Meeting An Enormous Thing in the Middle of the NightHe Ling threw the small golden beast to the ground and said coldly: “I had nothing to do with it.”
Wu Ying crouched and gently stroked the gathering spirit beast’s body. The rims of his eyes turned red.
“Is it dead?” someone to the side asked.
“… … not dead. Its spiritual energy is gone and after a night it still hasn’t been restored. It’s unconscious and I don’t know…. when it will awaken.” Wu Ying’s voice trembled.
The gathering spirit beast’s innate skill is to gather spiritual energy. The higher the cultivation, the more spiritual energy is gathered. He had raised this spirit beast with a great deal of care. He had originally hoped it would a.s.sist him to build his foundation, but now all that effort had been irrevocably lost. What should he do?
The two people beside Wu Ying glared at He Ling. One of them had been one of the rescuers on that day. He was a building foundation cultivator named Yang DongYe.
Yang DongYe said: “Although this spirit beast ran to the boundary of Hui Shi peak, it didn’t eat your spirit gra.s.s again. Why would you do this evil thing and cripple its cultivation?”
His words were barbed. The atmosphere was one of mutual hostility.
Mo ShaoYan spoke softly: “Since it didn’t come to eat our spirit gra.s.s, why would it come to the boundary of Hui Shi peak?”
He Ling looked at them coldly: “This matter has nothing to do with me.”
Gui XinBi rushed forward in attempt to smooth things over: “Since it has nothing to do with you, then you can return first!”
The look in his eyes was a sign that he was about to beat someone up, if he was allowed to continue there would definitely be a fight. This second senior brother was a true G.o.d of pestilence. Just casually going out for a walk and he’d already provoked a disturbance.
Wen Jing’s heart was shaken with thousands of waves. It turns out that this gathering spirit beast had its spiritual energy sucked away and thus its cultivation was crippled. In that case…
The murderer was——
“The Qing Xu sword sect had Ba Zhan peak, Bei Yan peak, Nan Yan peak, robust resources and wealth, and had three large cultivation clans supporting it behind the scenes. It was a pity that the disciples within the cultivation clans had been spoiled since childhood. Good and bad people intermingled and occasionally one of them would be an evildoer.
On this day, three disciples came down from Ba Zhan peak, abducted a young village woman, and brought her deep into the mountains. Perhaps heavens law was unable to tolerate their monstrous nature when they took the fainted village girl. For as they were about to satiate their vile desires, they encountered something while their guard was lowered.
Later, three unconscious bodies were found, their spiritual energy entirely dispersed, cultivation gone, having become wastes”
——excerpt from 《A Calamity for All Living Things》Chapter 20.
Absorbing the spiritual energy of three people was truly frightening. Later it was uncovered by Jun YanZhi that it was a disciple from Tian Heng, a trusted aide under the command of Wen RenMu named Mu ZhiQiu.
But these three licentious individuals came upon something they shouldn’t have seen. Very likely Mu ZhiQiu was practicing demonic cultivation.
Therefore it could be said that this gathering spirit beast also was attacked by Mu ZhiQiu!
Tian Heng peak dogfight, a mouthful of feathers….. (1)
Wen Jing’s mood immediately relaxed.
The matter of this day sooner or later will be revealed. There was no need to worry. What had caused the incident was the strange gift that He Ling was endowed with, the full time skill “Automatic Pathfinding”. By only casually flying above the snow, he found the gathering spirit beast. It was admirable.
《A Calamity for All Living Things》had Jun YanZhi as the focus of the storyline. The gathering spirit beast wasn’t important to him, so perhaps it wasn’t considered worth mentioning?
Wu Ying was dazed: “You took all the spiritual energy from my little beast. It will take a few years for it to recover. How will you compensate me?”
Mo ShaoYan spoke very slowly: “…second senior brother didn’t do it.”
Just then, the limbs of the golden small beast moved. Shaking its head, it slowly stood up.
It crouched at the side of Wu Ying and slowly rubbed against his leg. It seemed it didn’t know what had happened.
Wen Jing stated: “If second senior brother had wished to kill this spirit beast, would it still be alive?”
He Ling coldly glanced at Wen Jing: “Since it isn’t dead, I’ll go look for eldest senior brother.”
After speaking, he leapt into the air and disappeared into the endless snow.
Gui XinBi cursed beneath his breath: “F**k! After all the trouble to find it, he doesn’t take any responsibility.”
Wu Ying looked at the gathering spirit beast that was licking his leg. Suddenly realizing something, he slapped it away: “Eat eat eat, all you know is eating! In the end, do you even know anything! What am I going to feed you?!”
The small golden beast whimpered. At a loss, it staggered. Wanting to get back up but not daring to move, it dithered in place.
Yang DongYe said coldly: “Wu Ying, lets go! Today’s business isn’t over! Hui Shi peak is at fault. Why else would they have gathered here?”
The three from Tian Heng peak turned to leave. The gathering spirit beast hastily tried to catch up with them but then dimly realized that its master no longer wanted it. Standing still, it gave a soft cry.
It was truly a pitiful scene.
Wu Ying took a few steps, then suddenly turned around to glance at the small beast. In the end, at a fast pace, he rushed forward, clutched it to his chest, and flew away.
Mo ShaoYan said very slowly: “Second senior brother was impatient and has already left to continue the search. Should we continue to look for snow mountain jade ginseng, or do we return?”
“We’ll continue to search. Can’t we look even without him?”
The three people continued to fly in the mountain. Several times they saw the marks of snow mountain jade ginseng in the snow, but without He Ling’s ability to move rapidly, they weren’t able to collect anything.
♦
A month later in the early morning, Liu QianMo a.s.sembled the disciples of Hui Shi Peak in the main hall. He wore a serious expression.
“Last night I was called by the clan head regarding an important matter.”
Gui XinBi asked: “What was it?”
“Five days ago, three Ba Zhan peak disciples were found lying at the junction of Yu Rong peak and Hong Xiu peak. Their spiritual energy was completely consumed and cultivation lost. They have not regained consciousness. The clan master together with the other peak masters discussed the issue and believe this is an extremely important matter. Perhaps this was the result of demonic cultivation, thus the decision was made to have groups of disciples patrol the mountain at night.”
Everyone looked blank, then after a moment gave a deep sigh.
“Going so far as to demand to patrol the mountain….”
“I won’t be able to sleep well.”
“What kind of demonic cultivation? How dangerous is it?”
Wen Jing silently glanced at Jun YanZhi and saw him standing in silence wearing simple and elegant black garments. It seemed as if his gaze briefly fell on his body and then immediately moved away.
Because the licentious activities of Ba Zhan peak’s three individuals had resulted in night patrols, it was considered an important story line of the early part of the plot of 《A Calamity for All Living Things》. The time patrolling the mountain had led to an important matter. It had led to Jun YanZhi and the female lead Ji KeQing’s mutual feelings to rapidly heat up.
Ji KeQing was Wen Jing’s most admired female lead. She was attractive, natural, and her temperament was direct and efficient. If Jun YanZhi could finally end up together with her, it would be the best choice.
Of course, this was just Wen Jing’s own wishful thinking.
For Jun YanZhi’s final pairing, who could control that? It’s just that he was a little curious that’s all….
As he was letting his imagination run wild, he heard Liu QianMo say: “We have a total of ten disciples. Each person will night patrol three times a month and must ensure that they don’t provoke those of other peaks. Each person should take a communication spirit stone. If you should run into anything, you will immediately use the spirit stone to reach out to us.”
Everyone covered their faces. The disciples of other peaks would only need to night patrol every few months while they needed to do it three times a month.
Liu QianMo’s expression sank: “You will be patrolling three times a month. I and junior brother Jun are required to do so four times a month. I don’t like it either, so don’t complain.”
Originally, aside from the current mountain night patrol a.s.signment, every night a building foundation cultivator was also required to patrol the 16 peaks of Xu Yang. Xi Fang ordered that each peak had to send out two building foundation cultivators every night.
Hui Shi peak only had three building foundation cultivators. He Ling’s cultivation was the highest, but he wasn’t reliable and was constantly causing problems. Liu QianMo, afraid he would stir up more issues, stepped forth himself along with Jun YanZhi.
Wen Jing drew his lot and happened to pull the first three days of each month.
Liu QianMo said: “For your days of night patrol, you will be sleeping during the day and patrolling at night. Everyone will be granted a single building foundation stealth talisman. If you see anyone suspicious, immediately use your spirit stone to report. You are not allowed to approach them.”
Several people let out a gasp. Gui XinBi said: “The Clan head is taking this very seriously. Every peak using a stealth talisman each night, how many spirit stones will this waste?”
Liu QianMo glanced at him: “Idiot.”
Jun YanZhi said: “The three missing disciples are from Ba Zhan peak. I’m afraid they are progeny of influential cultivation families. The peak master wishes to capture the murderer as soon as possible. Spending a few spirit stones is of no consequence. These stealth talismans are most likely all being handed out by Ba Zhan peak.”
Gui XinBi nodded: “As it turns out, Ba Zhan peak doesn’t lack for resources. These talismans would mean nothing to them.”
On hearing that, everyone approached Liu QianMo to collect their spirit stones and talismans. The night patrols would begin within the next few days.
♦
This night was moonless and windy. The sky was deep and dark without a trace of moon or stars.
The cold wind blew. Occasionally, snowflakes would float down and land on his face.
Wen Jing used the stealth talisman with a trace of misery in his heart.
The first three days of every month were moonless. The moonless nights were dark in every direction. It was pitch black and the path was difficult to make out. He was using a stealth talisman and couldn’t release the light of any spiritual energy. It was truly unbearably awful.
Wen Jing braced himself against the wind and slowly walked up and down the length of Hui Shi peak.
This was his second night of patrol and he had a little more experience than yesterday.
As long as he walked slowly, it wasn’t a problem….
For a long time, he didn’t run across anything out of the ordinary. Wen Jing was afraid he would run into the patrolling building foundation cultivators and he didn’t dare be careless, so he vigilantly carried out his duty…
After reaching the other side of the mountain a few hours later, Wen Jing stopped to sit down and rest for a little while. Suddenly, from not far away came the sound of rustling accompanied with the soft crunching of stones. In the darkness there was something unknown.
Wen Jing listened to the noises, but was baffled.
What was it? Was it was demonic beast?
With the magnitude of rustling noises, it was a little terrifying…
Should he check it out or should he leave?
Wen Jing thought it over. He had reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining. His only technique was Piercing Ray and the wind manipulation method.
It would be like striking a stone with an egg, he would only lose his life in vain. Wen Jing didn’t have to think too long, he quietly floated into the sky with the intention to silently retreat.
With such an enormous demonic beast, he had no interest in knowing anything more. Moreover, it certainly wasn’t the source of the murders of the three Ba Zhan peak disciples. There was no need to report it.
Caught off guard, he heard the rustling noises suddenly approach and within a moment it was almost within reach.
In an instant, Wen Jing’s whole body was encircled by something immense. It constricted tighter and tighter almost crushing his throat and then seemed to faintly shiver.
His neck jerked as it was licked by something slippery and ice-cold.
Deeply shocked, Wen Jing went rigid. Clenched tightly in his hand was the communication spirit stone. He had definitely hidden his body, how could this thing find his presence? What kind of demonic beast was this?
As if responding to his question, the thing winding around his body was suddenly covered by a light blue light. Hazy and indistinct like a rising moon, the head of an immense snake appeared.
The snake had emerged out of nowhere, its ice-cold eyes gazed at him.
Ah ah ah ah ah——
Stealth technique? It had one of its own?
The snake’s body suddenly constricted and the python’s head drew near exposing ma.s.sive venomous fangs.
Author’s notes:
***Author apologizes for posting late***
Translator’s notes: (1) I have no idea…
My index finger and thumb on my right hand have been tingling lately. Please don’t be carpal tunnel. **Buys a wrist brace just in case** 〣( ºΔº )〣