Chapter 45 – Fantastic Kill Steal
Dragon Seeker Forest – a patch of dense woods surrounding the whole Capital Lanyan City. Spirit beasts of all shapes and sizes roam freely within it. According to legends, someone had once found a spirit beast of one hundred thousand years old, an existence that only a G.o.d realm pract.i.tioner could possibly handle, but this was still just a legend. To this day, the Imperial army continue to patrol and protect the surrounding area, preventing civilian entry. One reason was to protect the safety of civilians, the other was that the rich resources and spirit beasts would all belong to royal or n.o.ble use.
….
Within Dragon Smelting Valley, a river valley in the southwest of Dragon Seeker Forest, was home to a number of spirit beasts with age ranging from hundreds to thousands of years old. Fenced off by the royal family, this place became the “Emperor’s Hunting Ground” of legends.
It was very exciting in Dragon Smelting Valley today. Iconic flags waved proudly, almost covering the sunlight. Countless armored soldiers gathered in the area. As the sound of hooves sounded throughout the valley, the army surrounded a group of finely dressed people. In the center was a luxurious horse carriage painted in gold. The wheels of the carriage were decorated with figures of a dragon and a Purple Yin flower pieced together with only rare gemstones. The dragon symbolized the epitome of power, while the Purple Yin flower was the clan insignia of the Qin bloodline. As such, the flower was also the symbol of the whole Empire.
*Ssh ssh…*
The carriage’s golden curtain lifted to reveal the face of a middle-aged man of around 50 years old. His face appeared extra anxious, but the golden crown and his powerful gaze identified him as the Qin Empire’s supreme ruler – Light Emperor Qin Jin!
“Where is Xiao Yin?” Qin Jin asked.
Next to the carriage, a general on a black warhorse answered respectfully, “Your majesty, Her Highness Yin brought along a group of guard to hunt down a 3000 years old fan dragon!”
“Oh? A fan dragon?” Qin Jin furrowed his brows, “Was there enough guards with her? There are quite a number of dangers in Dragon Seeker Forest, so tell Xiao Yin to be careful and don’t run outside of the hunting grounds.”
“Yes, your majesty! The Forbidden Army’s General Feng Ji Xing (Wind Strider) had already personally brought his men along, so please rest a.s.sured Your Majesty.”
“Hm, good.”
…
In the woods, a fan dragon ran wildly as it breathed in short breaths. It was bleeding from the countless arrows embedded into its back. Fan dragon was one of the lower grade dragons in addition to being an earth dragon, so it was considered a kind of pseudo-dragon. Although it could not be considered a true dragon, this fan dragon had the cultivation age of 3000 years. Its umbrella-shaped head had three golden veins branching from the center.
*Pu!*
Having taken another arrow in the rump, the fan dragon became even more agitated and its gaze began to turn vicious. Immediately turning around, it spat out a wave of fierce flames at the attackers.
Parting from the thickets was a white stallion with an extremely stunning girl on its back. Her navy blue cloak with golden dragon patterns wrapped around her delicate and alluring figure. When the hood of the cloak fell back with the wind, a head of dark black hair appeared below. Exquisite cheeks flushed with color, while her lips carried a smile that was brighter than all the stars in the sky. The whole person seemed like a piece of perfect jade that fell into this patch of dangerous forest.
“Be careful, Your Highness Yin. You’re going too fast!” The guard behind her yelled out loudly.
But why would Qin Yin care about all that? She spurred her horse on and charged towards the wounded fan dragon. Smiling, she called, “Little fan dragon. Come here like a good boy. I can help you die faster!”
The fan dragon roared out softly and suddenly leapt into the air, bringing its flaming claws down towards this Imperial princess.
Qin Yin looked surprised but relaxed as she pushed with her palm, “You still won’t give up? G.o.d Binding Chains!”
*Boom*
Accompanying a loud bang, a several meter-long chains broke out of the ground and struck directly to the fan dragon’s belly. The golden chains beamed with glaring brightness while the attack seemingly caused penetrating damage on the spirit beast. The golden shapes of ancient characters floated around the golden chains. This martial spirit’s power was so shocking that it was far beyond an average pract.i.tioner’s understanding.
“Uwe uwe…”
Under the heavy attacks of the G.o.d Binding Chains, the fan dragon cried out in pain. It did not dare to continue fighting any longer, instead choosing to turn around immediately and scrambled towards the dense thickets. Unfortunately, it dove into a field of th.o.r.n.y flowers. The fan dragon’s wounded scales were immediately marked with rows of b.l.o.o.d.y scratches.
Seeing that the fan dragon ran away again, Qin Yin perched her little mouth and was about to immediately set off to chase it while shouting, “Don’t you leave now. If you’re a good man, then stay and fight me for 300 rounds!”
Right at that moment, a man rode closer from the distance. He wore a suit of golden armor and carried a pristine scimitar in his hand. Laughing heartily, he said, “Your Highness Yin, I finally found you!”
The man’s sharp brows and starry eyes added to his handsome face, and extruded a lively and energetic aura.
“Oh, it’s General Feng!” Qin Yin smiled, “That fan dragon ran away again. I have to catch it today, or else I won’t even have the mind to eat dinner tonight…”
Feng Ji Xing didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. Bowing with his fist, he said, “Your Highness, if you won’t eat dinner, wouldn’t His Majesty worry about you? We’re about to reach the edge of the hunting grounds, so it’s definitely a little dangerous now. Don’t worry, Your Highness, why not allow me to capture that fan dragon for you?”
Qin Yin’s starry eyes glanced over his face and hesitated for a second, “I don’t believe you. Let’s do it this way: We’ll split into two groups. You’ll go from the north, I’ll go from the south. Let’s see which one of us will catch this fan dragon first!”
Feng Ji Xing didn’t dare to continue facing this royal princess who was beautiful beyond belief. Quickly grabbing his blade, he handsomely performed the Imperial salute and answered, “Yes, your highness!”
….
Seeing that a dense forest of thorn flowers blocked off his path, Lin Mu Yu was a little anxious. The sky was getting darker, perhaps it would be dusk in the blink of an eye. He walked on ahead and began to clear out a path with Prairie Fire . Turning around, he said, “Chu Yao, we must past through this area before dusk and find a suitable camp. According to the markings on the map, perhaps we might be able to arrive at Lanyan City by tonight!”
Chu Yao rode calmly on the stallion, while a faint aura revolved around her body. Opening her pain of pretty eyes, she laughed, “Don’t worry, Ah Yu. If we don’t really have to, we basically don’t need to enter the Capital. After all, our bounties might still be hanging on the Capital’s gates!”
Lin Mu Yu touched the stubble on his chin and laughed, “Probably not. I haven’t shaved at all for so many days that I’m afraid I probably look nothing like the person on the bounty. Whereas you have cut your hair short, so I don’t think anyone would recognize us if we enter the city. Furthermore, if anyone does recognize us, we could just deny it all together.”
Chu Yao couldn’t help but be speechless, “Wow, Ah Yu, you’re becoming more brazen by the day!”
Lin Mu Yu continued cutting down the th.o.r.n.y bushes before them, “This is our 11th day of exile, so the one thing that I want to do the most now is to take a hot bath. Then I want to sleep on a warm bed for a night. Don’t you want to live a normal life too?”
“I do, but seeing our current situation, I’m afraid that it would be something of a luxury…” Chu Yao answered quietly.
Suddenly, she lifted her head and smiled, “Ah Yu, your cultivation speed has always been 10 times faster than an average person, but you haven’t gotten any change after you broke into Earth realm’s second stage. How about it? Does it feel like you’re about to breakthrough yet?”
Lin Mu Yu shook his head, “Hm, ever since yesterday, every time I meditate for energy regeneration, I couldn’t feel the growth of true energy at all. I’m thinking that I’ve reached a bottleneck; but since we have still yet to find a suitable spirit beast, I’ll just have to go with the flow. If a 3000 or 4000 years old spirit beast of suitable nature comes our way, then it will be perfect. However… My wounds haven’t completely healed yet, so if we were to really run into a 3000 years or older spirit beast, I don’t think we’ll even be able to handle it. I’m afraid that we might even throw our lives away in that case!”
Chu Yao chuckled, “Then let’s train slowly. Many people who struggled for their whole life might not even break through level 50, yet you had trained for not even a month and you’ve already reached level 49. In the eyes of a normal person, you’re already like a genius that comes once a hundred thousand years.
Lin Mu Yu smirked, but did not respond. He actually never told Chu Yao that he had technically cheated the system. Furthermore, there was still a part of the Seven Star Mystic power that Seven Star Emperor left inside his body. Otherwise, his progress would definitely not be this fast.
….
Not long after, they had pa.s.sed through this patch of thorn flower thicket. When Lin Mu Yu flipped on the horse, he suddenly heard a loud roar from afar. A spirit beast with a umbrella-like head was coming his way!
“That is…” He asked with slight consternation.
Chu Yao suddenly recalled, “I’ve seen this kind of spirit beast mentioned in books in the Silver Fir City’s library. It’s a fan dragon. Good heavens… There are three golden stripes and two dark stripes. It’s a 3200 years old fan dragon, and it also looks like it’s wounded. Ah Yu, your opportunity is here. Prepare to attack!”
“Right!”
Lin Mu Yu did not care whether this fan dragon was wounded or not. Raising his palm to call out his martial spirit, instantly rows of gourd vines slid across the ground and quickly coiled around the fan dragon. In the next moment, Sonic Blade had already flew out from his hand. With two slashing sounds, the large throwing star left three deep gashes on the fan dragon’s neck.
This spirit beast had already neared its death, so what kind of regrets could it have? It had first been wounded by the Imperial Princess, then killed by some no-name brat from out of nowhere.
At this moment, the fan dragon was full of regret. If it had known this earlier, it would have never ran away. Dying at the hands of that peerless beauty would have been good as well!
Drawing Prairie Fire out of its sheath, Lin Mu Yu dashed over using Starfall Steps and dodged the fan dragon’s flame spitters with an exquisite use of b.u.t.terfly step. The lightning on the sword sparked fiercely as it collided with the flame and chopped down cruelly towards the side.
*Kacha*
This time half of the fan dragon’s head had tilted to one side, looking like it was going to be decapitated in the next second.
Lin Mu Yu pulled out his sword then stabbed once more. The power stab punctured through to the spirit beast’s heart, causing flame energy to continuously seep out and ignite the surrounding bushes. Crying out one last wail, the fan dragon knelt before this no-name brat’s sword, bringing along all of its unwillingness and regret.