Chapter 66: Bonfire
“Martial Technique, Moon Breaker!”
The Fire Lizard’s tail swept towards Ye Lan once again but he leaped into the air and used the Yellow Ranked Martial Technique, Moon Breaker. With a ‘shua’ sound, the lizard’s tail was immediately chopped in half.
“Pu Ci!”
The Fire Lizard roared painfully and its long red tongue moved like a phantom, heading towards Ye Lan. Ye Lan was unable to evade in time and was captured by the red tongue once again. However, this time, he did not panic.
Just as he was about to be pulled into the mouth of the Fire Lizard, a sword sliced apart the Fire Lizard’s tongue. After Ye Lan landed on the ground, he quickly retreated to a distant area.
Purple Thunder True Fire! Shoot!
Xiao Chen made his move at this moment, purple flames revolving on the tip of his finger. There was the sound of wind being broken, then the flames were shot into the Fire Lizard’s mouth.
“Boom!”
A huge explosive sound rang from within its mouth and it was badly mangled, but the Fire Lizard was not dead. The black Qi around its body wiggled around as the injury on its head rapidly healed.
However, the purple fire Xiao Chen left in its body did not give it a chance to heal completely. With just a thought, the Essence in his body was consumed greatly.
A huge purple flame flared up from the body of the Fire Lizard. The flame and the black Qi fought against each other as the Fire Lizard writhed painfully on the ground.
Suddenly, the black Qi surged up, causing Xiao Chen’s purple flames to be forced out of its body. The wounds on its body started to heal once again.
However, Xiao Chen was not surprised. He had killed a Fire Lizard earlier, and already had a certain understanding of it. That black Qi was the Demonic Qi that came from the Demonic World; it was incredibly strange and absolutely sinister.
Currently, although the Fire Lizard had already forced out all the purple flames, the muscles and skin that regrew were no longer as resilient as they were before; it could easily be pierced.
“Flight On Wings, One Line Chop.”
An incomparably ordinary saber ruthlessly hacked at the back of the Fire Lizard. Under tremendous force, the the Fire Lizard was chopped in half down the middle. A large amount of black Qi and purple blood leaked out.
However, despite being chopped in half, the body began to knit itself back together while making a ‘zi zi’ sound; the lifeforce of this Demonic Beast was too strong.
Neither man hesitated as they continued to attack it relentlessly. This Demonic Beast’s internal organs had been injured by Xiao Chen’s electricity at the start, then, its tail and tongue were chopped off by Ye Lan. Furthermore, it had been burned repeatedly by Xiao Chen’s Purple Thunder True Fire.
At this moment, it was only a spent force. Under the relentless attacks of the two of them, this Demonic Beast was finally dead after ten minutes. It was as dead as a door nail.
[TL note: The idiom used for spent force is 强弩之末 an arrow at the end of its flight, thought that some of the readers would be interested]
The ground was covered in Fire Lizard flesh. Each piece of meat released a black Demonic Qi, and it looked incredibly strange. Xiao Chen could not be bothered with all this. After he dug out the Demonic Core from this Demonic Beast’s brain, he used some fire to burn away the rest, leaving nothing, not even dregs.
“Xiao Chen, thank you,” Ye Lan looked at Xiao Chen and said sincerely. He was not stupid; he had finally guessed the purpose of Xiao Chen bringing him out.
Xiao Chen smiled indifferently, “That’s nothing. Since we are together, then we are partners. Furthermore, I had promised the First Elder that I would bring everyone back alive.”
“I shall credit acquiring this Demonic Core to you. Let’s go. We need to continue checking in this direction for another 500 meters.”
Ye Lan was joyful in his heart; for disciples like him who had a different family name, if he could achieve a certain level of accomplishments for the Xiao Clan, then he would be bestowed the Xiao surname. When that happened, he would truly be amongst the core disciples of the Xiao Clan.
Without a doubt, this trial was an important opportunity for him. Xiao Chen was like a proctor for them, grading their performance in this Trial
The two of them continued walking for another 500 meters and discovered that, aside from the Fire Lizard, there was a leopard type Demonic Beast and a Scarlet-Tailed Snake that had been demonized in the direction in front of them. Of the two Demonic Beast, they each killed one. Then they took note of their weak points, as well as some other important information.
The two of them continued to check out the other three directions. They would either investigate the different types of Demonic Beasts, or kill them. They found that the north and east sides of the campsite were dangerous, and had designated them as danger zones, which they would not enter.
This was because, aside from hidden Rank 3 Demonic Beasts, there were even some Rank 4 Demonic Beasts. These were not something that they had the abilities to deal with currently. If they went, they would be throwing their lives away.
It was already approaching evening when they finished doing all this and returned to camp. At this moment, the temperature of Gloomy Forest turned even more chilly.
“You guys have returned!” a Xiao Clan cultivator standing guard said excitedly when he saw that the two of them returned safely.
A bonfire was lit in the middle of the campsite, and the remaining people were all gathered there warming themselves. Although as cultivators they could use their Essence to resist the cold, the long term usage of their Essence would make them feel incredibly regretful.
Xiao Chen heard some sounds of argument coming from beside the bonfire before he managed to get near. He could not help but increase the pace of his footsteps.
“Cousin Xiao Chen, you finally came back! Are you alright?” Xiao Yulan got up and asked out of concern.
“What is the situation outside the camp? Do tell us about it.”
“That’s right! Are there a lot of Demonic Beasts?” There was a lively discussion with everybody talking at once.
Xiao Chen smiled indifferently, “Don’t be in such a rush. Later, Ye Lan will explain it all to you all in detail. I heard you guys arguing; what was that about?”
A female cultivator said, “They said that everyone should stay in the same wooden hut tonight. We do not agree to that.”
Xiao Chen looked in the direction her finger pointed at and clearly understood which group she was talking about. In this Trial, there were a total of ten people. Including him, there were six males and four females. The ones who agreed are naturally the males. The ones who objected were the females.
Xiao Yulan explained, “Of the three wooden huts, one of them is a storehouse. Of the remaining two, one is used as a bedroom and the other is a place for cooking.”
“Second Young Master, as you can see, there is only one wooden hut. If we do not sleep together, how are we going to sleep? Furthermore, the beds are separate, what is there to be afraid of? The most important thing is that we are all pure,” a male cultivator smiled as he said.
“Indeed, we are all very pure. The minds of this group of girls are too filthy. Who do they think we are?”
“I am already 18 years old, but I’m still a virgin. I have not even masturbated.”
“That’s right, you are all virgins. That’s why it is even more dangerous. You have been craving it for many years. Who knows if you would be able to hold yourself back,” one of the more fearless women said.
Xiao Chen recognized her; she was called Xiao Ling`er, the treasured daughter of the Second Elder. She was one of the top beauties in the Xiao Clan, but she was normally very bizarre and caused all sorts of trouble.
“I have already resisted it for 18 years, what is a few more days? Xiao Ling`er, you look down on us too much. You are tarnishing our purity.”
“Stop!” Xiao Chen saw that the conversation was starting to get out of hand and quickly shouted out for it to stop. Turning to face Xiao Jian, he asked, “Xiao Jian, what do you think?”
Ever since Xiao Jian had been defeated by Zhang He, he seemed to have become another person. He was not as high-profiled as he was before, and said very little now.
Seeing Xiao Chen ask him, Xiao Jian was stunned for awhile before he answered, “I think it is best that we stay together.”
“First Young Master is indeed wise,” someone immediately followed up.
Xiao Jian smiled indifferently, “There is only one wooden hut that has beds and space. If we want to sleep separately, then we will have to clear out the storehouse. If we did it that way, then when we find some Demonic Cores and Demonic Beast corpses, there would be no place to store them.”
“You all seemed to have also forgotten the most important thing. Remember we found the corpses of two Martial Grand Masters when we got here? This place is dangerous... extremely dangerous. It is best that we stay together to take care of each other,” Xiao Jian had a stern expression as he said this.
Xiao Jian’s words seemed to make plenty of sense; this place was indeed strange. Xiao Chen turned his gaze to face Xiao Yulan and said, “Cousin Yulan, what do you think?
The fiery red bonfire shined on Xiao Yulan’s fair face, making it looks incredibly sexy. After Xiao Chen took a look, he felt as though his eyes were about to sink in and quickly collected himself.
Feeling Xiao Chen’s gaze, Xiao Yulan smiled tactfully making her look even more beautiful. The few Xiao Clan disciples who saw it were all stunned.
“I agree to Xiao Jian’s view as well, but there needs to be a curtain separating the room in the middle. After all, it is not convenient for females to share a room with males.”
After they arrived at this compromise, Xiao Chen called Ye Lan to explain the situation of the surroundings, as well as to thoroughly explain the distribution of Demonic Beasts and their weaknesses.
When Ye Lan finished, Xiao Chen said, “I decided that we will split into two groups tomorrow. One group will head south and one group will head west. I will take charge of the group heading south; Xiao Jian will be responsible for the group heading west, and Ye Lan will be going with that group.
No one had any objections with such an arrangement. After discussing further, Xiao Chen made arrangements for the night watch, and everyone dispersed.
After everyone left, only Xiao Chen and Xiao Yulan remained by the bonfire. At this moment, Gloomy Forest was incredibly chilly, and occasionally there were strange roars coming from the distance.
After the crowd had scattered, the lively scene disappeared. The cold wind blew gently as the terrifying Demonic Beast roars sounded one after another. All of these would cause a regular person to be afraid.
Xiao Chen looked at the sky with the lush tree leaves completely covering the it; only by looking through some small cracks could one see the faint starlight in the sky.
Such a scene caused Xiao Chen to recall his university camping activities in his past life. It seemed very similar. There were both male and female energetic youths.
However, the existence of Demonic Beasts was impossible there, and it was not a situation where their lives would be in danger if they did not pay attention... One where they might get eaten by Demonic Beasts.
Everyone knew that this trial was dangerous. However, since the ancient times, cultivators rushed in without hesitation to pursue the end of this road.
However, were there truly Martial Gods in this world? Xiao Chen’s gaze pierced through the endless night, and he looked at the sky with vacant thoughts.
“Cousin Xiao Chen, what are you thinking about?” Xiao Yulan asked softly at his side. The flashing light of the fire made Xiao Yulan’s face look extremely sexy.
Xiao Chen smiled indifferently, “Everyone is diligent and never slacking. Taking part in this trial of life and death, and seeking the martial way. However, the end of this path, is becoming a Martial God? Do Martial Gods truly exist?”
Xiao Yulan heard this, shook her head and sighed, “Indeed. Everyone knows that the end of the martial way is Martial God. However, in the hundreds of thousands of kilometers of territory in our Great Qin Nation, with tens of millions of capable warriors, there are only ten known Martial Monarchs. Even the most recent Martial Sage only existed 500 hundred years ago.”
“In my opinion, aside from the three orthodox Holy Lands, the one with the most possible chance of having a Martial God would be the Great Jin Nation,” after her previous statement, she added this sentence.
In the Tianwu Continent, aside from countless small nations and chaotic lands, the Qin Nation, Chu Nation, Tang Nation, Xia Nation, and Jin Nation were the strongest five nations. Of those, the Great Jin Nation has the largest Spirit Vein under the heavens. In fact, its strength was not inferior even when two of the other great nations combined their forces together.
Xiao Yulan was not wrong when she said this; that place is a land filled with Spiritual Energy. They also have the most experts in the Continent.
At this moment, a mournful and miserable shriek came from the east side of the camp. The sound was extremely agonized, as though it was suffering the most terrifying punishment.
Xiao Chen got up and stopped Xiao Yulan from getting up, “Don’t go. I’ll go that a look first to see what danger is there. You immediately send out the signal the First Elder left behind.”
Xiao Yulan seemed to want to say something, but Xiao Chen said with a stern expression, “You know about the matter in the Seven Horn Mountain. Regardless of the danger or the situation, I guarantee that there will not be any problems.”