Looking at her, Long Haochen felt a pang of sympathy. He was, after all, just a teenager, and Cai’er had placed a restriction on Yue Ye, making him feel somewhat guilty. In the short time they had spent together, Yue Ye had demonstrated her sincerity by offering so many items without any sign of deceit.

“Tell me,” Long Haochen said, his voice noticeably softer.

Yue Ye replied, “Please knock out my subordinates. I have a memory-erasing spell that must be cast on them to ensure your safety.”

“Alright,” Long Haochen agreed without hesitation, flicking his fingers towards the carriage. A series of thuds echoed from inside.

Yue Ye’s remaining subordinates were all mages. What resistance could they possibly offer against the wolfish close-combat fighters?

Two members of the Demon Hunt Squad emerged from the carriage and approached Long Haochen.

Long Haochen turned to Yue Ye with some apology, “We have a long way to go and need to borrow some of your Iron Mane horses. Ten will be enough, you can keep the rest. You should also leave this place as soon as possible. This is still within the Narik Province, and it’s not entirely safe.”

“Understood,” Yue Ye replied obediently, shedding her previously intelligent demeanor, like a maidservant before her master.

Cai’er frowned slightly. For some reason, she found herself disliking this woman more and more.

A faint light flickered as a cold glint appeared in Long Haochen’s eyes. “Mount up! Let’s go!”

The group untethered the Iron Mane horses. Everyone except Long Haochen, Li Xin, and Cai’er chose a mount and climbed on, following Long Haochen as they galloped into the distance.

Watching their retreating figures, the light in Yue Ye’s eyes gradually turned cold. She instinctively placed her right hand on her left breast, feeling its softness and the chill within.

“No matter how formidable you are, you still have a weakness. As long as Long Haochen asks, you will surely remove the restriction on me. Long Haochen, I will succeed.”

As she said this, a hint of pride and nobility appeared on Yue Ye’s face. She hadn’t lied to Long Haochen and his companions. She was indeed a Moon Demon Princess, and she didn’t mind helping them. There was only one reason: Long Haochen.

Besides the kindness of saving her life, there were other reasons.

Although Yue Ye possessed human blood and couldn’t inherit the Moon Demon God’s position, she was known as the “Moon Phase” within the Moon Demon clan. Her talent was exceptionally high, and she possessed wisdom far surpassing ordinary members. Even the Moon Demon God relied heavily on her. It could be said that she was the Moon Demon clan’s number one genius.

Therefore, Yue Ye had always harbored a sense of pride. Due to her excellence, many of the top-ranking Demon Gods had proposed marriage, hoping to form an alliance, but Yue Ye had rejected them all without hesitation. Her reason was simple: whoever could surpass her in both strength and wisdom at the same age would be worthy of marrying her.

Undoubtedly, until now, no one in the entire Demon clan, except for the Demon God Emperor’s successor, had been able to achieve this. However, the Demon God Emperor would not form an alliance with the Moon Demon God. This was a rule. To ensure the purity of their bloodline, the Demon God Emperor’s successor could only marry women of their own clan, or rather, a dragon… Yue Ye was twenty-two years old, and on this day, she had finally met a man who could truly impress her. Although he was a human, she still felt an unprecedented sensation.

It wasn’t that she had fallen in love with Long Haochen, but rather, a sense of competition and rivalry had arisen within her. At the same time, she acknowledged that this man was at least worthy of her.

Yue Ye had said something from the bottom of her heart: she had never considered herself a Demon, nor had she considered herself a human. She didn’t have deep feelings for either, nor did she have much aversion to them. She adhered to the principle of the strong being respected.

A flash of light appeared, and a scroll materialized in Yue Ye’s hand. She slowly walked to the carriage door, unrolled the scroll, and intense flames immediately erupted. She casually tossed the scroll into the carriage and closed the door.

A few seconds later, a deafening explosion shook the carriage, causing the heavy vehicle to leap into the air.

However, the carriage was indeed sturdy, and it didn’t shatter even under such circumstances.

Leng Xiao on the driver’s seat, however, was thrown off, and the Iron Mane horses frantically tried to flee. But the carriage was too heavy, and they couldn’t move it without activating the levitation spell.

“Only the dead can keep secrets,” Yue Ye said calmly, as if she had done something incredibly simple.

Leng Xiao, upon being thrown, regained consciousness.

“What happened? What happened?” Getting up from the ground, Leng Xiao immediately saw Yue Ye, but her eyes widened in shock.

Yue Ye’s purple eyes seemed to hold endless bewilderment as she silently gazed at her. Leng Xiao’s gaze was drawn in, sinking deeply.

Indeed, Yue Ye possessed the ability to erase some memories, but unfortunately, this ability consumed a great deal of her mental energy, making it impossible to use on multiple people. The subordinates could be killed to silence them, but Leng Xiao obviously couldn’t.

Long Haochen and his companions were unaware of the events that transpired around the carriage after they left. They rode hard, covering nearly two hundred miles by the time dawn broke, and chose a secluded spot to rest.

Long Haochen’s decision not to kill Yue Ye and her people would have been questioned by his teammates in the past. But this time, everyone remained surprisingly calm. Especially the six members of the Grade 4 Squad, who didn’t even ask a single question.

This wasn’t fear, but trust, an almost blind trust in Long Haochen. Since leaving the Temple Alliance, Long Haochen had never made a single wrong decision. He had proven to everyone his capabilities as an excellent commander.

They had brought enough water and food to last three months, so supplies weren’t an issue. After replenishing their strength, Long Haochen didn’t rush to lead them away. Instead, he spread out the map and took out some of the items Yue Ye had given them.

“Everyone, change your clothes. And take this.”

He held up several thin crystal shards, each radiating a faint magical aura. Long Haochen demonstrated how to use them.

It didn’t take long for the thirteen of them to transform. The overall changes weren’t drastic, mainly focusing on their clothing.

Purple robes became the dominant theme, with everyone wearing similar attire. The longer robes were folded up and slightly altered by the girls to fit properly.

They also changed the color of their eyes, turning everyone’s pupils purple.

Behind their purple robes was a crescent moon.

The exquisite crystal shards were the Demon Eyes that Leng Xiao and Yue Ye had previously worn, only the ones Yue Ye gave Long Haochen were purple.

This attire, combined with the change in eye color, completely transformed Long Haochen and his companions into Moon Demons. Of course, their appearance wasn’t enough. Each of them also possessed a Moon Demon identity token. Although these tokens weren’t magical devices, they carried the unique bloodline aura of the Moon Demon clan. They were quite difficult to make, and by wearing them, Long Haochen and his companions naturally exuded the aloof, captivating, and somewhat evil aura unique to the Moon Demons, seemingly becoming high-ranking Demons.

“Captain, what’s our next move? Are we really going to strut into a Demon city like Yue Ye said?” Sima Xian asked.

Long Haochen shook his head. “No, we aren’t Demons after all. Although we have enough to conceal our identities, we can’t possibly be exactly like Demons in terms of habits and details. Once we enter a Demon city, such a large group of high-ranking Demons will attract attention, increasing the risk of exposure. And since we’re supposed to be high-ranking Demons, we can’t possibly ride Iron Mane horses, which are low-level magical beasts. If we enter a city, we’ll have to abandon these beasts. Therefore, I just reviewed the route. Our supplies are sufficient. We’ll stick to the original plan and avoid cities as much as possible, heading to the Howling Caverns of Terror as quickly as we can to complete our mission.”

Undoubtedly, Long Haochen’s plan was very cautious. He would never fully trust Yue Ye.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Long Haochen said to his companions from the Grade 21 Squad, “Let’s pool our merits and distribute them later.” Although he was fair, he wasn’t rigid. He didn’t propose splitting the merits evenly with the Grade 4 Squad. After all, the two Demon Hunt Squads had different strengths, and their contributions to the entire team were also different. Long Haochen also had to consider the opinions of his own teammates.

His companions naturally had no objections to this suggestion.

Indeed, they had encountered great trouble after entering Demon territory, but at the same time, the rewards had been substantial.

The members of the Grade 4 Squad had earned considerable merits by hunting Demons. Each Berserk Demon was worth four merits, and a Harpy Demon was worth as much as six. Other Demons were also much more valuable than the Twin Blade Demons.

Long Haochen and his team had earned even more. The Crimson Berserk Demon had been killed by Long Haochen, and the Golden Harpy Demon had been killed by Cai’er. The merits for these two seventh-rank Demons would surely be over a thousand. This would be more than enough for Long Haochen to pay off his debts. What’s more, Long Haochen had previously led the team in killing so many Large Harpy Demons. Lin Xin had collected all the corpses of these Demon powerhouses. The value of these corpses and the magic crystals inside was quite considerable. As a result, Lin Xin was the happiest member of the team right now.

So many excellent materials! He could refine a lot of elixirs when he got back! Lin Xin’s elixirs could not only be sold for gold coins, but also were in demand in the Demon Hunt Squad’s trading center.

(To be continued)