There are sour people everywhere, Li Xi didn't care. He just didn't expect that something that happened a few hours ago had already spread.
He walked to the counter and placed his mercenary badge on the table. "I'll take the Agricultural Temple's monster clearing mission."
Soon, the service staff handed Li Xi his badge and mission token.
Li Xi took them and headed straight for the farmland outside the city. This clearing mission was different from the previous one; it was E-rank, while the last one was F-rank. Li Xi had asked Xiao Fan, and these were considered separate missions, both eligible for lottery chances.
At the city gate, after showing the mission token to the young agricultural priest, who looked at Li Xi with surprise at his upgraded gear, Li Xi headed straight for the distant farmland.
He soon passed the massive sinkhole that was created last time by an unknown demon, and the farmlands corroded by the accompanying monsters. Li Xi was filled with emotion, realizing that he had experienced several near-death experiences without even noticing, and remarkably, his strength had significantly improved.
The ground at the sinkhole had been leveled, but the traces of the past battle were still clearly visible. He could even locate the spot where he had been chased in disarray.
Having received the knowledge inheritance, Li Xi also had a guess about the priest who repelled the demon last time. It was highly likely that the priest belonged to the Temple of Light, and possibly even a bishop, otherwise, a normal priest wouldn't be able to unleash such powerful divine arts. A bishop was equivalent to a Magus in the mage hierarchy, the sixth level among the nine.
The sixth level, excluding the rarely known Saint of Magic and demigods, was already considered high-end combat power. Only a few bishops in Cador City were officially recognized as sixth-level; others were unheard of. The fifth level was the peak that most people pursued.
Li Xi unknowingly traveled a great distance, seeing many mercenaries on missions in the farmland along the way. Finally, about ten kilometers from Cador City, he stopped at the edge of the farmland.
Walking from the main road into the farmland, he soon saw wild boars gnawing at the roots of the rice paddies. He casually took out a curved saber from his lower back, took a light step, and instantly disappeared from his original position. He reappeared at the side of the wild boar. While the boar was still devouring its meal, it had no idea that a god of death had appeared beside it. Li Xi's curved saber lightly sliced through, easily severing the boar's spine and major artery.
The bright red blood spurted over a meter high. Li Xi dodged, not a single drop splashing onto him.
While the wild boar was bleeding, Li Xi found the wooden hut where the tenant farmers lived. Just as he was about to drag the wild boar to exchange for prize money, he saw a fierce wolf attracted by the smell of the boar's blood, stealthily approaching Li Xi from behind.
"Another one delivered to my doorstep. In that case, I'll play the waiting game today."
Having made up his mind, Li Xi pretended not to notice and waited for the wolf to slowly approach.
When the wolf was within ten meters, thinking Li Xi couldn't see it, Li Xi's figure instantly vanished.
Unlike the wild boar, the wolf was not completely unaware of Li Xi. Its gaze had been fixed on Li Xi the entire time. The moment Li Xi disappeared, it sensed something was wrong and tried to escape. Unfortunately, Li Xi's Instantaneous Movement technique was too fast. Just as it tried to turn and flee, it found its eyes could see its own back and the bloodless curved saber. Its last sight was of Li Xi's red leather armor before darkness enveloped it.
Li Xi dragged the wolf's body and head next to the wild boar's body. Looking at these two corpses and the wolf's actions, he had an idea. "If I could use corpses as traps, it would save me the trouble of running around."
He did as he thought and soon found a good spot. At the edge of the farmland stood a large tree with lush branches, its canopy as wide as several houses. It could accommodate over a dozen people.
Li Xi dragged the two corpses to the base of the tree, piled them together, and even cut open other parts of their bodies to spread the scent of blood further.
Li Xi then jumped onto the large tree and sat on the thickest branch, waiting for beasts and magical beasts to walk into his trap.
Li Xi didn't have to wait long. Within ten minutes, prey arrived: a horned lizard, about four meters long. Its body, thicker than a water tank, was like a behemoth. Its one-foot-long horn was covered in scars.
The horned lizard cautiously looked around. Its vision wasn't good, and it saw nothing. However, it possessed more acute senses. It flicked its long, slender tongue, carefully tasting the surrounding air. Its tongue could sense all information around it.
Soon, the horned lizard sensed Li Xi's scent in the air and turned to run.
But having been targeted by Li Xi, it couldn't escape his grasp. Three uses of Instantaneous Movement landed on the fleeing horned lizard. Its thick, bony hide felt like stepping on stones to Li Xi.
The two curved sabers crossed, and half of the horned lizard's head was severed. Its limbs moved forward uncontrollably for a short distance before it weakly collapsed.
Li Xi, using almost all his strength, dragged the horned lizard back to the base of the tree.
"These beasts' noses are all too good. I need to think of a way."
There were only two possible solutions: either smear himself with blood, or smear himself with excrement. Both methods could mask Li Xi's scent, preventing other beasts from detecting him.
Excrement or blood, it was obvious which to choose. Li Xi drew his curved saber across the wild boar's thigh, cutting off a large piece of flesh. He smeared the large piece of flesh all over himself, and soon his entire body smelled of boar's blood.
This time, he jumped back onto the large tree. Within a few minutes, more beasts, sniffing the air, approached.
It was a group of lion-like beasts, but they were more than three times larger than Earth lions. They also had a layer of scales on their backs, which effectively protected their bones and internal organs.
It was a family-like group, with a leading male lion, followed by three lionesses, and five cubs protected in the middle.
They were slowly approaching the corpses at the base of the tree, sniffing the air for a long time without detecting anything unusual. Their eyes, sharper than humans', couldn't spot Li Xi hiding behind the thick leaves.
Just as they were about to enjoy a hearty meal, a blurry figure that was difficult to discern, accompanied by several flashes of saber light, struck. The entire lion pride fell there, their blood staining the ground, intensifying the scent of gore.
Li Xi returned to the tree, easily wiping the saber clean. There wasn't a trace of blood. Whether it was the horned lizard's thick bony hide or the scaled lions, they offered no resistance to the curved saber, being split in two, demonstrating its power.
"Good blade."
After receiving the knowledge inheritance, Li Xi understood why the mercenaries had envious expressions when Aisha gave him the sabers. It was because these two curved sabers were refined weapons, rare treasures.
Frank's skill was ordinary, and a large part of the reason he established the fame of the Brave Mercenary Group was due to these two curved sabers. However, these sabers now belonged to him.
The slaughter continued, and the prey increased. Thanks to the primitive environment of the otherworld, the wild beasts reproduced in large numbers. Within four hours, the beasts at the base of the tree were piled high like a mountain.
But Li Xi looked at the many corpses with a troubled expression. This was because only wild beasts were arriving, not a single magical beast.
The E-rank mission required at least one magical beast. Today, even if he piled wild beasts to fill Cador City, he wouldn't complete the mission.
The sun was already setting, and there were only a little over three hours left to complete the mission. Li Xi was getting anxious.
Just as Li Xi was feeling restless, three mercenaries were observing from a distance: two warriors and a ranger with a hunting bow.
"Boss, according to my observations, there's only one person, but his speed is very fast, faster than mine." Clearly, the ranger had been observing Li Xi's movements for a long time.
Their boss, wearing an E-rank badge on his chest, frowned and pondered for a moment, still hesitant. Although the three of them were of intermediate strength, the person opposite was clearly not simple. He could hunt so many prey with ordinary traps. A rough visual estimate suggested he was at least five thousand pounds in strength.
This made him feel that the three of them couldn't handle him.
Another warrior, seeing his boss's hesitation, was extremely anxious. "Boss, it's afternoon, and more people will come to turn in missions later. We won't get any share of these prey then."
This warrior's words were very true. Although they were called mercenaries, some of them also acted as bandits, thieves, and hooligans. As long as they could earn money, they would do anything except sell their souls to the devil.
If they could capture these prey, they could at least exchange them for one and a half gold coins. With one and a half gold coins, they could live for half a month without taking missions.
Seeing both his brothers looking at him, and considering the temptation of not taking missions for half a month, the boss gritted his teeth and clapped his hands. "Let's do it. Second brother, you hide in the rice paddy. The third brother and I will go first. As soon as he shows himself, you shoot him."
"Yes." The ranger took his bow and arrow and began to circle around to get closer.
After the ranger found a good spot, the boss led the third brother out boldly. They soon approached the vicinity of the large tree.
Just as they were about to try and flush Li Xi out to create an opportunity for the second brother, they suddenly saw the ground beneath the large tree roll. Two pairs of gray pincers, each half a meter long, emerged from the ground.
Upon seeing these two gray pincers, the boss and the third brother's faces changed drastically. They turned and hid in a nearby ditch.
The third brother nervously said to the boss, "Boss, it's a level two magical beast, the Tukra Beast."
The boss's expression was also grim. "I know. It seems these prey are not for us. We'll leave after the Tukra Beast has eaten its fill and moved on."
"Okay, boss."
Neither of them mentioned the fate of the mercenary who set up the trap, because in their impression, very few mercenaries who were targeted by a Tukra Beast managed to escape.
The Tukra Beast, shaped like a scorpion, was covered in potent poison and a hard shell. It could burrow underground, and its running speed was slightly faster than a normal intermediate warrior. It had no obvious weaknesses. Its two large pincers could easily crush a tree as thick as a person. It was truly a nightmare for novice mercenaries.
However, the moment they finished speaking, as the Tukra Beast fully emerged from the ground, a red figure appeared on its dorsal carapace.
Just as the Tukra Beast raised its venomous tail to attack, countless saber lights flashed, accompanied by figures appearing from all directions around the Tukra Beast. In just three seconds, no one knew how many times the Tukra Beast was attacked.
When the red figure stopped attacking and landed to the side, the Tukra Beast, whose entire body was covered in a shell with no weak points, was dismembered like a dish of food, broken into countless pieces.
The third brother's eyes widened in disbelief as he pointed at the red figure, his voice trembling, "B-b-boss, he... he..."
His boss slapped the third brother on the back and said sternly, "What 'he'? That's an expert. Speak carefully later."
The boss said this because Li Xi had turned around, and the two gleaming curved sabers were pointed directly at the two of them.