A few days have passed. And Ji Yen still continues to patrol his territory everyday, since he has found those human traces near his territory.
Just a few days back, he saw some Mortal hunters appearing near his territory. But when he get near to them, he could not understand what they were saying.
So, he let the system transfer human language in his brain to gain an advantage when meeting with the humans.
If he were a high level demon beast, he could understand the language of the humans.
Even though Ji Yen continued to patrol his territory everyday, except for seeing the mortal hunters some days ago, he could not find any other humans appearing in his territory. It's like those human cultivators will never come back to the forest.
Until one day, he spotted the same mortal hunters appearing near his territory.
This time Ji Yen could understand what they were talking about.
So, he quietly flew near them and landed on a branch. Then, he listened to what they were talking about.
The group of hunters were consist of 5 mortals. They sat in a small clearing and were talking.
As Ji Yen listened intently, one of them said. "Look, I know you all are mad about the work. But if we can find the whereabouts of the fruit tree, we can all benefit from it. We would not even need to work for our whole life." He seemed to be the leader of the group.
He continued. "Not only that, we can get to be an acquaintance with steward Si. He is a warrior. And we can get his help if we can accomplish this mission."
Then he looked around to see the others reactions.
Even though what he said sound like a tempting offer, everyone on the group knows they would not get any of that.
Heck, they might even be kill after they completed the mission.
Seeing the dejected look on everyone, the leader also fell silent. He himself did not believe what he had just said.
He did that because he wanted to give some hope to everyone, including himself.
Instead of talking about the mission, one of them said. "Boss, why don't we just run away from the city. What if we run somewhere remote. Maybe we can live there safely..?"
The man who spoke was a frail looking young man, in his mid 20s.
Hearing the words, an older looking man looked at him said. "Young man, if we could do that. Then why are we still here looking to finish the mission. You should know that we are all being watch by them. The moment we left the city, our family is under there watch. And the moment we enters the city, we are being monitored by them. So there is no way to leave the city safely, let alone run to somewhere safe."
He said the last few words softly and sadly.
The air around the group was depressing.
From their words, Ji Yen could roughly guess what what were talking.
They seem to be searching for some kind of fruit bearing tree. And they seemed to be under force. They are also talking about some clan and warriors or like that. But they all looked dejected.
And according to Ji Yen's memory, the only fruit tree around his territory that is useful to human cultivators is the five petal fruit tree.
Ji Yen thought. "How could they know about the five petal tree?"
He did not need to think anymore, frail looking young man asked to their leader. "Boss, why don't they find the tree themselves. I mean we are just some mortals who can not cultivate. It will be faster for them to find the tree themself, right? And how do they know there is a tree that can help cultivators, around here."
"Shoosh..." The leader shushed the young man. Then he looked around to see for anything. Then he looked at the young man said in a low voice. "Don't go around saying those things to other people. You will get busted if they hear about it."
Then answered his doubts. "Some lone hunter saw some wolves guarding a tree. And he thought the tree might be valuable, so he reported it to the Li clan. And to conceal the news from reaching other clans, they silence him."
"And apparently, they left the city to search for the tree. But they could not find the tree, since the hunter only gave them a rough area."
"The reason they let us search the tree instead of them is because they don't want the demon beast guarding the territory to find out about the cultivators. And if they do find out, they will be 24/7 patrolling the area looking for the cultivators. But the demon beasts look down on mortals. So they won't bother looking for us specifically, unless we run into then."
"When we find the tree, they will come to the place. And they will mark the area, scout the area and left with the fruits quickly, without needing to confront the demon beast. And they will come back some other day, when the tree bears fruits again."
One of them asked again. "Why don't they just kill the demon beast guarding the territory? Won't that solve the problem?"
The boss looked at him like a fool. "Idiot, have you not heard about demon beasts. They are stronger than human cultivators of the same level. And they are very territorial creatures. Even if the human warriors managed to kill a demon beast guarding a land, other neighbouring demon beast will come to claim the land. Which is the same as not killing the demon beast."
"Then, why don't they just take the tree and plant it somewhere inside their territory. I mean instead of going to the place to look for the fruits, it will solve all the problems." The young man said flatly.
"The tree will only grow on the special soil it need. So, taking the tree and plating is impossible. Unless you have the right soil. And taking the soil same place is not possible. If the environment is not right, the soil would be ruin."
"Ohh.. that's the reason." They all let out a knowing sound.
Even Ji Yen felt enlighten.
"How do you all about this?" One of them said, puzzled.
"I was a guard for the city hall a few years back. Our captain there told us about it. He told us many stories about the martial world. But alas.., we do not have the gift to walk that path."