Chapter 129: Loot Everything Before Leaving

Following the directions given by the server, Su Yi left the teahouse and followed the crowd to a tent, which was allegedly the base of that mercenary group. Since most of their members had gone off to chase the woman who had stolen their combat skill manual, only two men were left to guard the site. The burly man from earlier was one of them. In Su Yi’s estimation, if the deputy leader himself wasn't even following the pursuit and was instead busy with a woman, the entire mercenary group couldn't be worth much.

Su Yi examined the tent. It was much smaller than the others and could not hold many people, suggesting the rest of the tents had already been packed away. Exhaling softly, Su Yi stepped inside.

"Who's there?!"

As soon as Su Yi lifted the curtain and stepped in, a sharp shout rang out. Su Yi turned his gaze without changing his expression and discovered the remaining mercenary sitting there. He was not alone; a woman in a revealing pink outfit was sitting on his lap, writhing against him. Her clothes were nearly slipping off, and it seemed that if Su Yi hadn't been so tactless as to interrupt, this pair of adulterers might have already ignited a fire.

"Who are you?" the mercenary asked, looking displeased. After all, few men enjoyed being interrupted at such a critical moment.

Just as hardworking as the deputy leader, Su Yi thought with a silent snort. His eyes swept to the side, noticing medicinal herbs and other goods laid out on a cloth on the ground. He spoke up immediately: "Your deputy leader sent me here to buy some items."

Upon hearing this, the mercenary’s expression changed. He hurriedly stood up and ushered the woman out. His nervous demeanor suggested he was quite afraid of the deputy leader, indicating his own status was not very high. Through his sensory perception, Su Yi discovered—to no surprise—that the man was only a second-tier Fighter. But then again, it made sense; when going out on an important mission, they wouldn't leave behind a large group of experts like the deputy leader. Besides, looking around, even counting the goods on the floor, everything here wasn't worth much; perhaps they had taken all the valuables with them.

The mercenary steadied himself and appeared a bit more composed, though his lecherous, triangular eyes confirmed to Su Yi that he was no good. The mercenary glanced at Su Yi and asked, "The deputy leader sent you? Where is he?"

It seemed news hadn't traveled that fast yet. Hearing the question, Su Yi pondered for a moment before replying, "He’s with a fair-skinned woman, still having his fun."

"Oh, that slut. Thanks to the deputy leader, I had a great time with her for a night a few days ago too; it was incredible, ha ha..." The mercenary couldn't help but chuckle at the mention.

"Usually, people keep their wares outside. Why are yours inside?" Ignoring the man’s sleazy comments, Su Yi pointed to the goods on the floor.

"Oh, that... well, it’s getting dark, so we moved them in... you know how it is, standing at a stall all day is exhausting..." the mercenary stammered, clearly making excuses.

Su Yi walked over to the goods and scanned them. "These herbs are all very common. Don't you have Fire-Cloud Ganoderma, Hell-Fire Lotus, Night-Soul-Returning Flower, or Seven-Colored Green Spirit Mushroom?"

"This is all we have on display right now. Where would you even find herbs like that around here? Besides—" The mercenary looked Su Yi up and down, a hint of suspicion appearing in his eyes. Su Yi looked young and was dressed simply, not like someone with money. More importantly, he showed no signs of combat energy fluctuations; he was completely like an ordinary person. Why would someone like him come to buy herbs? If it weren't for the fact that he claimed to be sent by the deputy leader, the mercenary would have wanted to slap Su Yi for interrupting his good time!

"Don't worry, the deputy leader wouldn't have sent me if I didn't have the money." Thinking of the nearly twenty thousand gold coins, Su Yi suppressed a smile. His gaze suddenly landed on a crystal-like object, and a hint of surprise colored his tone: "Is this... a magic core?!"

"You’ve got a sharp eye. That’s a genuine third-tier ice-attribute magic core," the mercenary said with a grunt.

Su Yi looked at the mercenary with surprise and said lightly, "Don't tell me your group killed a beast to get this." In Su Yi’s view, the strongest member of this group was the leader, but he was only a combat practitioner. Even using a swarm strategy, killing a third-tier magic beast would be very difficult. Back when alchemists still existed, magic cores were priceless, but because of their immense power, mercenary groups that specialized in hunting beasts always had high-level combat lords among them. Groups without such experts could only hunt first or second-tier beasts.

Then again, first and second-tier beasts held little value, so most mercenary groups wouldn't bother with such a thankless task, let alone a group that seemed to spend all day playing with women.

"Of course we didn't kill it ourselves. You could say we found it. But you probably know how many gold coins a third-tier magic core is worth. Most people can't afford that price, and if it's too low, we don't think it's worth selling, so it’s just been sitting here," the mercenary said, shaking his head. One could see from his expression that the core was a white elephant.

Found it? Su Yi nodded slowly. No matter how long a magic beast lived, it would eventually die, but the magic core, which was much harder than its bones, would remain. If one were lucky, finding one was indeed possible.

"So, how many gold coins do you want for this?" Su Yi reached out and picked up the grayish-white ice-attribute magic core. The faint, cool sensation was quite pleasant. Perhaps due to the ice-attribute combat energy he had been practicing, he felt an inexplicable sense of affinity toward it.

"Sixty thousand gold coins!" The mercenary looked at Su Yi and said, "This... it might seem a bit high, but that’s the standard price."

Su Yi nodded, offering no objection. In fact, back in the era when alchemists were still around, the price of a third-tier magic core was rarely lower than this, especially since it was a raw material often used to refine cooling and stabilizing medicines. The price was even higher than a standard third-tier core.

Seeing that Su Yi didn't try to haggle, the mercenary felt a surge of joy, and his triangular eyes crinkled even more. This core had been for sale for who knows how long, but it never sold because the price was too high. Truth be told, nowadays, even if an ordinary person bought a third or fourth-tier magic core, it was useless. Only people like alchemists or alchemists could utilize them effectively.

As for why he was selling it for sixty thousand, the mercenary had his own calculations. The price of such cores was generally fixed. If he sold it for too little, people would suspect he was skimming off the top; only by selling it high could he take a significant cut without being detected. Once the sixty-thousand-gold deal went through, he could pocket at least a few thousand for himself!

Just as the mercenary was reveling in his joy, he looked up and saw a fist rapidly enlarging in his vision! With a dull thud, everything went black, and before he could even utter a word, he lost consciousness.

Su Yi pulled his fist back and looked at the magic core in his hand. He fished the white mask from his robe and quietly channeled a strand of soul-perception energy into it, instantly absorbing the core. He stirred the herbs on the floor and, after observing them for a while, muttered to himself: "These herbs aren't very precious, but they're worth about a hundred gold coins each; I might as well put them into the mask too."

With that, Su Yi released several thin strands of soul-perception energy, attached them to the herbs, and connected them to the white mask. In an instant, all the herbs were pulled into the mask. To be honest, Su Yi wasn't worried about whether the mask could hold it all. He had been researching this mysterious white mask throughout his journey, and even he could feel the terrifying power it had unleashed that night.

Just as Su Yi wanted to see how large the space inside the white mask actually was, he was astonished to find that he couldn't grasp it at all. The space inside was dim and murky, with many dark, mysterious corners. His soul perception felt like it was groping in the dark, and after a while, he lost interest in trying to fathom its true capacity.

Su Yi checked the unconscious mercenary one last time, saw no signs of him waking up, and searched the tent for any other items. Finding nothing else, he walked straight out.

Once outside, Su Yi looked at the darkened sky. The surroundings were much quieter now, with fewer people as many had begun to rest. After some thought, he decided to continue eastward into the forest. Because it was late, there was no one in the forest; the narrow path was desolate, devoid of even a ghost, a stark contrast to the lively market scene earlier. For a moment, it made Su Yi feel a bit unsettled.

To save time and avoid unnecessary trouble, Su Yi moved his body and darted into the dense woods, looking for a shortcut. He continued for most of the night before finally slowing down.

Walking through the pitch-black forest, Su Yi became a bit more vigilant. He had heard that there were magic beasts in this area, so traveling this late was actually quite dangerous. In his previous travels, Su Yi hadn't passed through any deep, vast, and ancient forests, so he hadn't had such concerns. Even when he had entered forests, they were ordinary, small hills where any occasionally encountered beasts were weak and posed no threat.

But this place was likely not so simple. Su Yi suddenly felt a faint gust of wind attacking him. Before he could react, in the dim light, a soft, delicate body crashed into his arms!