The eve before fading

In the main camp, the other groups had returned, and row call was being done. Two of the chief's followers responsible for thispaused for a moment. They had planned to slack off, but after looking around the camp, they felt as though a certain group, no, a certain face was not present.

This perplexed them. They could not understand howanyone can be so daring as to remain in this mountain. They had also seen thedangers that lurked in it.

After looking around and inquiring, they became evenmore shocked.

It was not just one group absent but four of them.This was no small matter. They immediately reported this to the chief.

"Find out which direction they were assigned to. If they do not return in the next thirty minutes, then we will send out a groupinto the mountain."

The two followers heard these instructions and left the tent. Although they admired the chief's sense of duty, they couldn't helpbut think that this was not a wise decision given how dangerous the mountainwas.

In fact, the chief had only said this so as tomaintain his image in the villager's eyes. He had secretly planned to set outthe following morning.

Outside the chief's tent, the other hunters were nowdiscussing this. After the two follower's inquiries, they became aware ofthe absence of certain faces. Mainly Cui Bei's two groups of troublemakers, ZiYan's group of hooligans.

"That's only three of them. Weren't there a totalof ten groups?" someone other hunter said in confusion.

"Hold on a minute. I recall seeing lady Rong joinup with that group of misfits, " a hunter from another group said.

"Oh yeah, I had nearly forgotten those younglings."

This was not surprising; a lot of people were presentat the village's entrance when Cui Bei was messing around Bai Ming's group.

Hearing the discussions outside the tent, the chieffurrowed his brows. The situation was more troublesome than he had imagined. Ifit were any other person, he would not have taken this seriously, but now, realizing the two successors of the Cui family were now missing, this was notgood.

The Cui family was not easy to deal with. With his position, he naturally understood the internal situation of the family and theimportance they placed on these two successors.

"It's good that this does not directly implicateme, and after tomorrow, things would be different. I won't have to worry aboutthose families anymore, " he muttered as he moved to caress the wooden boxin the corner of his tent.

This was one of his biggest secrets and the reason hehad come to this mountain. He had only used the hunt as a way to cover this up.

He knew his actions had alerted the other families, but he did not care because by the timed, they realized his scheme it would all beover. He understood that the five people who had joined later were sent here toscout out the mountain and find out if there's anything peculiar, but they hadnot found anything out of the ordinary.

Some of them were still in the groups present in the camp, and it was not ideal to act, but he had a way around this. He had to leavethis night and get the matter resolved, as for the two missing successors hestill kept to sending just one group and that group would also serve to draw alot of attention from him making him focus on the task at hand without muchproblem.

At this moment, the main camp was now in a stir, and heintended to leave secretly along with the group he had assigned to finding thewhereabouts of the missing groups.

He did not waste much time and started preparing.

… 

A group of four stopped in another part of themountain. Looking at the dead beasts lying around, they could tell that a BaiMing's group had passed through here.

Zi Yan looked at all this with a cold expression.

They had already passed the position where they had leftBai Ming's group. Using the blood trail left by Mu Bai, they followed at a fastpace without stopping. So far, they had encountered any beasts. It seems thatmost of them had been killed by Bai Ming's group.

Zi Yan chuckled, looking at his surroundings. Hesurveyed it for a moment and tightened the grip on his weapon. Licking hislips, he felt a hunger for battle. It had been a long time since he felt thisway.

"It seems there is someone capable among them…" he muttered.

The other members heard what he had said and looked tothe bodies lying on the ground.

"…but it is still not enough,"

Hearing Zi Yan's last words, the other members wereemboldened.

Looking at the bodies, Zi Yan seemed to have gained anunderstanding of his target.

Thinking back to the time he was with Bai Ming'sgroup, he started figuring out who it could be. It did not take him long, heeasy ruled out Wu Zhengyi, Li Tian, and the rest. His thoughts stopped at theimage of the guy holding Mu Bai.

With that in mind, his target was decided. He couldnot wait to stain his weapon with his blood. Zi Yan then felt a sense ofurgency. He had seen Si Niang holding Mu Bai in his hands. Some of Mu Bai'sblood had landed on him, so he was sure that he was also poisoned. If they caught up to Bai Ming's group a little too late, then Si Niang would be more weakened, and that wouldn't satisfy his thirst for battle.

Although he would rather fight him at full strength,he did not want to strengthen his target, and as an expert hunter, he stillpreferred to have the initiative.

However, even if he missed this opportunity, he wouldnot think much of it and just turned his focus to the other members of Bai Ming'sgroup. He would toy with them instead.

"Hehe, don't die too soon." he muttered witha vicious smile on his face.

With these thoughts in mind, he immediately urged hisminions to move faster.