PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

With Xiauyue’s adversaries being the most injured after being showered with palm strikes, it didn’t take Xiauyue much effort to finish the job with a couple of sword strikes.

Desmond was not so lucky, however, as his opponent used his superior physical attributes to resist the sneak attack attempt and Desmond fell once more into a disadvantageous exchange but as soon as his opponent realized that he was the only one left alive; He used a powerful martial art to repel Desmond with ease before running for his life.

Feeling his insides twist in pain Desmond was quite grateful to wear his armor at this moment otherwise it was unlikely that he would survive that last blow but he was still forced to bite his teeth when he heard Xiauyue say familiar words to him: “without witnesses ”

Enduring the pain, Desmond drew his bow and fired a barrage of arrows at the man who was trying to run for his life. Due to the enormous penetrating power carried by the arrows fired by Desmond, the fleeing man was forced to take evasive action after two arrows found their way to his shoulder and calf respectively.

An arrow hissed right next to his ear causing the last survivor on the run to take a couple of steps to the right only to see Xiauyue appear beside him like a silent ghost and from her peach lips emerged a whisper sweet as honey sealing his fate: “You chose the wrong master ... ”

The pain of having hundreds of tiny crystalline blue Ki blades cutting their way through your body unimaginable but it was brief when his body collapsed directly on the ground dragging a couple of meters from the momentum he carried when running leaving a trail of blood that It will soon serve as a nutrient for the plants in this forest along with the corpses that would remain in this place today.

Looking at the bloody mess around them, the trio fell silent for a few moments before Mei turned to Desmond and Xiauyue with an apologetic face after which she began to apologize nonstop.

Ignoring the pain of the wounds that now afflict him, Desmond simply rubbed Mei’s short dark hair in a loving and fatherly way, not daring to blame Mei harshly for a mistake he had made so many times in the past; probably not even Claire knew how many times Desmond had lost his mind at the mention of the death of his parents.

.....

Xiauyue for her part did not want to talk about it at all, she knew a little about Mei Fei Long’s past and about what she happened to her clan so she understood that she would be enraged the way she was.

Regarding the death of her asshole cousin, she didn’t care about it at all, not only because she didn’t get along particularly well with that member of her family but also because her second uncle’s family was a fervent opponent of her father’s family; she was sure that if given the chance her cousin would certainly have tried to assassinate her.

As if that was not enough it was due to the interference and malicious promotion of her second uncle that she had had to worry about the issue of marriage in recent months; God only knew how many people her uncles had tried to sell her for some benefit to the Miao family and if it weren’t for her father defending her it was likely that her second uncle would have already married her to a disgusting fat man with full pockets.

For all of the above, although Xiauyue had been a bit reluctant to attack her cousin’s group, now that everything was done she felt no great guilt at all and was instead more than glad to have taken Mei’s side in this conflict.

Seeing that neither Desmond nor Xiauyue blamed her for her earlier outburst, a feeling of intense warmth filled the young woman’s heart prompting Mei to kiss the cheeks of the two people with a satisfied smile on her face.

Feeling the lingering heat on their cheeks, Desmond and Xiauyue exchanged a look before letting out a tired but satisfied sigh, thinking of how uneasy their day had been as soon as they woke up.

Watching Desmond hold his side and noticing the slight dents in his armor, Mei couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty for involving Desmond in such a difficult fight without thinking about the consequences but not wanting to bring it up again, She decided to ask in their place what they would do next.

Unexpectedly the first to say something was Desmond and he even suggested that none of the girls thought to hear: “I want to follow that flying beast we saw a few moments ago”

Remembering that feeling of strange oppression that she had when she was in the presence of that draconic-looking beast Mei she was also interested in finding out more about it.

Seeing her two companions so determined, Xiauyue could only nod with a helpless sigh and after directing a brief glance at the corpses that were in her path, a small thought gave birth in the depths of her mind; the ephemeral desire to be just a normal girl away from death and schemes but when she saw Mei’s back moving away in front of her that thought of her faded.

Before meeting Mei Fei Long, Xiauyue might have spent more time on that thought of being just a normal girl but now she wanted nothing more than to reach the peak of strength alongside Mei Fei Long and spend the rest of their long lives together.

Thinking of her fantasy future with the woman she loved, Xiauyue had a precious smile whose brilliance threatened to overshadow the sun as she took a couple of joyous leaps trying to catch up with the others.

And so the trio began their journey to the horizon where they saw the flying beast disappear, evading the most dangerous beasts and hunting those whose materials were worth time.

Although in this section of the trip it was mainly Mei and Xiauyue who fought because even after ingesting a healing potion, Desmond still felt the damage that he received in the previous fight.

It couldn’t be helped, even when one ignored the two most severe blows Desmond received from his last opponent, just the brief exchange he had where he was on defense; Desmond ended up racking up quite a bit of punishment as his armor was unable to cancel out all the damage he received.

Precisely because Desmond was injured, Xiauyue couldn’t help but ask his reasons for wanting to find the flying beast.

Thinking about it for a moment without finding the exact way to describe what he wanted to say, Desmond ended up giving a vague explanation that left them with more doubts than answers: “I guess you can call it a hunch.”

Worst of all for Xiauyue was that Mei had a similar motive for wanting to find the towering white beast.

Hours passed and the trio had accumulated abundant loot with all the magical herbs they encountered along the way along with all the beasts they hunted. Normally due to time constraints and the difficulty in transporting the resources found, most of the people who participated in the harvest festival were forced to return at least once a day to the sect to deliver their crops and storage, and it was because of this limitation that most people never ventured very deep into the mountains.

Probably only their group could afford to have almost unlimited storage due to Desmond’s hunter book, he just wished that that unlimited transportability would also apply when it came to taking resources out of this world but that was not the case.

At some point in their journey, the trio managed to get out of the most densely forested area of ??this mountain at one of its highest points, thus obtaining a great view that showed them the landscape stretching out into the distance with the last orange touches of sunset illuminating this endless sea of ??trees that decorated the limitless mountains; it was a truly beautiful landscape.

Pausing for a moment to enjoy the view, the trio was fortunate to see a certain flying beast with white fur and iridescent wings soar through the skies before perching on a mountain ridge just a couple of miles away.

But not wanting to risk continuing to venture into these dangerous forests at dusk, the trio decided to seek refuge; though it was Mei who ended up digging an artificial cave when they failed to quickly find something in nature.

Repeating a routine similar to the day before, Desmond set up camp with Xiauyue’s help, while Mei did the cooking.

But that was not the only part of their routine that they repeated, having finished eating and feeling the cold intensify in the cave, Mei and Xiauyue exchanged a quick glance and seeing the other nod; They both settled next to Desmond before taking the same sleeping position as the day before with both snuggled together sitting on the lucky hunter’s lap.

Probably the only difference concerning the previous day is that this day the girls were not so animated or uninhibited as to kiss Desmond intimately, nor is it that the position they used to sleep could be considered not very intimate, but for the girls, at this time this was the most they were willing to let go of their shyness.