CHAPTER 457: DON’T HURT HER!

"Alright," Mu Hanyan flipped off the rock and descended with utter vigilance. She was actually getting a bit hungry.

"I still have one roast pig leg left, two portions of roast tendon, and oh, there’s half a pig’s head. What will you have, Brother Han Yan?" Mu Cheng pulled out a greasy pork feast and, like performing a magic trick, produced a gleaming half pig’s head, asking Mu Hanyan solicitously.

"Forget it, I’ll eat what I brought. You guys go ahead." Seeing his greasy hands, Mu Hanyan felt her appetite half disappear, and suddenly she wasn’t feeling so hungry.

"Brother Mu, are you here to practice or to go on a spring outing?" Wu Qiuyun swallowed, unable to help asking.

"Haven’t I said it already? With Brother Han Yan here, there’s nothing to worry about. Just eat and drink well. Do you want it? I’ll give you the pig’s head," Mu Cheng said unconcernedly.

"You’re the pig’s head. Do you really think I’m invincible?" Mu Hanyan looked at Mu Cheng, who was chomping away, with annoyance. How had she never realized how much this guy could eat? Was there a grudge with pigs in a past life?

"Alright, I’ll just eat what I have. Brother Mu, you eat too. Don’t be polite." Wu Qiuyun pulled out a bunch of snacks from his pack.

These snacks, with their exquisite appearance and subtle fragrance, indeed revived Mu Hanyan’s appetite somewhat.

"Brother Mu, you guys rest. I’ll keep watch tonight." Having eaten enough, Wu Qiuyun told the two of them.

"No need, you guys go and rest. I’ll keep watch," Mu Hanyan said.

"How can we do that? You’ve had a hard enough day today. Let me do it. We’ve also set up quite a few traps around us, so there shouldn’t be any danger," Wu Qiuyun said apologetically.

Seeing Wu Qiuyun’s remorseful expression, Mu Hanyan couldn’t help but feel a bit more fond of him. Whatever little schemes Wu Qiuyun played, his nature wasn’t bad.

"How about this, I’ll watch for the first half of the night, and then we can switch," Mu Hanyan suggested. She had seen the traps Wu Qiuyun and the others had set up. They could serve to warn against ordinary Exotic Beasts, but the beast lurking in the dark remained undetected even by her. Its strength was no match for regular Exotic Beasts, so how could she afford to be careless?

"Fine, then we’ll have to trouble Brother Mu. Remember to wake us for the second half of the night; you can’t do all the hard work alone," Wu Qiuyun conceded, seeing Mu Hanyan’s determined attitude, and stood up after leaving some snacks.

Once the two of them had each entered their tents, Mu Hanyan sat by the campfire, gazing at the undulating mountains in the distance, occasionally adding dry wood to the fire.

The night grew deeper and the cold wind howled past. Even in the wind-sheltered campsite warmed by the campfire, Mu Hanyan still felt chill after chill.

The Exotic Beast hiding in the shadows still hadn’t appeared, and Mu Hanyan was beginning to get a little impatient. It seemed that compared to the beasts encountered during the day, this one was not only stronger but also more cunning and patient.

Mu Hanyan wasn’t in a hurry. Whatever was bound to come would come eventually. A contest of patience? She was curious to see who would last longer.

Sitting idle was boring, so Mu Hanyan took out the snacks Wu Qiuyun had left and began to eat slowly and deliberately.

"Whoosh... glug..." In the darkness, the howling wind seemed to carry a strange noise, like the sound of swallowing.

Anyone else might have missed it, but Mu Hanyan, always on alert, sharply caught the odd noise and a faint smile crossed her lips: Had it finally lost its patience? Its endurance must be running out.

Mu Hanyan, struck by inspiration, put away the snacks and stretched languidly, appearing to doze off in front of the campfire.

But her half-closed eyes glinted with a trace of sharpness.

There were no disturbances around, but she had an intuition: in the darkness, a pair of eyes that had been watching her was constantly changing position, observing her from different angles, and then, quietly approaching, ever closer and closer.

This was purely an instinct, the acute sense of danger once possessed by a Sword Saint.

Her heart suddenly skipped a beat, and Mu Hanyan tensed, her fingers gripping the hilt of her sword as she twisted her waist, ready to thrust out with her sword.

"Don’t kill her! Don’t hurt her!" The urgent cries of Star Illusion Thousand Machine echoed in her ears once more.