“We can pay for information, and someone will naturally find it for us. It only takes a small price to find the gathering place of the wild people,” Hu Zha said with a smile.

“I see, it is indeed a time-saving and effortless method,” Yuan Ming sighed.

“But now it’s not possible anymore. The wild people have been captured a lot, and they have become smarter, hiding deeper and becoming harder to find,” Hu Zha sighed lightly.

While they were talking, a clear chirping of birds came from the sky.

Hu Zha immediately looked up and took out a stone talisman from his pocket, holding it in his hand.

The stone talisman lit up, and a bird flying high in the sky immediately landed on his arm.

“A messenger bird used for communication, the lowest-level spiritual beast from the Beast Taming Hall,” Hu Zha explained when he saw Yuan Ming’s puzzled expression.

He then took a piece of cloth from the bird’s ankle, glanced at it, and smiled.

“I found it. It’s in a valley about 120 miles southwest from here,” Hu Zha said, marking it on a beast skin map.

“Speed up,” he ordered.

The whole team started to accelerate and chased after the southwest direction.

“These wild people think they’re clever, not escaping deep into the Ten Thousand Mountains but getting closer to the densely populated areas of the Southern Border Villages. They want to hide in plain sight. How foolish,” Hu Zha mocked while running.

Yuan Ming smirked slightly but did not agree.

After about an hour, the group arrived at the entrance of a valley.

At the entrance, there was already a thin man wearing a blue robe and a black cloth wrapped around his head waiting.

His skin was dark, and his face was covered in traces of wind and sun.

As soon as Hu Zha and the others appeared, the man’s eyes lit up, and a look of joy and fear appeared on his face as he hurried over.

“Sir, I have been following those wild people for several days. They have been circling in the mountains until today when they finally stopped in this valley,” the thin man said.

Yuan Ming could tell at a glance that the man was just an ordinary person.

“You did well. Here is your reward,” Hu Zha nodded in satisfaction and took out a piece of silver from his pocket, weighing about three or four coins, and threw it to the man.

The thin man immediately caught it and thanked him profusely, almost wanting to kneel down and kowtow.

Hu Zha didn’t pay much attention and, with his men, drew his curved knife and headed straight into the valley.

Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment and did not follow.

He sympathized with the wild people who were about to face misfortune but couldn’t change their fate.

His strength was still not enough to support even a trace of kindness in saving others. Even if he had the strength, he couldn’t rashly intervene and risk putting himself in danger for other people’s business.

Soon, the sounds of killing and crying came from the valley.

Yuan Ming looked at the thin man who led the way. The man seemed to be accustomed to the sounds of killing and crying and didn’t show any reaction. Only when he noticed Yuan Ming’s gaze did a somewhat awkward smile appear on his rugged face.

If no one knew what he had done, anyone would just take him as an honest farmer from the Southern Border.

After a while, Hu Zha and the others returned, escorting seven or eight figures to the valley entrance.

Yuan Ming took a glance and saw that they were all wild people with disheveled hair, wearing handcuffs and shackles, and covered in dirt. The oldest was no more than forty years old, and the youngest was probably only ten.

“Damn it, this old man lied to us. He said there were about two hundred of these wild people, but there’s not even half of that,” complained the tattooed man from afar.

Yuan Ming frowned. They only brought out a few dozen people out of nearly a hundred?

The fate of those who were not brought out was self-evident.

Yuan Ming glanced at the thin man and couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow. Dozens of lives were only worth a few coins of silver?

“This is definitely not enough. It’s far from the target we set for this trip,” Hu Zha also frowned.

“What’s going on?” Yuan Ming asked when they approached.

“We don’t have enough people,” Hu Zha said.

“What do you mean by not enough people?” Yuan Ming continued to ask.

“Probably not enough people with spiritual roots, and not enough dead souls,” Hu Zha explained.

“How many more do we need?” Yuan Ming asked.

“At least half. We must find another group of wild people of similar size; otherwise, we won’t meet the requirements,” Hu Zha said.

“We still need so many. Where can we find them?” Yuan Ming asked.

Hu Zha walked to the side of the thin man, grabbed his clothes, and lifted him up.

“The number of people here doesn’t match your intelligence. Do you know where other groups of wild people are?” Hu Zha asked fiercely.

“S-sir, I don’t… I don’t know. This is the only group we found recently,” the thin man stammered, terrified.

Hu Zha’s brow furrowed, and he pondered.

But after a moment, his brow relaxed, and he smiled, “If I remember correctly, your village seems to be nearby. Tell me, how many households and people are there in your village?”

The thin man stiffened at the words, his face turning extremely pale.

After Hu Zha threw him down, he immediately knelt in front of Hu Zha, begging and kowtowing repeatedly, “Sir, please, please don’t… I will help you find more. Please give me some time… I beg you.”

Hu Zha sneered, looking at him without any mercy.

The other Beast Taming Hall men surrounded them, their faces full of mockery, as if they were looking at a miserable dog.

The thin man saw this and realized that only Yuan Ming had no smile on his face and didn’t look at him.

He clung to Yuan Ming like a drowning man clutching at a straw, struggling to throw himself at Yuan Ming’s feet, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

“Please, please help me. I can definitely find more. Just give me one day… no, give me half a day. I beg you,” he cried, tears streaming down his face, extremely miserable.

However, Yuan Ming’s gaze fell on the wild people, not even glancing at the thin man.

Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things as straw dogs.In this harsh land of the Southern Border, who isn’t a fish on the chopping board?

Soon, the wailing man was dragged back by the collar, a blood-stained curved blade held against his neck.

“Lead us to your village, or I’ll chop you up and feed you to the dogs right now,” Hu Zha threatened with a malicious grin.

The gaunt man was already scared out of his wits, only fear remained.

He could feel the icy blade cutting into his neck, his blood vessels even felt the chill, death was just a hair’s breadth away.

“I’ll lead… I’ll lead…”

Those who could betray others’ lives could also betray their own people sooner or later.

Tears and snot mixed on his face, a mess, and his pants were already soiled.

“Can you spare my family?” he pleaded with the last shred of hope.

“We’ve always had a good cooperation, I can agree to this condition,” Hu Zha laughed.

The gaunt man’s face was ashen, the joy he had when he received the money was gone.

“Junior Brother Yuan, you and the others wait here for us, I’ll take two people over, we should be back in two hours at most,” Hu Zha instructed Yuan Ming.

The conversation along the way made him feel quite familiar with Yuan Ming, and he called “Junior Brother Yuan” very naturally.

Yuan Ming nodded without saying a word.

Even if Hu Zha didn’t mention it, he would find an excuse not to go with them.

Hu Zha immediately called out, took the tattooed man and another man with a scar on his face, and left with the gaunt man.

Yuan Ming and the others, with the few savages, stayed in place.

The remaining men gathered around Yuan Ming, trying to curry favor with him.

Their Beast Servant Hall’s position in the Bi Luo Cave was always much lower than the other halls, almost all of them were practitioners who were not mainstream.

After all, killing savages didn’t require high cultivation.

So, if they could climb up to the disciples of other halls, especially the inner disciples, the benefits would naturally be numerous.

“How long have you been doing this kind of work?” Yuan Ming casually asked.

The men answered in a flurry, some said three years, some said five years.

The oldest one had been doing it for almost ten years.

“Do you know why we are killing these savages?” Yuan Ming asked.

The others were silent, not knowing the specific reason.

Only the oldest one, after some hesitation, pointed to the sky and said, “It’s required from above.”

“Above… the elders? Or the cave master?” Yuan Ming frowned.

“We don’t know that, we just follow orders, that’s how we’ve been doing it for so many years,” the man said.

Hearing this, Yuan Ming’s eyes flickered, not knowing what to feel.

His only memories of the Central Plains were about a bustling city somewhere, which seemed much more peaceful and beautiful compared to these cultivators.

And what he saw and heard in the Southern Border were mostly tragic human affairs.

Yuan Ming only hoped to protect himself, steadily improve his cultivation, and one day return to the Central Plains.

Seeing that Yuan Ming was no longer interested in chatting, the others dispersed wisely. Some went to tease the savages, some went hunting, preparing to make some food when they returned.

There were also two or three people sitting together, continuing to chat idly.

Yuan Ming suddenly heard one of them say, “That kid Haku is really unlucky this time, according to the captain’s temper, he will definitely kill his whole family, even the entire village will die.”

“Our mission this time is heavy, not to mention Haku’s Miao Hua Village, I think the few villages near Qing Bao Mountain might all be wiped out. I guess we won’t come hunting here for the next ten years,” another replied.

Yuan Ming’s mind suddenly exploded, he turned his head and asked sharply, “What village did you just mention?”

The three men chatting were startled, they looked at each other, all a bit slow to react.

(End of Chapter)