Chapter 303: Playing With Fire and Getting Burned
The Clear Wind City Lord looked at the thunder clouds in the sky and pondered. He said in a deep voice, “He is different from us. No wonder he is so confident. This person is a cultivator who has comprehended a state. Furthermore, his accomplishments in it are not low. With the infusing of that state, that ordinary Drawing the Saber is even mightier than a Superior Grade Earth Ranked Martial Technique.
“The density of his saber Qi is even stronger than ours. It is already better than ordinary Martial Kings. It seems like Clear Wind City can be saved this time!,” the City Lord exclaimed with an excited smile.
The Black Flame Snake curled itself up on the ground, turning into a small scaly hill. Its cold eyes were staring at Xiao Chen, b.l.o.o.d.y red in hue.
Its forked scarlet tongue was flicking in and out non-stop, sensing Xiao Chen’s position. The snake opened its mouth wide and the surrounding fire-attributed Spiritual Energy moved toward it quickly.
A huge black fireball appeared, spinning continuously. When the horrifying fire was raised to the peak, the fireball was launched at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen smiled faintly, “Playing with fire in front of me? You are far from being sufficient. Scram back!”
A blazing purple fire burned incessantly in Xiao Chen’s right eye. Xiao Chen did not compress it and directly fired it. The purple flames instantly became like a raging river gus.h.i.+ng out.
“Boom!”
The raging purple flames immediately swallowed up the black flames the Black Flame Snake spat out. The surging flames burned the Black Flame Snake until it cried out miserably, causing it to writhe around in pain.
After the Black Flame Snake felt the horror of Xiao Chen, it quickly fled into the distance. Its body stuck close to the ground as it slithered away, knocking over buildings as it did so.
“Thinking of running? Too late!”
“Wukui Shakes the Heavens!” Xiao Chen shouted and an ancient divine Wukui Tree appeared from nowhere. It started moving toward the Black Flame Snake, pressing down on it like a mountain; it carried the might of rus.h.i.+ng thunder.
“Rumble…!”
The state of thunder that was infused with holy might surged non-stop. Following the rumbling thunder, the wukui was quickly growing at a visible pace.
The huge force pressing down on the Black Flame Snake started shaking the ground.
After a while, the divine tree turned into a horrifying electric light and poured into the Black Flame Snake. With a thought from Xiao Chen, it immediately exploded.
The Black Flame Snake, which was already burned badly by the Purple Thunder True Fire, was blasted into bits by this electric light. A rain of blood fell from the sky.
A suction force came from Xiao Chen’s palm, pulling the Black Flame Snake over. Then, he directly tossed it into the Universe Ring. After that, he quickly walked over to the Clear Wind City Lord.
“The mission is completed, please place your handprint here and the City Lord’s seal. The best thing to do is to sign it personally as well,” Xiao Chen said indifferently as he took out the mission contract.
When the Clear Wind City Lord saw the Black Flame Snake that plagued the Clear Wind City for so long blasted to bits by Xiao Chen, he was still in a state of disbelief. It was only when Xiao Chen repeated himself that he recovered his wits.
The City Lord smiled as he said, “My apologies, I was distracted. Is your distinguished self a Qingyun Peak disciple? Forgive me for being blunt, but isn’t Qingyun Peak in decline?”
Xiao Chen smiled, “Qingyun Peak’s Ye Chen at your service, replacement guaranteed if not genuine! There is no need to cheat your distinguished self. Qingyun Peak is not in decline. At the very least, they still have all their Martial Techniques. Furthermore, they also have a Peak Master with unlimited potential.”
Seeing that the Black Flame Snake was dead, the City Lord was clearly in a good mood. He smiled and said, “Truly a young hero. It is still somewhat unbelievable. I will place my handprint here.”
After the City Lord placed the handprint, he took out the official seal of the City Lord and placed a red stamp on the contract. After that, he signed it personally. Xiao Chen’s mission was now completed.
Xiao Chen received the mission in satisfaction and revealed a faint smile. He had obtained a thousand Contribution points.
This mission was a little simple, it did not have any effect of training Xiao Chen’s Saber Technique. However, it was good to be able to spread the name of Qingyun Peak.
As the a.s.sistant watched Xiao Chen leave, he suddenly said, “My lord, I suddenly remembered. A while back, there was a story going about that a youth from the Heavenly Saber Pavilion killed an expert from the older generation, Yue Mingshan. It seems that this is possibly that person!”
The City Lord muttered, “There is an eighty percent chance that it is him. Although the Black Flame Snake is one of the weaker peak Rank 6 Spirit Beast, a peak Martial Saint would still need to spend a lot of effort in order to kill it. Furthermore, it is hard to escape unscathed.
“This youth easily killed this Black Flame Snake in a few moves. It is clear that he is not on the same level as the snake. There are not more than ten such geniuses in the Great Qin Nation. It seems like Qingyun Peak will rise to fame again.”
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The Flowing Cloud Mountain Range was the second largest mountain range in the Xihe Province, second to the Lingyun Mountain Range. Its Spiritual Energy Density was much thinner than the Lingyun Mountain Range. However, there were many precious Spirit Herbs and all sorts of precious plants in there, no less than that of Lingyun Mountain Range; it was a famed medicinal mountain.
The most important thing was that, although there were many small sects in its surroundings, there was no particularly strong sect. Hence, it was a masterless land.
There were many more cultivators going to the Flowing Cloud Mountain Range than Lingyun Mountain range. Most of them were cultivators employed by the big powers to protect the people entering to harvest herbs, preventing them from falling prey to the ferocious Spirit Beasts in the mountain.
On a desolate peak in the Flowing Cloud Mountain Range, a white-clothed woman carrying a medicine basket on her back was nimbly climbing a dangerous cliff.
Beside the white-clothed woman was a young bladesman in blue robes, slowly floating at her side, protecting her. Needless to say, that bladesman was Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen watched the white-clothed woman climbing with a lot of difficulties. He shook his head and said, “Miss Sun, why go to this much trouble? You just have to tell me what the herb you are looking for looks like. I can help you pick it.”
This woman was the daughter of a Manor Lord, whose manor was famous for refining medicines. Her name was Sun Qian, and she was the person who issued the mission Xiao Chen was on this time.
By helping her to successfully pick a Spirit Herb, he would earn a thousand Contribution Points. Xiao Chen did not wish to waste any time, so, he wanted to take action himself in order to complete the mission faster.
Sun Qian’s exquisite face was filled with sweat. When she heard Xiao Chen’s words, she wiped her sweat off and smiled, “Young Master Ye, it is not that I am stubborn. This Spirit Herb is very problematic to pick. One has to pull even its roots out completely. Furthermore, it cannot have any damage to it at all.
“Otherwise, its Spiritual Energy will leak out and the Spirit Herb will wither quickly; its medicinal effects will be lost. A person without sufficient experience would not understand how to pick it.”
Xiao Chen simply smiled faintly. Since Sun Qian said that, he could only follow her instructions. He extended out his Spiritual Sense and checked out the situation in the surroundings.
Xiao Chen knew how to refine medicine as well, he knew that Sun Qian had exaggerated it a little. If it was stored properly, even with a little damage, the medicinal effects of a Spirit Herb would not disappear so fast.
However, Xiao Chen could not be bothered with Sun Qian. Her request was not unreasonable. He would simply play it by ear and act according to the situation.
This cliff the two of them were on was very famous in the Flowing Cloud Mountain Range. It had an extremely interesting name, ‘Go Crazy First’; it was also called Immortal Herb Peak.
[TL note: Go Crazy First is a pun on Immortal Herb Peak. The Chinese for Go Crazy First is 先要疯 (Xian Yao Feng). The Chinese for Immortal Herb Peak is 仙药峰 (Xian Yao Feng). As you can see, when it is read in Chinese, they sound the same.]
The Immortal Herb Peak was at the core of the Flowing Cloud Mountain Range. It is where the Spiritual Energy of the entire mountain range gathered. Up on this peak, one could easily find top quality Spirit Herbs.
At the foot of the peak were Spirit Herbs about fifty years old. At the middle of it, one could find hundred-year-old Spirit Herbs. The higher one climbed, the older the herbs, easily going beyond a hundred years old.
If one could reach the peak, they could even find Spirit Herbs that were more than a thousand years old. It could be said to be a true Immortal Herb Peak.
As for its other name ‘Go Crazy First’, it was a story originating from the herb gatherers. Only a crazy person would recklessly climb this peak.
This was because it was too dangerous. It was covered in all sorts of ferocious flying Spirit Beasts. These Spirit Beasts frequently feasted on the top quality Spirit Herbs. Hence, they were much stronger than regular Spirit Beasts.
Furthermore, because it was very tall, even peak Superior Grade Martial Saints with a flying Martial Technique would not dare to climb up to the middle of it. At best, they would pick some Spirit Herbs at the foot of the peak before leaving.
As for the four-thousand-meter high summit, there was once a Superior Grade Martial King who relied on his strength to forcibly fly up. In the end, he was cruelly killed by the Spirit Beasts protecting the herbs at the summit within half a minute.
Xiao Chen was very clear on his own strength. This mission only required him to climb to a height of about a hundred meters above the middle of the mountain. This was something within the scope of his abilities.
If he had to go higher, he would have to give this mission up. Before reaching Martial King, he would simply be seeking death. He had only climbed five hundred meters from the foot and he already ran into several ferocious Rank 6 Spirit Beasts.
Xiao Chen’s Spiritual Sense picked up several black dots flying in quickly from the northwest. Xiao Chen took out the Soul Slayer Bow and said, “Miss Sun, be careful; there are Spirit Beasts flying over again.”
When Sun Qian heard this, her expression changed slightly. She quickly stopped climbing and headed for an outcrop that was more stable, slowly moving toward it.
The distant black dots were getting closer; they were four Medial Grade Rank 6 flying Spirit Beasts—Fiery Cloud Vultures. They were three meters long and had a wingspan of twenty meters.
The Fiery Cloud Vulture’s feathers were fiery red. When seen from a distance, they looked like a blazing flame. There were nine erect feathers on its tail. They were perfectly straight, tough, and durable, like sharp swords; there was a flame burning at the end of them.
Although this flying Spirit Beast was only Medial Grade Rank 6, it was even more difficult to deal with than a peak Rank 6 Spirit Beast in the air. If one was careless, they would be at a disadvantage.
“Xiu!”
Xiao Chen nocked an Essence Light Arrow and drew it. He locked on to a Fiery Cloud Vulture with his Spiritual Sense and released. The arrow flew swiftly, creating a piercing sound as it punched through the air.
It pierced through a Fiery Cloud Vulture and created a large b.l.o.o.d.y hole. The bird cried miserably and fell toward the ground.
“Chi! Chi!”
Xiao Chen’s hands did not stop moving, firing another arrow. The more force one used, the stronger the Soul Slayer Bow’s might. Every few months, whenever Xiao Chen used it, its might would be greatly increased.
The other Fiery Cloud Vulture which he had locked onto tried to evade. However, it still did not escape its fate of death. A b.l.o.o.d.y hole appeared with a bang.
“Miss Sun, please be careful. I will leave for a while and be back quickly.”
The remaining two Fiery Cloud Vulture was already less than five hundred meters away from Xiao Chen. If the distance was too close, the effects of the Soul Slayer Bow would be weaker. Xiao Chen swapped it out for the Lunar Shadow Saber and rushed forward, luring them away.
Sun Qing said worriedly, “Hero Ye, be careful!”
“Xiu!”
A Fiery Cloud Vulture flew quickly at Xiao Chen’s head. Two sharp claws that could easily break rocks grabbed at Xiao Chen’s head.