173 Old Lu

The young man that narrowly escaped from death hurriedly stepped back. As for the two guards whose chests were punctured and strung up by the broken bufanoid’s tongue, they were quite irrefutably dead.

“Zhengxuan! Are you alright?!”

Not far away, a middle-aged man rushed over while coughing out a mouthful of blood, and asked.

“He saved me.” The young man said as he shook his head, then turned his head towards the entrance of the valley.

The pretty girl’s eyes instantly shined. The boy standing there appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, and even seemed to carry an air of youthful inexperience. However, that sword attack launched by him earlier was indeed terrifyingly powerful. It had chopped the bufanoid’s tongue off as easily as if he was just cutting a piece of meat.

“Thank you, young martial artist, for saving Zhengxuan’s life.” The middle-aged was shocked by Ye Chen’s power as well, yet remained perfectly calm. He was clearly aware that this world was vast and magical, and some amazing geniuses at a very young age had already managed to far surpass the older generation martial artists. One such individual was Wei Dongshe, the top-ranked disciple of the Green Bamboo Martial School, a rank 7 institution of the Thousand Thread Nation.

Ye Chen’s clothes fluttered in the wind, making a loud rustling noise as they did. Nimbly moving across the valley, he appeared suddenly in front of the group of people. Responding with a deep voice, “It was as easy as lifting a finger, don’t mention it.”

The pretty girl was still as grateful as before and said, “If you hadn’t helped us, we would have all died here - Watch out!!”

Before she even finished the sentence, her expression abruptly changed and she let out a scream. In her view, the eyes of the Five Colored Bufoid abruptly turned blood-red and it spurted a stream of five-colored air in Ye Chen’s direction. The monstrous air engulfed and devastated everything in its way; wherever it swept across, the plants would immediately wither and on the ground, a deep gorge would be ploughed.

Ye Chen’s sense of awareness was impeccably sharp, and every single movement made by the bufanoid was under Ye Chen’s watch. He swiftly turned his body, and with a swing of the Dragon Spring Sword, a beam of pale blue sword Qi was slashed out.

Puff!

The sword Qi scattered the stream of five-colored air and fiercely slashed the head of the bufanoid.

The bufanoid let out a series of muffled howls; its house-sized body fell over and smashed open a few large cracks on the walls of the valley, even causing rocks to tumble down the valley.

“Highly Condensed Qi!”

This Five Colored Bufoid was many times weaker than the Black Bomb Serpent, however, it possessed a great defensive power. Any ordinary attack would not be able to kill it. Ye Chen didn’t want to waste any time on it, thus, he launched a deadly attack.

Following a wave of puffing noises, a thick stream of sword Qi that contained layers of power easily cut open the ugly skin of the bufanoid. It pierced through its body, striking the rock wall behind it, and leaving a deep slash behind.

Clang!

Placing the sword back into its sheath, Ye Chen then waved his hand, along with which, the bufanoid’s pearl core popped out of its chest and flew towards Ye Chen.

“Amazing! He killed the bufanoid!”

“The Five Colored Bufanoid is as powerful as a medium Clasping Yuan Realm martial artist, but even a medium Clasping Yuan Realm martial artist wouldn’t want to fight against it head on!”

“This young martial artist looks to be even younger than my nephew… I can’t believe he actually just killed the bufanoid with a single move!”

All the surviving guards were medium or advanced Condensing Reality Realm martial artists, and many times before had heard of all kinds of amazing geniuses, yet none of them had actually met one. Watching Ye Chen kill the bufanoid just now made them all dumbfounded.

The young man whose name was Zhengxuan finally realised what had just happened. Eyes filled with admiration and jealousy, he cupped his hands and said, “My name is Lu Zhengxuan, may I have your name please?”

Ye Chen shook his head and said, “I’m leaving immediately, there is no need to know my name.”

He had saved all these people only because it was no effort on his part, and it wouldn’t take up too much of his time. Since saving some lives could be done in passing, why shouldn’t he do it?

Putting the pearl core into his storage ring, Ye Chen turned around and said, “I’m leaving, you should be extra careful.” He prepared to leave after he said this.

Abruptly, the middle-aged man began coughing severely, and immediately after, spat out a mouthful of badly stinking blood. On his face, faint five-colored flakes emerged.

“You’re poisoned.” Ye Chen frowned.

The middle-aged man forcibly boosted his Zhen Qi, temporarily restraining the poison effect. Giving a bitter smile, he said, “The Five Colored Bufoid’s poison is far too powerful; it managed to poison me through my protective Zhen Qi.”

“Don’t move… let me try to disperse the poison for you.”

Swiftly moving behind the middle-aged man, Ye Chen pressed both of his hands to the man’s back; streams of pure and powerful Great Mystery Zhen Qi were injected into the middle-aged man’s body through the meridians in Ye Chen’s arms.

After a short while.

Ye Chen dropped his hands, slowly letting out a long breath, he said, “The poison is too strong; mere Zhen Qi can’t disperse it. You’ll have to make an antidote to cure him. Fortunately, his current situation is not that serious, and the poison can’t kill him in such a short time.”

The girl, who seemed to have thought of something, said, “Normally, to make an antidote of a certain kind of beast poison, the corresponding materials from the beast’s body should be collected and used, this Five Colored Bufanoid…”

Whilst speaking, the girl turned her eyes to Ye Chen. The bufanoid was killed by Ye Chen, which meant that the bufanoid’s body now belonged to him. Therefore, without Ye Chen’s permission, the girl and the others did not dare to collect materials from the bufanoid’s body.

“You can do whatever you want with the dead bufanoid.” Ye Chen wasn’t going to take the bufanoid’s body anyway.

After collecting the necessary materials, the group of people prepared to go back.

Ye Chen saw that among this group of people, some were injured while some were poisoned, and only a few of them could still fight. They couldn’t possibly survive their return journey like this, not in the dangerous and wild Five Poison Mountain Range. Helplessly, Ye Chen sighed then said, “I’ll escort all of you out!”

The girl glanced at Ye Chen with a pair of sparkling eyes filled with gratitude.

During the journey, Ye Chen got to know some of the people’s name and circumstances. The beautiful girl’s name was Lin Qingmei, and she was the young mistress of the Lin Family in Black Rock City, a city situated near the Five Poison Mountain Range. The name of the middle-aged man who was poisoned was Lu Zhengde; he was Lu Zhengxuan’s father, and at the same time, an elder of the Lin Family. This time, they entered the Five Poison Mountain Range to collect a rare and magical herbal medicine— the Buddhist Vanilla… however, this Buddhist Vanilla was guarded by the Five Colored Bufanoid, which nearly killed them all.

Walking out of the Five Poison Mountain Range, they traveled Eastwards for over a hundred miles, after which, a city that was mainly built with black rock appeared in Ye Chen’s sight.

“It's about the same size as Windy City; this city probably doesn't have much of a tyrannical force.” Normally, powerful institutions each had their own territories and large influential families were all living in relatively bigger cities, such as Luo City, where the Ye Family lived in. This Black Rock City couldn’t even compare to big cities like that.

Walking into the city, Ye Chen found that the warriors who were guarding the city gate all had different expressions, but he didn’t pay too much attention to this.

The Lin Family was located in the southern area of the city. Judging from the size and layout of their family house, the Lin Family could barely count as a mid-size clan, and compared to the truly large clans, the disparity was truly huge.

“Young mistress, you’re back!”

“Our master said you should meet him immediately after you return. Hm? Is Elder Lu poisoned?”

The eyes of the butler and servants, who had been standing near the main gate, instantly shone when they saw Lin Qingmei and the others approach, but upon seeing Lu Zhengde’s appearance, they all cried out simultaneously.

Lin Qingmei gave a bitter smile and responded, “I’ll go see my father now.”

……

In the guest room located on one side of the main family house…

Ye Chen sat on the bed with his legs crossed, and a piece of low-ranked magic stone gripped within each hand; he was concentrated completely in cultivation.

The Great Mystery Art had eleven levels in total, and he had to try his best to improve until he reached the top level. Since he was now traveling all by himself, he had to improve his power as fast and as much as possible, and achieve the top level of the Great Mystery Art as soon as he could. Otherwise, if he encountered any advance Clasping Yuan Realm enemy, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee his own safety.

A while later…

Crack!

Both low-ranked stones in his hands shattered, and Ye Chen opened his eyes.

“I’m now at the peak of the sixth level, and I should be able to step into the seventh level in a couple of days.” Throwing the two used low-ranked magic stone pieces away, Ye Chen got off the bed.

Boom!

The entire Lin Family suddenly vibrated intensely, as if a small-scale earthquake just occurred in the area.

“A fight?”

Without much hesitation, Ye Chen pushed open the door and rushed towards the origin of the explosion.

Two groups of people were standing opposite each other in the Lin Family public square. In front of the Lin Family’s main hall stood the Lin Family’s martial artists, while on the other side stood several strangers in yellow led by a fat middle-aged man and an elderly man in black clothes.

On the Lin Family’s side, one man was struck down, and he lied on the ground vomiting blood. Quite obviously, he was severely injured and would not be getting back up for the time being.

“Hehe, Lin Tiemu, it seems that you still haven’t learnt your lesson. From today onwards, I will wound one of your martial artists every day until you hand over my Huang Family’s Frosty Iron Sword production method. Let’s see how long you’ll last,” said the fat middle-aged man maliciously, rubbing the emerald ring on his finger as he did.

The face of the Lin Family’s master seemed especially pale, as if he was wounded badly. He ordered a servant to hold the injured martial artist up, and said in a cold, harsh voice, “The production method of the Frosty Iron Sword is part of our Lin Family’s inherited property, and has nothing to do with your Huang Family. On what grounds can you say that it belongs to your Huang Family?”

The fat middle-aged man said, “Our Huang Family established itself in Black Rock City even earlier than your Lin Family, you were but a newcomer, how could you possibly possess the production method of the Frosty Iron Sword? Old Lu, please teach him a good lesson and let him remember for a long time, lest he tears off the scars and forgets the pains.”

The elderly man in black clothes gave a sinister grin, then said, “Master Lin, you were wounded by my Black Striking Palm half a month ago, everyday your meridians are still suffering tremendous pains, aren’t they?”

“Don’t you dare!” Lin Qingmei yelled as she rushed out of the crowd.

“Ah, I almost forgot, I would like to have your daughter too. What do you think about that, Master Lin?” A greedy beam of light flashed across the elderly man’s eyes when he said this. Raising his hands and crooking his fingers, a great stream of Zhen Qi was released and wrapped around Lin Qingmei, preparing to drag her over.

Puff!

A gust of fierce sword Qi slashed across the air, cutting the elderly man’s stream of Zhen Qi off.

“Who is it?!” growled the elderly man with a dark face.

Ye Chen walked into the square and said, “You guys are so noisy.”

The fat middle-aged man thought that someone powerful had been hiding in the Lin Family, but seeing Ye Chen, a young man of around sixteen years old walk out, he laughed out loud and said, “Lin Tiemu, don’t tell me that this is your newly hired powerful helper. You don’t truly believe that he is able to stop Old Lu, do you?”

“Kid, you’ll die right now if you dare to stop me.” said the elderly man in black with an awe-inspiring voice.

Lin Qingmei’s face instantly showed surprise when she saw Ye Chen, however, a worried look soon emerged on her face. She said lowly, “What are you doing here?”

“Who are they?” asked Ye Chen.

“That bloody fatso is the master of the Huang Family, a family also living in this Black Rock City. They’ve been coveting the production method for Frosty Iron Sword that is possessed by my family. Before, they didn't dare to do anything to us because we were no weaker than them, but recently, he hired this old man called Old Lu and attacked my father. My father was wounded seriously, and the reason I went to the Five Poison Mountain Range was to get the magical herb to treat my father’s injuries,” said Lin Qingmei.

Ye Chen nodded, and didn’t say anything.

“Qingmei,” said Lin Tiemu, the master of the Lin Family, “Is this the young man who escorted all of you out of the Five Poison Mountain Range?”

“He is, Father.”

“Since he is your benefactor, why haven't you brought him away to get some rest.” Lin Tiemu had already noticed that Ye Chen was an early Clasping Yuan Realm martial artist, and didn’t want to get Ye Chen involved in this conflict.

Lin Qingmei had a complicated look on her face. She had seen Ye Chen’s power with her own eyes, he was as powerful as medium Clasping Yuan Realm martial artists. However, that Old Lu was even more powerful and had already reached the peak-level of the medium Clasping Yuan Realm, and even her father was wounded by that him. Deep down, she wished that Ye Chen could help them out once more, but it was not likely to happen. After all, she had witnessed Old Lu wound her father, and she clearly knew that Ye Chen couldn’t possibly defeat Old Lu.

“It’s too late to leave, just die!”

Old Lu’s face became ferocious as he launched a palm attack at Ye Chen. Along with an ear-piercing sound, an enormous black palm silhouette split the air; many ordinary men even quivered in fear.

Clang!

Swiftly, the Dragon Spring Sword was pulled out, and Ye Chen carelessly swung the sword out.