By the third day, old man Zhong’s clothes were torn in many places but he still headed into the mountains with determination.
He stood on top of the peak of a mountain and surveyed the surroundings. To the left was full of miasma among those continuous mountain ranges. The miasma was thick enough to block the view and the terrifying black miasma had kept many wild animals and monstrous beasts away.
To his right, a huge river ran north and south. The galloping river was immensely spectacular.
“Shhi ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”
He exhaled a long breath. According to the map, he was on the right track. If he could maintain his current pace, he would arrive at the Kaiyang School in another two months.
Looking out over the distance, old man Zhong made a few jumps down the mountain and prepared to continue his walk towards the north. But, just as he landed at the foothill, old man Zhong stopped.
“Uh.” Old man Zhong frowned and examined the surrounding area.
Fallen trees? Flattened gra.s.s? There was a battle here not too long ago? And, it appeared that it was a fierce battle.
Old man Zhong nervously continued forwards, following the traces of the battle, and before long he saw a dead body.
The dead body of a wolf.
Was it the wolf from yesterday? Old man Zhong was alarmed and went over quickly to check on the body. The wolf was covered in b.l.o.o.d.y wounds seemly cut by sharp blades and it was also covered by frost which had freezed the body?
Frozen?
Old man Zhong looked up to the sky. Even though it’s not Summer right now, the sun was shining in the sky. How could it be frozen?
He turned the body around to check. When he saw the marks on the body left by his own machete, old man Zhong was sure that this wolf was the silver wolf that had tried to eat him that day.
The Silver wolf is dead? Killed by an even more powerful monstrous beast? Maybe the Hongluan Mist had made it so heated that it had chased after the first monstrous beast it could find and got killed by it?
It’s unnerving when he thought about the possibility, old man Zhong carefully made sure there weren’t any other monstrous beasts around. He took out his dagger and slashed the wolf’s stomach.
The dagger was small but it was much sharper than the machete.
Though the silver wolf had thick skin, it was now dead and no longer protected by any magic. The dagger was made with unusual materials, so it only took a short time for old man Zhong to open the carca.s.s.
It was frozen inside; old man Zhong kept looking and finally found a silver bead the size of a fingertip.
It’s inner core. The silver wolf’s inner core. The most direct distinction between a monstrous beast and a wild beast was inner core; monstrous beasts had inner core while wild beasts didn’t.
Monstrous beasts used the inner core to absorb the natural energy of the universe and the essence of the sun and moon. Therefore, this essence was concentrated inside the inner core. To other pract.i.tioners, this minor monstrous wolf didn’t even know any magic and its inner core for sure didn’t amount to anything. But, to old man Zhong it was very precious.
He carefully packed it up and continued with his journey.
“Wa ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ “
Suddenly, old man Zhong heard a noise above his head.
Old man Zhong was shocked by the noise and looked up. A crow? No, a white crow, a freezing crow? It’s wings could extended to two meters long.
Freezing crow? Monstrous beast?
The freezing crow fixed its eyes on old man Zhong and they were turning red as saw old man Zhong as its enemy.
When old man Zhong saw all this, he knew he was in trouble. Freezing crow? The freezing spell? The silver wolf was frozen? Could it be the work of the crow?
“Wa ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ “
The freezing crow opened its mouth and a wave of white smoke swiftly blew towards old man Zhong.
Old man Zhong instinctively dodged when he saw the white smoke flying towards him. The freezing wave spread onto a big tree instead and just in a blink of eyes the tree was covered with ice. It was frozen?
Run! Run fast!
Holding his machete, old man Zhong rapidly ran under a patch of big trees. He was deep in the mountains and the thick forest gave him the convenience to find a hiding place.
Old man Zhong was running speedily, but that freezing crow was following him everywhere. It chased after old man Zhong wherever he ran and when he was out in the open, the crow would blow a gust of freezing air to freeze old man Zhong to death.
There were several times, he almost got hit by the freezing air if it weren’t for his reaction speed. But, the freezing air that he barely dodged was already making him feel somewhat numb on his arm.
The situation was grim, he would die of exhaustion if this kept on. He ran around about two hours with the crow relentlessly chasing after him. While old man Zhong was anxious about what to do, suddenly another freezing crow joined the first one. Two freezing crows?
Two crows chased after old man Zhong.
Old man Zhong didn’t even know when he had lost his machete and he was not in a mood to care. Run, the only thing he could do now was to run. Yet, could he outrun the crows? It was two freezing crows now.
After weighing the situation, he made a difficult decision. While still running, he used his right arm, which had grown stiff from the cold, to reach into his pocket and took out a black pill.
A Bizhang Pill, the miasma repelling pill!
He put the pill into his mouth and turned around heading in a different direction, towards the miasma area to the right.
Old man Zhong had invited many experts of medicine to concoct it together. He had reached the limitation that a mortal could do.
The Bizhang pill could keep away all kinds of miasma. But, he’s not sure whether it would work or not in an area like this?
He figured that if he didn’t give it a try then he would be killed by that two crows or even more crows that came along later.
As he was running towards the miasma area, old man Zhong’s feet became a little stiff and there was a large amount of ice on his shoes.
“Hu ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~”
He got in.
“Wa ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ “ “wa ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~” ……………….
For sure, the crows didn’t want to enter the miasma area; they stayed outside and kept cawing loudly.
Safe, was he really safe?
Old man Zhong wiped off the sweat on his forehead and used his Zhen Qi to force out the chill in his arm and legs. Seeing that the freezing crows were still circling and not leaving, old man Zhong started to fear for himself. It’s too treacherous in these mountains, if it’s not for the fact that he had reached Xiantian, he would be dead by now.
At this moment, old man Zhong started to feel a little dizzy.
Dizzy? Was the Bizhang pill not working?
Old man Zhong was shocked and in a panic started to quickly force out the poison. The miasma just entered his body for a short time, but his arms were already turning black gradually.
Watching his two hands, old man Zhong was even more anxious than before. What should he do with the two crows still circling around outside?
His inner energy was quickly circulating, but it could only do so much. Miasma was still seeping into his body.
Yet, old man Zhong discovered that even though the arms were getting numb but his head was only slightly dizzy. He was still fully conscious.
Conscious?
Old man Zhong suddenly came up with an idea. He started to use Hongluan Tianjing. Once Hongluan Tianjing began revolving, a pink layer formed protective shield next to his body. The shield didn’t have any ability to withstand physical attacks but, it could, it could keep the miasma away?
Hongluan Mist? Hongluan Mist could shield off miasma?
Realizing the possibility, old man Zhong was overjoyed and quickly turned on telekinesis attached to the Zhen Qi to form Hongluan Mist to repel miasma from his body continuously.
In just a little while, he had gotten rid off all the poison in his body.
Outside, two freezing crows still wouldn’t leave. What to do? He had only gotten to the first level of Hongluan TianJing which couldn’t keeping revolving endlessly.
No, he had to leave this area as soon as possible. He had to go through the miasma area, go over the little hill over there, get out of the viewing range of the crows, and be on his way.
Old man Zhong ran swiftly to the north after he had made the decision.
He reached the hill soon enough and after he went over the hill, the crows wouldn’t be able to see him anymore.
While he was climbing, old man Zhong unexpectedly heard a sound.
A sound coming from the hill he’s climbing? Old man Zhong squinted his eyes, stopped, and carefully searching. He had built a business empire in the past several decades and he had learned early on that some easily overlooked, unusual signs would usually turn out to be huge opportunities. If one could seize the opportunity, one could turn it into huge profit. Even if it turned to be nothing at all, one would not lose anything either.
This was just a little mound situated in a valley. It looked like it was man made. Because, it was full of rocks in this mountain range but the soil of this little hill had a few rocks.
Noticing the difference, old man Zhong’s conviction was even more stronger. Although, Hongluan Tianjing wouldn’t last much longer, he still started searching here and there. In a short while, old man Zhong saw a cave hidden in a discrete location.