Chapter 67: If You're a Man, You Should Boldly Be the Third Wheel

Since Leng Yuexin had already spoken up to ask him to stay, Lin Huang did not have the tact to withdraw on his own. Li Yanxing remained expressionless throughout, and though the other young nobles were somewhat displeased, they refrained from saying more. Thus, Lin Huang shamelessly joined the group amidst the awkward atmosphere, becoming the only non-essential member of the team.

“You don’t have a flying mount, do you?” Leng Yuexin asked Lin Huang.

“No, I can’t afford one...” Lin Huang replied candidly.

At his words, a clear flash of disdain crossed the eyes of several noble youths.

“In that case, you can ride with me. We didn’t bring any extra flying mounts,” Leng Yuexin offered, her face still cold, making it clear she was only doing this for the sake of the mission.

“Why don’t you ride with me, Brother Lin? Miss Leng is a lady—it would be inconvenient for her,” Li Yanxing interjected quickly.

Leng Yuexin looked at Lin Huang, waiting for his decision. Lin Huang quietly consulted Xiao Hei, “The mission card requires me to enter the Forget-Worry Forest with Leng Yuexin. Do we have to ride together, or can we go separately?”

[You can go separately. As long as you enter the forest together, it fulfills the mission requirements.]

With that confirmation, Lin Huang spoke up, “I don’t mind at all. As long as I have a seat, it’s fine.”

He could see that Li Yanxing’s earlier reluctance to let him come was clearly related to Leng Yuexin. Since he’d already insisted on tagging along, it would only make things worse if he insisted on riding with her. Lin Huang had no desire to complicate matters—he just wanted to complete his mission smoothly.

In fact, he never intended to be a third wheel; running into Li Yanxing and his group was purely by chance. Had the mission card not suddenly activated, he would have accepted Li Yanxing’s suggestion, hired another team, and entered the forest with them. Hired hands could even help him find the Six-Armed Enchantress’s territory faster.

Seeing Lin Huang had no objection, Leng Yuexin nodded and said nothing more.

The group exited through the southern gate of the outpost, each retrieving a beast-taming token from their storage space, using it to release their flying mounts.

The beast-taming token was a special item that allowed one to form a contract with a tamed monster, sealing it within. When needed, the beast could be temporarily released. The value of such tokens rivaled treasured artifacts; ordinary people could not afford them. Those who could, usually used them for rare flying mounts or mutated beasts, since ordinary monsters were not worth the cost of the token.

Moreover, taming monsters was not something just anyone could do—it was a skill exclusive to Beastmasters, and hiring one to tame a monster was itself a considerable expense.

Watching the five people each summon a flying mount, Lin Huang couldn’t help but inwardly marvel at the nobles’ wealth.

Leng Yuexin’s mount was a bird with ice-blue feathers.

Lin Huang recognized it as a Blue Snow Eagle, a gold-level creature and a true raptor among monsters.

But what caught Lin Huang’s eye even more was Li Yanxing’s mount—a Sub-Drake.

The Sub-Drake was a gold-level monster, a distant kin to the extraordinary Drakes. It resembled a Drake in form but was much smaller, less than ten meters long. True Drakes were colossal, hundreds of meters long, and born at the extraordinary level. Even most extraordinary powerhouses could barely capture a Drake for a mount.

Li Yanxing’s Sub-Drake was almost fully grown, with brilliant blood-red scales—a remarkably fine specimen.

As for the other three, their mounts paled in comparison, being merely ordinary gold-level birds.

Each person climbed onto their mount. As Lin Huang boarded the Sub-Drake behind Li Yanxing, the creature glanced back at him with a snort of discontent.

Li Yanxing ignored the reaction, acting as if he hadn’t noticed. Lin Huang, seated behind, also paid it no mind, appearing calm and unruffled.

The appearance of five magnificent flying mounts at the outpost gate soon attracted a crowd of onlookers. The young nobles atop their mounts wore expressions of pride, though Li Yanxing appeared far more composed, his face betraying no emotion. Leng Yuexin, on the other hand, was truly indifferent to the attention. She gave her Blue Snow Eagle a pat, and was the first to soar skyward.

As soon as she set off, Li Yanxing and the others followed suit.

The five flying mounts took to the air one after another, speeding southwest and soon vanishing from the sight of the gathering crowd.

A journey of three thousand kilometers would take gold-level flying mounts no more than an hour and a half. With a flying speed of two thousand kilometers per hour, these creatures rivaled supersonic jets on Earth, yet this was only their normal speed, not their limit.

Yet, sitting atop the Sub-Drake, Lin Huang felt no resistance from the wind at all. Glancing at those to either side, he saw the same for them—everyone sat comfortably, not a hair disturbed. He wondered at the principle behind this, but recalling that Li Yanxing did not seem keen on conversation, decided not to ask.

Perhaps it was the power of gold-level mounts, or perhaps something else, but in over an hour of flight, not once did a flock of birds attack them.

This dashed Lin Huang’s hope of observing Li Yanxing’s swordsmanship along the way.

The hour and a half passed quickly, and the five flying mounts descended at the edge of the Forget-Worry Forest.

Everyone dismounted and returned their beasts to their tokens.

Li Yanxing’s group intended to part ways with Lin Huang immediately, but Leng Yuexin did not leave. She turned to Lin Huang and asked, “What are you here to hunt? If it’s on our way, we can take you a bit further. We know this forest’s monster distribution fairly well.”

Li Yanxing and the others stood a dozen meters away, glancing at Lin Huang with clear impatience.

“I’m here to advance to the Black Iron rank. The life-seed prey I’ve chosen is the Six-Armed Enchantress,” Lin Huang stated his purpose.

“The Six-Armed Enchantress? Why choose such a creature?” Leng Yuexin was surprised. “While its life-seed is indeed among the best for Black Iron, I suggest you pick something else. If you’re not careful, you could lose your life here.”

Though her words were blunt, Lin Huang knew she meant well.

“It’s alright. If I truly can’t kill it, I’ll consider another prey. I’d like to try first,” Lin Huang replied gently, declining her suggestion. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

“We’ll take you as far as we can, since it’s on our way. I’ll let you know when we arrive, and you can leave the team then. If you can’t handle it, don’t risk it—get out of there quickly,” Leng Yuexin insisted.

“In that case, I’ll shamelessly accompany you a bit further,” Lin Huang agreed, realizing that beneath her cold exterior, Leng Yuexin was warm-hearted. He couldn’t help but think to himself, “It seems I’ll have to go on being the third wheel for a while longer.”

Li Yanxing and his companions, however, looked visibly displeased.

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[To all those commenting about the slow updates... Today marks the last day of the new book promotion, and after today’s chapters, we’ll hit 170,000 words. That’s nearly 6,000 words a day for the 30-day promotion—a pretty fast pace! Most authors in this phase only manage 120,000 to 150,000 words... Please be patient a little longer. In April, once it’s officially released, the updates will come in bursts!]