Chapter 198 – Thunder Lizard
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The young man at the side of the black-clothed martial artist curled his lips as he heard Lin Ming’s refusal, and whispered, “He doesn’t know what’s good for him. If Elder Senior Apprentice Brother was willing to take him along, then he was already thinking highly of him. Since he rejected him, he’ll just die sooner or later.”
Lin Ming had very keen perception. Even though the youth wasn’t speaking very loudly, he was still able to hear him. Of course, he had suppressed his cultivation to the early Viscera Training stage. The first reason was because he was taking precautions, and second was because he didn’t want to stand out too much. With his age, it was simply too shocking to being able to reach the peak of Bone Forging.
In the end, these five martial artists came from a small place. They were only little fish in a little pond. They hadn’t seen the world and didn’t know how much talent was out in the wide world.
The twin girls didn’t seem as if they could bear Lin Ming delivering himself into the jaws of death. They said, “Little Brother, if this your first time coming to Thundercrash Mountain, you need to know that this isn’t a place you can casually play around in. After crossing the forest, there are many dangers; even a Viscera Training martial artist won’t be able to live through it. We have Elder Senior Apprentice Brother to accompany us, so we’re alright, otherwise we wouldn’t dare. We won’t charge you much money. Since you’re away from home, it’s always best to make friends.
Lin Ming was utterly speechless as he listened to the twin sisters speak. They actually thought that he came here for fun and games. Was there anyone that actually came to Thundercrash Mountain just for sightseeing?
The black-clothed martial artist saw that Lin Ming didn’t seem as if he was going to change his mind. He said, “Leave him alone. Let’s go.”
He had wanted to earn some extra money, but it seemed the young boy just didn’t know what was good for him. He was about to go when Lin Ming suddenly asked, “Do you have any Thundergrass I can buy? I will pay the market price.”
The reason he had been patiently waiting for these fellows to finish off the vicious beast was to ask this. If he had some older Thundergrass, then he could give it a try and see if it was worth picking or not.
The black-clothed martial artist thought it was strange that Lin Ming would ask this. Was it possible that he cultivated thunder-attribute true essence? Why would he want to purchase Thundergrass?
Or was he buying it for his tribe? Even if he wanted to buy Thundergrass for his tribe, they wouldn’t let a child come for it alone.
The black-clothed martial artist hesitated, and then asked, “How old do you want?”
Lin Ming said, “The older the better, I will let you decide the price.”
As Lin Ming said this, the early Altering Muscle youth that was standing near the black-clothed martial artist brightened up. He sent a sent a true essence sound transmission and said, “Elder Senior Apprentice Brother, with what this kid says, he must be really rich.”
The black-clothed martial artist ignored the youth and said to Lin Ming, “I have two stalks of 90 year Thundergrass. 300 gold taels. Do you want them?”
300 gold taels was slightly higher than market price, but Lin Ming didn’t care. He waved his hand and three golden banknotes flew towards the black-clothed martial artist.
“These are the Allied Trade Association’s currency gold banknotes. You can trade them in at a large tribe or the Sky Fortune Kingdom.”
The black-clothed martial artist received the banknotes and confirmed that they really were from the Allied Trade Association. He took out a stalk of Thundergrass from his backpack and threw it towards Lin Ming.
After Lin Ming accept it, he glanced at it to confirm it was the correct age, and then walked away without looking back.
As the black-clothed martial artist saw Lin Ming gently trace the ring on his finger and the Thundergrass immediately disappear, a light flashed in his eyes. He hesitated for a moment, and then let Lin Ming leave.
Once Lin Ming had disappeared, the early Altering Muscle youth muttered, “Elder Senior Apprentice Brother, that fellow just now was such a juicy and fat sheep. I bet he has no less than 1800 gold on his body and you just let him go like that. In my opinion, we could have just grabbed him. If he doesn’t know what is good for him, then we…”
The youth made a motion of slicing his neck. The black-clothed martial artist blankly looked at him and said, “1800 gold? You think that boy is so simple? That boy has a spatial ring! That’s something that even our master can’t afford! 1800 gold taels is probably nothing in his eyes!”
“Spa… spatial ring?” The youth was dumbfounded. “The hell, why would he bring such a thing over to Thundercrash Mountain? I’d probably never make that much money in my life. Why would such a rich junior come here?”
“He came for Thundergrass, but I’m not sure why he needs it.”
The youth seemed as if he suddenly realized something. He quickly said, “Elder Senior Apprentice Brother, since he has a spatial ring, then he probably has several tens of thousands of gold. If we rob him, then we’ll never have to worry again in our life!”
“Rob your mom!” The black-clothed martial artist suddenly exploded as he heard the youth say this. “The boy definitely comes from some large sect or aristocratic family. That type of person always has many treasures on their body and is very difficult to deal with. If we can’t stop him, then all we can do afterwards is wait to die. He doesn’t look like a fool. If he came to Thundercrash Mountain at only the Viscera Training stage, then even I can’t guess what sort of trump cards he has to save his life.”
“Besides, we are not robbers. We will rely on our own ability to find food to feed ourselves. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Stealing and robbing is too dangerous. Sooner or later, we’ll fail and end up dead in the ground.”
The youth curled his lip. He was a bit disapproving of this decision. Obviously, he kept thinking of the several tens of thousands of gold that Lin Ming had. In his opinion, no matter how fierce a little 16 year old boy was, how fierce could he possibly me?
The twin girls were puzzled. They asked, “Elder Senior Apprentice Brother, what is a spatial ring?”
“Haha, a spatial ring is a kind of storage treasure. It’s only the size of a ring, but it can store several dozens of square feet worth of things. Just wait for me to reach the Pulse Condensation Period and I’ll get one to play with. At that time, I’ll show it to you.”
“Really? Great! If we have something like that, then we won’t need our backpacks anymore when we go out adventuring.” The twin girls were incredibly excited hearing about this wonderful treasure.
‘Cultivate to the Pulse Condensation Period and buy one to play with? This is just bragging with no ability…’ The early Altering Muscle youth criticized in his heart as he looked at the black-clothed martial artist showing off in front of the two beautiful twins. Of course, this was something that he wouldn’t dare to speak out loud.
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Ten miles away, Lin Ming was sitting cross-legged on a rock. He grasped the two Thundergrass fruits in his hand. The fruits sparkled with the faint light of thunder. A moment later, the thunder light dissipated and the fruits withered along with it.
Lin Ming opened his eyes. Helplessly, he threw away the withered fruits.
The 90 year old Thundergrass was also mediocre. It did have a tiny effect, but it was just too small. Even if he absorbed several thousands of these fruits, the Thunder Soul would not grow more than 10%.
Not to mention how time consuming it would be to gather thousands of Thundergrass; the key problem was that Thundergrass by itself could not maintain growth of the Thunder Soul.
According to his past experiences, the Thunder Soul would quickly achieve a saturation point when absorbing low-grade thunders and lightning. Afterwards, it wouldn’t grow any further.
However, Lin Ming wasn’t discouraged. Before coming to Thundercrash Mountain, he had already mentally prepared himself for these types of setbacks. Since he came to Thundercrash Mountain, he would definitely find a fortuitous encounter here. However, a true fortuitous encounter couldn’t be found by just anyone, otherwise they would all be gone by now. If that happened, how could he ever find one for himself?
“According to the Thundercrash Mountain pamphlet, the oldest Thundergrass can be thousands of years old, and the fruit it bears is purple in color. This kind of 1000 year old Thundergrass holds an incomparably potent power of thunder. If I can find a few of them, then my Thunder Soul should be able to grow a little. Unfortunately, it’s simply to difficult to find Thundergrass like this.”
As long as Thundergrass was given enough time it could grow to any age. It could grow to 1000 or even 2000 years. However, in these years, countless martial artists had come to Thundercrash Mountain. Most of the 50 year old Thundergrass was already plucked; how could there be anything older?
If he wanted to find 1000 year old Thundergrass, then the only places it would possibly be were the areas near the summit where no one dared to venture.
However, once past the mountainside; he could be in an area where even Houtian realm martial artists had to tread cautiously. Although Lin Ming had a Thunder Soul in his body and was very resistant to thunder and lightning, he still couldn’t go too deep.
As Lin Ming was thinking through the possible actions he could take, he suddenly heard a deafening beast roar sounding out from behind him. It was just like a thunderclap that reached the sky.
Screams soon followed. Hearing these pitiful cries, Lin Ming was able to recognize them as the people he had just passed a moment ago.
His heart stirred, and he instantly sped backwards. According to the Thundercrash Mountain pamphlet, this roar that was like a thunderclap was most likely from a Thunder Lizard.
Lin Ming wanted to see just what a Thunder Lizard was like. He had already been on Thundercrash Mountain for so long, yet this was the first time that he had heard one.
He wanted to see just how much he needed to fear the lightning that the Thunder Lizard could spit out, and just how high he could trek up Thundercrash Mountain.
And, he also wanted to know if a Thunder Lizard could become nourishment for his Thunder Soul, and if it was worth his time to hunt them.
Lin Ming launched his movement technique. His figure was just like a bolt of lightning. Because his speed was too quick, the scenery around him seemed to twist.
Lin Ming crossed that 10 mile distance in just a dozen or so breaths of time. When he arrived, he saw a giant vicious beast, with its entire body covered in gleaming red scales. It looked similar to a lizard, but its back was higher and its entire body bulged with a massive amount of bony plates. It actually looked somewhat like a massive red Earth Dragon.
At this moment, in front of the red Thunder Lizard, four people were standing there, frozen in absolute panic. They were the black-clothed elder senior apprentice brother at the peak of Altering Muscle, the two twin girls at the early Viscera Training stage, and the young boy at the early Viscera Training stage called Little Long.
As for the young martial artist who was at the early Altering Muscle stage, his entire body had been charred black and he had fallen to the ground. Apparently, he had eaten a thunder strike. Although he still had a breath of life within him, he was knocking at death’s door.
The elder senior apprentice brother paled. He could clearly feel that the Thunder Lizard had already locked its sights on him. As soon as he moved, he would eat a lightning attack!
“Damn! How is there such bad luck that a peak Bone Forging Thunder Lizard is here!”
The black-clothed martial artist cried in his heart. With the Thunder Lizard staring at him, he didn’t even dare to breath. The other three martial artists were close to succumbing to despair. Their second senior apprentice brother had instantly taken such a severe wound and was close to death; the three of them together amounted to less than a fly to this monster.
At this moment, the Thunder Lizard suddenly growled. It slowly turned its head as if it felt something behind it. It didn’t know when, but a young boy had appeared from behind, holding a slender saber in his hand and standing in the grass.
Although this young boy didn’t have an aura at all, the Thunder Lizard didn’t know why, but it suddenly felt an extreme sense of danger.
“It’s him?” The black-clothed martial artist and twins found that Lin Ming had returned. “Why did he come back? Did he come back especially for this Thunder Lizard?”
The black-clothed martial artist was aware of this point. However, all he felt was confusion. Even if this young boy came back, what could he possibly do?
Although he figured Lin Ming had some trump card in his hand that he could use to keep his life, the black-clothed martial artist guessed that this trump card was mainly used to escape from situations like this.
It had never occurred to him that Lin Ming’s combat prowess was to a degree where he could deal with a peak Bone Forging Thunder Lizard.