Dashing Student

Guests from Moon Shadow Village and Moon Tower Dong Village were thoroughly enjoying themselves. After finishing their drinks, they began to divide up the hunt, as the aroma of the meat had long been irresistible.

Chen Nan’s departure seemed to have gone unnoticed by anyone.

He slipped into the shadows, following a few cultivators to the back of the village.

What he hadn’t anticipated was that dozens of cultivators were hidden there, all of whom were only at the first or second level of Foundation Establishment.

"Hehe, I just went to have a look, and there are quite a few women!"

A cultivator who had just been delivering wine chuckled slyly, with a somewhat lecherous laugh, as he poured some powder into the wine and stirred it.

Another large man, over two meters tall and broad-bodied, chuckled foolishly and said, "I want the prettiest one."

"I saw them all when they arrived today."

Someone immediately retorted, "Ahu, stop dreaming, the prettiest one belongs to the Young Village Chief. We’ll find you a sturdy one later."

Upon hearing this, Ahu scratched his head and laughed, clearly not too bright.

"Sturdy is good, my mother likes them sturdy, I’ll bring her back to work."

They chatted and laughed, picking up the spiked wine and heading out.

But this scene made Chen Nan, hidden in the shadows, startle.

Why did their tone make it seem like they had entered a bandit’s den?

It’s known that cultivators at the Heavenly Border excel in three things: cultivating Gu, poisoning, and beast taming.

There’s no need to elaborate on cultivating Gu, as Gu Masters are mainstream at the Heavenly Border.

Beast taming is also common among cultivators outside the Heavenly Border, so there’s nothing novel about it.

Only in poisoning does the Heavenly Border have unique expertise.

With many mountains and dense forests, the Heavenly Border has given rise to countless toxic plants and animals.

Moreover, these plants and animals live in different regions, so villages, if they want to concoct poisons, have to adapt to local conditions.

Every village has its own methods and recipes for making poison.

This means that all the villages and caves within the Heavenly Border use different toxins with different antidotes.

Chen Nan was certain that what these people added to the wine was poison, and his heart sank.

However, he refrained from acting rashly, opting instead to investigate the entire village to avoid any hidden powerful figures.

If any existed, he wouldn’t just fail to save anyone but might also endanger himself.

Soon, he noticed that there was a cave next to the back of the village, from which a faint light emanated.

Chen Nan silently launched a Mo Ying Flame. Because the flame itself was black, the cultivators didn’t notice it at all.

The flame quietly landed in a corner outside the cave, and with a thought, Chen Nan appeared at the flame’s location.

Seizing the moment when no one was looking, Chen Nan entered the cave and was quickly greeted by a stench—a mix of sweat and excrement.

He hurriedly moved forward, turning a corner, and suddenly froze in place.

For inside the cave was indeed a natural limestone cave, but at this moment, it contained many cages woven from vines, and inside these cages were women.

At a glance, there were around twenty or thirty of them.

"How could this be? Could this village really be a bandit den?"

Chen Nan was filled with doubt and uncertainty. The fact that people were imprisoned here suggested something unusual about this village.

And considering all the imprisoned were women, combined with the conversation he overheard earlier, Chen Nan seemed to have uncovered a huge secret.

The number of women in a small village would likely be around this number.

...

On the other side of the banquet, the Young Village Chief Yue Xia poured another bowl of wine and exchanged a barely noticeable nod with the elder, the Moon Shadow Village Priest, who was with him today.

"By the way, old priest, who is that masked person?"

He sat next to the old priest, feigning casual curiosity.

The old priest chuckled, "That’s Mu Lang from our village. He’s quite formidable, but suffered a facial injury that left a terrible scar, so he wears a mask."

He had already guessed that Chen Nan wasn’t Mu Lang, nor even someone from the Heavenly Border, but he wouldn’t expose him or tell outsiders.

"Ah, so that’s how it is. Since he’s a warrior from the village, I should offer him a toast."

Yue Xia smiled, stood up, and searched for Chen Nan, but after looking around, he found that Chen Nan was nowhere to be seen.

"When did he leave?"

A sudden sense of panic struck him, just as Chen Nan, still in his mask, unexpectedly emerged from not far away, sitting casually at the back among the crowd.

"Phew, I thought he had discovered something."

Yue Xia sighed with relief, then put on a smile and walked over to Chen Nan with a drink.

"I’ve heard you’re a warrior from your village, this drink is in your honor!"

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Chen Nan stood with his drink, raised his mask slightly, and downed it in one go.

"Good, a warrior indeed!"

Yue Xia also drank in one go, though a fleeting sneer crossed his eyes, as he thought to himself, "Hehe, the priest said he was strong, but he’s nothing but a fool!"

Afterward, he went elsewhere to offer toasts.

Chen Nan sat back down, and A Yin walked over with a bowl of wine, looking very sycophantic.

"Senior, this wine is so good, here, you have this bowl."

She offered the wine like it was a treasure, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes already a bit glazed—she seemed to be drunk.

"How much did you drink?"

Chen Nan frowned and asked in an irritable tone.

The reason he wasn’t worried about the poison in the wine was because he saw the women imprisoned in the cave.

He figured they intended to capture the women alive, so, of course, they wouldn’t kill them.

Even if there was poison in the wine, it would only be the kind that induced sleep. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Not much. I’m usually a good drinker, but today I’ve only had one bowl and I’m like this, hehe, hiccup..."

A Yin hiccuped drunkenly and laughed.

"I thought so."

Chen Nan nodded slowly, looking around. Many of the Moon Tower Dong Village tribesmen were already somewhat drunk, but the people from Moon Shadow Village seemed quite alert—this was clearly unusual.

It could only mean that the Moon Shadow Village people had taken the antidote beforehand.

Just as he was about to warn Chang Qing, unexpectedly, Chang Qing yelled out loud and even stepped onto a rock, behaving as boisterously as a valiant woman.

"Another bowl!"

She was evidently drunk but was swaying, refusing to collapse.

Yue Xia eagerly poured more wine, though nobody noticed the intense greed in his eyes.

"Sigh!"

Chen Nan patted his head. Why did he only have teammates like this?

None of them were vigilant; they wouldn’t know if they were sold out.

Even though all his teammates were caught, Chen Nan wasn’t worried.

He had searched the entire village and confirmed there were no other cultivators.

The only person he needed to be wary of was the priest from Moon Shadow Village.

And he finally realized what was amiss.

The number of people!

Moon Shadow Village had at least a thousand tribesmen, yet only about two to three hundred were around the bonfire now!