Starting from Douluo Continent, I've become a god through daily check-ins.

Chapter 403 The Strange Mercenary Squad

The cool moonlight slowly shone down from the sky, draping the entire forest in a thin veil of mystery.

"Hiss..." On a mountaintop, the boy gritted his teeth, his hands gripping the tree trunk with prominent veins.

Behind the naked boy was an old man, his body somewhat ethereal, covered in a red liquid, slowly scraping a jade tablet. With each scrape, the boy's body convulsed violently.

After completely smearing the red liquid all over the boy's back, the old man reluctantly stopped, looking down at the boy's face twitching in pain, and chuckled gloatingly, "Feels better, doesn't it?"

"Damn it! This is awful! Shu Chang, why don't you try it yourself?" The burning pain in his back made Jing Chen curse out loud. He had never succumbed to any pain before, but he had a psychological trauma from that burning sensation.

"Hehe." With a chuckle, Yao Lao looked down at the red liquid gradually evaporating on Jing Chen's back, then nodded slightly and casually asked, "How is it? Do you feel like you've reached the threshold of a nine-star Dou Zhe?"

Upon hearing this, Jing Chen rolled his eyes and said helplessly, "I've only recovered to the strength of an eight-star Dou Zhe for a month. How can I recover to a nine-star Dou Zhe so easily? I don't know why, but the higher the strength, the more difficult it is to recover. I might as well start cultivating again."

"It's been over a year since we left to cultivate, and there are only about two years left until your agreement with that girl from the Yunlan Sect," Yao Lao said with a faint smile.

Slightly taken aback, Jing Chen frowned and said, "I wonder what level he is now. Two years ago, if I remember correctly, he was already a three-star Dou Zhe. Judging from her talent and the strength of the Yunlan Sect, I don't think she is weaker than me."

"Indeed, although I have many ways to suddenly increase your strength, they all have very strong side effects. If you use those secret techniques, you will probably stay at that level forever." Yao Lao said slowly, glancing at the silent Jing Chen, and said, "Even if you really lose to that girl, I will not let you use those secret techniques. The price is too high."

"I don't think I'll lose to her in two years. She has the Yunlan Sect as her backing, so she might not lack cultivation techniques and fighting skills. But I'm not one to be trifled with either. She has a backer, but so do I. Besides, even if she's far stronger than me in two years, it doesn't necessarily mean she can defeat me. I have plenty of trump cards!" Jing Chen turned over, looked up at the silver moon in the sky, stretched out his palm, and said calmly with his eyes slightly narrowed.

Jing Chen slowly exhaled, turned his head to look at the somewhat ethereal Yao Lao, and said with a sneer, "Besides, Yao Lao won't just stand by and watch me lose, will he?"

"You brat..." Looking at Jing Chen's shameless act, Yao Lao shook his head helplessly. He stretched out his palm, and a cold, white flame appeared in his hand. His eyes were fixed on the light and leaping flame, and a faint smile appeared on his aged face: "Don't worry, if I didn't have this much skill, I wouldn't have taken you as my disciple."

"However, I can help you improve your strength only if you have time to cultivate according to the methods I teach. But right now, you're being chased all over the mountain, which is a waste of your already limited and precious time," the old medicine master said jokingly.

Rolling his eyes, Jing Chen shrugged and said helplessly, "Actually, even if you just farted, you could kill them, but you insist on pretending to be a master and refuse to do anything."

"Smack!" Yao Lao slapped Jing Chen on the head, laughing and scolding, "If I have to solve everything for you, what's the point of you being alive? Isn't fighting with others also a way to increase your wisdom and experience?"

Jing Chen chuckled helplessly, "Master Yao, I was just joking with you. But those Wolf Head Mercenary Group members are really getting in the way. I'll wipe them all out sooner or later. Honestly, what a waste of my time!"

He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and said to the old apothecary, "Old apothecary, let's continue."

"Huh?" Upon hearing this, the old medicine master was taken aback: "You can still hold on?"

"Are you kidding me! We didn't have much time to begin with, and those bastards from Wolf Head have wasted so much of it. Even if we can't stand it, we have to endure it." Jing Chen said helplessly through gritted teeth.

Looking at the boy who was tense up again, Yao Lao was stunned for a moment. The boy's inherent arrogance made Yao Lao's face show a sense of satisfaction. He smiled and nodded, took out another bottle of "Burning Blood" from his storage ring, and then poured it down.

“!!!!!!”

In the stillness of the night, the trembling, cold air leaking from the boy's jaw slowly swirled and lingered.

······

The blazing sunlight pierced through the dense foliage, casting countless tiny dappled patterns of light through the thick forest, creating a breathtakingly beautiful scene.

Curled up in the hidden jungle, Jing Chen frowned as he watched the mercenaries coming and going not far below. This was the main road into the Monster Mountain Range, and although there were usually quite a few mercenaries coming and going, today, Jing Chen vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Through the bushes, Jing Chen stared intently at the mercenaries passing by. After a long while, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he finally realized that something was wrong.

Many of the teams passing by below seemed to be hastily assembled, yet as they moved, they inadvertently revealed a tacit understanding that could only be achieved through long-term cooperation.

"The more I look at it, the more something seems off, but I can't quite put my finger on it." Frowning, Jing Chen spat out the grass root in his mouth, rolled his eyes, and then carefully emerged from the bushes before tiptoeing into the dense forest.

Jing Chen's clothes were covered with green stripes drawn with grass juice, which allowed him to remain completely hidden in the dense forest without being discovered.

Hidden in the dense forest, Jing Chen spotted two or three separate teams of five. He chuckled as he observed the mercenaries' actions from the shadows. After a moment, Jing Chen realized that these mercenaries, seemingly there to hunt magical beasts, were actually searching for something…

Using the cover of the jungle and the plant sap to conceal his scent, Jing Chen successfully evaded the mercenary squads and the magical beasts roaming the forest.

After wandering around and exploring for half a morning, Jing Chen finally learned the identities of these mercenary teams by chance.

"Wolf Head Mercenary Group...tsk tsk, it seems that killing their so-called third leaders really stirred up a hornet's nest." Jing Chen was still a little surprised after hearing this news.

"Damn it, you've been holding it in all morning, serves you right for being so unlucky." Hiding in the shadows, Jing Chen watched the five-person team gradually emerge into the dense forest and sneered softly.

(End of this chapter)