239 Fraudsters

'Another one?' she thought in surprise.

"Stop the ship," she ordered the elder who was currently driving it.

Feeling the ship stop suddenly, Alex opened his eyes and told Pearl to stop cultivating. The cuts all over his body quickly healed from the Qi his body had.

"What's going on master?" he asked.

"Another monster hoard attack, down there," she said.

Alex looked from the front and saw a bunch of monsters attacking a small carriage.  "Come, let's see what is going on," Ma Rong said and beckoned Alex.

Alex nodded and flew with her to the bottom.

On the ground were a bunch of young people trying to fight the monsters with an elderly at the front trying to fend off the beast. The young people had at best the Bone Tempering realm of Cultivation and the old man seemed to be at 1st realm of Organ tempering realm too.

They were very weak against the hoard of beasts in front of them. Just the fact that they were alive right now was a miracle.

Ma Rong couldn't quickly teleport down as she did during the day without her shadow being there. However, before even reaching the 10-meter mark, where one was supposed to be able to teleport, she disappeared.

Alex was surprised. "How did she teleport 30 meters away?" he wondered in surprise.

Ma Rong immediately suppressed all the beasts down there and waited for Alex to arrive. Once he was there, she said, "Kill them."

Alex nodded and took out his Steel Sword. The monsters were around the Bone Tempering realm, with some being in the mid organ tempering realm, but that was no problem for Alex.

He easily cut through the different beasts with his sword like it was a hot knife attacking butter. Within a few slices, most of the monsters were dead.

For the monster in the Organ tempering realm, he used Smiting Blade, and soon they were dead as well. He quickly took the corpses into his storage bag.

Ma Rong saw that the fight was over and nodded; she then looked towards the old man asked, " Who are you people and what are you guys doing here?"

The 5 young people in the back were shivering with fear and didn't speak at all. So, the old man decided to speak.

"We come from a nearly by village. I am a sect leader and these are my students. I wanted to take them to the capital to register them in the annual competition."

"We were riding the carriage to the capital and… and… the beasts, they came out of nowhere and attacked us."

"I thought we were going to die, but you saved us. Thank you, Miss, young man. You saved this old man's life," the old man said.

Alex nodded and said nothing as he accepted the gratitude in silence. Ma Rong nothing whatsoever.

Alex looked at the poor young people, still shivering from fear. 'I would probably be scared just like that if I knew I was going to die too," he thought.

"Can I ask who you are Miss? I see that your ship is big. You must be from a well-known sect," he said.

"You don't need to know," Ma Rong said and looked around. She then asked," Where are your horses?"

"They were eaten by the monsters miss. Gobbled up entirely. Honestly, I was scared to death. Thankfully, you guys saved me. I don't know how I can repay you," the old man said.

"You don't have to repay us. We were just doing what anyone would do in this situation," Alex said. Ma Rong kept quiet.

"Alright, you said you were from a nearby village right?" Ma Rong asked.

"Yes, it's about a few dozen kilometers that way," the old man pointed behind him.

"I see. Then gather up your belongings and go back. You do not have horses to carry the carriage anymore, so you won't make it to the capital before the registration date. I doubt you could've made it even if you had one. So just return back to your village," Ma Rong said.

"I can't do that. These disciples of mine have wanted to take part in the competition for such a long time. I cannot let their dreams go to waste. Please, can't you just let us up on the ship? I'm sure you have a lot of room, right?" the old man asked.

"No," Ma Rong said with a cold face and flew away, forcefully pulling Alex along with her. Alex was surprised at the abrupt pull, but let her do it.

They both landed on the ship and Ma Rong told the elder to start moving again. Very soon, they were moving at a fast speed away from the place.

Alex was confused as to what had just happened. His master was unusually cold today after helping the people down there. 'Does she hate outsiders that much? Can't we just take little stowaways? I'm pretty sure there is plenty of places,' he thought.

"What's going on master? Why didn't you help them?" Alex asked.

"They… didn't need our help," Ma Rong said.

"But their carriage is broken. I'm sure we could've ta— "

"No, before even that, they didn't need our help. That old man was crafty. I don't know if he is a thief or what, but he wanted to get onto our ship for some reason."

"If I am not mistaken, that wasn't a monster hoard that randomly attacked them either. It was clearly set up beforehand to make it look like they were attacked. The horses were never there either, it was all a lie."

"He must've paid some kids to act like they were in trouble and take the chance to rob whoever stopped to help them. The old man was looking towards our ship from the very moment we arrived."

"He wanted us to help him, that bastard," she said.

Alex was surprised. 'How much experience do you need to have to catch things like that? If it were me, I would've just let them into the ship openly,' he thought.

'I still have a lot to learn.'