The two men were currently deep in a vast forest within the Asura Kingdom. Though the trees here weren't exceptionally dense, the spacing between them was still relatively wide, making the pair quite conspicuous when viewed from above.
They had just successfully captured their last desired prey and decided to take a short rest to recover their strength before heading to the agreed-upon trading spot with Darius's people.
The two chatted amiably, occasionally bursting into hearty laughter, as if already envisioning a bright future ahead.
However, in the midst of this relaxed and cheerful atmosphere, one of the originally still burlap sacks suddenly began to shake violently, accompanied by the muffled sobbing of a girl.
"Damn it, shut up!" The fat man was clearly enraged by this sudden disturbance. He roared furiously, picked up a rock from the ground, and hurled it without hesitation toward the wriggling sack.
With a 'bang,' the rock struck the sack squarely—seemingly right on the girl's head. The crying stopped abruptly.
The rock bounced back and landed on the ground with a 'clatter.' The sound startled another nearby sack, causing it to tremble slightly as well.
Their bodies shook uncontrollably, filled with overwhelming terror.
Yet if they cried out, it would immediately provoke frenzied beatings from the two men outside.
The first girl captured had already been on the verge of death even before being stuffed into a sack.
"Tch, becoming Lord Darius's slave is your honor, and you still dare to cry? Once you're there, as long as you manage to please Lord Darius, you might even keep your little lives! But if you piss us off now, you're as good as dead!"
The fat man's extremely uncomfortable voice reached the girls' ears.
Faced with such a threat, they had no choice but to hold back their tears and not make a sound.
Because they knew full well that if they truly angered these two, they might really be buried alive right here.
"Good job. We'll pack them up in a bit, then we can get on the road." Rotkeber's voice was calm, yet it carried an air of cold indifference and ruthlessness.
In these two men's eyes, there was not a trace of pity—only an endless greed for money.
They didn't care at all about the girls' lives or deaths; to them, these girls were no different from ordinary livestock, disposable at will.
"Got it!" The fat man responded, then began stuffing the girls one by one into the sacks, preparing to load them onto the cart.
When he touched the first sack, the terror inside the girl reached its peak. Faced with the unknown tragic fate awaiting her, she could no longer hold back and burst into loud sobs.
"Damn it, Rotkeber, come over here and help me teach her a lesson!"
...
At this moment, Dan Feng and Roxy were already very close to the royal capital Ars—just a few towns away.
Over these past months, Dan Feng had discovered that the concealment ability of Cloud Chant techniques also worked on human vision. Even if they flew at low altitude, no one would notice them.
Thus, he decided to maintain low-altitude flight to better observe the surrounding environment.
In Dan Feng's warm embrace, Roxy curled up quietly like an obedient kitten, not moving a muscle.
Her large aqua-blue eyes remained fixed on Dan Feng's endlessly captivating handsome face. The longer she looked, the more her cheeks flushed—she had no idea what thoughts were swirling in her mind.
However, when Dan Feng turned his gaze downward, his brows unconsciously furrowed.
Down in the forest below, two adult men were roughly dragging a small girl out of a burlap sack.
Immediately after, they mercilessly rained punches and kicks upon the pitiful girl, each blow landing heavily on her frail body.
The girl's cries grew louder and louder, driven by unbearable physical pain.
Tears streamed endlessly down her face, yet the two assailants showed no sign of stopping—instead, they intensified their torment.
"Didn't I tell you not to cry? And you're still crying?" The fat man roared in fury, his massive body trembling slightly with rage as his enormous foot prepared to slam down once more onto the girl's delicate frame.
At that instant, a dazzling golden light suddenly flashed, instantly coalescing into a massive golden dragon-patterned energy shield around the girl.
The shield radiated powerful energy fluctuations, exuding an overwhelming sense of security.
The fat man's heavy foot struck the energy shield squarely. However, the kick landed as if against an indestructible wall—not only did it fail to harm the girl in the slightest, but the shield's powerful rebound force sent him staggering backward several steps.
"What the hell?" The fat man stared wide-eyed, his face full of disbelief as he looked at the solid energy shield.
Unconvinced, he stomped on it again.
But his foot felt as if it were stepping on solid ground—no matter how much force he applied, it wouldn't budge any further.
"What in the world is going on?" The fat man stomped on the energy shield once more.
The only result was ripples spreading across the shield's surface, like a stone tossed into a lake creating waves—but it failed to shake the shield at all.
Rotkeber, standing nearby, was equally stunned.
He stared at the bizarre scene before him, thinking to himself, 'Where the hell did this thing come from? There's clearly no one around!'
At that moment, the girl—now feeling no pain—slowly opened her tear-filled eyes.
She looked up in terror at the fat man's large foot hovering above her, the fear in her heart undiminished.
"Strange, there's no one around. Where did this thing come from?" Rotkeber muttered suspiciously, his gaze beginning to scan the surroundings in search of the energy shield's source.
"You two grown men are treating a girl who looks barely over ten like this?" Dan Feng's cold voice reached their ears as he slowly descended from the sky.
His profound cyan dragon horns and pale cyan dragon tail unmistakably proclaimed his majesty, exerting an invisible pressure on the two men.
"Who are you?" Rotkeber immediately noticed Dan Feng's distinctive features, though he couldn't identify what race Dan Feng belonged to.
Aside from certain specific demon races and the legendary heavenly race, no others could fly—and those demon races usually had obvious traits, especially in skin color.
So Dan Feng couldn't be a demon.
Moreover, the legendary heavenly race had wings, which Dan Feng lacked.