Chapter 188 Standoff

The group and the female demon hunter who called herself Bai Huo were locked in a tense confrontation. The atmosphere was exceptionally oppressive. Hao Ren hadn't expected to suddenly run into a demon hunter in this place, but after hearing Bai Huo's words, he had already guessed why the other party had appeared here: most likely to deal with the vengeful spirit in this place.

A thin layer of blood mist swirled around Vivian, unmoving like a solid object amidst the swirling snow. She warily looked at the demon hunter not far away: "What's a demon hunter doing in this place... planning to take on all of us?"

"I'm just here to 'hunt'," Bai Huo said, not at all nervous despite being watched so intently by so many people. "The vengeful spirit beneath this ancient castle is my prey. As for fighting... that would be a waste of energy, so I'm not considering it. The vengeful spirit here is more troublesome than I expected. I advise you not to waste your energy on irrelevant matters—otherwise, don't even think about getting out of here alive."

Vivian was stunned to hear this: "Huh? You don't want to fight? Aren't demon hunters supposed to charge in and start fighting as soon as they see a non-human?"

Bai Huo quietly looked at Vivian: "I usually would, but it's not necessary today, because we might all die here—I've been entangled with the vengeful spirit in this space for almost two days. I finally had a chance today, but you messed it up. Now, we either figure out how to cooperate and get rid of that vengeful spirit, or we die on this snowfield. There's no other way."

Hao Ren thought that only this demon hunter young lady was trapped. He and his companions weren't trapped: as long as they activated the data terminal to force a teleport, this twisted space would be easy to deal with. But he just thought about it and didn't say it out loud. Nangong Wuyue looked at Bai Huo in surprise: "Did I hear that right—you mean cooperate?! When did demon hunters change their nature?"

Bai Huo nodded: "Believe it or not, I've been observing you for a long time, ever since you came in. Your strange group makes me think cooperation is possible." As she spoke, her gaze turned to Nangong Sanba: "After all, there's already a demon hunter in your group, and it looks like you've been working together for a long time... I'm surprised. I've never heard of a demon hunter and non-humans walking together. Which region are you from?"

Nangong Sanba's expression immediately became subtle. To be honest, the moment he saw this genuine demon hunter, he started sweating, and now he was racking his brains to figure out how to bluff his way out of his half-baked mixed-blood identity: "Well, actually, there's a..."

"Never mind, it doesn't matter," Bai Huo shrugged. "What do you mean? Cooperate or refuse? Or if you really want to fight, that's fine too. I can't beat all of you, but I'm pretty sure I can kill one or two of you before I die."

Hao Ren realized that although the person in front of him was trying hard to negotiate with his group and trying to be as serious as possible, this demon hunter young lady didn't understand negotiation at all! She revealed everything she should and shouldn't have said in a few words, and she didn't even bother to assess the atmosphere. The fact that she just walked out of hiding so casually was already a problem. She wasn't afraid of being ganged up on by his group without a word—if it were a normal non-human, they would have pounced on her and started fighting in this situation.

Vivian frowned at Bai Huo, then seemed to suddenly remember something: "Wait! Bai Huo, I remember hearing that name!"

"You know me?" Bai Huo looked at Vivian curiously.

"Prodigy," Vivian said, snapping her fingers as if struck by a sudden realization. "I heard about you when I was chatting with Hesperides last time. The most talented of the younger generation of demon hunters, the only one in recent generations to reawaken the ancient bloodline abilities... that's you, right?"

Bai Huo nodded: "That's me."

"Killing you here would be a huge blow to the entire demon hunter community," Vivian said, deliberately baring her teeth as if to scare the girl in front of her. "Aren't you afraid that we'll go all out to kill you? If we can kill the only bloodline awakener in the younger generation of demon hunters, killing a few non-humans would be quite a bargain. And you just jumped out so casually and admitted your identity!"

Bai Huo suddenly looked enlightened: "Ah, I didn't think of that!" Then the strange demon hunter stroked her chin and muttered, "So that's why the masters told me to avoid going on missions alone..."

Vivian: "..."

Hao Ren sighed: "Alright, Vivian, don't scare people. Bai Huo, right? I'm the team leader here. We can cooperate."

This time it was Bai Huo's turn to look at the non-humans in front of her in surprise: "You're agreeing to cooperate now? Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to kill me?"

Hao Ren covered his forehead: "Why do I always run into people like this... I said we'll cooperate, can you stop with the nonsense?"

"Okay, then I'll take you to my base of operations. I'll tell you the details about this vengeful spirit."

After Bai Huo finished speaking, she really turned around and led the group in a certain direction. Hao Ren and the others could only hurry to keep up. Vivian and Wuyue were a little confused at this time, especially Vivian, who felt like she had seen a rare animal. She looked at Bai Huo's back and couldn't help but poke Hao Ren's lower back: "Hey... do you really think we can cooperate with such a suddenly appearing demon hunter?"

"I think it's fine," Hao Ren shrugged. "The data terminal scanned her state, and according to her hormone secretion and nerve signals, she really doesn't have any killing intent—of course, there's still some hostility. And don't you think this strange demon hunter is different from the demon hunters we usually see?"

"It's really different," Vivian said with a dazed expression. "I've never seen this type before. She seems more... lively than those blockheads?"

At this moment, Bai Huo suddenly turned her head, and Vivian subconsciously reached for her bats, but the other party just asked a question: "Can I ask, how did you all get together?"

When Bai Huo said this, she couldn't help but glance at Nangong Sanba. One of the important reasons why she decided to come out and cooperate with non-humans was that she saw that Nangong Sanba, a fellow demon hunter, was already with the non-humans, but she still couldn't figure out how this group of people got together.

Hao Ren stroked his chin and thought for a long time: "Would you believe me if I said it was for world peace?"

"World peace? A beautiful word. I didn't expect there to be people who really have such an ambition," Bai Huo actually nodded seriously. "Admirable."

Hao Ren: "..."

This girl's mind is even more stubborn than Lily's, isn't it?!

It's no wonder that Bai Huo is so strange, because this is indeed one of her few experiences traveling outside—as the only bloodline awakener in recent generations of demon hunters, Bai Huo has received special care from the clan from the beginning. Her entire childhood and adolescence were spent in endless training and learning, and she rarely had the opportunity to contact outsiders. And even when she began to hunt outside like a normal demon hunter, she often operated under the care of her mentor or other senior demon hunters. In fact, as a demon hunter who was a key focus of cultivation, Bai Huo had no need to learn the common sense of human society. At least her mentors thought so: she only needed to know how to fight, and all other mundane affairs were a waste of energy.

Going to the battlefield under the leadership of other senior demon hunters, seeing prey, fighting, and killing, and then going back to continue training—this was Bai Huo's daily life for the most part.

This trip to the Siberian region to hunt down the vengeful spirit was an opportunity for travel that she had fought for herself. Even so, her mentor hesitated for a long time. Finally, considering that the far north of Siberia was sparsely populated and there were no threatening non-human groups, she got this opportunity to go out—her mentor couldn't have imagined that a bunch of interlopers like Hao Ren would appear in this place!

"By the way, can I ask a question?" Hao Ren couldn't help but want to ask some things as he looked at Bai Huo's back. "The vengeful spirit under Andrei Castle has been entrenched for more than three hundred years, why did you only send someone to clean it up today?"

"Originally, there was no need to clean up here," Bai Huo said without turning her head. "I'm just here to hone my hunting skills, this vengeful spirit is not on the official list for purification."

Lily couldn't hold back when she heard this: "No need to clean up?! Why?"

"Because it's harmless, the vengeful spirit here has been sealed."

Hao Ren was stunned by this statement: "Harmless? The Andrei family above is dying almost every year..."

"Harmless, the vengeful spirit won't run to densely populated areas, it's trapped in this castle. As long as its range of movement is limited, it's harmless," Bai Huo finally turned her head and explained seriously. "When it runs out, then we'll purify it—that's the elders' opinion. But I needed a place to train, so I came."

Hao Ren was a little speechless. Vivian muttered in his ear, "See? That's a demon hunter."