William Lynn conscientiously followed behind the main group, concealing his cultivation, stumbling through the mountains as if he might fall behind at any moment.

"Those two people..." William Lynn looked disheveled, but was actually observing closely, and soon noticed two middle-aged men in the group whom he had never seen before in Wolf Village.

The way these two dressed was clearly refined, quite different from the mountain folk.

Their lips moved slightly, but no sound came out. William Lynn's eyes flashed, then he lowered his eyelids as if nothing had happened.

These two middle-aged men were actually cultivators—one at the third level of Qi Refining, the other at the same fourth level as William Lynn.

They used their own spiritual power to muffle their voices so that ordinary people couldn't hear their conversation, but William Lynn could hear every word clearly.

"Old Brooks, the last time that man appeared three years ago, the child wasn't with him. Could it be that he left the child in this little mountain village back then?"

The middle-aged man called Old Brooks pondered and said, "The age matches up, but Little Jack, that child was already crippled. He shouldn't have survived this long."

Little Jack said, "Let's follow them to Stone Village and see. If it really is that child from back then, we should root him out completely. Keeping him around will always be a threat to the young master."

Old Brooks thought for a moment and nodded. "We can't act directly, or we'll leave traces. There are people in the Shi family who sympathize with that child—they might cause us trouble. The family may want that brat dead, but they might not back us up, and could even hand us over as scapegoats."

Little Jack sneered and glanced at the people from Wolf Village. "No need to worry about acting directly. Isn't there a perfect scapegoat right in front of us?"

With that, the two of them laughed. "We can pin it on the Yu family people—consider it their fate."

William Lynn sighed inwardly. The old village chief of Stone Village had kept his promise and tried hard to hide Little Ben's whereabouts, but little did he know that Little Ben's tracks were already nearly exposed.

But these two had arrived at just the right time. Watching their backs, William Lynn's smile grew even brighter.

Even the selection of supporting characters was important. William Lynn had worried that the opponents would be too weak—Stone Village had the old chief and Little Ben, both cultivators, while the Wolf Village folk were just mundane martial artists, only there to give Little Ben some experience.

Of course, if the opponents were too strong, that wouldn't work either. First, Little Ben's safety couldn't be guaranteed; second, William Lynn himself was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining. If he brought in an opponent he couldn't handle, it would be a joke.

Cultivators like these two from the Yu family were just right.

Lost in thought, William Lynn was suddenly interrupted by Little Sam beside him, who snorted angrily, "Keep your eyes open later and don't cause us trouble, or I'll take you out myself!"

William Lynn grinned but said nothing. He was just waiting for the show to begin.

The people from Wolf Village soon caught up with Little Ben's group, and a fierce battle broke out. Though Wolf Village had the numbers and the mountain folk were all fierce, they were no match for the old chief and Little Ben, the two cultivators from Stone Village.

Especially Little Ben—though inexperienced and not ruthless enough, his strength was more than enough to crush these mundane martial artists. He was like a young primordial beast, slaughtering the Wolf Village people left and right.

Before the fight even started, William Lynn darted away like a startled rabbit, disappearing without a trace, drawing a curse from Little Sam: "Coward!"

William Lynn sneered inwardly. Of course he had to run early—if Little Ben and the others saw him mixed in with the Wolf Village people, what would that look like?

Finding a hidden spot, William Lynn kept his eyes fixed on the two Yu family cultivators. He saw the one called Old Brooks calmly take out a bone flute and begin to play. The sound was anything but pleasant—hoarse and piercing, like the wailing of ghosts and wolves.

The next moment, countless fierce beasts burst from the forest: iron-armored elephants the size of small hills, black one-horned tigers with horns on their heads, blazing fire-maned bears...

Each of these beasts was a hundred times fiercer than ordinary wild animals, requiring the bravest and most experienced hunters, working in groups and setting traps, to even dare hunt them—and even then, they might pay with their lives or fail altogether.

Now, dozens of such beasts surged from all directions, surrounding Little Ben and the others like a tidal wave.

Faced with the beast tide, the old chief and Little Ben were helpless. They could only do their best to protect the villagers as they retreated, but even so, several people were killed by the beasts.

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, wild winds howled, the ground echoed with the sounds of slaughter, and rivers of blood flowed.

The situation took a sudden turn for the worse—even William Lynn was caught off guard and could only follow from a distance, muttering to himself, "Run faster, this still isn't far enough, keep going, lure them a bit further."

More and more villagers from Stone Village were killed by the beasts. Little Ben's eyes turned red with anxiety—he could only ensure he wasn't hurt himself, and even if he saved one villager, more would fall into danger.

The old chief stomped his foot and threw a piece of leather-like material to Little Ben, while he himself pulled out a small drum.

"Magical artifacts? And two of them!" William Lynn's eyes lit up.

With the help of the two magical artifacts left by Little Ben's father, the old chief and Little Ben finally led the villagers out of the encirclement, fleeing toward Stone Village.