For three days, Marvin pursued and searched for Austin, but his quarry seemed to have just disappeared. No one had seen him either.
And the thought of some two dozen earth spiritual fruits made Marvin mad.
The young disciple, who was head of the practicing group, looked at the portrait of another young follower of the Sun Sect in the paper and shook his head.
"I've never seen this disciple before. Everyone, come and have a look. Has anyone ever seen him?" He was replying to Marvin and addressing his group members.
A slender girl with a lovely face came over and picked up the paper to look at the picture. Others also checked it out carefully.
After looking, they all shook their heads to indicate they had never seen the young man before.
With a forlorn expression, the group's leader returned the paper to Marvin and said, "Sorry, but none of us have seen him." Though sad to not be of help, secretly he was in awe of the unknown disciple.
His remark left Marvin looking sullen, his face long.
At the look on Marvin's face, the group was worried that he would be unhappy with their reply.
All five members of the group were well aware of Marvin's strength.
In case the two sides clashed, it was highly possible that Marvin would defeat their group, even if they had five members going against just one.
And with them in the Beast Mountain now, Marvin could beat the group for no reason at all and still be blameless.
Without saying anything, Marvin stared at the five people before him.
"Remember the face clearly, and help me tell other outer disciples in the Beast Mountain about him. If they find the man, they must report it to me.
I will offer a reward of five hundred vital energy crystals for any information on his whereabouts," Marvin declared.
That said, he handed the paper back to the leader of the group.
The group was startled by a loud thud as a black bag landed in front of their leader.
"This is thirty vital energy crystals. It will be yours if you help me spread the word to others. Otherwise, you know what can happen to you," he threatened.
There was a feeling of great relief after the five heard Marvin say he was not inclined to fight against them.
The relief was quickly replaced by glee.
Five hundred vital energy crystals as a reward!
Most outdoor disciples in the Beast Mountain fought against level one diabolic beasts and demonic beasts to get beast cores.
Only a few with great power ever attempted to destroy level two beasts.
The price of a level one beast core was usually ten or a dozen vital energy crystals.
It boggled their minds how many level one beasts they had to kill to earn five hundred vital energy crystals!
When they finally realized what Marvin was offering, they became excited. To earn five hundred vital energy crystals, all they had to do was to find one person.
That should be much easier than killing powerful beasts.
It took a split-second for the five to read each other's minds after looking at one another.
They had decided to actively search for the young disciple of the Sun Sect whose picture was on the paper.
Examining his face closely, they noted he was about the same age as them.
They surmised he was probably also an outer disciple at a low level, based on his age and appearance.
To their thinking, there was no danger in looking for a disciple.
"Marvin, believe me, I will tell others about this man.
And I give you my word that all of us will go all out to help find him."
Although his heart was thudding, he looked Marvin in the eye.
"Good. The sooner the better," Marvin said.
After saying this, he left without delay.
The person Marvin had asked help in seeking was Austin.
Three days later...
In the deep recesses of Beast the Mountain was a site beside a cliff, densely covered by vines.
There were birds hopping on tree branches and sometimes scrounging between leaves for food.
No one expected a cave camouflaged behind it where a figure sat on his feet quietly.
In his bid to escape Marvin, Austin kept walking deep into the forests of the Beast Mountain until he stumbled upon the secluded cave.
While fleeing from Marvin, he managed to secure a good number of beast cores.
To make the most of his limited time, he opted to attack all the beasts by sneaking upon them.
This strategy enabled him to defeat most level one or two beasts easily using his Wind-commanding Skill.
He thought it would be more advantageous not to fight face-to-face but through sneak attack tactics. This way, he spent less time to kill his prey.
The most precious among his kills were three beast cores of level two magic foxes.
Magic foxes were level two demonic beasts that did not possess the powerful ability to fight.
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