Gongyi Tianheng watched as Gu Zuo was lost in thought. Tianheng patted his head: “Ah Zuo.”
Gu Zuo looked up: “Big brother?”
Tianheng smiled: “Make some early preparations. We’ll set off in two days.”
Gu Zuo nodded distractedly.
He felt that he’d been blinded by this smiling expression…
Two days later, in the early morning. Some of the Gongyi Clan’s children arrived outside of the courtyard and quietly waited.
Gu Zuo opened the gate and let the people inside. He discovered some familiar faces among these children. For example, the previously seen Gongyi Tianyin and Gongyi Tianhe were among them — He didn’t think it was strange. If they weren’t highly-valued children, then had they followed Tianyang and handled matters to build a reputation?
After seeing Gu Zuo, these children of the Gongyi Clan were very respectful. They now realized that Gu Zuo’s identity wasn’t just Tianheng’s adoptive younger brother, he’d also become a low-level pharmacist capable of refining many remarkable medicinal pills. In their view, being able to reach this stage at Gu Zuo’s age was possibly related to him following Tianheng to the Sect. However, his own aptitudes couldn’t be ignored, so it behooved them to maintain a good relationship.
That moment, Gongyi Tianheng walked out of his room wearing a long robe with blue brocade. His eyes were like a secluded spring, containing bright and brilliant lights.
Then, he said: “Let’s go.”
In response, the numerous Gongyi Clan children saluted one after another: “Yes, cousin!”
Gu Zuo followed closely behind, and once he walked out of the gate, he discovered that there were quite a few Armor-Plated Rhinos waiting outside. This slightly startled him.
At this time, he realized that, within these short couple of days, most of those Armor-Plated Rhinos already had their own masters. And each of those individuals who could accompany Tianheng were all children who were capable of subduing Armor-Plated Rhinos with external help!
— In all likelihood, this was equivalent to one of the tests.
The wild rhino king in the lead was precisely the one that had originally surrendered to Tianheng. At this moment, it was tossing its head and swinging its tail somewhat aggravatedly, quelling those misbehaving wild beasts — Up until the moment it sensed Tianheng’s qi energy. Then, the wild rhino king stopped its movements, and showed a deferential attitude.
Gongyi Tianheng wasn’t wordy. Tianheng embraced Gu Zuo, and jumped up with him to directly straddle that wild rhino king’s back. Immediately following which, he waved a hand and those Gongyi Clan children all uniformly jumped up!
Although Tianyang and Mingxia’s places were determined early on, they were also among these children. They didn’t go for the sake of the placement tests. Rather, it was to experience some of the calamities that might come to pass in the future.
All of the Armor-Plated Rhinos rushed straight out. The barbs and plating on their bodies’ exteriors sliced through the wind, producing a sharp, whistling sound. Their auras were majestic, and like a chain of tornados, they blew across the leveled road.
Gu Zuo held his breath as he tightly embraced Tianheng.
…Ah, he was out of luck. With too many people, he couldn’t use his psychic power to block the wind. His face was being blasted painfully!
Then he felt something tighten around the nape of his neck. Soon after, his body lightened and switched directions. His surroundings were bundled up in a familiar qi energy. He took another look around and on both sides were his big brother’s arms… This was, had he been carried to the front to sit down?
The wind billowed on either side, but it couldn’t blow into his face.
With a muffled voice, Gu Zuo said: “Thank you, big brother.”
Behind, the chest of the one he leaned on gently shook. A voice that carried a smile then echoed above his head: “…What did Ah Zuo say? There’s too much wind. I can’t hear you clearly.”
Gu Zuo had a helpless expression. In a loud voice, he bluntly spoke: “I said — Thank you, big brother!”
After that, his hair was rubbed by someone, and the laughter above his head was even more clear and bright.
Gu Zuo sighed and thought: Whatever. Big brother’s having a good time.
Hidden Dragon Mountain was within the borders of the Cangyun Empire, but it was still a considerable distance away from Cangyun City. Numerous Armor-Plated Rhinos galloped onwards, which was very eye-catching along the way. Only, their battle array was too large, so no one dared to obstruct them on the journey.
The Armor-Plated Rhinos’ speed was very fast as they hurried at full-strength. A handful of days passed and they smoothly reached Hezui City. That Hidden Dragon Mountain was a mountain just beyond the city. Because its fame had recently increased, Hezui City also benefited. Thus, it had expanded from a fairly remote and deserted small town to a medium-sized city.
In the city, people came and went, and there were numerous martial artists.
With a sweeping glance, the stores on either side had many new faces, and the people walking on the road were travel-worn.
What was worth mentioning was that there was an increase in the number of clinics. Medicinal pill shops were also very prosperous.
When close to twenty Armor-Plated Rhinos appeared outside the city, the armored martial artists guarding the city all thrusted out their spears and took defensive stances.
At nearly the same time, all the Armor-Plated Rhinos came to a halt, gradually revealing fierce profiles within the rising dust cloud.
The young master sitting upon the tallest wild rhino’s back then showed a smiling expression: “We’ve come to explore Hidden Dragon Mountain. I hope these sirs will permit our entry into the city.”
His politeness and the group’s elegant demeanor made the city guards let loose faint sighs &#k2014; With so many terrifying wild rhinos, it was clear that the identities of the arrivals weren’t low. If the other party still maintained that domineering attitude, their defensive actions of thrusting out their spears would’ve certainly offended the others greatly. Maybe they would’ve been made an example of!
The head officer walked over and cupped his fist: “Where has this young master come from?”
While speaking, he carefully sized up this person and only felt that his features were unprecedented and that his bearing was natural and enchanting. During the questioning, there was already a somewhat favorable impression in his mind.
The young master smiled and said: “Cangyun City, Gongyi Clan. I’ve led the clan’s young children here to get some experience. I hope this can be accommodated.”
The head officer was startled: “So it’s someone from the five great clans! Would this young master be—” In his mind, there was already a guess, “Could you be the eldest young master?”
The young master humbly nodded his head: “I am Gongyi Tianheng.”
At once, the head officer permitted the way forward: “So it really is Young Master Tianheng! Where are my manners? I hope you don’t take offense. Welcome, Young Master Tianheng!”
Gongyi Tianheng faintly smiled at him. Following which, he slapped his mount, which rushed straight into the city.
There was a rumbling sound behind him. Without the slightest bit of disorder, those Armor-Plated Rhinos closely followed one after another.
Once the silhouettes of the group vanished, an ordinary soldier said with confusion: “Didn’t Young Master Tianheng follow a great master to practice martial arts? Why did he return?”
The officer said with dignity: “There’s more than enough martial arts to go around. But after hearing the matter of our Hidden Dragon Mountain, it’s only reasonable to come back and explore it.”
Another soldier said proudly: “So it seems that the fame of our Hidden Dragon Mountain really has spread across the whole nation!”
Previously, this city was desolate and people rarely came. But now it was totally different, and the soldiers in the city naturally regarded it as an honor. Right now, they were burdened with the responsibility of guarding the city and didn’t have much time to chat. After speaking just a few sentences, they each returned to their original positions.
However, one individual couldn’t help saying: “Just now… Who was that person in Young Master Tianheng’s arms?”
The other soldiers: “…”
That Gongyi Clan’s eldest young master really seemed to have been holding someone. They reacted at this time and couldn’t help guessing. In the end, what was the identity of that person, and why was that person so close to the young master?
Naturally, no one over there paid any attention to the guesses over here.
The Armor-Plated Rhinos rumbled down a long street, traversing through the entire city, and then they went to the norther outskirts of the city. After an exchange of greetings with the officer over there, the group exited the city. However, they didn’t travel five kilometers before sensing a surge of blisteringly hot power from all directions.
It was like even the air was burning with flames.
Gu Zuo shrank into Gongyi Tianheng’s embrace and felt that it was a little hard to breathe.
As they looked at that distant, fiery region, because it was too hot, it felt like space had been distorted. It was to the extent that the mountain peak that had been split open by a thunder clap had also become twisted.
Among the original mountain peaks, the tallest one was thoroughly dashed apart. The shattered boulders rolled down, littering the surroundings in a haphazard display. Each block emitted intense steam and had a scarlet-red color. The other mountain peaks also had many falling rocks. The land had been roasted into an amalgam from the raging inferno, and it had become a type of dense, crystal-like liquid. The surface was glossy and presented a fire-like redness.
There was no longer any vibrant greenery between the mountains except for the fiery red. There was also no other colors on the connecting mountain peaks except for the boulders’ ashen-gray.
But the large and small peaks connected by that dense, crystalline liquid seemed like a single piece of gorgeous, fire jade. There was a type of avant-garde sense of beauty to it.
Gu Zuo swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
Wasn’t the entire bright-red, gurgling, and bubbling “ponds” the lava that flowed out from the erupting volcano? It looked quite strange. A red line would scuttle through it from time to time. What was that thing?
His entire body was producing sweat, and he couldn’t help taking out a gourd from his sleeve.
Fire Repelling Pills.
Because he knew that this place would be especially hot prior to coming, Gu Zuo made preparations during the past two days, and chose a medicinal pill within the Human-Level category that had a certain resistance to the Earth Fire’s temperature. In addition, through Tianheng’s highly efficient transfer of medicinal herbs, he refined as many as a hundred twenty-six pills.
Originally, Gu Zuo thought that there would be a total of eighteen people going together. As such, each person would have seven pills, and each pill would manage the assurance of about half a day’s worth of time. It should’ve been enough no matter what. But he didn’t expect that, before starting the exploration, the heat would already be this unbearable for a Xiantian Realm pharmacist… It left one feeling quite uneasy.
But it was too late to think about refining some more.
In response, Tianheng smiled and said: “No matter. We’ll each take a pill first and scout the situation before revisiting this topic again.”
Gu Zuo promptly nodded. He poured out two pills from inside, giving one to Tianheng and taking one himself. After that, he tossed the gourd to Gongyi Tianyang’s hand beside him and said: “Tianyang, one Fire Repelling Pill per person!”
Tianyang did as he was told at once.
Back home, he’d seen the pills that Gu Zuo had given him a few days ago, and quickly noticed its value. He had a rather considerable understanding of Gu Zuo’s capabilities in his mind. At the same time, he kept his mouth rigidly shut, and didn’t speak of this matter to anyone else. When he saw Gu Zuo give another pill now, he didn’t dare neglect anything and placed the pill into his mouth without delay.
In the blink of an eye, an ice-cold qi energy flowed down his throat and into his stomach. This qi energy immediately circulated throughout his whole body, until the qi energy encapsulated his body. The heat that he could sense prior, which was constantly trying to invade his body, was promptly excluded to the outside by this qi energy. This made him feel cool and refreshed, and he didn’t feel any more burning pain.
Gongyi Tianyang quickly realized that this was an excellent medicinal pill. Hence, he hurriedly poured out a pill to give to Gongyi Mingxia, who was persevering the whole time. After Mingxia took it, she also immediately felt cool and refreshed.
Following that, the gourd passed through the hands of many Gongyi Clan children. It didn’t take long for them all to take the pills, and their almost dehydrated and dried-up skin with rivulets of sweat all returned to normal.
Gu Zuo put away the gourd, and turned his head around to take a look.
Very good. Everyone’s mental states were recovering.
Tianheng didn’t hesitate, and said in a clear voice: “Onward!”
The numerous children answered one after another: “Yes!”
The reason why the Armor-Plated Rhino was so difficult to deal with was primarily due to that layer of plate armor. Not only could this plate armor defend against bladed weapons, it could also repel water and fire. Its adaptability was very strong.
While those martial artists were having a hard time persevering here, to the Armor-Plated Rhino, this was far from reaching its limits — In actuality, Gongyi Tianheng, who had achieved Xiantian, also didn’t feel that the heat here was formidable. On this point, Gu Zuo’s little body was inferior to his own.
Not long after, the Armor-Plated Rhinos reached a semi-circular lava pool.
If one wanted to pass this place, they needed to travel through a narrow road that could only accommodate a single Armor-Plated Rhino at a time. Lastly, they needed to jump over that pool whose surface was about three meters wide. If they didn’t go through here and detoured in another direction, they would encounter similar lava pools. It would be better to pass through here.
Gongyi Tianheng said: “There are Cliff-Fire Snakes in the lava pool. They’re as thin as a finger and about half a meter long. They can shoot flames, are very fast, have high temperatures, and have hard carapaces. They are grade two wild beasts.”
The numerous children of the Gongyi Clan listened attentively.
Tianheng continued to speak: “In one hour, the first three people to slay twenty Cliff-Fire Snakes will receive a jade talisman from me. For this occasion, those who can ultimately obtain twenty jade talismans can accompany me to the Sect.”
Originally, the many children didn’t care about it very much, but when they heard Tianheng’s words, they suddenly quivered and straightened their backs: “We understand!”
Yes, they needed to do their best to fight for those jade talismans and enter the Sect!
This was — The start of the tests!
Gongyi Tianyang dashed out almost immediately. As Tianheng’s younger brother, he needed to be the very first one to strive for it! At the same time, he pulled out a longsword and abruptly struck a Cliff-Fire Snake that had jumped out from the lava pool —
Clink!
The sounds of clashing metal instantly echoed.
Yet, that Cliff-Fire Snake promptly dropped back into the lava pool. Unexpectedly, that valiant attack didn’t chop through its body. On the contrary, it only gave the snake a light wound.
The rest of the Gongyi Clan children all had their thoughts turn cold.
Were the Cliff-Fire Snakes so hard to handle? They originally thought that they only needed to evade the danger of the flames it would spew. They never anticipated that its carapace would be hard to injure with a sword. How were they supposed to slay twenty of them?
Soon after, they immediately recalled that since their cousin had ordered them to slay the snakes, then they naturally were able to do so. Only, they feared that they needed to find the Cliff-Fire Snake’s weak point.
Hence, their gazes fell upon Gongyi Tianheng.
Yet, Tianheng didn’t say anything.
The numerous children suddenly understood. Their cousin didn’t want to tell them. Rather, he wanted them to find the Cliff-Fire Snake’s weak point by themselves, and to carry out the executions.
The next moment, these children began to act one by one. They rushed off their wild beasts and went to the left and right of that lava pool. They each took out their weapons and frantically attacked those Cliff-Fire Snakes!
The Cliff-Fire Snakes became a mass of fiery lines as they shuttled through the cold lights of countless weapons. However, although the flames criss-crossed with the biting cold, there still wasn’t a single Cliff-Fire Snake that perished.
Besides Gongyi Tianyang. His reactions were extremely fast. After an attack was ineffective, he was already staring fixedly upon that Cliff-Fire Snake. Each time a fiery line burst forth, he set out to attack again! At the same time, there was an unending series of clashing sounds, and because of Tianyang’s provocations, quite a few Cliff-Fire Snakes abruptly leaped up and threw themselves forward one after another! They opened their serpentine jaws and spewed a finger-thick gout of flame. However, these streams of fire extended very far. In a short period of time, the streams had already interwoven into a fiery net to enshroud Tianyang!
Only, Gongyi Tianyang wasn’t afraid.
He sought the place where the fire net wasn’t concentrated, stretched out his longsword, and aimed at one of the net’s eyes. While he was burned from that risky move, he stabbed into the eye of that rear Cliff-Fire Snake! Instantly, the entire head of the snake exploded! The Cliff-Fire Snake had died!
As it turned out, the weak point of the Cliff-Fire Snake was its two eyes!
After finding its weak point, the affair could be dealt with.
Immediately following this, Tianyang slew the Cliff-Fire Snakes again and again. Unwilling to let the others take over, he became the first person to slay twenty Cliff-Fire Snakes. But after he finished killing them, he didn’t give up. Instead, it was like he wanted to hone his own martial skills. He raised up his longsword, and continued killing the snakes.
After repeating his actions, quite a few Cliff-Fire Snakes died under his hands.
On the other side of things, one or two people among the remaining Gongyi Clan children had finally found the Cliff-Fire Snake’s weak point, and started to move agilely. They reacted like lightning, and while slaying the Cliff-Fire Snakes, they also discovered that the angle and speed of their attacks was much faster than before!
After that, Gongyi Tianhe was the first of the remaining children to slay twenty snakes, followed by Gongyi Tianyin and Gongyi Tianxiao.
These few people went to Tianheng and received a jade talisman. The first test was over. At this moment, Tianyang had killed forty to fifty Cliff-Fire Snakes. Because she had less strength, Mingxia didn’t do battle with the Cliff-Fire Snakes. Instead, she watched on the sidelines. Even when she occasionally confronted a snake, rather than attacking and defending, she kept dodging. After struggling like this, her martial skills and body techniques showed some improvement.
The Gongyi Clan children who failed to get a jade talisman had some unwilling looks.
Unfortunately, they were a step too late, allowing those three people to take the lead. However, there were still many opportunities. Later on, they certainly had to strive for first place. In no way could they let the others hog all the glory!
At this very moment, their faces turned grim, and their hearts didn’t hold the tiniest bit of presumption.
Gu Zuo watched these people’s expressions, and silently cheered them on.
To start slow was to remain slow. The teenagers should urgently step up to the plate! Otherwise, those three placements would already have a candidate determined…
Gongyi Tianheng then said: “Ah Zuo, how about you go and collect those Cliff-Fire Snake corpses?”
Gu Zuo stared: “But…”
Was it really okay to lay his claim upon the Cliff-Fire Snakes that the teenagers worked hard to behead?
Tianheng smiled and said: “They had taken the Fire Repelling Pills that Ah Zuo refined, so it’s right for them to give these as repayment.”
Gu Zuo gave an exasperated look.
He truly didn’t think about the matter of repayment.
On the contrary, the other Gongyi Clan children reacted and said one by one: “Yes! Yes! All of the Cliff-Fire Snakes we killed should belong to Pharmacist Gu!”
Gu Zuo thought about his dear big brother’s normal style and the relatively “upright” common practices of the Gongyi Clan, and he felt relieved. Since they felt that he should be the one, then he would take it!
Thus, the numerous children watched as that petite body of his shuttled back and forth amid that pile of Cliff-Fire Snake corpses on the ground. In a short period of time, he gathered a big bag of material. After that, he flung out his arm and those materials entered his storage space.
The numerous children only thought that he had an inter-spatial tool. Their eyes faintly shined, and the reverence in their hearts towards those two people increased.
After collecting these materials, Gu Zuo straightened up and went back.
Who would have thought that, at this very moment, a vortex as large as a human head would suddenly appear in that lava pool? A blazing serpent as thick as an arm shot out like an arrow, flying out to kill Gu Zuo!
Gu Zuo had his back facing the lava pool. This moment seemed to have already become a crisis of life and death! To the others, even if he, a pharmacist, detected this, he absolutely wouldn’t have ben able to dodge it!
This was the snake king of the Cliff-Fire Snakes! It had been enraged!
During this moment of imminent peril, a burst of qi energy rushed over.
The fiery serpent that was leaping from behind was fast, but this qi energy was faster. The qi energy instantly bore into the fiery serpent’s left eye, and it immediately exploded. The snake’s head was blown to smithereens!
The Cliff-Fire Snake King’s corpse fell to the ground behind Gu Zuo.
Gu Zuo halted his steps, turned around, and flew over to handle things once more.
Just then, Gongyi Tianheng, who was on the wild rhino king’s back, withdrew his palm.
Upon seeing this, the numerous children couldn’t help gasping in shock.
V-very valiant!
After Gu Zuo packed away the Cliff-Fire Snake King’s corpse, he lifted his feet to walk before the wild rhino king. Tianheng reached out a hand and pulled, fishing Gu Zuo up so he could sit in front.
Soon after, Gongyi Tianheng said: “Continue onwards.”
The hearts of the remaining children tensed, and they all did as they were told.
The current Hidden Dragon Mountain wasn’t like how it was formerly. Lava pools of all sizes were scattered throughout the surroundings. The ones at the outermost rim were comparatively shallow and small. Usually, there were only grade two Cliff-Fire Snakes, and they were only somewhat obstructive. In addition, unless it was during a breeding cycle, wild beasts such as the Cliff-Fire Snake were normally always peaceful. They didn’t take the initiative to attack humans. However, as one travelled deeper, the lava pools started to contain more creatures than just the Cliff-Fire Snake.
T/N: Thanks for the corrections, Charysa.
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