Chapter 9:Ten Thousand Beast Mountain

Hearing Tie Shou’s solemn oath to never give up, Wang Murong softly waved her hand. “Old Tie, don’t force yourself to do this. If your investigation goes well, then that’s good but if it doesn’t, don’t take any drastic measures no matter what! Remember, you must never offend the Qin Family!” A trace of dignity flickered through Wang Murong’s eyes after she finished speaking. This could also count as an order to Tie Shou.

Tie Shou was startled. He stared at Wang Murong’s face, as he started to form speculations. He was an experienced man. If the grand princess was afraid of offending a trifling Qin Family, there was only one reason as to why.

Tie Shou’s tone was questioning as he asked, “Princess, do you wish to recruit Qin Yu?”

Wang Murong didn’t reply immediately as she sat down on a soft chair. A slight smile formed on her beautiful face as she asked another question in reply, “With a genius like Qin Yu, don’t tell me that we shouldn’t try to recruit him?”

“Of course we should!” Tie Shou hurriedly replied. “I’m afraid that he’s the only one in Qiongxi Country who is well-versed in both cultivation and tool refinement. If he joins our sphere of influence and is given time to grow, he will definitely become a huge help to Princess and Prince.”

“You’re right. As one of my imperial brother’s people, that was also This Princess’s second aim in coming to Luosang City. When I appeared personally to prevent you from attacking him, it was because I saw his martial achievements. I didn’t expect he would also know tool refinement, which was a pleasant surprise. I’ve already decided I want him.” Wang Murong’s exquisite face revealed a staunch expression.

In the Ancient Continent of Wu, talents in cultivation weren’t rare at all, but geniuses in tool refinement were far and between. The requirements for tool refiners were extremely high and apart from the prerequisite of having innate talent in tool refining, one was needed some achievements in cultivation. However, the crux of it all was the amount of unimaginable hardships and sweat that needed to be invested into it.

If every big power knew about Qin Yu, this young genius with such high achievements in both the fields of tool refinement and cultivation, they would definitely spare no effort to rope him in. Wang Murong was currently the first to have discovered him, and there was no reason to let him go.

“Princess, wh—what was your first aim?” When Tie Shou asked the question, he had already faintly guessed what it was. A trace of restlessness and worry filled his heart.

A grave expression appeared on Wang Murong’s face as her voice sunk. “I want to go look in the forbidden area.”

“You absolutely can’t!” Tie Shou’s expression completely changed. “Princess, that’s far too dangerous! You’re too invaluable! If you go there and by any chance…”

“You don’t have to worry, This Princess is only going there to take a look. Hopefully, the road can be found and This Princess can get the things inside as fast as possible. We don’t have a lot of time left ah.” When she was done speaking, her young face held a dignified expression that was far too mature for her age.

Tie Shou looked at the young Princess’s face and couldn’t help but feel some pain in his heart. At her age, she should be happily growing under the pampering of her parents. However, her young and delicate shoulders had to bear too much. Everybody envied her for being born in the Emperor’s home but nobody knew about the hardships that came with being born there.

“The condition of my Imperial Father’s body is growing worse and worse by the day. My Imperial Brother and I are still too young, so the politics of the imperial court is slowly being dominated by my third Imperial Uncle. If my Imperial Father dies and my third Imperial Uncle seizes the throne, the first target of his purging will definitely be me and my Imperial Brother! Only by attaining the thing inside the forbidden area now can our fates during the purging be changed.” Wang Murong’s voice was somewhat hard. Her beautiful face exposed a trace of anguish and helplessness toward her destiny.

As a Princess, she should have possessed a life whom everyone envied. Yet in reality, her fate was unknown and her life was constantly in danger.

“Princess, it’s all this useless old man’s incompetence!” Tie Shou suddenly kneeled as he was filled with endless self-blame. “This useless old man hid in Luosang City for almost ten years now and still didn’t manage to find a way to enter the forbidden area, forcing Princess to risk your life. This useless old man is ashamed to face the Master ah!”

Wang Murong waved her hand. “Old Tie, you’ve already tried your best. You don’t need to blame yourself. The forbidden area isn’t easy to enter and I’m only going this time to take a look, nothing more. I just want to go search for some clues.”

Tie Shou was resolute as he said, “Alright, this useless old man will accompany you there. Even if I must put my life on the line, I will find at least some clues!” Tie Shou clenched his teeth.

“No, just having one person accompany me is enough.” A trace of a smile appeared on Wang Murong’s face as she said that, turning her head to glance in the direction of Qin Yu’s small house.

“Princess, you’re talking about Qin Yu? How could he want to risk his life with you? Moreover, he’s an outsider and if by any chance he knows the secret of the forbidden area, I’m afraid that…”

Wang Murong stood up, as she commanded, “You don’t have to worry about this, This Princess has her own plans. Tomorrow, prepare two fast horses and some things essential for entering the forbidden area.”

Since the Princess gave a command, it wouldn’t be good for Tie Shou to say anymore. He could only leave obediently.

……

Inside his room, Qin Yu wasn’t in any mood to rest. His gaze was fixed on the blood-colored saber in his hand as he pondered.

Since he had a saber, he naturally needed a sword art as well. Back when he was Xie Di, he knew many sword arts and in the end, he finally settled on “Scarlet Blood Sword Art”.

Altogether, “Scarlet Blood Sword Art” had 13 forms. In the room, Qin Yu got up and began to practice the form moves from his memories.

He couldn’t be more familiar with the sword art’s forms and movements and knew the mnemonic chant even more thoroughly so it was very different from the previous night’s Rushing Thunder Palm’s cultivation. In half a night, he had already finished practicing all thirteen forms and understood all the moves. However, his current power compared with how it was in his previous life was probably less than one percent. Furthermore, with his current strength, the strongest form he could fight with now was the ninth one—a Thousand Shadows of Blood. All the forms after that were ones he couldn’t use with his current strength. This night also passed by in cultivation.

……

The next day, the sky was bright as Qin Yu and Wang Murong rushed to Ten Thousand Beast Mountain with their horses. Wang Murong’s forbidden area was precisely in Ten Thousand Beast Mountain.

The fast horses that Tie Shou prepared deserved to be called fast. By midday, they already managed to arrive at their destination.

Ten Thousand Beast Mountain was filled with boundless huge, continuous mountains that went on for thousands of miles that stretched on endlessly. Clouds and mist curled up all year around halfway through the mountain, bringing both a sense of mystery and a hint of strangeness.

Here was the domain of the demonic beasts that ran rampant. Once a human entered their territory, it would trigger berserk attacks from demonic beasts.

Going through the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain’s mountain pass was just like entering the bloody jaws of a huge monster. The two’s horses immediately stopped ten meters from the mountain pass, standing there neighing. They didn’t dare to go any further no matter what.

Wang Murong and Qin Yu no choice but to abandon their horses there and advance up the mountain by foot.

Immediately upon arrival, they could both feel a gloomy and cold aura assault their senses, bringing a dense, bloody odor with it. Somebody had already entered and died here.

Qin Yu remembered going into this area many times. Three months ago, he had been plotted against and ganged up on by Qin Zhao and outsiders at this area. All of his twelve meridians were destroyed, turning him into a cripple.

The two moved forward together, discovering several demonic beast corpses along the road. The blood had already congealed into a black color.

Wang Murong swept a glance over the corpses and said, “Qin Xiong, [2] somebody just raided this place yesterday. I believe all the demonic beasts here have already been exterminated, so you’ll have to look for prey deeper in.”

Wang Murong’s address toward Qin Yu had also changed. Before she called him Qin Gongzi, but now she called him “Qin Xiong.”

Qin Yu didn’t mind the change in address, what he cared about was how Wang Murong’s last sentence used “you,” meaning only he, Qin Yu alone. Did that mean they wouldn’t be going together?

“Miss Murong, could it be that you aren’t coming with me?” Qin Yu stopped walking, as he turned to look at Wang Murong.

Wang Murong’s beautiful face exposed an awkward smile, “This… I want to go to a very dangerous area that will probably require you to risk your life, so I didn’t want to implicate Qin Xiong.”

“What are you saying? You’re a girl but you’re not afraid so how could I, a big man fear it?” Regardless of whether or not he was Xie Di or the current Qin Yu, the word ‘fear’ still wasn’t in his dictionary. “

“Qin Xiong, you really want to go with me? Over there, what we might run into aren’t demonic monsters, but rather…”

Behind Wang Murong’s sudden halt, Qin Yu could make out a trace of fear in her lustrous eyes. It seemed like she had already seen something terrible in that place to still have such fear. If that was the case, then why did she still want to go and even intended to go alone?

With Qin Yu’s two lives worth of experience, if he still couldn’t see anything then he may as well die a third time. In fact, this lass wanted him to come with her but was just too embarrassed to say it directly.

“Miss Murong there's no point to just killing demonic beasts. I’ll go with you just to get first-hand experience of this thing that’s even scarier than demonic beasts, ok?” What he said was the truth. To him, killing demonic beasts was nothing new and was really just too boring. In his heart, Qin Yu was also curious. He wanted to go see what Ten Thousand Beast Mountain had apart from demonic beasts.

“Alright. Qin Xiong really deserves to be called a real and heroic man. Let’s start going.” Wang Murong was filled with joy. The smile on her charming face was breathtaking. However, not a single one of the women by Qin Yu’s side back then was not an otherworldly stunning beauty. This made him practically immune to beautiful women. But if it was an ordinary person, they may have ended up turning silly.

As the young lady filled with joy, his last trace of cautiousness finally dissipated. Qin Yu didn’t feel like exposing her and directly walked forward. “Let’s go then.”

“Oh wait.” Qin Yu had just begun to walk when he suddenly halted. He was pleasantly surprised as his eyes were fixed on a small, light yellow grass growing on a precipice up ahead.

“What happened?” Wang Murong followed Qin Yu’s gaze and didn’t see anything special. There was only a small unremarkable grass there.

“That is Yellow Herb Grass, a third-grade spirit herb. It can be used to refine an ordinary Strength Returning Pill,” Qin Yu explained. He swept past her to reach the cliff as he plucked the Yellow Herb Grass before carefully placing them into a previously prepared bag, which he stored in his bosom.

He really wanted to get a spirit ring. It would make storing things much easier.

“Qin Xiong, you also know how to concoct pills?” Wang Murong’s pretty eyes widened, staring at Qin Yu with disbelief. Knowing that Qin Yu could refine tools was already shocking enough. If he also knew how to concoct pills, could he still be considered human? If he was proficient in cultivation, tool refining, and pill concocting, then the word ‘monstrous’ wouldn’t be enough to describe him, after all, he was a human freak of nature.

Qin Yu returned from the precipice and chuckled when he saw Wang Murong’s exaggerated face of surprise. “I just know a little bit, it’s nothing strange.”

“Eh…? How is this not strange?” Wang Murong’s jaw went slack with shock, her mouth so big you could fit a chicken egg inside. That was extremely strange, ok?! Disregarding Qiongxi Country, you wouldn’t be able to find such a person that knew everything in the entire Ancient Wu Continent! So how was it still nothing strange?

Moreover, what he said was a Strength Returning Pill, which was not any ordinary pill. As the name implied, a Strength Returning Pill was a pill for recovering internal strength. If two cultivators were fighting and both sides used up all their strength but one of them used a Strength Returning Pill, the end result would be obvious.

Refining this sort of pill, required at the very least a Black Grade or higher level in pill refining.

Pill Masters were divided into six grades: Ordinary, Earth Grade, Black Grade, Heaven Grade, Sacred Grade, and Godly Grade. In Qiongxi Country, there was only one Black Grade level pill master. If Qin Yu was a pill master at the Black Grade level with his age then…

“Impossible. This is absolutely impossible!” Wang Murong firmly shook her head, immediately denying the possibility. “Maybe he only knows which spirit grass Strength Returning Pills are refined from and actually doesn’t have Black Grade level pill concocting talent. There’s no way that he can refine Strength Returning Pills.”

Her train of thought was mistaken, but also correct.

‘Xiong’ means elder brother and it can be used to refer to a first-born brother or older males of the same generation, and friends with mutual respect.

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