Chapter 6: Silent Mountains

  Another half month has passed in the blink of an eye, and there is less than a week left before the day to venture into Muwu Alley.

  During this period, Ye Chen spent one hour each morning and evening practicing horse steps, with the rest of his time devoted to training his physical strength and cultivating martial arts.

  He can now hold up a 300-jin boulder with one arm, and with both arms, he can easily lift a thousand-jin giant rock to the top of his head.

  Apart from the physical leap, Ye Chen discovered that with sufficient strength, his swordsmanship became more intuitive and effortless. His speed and control increased explosively, allowing him to effortlessly cleave through seven or eight flying leaves with a single stroke of his sword, pierce through tree trunks as wide as a waist, and leave deep four-inch gashes on massive boulders.

  "It's time to hone my combat skills." Ye Chen felt that he had already reached his limit, and continuing to train wouldn't lead to much improvement. With this effort, it would be better to gain more practical experience, tempering his profound enemy-fighting skills, so that he could fully utilize his advantages.

  But actual combat isn't that easy to train for. He's still just an outer sect disciple, unable to venture out into the world and engage in life-or-death battles. Those inner sect disciples may only be one level higher, but when it comes down to a real showdown, even if your cultivation is equal to theirs, you'll likely lose after just two or three moves - that's the difference between having actual combat experience and not.

  Fortunately, it's not necessary to fight with people to achieve the effect of actual combat. This world has demonic beasts, which can cultivate actively or passively. When the demonic energy in their body reaches a certain level, they will undergo mutations and evolve to higher levels.

  For countless years, the ancients have classified the demonic beasts into levels. First and second level demonic beasts correspond to Qi Refining Realm martial artists, third and fourth level demonic beasts correspond to Essence Condensation Realm martial artists, fifth and sixth level demonic beasts correspond to Yuan Storage Realm martial artists. Demonic beasts above the sixth level are extremely rare and can only be found in deep mountains and ancient forests.

  Fighting against a demonic beast is no different from fighting against humans, on the contrary, demonic beasts often have an advantage in terms of aura. A ferocious beast that has slaughtered countless animals and humans appears before your eyes, with just one glance it can make your scalp feel numb, and only 50% of your strength can be exerted.

  Ye Chen prepared to go to the Silent Mountain Range for some training, where low-level demonic beasts often appeared.

  He buckled the fine steel sword at his left waist and walked out of the yard after adjusting his clothes.

  As he walked down the mountain, Ye Chen couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy as he watched the outer and inner disciples hurrying to and fro. No matter who it was, if they wanted to live a better life, they had to have silver. The Ye family's assets were worth tens of millions, so in theory, he shouldn't be poor. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. To put it simply, there were over a thousand people in the Ye family, with six or seven hundred of them being merchants who managed the family business, and the remaining four or five hundred people dedicated to martial arts training, not earning any money. However, to protect their assets, they needed strong military power, which cost money to maintain. Over the course of a year, this added up to an astonishing amount. As a result, even his own father, the Ye family patriarch, only had personal assets worth tens of thousands of silver coins. Meanwhile, as his son, Ye Chen's monthly allowance was only 100 silver coins. If he had any other necessary expenses, he could have them reimbursed.

  One hundred taels a month can only make one eat and dress slightly better, with no significant difference in other areas. Wanting to use expensive medicinal materials to cultivate the body long-term is not something he can enjoy, only core disciples of the family or sect have the capital to receive such nurturing.

  Down from the mountain, finding the right direction, Ye Chen quickened his pace and hurried along the road.

  In the afternoon, Ye Chen arrived at the outskirts of the Quiet Mountain Range. Some first-class ferocious beasts began to appear. This place was so perilous that even ordinary practitioners in the Qi Refining stage dared not enter. Even Ye Chen became cautious, with his hand always on the hilt of his sword, ready to strike at any moment if danger arose.

  All the way forward, Ye Chen didn't encounter any high-level demon beasts. Occasionally, a top-notch second-grade demon beast would appear, but it was just a Crimson Flame Bird that had been seriously injured. If it weren't flying in the sky, Ye Chen wouldn't have minded fighting it.

  After walking for a while and killing several demonic beasts, Ye Chen suddenly stopped in his tracks, his internal energy surging into his ears.

  "There's a fight!"

  The biggest difference between a martial artist and an ordinary person is the use of internal energy. An ordinary person's five senses, no matter how strong, have limits, but a martial artist can use internal energy to enhance their five senses. At this point, Ye Chen could hear relatively large movements from over a mile away using his internal energy, and he could also distinguish their origin.

  Following the sound, Ye Chen hurried over quietly.

  In front of us was a dense forest, where human figures could be vaguely seen moving about. Apart from that, the huge shadows and terrifying roars were enough to make one's heart skip a beat.

  When he was thirty steps away from the battlefield, Ye Chen took a deep breath and jumped onto a large tree, looking down at the front with clarity.

  In the woods, there was a roughly five-zhang-square empty space, which was currently being occupied by four or five young men wielding blades, surrounding and attacking a huge demonic beast. The beast was one zhang long, resembling a fierce tiger, with shiny black fur, a long blood-red tongue dripping with purple saliva, a mouth full of serrated teeth, and sharp claws three feet long with an arc shape.

  It is a second-level top-notch demonic beast, Saw-toothed Venomous Beast, with strength equivalent to a tenth-layer Qi Refining Realm martial artist. Its body carries potent venom, and those who are poisoned will have their skin rupture, requiring corresponding antidotes to be cured; otherwise, the toxic gas will attack the heart, and even a Congenital Realm martial artist would find it difficult to save them, making it quite troublesome.

  After observing for a while, Ye Chen noticed the golden ring emblem on the sleeves of several people, and an unremarkable name of a sect floated into his mind.

  Jin Guang Men, a sect close to Liu Yun Zong, its leader Li Ye is a mid-term expert in the Bao Yuan realm, skilled in the use of Qi Men Bing Qi's life-taking golden ring. In his early years, he was an outer disciple of Liu Yun Zong, but later wandered Jianghu alone, and it is said that he had been to other countries outside of Tian Feng Guo. After returning, he founded Jin Guang Men, with 500 disciples.

  The five people besieging the Saw-toothed Venomous Beast were not particularly strong, but their coordination was quite tacit, and they should have been tempered for a long time, with very good cooperative experience.

  Several sword lights attacked the saw-toothed poisonous beast, and the attacker was a red-clothed girl who wielded a slender sword. Her cultivation was roughly at the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Realm. Next to her were two twin brothers wielding knives, tall and sturdy, occasionally roaring loudly to suppress the beast, using their physical strength to force it to be unable to move forward.

  Although these three people worked hard, the main force was not them, but two others.

  One of the robust young men was dressed in black, with a large killing instrument, the Green Dragon Halberd, which was over two meters long and looked heavy and powerful. Every time the serrated beast was about to threaten others, he would push it back and take the opportunity to pull out a blood mark on its body.

  What made Ye Chen most concerned was the blue-clothed youth, who was about seventeen or eighteen years old. He had a Xiao sword inserted at his waist and did not use any weapons, but his attacking power was the strongest. With just one casual palm strike, he would bring up a mournful black palm wind that would make the Saw-toothed Poisonous Beast retreat repeatedly.

  If Ye Chen's guess was correct, the blue-clothed youth was clearly a ninth-level warrior in the Qi Refining Realm, already able to mix his internal energy into the palm wind, injuring people from a distance. Of course, its power was far inferior to releasing true energy externally; otherwise, the Sawtooth Venomous Beast would have been killed long ago.

  Monsters have always been infinitely powerful, but there will eventually be a time when their strength is exhausted.

  At this time, the serrated poisonous beast that was covered in wounds was exhausted, and the toxic smoke it had managed to spray out was blown away by the black palm wind of the blue-clothed youth, who then turned around and tried to escape.

  "Where's it going!" The blue-clad youth's eyes flashed like lightning, his body following his palm as he struck the saw-toothed poisonous beast's side with a loud crash.

  Roar!

  The Saw-toothed Beast let out a mournful howl as its massive body burst out of the sack like a broken bag, its internal organs shattered.

  "Liu is so amazing." The slender sword returned to its scabbard, the red-clothed girl wiped away her sweat and turned around to gaze at the blue-clothed youth with reverence.

  The young man in blue clothes said gently: "What's so great about me? In a few years, you'll be able to catch up with me."

  The black-clad youth holding the Green Dragon Halberd spoke up: "I'm currently at the seventh layer of the Qi Refining stage, and in a few months I'll be able to catch up with you."

  "It is." The young man in blue clothes didn't think much of it.

  The red-clothed girl pouted, seemingly disliking the black-clothed boy's arrogant style.