C17 Great Harvest

Could a kid who wasn't even an Adept survive in the Arlingwaki Hill for over a month?

That's nothing short of laughable.

Meanwhile, Lee Fei was regarded by the Lee family much like Ning Gao. They claimed he had overexerted himself in cultivation, causing the spiritual energy within him to detonate, leading to his explosive death.

...

"Shh, shh~"

Two middle-aged men crouched in the underbrush, each clutching a large, gleaming knife.

"Old Xue, on the count of three, we go in," whispered the man on the left to his companion on the right.

About fifty meters ahead of them was a small gray wolf pup, barely half a meter long.

"One... two... three!"

The man on the left bellowed and charged like an arrow released from its bow, with the man on the right matching his pace perfectly. Their movements were as synchronized as if cast from the same mold.

The little gray wolf, terrified, tried to flee, but being so young and weak, it was no match for the burly men behind it. It had barely covered a few meters before being pinned to the ground.

"Old Xue, we've struck it rich this time!" one exclaimed.

"Absolutely, this is a Gray Wolf pup. We could sell it for at least twenty to thirty gold coins," the other agreed, both grinning at their captive.

Half an hour later, they returned to a small valley where many similarly dressed people had set up camp.

"Wang Bin, Xue Hong, what a haul!" called out a lookout, eyeing the pair enviously as they approached the camp.

At his shout, others turned to look, chuckling and joking when they spotted the little gray wolf.

"Hey, what's this? You two snuck off for a bit of private profit-making, huh?" teased a muscular man emerging from the largest tent, grinning at the sight of the pup.

"Boss, Old Xue and I just wanted to earn extra so our families can enjoy more meat back home," one of the men replied with a smile.

The man named Wang Bin secured the grey wolf pup with a rope and set it aside before casually taking a seat to join in the playful banter with the others.

"Come on, Little Ning, these two are also brothers in our squad. Meet Wang Bin and Xue Hong."

The captain gestured, and a strikingly handsome young man emerged from the tent.

"Brother Wang, Brother Xue, I'm Ning Gao. Just call me Little Ning."

If the Lee and Ning families were to see Ning Gao here, after having no news of him for over a month in Vuiburgh, they would be utterly astonished.

The Arlingwaki Hill range was vast, and naturally, there were other cities nearby besides Vuiburgh.

Ning Gao had spent over a month traveling daily, finally crossing several mountains to reach this place.

These individuals were part of the mercenary group from Uvrester City.

Uvrester was significantly larger than Vuiburgh, and the group Ning Gao encountered was the Snow Tiger mercenaries.

Their leader was Lee Hu, who had called out to Ning Gao.

That very morning, Ning Gao had stumbled upon Lee Hu engaged in a fierce battle with a Demonic Beast at the Eight-star peak of the Apprentice level. They were at a deadlock when Ning Gao's arrival distracted the beast, allowing Lee Hu to land a deadly blow.

Impressed by Ning Gao's timely interference, Lee Hu took a liking to him.

The Demonic Beast, being at the peak of the Eight-star Apprentice level, fetched a handsome price.

Seeing Ning Gao braving the Arlingwaki Hills alone, Lee Hu was moved and promptly invited him to join his mercenary band.

Ning Gao, in need of a safe haven, readily agreed, and the two hit it off immediately.

"An Apprentice of the Five-star average?"