Chapter 25 – h.e.l.lo, Boss!
Chapter 25 – h.e.l.lo, Boss!
It was early in the morning; the hustle and bustle in Wild City made it such a lively place. Wild City, though it was not as magnificent as Grey City, or as charming as Pink City that was governed by the Yue Family, boasted its own unique characteristics. The cultivators walking in the streets were all courageous fighters, whose presence rendered a somewhat chilly and murderous atmosphere in the air.
The people in Wild City were those who slept early and got up early. The grey of dawn was already approaching, while the clouds from afar were very much like the whitish color of a fish’s belly. At this very beginning of the day, the streets were already occupied with flocks of visitors and inhabitants.
Today, there was a group of distinguished guests that had arrived in Wild City. They were five middle-aged men in white clothing. The expressions on these five people were tellingly calm. They strode down the streets, while the pa.s.sersby kept making way for them.
“They are from the Xue Family!”
The badge hanging on the chests of each of the five men, revealed their ident.i.ty. Obviously, they came from one of the five prominent families – The Xue Family.
The population of the Mars Prefecture accounted for more than four billions, including those from the six major cities, five hundred small cities, and countless towns and villages. Among all the four-billion people, the members from the five prominent families were the most respected. Their reputation was gained through numerous b.l.o.o.d.y battles throughout the thousand-year history of the Mars Prefecture.
Today, even the five low-status white-clothed deacons from the Xue Family were treated with awe and respect.
The five men in white clothing weren’t the least bit surprised by the reactions of the pa.s.sersby, they were actually quite accustomed to it. They kept walking at a fast pace, with their eyes looking straight forward. Finally, they stopped at a medium-sized hotel.
At the backyard of this hotel, the five men sat orderly around a table, when a silver-haired elder bowed to them.
“Your Majesty, respected white-clothed deacons.” The elder submissively greeted them.
“h.e.l.lo.” One of the five men in white clothing replied with a casual nod, “Alright, Manager Liu, we’re the secret bodyguards of our young lord. You can call me Xue Yi. Well, smart as you are, I bet you have already figured out the purpose of our visit.”
As the intelligence manager in the Xue Family, Elder Liu’s status was no lower than those white-clothed deacons. However, these five people worked directly under the leadership of young lord Wuhen, who would most likely become the leader of the Xue Family. Thus, Elder Liu acted quite submissively and humbly, even with a touch of flattery.
“Your Majesty, Xue Yi, I started the investigation as soon as our young lord gave his instructions. The target, Ye Qinghan, was in Wild City for a couple of days. Unfortunately, the time when we started the investigation, he had already left.” Elder Liu replied with a hypocritical smile.
“He’s gone? Where has he gone?” Xue Yi frowned, as he was quite obviously dissatisfied with this answer.
“He went into the mountains, I mean, the famous Wild Mountain Range.” Though Elder Liu was not sure why the young lord was interested in Qinhan, who he considered as a piece of garbage, Liu believed that there were some yet-to-know reasons behind the young lord’s decision.
“Into the mountain range? Are you kidding me? He was only at the first level of the Realm of the Elite, how daring is he! I suppose he’s already dead...” Xue Yi shot a stern look at Elder Liu, showing his disappointment. If Qinghan was dead, why did they bother to come all the way to Wild City?
“No, he’s not dead. Our target has been back to the city to replenish his stuff. Right now, he is in the periphery of the mountain range. I have planted a concealed worm in his body, so that we are able to keep track of his whereabouts.” Elder Liu hurriedly explained.
When Qinghan had first returned to Wild City, Elder Liu had followed him and released some concealed worms, which were as thin as a thread of hair. These worms were known as beast trackers, as they would be able to glue to the target’s hair or skin. The only downside was, that they had no attacking power.
“Is he still in the periphery region? Oh, how funny! Is this garbage still alive, hum?” Dark shadows of doubts lurked in Xue Yi’s head. He even suspected, that perhaps Qinghan had a hidden trump card, or he had maybe encountered some powerful cultivator to help him out. Still, Xue Yi couldn’t figure out why a low-ranked cultivator could survive in the mountain range for so long.
Knowingly, the Wild Mountain Range was divided, from the most outside to the inner center, as the periphery region, the outside region, the inside region and the heart region. As for the periphery region, if the cultivator was alert enough, even if he was in the Realm of the Elite, he would be able to survive. However, as for the outside region, it was riddled with third-grade demonic beasts and even several fourth-grade or fifth-grade ones, it was impossible for a cultivator in the Realm of the Elite to survive by himself in this part of the mountain range. Moreover, those deceitful and cruel huntsmen, who haunted these areas would add fuel to the flames.
“The sooner the better. Listen, Manager Liu, bring the target’s family member here. Meanwhile, we’re going to catch him in the mountain range.” Xue Yi instructed.
As a cultivator in the second level of the Realm of the General, Xue Yi was utterly confident to deal with Qinghan, who was several realms below him. Plus, the other four men were all in the third level of the Realm of the Commander.
Soon after, Manager Liu came back, as he was being followed by a stunned teenager. Xue Yi waved his hands in the direction of the teenager, as a sign of greeting. The five men in white clothing, together with the teenager, walked out of the backyard, and disappeared into the crowded street.
……
In the outside region of the Wild Mountain Range.
Inside a secluded cave, Qinghan was cultivating in a hunkered position. Looking through the thick thatch that thrived around the opening part of the cave, he could make out that the sky was azure blue and the sunlight was golden yellow.
“Hoo! The conception meridian is larger than the previous ones I cleared, and the quant.i.ty of stuff inside is excessively large. In terms of size, one major meridian is equivalent to three small meridians. It seems, that it’ll take at least three months to clear all the three major meridians in my body.”
Since he had entered into the Realm of the Commander, Qinghan wasn’t eaten up by pride. In fact, he had diligently continued his cultivation. Now, there were three major meridians left uncleared, namely, the conception meridian, the governor meridian and the magic meridian. He had spent five to six days working on this task, while only one fifth of the conception meridian was cleared up. At this rate, if he kept cultivating for three consecutive months, he would succeed.
“Jiji, Jiji!”
The familiar sound brought Qinghan’s attention back. He turned around, smiled at Little Black, who was busy scrabbling the white bag with his pair of tiny claws. Inside the bag, there were various kinds of magic crystals, all in different sizes and colors. Some were cyan, some were black and others were yellow.
Seeing the colorful magic crystals, Little Black’s eyes lit up with excitement. Immediately, it grabbed an egg-sized yellow magic crystal and was about to eat it.
“Ah… Wait a second! Little Black, stop it! This is a fourth-grade magic crystal, which you can’t digest yet! You should be selective in eating your food, or you’ll have problems with your health.” Qinghan s.n.a.t.c.hed the yellow magic crystal back, before Little Black could throw it into its mouth.
The fourth-grade magic crystal was worth thousands of crystal coins, which could help him buy vast amounts of first-grade magic crystals. For normal civilians, one fourth-grade magic crystal was enough to pay for their living expenses for an entire year.
However, the reason Qinghan had prevented Little Black from eating the magic crystal was not because of the price of the magic crystal, but rather because he remembered what Elder Tianxing had told them back in the School of Battle Beasts. In its weak period, a battle beast was only allowed to eat first-grade magic crystals. This piece of advice was drawn from the experience of the ancestors of the Ye Family.
However, Qinghan didn’t know, that while he was cultivating, the naughty Little Black had secretly picked up the magic crystal from the white bag that it had taken from the huntsman.
“Jiji, Jiji!”
Little Black jumped on Qinghan’s hand, licking his palm. Soon, he hopped off and swooped towards the white bag again. It picked up another yellow magic crystal and swallowed it.
“What?...”
At first, Qinghan was worried about Little Black since it had eaten a fourth-grade magic crystal. However, after thinking about it, he guessed that Little Black would probably soon step out of its weak period. During these days, Qinghan found that Little Black slept less and less. Plus, it had already showed some unusual traits, such as its iron-like teeth and its terrifying speed. No other battle beast in its weak period would have the same ability.
One piece, two pieces… Five pieces, six pieces.
Actually, Little Black behaved a little bit weird today. It only chose fourth-grade magic crystals. Within several minutes, six fourth-grade magic crystals were eaten by Little Black. It seemed, that Little Black was still not satisfied, as he quickly grabbed a fifth-grade magic crystal.
“Stop… Stop it! You little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, this is a fifth-grade magic crystal!”
The fifth-grade magic crystal was the most-valued item in the huntsman’s bag. It was equivalent to ten thousands crystal coins!
However, before Qinghan could do anything, Little Black had already swallowed it, without even chewing on it. Now, Little Black carefully licked the corners of its mouth. Funnily, now he was caught by a fitful of hiccups. Annoyed by Little Black’s disobedience, Qinghan stretched his hands, ready to spank it.
However, the moment he reached his hands out, he was dumbfounded by what appeared in front of him.
“Jiji…”
Little Black stood squarely, raising its head triumphantly. Amazingly, a golden glow wrapped up Little Black’s body. It was like an immortal lion from heaven, overbearingly staring into the distance.
Subsequently, Little Black violently shivered, as its skin swelled and shrank at intervals. Gradually, the size of Little Black grew to that of an infant, but it didn’t show any signs of stopping yet!
“Oh… My… Goodness…”
Qinghan widened his eyes and mouth, as he was utterly shocked by the unbelievable event that was happening right in front of him.
“What is happening?! Is Little Black Sun Wukong [1], who can change himself into 72 different shapes?
Eventually, this crazy change came to a stop. Now, “Little” Black was roughly one meter tall. Looking at the giant little beast in front of him, Qinghan responded with a bewildered expressions, as this was really beyond his knowledge.
The calf-sized Little Black waved its hips hilariously, walking back and forth. After a short while, with a faint trace of a smile in its pitch-black eyes, Little Black arrived before Qinghan, revealing two lines of white teeth.
Qinghan was almost scared silly. Suddenly, a weird sound was booming out in the air.
“h.e.l.lo, Boss!”
…...
[1] Sun Wukong: Also known as the Monkey King, was a main character in the Chinese cla.s.sic novel, “Journey to the West”.