"Here!"
"Respected cultivators, please save me."
Just as Sophie and David entered the vicinity of the village, a plump middle-aged man came running towards them with a fearful expression on his face.
"Calm down old man, and tell us your name, first."
Leon arrived and asked while surveying his surroundings.
The ground was dyed red and an unbearable smell permeated in the surrounding.
David was even able to find an animal that looked like a rat munching on a dead body of a child.
The situation was beyond horrible.
Suddenly, Sophie's eyes also landed on the dead body.
Disgusted, she hurriedly turned her head away.
The scene was too much for her, since she was young, she had barely seen a dead body and now suddenly a body of a child appeared in front of her.
Among the three Leon, showed the least reaction to his surroundings.
He wasn't disgusted, but calmly analyzed the situation.
David was feeling nauseous, he felt, if he stayed here for any longer he would puke.
He focused on the man that had suddenly appeared to calm his mind.
Tears were running down the man's face; his clothes were drenched in blood, he looked extremely miserable.
Sophie walked near the men and with a flick of her wrist a water bottle appeared on hand.
"Water, Give it to me."
As soon as the water bottle appeared in front of the man, not caring about Sophie's status as cultivator, he screamed and moved his hands forward to snatch the bottle from Sophie.
Sophie didn't resist; she gave the bottle to the man and waited for him to calm down.
Gulp! Gulp!
The man took large mouthfuls of water, as if fearing that the water would suddenly disappear.
While the plump middle-aged man was calming down, David was peering deeper into the village.
The whole place was giving him a dangerous feeling, as if someone or something was watching him constantly.
The man seemed to have calmed down after drinking water, and he finally started to speak.
"My name is Rick Loaf, a merchant from Teravista City."
David was also listening to his words carefully; he knew about Teravista City. It was one of the major cities of the Blackthorn Empire.
"Yesterday, when I came here with my crew, they suddenly started to disappear one after the other."
"And those who didn't disappear exploded…."
Rick's eyes were filled with fear when he uttered the last line.
The image of his friends exploding was still clear in his mind. His clothes were dyed with their blood.
After hearing his words. David frowned, the situation was extremely strange. He looked at Sophie from the corner of his eyes to look at her reaction.
She appeared calm on the surface, but internally she was frowning.
Half of Rick's words matched with the information that she had received, but she had no idea about people exploding.
The mission was going beyond her capacity.
But she couldn't return without a single clue. If she failed this mission, her reputation would further go down the drain.
David was looking at the middle-aged man with narrowed eyes. He felt that something was wrong with this man.
"Let's look for clues. If we don't find anything within one hour, then we will leave this place at the earliest."
Sophie suddenly spoke and started to walk.
David and Leon also nodded at her words. David agreed with her that it was too reckless to stay here unnecessarily.
When the three of them started to move further into the village, the fearful expression on the plump middle-aged man disappeared and was replaced by a cold looking face.
The plump middle-aged man licked his lips and followed the trio.
"Why are you following us here?"
David suddenly said as he felt the man following them from behind.
"Please, cultivators, don't leave me alone."
The man started to beg, afraid that three of them would leave him alone to die in this place.
Looking at his pathetic condition, Sophie couldn't help but pity him.
"Let him follow us."
David wanted to refuse but thought he might be too paranoid, so in the end, he didn't say anything.
Suddenly, David's eyes flashed; he had an idea.
[Request for status report.]
[Target- Rick]
[Cost-20,000 spirit stones]
[Yes/No]
David suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
He didn't need anything else; he was sure there was definitely something wrong with the man in front of him.
"20,000 spirit stones. This was the amount that he was seeing for the first time."
"Damn it! The middle aged man was definitely in the foundation building Realm." he furiously cursed in his head.
David started backing away and prepared himself to explode with his peak strength at any moment.
"What happened, Junior Brother?"
Sophie looked at David in surprise, wondering what happened.
Leon was also puzzled by David's reaction.
"Run!"
Without bothering to reply to Sophie's question, he shouted and started to run as fast as his legs could carry him.
Sophie only heard a loud thunderclap, following which David's figure disappeared.
Leon didn't understand what was going on, his head was filled with thousands of questions, but given David's momentum just now, if he was running, then nothing good would happen to him if he stayed here.
Without hesitating, he also took action and placed a talisman on his head.
Leon's body turned into a gust of wind and followed David from behind.
"Where are you going, respected cultivators?"
Rick's eyes turned red and he started to hoarsely mutter in a low voice.
"I said stop." Rick suddenly shouted in an ear-piercing voice.
Following his shout, his head suddenly exploded like a watermelon; hundreds of paper thin tentacles emerged out of his head.
Sophie looked at this scene in shock. Out of nowhere, she was abandoned by her teammates.
A fragile-looking man who needed her help a moment ago, transformed into a terrifying-looking monster.
Luckily for Sophie, Rick or the monster wasn't interested in her.
He turned in the direction in which David and Leon had gone.
The monster pushed his body towards the ground, preparing himself to jump.
The ground caved beneath the monster's feet with a slight push and he was catapulted into the air at high speed.
Just after the monster left, Sophie felt a terrifying force wrapping around her and suddenly her body also disappeared.