'll bring my men and leave at once," the man who called himself Xi Ge said calmly.

"Asshole, they are our belongings, since when are they yours!? You've robbed our belongings, surrounded our village, and you dare to ask us to pay you money to get our own belongings back? Are you treating us like idiots!?" a spirited woman stepped out from the crowd and spat on Xi Ge!

Xi Ge did not try and dodge it. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his chest off softly. He then placed the handkerchief with the woman's saliva on his nose and sniffed it, before saying with a grin, "I can smell that you're a woman that hasn't been caressed by a man before. I have already told you my business plan, so it's up to you to decide if you will accept it. Of course, if you disrespect the leader of the Red Ornaments Guild again, I will have you taste the number of men you are only supposed to taste throughout your whole life in just a single night!"

The spirited woman immediately paled after hearing his words. A middle-aged man immediately stepped forward and placed himself between the woman and Xi Ge.

Xi Ge continued to stare at the woman as he let out a hollow laugh. His laugh sent chills down the spines of the villagers.

The villagers stood in the open, yet they could not stand against the leader of the Red Ornaments Guild, Xi Ge. They were all panicking.

---

"Holy crap, they are a bunch of bandits!" exclaimed Jiang Shaoxu before Mo Fan could speak.

They were hiding in a shrub below a tree. They had clearly witnessed everything that happened.

The village was not holding a festival. They were being robbed by bandits!

"I've never seen anyone more shameless than him!" cursed Mo Fan.

"Yeah, bandits usually leave after robbing a place, and sell the stolen goods when it's safer to do so, but not only did these people rob the village, they even demand the villagers they robbed buy their own belongings back… they didn't even need to sell the stolen goods!" exclaimed Jiang Shaoxu.

"Speaking of which, didn't we see a lot of wanted posters in the towns and cities we passed by? Weren't they wanted posters for the Red Ornaments Guild?" Mo Fan suddenly recalled something.

"Yeah, and the rewards aren't bad too… Mo Fan, calm down, they are too many of them!" Jiang Shaoxu immediately advised against it when she realized what Mo Fan was thinking.