The night went by smoothly. Xu Min spent his time cultivating while Cao Cao slept on his lap. A few times during the night, a few beasts would come close by. Cao Cao would open his eyes and quietly look through the dark night, only to close them as soon as the beasts vanished into the dark forest.

As the sun rose in the sky and rays of sunshine were beginning to shine through the leaves, Xu Min finally opened his eyes, and the golden specks around him vanished. As he stood up, he forgot about the small snake on his lap. It fell to the floor of the nest, and Xu Min instantly bent down to pick him up.

This snake was much stronger than Xu Min. Not only the snake, but also its parent was a being that he did not wish to insult. Thus, as soon as the juvenile snake landed on the ground, Xu Min instantly picked him up, gently patted his jade green head, and apologized mentally.

'Cook me some more meat tonight,' the snake said with a sneaky smile on its face. 'As long as you cook me two beasts, I will forgive you.'

'You'll grow fat,' Xu Min replied. Internally, he wished that he was capable of capturing two beasts. He suddenly stood up, noticing that something was not the way it was supposed to be.

'Cao Cao,' he called out with his internal voice. 'Can you feel anyone close by? I feel as though something is wrong.'

The snake raised its head. As his tongue slithered in and out of his mouth, he looked at their surroundings.

'There are quite a few humans around us,' he finally answered. His face seemed apathetic about their presence. However, Xu Min's heart skipped a beat, and a cold sweat appeared on his back.

'How many?' he asked silently. He did not wish to hear the answer, but he knew that he needed to know. He suddenly remembered the numerous mercenaries he had seen the night before at his old nest. He could not help but curse himself for cooking food even though he knew that there was danger close by.

'They are still looking for us. You can just escape through the treetops the same way you did last night,' Cao Cao said as though he thought it was that easy. Right now, Xu Min knew he had no choice other than to try and escape.

'Let us play a game,' the juvenile voice suddenly rang out, 'I know you want these mercenaries dead, so let us play the game of who can kill the most!'

Hearing that, Xu Min felt like knocking the snake out. Although the snake was strong, it was unlikely that it was strong enough to defeat the mercenaries by itself. The black-haired, young man knew perfectly well that he was incapable of dealing with more than one of even the weakest mercenaries.

'Right,' the snake said, as though he had read Xu Min's thoughts. 'I forgot you are so weak. How about I say that the more I kill, the more meat you have to cook for me!'

'Cao Cao, are you certain that you are capable of dealing with these many mercenaries?' Xu Min finally sighed, as he looked at the little snake who laid in his arms. Had it been its father, he had no doubt that it would be able to defeat them. However, he did not think that the little snake could handle these many mercenaries. Unless absolutely necessary, Xu Min decided that he would not start a battle.

Standing up, Xu Min rushed from one branch to another as he traveled across the treetops. Fortunately, none of the mercenaries below had noticed him. For some time, he rushed towards the outskirts of the forest, the only location where he could exit the forest.

As Xu Min went further and further towards the outskirts of the forest, the trees became more and more sparse. The distance between the trees increased, making it harder for him to keep travelling on top of the trees, and forcing him to move on the ground.

What shocked him was that the ground was littered with people. For once, these people paid no attention to each other. Instead, they were in large groups, and seemed to be making their way into the forest, one group at a time.

He was quite curious as to the reason why these many mercenaries entered the forest, and started to search like mad men. Xu Min decided to keep to his plan. A few moments later, he left the safety of the large trees. Once more, he started walking towards one of the cities.

Having left the forest, Cao Cao was filled with astonishment as he perched on Xu Min's shoulder. He looked at everything that was happening around him, and observed the barren land in front of them.

'There are no trees here!' Cao Cao said with astonishment in his voice. 'Are we going to travel through areas like this? I like this. It's new,' he commented. Xu Min just chuckled and kept walking on the outskirts of the forest. He continued until he reached one of the small mercenary villages.

Seeing the village in front of him, the chuckle grew into a smirk. 'Be careful here,' Xu Min warned the snake on his shoulder, 'This is a village, a home for humans. We need to go in and sell some of the herbs your father allowed me to pick.'

'A village?' The juvenile voice was filled with curiosity. The black-haired youth laughed out loud, and shocked a few of the humans who were rushing towards the city.

'Right, just stay on my shoulders, and I'll let you see the entire world,' Xu Min said, laughing. The snake felt how its heart quivered with excitement. Coiling itself around his neck, the two youngsters went into the village. They walked on the main road while looking at shops one after another that had been set up on the side.