Chapter 44: Demonic Beast Forest
When Xiao Qiang noticed that something was not right with the mood between the two, he hurriedly said: “Xiao Chen, watch your attitude. Since you have already obtained the infant Spirit Fox, why are you still not apologizing to Elder Liu.”
On the surface, he seemed to be reprimanding Xiao Chen. However, what he really meant was that he acknowledged that Xiao Chen had obtained the Spirit Blood Jade and was providing a way out of this embarrassing situation for Liu Fenglin.
With Xiao Chen’s intelligence, how could he not understand what the First Elder meant? He placed the Spirit Fox in his embrace down on the table, cupped his hands and smiled, “Elder Liu, I was rude and did not know what was good for me earlier. I have offended you, I apologize for that.”
Liu Fenglin snorted coldly. He withdrew his aura and did not say anything else. There was no change in his expression, but it was obvious that he was still extremely displeased.
“Elder Liu, this is a Medial Grade Profound Ranked Spirit Weapon. I noticed that you weren’t using a weapon that seemed suitable for you. Please bear with this.” Xiao Qing took out that huge sword that he had obtained from the Tang Clan members from his Spatial Ring.
Liu Fenglin looked coldly at the Medial Grade Profound Ranked Spirit Weapon but did not accept it. After losing the Six-Tailed Spirit Fox, he could not accept this reward that differed so much from his initial expectation.
“Uncle, this Profound Grade Spirit Weapon did not seem to catch Senior Liu’s eyes. Coincidentally, this nephew’s Spirit Weapon was destroyed earlier. If Senior Liu does not want it, can I have it?” Xiao Chen saw that Liu Fenglin was unwilling to accept it, so he said some half-truths.
Although Liu Fenglin was furious, he did not act on his anger this time. He got up and left. Without doing anything, the huge sword in Xiao Qiang’s hand flew towards him automatically.
Xiao Chen felt that it was a pity in his heart. It was, after all, a Medial Grade Profound Ranked Spirit Weapon. It could be said to be the peak Spirit Weapon within Mohe City already.
When Xiao Qiang finally saw that Liu Fenglin accepted the huge sword, he heaved a sigh of relief. He then turned around to lecture Xiao Chen: “Xiao Chen, do not be this rude to Elder Liu again in the future. He is of the same generation as your grandfather. You have to maintain basic etiquette.”
Xiao Chen quietly disapproved of this. This Liu Fenglin used his superior strength to try to snatch away something of the younger generation. He did not have any good impressions of him.
Seeing Xiao Chen remain silent, Xiao Qiang understood what he was thinking in his heart. He explained: “Although Elder Liu had gone overboard in some areas, I can guarantee that he would not do anything that would go against the Xiao Clan’s interest.”
Xiao Chen did not wish to linger any further on this issue and just simply said a few half-hearted words to please the First Elder. He then turned his head around to find that Xiao Yulan was carrying the infant Spirit Fox and playing with it.
This had amused him. It seemed that regardless of whichever world he was in, his original world or here, it appeared that girls were still weak to cute things.
The First Elder was also quite interested in the infant Spirit Fox. After all, it was a Rank 6 Spirit Beast. When it grew up, it would be a huge support to the Xiao Clan.
The topic of discussion started to turn towards the infant Six-Tailed Spirit Fox and how he had managed to obtain it. Xiao Chen did not hide it from them and told the two of them about the matter of him killing Tang Yuan.
When Xiao Yulan heard this, her expressions did not change. In her eyes, it was not a pity that such a person was dead. If he had to be dead, then so be it. However, when Xiao Qiang heard about Tang Yuan, there were some changes in his expressions, as though he was thinking.
When Xiao Chen saw Xiao Qiang’s expression change, he felt slightly puzzled and was about to ask something when a Xiao Clan disciple rushed into the great hall. In his hands was a letter, which he passed to Xiao Qiang anxiously.
“First Elder, this is an urgent letter sent by the Second Elder.”
A letter from the Second Elder?
A look of confusion flashed in Xiao Qiang’s eyes. Why did the Second Elder send a letter at this moment? The Second Elder frequently resided at the Qizi County Lord’s residence working for the County lord. He was one of the County Lord’s favorites.
Speaking of his prestige in the Xiao Clan, the Second Elder held even more prestige than the First Elder, Xiao Qiang, did. This was because the biggest backer of the Xiao Clan was the Qizi County Lord, and the only person that was able to influence him was the Second Elder.
Xiao Qiang quickly opened the letter and read it. After seeing the contents on it, his expression turned grave, then evolved into one that contained a mingled hope and fear.
“What’s wrong? What is written in the letter?” Xiao Yulan asked out of worry when she saw Xiao Qiang frown, placing down the Spirit Fox.
Xiao Chen also looked at Xiao Qiang bewilderedly. He did not know what was written on the letter to cause the First Elder’s expression to turn so grave. Even when they sealed the mountain, he did not have such an expression.
Xiao Qiang put away the letter properly as he said in a sullen voice: “The Trial of Gloomy Forest will be brought forward to a closer date. This is news that was obtained directly from the County Lord. It will be spread to Mohe City in a few days.”
When Xiao Chen heard this, his heart thumped loudly. The Trial of Gloomy Forest. Based on the memories of the original inhabitant of this body, he roughly knew what it was.
Gloomy Forest was a forest of Demonic Beasts in Qizi County. There was a spatial tear linking the Demonic World to the Tianwu Continent. The Demonic Qi that came from the tear had corrupted the Spirit Beasts and trees in the forest.
Under the corruption of the Demonic Qi, those Spirit Beasts then turned into terrifying Demonic Beasts. After turning into Demonic Beasts, the spirituality they had vanished, leaving behind a desire for slaughter and a tyrannical personality.
Their strength had also become more formidable. A Rank 2 Demonic Beast was equivalent to a Rank 3 Spirit Beast. Furthermore, it would be in a berserk state, behaving in an extremely violent manner.
There were also some trees in the forest that had mutated after being corrupted. They turned into terrifying tree spirits, man-eating flowers, etc...
After the Demonic Calamity, many spatial tears appeared on Tianwu Continent. The larger spatial tears were sealed by seniors from Tri-Holy Grounds, preventing anything from entering or exiting.
However, there were too many spatial tears like this in the Tianwu Continent. It was not possible for the people from Tri-Holy Grounds to seal them all. Thus, the smaller spatial tears remained.
As long as nothing major happened as a result of those small spatial tears, Tri-Holy Grounds would not send anyone to seal them.
The spatial tear in Gloomy Forest was one of those small spatial tears. The Demonic Qi would only be diffused in the forest and not leave it.
As long as regular people do not go into the forest, there would be no danger. However, if they just left it alone, once the Demonic Beasts increased to a certain amount, they would start to wander out to the forest.
Thus, every nation in the Tianwu Continent would send people to monitor the demonic forests. Once they discovered any abnormalities, they would send strong cultivators to clean up the Demonic Beast.
Based on past experience, when cleaning up Demonic Beasts, the powers in the surrounding cities would send the younger disciples of their clan to train in the outskirts of the demonic forests.
The environment of those demonic forests were very vile and the Demonic Beasts, incredibly fierce. However, there usually would not be any strong Demonic Beasts appearing in the outskirts, so for those young cultivators, it was a good chance to gain experience.
During the events, every clan would compete against each other. It could be said to be a test of the big clans. If the results of the Xiao Clan were poor, then news of that would travel quickly to the whole of Mohe City.
This would deal a great blow to the Xiao Clan’s reputation. The most serious thing was that the Qizi County Lord and the surrounding City Lords would also show up there.
Being the strongest power in Mohe City, they could not afford to have a bad result. If they could not obtain first place, it would only give those people a bad impression.
This was the reason for Xiao Qiang’s expression of mingled hope and fear. If they did well this time, it will bolster the morale of the Xiao Clan before the Promise of Ten Years. However, if they failed, it would cast a shadow in their hearts.
Xiao Chen stopped this train of thought. He did not feel afraid at all, as he asked with some anticipation: “When will the trial start?”
“The news we got from the County Lord said seven days later. This news will probably arrive in Mohe City two days later. You two, pack your things, let’s leave the mountain quickly.”
“The two of you will participate in this trial. The environment of the demonic forest is very vile. I have to hurry back to make some preparations,” Xiao Qiang said, looking at the two of them.
Although Xiao Chen was just a Medial Grade Martial Disciple, when he was an Inferior Grade Martial Disciple, he could defeat the Superior Grade Martial Disciple Xiao Jian. Now that he advanced to Medial Grade Martial Disciple, his strength naturally would have risen.
Due to the fact that Xiao Yulan condensed her Martial Spirit at the age of five, she had already become a Medial Grade Martial Disciple long ago. Within the younger generation of Mohe City, she could be considered a peak existence.
Whether the Xiao Clan could obtain a good result this time would strongly depend on the performance of these two. Xiao Qiang saw that their eyes were full of anticipation.
“What about the matter of the Tang Clan coming to Seven Horn Mountain to cause trouble? How are we going to settle this debt?” Xiao Yulan bore a grudge against them for injuring Xiao Chen and destroying her wooden hut.
From the sound of Xiao Qiang’s words, it was obvious that he intended to forget about this matter, focusing on the Trial of Gloomy Forest. Xiao Yulan felt some dissatisfaction.
Xiao Qiang said: “The Third Elder already sent people to the Tang Clan. Now that there are more urgent matters, it is best we don’t break out into open hostility with the Tang Clan. Yulan, don't mention this matter anymore.”
Xiao yulan pouted her mouth and did not say anything more. However, she was still upset with Xiao Qiang’s words.
Xiao Chen approved of the First Elder’s words in his heart. From the time the blue-clothed person appeared in Seven Horn Mountain and worked with the Zhang Clan to this matter of the Tang Clan going back on the agreement, trying to capture the Six-Tailed Spirit Fox, the current situation did not look good for the Xiao Clan.
Furthermore, there was that mysterious girl Feng Feixue. Linking everything together, the small Mohe City did not seem to be as peaceful as it looked on the surface.
Thus, he had never thought of immediately going to the Tang Clan to seek revenge. Firstly, his strength was insufficient. Without the assistance of the Xiao Clan, it would just be a wishful hope if he wanted to even shake the Zhang Clan.
Secondly, the situation with the Tang Clan was that although he had been forced into a corner a few times, in the end, he did not lose anything. Furthermore, he even caused their operation to fail.
However, the losses of the Tang Clan this time were great. Two of their elders and the First Young Master of the Tang Clan died. The precious Spirit Blood Jade also ended up on Xiao Chen’s hands. Their meticulously planned operation was a thorough failure.
In the past, these two clans had just minded their own business. Now, they were breaking into open hostility. However, as the situation now was not good, the two clans would probably control themselves and not take any rash actions.