Translator: Seventh Peril Editor: Anuvrat
The next day.
It was still early in the morning when news came from Qingshan Town that the Song Clan had left Qingshan Town overnight under Song Shaochen’s lead. They rushed towards Qingxuan Mountain Range [1] located to the south of Qingshan Town.
The Qingxuan Mountain Range was the first of many mountain ranges in the Southern Border Region of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It was a massive range that spanned over a thousand miles. As for the legendary Innate Temple, it was said to be located somewhere inside this mountain range.
As for Qingshan Town, it could only be considered the entrance to the Qingxuan Mountain Range.
In addition to being the location of the legendary Innate Temple, there were countless of Spirit Herbs growing in the Qingxuan Mountain Range. But at the same time, monster beasts ran rampant in this mountain range, which was extremely dangerous. Usually, only a few adventurer groups that lived on the edge from hand to mouth [2], would enter the Qingxuan Mountain Range. However, on this day, a crowd was rushing towards the Qingxuan Mountain Range. From the looks of it, if they were a little slower, the inheritance of the Innate Temple would have been taken by someone else.
Ye Zhong and Su Yu were standing on the top of the city wall, watching the scene unfold before them. They looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time. Ye Zhong had guessed what was going on and could only sigh. Su Yu, on the other hand, was gnashing her teeth. The difficulty of the Sect Mission this time was beyond her imagination!
“Let’s hurry up. Now, many people have the map in their hands. If we loiter any longer, nothing will be left for us.” Su Yu gritted her teeth for a moment, her beautiful face became serious and she spoke softly.
Hearing this, Ye Zhong did not state any objections and just nodded.
Immediately, the two of them jumped off the city wall and disappeared into the surging crowd. They quickly headed towards the depths of the Qingxuan Mountain Range.
Along the way, the originally turbulent crowd gradually dispersed as they entered the Qingxuan Mountain Range. After all, although there were many powerhouses of various sects who were interested in the Innate Temple, compared to the vast range of the Qingxuan Mountain Range, this number was nothing.
“*Woosh——*”
After travelling for around half a day, they suddenly saw close to a thousand people gathering at a valley in front of them.
“This is supposed to be the only entry point, what happened here?” Su Yu frowned and looked ahead.
“Let’s go and take a look.” Ye Zhong’s expression did not change much. He waved his hand and the two of them disappeared into the crowd again, heading towards the front.
In front of them, at the necessary point to enter the depths of the Qingxuan Mountain Range, there was a valley with cliffs on both sides. At this moment, a troop in black robe had gathered around. This troop had approximately a hundred people. Although they were just casually standing there, it was clear that in order to go deep into the Qingxuan Mountain Range, one had to pass through them.
“What’s going on?” When Ye Zhong saw this scene, he frowned slightly. This group of people had an extremely shocking aura. It was obvious that they did not come from a minor force.
“This should not be a force within the borders of our Great Zhou Dynasty. It is very likely that they are from a few neighbouring dynasties.” Su Yu spoke with a serious tone while glaring at the group.
Hearing this, Ye Zhong took a deeper look, as soon as he did he wore a seldom expression. If these people were really from other dynasties and dared to act so arrogantly at this point in time, it meant that they must have their own trump cards.
“Heh, everyone.” Among the black-robed men, a lean man suddenly stepped forward and swept his slightly mocking gaze over nearly a thousand people before lightly saying, “Today, we are here to block the way. We do not want to do anything out of line, but our Master suddenly wants to collect ten sets of temple entrance maps to take a look, but we don’t know where to find them now, so we can only trouble you all!”
“As long as all of you are able to collect ten sets of the maps, and give them to us, we will naturally withdraw. However, if you are unable to do so, I’m afraid that everyone will have no choice but to waste time here!”
Seeing the beaming smile on the man’s face, a burst of displeased shouts suddenly came from the surroundings.
“Who do you think you are!? How dare you block our way here!?”
“We have so many people here, even if we each spit once, it would be enough to drown you [3]! Who do you all think you are, wanting ten sets of temple entrance maps?”
“Don’t you know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is!”
A lot of people babbling can be heard, but it was only limited to voice out their displeasure. At this time, almost a thousand people were present, and they were basically all from various sects and clans. At this moment, no one would stand up for anyone else, after all, everyone still had to save their strength to fight for the items inside the Innate Temple. Moreover, there weren’t many people present who possessed the temple entrance map either. For most people, this was none of their business.
“Heh, if anyone has any objections, please step out. Our Lei Clan of Lei Tian Dynasty [4] will let you know if we have the qualifications to stand here or not.” The lean man still had a smile on his face. However, when his gaze slowly swept through the crowd, no one dared to look directly at him.
“Lei Tian Dynasty?” Upon hearing the name, Ye Zhong recalled that the Lei Tian Dynasty was another powerful dynasty near the Great Zhou Dynasty, and its strength was much stronger than the Great Zhou Dynasty. Furthermore, the Lei Clan of the Lei Tian Dynasty was equivalent to the Five Great Clans of the Great Zhou Dynasty. They possessed an extremely powerful foundation.
“What should we do now?” Su Yu looked at her surroundings. Seeing that none of the close to a thousand people were prepared to take action, she frowned and spoke up.
“Is there any other way to enter the depths of the Qingxuan Mountain Range?” Ye Zhong spoke up.
“Yes, there is. But it will take at least half a month to take a detour. Moreover, it might be possible for every item to be salvaged by someone else by then.” Su Yu sighed.
“Is this the only way?” Ye Zhong’s gaze fell on the hundred black-robed men in front of him. Then, he laughingly said and smiled.
“Little Brother Ye Zhong, are you planning to do something again?” Looking at Ye Zhong’s bland smile, Su Yu suddenly remembered Ye Zhong’s style of handling things. With his personality, he wouldn’t take a detour just to avoid trouble.
“Let’s go.” Ye Zhong smiled lightly and casually took off his black robe and stepped forward. Previously, he had concealed his identity to get more information, but now that he wanted to openly penetrate deep into the Qingxuan Mountain Range, there was naturally no need to conceal his identity. With Ye Zhong’s nature, he couldn’t just take a detour or wait for something to turn around just to save himself from trouble! The real powerful expert would have to open up a path for oneself.
Seeing Ye Zhong’s reaction, Su Yu could only sigh. She casually took off her black robe and followed after him in large strides.
In a split-second, countless pairs of eyes fell on Ye Zhong and Su Yu. In the next instant, many among the crowd recognized them.
“Those two guys were the ones who attacked at the city gate that day, weren’t they?”
“I don’t expect it to be those two again. Where do they come from?” Many people speculated that the ordinary sect and clan would absolutely not be able to nurture such a person. Most powerhouses felt their scalps go numb when they saw the hundred or so black robed men. They didn’t even have the courage to stand up.
“Haha, very good!” The lean man’s gaze fell on Ye Zhong, and a glint can be seen in his eyes. He could tell that Ye Zhong was not an ordinary man, but even so, he grinned and said, “This friend is clever enough to know that there is no benefit to delaying. So, hand over the entrance map and you will naturally be able to pass.”
Ye Zhong stopped less than ten steps away from the lean man. He lifted his head and glanced at the man, then checked out the black robed men behind him. Although he didn’t know how powerful the figures behind these black-robed men would be. However, at this moment, the lean man in front of him had already reached the Fourth Layer of Body Tempering. As for the remaining nearly hundred people, all of them were at the Third Layer of Body Tempering! Such a lineup could already be considered excessive. If they hadn’t met a truly powerful individual, they should have been able to walk assured and unhindered in this Qingxuan Mountain Range.
After a quick scan, Ye Zhong’s gaze fell on the leader, the lean man once again. He said seriously, “If you want the temple entrance map, go ask those guys at the back. Don’t block my way now. You and your group won’t be able to stop me.”
“Heh——”
The lean man laughed heartily. The hundred men in black behind him scoffed at Ye Zhong, as if he was a joke in their eyes. They could see Ye Zhong’s strength very clearly. He was merely at the Third Layer of Body Tempering. Even if the woman behind him was a little troublesome, it was nothing compared to them! If they didn’t have absolute confidence, they wouldn’t have done such a thing.
“Brat, we’ll give you another chance. If you hand in the entrance map now, you’ll still have a chance to live. Otherwise, it’ll be a good opportunity to kill the chicken to warn the monkey.” [5] The lean man sneered. As his voice faded, he took a step forward. At this moment, he did not conceal his killing desire in the slightest!
Following his actions, those black-robed men behind him all drew their swords from their waists one by one. Their eyes were filled with a ferocious aura. Clearly, they were prepared to attack if there was any disagreement.
Seeing the murderous look on their faces, Ye Zhong sighed and said, “Senior Sister Su Yu, this guy is a little more troublesome. You should stop him for now. I’ll come back and finish him off after these trashes are done with.”
As his voice faded, Ye Zhong waved his hand, and a long green steel sword appeared within his palm. He then moved slowly towards the hundred black robed men. As for the lean man, he had already ignored him.
“You’re courting death!”
The skinny man shouted. With his identity and strength, how could he be treated like this? Moreover, he did not place this arrogant brat in his eyes at all. He took a step forward and swept his claw across the air towards Ye Zhong’s throat.
TL note(s):
[1] 青玄 (qīng xuán) literally means “cyan profound”.
[2] on the edge: in a precarious position (as from danger or risk); hand-to-mouth: providing the barest livelihood, sustenance, or support.
[3] “even if we each spit once, our saliva combined would be enough to drown you” ironically implying “if we unite, we can beat the sh*t out of you”.
[4] 雷天 (léi tiān) literally means “thunder sky”.
[5] “killing the chicken to warn the monkey” implying “punishing an individual as an example to others”.