After fifteen minutes, s.h.i.+ Yan came back to where Cherry and Tie Mu’s group gathered, his face bitter.
"How was it? Did you catch any dead souls?" asked Tie Mu with caution.
"No," s.h.i.+ Yan shook his head, his face darkened. "I met the souls there. That cave’s full of dead souls, hundreds of them. Some of them should be at a high level. I’m lucky that I acted quickly. Otherwise, I could have been captured."
There were so many dead souls inside the cave, and the aura they released was tremendous. When that large number of dead souls struck together, even the Nine Serenities Soul Devouring Flame couldn’t burn them all in a short period of time, he supposed. If he were careless and the high-level dead souls took that chance to enter his host soul, what he gained would never make up the loss he had to bear.
"Hundreds of them!" Cherry"s face changed as she affirmed, "It should be the dead souls" evil lairs near there. Otherwise, it"s impossible that so many dead souls could gather at the same spot. I think you had a bad fortune, but still were lucky enough. At least, you came back alive."
"I have never seen so many dead souls like that," Tie Mu was more frightened. "Just three low-level dead souls and we had to shed blood already. The five of us couldn’t even resist ten of them, let alone hundreds!"
"Well, I have no way to catch the dead souls for you. Later on, you should find Cherry and ask her." s.h.i.+ Yan rubbed his nose, feeling a little bit embarra.s.sed.
The five people of Tie Mu’s group nodded, wearing a forced smile.
s.h.i.+ Yan had used his strength to prove that he could kill them at any minute. Under this circ.u.mstance, no matter what s.h.i.+ Yan said, they had to agree. They didn’t want the backfire.
"Alright, don’t wear that bitter face. We didn’t say that we won’t compensate you guys. It’s just the three low-level dead souls, not a big deal," snorted Cherry.
Tie Mu and his group smiled at her.
"We should go to the Flying Cloud Summit now," Cherry looked at s.h.i.+ Yan.
"Yeah. Let’s go!"
Three days later, Cherry stopped in front of a grand mountain.
She eyed the mountain hiding in the clouds with a longing face. "That’s the Flying Cloud Summit, the richest mountain in the Dead Soul Mountain range, with so many precious products. And, only the character like Elder Li deserves a summit like this. People who can visit the Flying Cloud Summit are all big men. They’re the Elders of the Radiant G.o.d Cult, the Pure Land, the Devil Valley, or other famous warriors of the continent. Small people like me have never had a chance to climb this mount."
s.h.i.+ Yan was amazed.
The Flying Cloud Summit was more than ten thousand meters high. White clouds bobbed in the middle of the mountainside. Strange animals like the white red-crowned crane were flying here and there. Heaven and earth aura here was dense and pure, which comforted people. From the foot of the mountain, they could see that the Flying Cloud Summit had many green patches where they grew spiritual herbs. They were so many herbs and of various types that it dazzled people.
A rugged mountain path led directly to the Flying Cloud Summit. In front of the gateway stood a giant green stone, which had some big old-style calligraphy words. "No Unauthorized entry."
"Let’s go. We should climb up now." s.h.i.+ Yan smiled. While he was still talking, his body had already floated in the sky, attempting to fly directly to the peak.
"Don’t!" Cherry stopped him.
s.h.i.+ Yan was bewildered, looking at her, having no clue.
"There"re many banned things in this Flying Cloud Summit. Although there are no barriers in this mount, we can"t just fly there directly like that." Cherry explained him with a respectful face. "This is our Spirit Hall Grand Elder"s cultivating place. When the elders of the Radiant G.o.d Cult or the Pure Land come here, even they have to mount that path. Anyone who flies up directly will violate the rules here. Elder Li will never meet them."
"So, he has a high price?"
"Of course!" Cherry told him with a serious countenance. "The Flying Cloud Summit is the holy land of our Spirit Hall. Small people like us don’t even have the right to come and say h.e.l.lo. Even if it is my teacher, without the prior permission of Elder Li, he doesn’t dare to come here. Since we are small people, we should follow the rules."
Pausing for a while, she continued. "Are you confident that Elder Li will meet you? If you are unsure, don’t do rash things. Elder Li doesn’t like to be disturbed. Moreover, he has recently told us that without his order, no one is allowed to bother him, including the experts of the Pure Land and the Radiant G.o.d Cult!"
"Don’t worry. If he doesn’t want to meet me, I’ll leave." s.h.i.+ Yan smiled. "If I’m not sure about that, how can I go there and claim shame on myself?"
Having heard him say so, Cherry could relax. She nodded and said, "Alright, you should go there. I’ll wait for you here. Anyway, my task was to bring you here. It’s accomplished now. I have no other tasks."
Cherry was a bit disappointed and somewhat fascinated at the same time. She looked at the peak in the clouds as if she was waiting for something.
s.h.i.+ Yan couldn’t help but laugh as he understood that she was waiting for him to invite her to go with him. "Let’s go. It’s been hard for you to take me here. If you don"t mind, we should go there together, shall we?"
Cherry’s eyes brightened, her face joyful. She giggled. "You are inviting me to go with you?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you. Seems you still have a conscience."
"Don’t babble. Let’s go."
s.h.i.+ Yan took the lead to the mountain.
Along the way to the peak, they saw many spiritual farms where rare and precious herbs were planted. s.h.i.+ Yan didn’t know about more than half of them.
Cherry"s blue eyes sparkled as she greedily eyed at the spiritual herbs along their way. She couldn"t help but compliment. "Elder Li"s worth the Grand Elder of the Spirit Hall. He"s like a G.o.d. Only the great alchemists like him could grow these spiritual herbs. Look at this Spirit Breaking Gra.s.s. They say that it only grows in the snowy mountain. This Igniting Fruit can only bear fruits in the wall slit of the magma rock. These spiritual herbs require the extreme conditions to grow. I don"t know what method Elder Li"s used to nurture them in the Flying Cloud Summit…"
Cherry didn’t talk much on the way they got there. However, when they arrived the Flying Cloud Summit, she was like a radio at the correct frequency, and couldn’t stop speaking. She showed him the herbs and complimented nonstop. She idolized Li Zheng Rong so much she regretted she couldn’t make him her teacher.
"Zha Lin’s your teacher. Do you want to betray your school?" s.h.i.+ Yan teased her.
"If Elder Li makes me his disciple, I think my teacher will be proud of me too. He won’t stop me, but do his best to have a good relations.h.i.+p with me." Cherry wore a fascinating countenance; strange light twinkled in her blue eyes while she was smiling.
s.h.i.+ Yan didn’t bother to talk with her. He felt that alchemists were the sort of people one couldn’t reason with. Each of them was odd enough.
"So, no one dreams about those spiritual fields?" On the way to the peak, s.h.i.+ Yan didn’t see anyone watching over the fields. As he was curious, he asked the girl.
"Who dares to dream of the spiritual farm of the Flying Cloud Summit?" Cherry looked at him as if she were looking a dummy. "Elder Li’s the peak alchemist of the whole Dead Soul Mountain range. All alchemists respect and admire him. The great elders of the Radiant G.o.d Cult, the Pure Land, or the Devil Temple have to be servile to him. If they mess up with Elder Li, it’s no different from creating grudge with half of the forces in the Grace Mainland. Who dares, you say? If they are invincible experts, they won"t lay their eyes on these herbs. The low-level thieves don"t dare to come. So, even if they don"t set any barriers here, it"s safe enough."
s.h.i.+ Yan blamed himself for the stupid question.
During the mountaineering, s.h.i.+ Yan didn’t say any useless words.
Half a day later…
After they had pa.s.sed hundreds of spiritual fields, s.h.i.+ Yan and Cherry were about to reach the peak of the Flying Cloud Summit.
At this moment, a clear but cold voice arose although there were no other people on the road. "Intruders, who are you? Haven’t you heard the notice? Within three years, no one can enter the Flying Cloud Summit! Didn’t you bring your brain with you?"
Cherry reddened embarra.s.sedly. She bowed her head, not daring to answer because she was frightened.
s.h.i.+ Yan’s eyes lit up. He laughed slightly, "Lin xiao-mei (little sister – TL), long time no see. Well, do you want to stop your friends who have crossed a long way to get here at the door?"
He recognized the one who was talking with them from a secret place somewhere was Lin Ya Qi, who used to visit the Endless Sea. The little girl with a big bosom was Ye Chang Feng’s older sister.
"... You are… that b*stard s.h.i.+ Yan?!?" Lin Ya Qi contemplated for a while. Seemed she was trying to remember the ident.i.ty of the intruders. Later on, she smiled charmingly. "Well, friends from the far land… You b8stard, weren’t you staying in the Endless Sea? Why did you leave that place and come to the Grace Mainland? Why are you here?"
In the middle of the giggling, a thick magma dike split open. Lin Ya Qi appeared in a white light. She looked at him from above and chuckled. "You"re strong indeed. Well, since you can come here, you should have some good tricks."
s.h.i.+ Yan felt a little bit funny, "Ye Chang Feng gave me the token. He told me to visit the Spirit Potion Valley and show them the token. They would take me here. Alright, where is my buddy Ye Chang Feng?"
"Oh, I almost forgot," Lin Ya Qi spatted her head. She snorted, "Don"t mention that little b*stard. He seized the chance our teacher was secluding and cultivating to sneak out and have fun somewhere. I haven’t seen him for almost one year. Our teacher said that after he finished his cultivating period this time, he would give him a good lesson."
"I want to meet elder Li. Is it convenient?" s.h.i.+ Yan’s face was solemn. "I have something I want to ask him."
Lin Ya Qi’s expression showed that it was a bit difficult. "Our teacher is still cultivating. He said that no one is allowed to bother him. Well, if it’s you, I can notify him. But I’m not sure he could meet you immediately."
s.h.i.+ Yan smiled and nodded.
"Okay. Get in. Have some tea and take a rest." Lin Ya Qi waved her hand. Then her look s.h.i.+fted to Cherry. "Who’s that? Your woman? Tsk, you fella are a real womanizer. Wherever you go, you have pretty chicks to be your company. Such a b*stard!"
Cherry blushed, throwing s.h.i.+ Yan a strange look, shaking her head to explain. "No. I’m not his woman. I, I am from the Spirit Hall."
"Spirit Hall?" Lin Ya Qi’s face got colder. She answered arrogantly. "Sorry. This is not the place you should be. You should return using the old way."
"Although she’s from the Spirit Hall, she’s my woman, too. Don’t talk too much, I’m tired. This trip has been long enough. You should bring me tea quickly." s.h.i.+ Yan said with a natural face, smiled, then pulled Cherry’s small hand, walking toward Lin Ya Qi.
Cherry reddened. She tried to wiggle a bit. However, since she had a desire for this holy land, the Flying Cloud Summit, she didn’t struggle too much as she let s.h.i.+ Yan grab her hand, walking forward with her head bent down.
"You should have said it earlier." Lin Ya Qi rolled her eyes at him and then let them pa.s.s. "I know it. You b*stard aren"t a good man. You tease the flowers and the moon everywhere. Never have a moment to calm down. My little brother told me that you weren"t a good guy in the Dark Magnetic Noxious Mist too. You seemed to have an ambiguous relations.h.i.+p with a woman of the Aoke family."
"Motherf*cker! That kid has slandered me!" s.h.i.+ Yan wore an angry expression, scolding the other.