NINE STAR HEGEMON BODY ARTS

All the villagers had gathered together, most of them carrying spears. They were all nervously on guard against a certain thing in front of them.

That was a small wolf a meter long. It looked just like an ordinary ferocious dog, but its whole body was emitting a vicious aura that caused people to tremble in fear.

Its eyes were especially filled a cold, bloodthirsty light that caused those hunters who even often killed Magical Beasts to feel extremely terrified.

Originally everyone had just been resting when all the babies suddenly began to let out terrified cries that drew everyone's attention.

When they looked around and saw this small wolf, they were all given a fright. Their village walls were covered in poisonous thorns. Magical Beasts had an innate fear of such things and they wouldn't force their way in.

But this Magical Beast actually had charged through, causing everyone to be on guard. They were all ready to attack it.

"Stop!"

Long Chen was like a gale of wind as he suddenly burst on the scene and actually hugged that incomparably vicious Magical Beast.

He couldn't believe his own eyes. It was Little Snow!

Despite growing larger, Little Snow was covered in blood and mud.

He was covered with dozens of wounds all over his body and some of them were still bleeding while some areas had even been cut all the way down to the bone.

"Wu wu…"

When Little Snow saw Long Chen, the vicious aura around him immediately disappeared without a trace, becoming tender and warm. He rubbed his head over Long Chen's face over and over.

But as for the villagers, when they saw him suddenly hug a dangerous Magical Beast, they all turned pale with fright.

That was a Magical Beast! To be wild and vicious was in their nature! Even a young Magical Beast was many times more powerful than an ordinary wild beast.

Now they were all dumbstruck as they watched this. How was that a Magical Beast? It seemed more like a puppy!

"Little Snow, you've suffered." Long Chen couldn't help feeling emotional when he saw all the wounds on Little Snow.

Perhaps Aman had forgotten Little Snow, or perhaps Little Snow had secretly run out on his own. In any case, he had relied on his wolf nose to find his trail.

But his trail was a thousand miles away in a remote area with countless wild beasts roving around. Little Snow had clearly run into dangerous situations many times.

Little Snow was now three times larger than he was before. By relying on himself to hunt wild beasts, he had managed to grow stronger.

"Wu wu…."

Little Snow continuously rubbed against Long Chen, actually trying to comfort him. Long Chen knew this because of the slight connection between their souls.

Long Chen carried Little Snow into his room and carefully examined Little Snow's wounds. Some were teeth injuries from where he had been bitten by wild beasts. One of his feet was swollen greatly and there was a scent of rot coming from it. Long Chen looked at it and saw there were two small p.r.i.c.ks.

He suspected it was from some sort of poisonous bite. Luckily Little Snow's physique was strong and was able to block that poison. A different wild beast would probably have long since let out its final death cry.

Long Chen brought Little Snow over to a basin of clean drinking water. He dissolved a medicinal pill within the water first before was.h.i.+ng Little Snow's wounds.

There were simply too many open wounds and some places had become inflamed. Even more importantly, there was a part of his flesh at the bottom of his foot that had rotted and needed to be cut off.

Xiao Hua couldn't help feeling her skin crawl when she saw Long Chen cleaning Little Snow's wounds. That was especially the case when she saw him actually bring a knife to cut off some of his foot.

Little Snow's head was perfectly placed right against Long Chen's neck. As long as he opened his mouth, Long Chen's neck would immediately be cut open.

But whether it was while his wounds were being cleaned or when his rotten flesh was cut off, Little Snow merely trembled without making a single noise.

An hour later, Long Chen had placed medicinal ointments all over Little Snow's body and wrapped up his wounds.

Looking at Xiao Hua who seemed as if she had finally been relieved of a heavy burden, Long Chen smiled and placed Little Snow on his bed. Gently rubbing Little Snow's head, he explained, "He's my companion. You don't need to be worried."

Looking at the peacefully sleeping Little Snow, Xiao Hua shook her head. "That really almost frightened me to death. So humans can actually become companions with Magical Beasts."

Long Chen smiled, "Sometimes people are even more terrifying than Magical Beasts. Otherwise your ancestors also wouldn't have brought you guys to such a place. At least there are warning signs when Magical Beasts are about to attack you. But when humans are planning on attacking you, there aren't any signs, and you won't be on guard. By the time you sense the danger, you'll already be dead. So your ancestors were actually very intelligent people. They understood that the danger you can see isn't the true danger. The truly dangerous things are those that you cannot see."

Xiao Hua was bewildered by what Long Chen was saying. She clearly didn't really comprehend what he was saying, but hearing him praise her ancestors still made her happy.

"Hopefully our kids will also be as smart and brave as you. Then I'll become the person who has contributed the most to the village!" Xiao Hua excitedly laughed.

Long Chen's expression stiffened. Looking at her open and innocent expression, he bitterly smiled. He supposed this girl didn't know just how complicated having children was.

Xiao Hua was a naive child. Although Long Chen was fond of her, he had no romantic feelings for her.

He thought this matter over. In the end, he came up with a plan to leave the village in secret. Although that would be very hurtful to Xiao Hua, that was something that could not be avoided.

But before he left, Long Chen still had to complete a couple matters. First he had to repay his hunting debt to the forest divinity, and then he had to tell Xiao Hua what those gold coins were used for.

There were at least several millions of gold coins. He had to warn her to be careful with their usage and not to let any greedy eyes fall on her.

As long as she learned how to use those gold coins, then with the spatial ring, the amount they could procure from each trip would be enough to last the village for a whole year.

Little Snow's arrival caused all the villagers to become nervous. After all, in the past hundreds of years, that was the first time a Magical Beast had intruded on their village.

The next day, when Little Snow once more awoke and became active, all the villagers once more became anxious. But Little Snow only obediently followed alongside Long Chen, not even looking at the others, appearing very cute.

Only then did the villagers let their guards down slightly. There were even some curious children that stealthily approached Little Snow despite others berating them.

At the beginning Little Snow just ignored them. When that group of small children were around three meters away from him, he suddenly glanced at them.

Just that one glance terrified all those children. They all thought Little Snow was about to attack and fled for their lives, crying for someone to save their lives.

One of those kids even tripped and fell to the ground. He just lay there crying, even wetting his pants.

The adults watched as this happened. They saw that Long Chen merely smiled the whole time without doing anything. Due to their trust in Long Chen, they hadn't said anything up till this point.

Seeing Little Snow actually send the group of children fleeing away with just a glance, they actually ended up laughing.

This was the first time a Magical Beast had entered their village, so even the adults were extremely curious.

"Long Chen, what Magical Beast is this?" None of the villagers were able to recognize Little Snow.

"A Scarlet Flame Snow Wolf. When matured, it is a third rank Magical Beast," replied Long Chen.

"Third… third rank?!"

They had only ever heard of second rank Magical Beasts! And that was only from listening to their elders who told a story from over a hundred years ago. One of their ancestors had once ended up at a mountain stream while hunting and ended up running into a second rank Magical Beast. That would end up becoming a disaster for the village.

At that time, over thirty hunters had worked together, the result of which was that only a dozen of them had returned alive.

From that point onwards, they no longer dared crossing that mountain stream. Moreover, the villagers who ended up committing grave crimes were forever forced over that mountain stream.

In reality, the first thing that had popped into the villagers' minds when the forest divinity had requested a second rank Magical Beast was that disaster.

At that time, everyone's expressions had been extremely ugly. But Xiao Hua had been determined to save Long Chen. She said that after Long Chen was healed, they would definitely be able to work together and kill a second rank Magical Beast.

And so just second rank Magical Beast was already a nightmare in their eyes. But as for this little wolf in front of them, it was an even more frightening third rank Magical Beast, so how could they not be astonished?

Everyone a.s.sembled for lunch and afterwards, Long Chen spoke to the elder. "Chief, are there any second rank Magical Beasts around?"

His expression changed slightly. "You're thinking of…?"

"Yes, I'm thinking of going to hunt second rank Magical Beasts to return the forest divinity's favor as early as possible. The feeling of owing a debt is truly uncomfortable."

Everyone in the village s.h.i.+vered in trepidation, but Long Chen noticed that some of them were actually eager to give it a try.

"Child, I do know of the location of a second rank Magical Beast. However, it is extremely hard to handle." The elder was hesitant.

"Don't worry village chief. I'm already fully recovered, and an ordinary second rank Magical Beast is no problem," laughed Long Chen.

Long Chen was actually being modest. Even before he had broken through to Blood Condensation, ordinary second rank Magical Beasts had still not been his match.

And now that he had advanced, even though he was still only at that initial advance and had yet to even reach the first Heavenstage, his blood had already begun to be purified and with each breath, his blood and strength continued to grow stronger.

Long Chen wanted to find a second rank Magical Beast and test his strength. He also wanted to see just how many styles of Parting Wind he could use.

Since Long Chen was so determined, the elder sighed, "Fine. All our village's fighters will bring the best equipment to help you slaughter that brute."

All the hunters let out a cheer of agreement and they returned to their houses to get their weapons and everything else they needed.

Long Chen looked at those fervent people and immediately understood something.

"Senior village chief, you don't need to rouse everyone for this matter. Just tell me where it is. I alone am enough," lightly said Long Chen.