The young man, in his thirties, wore a green round-collared robe and a scholar’s headdress, exuding the oppressive air of someone who had been an official for a long time. He laughed, "Xiuchun, do you still intend to eat humans? Nowadays, with the Demon Transformation, life is hard for everyone, so try not to be so tense."
He looked at Chen Shi and Li Tianqing with a smile, his face gentle, "Gentlemen, we are here to hunt for our prey as well, without any malicious intent."
He took the lead, walking along the edge of the mountain path. The others followed suit, and they all passed by peacefully, without any conflict arising.
Only after they had walked far away did Chen Shi and Li Tianqing relax somewhat. Li Tianqing said, "This young master seems quite amiable."
Chen Shi voiced his doubts, "That man, he seems to be from the provincial Zhao family. Strange, does the Zhao family also have good people?"
Li Tianqing laughed, "You are too prejudiced against noble families. There are also righteous people within noble families; they are not all bad as you think."
Chen Shi nodded, admitting his own prejudice.
The young man, accompanied by the maids, seemed to be enjoying a leisurely outing. The girls giggled and bantered with each other, quite at ease. Occasionally, they would boldly tease the young man.
The young man’s surname was Zhao, and his given name was Ziyu, the eldest son of Xuanying Mansion. He had followed the mansion’s master, Zhao Yanlong, to Qianyang Mountain but had not expected to be trapped on the mountain.
He was well-known for his good temperament and did not care about the teasing of these maids.
This trait of his was also something Zhao Yanlong did not like.
Voices could be heard ahead, and the maids surrounded Zhao Ziyu and walked forward. In the valley, there were boys dressed as scholars, around thirteen or fourteen years old, dividing up a mutant beast.
The mutant beast was as big as a cow or horse, with a rhino’s horn and scales. There were also scorch marks around it, indicating it must have been formidable.
Most of these children had wounds on them and must have struggled greatly to take down this mutant beast.
Beside them stood a man in his thirties with a bookcase on his back, likely a private tutor, teaching them how to divide the beast.
"A young master from a private school," one maid laughed.
The maid named Xiuchun, smiling, approached, and the private tutor instantly became alert, signaling his students to be prepared.
The students hastily activated their Divine Shrines, watching her warily.
Maid Xiuchun laughed, "Don’t be nervous, we and the young master are also trapped here, starving and hunting for food, we’ve just been unlucky and haven’t found any prey. Could you kindly share some with us?"
The private tutor remained vigilant, "Miss, please stop there."
A few tender-hearted students said, "We came out hunting because we were concerned about our villagers starving. We can only spare a dozen pounds of this Fire Rhinoceros for you."
A female student said, "Teacher, I’ll give up my share for them. They look so pitiful."
Xiuchun was both surprised and delighted, quickly bowed deeply, and laughed, "Thank you so much!"
The moment she bowed, a Divine Shrine appeared behind her, and an invisible Sword Qi roared past, slicing off the head of the female student in front of her. The momentum unabated, it cut another student in half at the waist!
At the same time, three other maids who were ready with their Divine Embryo Shrines each took a step out from the group, raising a finger. Their Sword techniques activated, and invisible Sword Qi flew out, instantly decapitating four or five students!
The private tutor’s eyes instantly turned blood-red, and he shouted, all his talismans flaring as he charged towards Zhao Ziyu, yelling, "You all run!"
Although he was in the Divine Embryo Realm, his cultivation was profound, already on the verge of breaking through to the Divinity Transformation Stage of the Golden Core Realm. Now, as he activated his talismans, the Sword Qi of the maids’ Meridian Evil Slayer Swords could not penetrate.
He recognized that Zhao Ziyu was the leader, attacking the enemy as a means to save others, so the maids who wanted to protect Zhao Ziyu would naturally attack him, buying time for his students to escape.
Zhao Ziyu lightly waved his hand, signaling the maids to disperse.
Understanding his gesture, the maids stepped back, not attacking the private tutor, but instead chasing after the dazed students, allowing him to approach.
Zhao Ziyu smiled as the Divine Shrine emerged behind him, with the Divine Embryo sitting within. He opened his mouth and spat out a dazzling, round and golden light which seemed boundless and infinite, yet oddly gave the impression of primal chaos coalesced into a sphere.
This object was called the Golden Core.
As the Golden Core emerged, the private tutor felt an immense pressure, collapsing to his knees, hands desperately pressing against the ground in an attempt to rise but was pinned down by the radiant light from the glittering Bright Pearl, rendering his talismans useless.
"Crack, crack, crack!"
A series of cracking noises traveled through the private tutor’s body as his bones broke and his flesh was pulverized under the immense pressure, turning to mush, and the bones to dust, except for his hard skull, which resisted being crushed.
The difference between realms was like that between heaven and earth.
Although he was not far from the Golden Core Realm, he had not yet formed his own Golden Core and couldn’t withstand the pressure from the opponent’s Golden Core.
Zhao Ziyu’s smile slightly deepened as he retrieved the Golden Core. The Bright Pearl returned to the mouth of the Divine Embryo, and he spoke leisurely, "Xiuchun, here comes our food. What use was it to kill those two children just now? We don’t eat humans. Now that we have this Fire Rhinoceros, we can return with an explanation."
Maid Xiuchun, with her graceful figure and handsome face, giggled, "The young master is right. These begging villagers competing with us for food deserve to die here."
Zhao Ziyu shook his head, correcting her, "They helped us hunt for food, saving us the trouble of searching; we should thank them."
Xiuchun laughed, "We really should thank them profoundly."
The maids returned, cheerfully butchering the meat of the Fire Rhinoceros. Fastidious as they were, they disliked that the meat was covered in blood, so they used silk cloths to meticulously absorb the blood from the meat.