Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  “The battle is over!”


  “I could feel a strong energy signature even across such distances. It must have been a rank-seven who encountered a powerful Feral.”


  The Third Elder of the Sky Demon Cult stared into the night sky, and only withdrew his gaze after a long time.

  As a rank-nine who had reached the boundary of wills, his senses were incredibly powerful, and he could determine the approximate power of the people fighting even from fifty miles away.

  “Should I take a look?”


  Bound Star asked then, making a gesture over his own neck to ask if he should kill them. After all, it was just a rank-seven and Bound Star could easily kill him—in the complex landscape of the mountain forest, earth-type Awakened are buffed greatly in power.

  “No need.

  “A mere rank-seven would never stir a wave.”


  Third Elder waved him off.

  Standing on one of the peaks and looking out, one could see that the topography of the mountain areas is very unusual. It looks like a bell lying horizontal from afar, and the eastern side was broader like the mouth of a bell. One would be surrounded by three sides of mountains if they entered through the mouth of the bell, and incidentally, the peak where the giant willow tree stood resembled the bell’s clapper.

  That was why that particular peak was called bell peak, and these mountains was a former scenic spot famous at Mount Helan: Rolling Bell Mouth.

  And right now, the Third Elder of the Sky Demon Cult looked at the giant willow tree for seconds before suddenly turning, before sprinting down another side of the peak.

  Bound Star and Guilty Star followed him closely behind.

  They reached a goat path after getting off the mountain.

  There were many road signs that once stood beside the path—Mount Helan could be considered famous in Western Xia, attracting a sizeable number of tourists every year.

  The Third Elder of the Sky demon Cult seemed to know this place very well too, and was smiling as he pointed ahead, “We’ll reach a summer villa if we go down this path. It was once the imperial residence of Li Yuanhao, Emperor Wulie of Western Xia, before it was claimed by Ma Hongkui, a warlord of Xibei and renovated into a summer villa.”


  “Thirteen years ago, I came to Mount Helan when I was traveling the world, searching for the key to ascend as a grandmaster.”


  Third Elder stopped walking then and breathed a long sigh, with emotion filling his words.

  He pointed at the distant night and said, “Before the Revival of Qi, most peaks near Mount Helan are bald. There was none of the trees and bushes we see today, which was why the best scenery here at the time was limited to the Suyukou Forest Park over there.”


  Third Elder appeared to have taken up the role of tour guide, smiling as he explained, “Suyukou Forest Park was a virgin forest, and it was most famous for the Helan violet mushroom that locals take to calling the violet lingzhi. Come July and August every year when Suyukou Forest was open for a certain period, the mushroom gatherers would buy their tickets and go in to pluck those mushrooms.

  “Violet lingzhi?”


  Seeing that it was quite boring for Third Elder to talk alone, Bound Star quickly continued the conversation with a hearty laugh, “Those people are being fools. Pretending that mushrooms are lingzhi?”


  Third Elder looked lengthily at Bound Star then.

  As he turned back to the distant night sky, there was a glint in his eyes as he said somberly, “I had the same idea as you did then, and even sneaked inside because it was interesting…… and I ended up ascending in there!”


  Breathing a long sighed, he then smiled, “You have to know that the Revival of Qi had yet come to pass, and it is more than ten times as hard for martial artists to reach the level of grandmaster. That was why many of our predecessors could not surpass the level of rank-six even until they died.”


  Both Bound Star and Guilty Star were utterly confused, seemingly unable to understand why Third Elder was telling them so many things.

  “After I snuck in, all I see was the pleasant scenery that eases my mood. That’s why I stayed the night, grilling and eating a lot of those mushrooms…… and then I ascended.”


  “At the time, I believed that my accumulated cultivation had finally paid off along with a bit of luck, which allowed me to reach the tier of grandmasters. But now that I’ve returned here to Mount Helan, I finally realized that the violet mushrooms were mutated plants!”


  Both Bound Star and Guilty Star traded a look of shock.

  “Third Elder, no plants could have mutated thirteen years ago without qi, could they?” Bound Star asked.

  However, Guilty Star shook his head.

  After musing to himself for a while, he calmly said, “That is not certain. Researchers foreign and domestic had a theory that the Revival of Qi and the Upheaval did not actually start ten years ago. The phenomenon may have begun deep within forests and uninhabited zones even before that, and sightings of water monsters and the like was most likely Ferals that had already metamorphized at the time.”


  Third Elder laughed then. “The Revival of Qi…… but why did it have to happen ten years ago, specifically? Not before, or after? In truth, my knowledge about that is only half-baked. Perhaps the saint would tell you when your cultivation has reached a certain level.”


  He then waved them off, unwilling to continue the conversation. “Let’s rest at former emperor’s residence now. We shall chop down the willow tree early next morning.”


  Since Third Elder was not telling, neither Bound Star nor Guilty Star would ask despite their itching curiosity.

  Still, Bound Star asked then, “Third Elder, should we get rid of the many martial artists who were trying their luck over there? News of our operation could spread otherwise.”


  ***

  Beside the mountain creek.

  Jiang He and Mu Wanqiu were having a feast, having almost devoured a quarter of the meter-long fish and devouring five catties of the Feral Cow’s meat.

  As Mu Wanqiu took a bite of the grilled meat, the aroma of the buttery meat wafting even as she chewed.

  Then, after she took a sip of a beer, she could not help raising a thumb. “Wonderful. Jiang He, you really account for everything…… please pass me that yogurt drink.”


  “Don’t you have hands?”


  Jiang He barked, but he threw her the yogurt drink nonetheless and smugly said, “Who was it who said this wasn’t a vacation, but an operation to capture Ferals? That there’s no need for beer or snacks? I’ve even bought a pack of cards. It’s shame that we’re just two and we can’t play Fight the Landlord.”


  Mu Wanqiu was drinking the yogurt drink, and almost splashed herself at that.

  Nearby, the black panther that was eating grass was salivating.

  It sneaked a look at Jiang He, and just as it was wondering if it should sneak out, capture and eat one Feral, there was a whoosh behind it even before it could move two steaps away, and it turned to find a fist that was getting larger by the second.

  “What the hell……”


  Even before the black panther’s spirit voice could extend……

  Pow!

  Punching the black panther into the ground, Jiang He then sat over the creature and gave it another thrashing until it was almost dead and bleeding from both its mouth and nostrils.

  Only then did he dust his hands and sneered. “You brat. Trying to run?”


  If it would not listen, it shall be beaten!

  Physical beast taming was ever so simple and boring.

  When the black panther recovered slightly, Jiang He fiddled with his Dragon-Slaying Saber and asked with a smile, “Big kitty, tell me. What’s been happening recently here at Mount Helan?”