Chapter 121: Killing the Red Scorpion

Hearing Rod’s words, the woman hesitated for a moment. “I won’t leave. There’s no place to go anyway. I’ll stay here. You’re going to the trade fair the day after tomorrow, right? I’ll go with you so I won’t get bullied if I go back!” She pouted, looking pitiful.
Looking at her, Rod was momentarily distracted. He had to admit she was a beauty in the making. With her pitiful expression, his heart softened, and he accepted her choice without refusing. In fact, Rod had another reason for this. He knew her background was unusual—just from that colorful glass shard. Such a precious item wouldn’t stay with an ordinary girl, even if she got lucky enough to possess it. Yet she had always had it, which showed she was extraordinary. Maybe she could help him someday, so it wouldn’t hurt to get along with her!
On top of that, he had just arrived in Dark Moon City and didn’t know much about anything here, let alone the Source of Darkness. To put it simply, this was another continent—a completely unfamiliar one to him. Having someone who knew the place around could be helpful, especially for the trade fair the day after tomorrow. He didn’t know the location or details, so having her around could at least provide some guidance, possibly leading to unexpected gains.
“Whatever you want. If you don’t want to die, stay here and don’t wander around! I’m going out for a while and will be back tonight.” After pondering for a moment, Rod turned back to give instructions before running into the forest.
As for Fen Tian, he stayed by the small lake with the woman. On one hand, Rod wanted to prevent this guy from causing trouble behind his back—“One should never harbor evil intentions, but always be cautious”—a truth that never changes. On the other hand, keeping Fen Tian around could also help the woman. After all, danger lurked everywhere in this forest, with those magical beasts lurking in the shadows. It was too risky for a girl to stay here. Although she seemed to have the strength of an early-stage Saint, it was clear she lacked combat experience, as shown by her inability to fight back when bullied by the young master of the Purple-Winged Thunder Eagle clan.
With Fen Tian around, if anything dangerous happened, he could cover for her for a while until Rod could return. He couldn’t let her fall into harm’s way while following him!

As for Rod himself, he planned to go hunting deep in the forest. After learning that the trading rules in Dark Moon City were based on barter, he came up with this idea. Moreover, the day after tomorrow was the start of the trade fair, where he might encounter some items he needed. Without sufficient capital, he would end up returning empty-handed.

“You…” Watching Rod’s figure flash away in an instant and disappear from sight, the woman stomped her foot angrily and shouted loudly, then looked frustrated.

To abandon such a lovely beauty here was an unforgivable crime. She was adored by everyone in her clan, treated like a precious jewel, cared for by her elders, and pursued by her peers. Who would have thought she’d meet such a cold and heartless guy!

Turning to look at Fen Tian, who was watching her indifferently, she let out a groan and headed toward the rock crevice where Rod had been practicing. She knew what to do and what not to do in such a dangerous place.

Sitting on the ground angrily, she stared at Fen Tian, blinking curiously. When could the Dragon Clan use Dragon Fury as a protective deity? Had they become that powerful? As far as she remembered, Dragon Fury was just a move—when could it be used in this way? Her confusion went unaddressed.

Beast Souls were extremely rare on the continent, let alone deep in the Source of Darkness. Apart from the Demon Clan, the other races there were all magical beasts, so they wouldn’t even consider the concept of Beast Souls.

…

“Dragon Roar…” With a loud shout, Rod’s figure flashed repeatedly, accompanied by dark red light. The Dark Dragon in his hands lunged at the enemy like a giant dragon with its mouth wide open, seemingly enveloping the entire world in an instant, its target locked firmly on the magical beast before it.

The targeted magical beast showed a hint of human-like fear on its face. Finally, it spoke in human language, “You… you can’t kill me! I’m an elder of the Red Scorpions, a vassal clan of the Scorpion King. If you kill our Red Scorpions, we won’t let you go!”

The shrill cry spread instantly throughout the forest, but Rod’s expression remained completely unchanged. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the Red Scorpion. His figure transformed repeatedly, and soon sixteen versions of him surrounded the two-meter-long and nearly one-meter-wide Red Scorpion. With a loud howl, he raised his sword and swung—without hesitation, the sixteen figures charged at the Red Scorpion. Boom…

A dull sound came through, followed by a crisp tearing noise, and soon after, sword-shaped armor fragments shot out in all directions.
Ah… screams were heard, only to abruptly cease. Everything returned to a deathly silence, with only the occasional rustling of leaves in the breeze audible.
“Too late to realize!” Rod snorted coldly as he looked at the lifeless body of the red scorpion.
He then began collecting the loot skillfully. The scorpion’s hard shell was destroyed, but its venomous stinger was still intact—it should be worth a good price. There was also a pair of massive pincers, excellent material for crafting weapons, not to mention a fiery red core. The core of a fire-type divine-level beginner magical beast could fetch a high price.
This was already the 31st magical beast Rod had hunted in two days! He had spent almost all of these two days in battle, killing 11 gold-level magical beasts, 10 imperial-level ones, 7 sacred-level ones, plus 2 quasi-divine-level beasts! Originally, thinking it was getting dark, Rod planned to stop and head back, but he ran into such an insolent creature!
As a divine-level being, he himself didn’t want to provoke it, but he didn’t realize that his frenzied hunting over the past few days had already attracted the attention of this greedygreedy fellow.
Just after he had killed a quasi-divine-level beast and was exhausted, it finally struck, trying to seize his spoils. Rod wasn’t someone easy to bully—he certainly wouldn’t compromise. The result was a fierce battle, and the outcome was obvious: beneath the roar of the dragon, this magical beast, which had just reached the beginning of divine level, was no match and was slain under the dark dragon.
What surprised Rod, however, was that this creature turned out to be a member of the red scorpion clan, a vassal clan of the scorpion kings.
At the Source of Darkness, beneath the four major magical beast clans, there were dozens of vassal clans. These weaker clans mostly lived under the protection of the four major clans. There weren’t many powerful races like the purple-winged thunder eagles. Naturally, this situation meant that many powerful magical beasts had their own clans, complicating hunting. If a hunter killed such a beast but failed to dispose of it properly and it was discovered by a member of its clan, they would face a terrifying pursuit, even leading to wars between clans.

For this very reason, under normal circumstances, people avoid provoking powerful magical beasts! Of course, there are exceptions—some powerful magical beasts have no minions and thus become targets for everyone. Additionally, those in the forests and wilderness are almost all independent, without their own families or members, and they too become prey for humans. Moreover, when a family recruits members, it considers not only blood lineage but also ability and various other conditions, and does not recruit easily; otherwise, what would be left for hunting? Thus, it is highly unlikely that a member of a family in the Dark Source would go outside and be hunted as a magical beast—it would be the greatest shame for that family.

After all, there are only a few families and types of magical beasts, and each member has their own token, so accidental killings are impossible. Rod might not yet realize that his actions have already brought about a tremendous disaster!

As for members as powerful as the red scorpion before him who still live in the wilderness despite having a family, such cases are extremely rare. If everyone were like this, no one would be able to live—so it can only be said that Rod is unlucky.

After finishing everything, looking at his full magic bag, Rod finally managed to smile slightly. He had gained a lot in just two days, fulfilling his purpose! These items would be a huge fortune in the outside world, but in the Dark Source they might not be much—still, they were considerable enough to buy what he needed. After all, not everyone can hunt sacred-level magical beasts, nor can everyone hunt divine-level ones to obtain their cores; otherwise, life would indeed become impossible.

Looking at the red scorpion’s corpse on the ground, his gaze turned cold. With a sudden punch, a layer of dark red light burst from his palm, like a fierce tiger biting into the scorpion’s corpse.

With a loud explosion, the scorpion’s corpse turned into minced meat and disappeared without a trace. Without close inspection, nothing would seem amiss. After dealing with everything, Rod finally breathed a sigh of relief and flew toward the small lake.

Unbeknownst to him, moments after he left, a thread-like red light, so faint it was hard to detect with the naked eye, emerged from the ground. It seemed to come out of the soil, which was astonishing. Once it appeared, the red light moved swiftly toward Dark Moon City as if alive, vanishing in the blink of an eye.