CHAPTER 409: CHAPTER 54: SPLITTING UP THREE WAYS

The Xuan Beast Ridge was vast and boundless. After leaving Five Saints Town and entering the Ridge, Yue Jinghua and the three "Second Generation Soldiers" headed to the Ridge.

Before setting out, Yue Jinghua bought a map at the local Mercenary Guild.

"Fire-Spraying Cuttlefish Eggs*10, Juvenile Flying Purple Centipede*5, Vincetoxicum Jujube Leaves*30, Arctic Sweet Yellow*40," Yue Jinghua tallied the list of ingredients outlined by Chef Mi Xiu.

The vast Xuan Beast Ridge spanned over tens of thousands of miles, and the terrain within was complex and varied—this much was evident from Chef Mi Xiu’s list of ingredients.

The Fire-Spitting Octopus resided in the Niger Boiling River, while the Flying Purple Centipede dwelled in the crevices of Liya Grand Canyon, and the Tusi Chrysanthemum and Arctic Sweet Yellow grew only in the Greenland Black Forest.

Before formally entering the Ridge, the "kind-hearted" Helen had reminded them that in the Xuan Beast Ridge, it was crucial to remain cautious and not to recklessly use Dark Power; otherwise, if the Dark Beasts were provoked, and the beasts swarmed, even ten Dark Heavenly Masters would not be enough to survive.

After brief discussions, Yue Jinghua and the others, according to the map, found that the three locations where the ingredients grew were situated in the eastern, western, and northern parts of the Xuan Beast Ridge. If the "Second Generation Soldiers" Mercenary Team were to move together, it would take at least a month and a half including the return trip.

"Same old rules, split up. Shalman, you’re good at dealing with poisonous insects, so the Flying Purple Centipede is yours. Qin Dongting, you excel in aquatic combat, so collecting the Fire-Spraying Cuttlefish Eggs is your job. I’ll head to the Greenland Black Forest to find the Tusi Chrysanthemum and Arctic Sweet Yellow," as the small team leader of the "Second Generation Soldiers" Mercenary Team, compared to the earlier sporadic tasks around Five Saints Town, this ingredient collection mission truly counted as a genuine mercenary task.

"I have no objections, but I’ve heard that Dark Demon Beasts might lurk around the Greenland Black Forest. Won’t it be too dangerous for you to go alone?" After more than a month of training, Shalman had become a qualified One-star Mercenary. In terms of strength, with the Thunder Snake and Five-Colored Spider by her side, she was ready to face a Dark Earth Realm Practitioner.

The maps from the Five Saints Mercenary Branch weren’t cheap, each costing a hundred Fourth-level Dark Pills, but they were very useful. The maps were drawn based on actual surveys by the mercenaries, and depending on the threat level, they were divided into: Safe Areas, Risky Areas, and Dangerous Areas.

Even if the map marked an area as safe, in places where Dark Beasts roamed like the Xuan Beast Ridge, no area could be considered absolutely safe.

The standard to judge the safety of an area was the annual mortality rate per thousand mercenaries.

The so-called Safe Areas have an average annual mortality rate of fewer than 10 deaths per thousand people. The Risky Areas have fewer than 100 deaths per thousand people annually, while Dangerous Areas see more than 500 deaths per thousand people.

Liya Grand Canyon was considered a Safe Area, while the Niger Boiling River was a Risky Area, and the Greenland Black Forest that Yue Jinghua was heading for was a Dangerous Area.

No wonder Shalman grew worried upon seeing the skull icons representing the number of casualties on the map.

"Heh, you don’t know me well enough. I might not excel at anything else, but there’s no one better at running away," Yue Jinghua took out a few Teleportation Scrolls drawn by Qian Luo from her bosom and handed one to each person, "Do not use a Teleportation Scroll unless absolutely necessary. Using one cuts 10 points from your individual Mercenary Points."

Despite not voicing any concerns, Yue Jinghua was somewhat worried in her heart. Not to mention that Shalman and Qin Dongting were novices fresh out of their training, likely to be significantly compromised in the face of an enemy; she herself had a plan in place to enter the Greenland Black Forest.

Seeing the Teleportation Scroll flickering with starlight, Shalman finally felt relieved. She took the scroll and summoned the Thunder Snake to lead the way, heading towards Liya Grand Canyon.

Qin Dongting also took the scroll, and before leaving, he struggled to push out a few words from his lips: "Be careful," then he coolly headed in the direction of the Niger Boiling River.

After the two had left, Yue Jinghua didn’t hurry to depart.

She set up camp at the place where the three of them had parted, deliberately staying one night, cleaning up the traces they had left behind.

At night, she planted the Jiao Breath Flower, obtained from the cave at Kalan Peak, next to the campsite. Only after the scent of the Jiao Breath Flower completely masked the smell they left behind did she break camp and leave.

In the afternoon following Yue Jinghua’s departure, Sha Xi and his people, along with several German Highland Foxes adept at scent tracking, indeed arrived at the place where the three had stopped before.

"Quickly, look around and find the whereabouts of those rookie mercenaries," Li Rui, experienced as he was, had purposefully found Chef Mi Xiu before leaving town and also got a copy of the same ingredients list.

The Highland Foxes, dog-like in appearance with exceptionally sensitive noses, were able to keenly track the trio’s scent even within the dense foliage and hard-to-find paths of the Xuan Beast Ridge, following it all the way here.

There was a patch of charred wood left on the ground. The foxes came up to sniff it and suddenly, as if electrocuted, their fur stood on end. Frightened, they went limp on all fours, lying next to the charred wood motionless, no matter how much the scouting mercenaries pulled, they refused to stand up again.

"Li Rui, what’s wrong?" Sha Xi was entering Xuan Beast Ridge for the first time. The terrain had been tough to navigate, and Li Rui had emphasized that they couldn’t use Dark Beasts as mounts or in a palanquin, so she could only walk on foot, complaining all the way.

After inspecting the area, Li Rui quickly found some pollen left on the leaves.

"Jiao Breath Flower?!" Li Rui recognized the flower, his expression turning solemn. "They anticipated being tracked and used Jiao Breath Flower along the way to prevent tracking. Jiao Breath Flower is a rare spiritual flower, said to grow only where the Jiaolong Clan resides. The scent it emits is like a mist that can make Dark Beasts mistake the area for containing Dragon Clan presence. Dark Beasts below Eighth Rank, just by smelling this fragrance, will feel so weak that they can’t track anymore."

A mercenary team of rookies clearly couldn’t possess such deep cunning to set up such meticulous arrangements. The only explanation was that they had someone with expert guidance behind them.

"Can’t find the trail? What do we do then? I don’t want to keep waiting in this godforsaken place," Sha Xi frowned, a look of distaste on her face.

"We already know that to collect ingredients, they can only go towards Liya Grand Canyon, Niger Boiling River, and Greenland Black Forest. Even if we split up into three groups, at least one of them will be headed to one place. For now, we can only choose one of these locations to track," after deducing, Li Rui finally decided on the Greenland Black Forest.

The most dangerous places are often the safest ones.