Chapter 169 - 166: It’s a Ghost, Run!

Zhu Daoren’s expression changed drastically. He slashed his saber at the little boy, but the boy dodged and retaliated with a flying kick.

SWISH!

At that moment, Mo Qianqian activated his Spirit Body. It appeared beside the little boy and struck the boy’s foot with a kick. This deflected the boy’s attack, causing it to brush past Zhu Daoren’s side and miss entirely. Otherwise, that single strike would have sent Zhu Daoren flying.

Startled, Zhu Daoren hastily threw a punch with his free hand, slamming his fist into the little boy. Simultaneously, Mo Qianqian controlled his Spirit Body to deliver a heavy punch of its own.

BANG!

The little boy’s body was instantly sent flying far into the distance, having suffered the combined force of both Zhu Daoren’s and Mo Qianqian’s blows.

However, the little boy picked himself up from the ground as if nothing had happened. He patted the dirt off his clothes and looked toward Mo Qianqian and Zhu Daoren with utter terror. To be precise, he was staring at Mo Qianqian. But since Mo Qianqian was standing right behind Zhu Daoren, it looked as though he was staring at the latter.

"A ghost! Run!" the little boy suddenly shrieked in horror. He turned and fled at the speed of the wind—so fast that pursuit was impossible.

The other spirit beasts froze for a moment before turning and scattering in all directions. In no time at all, every single one of them vanished from the group’s sight.

"Uh..." The group stood there, dumbfounded. They wondered if the beasts had really just run away like that.

"A ghost?" Zhu Daoren was bewildered. He had merely punched the boy. He wondered why he was being called a ghost and if there was something wrong with the shapeshifted spirit beast’s intellect.

Watching the shapeshifted little boy disappear, Mo Qianqian inwardly sighed in pity. That was a spirit beast capable of taking human form, yet its intelligence didn’t seem too high. If he could have tamed it, it would have been a tremendous asset. Unfortunately, it was simply too fast; even if he wanted to capture it, he couldn’t.

"Do a head count! We need to leave this place immediately!" Zhu Daoren quickly shouted out. When it came to surviving in the wilderness, he was highly experienced.

Three people and two Spiritual Steeds had died in the fray. After hastily dealing with the aftermath, the group mounted their remaining Spiritual Steeds and hurried away from the scene.

"See, Old Mo? Traveling with us is well worth the two Third-Grade Lower-Level Tongyou Pills, right?" Zhu Daoren began to boast as they traveled. "Otherwise, you would have died at the hands of those spirit beasts today."

Mo Qianqian was speechless. He thought, "If it weren’t for me, you all would have been doomed today!" However, he kept the thought to himself.

"Zhu Daoren, you promised to prioritize our safety!" the woman in the light green dress scolded in dissatisfaction. "He’s just a good-for-nothing! Why did you protect him?"

Mo Qianqian frowned.

"Let it go. They’ve already done their best. Given the situation just now, they didn’t have much of a choice," Li Chen tried to persuade her.

"Let it go? You useless coward! I almost died in the jaws of those spirit beasts, do you know that? Do you have any idea how terrified I was?" The woman in the light green dress pointed directly at Li Chen’s nose and berated him. "You can’t even protect me, and when I criticize an outsider, you actually take their side against me?

"If my father finds out about this, he definitely won’t let you off lightly!" she continued to shout.

"You are right, Madam. I will definitely do better next time. I won’t let you suffer such a fright again," Li Chen apologized profusely.

"Do better, do better! That’s all you ever say! What else can you do besides apologize?" she reprimanded.

"Yes, yes, yes..." Li Chen could only bow his head repeatedly in submission.

Zhu Daoren and the others looked at Li Chen with sympathy but said nothing.

Mo Qianqian found the whole display utterly exasperating. However, unlike the mercenaries, he wasn’t on her payroll, and he certainly wasn’t going to pamper her. Since she had called him a good-for-nothing, he saw no reason to be polite.

Turning his head to look at Li Chen, Mo Qianqian spoke up, "Brother, how about finding a new wife?"

Beside him, Zhu Daoren and the others froze in shock before shooting Mo Qianqian looks of sheer admiration.

Li Chen was also stunned. "What did you say?"

The woman in the light green dress instantly blew her top. "You told him to find a new wife? You absolute good-for-nothing, how dare you tell him to replace me?! Do you have any idea who I am?!"

Mo Qianqian completely ignored her. Keeping his eyes on Li Chen, he added, "Brother, you should seriously consider it."

"You, you, you..." The woman was so furious her lungs were practically bursting. "You’re courting death!" she screamed. Glaring at Li Chen, she bellowed a command, "Li Chen, kill him right now!"

Li Chen frowned, his face turning an ugly shade. "Madam, Brother Mo is just joking..."

"Joking? Telling you to replace your wife is a joke? Li Chen, do you actually want to replace me?!" she shrieked in a fury.

"How could I? Madam, please don’t overthink this. In this life, I will marry no one but you," Li Chen hastily explained.

"If you don’t want to, then kill him for me! Or do you no longer want to marry into my Feng family?!" the woman cursed.

"But..." Li Chen looked at Zhu Daoren, stuck in a difficult position.

"Ahem... he still owes me two pills," Zhu Daoren explained awkwardly, not wanting to get involved.

No matter how acrimonious and mean-spirited the woman was, there were certain things Zhu Daoren simply couldn’t say. Only an outsider like Old Mo had that luxury. After all, she was his paying client. You do not offend the client, and you do not look down on the client—those were the rules. He had a reputation to maintain.

"Kill him, and my Feng family will pay you those two pills!" the woman in the light green dress snapped angrily.

"That won’t do. It’s just like if someone were to offer us even more money right now to kill the two of you—our Eternal Commerce Association absolutely cannot do such a thing," Zhu Daoren reasoned.

"Just kill him! No one will ever know. We won’t breathe a word of it," she pressed.

Zhu Daoren was speechless. "No. The Eternal Commerce Association’s reputation is eternal."

"If you won’t kill him, then kick him out! Is that acceptable?!" the woman fumed.

"The Eternal Commerce Association’s reputation is eternal. My apologies, but we cannot do that," Zhu Daoren repeated.

"If you won’t kill him, we’ll do it ourselves! Li Chen, you good-for-nothing coward, make your move already!" she lashed out at Li Chen again.

"Miss Feng, since we took him along on the Shunfeng Steed, we must do our utmost to escort him safely to Black Dragon City," Zhu Daoren added.

"Zhu Daoren, are you intentionally making things difficult for me?!" she raged.

Zhu Daoren remained silent.

"Fine! Once we reach Black Dragon City, let’s see how you stop me then!" Miss Feng was trembling with anger.

"Madam, please calm down," Li Chen hurriedly coaxed.

"Hmph! If he doesn’t die, you useless coward can forget about ever marrying into my Feng family!" she scoffed coldly.

Li Chen could only nod incessantly and continue to placate her.

Mo Qianqian listened in sheer disbelief. She could casually insult him as a "good-for-nothing," yet the moment he teased her with a single sentence, she wanted him dead. This woman was truly vicious. He even felt a fleeting urge to strike out and kill her himself.

However, as a merchant, Zhu Daoren actually possessed some moral character. That young man, Li Chen, didn’t seem malicious either. If he killed the woman, the rest of the group would certainly fight him to the death, and he had no desire to wipe them all out.

He chose not to speak again, lest he lose his temper and actually end her life. As for what would happen upon reaching Black Dragon City—if she still stubbornly insisted on making a move against him, he wouldn’t hold back anymore.