137: I'll protect you all the way.

"Let her go!"

Xie Ning let out a loud shout, startling everyone around as they all turned to look at him.

"Look, Breeder, I'm just about to take her to find her parents. What are you doing?"

Looking at Xie Ning blocking his path, the crew-cut man asked with a frown.

However, Xie Ning did not respond. Instead, he stared at him with sharp, warning eyes.

The atmosphere fell silent. The little girl looked at Xie Ning for a moment, then at the crew-cut man holding her hand, before finally choosing to break free from the latter. She hugged Xie Ning's thigh and hid behind him.

Everyone in the association watched curiously, while the beauty in the cheongsam wore a smiling face.

Five seconds later.

"Alright, she's yours." The crew-cut man admitted defeat, took a step back, turned to leave the association entrance, rounded a corner, and disappeared from sight.

Only then did Xie Ning turn around, patting the little girl's head as he knelt down and asked gently, "Little sister, what's your name? Why are you here?"

"Big Brother, my name is Le Le. I want to save the Evil Ghost Brother, but I got lost." As the little girl spoke, her two large eyes stayed wide open, and her hands gripped Xie Ning tightly without letting go.

Xie Ning asked again, "Then Le Le, where do you live? I'll send you back."

"Papa said my home is in Pingan Village, a region," Le Le said the address, but then shook her head, rejecting Xie Ning's suggestion. Instead, she said, "But I don't want to go back. I have to save the Evil Ghost Brother, I can't go back. They all want to kill the Evil Ghost Brother, but he's clearly a good ghost."

Pingan Village?

Such a familiar place name; it felt like he had heard it somewhere before.

While Xie Ning was lost in thought, Le Le pulled on his pant leg and looked up at him, asking, "Big Brother, do you know where the Mission Association is? Papa said if I run into trouble, I just need to post a mission and someone will come help me."

"Alright, Big Brother will take you there. But after you post the mission, you have to go home, okay?"

"Mhm~ Thank you, Big Brother. Then I'll give this money to you. I need the rest for the mission, so I won't give it to you." Le Le opened her palm, revealing a few crumpled alliance coins inside. The face value added up to no more than three hundred or so.

Xie Ning smiled, took the money, and then summoned White Fang. He led her onto the wolf's back and hurried toward the Mission Association.

The massive White Fang didn't scare Le Le; instead, she cheered happily, shouting "Big Wolf, Big Wolf!"

Along the way, Xie Ning heard the detailed story from Le Le.

It turned out an evil ghost had appeared in Pingan Village, causing a period of panic. The villagers had jointly posted a mission requesting the authorities to kill the evil ghost. However, Le Le had once been saved by the evil ghost and insisted he was kind, but no one believed her.

To protect the evil ghost, she took her New Year's red envelope money, stole some more from home, and ran out of the mountains to seek help.

Who knew she would take the wrong bus? She meant to go to Jingzhou City but ended up in Lingnan City, then took the wrong path and ended up at the Cultivation Association when she wanted the Mission Association.

"Very brave, but too risky," Xie Ning said as he patted Le Le's head. By now, Le Le had already fallen asleep in his arms.

After all, she was only a seven or eight-year-old girl; she was exhausted from the journey.

When they arrived at the Mission Association and White Fang stopped, Le Le was jolted awake. She followed Xie Ning into the association in a daze.

Under the strange look of the counter receptionist, Le Le took a pen and crookedly wrote the five words "Save the Ghost Brother" on the mission application, then stopped.

"What's wrong?" Xie Ning asked.

Le Le looked up at Xie Ning and said, "Before I came out, I only learned how to write dis."

Hearing this, Xie Ning couldn't help but laugh. He patted her head, took the pen, and began to fill in the body of the text, reading aloud as he wrote. When he finished, he looked at Le Le.

"Mhm, mhm! Everything Big Brother said is right, it's just like dat." Le Le beamed with joy, looking at Xie Ning without a hint of worry left.

Perhaps in her eyes, posting a mission was equivalent to it being completed.

Xie Ning didn't burst her bubble. He took the little pig backpack she handed over. Opening it, he saw yellowed and old banknotes with only a few new ones. It was clear Le Le's family's financial situation wasn't great.

He zipped up the backpack, took out his own card, swiped it, entered an amount, and clicked submit.

The mission was successfully submitted, and Le Le's heart was at ease. Afterward, Xie Ning found a reliable car for her, gave the driver instructions, and put Le Le in the car, watching her leave.

"Little Mantis, follow her."

After the car disappeared from view, Xie Ning also mounted White Fang and hurried toward the academy.

When he returned to the academy, several people were already waiting for him outside the cultivation room. These were the people who had traded earth cracking beast inner cores for free evolution attempts, and now it was time for Xie Ning to fulfill his promise.

"Master is here." Mo Yu was recording the status of several Demon Tamers Beasts. Hearing the movement, she turned around and gave Xie Ning a sweet smile.

Xie Ning nodded. "Mhm, let's begin."

...On the other side, the car carrying Le Le toward Pingan Village in a region had only been out of Lingnan City for a short while. Just as it entered the highway, a massive three-meter diameter rock, burning with raging flames, fell diagonally from ahead.

If this hit, the car would surely be destroyed and the passengers killed.

The driver's despairing face was reflected bright red by the firelight. The fireball grew larger in his pupils; he wanted to scream but couldn't, his mouth hanging wide open.

Suddenly, the space rippled, and a silver-armored Demon Tamers Beast flew out. With a swing of its blade-arms, the flaming rock was split in two, crashing down on either side of the car several meters away with loud explosions.

"So noisy, Driver Uncle..." Le Le was woken by the explosions. She rubbed her eyes and said groggily before lying back down to continue sleeping.

The only response she got was the chattering of the driver's teeth.

Just as the driver thought he would be sliced to death, he saw the silver-armored Demon Tamers Beast retract its blade-arms and hand him a piece of paper. On it was written: "Deliver her safely; she is escorted by me all the way."

Seeing the message, the driver's heart immediately settled. He gave a response, then started the car and drove quickly toward the destination.

The newcomer was none other than the Rift Blade War Mantis. This note wasn't written by it, but by Xie Ning, who gave it to the mantis to use while providing protection.

After watching the car continue forward, the Rift Blade War Mantis's gaze suddenly changed. Its wings vibrated, and it shot toward a mountain peak.

In a few breaths, it reached the summit. There were five people here: four were the thugs who had bullied Le Le, and the other was surprisingly the crew-cut man who claimed to be from the Flying Dragon Hunter Group.

These five were currently preparing a second attack. The arrival of the Rift Blade War Mantis stunned them all, but they quickly reacted, ordering their Demon Tamers Beasts to attack.

A sneer flashed in the Rift Blade War Mantis's eyes. Its figure blurred as it sliced a Xuanming Bird in half at the waist. Then, with another arm, it grabbed its Master's head and squeezed hard. With a 'crack', the man fell to the ground.

"Li Kui!" the others cried out in shock. The crew-cut man also felt a chill of terror. While the other three were busy commanding their beasts to attack, he quickly turned and fled.

The Rift Blade War Mantis only gave him a glance before continuing its assault.

With blades rising and falling, it didn't even bother using Vibration Strike. None of these Demon Tamers Beasts, the highest being only Bronze Rank 8, could block its attacks.

When the slaughter was finished, it looked at the fleeing figure of the crew-cut man. Then, with a pull of its dual blades, it stepped into the spatial void.

As the crew-cut man rode his Azure Treasure Elephant, fleeing in a panic, a blade light tore through space and flashed past. His head fell and rolled twice before being crushed by his simultaneously dying beast.