"Are there any changes to my stats window?"
After successfully breaking through the 1st Refining Stage, Fang Yuan looked at his stats window:
"Name: Fang Yuan
Essence: 36
Spirit: 30
Magic: 9.9
Profession: Dream Master
Cultivation: [Dream-building Master (Peak of Elemental Gathering Realm)], Wu Zong (Third Meridian)
Technique: [Giant Eagle Metal Body Technique (Grade 4) (1%)], Bewildering Spell, Shadowstep, Hundred Poison Golden Body (1st Refining)
Skill: [Medicine (Level 3)], [Botany (Level 5)]"
"Hundred Poison Golden Body - A secret form of martial art, and is based on using extreme poison to trigger the body"s potential, increasing physical strength. Currently at the 1st Refining Stage, and gained one elemental power level. The physical condition of the body is strengthened, and body is now resistant to all types of poison!"
"Resistant to all types of poison..."
Fang Yuan rubbed his chin. "I"m afraid the "all types" of poison only include the common types of poison. If I encounter spiritual poison or deadly poison... I might still succ.u.mb to it, even if I"m at the 10th Refining Stage or 100th Refining Stage!"
He looked at his own body.
After successfully breaking through the refining stage, his became slightly taller and his muscles were more defined. His skin was tight and had a bronze hue.
With any movement, his joints crackled, releasing an immense amount of energy.
"It seems that I will no longer need to use my elemental force and just use my physical body to be still able to defeat a Wu Zong!"
Fang Yuan clenched his fists tightly, and there was satisfaction in his eyes.
"I can leave the affairs of the country and the sect to the ministers and elders..."
He walked out of the palace and pa.s.sed down a message to the ministers and elders, reminding them to behave in his absence. After which, he called for the Red-Eyed White King Bird and flew back to Qingye City.
This was where he started all of it, and therefore felt different from other places.
The secluded valley gave him the most memorable memories.
He slowly walked to the opening of the valley.
"Who"s that? Eh? King!?"
A few martial artists carrying long swords came out. As they saw Fang Yuan, they were all in shock and quickly knelt down.
"Rumble!"
As the news of Fang Yuan"s arrival spread, the entire secluded valley was in chaos. From housekeepers to the servants, everyone paid their respects to Fang Yuan.
"So much time has pa.s.sed since I was here!"
The secluded valley appeared the same as before but had its differences now. Fang Yuan shook his head. He turned around and left.
The old secluded valley would forever be a memory and would never come back.
"Those that are stuck in the past will never have a future!"
Fang Yuan rubbed the Red-Eyed White King Bird"s head. "Old White, I"ll see you!"
The secluded valley, secluded country and the entire mainland, was but a small part of his life"s journey.
He had to start on his new journey.
"In my life, I must live spectacularly and find the path to eternity, as well as... the path to the past!"
He was still longing for the world he once lived in his past life.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
The bird seemingly understood Fang Yuan"s determination. As it flew up, it circled the sky and let out a sorrowful chirp...
The plains in Yuan territory.
Since three years ago when Fang Yuan split up the 8 kings, Yuan Country was left in internal conflict and turmoil from that day onwards.
The countries from the South worked together to sow discord among the 8 of them and constantly kept each of their influence in check.
Although there might be instances of accidents, like the death of the 1st Prince Ba Tu, generally speaking, everything was rather stable.
The people living in the North finally enjoyed a period of peace.
The land and sky were vast.
Fang Yuan quietly came to the North without picking up too much attention. He bought a white horse and galloped straight through Yuan Country, arriving at the Northern Territories. He came to the rift valley near the Sunset Division.
As he walked in, he lit up a purple incense.
A mild fragrance of sandalwood filled the air. There was a hint of spirituality which slowly dissipated.
This was a present he had received from Purple Dream. She had told him that if he ever lit this incense, she would be able to detect it and would appear to meet him.
"Where did she go in the past 3 years..."
Fang Yuan tied the horse and started to pitch his tent. As he prepared dinner, he thought of Purple Dream"s face and let out a smile. "Her seductiveness would bring trouble to whichever city she may visit..."
With the Mountain River Pearl, travelling had become much more convenient for him.
Since he had decided to go on a long journey, he had to prepare enough food.
Slowly, he started to retrieve charcoal, a metal wok and a structure as he started to cook rice.
He was using premium Flame Jade Rice and the rice grains were huge. As he cooked, the fragrance of the rice filled the air.
His horse started to sniff the air and stared at Fang Yuan, as it started to salivate.
Although it was only a normal horse, it knew that if it could eat spiritual food, it would be beneficial to it, and it might even give it spiritual awareness.
"What a clever beast!"
Fang Yuan jokingly chided.
No matter how wasteful and luxurious he was, he would not feed an average horse with spiritual food.
If this was the Heavenly Horse from the plains, he might consider.
Not long after, the spiritual rice was cooked and the smell was invigorating. As the rice glowed a beautiful red, the sunset on the plains was a calming orange, and the entire scene gave Fang Yuan a different feel.
He took out his chopsticks and started to eat his dinner heartily.
Originally, he should have tried his hands on catching a wild goat to eat, but he was too pampered already. Unless it was a spiritual goat, he would not even bother to try it.
"Da da!"
"Da da!"
As his ears twitched, Fang Yuan looked towards the horizon, where the sky and the plains met.
Not long after, a few black dots appeared on the horizon. In a matter of minutes, they came closer and Fang Yuan could identify two waves of horses, all of which had a person riding on them. There were lesser people in the first wave in front, as though they were running for their lives. The wave of horses behind seemed to be giving chase as they shot a few arrows in an attempt to kill.
"War between countries? Personal feud?"
Fang Yuan did not care.
Everything was fair in this world.
He was a person who wouldn"t care much, to begin with. Therefore, he didn"t have any thoughts on helping them this time.
After all, the weak might not be kind people deserving of help.
However, this time, he was not the one looking for trouble. Instead, trouble was looking for him.
The black smoke, fire and tent were too obvious to be disregarded.
Those people who were escaping were subconsciously running towards the direction of Fang Yuan.
"Get hold of them!"
"Don"t let them run!"
The people behind shouted as though Fang Yuan was already on their side. Or rather, they did not care much and shot a few more arrows.
"This bunch..."
Speechless, Fang Yuan grabbed a handful of rocks and exerted a force on in his right hand.
"Kacha!"
There was a huge crack on the rocks. As they exploded, they became many pebbles.
"Get... lost!"
He waved his right hand.
"Chi! Chi!"
The pebbles flew extremely quickly towards the horses. In mid-air, they rubbed against each other, producing sparks and a screeching sound. It was as though they were as strong as arrows.
"Whoos.h.!.+ Whooos.h.!.+"
Blood was flying everywhere as the pebbles. .h.i.t the people on the horses.
Regardless if they were running or chasing, all of them ended up the same.
Furthermore, even the huge horses started to bleed as they were hit by the pebbles. Both parties were in chaos. As they heard Fang Yuan"s loud and commanding voice, they started to scramble in all directions and did not dare to remain near him.
"Mmm! Not too bad!"
After chasing away the flies, Fang Yuan dusted his hands with satisfaction.
He did not even use his elemental force this time. It was purely his physical strength. Compared to elemental force, he had much more control of it, and he could last longer.
As for the people of the Yuan Country, Fang Yuan"s demonic actions would have left a deep impression on them.
"Little Prince! That"s not a person! It"s a monster, a demon!"
Among the people who escaped, a middle-aged cavalry general reported to a young man. "Stay away from him! As far as possible!"
"I..."
His young man was dressed like royalty. His face was pale, as though he could not recover after witnessing h.e.l.l.
After awakening from his trance, he held his horse. "No! I want to look for him! This is for revenge, for our people! Even if he has the power of a demon, I still hope we can..."
This cavalry general had a lot of experience and guessed that the person was the rumoured legendary warrior from the South. However, the fact that the person would kill so easily worried him. After much thought, he said, "Little Prince, you have royal blood and are our only hope. How can we risk it? We have heard that that demon is ruthless! If you trust me, then let A Yeqi and myself be your messenger to talk to him!"
Even though this Little Prince reaffirmed that he was not afraid, he was actually fearful deep inside. After much hesitation, he agreed to the cavalry general"s request.
Little did that know that Fang Yuan was there waiting for a person. Afterwards, he would head North, and would never come back.
"Purple Dream, you"re here!"
After chasing away those people, Fang Yuan waited for a while. At the corner of his eye, he could see a shadow and he smiled.
"I"ve come late, but I"ve managed to see a show!"
Purple Dream looked exactly the same as she was 3 years ago. It was as though the heavens were bias towards her, and left her with no signs of ageing.
She looked at Fang Yuan with her mesmerizing eyes and sighed. "Is your heart made of steel?"
"I am just focused on what I need to do!"
Fang Yuan shrugged his shoulders. "On the plains, divisions and tribes come and go. If I have to care about every single detail, I"d have to forget about my own cultivation! As for now, I"ve not missed the time, right?"
"Nope. This is the time where the chilly winds are the weakest!"
Purple Dream nodded her head and started to whistle.
A pure white spiritual beast with a little horn on its head started to run towards them. It was like a unicorn, and it looked at Fang Yuan, as though it was guarding against him.
"Mm? This horse is not too bad!"
Fang Yuan nodded his head and kicked his own horse.
Although he had carefully handpicked his horse, it could never compare against a spiritual beast! As his own horse became triggered by the spiritual aura around, it became fearful.