"What are you doing? I was just asking what *隶 is, why are you so agitated?"

  Yuehen's face turned awkward as he said, "Miss Xuan Yue, don't ask any more questions. Let's get ready to enter the forest. Check if there's anything left in the carriage and bring it along quickly."

  Xuan Yue shook his head and said: "I didn't forget anything! If you don't say, I'll ask Ah Dai. Ah Dai, tell me, what is 'Li'?"

  "Ah, I don't know either! But since they're slaves, their fate must be quite miserable. The captured spirits are really pitiful."

  "It's the first time I've seen humans who are so pitiful." A somewhat cold voice came from the forest. As everyone's gaze followed, a dozen or so green figures floated out of the woods. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that these were people - both men and women - slightly smaller than humans, with bodies covered in green plant life serving as clothing, transparent wings on their backs, and most holding small green bows. A dozen beautiful large eyes glared at Ah Dai and the others, their only notable difference from humans being the sharp pointed ears standing upright. A faint aura of murder emanated from these people, and everyone could sense that their bows and arrows contained a highly piercing force, as if ready to shoot and kill them at any moment.

  Yan Shi Dao: "He's a friend of the Elf tribe, everyone please don't make any moves." After saying that, he took a few steps forward and slightly bowed to the leading male elf, saying: "Hello, sir. I am Yan Shi from the Pu Yan tribe. This time, I have come specifically to pay respects to Her Majesty, the Elf Queen. What has happened in the Elf tribe? You all seem so tense."

  The leading fairy suddenly said: "Are you a rock of the Pu Yan tribe? What kind of person are you?"

  Yan Shi Dao: "Is Yan not our father? Does big brother know our father?"

  That male spirit didn't relax in the slightest and vigilantly said: "What evidence do you have to prove that you are the son of Yan Fei?"

  Yan Shi smiled slightly, took out a stone-like object from his bosom and threw it over. Ah Dai vaguely saw that there were a few words on the stone, which also contained a strong energy.

  The spirit took over the stone, and the rock said: "This is the amulet given to me by our great prophet Burlin of the tribe Purock when I was born. Please take a look."

  That elf looked at the stone carefully, shook his head and said: "I don't see anything special, but since you're so sure you're a member of the Pu Yan tribe, you can follow us into the forest. You came to our Elven Forest just to pay respects to Her Majesty the Queen, really?"

  Yan Shi Dao: "We are on a journey to pass through the Tianyuan tribe's territory, to find something in the Mountains of Death. We happened to be passing by your land and came to pay our respects to Your Majesty."

  A purple-haired, long-haired elf girl flew to the side of the male elf, saying something incessantly in a language that no one could understand. Ah-Dai guessed that this must be Elvish.

  The male spirit nodded continuously as the female spirit finished speaking. He hesitated for a moment, then said: "Alright, since you have a relationship with the Pu Yan tribe, follow us into the forest. However, our spirit magician must seal your abilities first. Only after Her Majesty the Queen confirms your identities can we return your freedom."

  The rock frowned and said in a low tone of anger, "When did the Spirit Clan treat their guests like this? This isn't your style! Is this an order from Her Majesty Queen Xi Luo?"

  The male elf said strongly: "That's right, this is the queen's order. She demands that we not let any outsiders go. Whether you agree or not, we must capture you and take you back." After finishing speaking, the short bows in the hands of the elves rose again. The female elf flying at the back held a small magic wand with a faint green glow.

  "Is this the kind and peace-loving spirit tribe you were talking about? I think they're even more overbearing than your average Rock Tribe! They want to capture us as soon as we meet."

  Yan Shi Dao: "The Elf tribe must have encountered something big, otherwise they wouldn't be like this. Friends of the Elf tribe, don't take action yet, let's discuss it." After finishing speaking, he turned his head to Ah Dai and said: "Brother, we can't conflict with the Elf tribe, I think we should follow their intentions."

  Ah-Dai hadn't replied yet, but Miao Fei hastily said: "How can that be, if our powers are sealed, won't we just be at the mercy of others?"

  The silly one looked at the rock and then at Miao Fei, and said to the leading elf: "Elf brother, is there really no other way? We really didn't have any malicious intentions."

  The male spirit let out a cold snort and said, "Who knows if you're not thieves disguising yourselves under the name of the Pu Yan tribe. No way, we must seal your powers first before bringing you into our Spirit Forest."

  At this time, Moon Scar also walked up and blocked Miao Fei's path, saying loudly: "Alright, we believe in the Spirit Clan, let's do it your way."

  Miao Fei hastily said: "Yuehen Lao Da, no way! We can't let them seal our powers."

  Yuè Hén glared at him and said, "It's okay, I believe the Spirit Clan won't harm friends. Come on."

  The male spirit frowned, seeming somewhat hesitant. After a while, he said: "If you can prove to the queen that you are truly friends of our spirit tribe, I, the spirit tribe's Ayaka, will solemnly apologize to you. Yoma, take action." With his call, the female magician flew out from behind the spirit tribe's ranks, continuously chanting spells in the spirit language. A green glow flashed around her, and the spell-chanting lasted for a short while, about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. When the green glow completely enveloped her, she swung her magic wand, and a green light shot into a large tree beside them. The tree grew wildly under the infusion of magical light, and seven or eight roots sprouted from the ground towards Ah-Dai and his companions.

  Xuan Yue looked at the thumb-thick tree vines in surprise and said, "Wow, is this the natural magic of the Elf tribe? It's really amazing!"

  The tree vines quickly crawled to the front of the crowd, climbing up from their feet and soon wrapping around everyone's upper body. Ah-Dai struggled slightly, feeling that the tree vines were extremely tough, and even if he used all his strength, he might not be able to break free. The female spirit known as Yoma stopped chanting her spell after the tree vines had completely wrapped around everyone's upper body, and she nodded at Xia Yan with a somewhat tired expression.

  "Alright, now we can go. Follow us," said Ah Qian Dao. After finishing speaking, he led the crowd of spirits to slowly fly towards the forest.

  "It's really uncomfortable being tied up like this," said Iwao discontentedly. "It's been a long time since I came to the Spirit Tribe, and I didn't expect to be bound up like a rice ball as soon as I arrived."

  Yan Shi glared at him and said, "You'd better say a few less words, when we get to the Elf Queen's place, she'll give us justice." After finishing speaking, he led the way forward.

  Xuan Yue didn't mind being tied up by the vines because she was very clear that if anything happened, her Phoenix blood would definitely be able to deal with these vines.

  The path in the forest of spirits is very rugged, with almost no flat ground. Everyone followed the crowd of spirits into the depths of the forest, one foot deep and one foot shallow. The tall trees blocked most of the sunlight, and the cool feeling spread throughout the body. Taking a breath of fresh air gave people a sense of euphoria.

  Yanli said with a hint of intoxication: "The air here is really good, even better than our Pu Yan tribe. Brother Rock, wasn't it over a decade ago that we last came here?"

  On this bird-language fragrant pure land, the mood of the rock seemed to have brightened up a bit, nodding lightly and saying: "Yes! The Spirit Forest is absolutely one of the most beautiful places on the mainland. If Cloud were still alive, it would be great, she would definitely be very happy if she saw these." Thinking of his deceased wife, the rock felt a pang in his heart and fell silent.

  Among the crowd, only Xuan Yue didn't have any martial skills. After walking for a while, her legs were already sore and couldn't move anymore. Without hands to grasp for balance, plus the uneven road, she lost her footing in an instant and fell over. Ah Dai jumped down and hurriedly squatted beside her, but his hands were tied up, so he couldn't help her get up either.

  Xuan Yue had never suffered such hardship before, and suddenly burst into tears. Hearing her crying, everyone stopped in their tracks. Yuè Ji walked up to Xuan Yue's side and asked: "Yue Yue, what's wrong?"

  Xuan Yue cried out: "The Spirit Clan is too bullying, she's just a young girl who doesn't know any martial arts, how can I leave her behind?! I won't go, waaahhh!"

  Akane flew over, reaching out to support Gengetsu, who scolded: "Don't touch me. I hate it." Akane was taken aback, and only then did he clearly see that among these outsiders there was a little girl like an angel, with a beauty that even among the spirit tribe would be considered top-notch. Akane said: "Judging from your appearance, you should be a human magician, right? In that case, I think you don't have any malicious intentions, so I'll release your restraints. What do you think?"

  Xuan Yue's crying stopped, and Lihua said with a smile: "This is more like it, hurry up and untie me."

  Yagami called out to Roma, and removed the tree vines from Gengetsu's body. Gengetsu sat up, moving her body around, and earlier when she fell, her small hand was scratched a bit, the throbbing pain caused her tears to flow again. She softly chanted the Light System Recovery Spell, and under the white light's illumination, the small wound on her hand healed suddenly.

  Roma floated beside Xuan Yue and said, "Little sister, always using magic to heal wounds isn't good for you, it will lower your immune system. For this kind of small injury, it's better to let it heal on its own."

  "However, it really hurts! You're not much older than me, don't call me little sister. I hate it when people say I'm young."

  Yoma smiled and said, "Not younger than you? Then you're wrong, our Elf tribe can generally live to be 400 or 500 years old. I'm almost 100 years old this year. Although I'm not considered old in the tribe, compared to you, it's a big difference."

  Xuan Yue shouted loudly, pointing at Ruoma: "You're almost a hundred years old?"

  Roma nodded happily and said: "Yes! Still two years before I'm a hundred years old. When I reach a hundred years old, I'll be a great spirit."

  Xuan Yue seemed to have forgotten the pain of her fall earlier, and she grabbed onto Yuroma's arm, saying affectionately: "Sister, sister, please teach me how you can still be so beautiful at the age of 100." The Spirit Clan was a race that loved perfection, and upon hearing Xuan Yue's sincere question, Yuroma couldn't help but laugh. "Little sister, this is a matter of bloodline, there's no special method to it!"

  Xuan Yue pouted and said: "It turns out that being a spirit is so good, you can be 100 years old and still look so beautiful, if I were to reincarnate as a spirit too."

  Yoma smiled slightly and said: "If you were a spirit, you would definitely be the most beautiful little spirit."

  Yagai flew up again and said: "We should get going, or everyone will worry if we don't return for so long."

  At this moment, a sudden sound of breaking air came, and dozens of figures surrounded them from all sides. They were all shrouded in black clothes, only revealing their eyes. Some held ropes, some held weapons and shields, with an intimidating appearance. A rope suddenly floated out from the group of black-clothed people, successfully binding Yoma's body. The tall black-clothed man pulled it tight, instantly grabbing Yoma's slender figure beside him. His right hand struck Yoma's neck, knocking her unconscious. He laughed triumphantly: "Brothers, hurry up, I've caught the elf magician."

  The crowd of black-clad men suddenly had no more scruples and pounced on the elves. Ayan remained calm in the face of danger, floating up into the air, and under his command, a flurry of green elf arrows shot out towards the surrounding black-clad men. However, these black-clad men seemed to have been prepared, almost every one of them holding thick shields in their hands, although the elf arrows had strong penetration ability, they could not break through their defense.

  The transparent wings of the Elf tribe can take them into the air, but the flying ability of the Elf tribe cannot be compared with that of the Winged Human tribe. The speed of flight is not very fast. In the forest, due to the obstruction of lush branches and leaves, it is difficult to reach a height of even ten meters when taking off. The black-clothed men kept throwing lassos into the air, without the support of Elf mages, in a short while, three more Elves were caught by the lassos and pulled down.

  Xuan Yue was startled by the sudden change and hastily hid beside Ah Dai. The rock shouted anxiously: "Elf friends, quickly release the restraints on us, we'll help you fight against the enemy."

  Akane shot arrows while dodging the lassos, angrily saying: "Who knows if you're in cahoots with each other, it's probably you who brought them here." In fact, even if he believed in the sincerity of Iwao and the others, there was no way to untie their bonds. After all, Yoma, the only magician among this group of fairies, had already been captured.

  Looking at the approaching black-clothed men, Yan Shi's heart was racing, and he rushed to Xuan Yue: "You're also a magician, is there any way to get rid of these vines? This thing is too tough, I can't struggle free."

  Xuan Yue thought for a moment, then said: "I have a way, but you may get burned by the fire, so bear with it!" After finishing speaking, he took out his own Phoenix Blood and softly chanted: "The King of Ten Thousand Birds, the Phoenix! Please grant me your infinite flame power, transform it into a Flame Blade, and cut open the restraints in front of us!" One of the biggest characteristics of the Phoenix Blood is that as long as one has the level of an elementary magician, they can use it to cast fire magic, with the power varying depending on the caster's abilities. Ah-Dai's Dragon Blood also had corresponding properties, but what was released was light magic.

  As the incantation was chanted, the crimson light of the phoenix's blood burst forth from the gemstone in Xuan Yue's hand. A bird-shaped flame shot out and, under her command, charged towards Ah Dai's chest where the vines were entwined. Ah Dai felt a sudden heat on his chest, and the vines wrapped around him snapped instantly, their broken ends turning dark brown. Due to the icy evil power of the Ming Wang sword, even the phoenix's flames could not harm his skin. Ah Dai drew out the Tian Gang sword with a swift motion, its white light flashing as it cut through the rocks and the vines on Lu Jian's body. The toughness of the vines was no match for the sharpness of the Tian Gang sword. With a loud battle cry, both of them charged towards the black-robed figure, their weapons at the ready.

  The Phoenix Flame was already the strongest power that Xuan Yue could use with the Phoenix Blood at this stage. She had wanted to continue using the flame to help others and break free from their restraints, but her magical energy seemed to have been completely drained by the Phoenix Blood, leaving her without any strength. Her whole body went limp, and she sat down on the ground. In fact, she was overthinking things - fire and wood were mutually restrictive, so even a lower-level fire magic could break free from the vine restraints.

  Ah-Dai freed himself from the rocks and rushed towards Xuan Yue, "Xue Yue, how are you? Are you alright?"

  Gengetsu weakly said, "I'm fine, I just used a bit too much magic power. You should hurry and help the Rock Brothers deal with those bad guys, we can't let them take the spirits away! Especially Yufuma."

  Ah-Dai nodded, removing the restraints from the four Moon Scar people. The crowd's eyes simultaneously revealed a resolute gaze. Except for leaving Wanli to protect Xuan Yue, everyone charged towards the black-clothed men together. At this time, Yan Li and Yan Shi had already rushed into the group of black-clothed men. Both were Strength-type warriors, and those thick shields were useless in front of them. Yan Shi seemed to want to completely vent his inner anger, slashing at the black-clothed men with each knife stroke devoid of mercy. Each slash carried an extremely tragic aura, and the black-clothed men who opposed him all ended up dead or wounded. Yan Li's attack power was not inferior to Yan Shi's; a pair of broad-faced battle axes danced in the air, leaving nothing unbroken. In just a moment, seven or eight black-clothed men had already died at the hands of the two brothers.

  A man in black shouted: "Are you a friend of that road, thinking of eating black food?"

  Yan Li roared in anger: "I'll kill your mother, I'll chop you all to death!" Ever since he was deceived by Yan Jiu that day, he had been holding back his anger. With the oppressive atmosphere between everyone over the past few days, he finally had an opportunity to vent and charged at the black-clothed man who caught the spirit like a mad tiger. At this time, Ah Dai and others had also arrived. Ah Dai's brain was slow, so when Owen taught him moves, they were mainly based on momentum and strength. Therefore, his attack method was almost the same as Yan Shi's, except that Ah Dai was kind-hearted by nature. Every sword he swung only shattered the opponent's shield, then used the Tian Gang sword to poke at the opponent's joints, rendering them unable to fight. What Ah Dai didn't see was that every black-clothed man who fell to the ground after being hit by him had already died under the angry spirit arrows without the protection of their shields. Yue Hen's silver sword and Miao Fei's soft sword couldn't cut open the opponent's shield, but they found a way to attack from an angle. The black-clothed men's skills weren't very strong, and in the chaos, many people were killed or injured. Especially Miao Fei, whose sword was extremely ruthless, targeting the enemy's weak points, and with Yue Hen's cooperation, almost no one was left alive. Yue Ji supported everyone from the side, and whenever a black-clothed man revealed an opening, a silver light would flash by, and he would be shot by her silver arrow, its accuracy not inferior to that of the spirit bow and arrow.

  Dozens of black-clad men were defeated one after another by Ah Diao and others who were outnumbered. Just as they were about to be defeated, seven or eight more black-clad men suddenly jumped out from the thicket. Their attire was slightly different from that of the previous black-clad men, with no shields or ropes on their bodies, each holding two short blades with cold light flashing in their hands.

  The elves who were taken away earlier, except for Yoma, have all been rescued. Although they didn't suffer any injuries, they were all knocked unconscious by the enemy.

  The tall, dark-robed man who had grabbed Yoma quickly retreated to the side of seven or eight other black-robed men and said in a terrified tone: "Leader, we were about to succeed, but somehow a group of formidable guys appeared out of nowhere and snatched away many of the spirits we had obtained. The casualties among our brothers are heavy!"

  A slender black-clad figure snorted coldly: "You bunch of trash, can't even handle a few people, tell them to retreat."

  The tall, dark-clad man hastily responded, blowing a loud whistle. As the whistle sounded, fewer than ten remaining dark-clad men retreated under the cover of shields into the crowd of dark-clad men holding short blades.

  Akane and the uncaught spirits reunite with Aho and others, Akane says gratefully: "You are really friends of our spirit tribe, I'm sorry for what happened before."

  "Never mind that for now, let's deal with these enemies first. Those few guys who came later seem to have some skills, so everyone be careful."

  Akane nodded and said: "I've already sent out a signal, but since this is the border area of the Spirit Tribe, our people are relatively few in number. I'm afraid it will take some time for reinforcements to arrive."

  "Look at the way these people are dressed, they should be from the Thieves' Guild. They're so brazenly coming to the Spirit Tribe to kidnap someone, aren't they afraid of getting in trouble with the Sordevian Federation? Those few black-clad men who came later are probably at least high-level thieves, everyone be careful."

  Yan Shi glanced at Yue Hen and said to Zhong Ya, "Brother Jingling, you guys cover us from behind, we'll go up and deal with these bastards." After that, he walked forward with Yan Li. Ah Dai and the members of Yue Hen's mercenary group followed them, and the seven of them walked in front of the crowd of black-clothed people.

  The seven black-clad men also stepped forward, and one of them said in a low voice: "No matter which line you are from, you have gone too far today. The lives of our 22 brothers were lost here, can't you give us an explanation?"

  "Hand over your souls, you bunch of bastards! You come here to capture the spirits, don't you deserve to die?"

  The man in black snorted and said, "You're all mixed up on the mainland, who isn't for money? You've done it so thoroughly today, don't blame us for breaking with tradition."

  A'Dai was taken aback and asked Moon Scar in a low voice, "What traditions do they have?"

  "The Thieves' Guild has rules, you know. When we're out on a job, we're not allowed to kill anyone. Looks like these black-robed folks are in for a fight. High-level thieves can be pretty scary. If there's an Acquirer around, we're in trouble. We'll need to be careful later - those high-level thieves are all incredibly fast."

  "The black-clad men were rebuked by the rocky shore: 'You, for your own selfish interests, have put kind spirits in a precarious situation. Your actions are too self-serving. You people are guilty of unforgivable crimes, we are just eliminating harm for the people, what's wrong with that?'"

  A black-clad man next to the leading black-clad man leaned over and whispered something, and the leading black-clad man nodded and shouted at the rocky road: "Alright, you're seven people now, and we're also seven people. Let's have a match! If you win, we'll leave the Spirit Forest immediately. If you lose, don't interfere with our business again."

  Yuè Hén said in a low voice to ā Dāi, "It seems that these thieves still have some respect for the guild's rules. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so polite. These conditions are quite suitable for us. If we can defeat them, they will naturally retreat. If not, even if we want to help, we won't be able to assist the spirits."

  "Ah-Dai nodded and said: 'Yue-Heng big brother, can we beat them?'"

  Yuehen Dao said, "I don't know either. On the surface, it's hard to tell how deep or shallow these people are, but their weapons are all short blades, and they probably have some skill. The shorter the weapon, the more vicious the skill."

  The rock obviously also knew that the man in black had given in and said coldly: "You say it, how to compare?"

  The man in black said, "It's very simple. We'll take turns going up, and whoever loses won't be allowed to go on stage again. As long as all seven people from one side are defeated, that side will lose. However, I hope you won't resort to killing blows. Otherwise, I'm afraid our people won't be able to control their emotions."

  "The rock didn't seem to care about the other's threat and said calmly: 'Then let's begin. Who's first?'"

  The man in black at the front glanced to his left and said, "Little Seven, you go." The black-clad figure on the far left flashed forward, already standing between the two groups. His speed was so fast that it surprised Yi Guang. He knew his advantage lay mainly in his strength, but he was not good at dealing with such speedy warriors. As he hesitated about whether to take action himself, Miao Fei had already darted out. With his left hand pinching the tip of his soft sword, he said disdainfully, "Let me be the first to experience what kind of skills you scoundrels have."

  The black-clad man was also slender and had large eyes, but they were narrowed together, two cold glints falling on Miao Fei's body. He seemed not to have been enraged by Miao Fei's words, his body slightly curved, coldly saying: "Be careful." His voice was low and hoarse, as soon as the words fell, his figure flashed, and Miao Fei lost sight of him in an instant. He was greatly shocked, he was very confident in his own speed, but did not expect that this slender black-clad man's speed would be so fast. Subconsciously, he circled his hand around the soft sword, laying down a layer of dense sword shadows around him. Two clear ringing sounds, Miao Fei felt two sharp fighting energies transmitted from the soft sword, he desperately urged the fighting energy in his body to counter it, but could not stop the invasion of the sharp fighting energy. Severe pain came from his hand, Miao Fei's soft sword fell to the ground, a chill on his neck, the short blade was already placed on his shoulder. The cold killing intent made Miao Fei dare not move at all. Just as he thought he would lose his life, the killing intent suddenly disappeared, and the black-clad man reappeared in the original place, faintly saying: "You have lost."

  Miao Fei stood there with a pale face, he never thought that he couldn't even block one move.

  Yuè Hén supported Miáo Fēi in front of him, nodded to the black-clothed man and said: "Thank you for sparing his life." His heart was also uneasy, the previous battle showed that Miáo Fēi and the opponent were not on the same level. And Yuè Hén's own martial arts skills were only slightly higher than Miáo Fēi's, but not much different.

  Not only was Yue Hen afraid, but the others were also stunned by the black-clothed man's move. Asking themselves in their hearts, no one among them had any confidence that they could withstand that strange attack just now.

  Yan Shi gritted his teeth, just about to take action himself, but found that his shoulder was grabbed. The one who grabbed him was Ah Dai. Ah Dai nodded at Yan Shi and said, "Big brother, let me go." Ah Dai also had no confidence, after witnessing the mysterious movements of the black-clad man earlier, although he was nervous in his heart, but as soon as he thought of the kind-hearted spirit being sold into slavery by these people, his mind suddenly became hot, and impulsively asked Yan Shi to let him fight.

  Yan Shi knew that Ah Dai's kung fu was on par with his own, and he also knew some magic. He thought to himself, "Perhaps he might have a slight chance." Nodding, he said, "Be careful in everything."

  A'Dai responded with a grunt, drawing out the Tianxia Heavy Sword from behind his back and walking up to the black-robed man. With both hands gripping the hilt of the sword, a faint white aura emanated from his body, his imposing presence staring down his opponent as he said, "Please instruct me." As soon as the words left his lips, A'Dai immediately activated the True Qi within his body with all his might. The black-robed man's existence vanished from his eyes, as if he had placed himself in the midst of a vast ocean. His aura surged forth in layers towards his opponent, undulating like the waves of the sea.

  The man in black flashed a hint of surprise in his eyes, his body slightly arched, countering Ah-Dai's momentum. He felt that his vital energy had been locked down by Ah-Dai, and if he made even the slightest move, he would inevitably invite a thunderous strike from his opponent. The two men stood facing each other like this, neither of them moving for half a day.