Translator: Aristophaneso Editor: Caron_
The members of the Hunter Team received their weapons by the village gate, casually chatting and passing the time. With so many people there, it was quite the scene.
“Ye Meng, I have your Blood Dragon Spear right here, but … what did you just say?” Ye Ba replied easily, taking out a blood-red spear. After the two men had reconciled, their relationship had drastically improved and they were now like blood brothers.
But Ye Ba was still stunned by the second half of Ye Meng’s sentence.
“Prepare a weapon for Ye Tian?” Ye Ba asked, glancing at Ye Tian with confusion.
“Ye Tian, you broke through to Martial Artist Level Three? You’re ready to join the Hunter Team?”
Ye Feng called out with surprise, having arrived while Ye Ba was dazed with disbelief.
Suddenly, the men by the Ye Family Village gate fell deathly silent.
Every hunter turned to look at Ye Meng and Ye Tian.
“Ye Tian, you really broke through to Level Three Martial Artist?” Ye Ba echoed disbelievingly.
Everyone else was simply stunned silent.
A sixteen year old Level Three Martial Artist? This was the first ever in the Ye Family Village’s history; even the first ever in all of White Cloud Town!
“You’re wrong. My son didn’t just break through to Level Three Martial Artist—he’s actually a Level Four Martial Artist, haha!” Ye Meng explained, laughing with great satisfaction as his hunter compatriots stared with shock.
At his words, everyone’s expressions changed a second time, and true shock was now writ all over their faces as they stared at Ye Tian.
Even Ye Feng wasn’t ready for this and he could only ask with great seriousness: “Ye Tian, did you really break through to Level Four Martial Artist?”
If Ye Tian had only broken through to Level Three Martial Artist, Ye Feng might be somewhat surprised, but that would’ve still made sense with the talent of a Yellow Martial Spirit, but Level Four Martial Artist? He was shaken. That meant Ye Tian had taken three months to leap from Level Two to Level Four!
Jumping up two levels in three months? If news of this spread, who would believe him? But the truth was standing right in front of him.
Ye Feng stared at Ye Tian until he nodded. It was only then that Ye Feng sighed in amazement. “Kid, your talent is beyond my understanding. I’m afraid that a small place like White Cloud Town won’t be able to hold you. Okay. Since you’re a Level Four Martial Aritist, you can join the Hunter Team, but you need to keep close to me.”
Ye Tian nodded. After his life or death experience two months ago, he no longer dared to take reckless risks. After all, he was still only a Level Six Martial Artist and many beasts could still threaten him.
“Hahaha… Level Four Martial Artist? Our Ye Family Village has produced a truly remarkable genius! I might even live to see our Ye Family’s first Martial Master expert. Then I could truly die without regrets,” a large man said, laughing with a huge blade in his hand.
This man was someone Ye Tian knew well. He was Ye Dalang, Ye Niu’s father and a Level Seven Martial Artist expert.
“Good kid!” Ye Ba called out, laughing cheerfully as he walked over and pounded Ye Tian’s shoulder. “Much better than my good-for-nothing son. What weapon would you like? Uncle Ba will pick one out for you.”
“Thank you, Uncle Ba. I’d like a saber. Not too big; anything sharp will do,” Ye Tian replied as he smiled.
Ye Tian had learned some saber skills in his previous life, but his style had been utterly utilitarian and deadly, not true Martial Arts style. The whole purpose had been to kill.
All martial skills taught in the military were only concerned with effectiveness, without any pretty flourishes.
It’s been a long time since I’ve held a saber. I wonder if I’m rusty? Ye Tian quietly wondered.
Soon, Ye Ba brought out a steel saber around two meters long, a demonic scarlet from tip to hilt. Ye Tian examined the weapon with some curiosity—was this the Scarlet Guard Saber?
“Ye Ba, isn’t that the Scarlet Guard Saber? Where did you get that thing? What’ll you do if they find you with that?!” Ye Meng yelped with some fear, also recognizing the blade.
Ye Feng cut in before Ye Ba could reply. “Don’t worry—I found this in the forest. A small place like our village rarely hosts Scarlet Guards. As long as we don’t talk about it, they’ll never know.”
“That’s right, and this saber is very good—it’s sharp, perfect for Ye Tian!” Ye Ba smiled.
Ye Tian sighed a little as he took the saber. All those months ago, he had tried to hide traces of his devouring and thrown all the Scarlet Guard equipment into the waterfall, but in the end, Ye Feng still found one of the scarlet sabers. Was this fate?
Lifting the scarlet saber, Ye Tian held up his hand to the blade. He felt the dense aura of blood gleaming along its edge, a coldness passing from the blade to his flesh.
“Good blade!” Ye Tian praised it quietly. Compared to the weapons that the other men were using, this scarlet saer was clearly much higher quality.
“Okay. Everyone’s here, so let’s head out!” Ye Feng called out a loud command.
Seriousness replaced the joviality as everyone hefted their weapons and their supplies, following Ye Feng into the mountains.
The hundred plus hunters were split into three sections—the Level Three to Level Five Martial Artists on the inside, the Level Six and Level Seven Martial Artists around them, and finally the Level Nine Ye Feng and three other Level Eight Martial Artists taking the lead, in charge of everyone’s safety.
Ye Tian was in the middle, surrounded by hunters. He quietly appraised the people around him.
The Ye Family Village’s Hunter Team had gone through countless battles; their cohesion was already incredibly refined. No matter what happened, it felt like they would remain calm and composed.
“Ye Tian, remember to not stray too far from me. Ye Meng, give him the basic information. You don’t need to fight today. Just protect Ye Tian!” Ye Feng ordered.
No one had any complaints about Ye Feng’s commands—in fact, there was no need for him to have even said that aloud; if any danger were to befall the company, everyone would prioritize protecting Ye Tian.
They all knew that as long as Ye Tian breathed, Ye Family Village would one day have a Martial Master expert and that Ye Tian would one day bring their village to new heights.
With this understanding, any Ye Family Villager with a heart would protect Ye Tian at all costs.
Ye Tian could sense the protection around him and everyone near him was incredibly serious, nothing but caution on their faces as they all carefully examined their surroundings.
Ye Tian was very moved. This was the might of a united Ye Family Village, and with the villagers moving together with a single cause, the Ye Family Village would only grow in strength.
“Tian er, did you know that the most dangerous part of the forest isn’t the Level Eight or Nine or Ten beasts but rather the Level Five or Six ones?” Ye Meng began to explain, not too happy that he had to miss out on the action, but he was utterly serious in the matters concerning his son’s safety. His son was still green and Ye Meng began from the basics.
“Oh, really? Why is that? How could a powerful team like ours be afraid of a Level Six beast?” Ye Tian asked curiously. He thought that only the Level Nine and Level Ten Martial Artist beasts would be a threat and was quite surprised by his father’s words.
“Haha, that shows your inexperience. Those powerful beasts all have their own territories and are typically by themselves. Even if they’re powerful, we have the advantage in numbers and we can quite safely take down even a Level Ten Martial Artist beast,” Ye Meng explained, chuckling. “It’s the lower level beasts that stay in packs, and sometimes they can even appear in the hundreds or thousands. That’s when things get really dangerous and we’d suffer huge losses even if we defeated them.”
Ye Tian nodded, understanding.
A single beast wasn’t scary, but a herd of beasts was.
Ye Tian thought back to what happened to the Scarlet Guards when the stampede had rushed into them. Even a Martial Master expert had to flee, but facing the lonely Martial Master python, the Scarlet Guard easily triumphed.
He could see how a pack of beasts was the most dangerous threat on the mountain.
“Alright, we’re in the danger zone. Everyone focus. Be careful.” Ye Feng’s voice passed down through the team, and very quickly, a powerful beast appeared.
“Roar!”
Ye Tian peered over. The beast looked a lot like a panda with golden fur covering its body. Only the area around its eyes was black.
It was basically a huge golden panda without the white.
Ye Tian couldn’t help but stare for a moment, and for a moment, he really thought that a panda had dyed its fur and crossed over from Earth.
“A Treasure Beast! A Treasure Beast! Surround it and don’t let it escape!” Ye Feng’s voice filled the air, his eyes wide and filled with surprise. As he yelled, he rushed forward, engaging the golden panda.
The team spread out and encircled the beast.
The golden panda was very powerful, and to Ye Tian’s amazement, it was clearly an even match for Ye Feng. He turned to his father as the hunters spread out. “Dad, what is this Treasure Beast? It’s really strong and it’s an even match for Uncle Feng.”
Ye Meng was incredibly excited and he quickly explained: “The Treasure Beast is equivalent to a Level Nine Martial Artist expert, but its power isn’t the most important thing—it’s the heart.”
“The heart? What use does this heart have?” Ye Tian asked.
“What use?” Ye Meng turned wide eyed, his face filled with excitement.”It’s incredible! The Treasure Beast is known as a treasure simply because of this heart—any practitioner under Level Ten Martial Artist can breakthrough after eating this heart. It’s a treasure that rarely appears on the market!”
“Incredible!” Ye Tian’s eyes gleamed, suddenly understanding the excitement of the other hunters.
Breaking through. That meant that if Ye Feng ate it, he would break through to Level Ten Martial Artist, allowing the Ye Family to exceed the Lin Family Village and become the second most powerful village after the Wang Family.
No wonder the hunters were excited—this was an incredible opportunity!
“Quickly! The Captain won’t be able to defeat it quickly on his own, and we can’t have other beasts coming here!” Ye Ba called out, leading the other Level Eight Martial Artist into the fray, assisting Ye Feng.
Such a high level fight required a Level Eight cultivation at the very least; anyone lower would become burdens and interfere with their own team.
Ye Tian and the others spread out and kept watch as they watched the fight.
The Treasure Beast was powerful, but it was alone. Its death was certain, so the hunters weren’t too worried.