Chapter 102: 90

Chapter 90 Chargrilled Rabbit (a)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

The next day, Shiyu set out very early with Lin Fan, Feng Luo, Wen Xian and Xiao Qi in a five-person party for Spiritual Beast Mountain. The oldest was not quite 18 yet and the youngest just had her 10th birthday. Since being young would be eye-catching enough, they opted to wear ordinary clothes to better blend in with the crowd.

Once you stepped out of the walls of the city, you’re in the world of Jianghu [1] where all kinds of wild grasses grow! If people saw a bunch of well-dressed young people, they would be seen as a soft, fat target. To avoid trouble, it’s better to just dress plainly and stay aware of one’s surroundings.

Making sure to keep a low-profile, they approached Five Point Town. As soon as they stepped into this place, they could feel that the atmosphere was different from other towns. For one thing, almost everyone was a Cultivator here. However, the majority of them were at the Condensation Stage [2], only a few having reached the Core Transformation Stage. They hardly saw any Core Condensation Stage Cultivators.

“So, most of these people are Adventurers aiming to challenge the mountain and make money by completing missions from the Mission Office,” explained Shiyu who had explored all of this the last time she was here. “Every town near the Beast Mountain has a Mission Office set up by the Alliance of Adventurers that listed out a number missions for Adventurers to complete. Shall we go and have a look?”

“Yes!” Technically, Feng Luo and Lin Fan had already been here, but [3] Shiyu still gave the little introduction for the benefit of Wen Xian and Xiao Qi. Somehow, she was appointed as the leader of their little trip. Perhaps it was her mental age, but Shiyu found herself leading the group instead of the two young male heirs. Whatever, all of them were used to obeying her by now after being ordered around as her kitchen coolies.

Nevertheless, kitchen coolies or not, these young people harboured a strong desire for adventures. Feng Luo looked excited, Wen Xian and Xiao Qi’s eyes were very bright and even Lin Fan’s normally stoic face was a little bit more animated.

“Alright, let’s go!” even Shiyu, [3] this old auntie, was feeling excited.

The Mission Office could be more appropriately described as a ‘Mission Hall’ since it was situated inside a large hall that could easily accommodate 100 people. An entire wall was dedicated to mission assignments, arranged according to the level of difficulty. Anyone could accept any of this task, but the reward will go to whoever that completed the mission first.

Shiyu studied the tasks. Majority of them were quests for So-and-So Medicinal Herb or This-and-That Magic Stone with the reward being silver taels or some kind of rare herbs for the more difficult tasks. The most difficult quest on the list was for the Magic Stone of a Rank 5 monster. Nothing was specified under the ‘Rewards’ section aside from ‘A Very Handsome Reward’.

Spiritual beasts also have a ranking system. As a general rule, humans could contend against beasts one rank higher than their own. A Condensation Stage human, for example, could go toe-to-toe with a Rank 2 monster. By this analogy, a Rank 5 monster is equivalent to a Divine Transformation Stage Cultivator. Which would be like fighting a spiritual beast at the same strength as Feng Luo’s grandfather.

Which was probably why this mission had been left here for many years.

Furthermore, no one really knew whether there was actually any Rank 5 beasts within the Spiritual Beast Mountain Range. However, it was true that humans dare not set foot casually into the Range. No matter how powerful they were, most Cultivators would only roam the periphery of it. If what San Pang claimed is true, Spiritual Beast Mountain Range would be the safest place for the Lin Clan.

“See any missions you like?” Shiyu asked.

“We can pick a few and try for it,” Feng Luo said casually. “It’s on our way anyway.”

[5] They duly picked a few standard missions and registered them before stepping out of the mission hall. As they made their way towards the mountain, Shiyu’s mind turned towards the most dangerous mission on the wall. Finally, when they reached an area with fewer people around, she asked San Pang, “Hey, are there any Rank 5 beast in the Range?”

 

“Of course,” San Pang said in a matter of fact way. “Without powerful beast guardians, the humans would have split up the mountains range among themselves long ago.”

This was clearly news to everyone. Feng Luo said, “But what about the Dao of Suppression? Surely it applies to the beasts as well?” He had been participating in the suppression of the Eastern Sea Turbulence for years, but he had never seen a Rank 5 beast.

“If I say there are Rank 6 beasts or higher, would you believe it?”

“Impossible!” they all yelled. If Rank 6 beasts exist, wouldn’t humans be trampled to the ground by now?

San Pang spread his hands, “If you don’t believe me, perhaps you might be lucky enough to see it with your own eyes? However, I do hope you would not be so lucky.”

Shiyu and the rest stared at him, “Really?”

“The Spiritual Beast Mountain Range is a very magical place,” San Pang said seriously. “The Dao of Suppression doesn’t apply there.”

“What!?”

This time, they really don’t know what to say. Was San Pang pulling their leg? But that little face was perfectly serious. They all stared at the Beast Mountain again. The mist covered forest suddenly looked even more mysterious and secretive.

“But… if the Dao of Suppression doesn’t apply there, won’t all the monsters break past the ceiling? If they are that powerful, why are they still hiding within the mountains?” Though humans and monsters were different animals, the desire to dominate and devour others remained. The Human Race hunts down beasts and slaughters them for Magic stones and meat. Beasts do the same to humans too.

If these beasts are so powerful, why would they tolerate having humans invade their land and build little towns around their mountain range?

“I told you the Mountain Range is a magical place, right? If you breakthrough into Divine Transformation within the Mountain, you will never be able to leave the Mountain. The only way out is to aim towards the Heavens,” said San Pang. “Moreover, these are all things happening at the periphery of the Mountain. The middle part of the Mountain Range is absolutely forbidden. It is said that there’s a terrifying existence lives there. No high-level spiritual beast dare to get close. I’ve only looked into the place from the outside, but I’d love to see what’s really inside, ah.”

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San Pang grew quite emotional at the end. The eyes of his party members starred at the rolling mountains shrouded in mists and began to yearn for its secrets. There were just too many stories in this land, too many legends. Perhaps, they might be the one to find out the secrets of the Spiritual Beast Mountain Range.

All fired up, they checked their equipment one last time and set out for the Mountain.

They followed a fairly well-trodden path at first. Along the way, the trees became denser and the light grew sparser. Eventually, they crossed into a forest of ancient trees. This was where the real Spiritual Beast Mountain Range begins.

As soon as Feng Luo crossed into the forest, the energy in his body grew active. As a Wood Element Cultivator, coming into a forest like this was like dropping a fish into water.

It was not the first time Shiyu and Lin Fan challenged the forest, but they still looked around carefully. It would not be wise to underestimate this primordial forest just because they had been here before.

What they had not noticed was that as soon as they stepped into the forest, the leaves of the thousand years old trees rustled and on the barks of these gnarled trunks, eyes began to pop open. More rustling. This time, the sound travelled from tree to tree, as though a message was being passed deep into the Spiritual Beast Mountain Range.

All of this happened more than 10 meters above their heads. The party members were keeping their attention focused on ground level threat and assumed that the trees were just rustling with the breeze. However, San Pang, who grew up within this Mountain, immediately sensed that something strange was happening around them. However, not even he could point out the exact cause of his trepidation.

As they travelled deeper, they soon began to notice an anomaly.

Thus far, they have yet to see even a shadow of a spiritual beast along the way

Could they all have been killed? But, by who? Or what?

The more quiet their surroundings were, the more dangerous it must be. Something huge and dangerous must have kept the smaller beasts away. The party members grew more solemn as they travelled deeper. All of them, except for Wen Xian who was looking around in bewilderment, as he was being pulled along by the hand by Shiyu after he had stumbled a third time.

[6] For some reason, he could not pay attention to his surroundings. He would keep looking up in at the trees, tripping and stumbling annoyingly until Shiyu grabbed him by the hand. Occasionally, fruits would fall on his head. The atmosphere around him felt… amused? As though the trees were beaming down at him. When fruits fell on him, he’d reflexively snatch them out of the air and stared at them in confusion. But before he could think too deeply about it, he had to toss the fruit away and snatched another fruit out of the air before it hit him. Xiao Qi automatically snatched the thrown fruit from the air and quickly bite into it.

 

As they walked on, more weird things happened. Finally, Shiyu turned around and nearly laughed herself to death at these two with their pockets full of fruits and lips sticky with fruit juice. “Well,” she wheezed, you two certainly are leisurely,”

Wen Xian awkwardly grinned around the fruit in his mouth. He stuck his free hand into his pocket and held out one of the fruits to Shiyu. “Sishter, wan shome?”

San Pang, who was perched on Shiyu’s shoulder, was so shocked that his eyes nearly popped out of his head, “Holy f*ck! Wood Spirit Essence!!!”

 

[Gumihou: Oho, Adventure Arc is starting~]

 

[1] Jianghu – Literally Rivers and Lakes, so the author indulged in some wordplay here about Wild Grasses roaming wild in Rivers and Lakes…

 

[2] Gumihou is keeping track so you don’t have to ~

 

Condensation Stage	Stage 1	Rank 2
Core Transformation	Stage 2	Rank 3
Core Condensation	Stage 3	Rank 4
Nascent Formation X	Doesn’t exist now
Divine Transformation	Breaks the LAW	Rank 5

Rank 1 beast are trash, lol

[3] Added Details for Character Development: Also, I’d like some explanation as to why the female cook is the leader and not the two young male heirs. Also, why said young male heirs let her.

 

[4] Rearranged Some Details to Make Sense: Like why ‘because human talents are more powerful than monsters, humans in the condensing phase can compete with Tier 2 monsters,’ and not ‘humans at stage 1 could fight stage 2 monsters’

 

[5] Added Details for Logistic Purpose: Patched one line to just say they’ve registered the mission.

 

[6] Added Details for Clarification: So that my dear readers don’t have to read this few paragraphs three times to understand what’s going on.

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