Chapter 4 Entering the Mountain

  Time flies like a white horse passing through a crevice, and two months have passed in an instant.

  "Haha!"

  Halfway up the mountain, a flat area of about 100 square meters, hundreds of green-clad disciples were practicing various martial arts, either alone or in pairs, and it looked very lively.

  The already sweltering summer morning was filled with even more vigor and vitality due to this group of lively young men and women.

  "Hey, someone, bring over the water bucket!"

  Suddenly, a loud shout came from the edge.

  "Alright!"

  On the bluestone path at the edge of the field, Li Chen carried two buckets of water and approached.

  Splash!

  Those few outer door disciples who were shouting at him also came forward without courtesy. One of them, a chubby and waist-rounded youth, looked to be three or four years older than Li Chen in appearance, but his age was clearly still tender. He directly scooped up the well water from the bucket and poured it over his head, not fearing the cold well water at all.

  The rest of the people rushed up after the young man had a few sips, and it wasn't long before Li Chen spent more than half an hour fetching water from the well and splashing himself clean.

  Li Chen just stood by, watching with a silly smile, occasionally chuckling to himself as he secretly sized up the disciples practicing their martial skills in the distance.

  The people around wiped the sweat from their foreheads, wanting to gather around, but the robust young man gave a cold glance around, instantly making them shrink their necks.

  Seeing no one coming forward, the robust young man nodded in satisfaction, grabbed a water bucket of over 100 kilograms and walked straight towards a group of female disciples not far away.

  Li Chen looked through the scattered hair and found that among the four or five women, who were no more than 28 years old, there was indeed Miss Li Yuefang, the third daughter of the Li family.

  "Chu Shi Mei, it's terribly hot today! This cold pool water is refreshing and detoxifying, nothing beats it!"

  A sturdy young man walked up close, gently put down the wooden bucket, and said in a deep voice.

  "Hey! Pang Wenshan, you're at it again, trying to curry favor with us. You should show some sincerity too. Bringing water fetched by others to try to win over our Zi Yun Shijie?"

  A fairly well-built female disciple with a few freckles on her face was sizing up the young man with a clicking sound, her arm linked with another beautiful girl who was slightly more stunning than Li Yuehong.

  "Xan Xan!"

  Chu Zi's purple eyebrows slightly frowned, and she gently swayed her freckled face.

  "Zhoa's sister said that next time I'll go and fight myself! By the way, tomorrow Brother He said he wants to enter the mountain, we can just follow him together."

  Pang Wenshan rubbed his head and smiled wryly.

  "Heh heh, don't waste someone's kind intentions!"

  Zhao Shanshan smiled and pulled out a silk handkerchief, lightly dabbing it with some water, and began to wipe herself down.

  Several girls didn't hesitate and each took out a handkerchief to wipe away the overflowing youthfulness, except for Li Yuèróng, who gave Lí Chén a cold stare.

  "Hehe!"

  As soon as they finished collecting, Pang Wenshan smiled and turned his head to wave his hand, "Whoever it is, take the water bucket away!"

  "Alright!"

  Li Chen ran up and grabbed a bucket of water, bowing his head in greeting: "Third Miss is well!"

  "What? Does this ugly guy know Li Shimei?"

  Zhao Shan's eyes lit up, and she looked at Li Yue with ill intentions. The Zhao family was also one of the fallen phoenix city families, and they were rivals with the Li family.

  "Hum, just a worthless slave!"

  Li Yuexiang hated the twisted head.

  Several girls giggled and pointed at Li Chen's back as he walked away, their expressions filled with disdain and disgust. Only Zhu Ziyan furrowed her brow, saying nothing more.

  Such unreserved words naturally made the people around him listen truthfully, but Li Chen, who was not far away, seemed to be completely unaware of it and left the scene in a few steps.

  Li Chen Sheng was not ugly, and even had a bit of elegance, but the protruding dark red birthmark on his left eye and temple made him look extremely ugly.

  Of course, for these spoiled girls, whether Li Chen Sheng is handsome or ugly has nothing to do with them at all.

  Hundreds of miles south of Luoyun Peak, in a secluded mountain valley on the outskirts of ancient Cangshan, dozens of Xuan Yun Zong disciples gathered together, divided into three groups discussing something.

  Among the three blue-robed inner disciples in the front row, there was He Kongming. In the middle eight people wearing green robes, there were both men and women, including Li Yuefang, Chu Ziying, Zhao Shanshan, Pang Wenshan and others whom Li Chen recognized.

  "Master Chen, I'm Liu Chengfeng, entering ancient Cangshan, take care of me!"

  The last three grey-robed disciples, one of whom was a medium-built youth with narrow and long eyes, smiled at Chen Songtai with a flattering expression, slanting his back with a scabbard long sword.

  "My cultivation is on par with yours, but being able to enter the mountain this time still relies on Master He and Master Lu's guidance. Where does taking care of Brother Liu come into play?"

  Chen Songtai tightened his back sword and carefully looked at the crowd in front of him, lowering his voice and casually waving his hand.

  "It's a blessing to be able to work alongside Master He, I've heard that his success rate in refining mid-grade elixirs has already reached 30%, his future prospects are boundless!"

  Liu Chengfeng's face was filled with envy and admiration.

  "Haha, that's it!"

  Chen Songtai raised his chin, "Among the inner disciples, in terms of alchemy skills, He Shixiong is second to none, no one dares to claim first place!"

  That complacent look on his face was as if he were the number one alchemy cultivator among the inner sect disciples.

  Li Chen remained silent all along, somewhat dazedly following the crowd to this point, but the pair of eyes hidden under his hair was carefully sizing up the surroundings.

  It has long been said that Gu Cang Mountain is a gathering place for monsters, with many dangers and opportunities within. All kinds of treasures are constantly emerging, and countless warriors have entered it over the years to seek out these treasures and opportunities.

  This time I followed you here just to lend a hand and help the younger disciples clean up.

  Of course, as inner disciples, Hei Kōmin and the other two were only escorting these outer disciples here, they themselves had other matters to attend to.

  "Alright, you can start searching for the spiritual medicine in this area. The demonic beasts here are around mid-first-tier, with your abilities and Brother Pang's care, there shouldn't be any danger!"

  After the crowd had rested for a while, He Kongming clapped his hands and stood up, arranged the next thing to do, then exchanged a glance with two other inner door disciples, and flashed into the mountain forest together.

  "Come over here, all of you!"

  Seeing this, Pang Wenshan stood up and beckoned to Chen Songtai and the other two.

  "This time entering the mountain, although mainly to collect auxiliary medicine for Master Hei, most of you have never entered Gu Cang Mountain before. When you see the appearance of monsters later, don't panic, three people in a group will assist each other. If you encounter monsters, use the whistle as a signal, first protect yourself well, do you understand?"

  Pang Wenshan's stout body, with a slightly older face, looked quite intimidating. He pulled out a dark green whistle from his collar.

  This is a Qingfeng flute, which can transmit sound for several miles. It is often used by the disciples of the Xuan Yun Sect to communicate with each other when entering the mountains.

  As far as Li Chen knew, Pang Wenshan's cultivation had reached the sixth layer peak, only one step away from entering the seventh layer and becoming an inner disciple.

  A group of fourteen or fifteen-year-old boys and girls, although excited, couldn't wait to fight the monster, but also knew the danger, nodded one after another.

  These people, apart from Chen Songtai who had no backing and was only at the fifth level of cultivation, there were a few others among the eight of them who were also at the fifth level of cultivation.

  However, they were all young, only fifteen years old, and their qualifications were not weak either.

  As for Chu Zi Yun, although she was only fourteen years old, she had already reached the sixth layer of the peak, and her talent was quite astonishing.

  Under Pang Wen's arrangement, they began to enter the mountain valley forest in twos and threes, searching for various low-grade medicinal materials hidden within.

  Although Gu Cang Mountain has many treasures, there are also many warriors coming. This time, Hei Kung Ming brought them to a place that is rarely visited by people, which is a mountain valley.

  Apart from fending off demonic beasts, the most dangerous ones are the adventurers who frequently enter and exit the Ancient Cangshan.

  Xiu was weak and together with Chen Songtai, two inner disciples' followers, the three of them formed a group.

  Relying on his years of experience in refining medicine, Chen Songtai took over the command of the group without hesitation, all the way talking endlessly about various pharmacologies, leaving Liu Chengfeng bewildered.

  "Huh?"

  As she walked, Li Chen lightly sniffed the air, a flash of brightness flickered in her eyes, and she turned to walk sideways.

  Whoosh!

  His sleeves fluttered, Chen Songtai's feet lightly tapped, and he swept past the dawn, rushing out dozens of meters away. With a joyful expression, he bent down, took out the jade shovel he was carrying with him, and dug up a spiritual herb that was about the length of an index finger, with a whole body of green and only three tender leaves.

  "Qigongcao, a first-class medium-grade spiritual medicine, its energy circulation is quite good!"

  Chen Songtai happily took out a jade box from the backpack behind him, carefully put it in, and didn't even glance at Li Chen, then walked forward with his head held high.

  "Brother Chen is awesome! Is there any trick? Teach me, little brother!"

  Liu stepped forward quickly with a look of admiration on her face.

  "Hehe, it's a secret!"

  Chen Songtai smiled mysteriously and shook his head, searching around him with a flourish.

  As the two walked ahead, they didn't notice at all that Li Chen, who was originally following behind them, had fallen back several paces and suddenly slipped into the dense forest, disappearing from sight.

  When the two men discovered that Li Chen was missing, Chen Songtai's expression changed slightly. He took out a qingfeng flute from his bosom and put it to his lips, his expression changing several times before he finally put it down.

  Unaware of what was said between Liu and Chongfeng, they continued on as if nothing had happened.