Chapter 16 – You Will Be Given A Rank Spoiler: Continue Inside the building, they were no stairs and the mid-area were hollowed out with special air energy. This area was a place where people can move up and down the floors without the stairs. The air current inside the array moves according to each person’s will to ascend or descend. On the right side of the building is the registration area. Very few people were there while on the left side were places to inspect and collect the rewards. “Hi boys, you want to register as a bounty hunter, assassin, or a bodyguard?” an alluring lady asked. She had the pinkest lips, auburn hair, firm bosoms, and wore glasses. Ma Qian was already captivated and the young lady knew that and winked at him for fun. “Hello, we’d like to know on how to register as a bounty hunter. Are there any fees and requirements involved?” Ye Tian asked politely. “There are no fees, but we do need to you to sign a contract. Besides that, you’ve already fulfilled the prerequisites of having a minimal of the great dao realm cultivation.” the alluring lady said with a flirtatious look to Ye Tian. Ye Tian blushed a bit while Ma Qian rolled his eyes. This kid is still a virgin and you’re a cougar! The young lady was exceptionally pretty and looked rebellious, and was actually quite talkative. “Alright where do I sign the contract? Also….can we become two professionals at once, like being a bounty hunter and an assassin?” Ye Tian asked but near the end, his voice almost sounded like a whisper. The alluring lady was shocked, but scanned Ye Tian’s cultivation and felt even more shocked. “The minimal cultivation to become an assassin is to be at least in the supreme dao realm. You’re qualified to become an assassin but are you sure you want to become one. The pay is higher but it’s also much more dangerous,” the young lady warned. “Miss, I understand. I will not pick out any assassin mission right away. It’s just for future purpose in case I decide to do one” Ye Tian replied. “Alright, it’s none of my business any way. Hey! Are you going to sign this bounty hunter contract or not?” the young lady stared at Ma Qian. Once Ma Qian heard Ye Tian was a supreme dao cultivator and wanted to become an assassin, he was shocked and speechless. Throughout this whole time, he didn’t even make a move and swallowed his saliva. But Ma Qian came to his senses, and also said, “I also want to register for the assassin program.” “Hmmppphh, damn kid! You’re too weak,” the young lady quickly rejected. After all she was able to scan the cultivation of Ye Tian and Ma Qian’s. That also means her cultivation is also quite high. Ma Qian felt disgusted. He knew he was pretty damn strong for his age. It’s just Ye Tian is a bit of a monster. “By the way, my name is Wang Rong. I will officially become your representative and helper when you missions arrived. Also before you do any missions, we need to test each person on combat ability, intelligence, and resilience. Each of you will be given a rank as a bounty hunter or an assassin. The highest rank is SS, after that is the S rank, A rank, B rank, and C rank being the lowest. Your rank will not be announced publicly, but sometimes the guild will offer you special missions if you rank high,” Wang Rong explained. After Ye Tian and Ma Qian signed the contracts, they left to the testing ground led by Wang Rong. They arrived at the mid-area where they were carried by the air current to the underground level. The underground floor had multiple gates with different color symbols. “Alright, the green symbol is for the bounty hunter exam, little child you can enter, ” Wang Rong smiled to Ma Qian. Ma Qian was pissed but he knew he couldn’t do anything to her. For the first time, Ma Qian’s heart was irritated. He didn’t know what this feeling was, but he was set on one goal – to lay in the same bed as Wang Rong! “As for you Ye Tian, you need to enter the gate of the black symbol. Your bounty hunter and assassin test will be tested simultaneously within the exam. Both of you listen up, when you enter you will be transported to another small world. You need to stay for 4 hours. What you do, how you do it, where you do it, when you do it, it doesn’t matter. Your performance will be evaluated by the judges monitoring your exam. Now go!” Wang Rong warned. Both entered their respective gates. Ma Qian landed in an unfamiliar world. He looks at his surroundings and sees a city. Suddenly a little windows pops up in front of him with the words, “Catch the serial rapist.” Ma Qian concludes that this must be the mission, but there’s no picture or other info provided. Ma Qian frowned, and said, “Fuck, I’m gonna get lost again and I won’t be able to pass this test.” Suddenly, he hears a voice of a woman yelling. Ma Qian unleashes his vines. If the vine can still hear the voice, the vine can find out the location through the underground networks of other vines. “Found her!” Ma Qian happily said. This was a lucky opportunity given his lack of sense of direction. Ma Qian jumps forward while the vines erupt in places where he landed. The vines push Ma Qian’s feet like a spring trampoline giving him an extra boost in covering the distance within a short period of time. As he jumps from one place to another, he can finally see another of his vine within a distance pointing at one direction Ma Qian smiles and quickly arrives at the scene. It’s a small abandoned mine. The perfect place for predators to commit a crime with no one near the scene. Ma Qian checks the ground again by communicating with his vines. He dashes inside the mining cave and within several breaths he can see a woman in disarray laying on the ground while another man taking his robe off. Ma Qian quickly uses his vines to attack the man but a shield array blocks the vines from entering. The man hears the impact of the sound and says, “Who’s there?” “Your Mom, bitch!” Ma Qian yelled. “Hahaha, screw off kid! Or do you want to see what I would do to her?,” the man laughed. Ma Qian uses another vine attack, but this time it’s one of his most powerful attack. The vines form a spear-like shape and attacks as it twists continually. The shield array shakes far bigger this time from the impact, but is still withholding the vine attack. “Kid, this spell I’ve set up can only be broken by a supreme dao cultivator. You can’t break it,” the man laughed again. Ma Qian smirks, and said, “I won’t be able to attack directly, but there is another way.” Ma Qian palms the ground while Ma Qian’s robes and hair flutter from the impact. Rumble , rumbke, crackkk, twirppp! Ma Qian’s vines erupt from the ground and ties up the man’s feet, then the hands. “Release the spell, and I’ll let you live” Ma Qian said firmly. The man is tied up, but he closes his eyes for a moment before opening again and stares directly at Ma Qian. Ma Qian is also staring at the man, but for whatever reason, he sees his vines retreating. A few breaths later, the vines erupt from the ground again, but now the vines are tying up Ma Qian’s feet and hands. The man is smiling devilishly and whispers again. Another vine climbs and twirls Ma Qian’s neck and gripping it tighter and tighter. Ma Qian panics. His vines martial dao are among the rarest martial dao and has to have extreme affinity with mother earth. What are the chances that he meets another cultivator who can use vines as well? Ma Qian is still struggling, but the vines starts becoming transparent! “Transparent…why?”Ma Qian tried to work his brain as fast as possible.He finally figured it out. Although he was tied up, he didn’t feel pain but rather the thought of suffocation. Ma Qian yells out a martial technique that shocks his internal body and mind in a heartbeat. This technique allows Ma Qian to regain his senses. He sees the vines that are tying him up disappear bit by bit. Instead, he still sees the vines tying up the man with a bloody head. He then sees the woman behind the man is holding a rock. Ma Qian figured out that the woman threw the rock at the man’s head, which disrupted the man’s hallucination spell. Ma Qian felt embarrassed that it was the woman that ended up saving him instead! Ma Qian waves his hand like a chopping motion. One of his vines quickly rises and forms a small blade. Whippp! “Aaaargghhhhhh,” the man yelled. The blade actually chopped of the man’s penis. The woman yelled as well and fainted right away after witnessing this horrible scene. Suddenly the scene around him started twisting, and Ma Qian got sucked back into an array. By the time he opened his eyes, he was back at the guild’s underground place. Then, a book flew in front of him and turned to the first page. The page magically wrote “Ma Qian, Bounty Hunter – Rank S.” Ma Qian was ecstatic. He was hoping for an A rank, but when he was inside the different world, he felt his hope was shattered by trying to find the rapist with his lack of sense of direction. Wang Rong was not a bit surprised. Somehow, she expected this rank. After all, Ma Qian was already at the mid-stage of the great realm almost near the peak realm. Very few people his age was able to achieve this. Only the talented individual or noble figures with powerful backgrounds that can provide an abundant of resources to support the person can achieve such level. Wang Rong then stared at the judges, and said, “Are you sure?” The judges nodded. Before they made their evaluation of Ma Qian, they were talking to each other about the circumstance. “His vines martial dao are extremely rare, and has exceptional offense and defense,” One judge said. “He uses it well. His sense of direction must be very keen as well. He was able to find the rapist in a short period of time,” another judge said. “Even though he struggles a bit against the hallucination, he still overcame it. He’s also resourceful in using unorthodox techniques in his battles,” the last judge said. Ma Qian was happy….and lucky! Nevertheless, he stared at Wang Rong. She sensed the meaning of the stare, “Babe, you’re missing out on this precious gem! I can satisfy your thirst and you better believe it!” Wang Rong snorted and ignored Ma Qian, then looked at the gate where Ye Tian entered. Ma Qian wasn’t offended, after all, he’s a handsome young man with much more sexual experience after living at the brothel his whole life. Flirting takes some time and investment. Can Ye Tian pass the exam?
Chapter 17 – Outside Palace Spoiler: Continue Ye Tian was inside a different world than Ma Qian’s. He was on top of a a tower looking at the surrounding city below him. A window suddenly appeared, “Kill the Emperor!” Once he read this, Ye Tian knew that this was his mission, and an extremely difficult one to complete. He was thinking of a way to complete the exam effectively. The assassination world was cruel, dark, violent, and filled with tragic endings. The emperor resided in his palace guarded by many soldiers. Ye Tian knew spending too much time for a perfect plan is impossible. He chose a direct method instead. Ye Tian cannot fly given his cultivation, but he can glide. He jumps into the air and descends from the peak of the tower. While descending, his body’s spinning gracefully. Phewwwwww. Using the flow of the air and the timing, he opens his eyes and creates a small turbulence that sparked his feet. He then starts gliding in the sky while scanning the buildings around the city. He finds his target and starts descending quickly and lands on top of a building. The building was a brothel. A smart choice because most visitors tend to be nobles and officials. Ye Tian listened to the conversations going on in different rooms. When he heard a conversation related to the empire, he made his move. He sneaked inside the room after a lady left. He dashed forward like a raven and stabbed a dagger on a man’s neck. The man’s neck was bleeding but it was because the dagger only stabbed the skin. “Who are you? I’ll give you anything you want, but just let me live and I won’t ever say anything about this event” the man said. “I have several questions I need you to answer. If I sense you’re lying , you won’t see another day,” Ye Tian said. The man nodded. “Are you an official?” “Yes.” “Have you met the emperor?” “Not face to face. I’ve only seen him during a ceremony and I was far away from him due to the crowded guests.” “Did you see his face clearly?” “Not really, he was a bit fat and pale skin.” “How do you get inside the palace?” “That…..I work at the outer palace and that’s the only place I can get in.” Baammm. Ye Tian knocked him out, tied him up and hid him on top of the roof. He then focused on his hearing senses again. He found another target. This new target of his was brash, wild and a bit drunk. “My father is a general of this empire. I can destroy this building with one word.” the young master yelled. “Young master, we will leave you inside the room alone before you come to your senses. We care for the safety of our women and our guest, so please understand, ” Ye Tian heard. As soon as the host and the ladies left, Ye Tian sneaks inside the room from the outside window. Like an eagle clawing his prey, Ye Tian dashes like a phantom and appears behind the young man, then quickly stabs the man’s critical points with his fingers. Simultaneously, Ye Tian’s other hand has a dagger inserted halfway inside the man’s mouth as the man was about to yell out. “This dagger will stab your throat if you even squeak a noise,” Ye Tian warned, then continued, “I need information. If you lie, you’re dead and your general dad won’t be able to save you if you screw up.” The man’s body couldn’t move due to Ye Tian stabbing his body points. But he could still speak and said, “What do you want? If you kill me, you won’t get away with this. My dad is the …” Wham. Ye Tian slaps his face violently after withdrawing his dagger. Then he uses one of his hand to seal the man’s mouth, and the other hand to stab the man’s left arm. “Ahhhhhhh.” The young man tried to yell in pain, but the noise was minimized due to Ye Tian sealing his mouth. After experiencing the past events with the nobles from the capital, he gained a passionate hatred towards these people. These nobles only care about themselves, break the laws, and treat other people’s lives like an ant. There was no use trying to be diplomatic with them. “I will gouge out your eyes, cut you tongue, cut off your dick and eventually your head if you don’t listen and answer my questions,” Ye Tian said seriously. The young man had tears but nodded. He was scared shitless. “Have you met the emperor?” Ye Tian asked. “Ye….yes!” “What does he look like?” “He’s fat, pale, a bit on the ugly side but very crafty.” “Where does he reside?” “Inside the inner palace.” “How do you get in?” “I can’t…” Whammm. Ye Tian kicked his balls while covering the man’s mouth again. The man never felt such pain in his life. “your father is a general, don’t tell me you can’t get in.” Ye Tian said and was about to stab the man’s throat. The young man was in a panic mode. “I have a medal! This will allow you to go inside the inner palace as long as you use my name to represent me. Please don’t kill me,” the young man begged. “What’s your name?” Ye Tian asked. “Ji Feng,” the young man said. “Do you have a map of the inner palace? And where does the emperor usually reside?” Ye Tian asked again. “I do. It’s in my inter spatial ring. He’s usually at his room with a bunch of concubines,” Ji Feng said, then opened his inter spatial ring and gave the map to Ye Tian. SLITTTTT. Ye Tian stabbed Ji Feng’s throat and ended his life. This was cruel but this was the assassin way of leaving no witness behind. He then used his flames and burned his body to ashes before leaving the scene. At the rooftop, Ye Tian is with the unconscious man. He slaps the man in the face to try to wake him up. No response. He slaps again on the other side of the cheek, but still no response. Ye Tian frowns, and suddenly lifts his feet and steps on the man’s crouch…..and yet no response. “What the hell? Is this man an eunuch?” Ye tian murmurs. His last idea is a bit despicable, but he has no other choice. Yellow rain starts dripping on the man’s face. The night is dark and the air is cool as a breeze. The man starts licking his lips tasting the rain, then opens his eyes. What he sees above him will remain a scar in his life. Ye Tian peed on his face! “Good you’re awake. Now take me to the outside palace. You need to explain all the procedures, and if you make any moves that makes the soldiers on guard, I will kill you on the spot. Do you understand?” Ye Tian says without any shame on what he just did. “You..you…kill me now. I’ve never been so violated like this before. I hope you die a horrible death!” the man angrily said. Ye Tian ignites a fire in his hand and with a wiping motion, the fire shoots at the man’s crouch! Again! “Ahhhhh, no my……,” the man said with great panic and tried to beat his own crouch to extinguish the fire, but was of no use. He tried to roll around but was still of no use. The man then sees there is an element of water in Ye Tian’s hand. Ye Tian smiles at him. “I can help you, but you need to become my little puppet.” That was the meaning of the expression the man saw on Ye Tian’s smile. “Okay, okay….put it out, put it out now..please!” the man begged. Ye Tian shoots a water bomb towards the man’s crouch. The fire is gone, but suddenly, a little flame revived. Ye Tian acts quickly and stomps on the man’s crouch again with his feet. “There, it’s all gone. Happy?” Ye Tian said shamelessly. The man was in great pain. He’d be lucky if his best friend can ever get up again. His mood was very depressing. Hope was all lost for this man. Ye Tian sealed the man’s mouth and carried him to a secluded place before releasing the sealing spell again. The man stared at Ye Tian for a while. It was the look of vengeance! But Ye Tian ignored it, and said, “Speak now!” The man started to explain how the outside palace works. He didn’t care if Ye Tian wanted to kill somebody even if it was the emperor. There were many hyenas within the ruling empire. Everybody was in it for themselves and hope others will fall miserably. With an impossible mission, how can Ye Tian achieve this test alone?
Chapter 18 – Blood drips on the ground Spoiler: Continue According to the plan, Ye Tian will act as an assistant with the man. This will bypass the security check. A little while later, they arrived at the security point in front of the palace gate. The soldier looked at the man, and said, “Official Ji Feng, who is this besides you?” “This is my assistant. I’ve already submitted the application and has already been approved by the Labor department,” the man said casually. The guard looked at Ye Tian, while Ye Tian just smiled, and said, “It’s nice to meet you sir, I will be in you care from now on.” The man just rolled his eyes. What a devil this guy is. “Alright, you guys can go ahead.” the guard said approvingly. Guards always love it when someone sucks up to them. Ye Tian and the man went inside and walked towards the man’s office. Ye Tian scanned and looked around to confirm that the map he got from the noble was accurate. He was also trying to figure out an escape rout in case things goes terribly wrong. Once inside the office, the man explained to him where the gate of the inner palace is. Whackkk! Ye Tian knocked him out again and gave him a bit of the forgetful potion. He had a bit left, but he had been figuring out the ingredients from the few experiments he initiated. He was very close to figuring out the properties of the potion. This will become helpful for his future battles. Also, since the man actually never tried to lie to him and did what he was supposed to do, Ye Tian didn’t want to kill him. After all, he felt a bit sorry on what he had done to the man’s crouch. The status of the crouch was unknown. Ye Tian left the room and walked towards the inner palace gate, where he met other security guards. Ye Tian took out the medalthat he took from the noble, and said, “I’m a servant of young master Ji Feng, the son of the great general Ji Long. I’m here on orders to retrieve a few things from the general’s office.” Ye Tian explained. The guard instructed the hawk to scan the medal. The hawk was trained to scan what was real or fake among the medals. The hawk roared, and the guard said, “Ok, you have 20 minutes to do what you need to do. That’s the rules. If you don’t come back, we will kill you at all cost!” “I understand captain!” Ye Tian replied. Ye Tian felt a bit relieved. He thought the hawk’s roar was a sign of warning but was instead a sign of approval. He saluted the captain and continued to walk inside the inner palace. After he entered the inner palace, the gate closed again and no one from outside can see anything inside the inner palace. Ye Tian scanned around and concluded that no was around the area. He dashed forward like a phantom and went towards a route that he remembered from the map. He finally arrived near the distance of a grand room. Palace guards were standing in front, while the room was bright and Ye Tian could hear the voice of a man and several women. Ye Tian walked towards the guards with his head down. “Good evening friends. I have a message for the emperor from general Ji Long. Please take a look at the letter’s symbol.” The symbol was a a sign very few people within the empire had. It was meant to be used for secret intelligence. The two guards checked the symbol and said, “Who are you? Why this late?” “I’m a new servant of general Ji Long. I was ordered to send this urgent message to the emperor without any delay. My profile has been checked by the outside palace guards and by the the captain that’s guarding the inner palace gates. Please friends. I’m just a humble servant trying to send this message. This might be very crucial to the empire’s safe being.” Ye Tian said urgently. The guards looked at each. They knew they would screw up if this information that concerns the safety of the empire had never arrived at the emperor’s hands. They both nodded, and one of them warned, “Go, but you must leave any weapons you have here.” “I understand,” Ye Tian replied, and took out his dagger and handed it to the guards. He then walked past the guards. As soon as the guards turned around to continue guarding, Ye Tian made a sneak attack. Ye Tian releases two water snakes and twirls its way towards the guards. The water snakes disperse and attack the guards’ mouths, nostrils, and ears within a blink of an eye. Ye Tian then dashes forward with two palm attacks that hit the guards back, specifically the spine area. No one could hear anything except for Ye Tian and the two guards. The sound of cracks, fractures, and the sound of a yelling pain was subjugated by the water snakes. The guards fell with their eyes bulging out. Ye Tian hid their bodies in a well. He then set up an array surrounding the grand palace room as quietly and as quickly as possible. “Okay, the array is set up. No one can from the outside can hear anything happening inside this room.” Ye Tian says to himself. Ye Tian was getting prepared for a swift and deadly attack aimed at the emperor. From the distance, his eyes saw the shape of a fat figure, then throws his dagger joined by a water snake surrounding it. The dagger pierces the door and continues towards the emperor’s throat. Ye Tian also dashes inside the room following closely behind the dagger. The concubines react in time and tries to block the attack, but the water snake splits into two and attack the two concubines first. The water snakes pushes them away from the emperor while the concubines are busy blocking the attack. The dagger continues toward the emperor, but another concubine comes to the rescue and blocks the dagger. Ye Tian was surprised at this scene. He underestimated the concubines. He never knew the concubines were actually bodyguards as well. The last concubine jumps in and clashes with Ye Tian. Boom. Boom. Booom. In a few breaths, the clash happens several times before separating. The concubine i sbleeding from the mouth and her arm. But Ye Tian continues to dash towards the emperor and combines his hands together like holding a sword. Water elements appear again in his hands, but this time in a form of a blade. Ye Tian makes a slashing motion downward, and a water blade shoots forward like an arching beam. “Aahhhh.” One of the concubines that just blocked the dagger tries to defend the water blade but cuts her arm off, and the force continues and slashes the emperor’s body. “Aaarrghhh.” the emperor yells. The emperor’s chest rips but a golden armor is behind the silky robe and ends up saving the emperor’s life. The emperor crashes to the ground. The concubines and the emperor look at Ye Tian with fear. They knew Ye Tian is at the same dao realm as them, and yet, their strength are so far apart. Suddenly, the array Ye Tian set up a while ago disappears, destroyed by the first two concubines. While the the other two were battling Ye Tian, The first two knew there was an array set up that isolated the noises. Otherwise, there would’ve been guards by now. They searched for the weak point and was able to destroy it. Now everyone outside can hear! Ye Tian ignores the situation and dashes forward again towards the emperor. He is the closest to the emperor. Ye Tian whispers and creates another water dao. Five water pikes appear instantly and starts rotating in front of him.”Go!” Ye Tian yells. The water pikes shoots one after another. Two each from side to side stabs the emperor in different places, but the emperor is able to focus on blocking the attacks, then suddenly,”Shriekkk!” The last water pike pierces through the emperor’s forehead.! The other pikes were able to distract the emperor. Blood drips on the ground……eyes bulging staring at Ye Tian, then the emperor kneels to the ground grimly. He’s dead! “Nooooo!” the concubines yelled. “Kill him!” By this time many guards have already arrived. The guards attack Ye Tian but he’s able to swiftly evade the attacks every time and counter every single one. He jumps left, back, dashes forward and sideways. For every step he lands on the ground, he counters and kills every guard that attacks him with great decisiveness. Within several breaths 8 have already died. But more guards came as a second wave. Ye Tian continues to evade, counter, and kill the guards one after another. He’s also able to evade the concubines attack but ignores countering them. More guards came. This is the 3rd wave with about 30 guards surrounding Ye Tian! Can he come out alive? Or will he fail to exam?
Chapter 19 – SS Rank! Spoiler: Continue Ye Tian was running out of energy, and he already had several wounds from the close encounters when the concubines made sneak attacks while he was battling the rest of the guards. He knew he was running out of options and could only think of one way to escape this scene. It was a martial skill he developed with his dad as guidance during their practice battles. Ye Tian named it “Phoenix’s Wrath!” Many of the guards, including some of the concubines, have surrounded Ye Tian and are now within a spear distance from him. A spear is thrown at Ye Tian, but he leaps with a black flip high off the ground. His eyes are closed, and small flames begin to twirl around him. While in the air, Ye Tian uses another technique to leap higher into the air while twisting. At the peak, he opens his eyes and huge flames surround him . Those below who can see the flames saw the flames shaped like a flying phoenix. “Phoenix’s Wrath!” Ye Tian descends like a falling asteroid with the phoenix flames supporting him. “BOOOMMMMMM! The ground cracks, flames start spreading on a wider scale engulfing and suffocating many of the guards and a few of the concubines. “Arrrgh.” “Ahhh.” :Help me!” “Nooooo” Within the chaos, a shadow quickly leaps away to the roof and away from the scene. It’s Ye Tian, and he continues to dash further and further away using the escape route he created. Many guards from the outer palace start coming inside to see what was going on while Ye Tian sneaks away stealthily all the way to the outer palace. On the way back, he knocks out one of the guards and strips his armors. He wears the armors and appears like one of the guards and continue to walk towards the outside palace gate.He arrives at the scene only to see everything is in chaos. Most of the guards that were guarding this security check point have ran inside. The chaos helps him escape from the scene. While running further away from the palace, a whirlpool suddenly appeared and sucked him in. Several moments later, Ye Tian arrived at the underground testing ground. Wang Rong looked at Ye Tian pretty pleased. Ye Tian had suffered some wounds but they were not life threatening, which meant the exam have gone pretty smoothly. Wang Rong looked at the judges, but the judges were still discussing on the matter, which caused Wang Rong to frown. How unusual. “Ye Tian, go tend to your wounds, and rest in that area until you get your results.” Wang Rond said. Ye Tian nodded and took a seat and focused on healing his injuries. Meanwhile somewhere inside the building with the judges on sight. “This young man, Ye Tian, where did he come from? From which noble did he hail from?” One judge asked with a trembling face. “His martial dao are unparalleled….to be accepted by the water and fire element……born to have a great destiny,” another judge whispered. “What rank should we give him? There has only been one SS rank throughout history. If we give another, many would be shocked and would question our ability to judge future exams,” the last judge proclaimed. “Yes, but you saw him with your own eyes and senses. He’s only 15, and he’s already at the supreme dao realm! He’s definitely above the S rank!” another judge countered. “I agree. And besides, he’s the only one who was able to kill the emperor! Not to mention a bunch of other guards along the way. Passing the exam doesn’t require the death of the emperor, but it’s the performance and combat ability that we look for,” the other judge agreed. “…..Should we ask the chairman before we announced the grade?” the last judge asked with a worried face. After a couple of breaths, another voice appeared followed by a figure from the shadows. A middle-aged man with strands of white hair, wearing a red jacket, leg and arm armors, and black boots. Behind his back were two swords with a terrifying aura that could slice a castle in half. He came forward where the light was visible. “Chairman!” the judges said and saluted him. The chairman nodded, and said, “Elders, didn’t I tell you just recently to call me by my usual name, Bao Zi. You are my seniors and I won’t forget that.” The judges could only smile. They were already old and weaker than this junior. Besides the name, Bao Zi, is a bit unusual because it literally means bread. “Anyways, I’ve watched the exam. We should give this boy an SS rank! I will handle any complaints from the others,” Bao Zi concluded. “But Chairman Bao Zi, if this boy doesn’t have a background, someone will eventually kill him in fear of his limitless potential,” one elder worriedly said since he was truly concerned for Ye Tian. “Why do you think he deserves an SS rank?” another elder curiously asked. “Isn’t that simple? You’ve already mentioned it before. But there is one other thing that stood out to me the most. I have battled many strong warriors throughout my life. Some had extraordinary offense, and some had amazing defense, while some had a very powerful martial skill. This boy has something that no one has,” Bao Zi explained. “What?” “What is it?” Bao Zi waited for a moment, then said seriously, “Innate Counter!” “Innate Counter? What do you mean?” all the judges were puzzled. “His ability to counter quickly, decisively, and viciously terrifies me! Did you guys not see how he countered the guards and the concubines every time they attacked him, and all of them turned out either dead or seriously injured with just one counter?” Bao Zi said while his hands trembled. The judges thought about it deeply for a while trying to recount Ye Tian’s battle and comparing their own personal experiences. They finally agreed in unison, “Yes, you’re right. I have definitely overlooked this part. It’s one of the basic foundations that no one has truly mastered!” one judge said. “Yes, all the martial skills in this world belongs to offensive skills or defensive skills, but I’ve never seen or heard of a counter skills,” another judge concluded. “Then, do we all agree Ye Tian is the sole SS rank alive?” the last judge said and was ready to make submit the results. “Elder, before you announce the rank, we need to make a few changes to ensure the safety of Ye Tian,” Bao Zi proposed. The judges nodded and they talked over on what changes could be made. Meanwhile, Ye Tian, Wang Rong, and Ma Qian were sitting in the rest area. They were the only ones at the testing ground for the moment. Wang Rong was annoyed because the results has been taking so long. Ma Qian was praying that Ye Tian would get below an S Rank, although he knew this was almost impossible. Friendly jealousy! Ye Tian continued to focus on healing and is almost healed completely. A book suddenly flies in front of Ye Tian. Ye Tian opens his eyes with curiosity. The book opens to the first page and starts writing, “Ye Tian – SS Rank Assassin/Bounty Hunter.” Wang Rong looked with her jaws dropped. Her heartbeat went wild. Then she looked at Ma Qian only to feel disdain, then looks back at Ye Tian. This went on for a bit. Ma Qian, on the other hand, felt some joy and disappointment. He really did feel happy that Ye Tian got the SS rank, but was also sad that he was on a lower level than him. What made it worse was Wang Rong! Looking at him and Ye Tian back and forth, but her expressions when looking at the two were so vastly different. “Ye Tian, the next time you opened this book, your rank will only be shown as an S rank. This is done for safety reasons,” a judge said without appearing. Ma Qian’s face looked like he just gained hope and almost had a smile. But then… “However, you’re still an SS rank and the only one that exists. Besides you, your friend, Wang Rong, and the judges, no else knows. We highly suggest that you keep this a secret for your own safety. You may now leave and take the book with you,” the elder concluded. Ma Qian’s face became gloomy again. All hope was lost. But he still admired Ye Tian. “I understand elder. Please be at ease. I’m not a talkative person anyway,” Ye Tian replied while cupping his hand. “Come let’s go outside now, and you can start choosing your missions,” Wang Rong said after stabilizing her heartbeat. She looked at Ye Tian and nodded as a form of approval, then looked at Ma Qian with a faceless expression. Ma Qian took out his book and was about to point his S rank, which was considered top of the creme, but before he was able to , Wang Rong turned around and headed outside. Ma Qian almost screamed and needed to let off steam! Never had an S rank be treated like someone unworthy like he was treated by Wang Rong. All three of then went outside towards the mission centre. What missions will they choose for their first mission?
Chapter 20 – 100 bounty missions Spoiler: Continue “In every branch of this guild, no matter where you are, you can accept missions and submit your completed missions. The rewards will also be provided at the location you wish to collect it from. Also the missions are ranked based on the difficulty with 5 stars being the highest. You can also accept as many missions as you want; however, your record will also be exposed. For example if you took 20 missions and only have completed 2 missions, that will show in our public records. Sometimes our clients need someone reliable based on your performance. But your personal profile will never be exposed,” Wang Rong explained. Ye Tian and Ma Qian looked at some of the bounty missions. Ma Qian wanted to accept all of them even the five stars missions, but he really did restrained and waited for Ye Tian to respond. Ye Tian kept looking and chose only two, then he told Ma Qian to choose other missions for them. Ye Tian then continued to walk to another place to look at the assassins mission. Every mission had details of the prize reward, the current news, the results from previous hunters that have accepted the mission, and other detailed reports that might be beneficial to the takers. Apparently, assassin missions are so dangerous, they have a high degree of failures. Ye Tian kept reading the different missions for the whole day! Ma Qian have already accepted several missions and waited, waited, then waited more. Wang Rong did not want to disturb Ye Tian, so she chose to go back to her stationery. Ma Qian feeling bored, followed Wang Rong. He was on a mission to conquer her! Ye Tian frowned once in a while when he saw a few of the missions, but he continued looking at all the mission available currently. He raised his head and took a deep breath. Then, at the corner of his eye, he could see Ma Qian talking with Wang Rong, while thrusting his body! What the hell was he doing? Wang Rong continued to ignore Ma Qian, but Ma Qian was very persistent. After all he had nothing else to do. Ye Tian did not want to see more disgusting acts from Ma Qian and continued reading the missions. Night arrived, Ye Tian finally finished reading all of them. He walked towards Wang Rong. Her eyes were already dark and soulless from looking at Ma Qian. Meanwhile, Ma Qian’s eyes were also looking like a zombie, but this time his body was moving differently…..he was actually slow grinding while smiling! At this point in time, this world had just experienced a new invention by Ma Qian – the grinding move! Ye Tian despised Ma Qian’s behavior, but continued towards Wang Rong and said, “I would like to accept these missions, Ms. Wang Rong.” “Ye Tian, this is no cakewalk. I should warn you that assassin missions only have a 22% chance of succeeding. Countless people have already died doing these types of mission. Are you sure?” Wang Rong asked seriously with a look of disappointment. She didn’t want him to accept these dangerous missions yet until he becomes more powerful. He’s the only SS rank in this world, and his future would be heaven defying! “Yes. I’ve thought about it very carefully. I know this will be difficult, but once I become more powerful I will take the missions seriously. I’m only accepting these mission, so that I can get some lead on the way,” Ye Tian replied. “Alright, good. Remember your future is brighter than that perverted friend of yours,” Wang Rong said with a disgusted face. Ma Qian was definitely tired, and his movements have changed from grinding to a very subtle unknown movements. He was in his own world by now. Wang Rong approved all of the missions. It was rare that she approved these missions, not to mention that Ye Tian wanted to accept 10 assassin missions and two bounty missions! After approving the missions and registering it to the mission, she handed Ye Tian’s book back. The pages on the book have already listed the missions that he has accepted. “Here. Insert this into your mind. There will be no pain. From now on, we can telepathically communicate as long as were are less than 200 miles away. I’m always stationed in different branches every 3 months. So come by if you need more information,” Wang Rong concluded, while handing Ye Tian a small thin yellow crystal. “Alright, Ms. Wang Rong. I will contact you when the time comes,” Ye Tian replied before leaving. He grabbed Ma Qian’s robe and dragged him out of the building. Somewhere on the first floor, a bright glint appeared from one of the tables inside the building. An old lady was writing on a scroll while looking at Ma Qian. After she was done, she submitted the scroll to the mission registration. Another staff accepted the scroll and opened up the scroll to verify and evaluate the difficulty of the mission. On the scroll, it said, “Kidnap this man alive and send him to me. Do not harm him!” Below these words, there was a close up illustration of his face, and another illustration of him “grinding.” The staff looked at the old lady who was licking her lips, then said, “Your request has been registered. It will take a few hours before the mission will be announced in the public records.” The old lady nodded, turned around and laughed quietly. No one could hear it unless you were so close to her. As Ye Tian and Ma Qian walked back towards the inn, Ye Tian asked, “How many missions did you accept?” Ma Qian said, ” go take a look at your book.” Ye Tian took out his book and turned to the first few pages, then another, then another…..WTF! This Ma Qian accepted over 100 bounty missions! As long as the missions were registered with the bounty hunter’s names, the mission would appear in their books automatically regardless if another bounty hunter’s book was not physically there with the person who accepted it. As long as there was a mutual approval, partnerships or groups can join the mission. Ye Tian did not want to look at Ma Qian any further. The guy was a retarded map-maker. Ye Tian would be shocked even more if he knew that Ma Qian never read the other 98 missions he had accepted. The first two mission he read got him sleepy, so he told Wang Rong that they wanted to do the first 100 pages of the mission! Wang Rong was of course irritated and said to Ma Qian, “If Ye Tian wasn’t with you, I would’ve never approved these requests.” “If Ye Tian wasn’t with me, I would’ve yelled “Childddd MOLESSSSTERRRRR” at you,” Ma Qian responded calmly. For the first time, Ma Qian got back at Wang Rong, and she could not counter him! Back at the inn, Ye Tian and Ma Qian discussed on which missions that they should take first. The missions needed to be relatively easy and close to the city they are at right now. They needed to earn money as soon as possible. After choosing a few, they went to eat. Ma Qian was pretty useful because he has exceptional hearing skills that he developed at the brothel. He could gather information based on the conversations flowing around him and he could remember all of those conversations with great detail. This information would be included when he would create his new map of the city. As they were about to go to bed, Ye Tian said, “Ma Qian, tomorrow we will go up the hill and finish your map. This will help us to do our missions later on.” Ma Qian nodded as an agreement, as he cuddled his pillows. Both of them were excited for the upcoming days. They became bounty hunters to earn some zoids, and are about to do a mission!
Chapter 21 – Xiang Jiao Spoiler: Continue In the early morning, Ye Tian and Ma Qian prepared themselves to go towards the hill to finish Ma Qian’s map. Ye Tian had to accompany him, otherwise, he would’ve explored the city and try to gather more information. Ma Qian was certainly happy, because this time he knew he wouldn’t get lost. However he never showed a thankful expression towards Ye Tian. At the hill, there were a few people that were training or hunting weaker wild beasts. Ma Qian got busy right away trying to complete his map and include the information that he has gathered the past few days in the city. Ye Tian, meanwhile cultivated silently within a short distance from him. Noontime arrived. Ma Qian just finished completing this city’s map. On their way back to the city, they met a bunch of lowlife bandits. They could’ve beaten the gang to a pulp, but decided to run away to avoid further trouble. Unfortunately, they ran for a while trying to get rid of the bandits, they ended up inside a jungle, which they have never seen before. They decided to explore while trying to get out of the jungle. After an hour or so, they came out of the jungle, but they saw a massive waterfall……and a floating temple! This was the first temple they saw within the proximity of the city. But the problem was they couldn’t reach the temple unless they could fly. They looked down below and realized there was a person meditating on top of a rock. Ye Tian and Ma Qian looked at each other and agreed to go down below and meet that person. Ye Tian dove and was about to glide from side to side, but Ma Qian followed and flew towards Ye Tian’s back. “What the hell are you doing?” Ye Tian said in a panic. They were descending rapidly. “Can’t you fly?” Ma Qian asked naively. “Fukkkkk nrrrgghhhh,” Ye Tian yelled. Before he was able to finish what he was saying, they fell into the water. Luckily, the water pond was deep and wide. “Idioootttt! You could’ve got us killed!” Ye Tian yelled at Ma Qian. This was the first time he was really pissed at Ma Qian, but he couldn’t see where Ma Qian was. Ye Tian thought he might’ve drowned, so he dove back inside the water to search for him. A few seconds later, Ma Qian came up and jumped into the air while inhaling as much air as he could. He was lacking oxygen, but what’s worse he was lacking any clothes on! He was almost naked and only had his small underwear left. It was thin, silky pink, and looked more like a g-string! Ye Tian finally came up and the first thing he saw was Ma Qian’s butt cheeks. Such a horrible sight. Things have been going awful lately for Ye Tian. He ignored Ma Qian and saw the person meditating on top of the rock. This was the same person they saw from above the waterfall cliff. He looked slightly older than Ye Tian, but younger than Ma Qian. He wore a monk robe, bright skin, plenty of hair with sideburns, and a huge braided ponytail that almost touched the floor. The braided ponytail was so thick, it could literally hit someone and severely injure them. White circle dots were tattooed on his forehead that resembled a smiling arch. Despite the noises Ye Tian and Ma Qian made, this man was still in a serene state without opening his eyes. Ma Qian walked up to the man, and said, “Hey buddy, what’s up?” No response. “I’m Ma Qian and this is Ye Tian, can we ask you some questions?” Still no response. Ma Qian felt irritated and went closer to him to the point where his crouch was at the same eye level as the man sitting on the rock. “Hey buddy, we’re not here looking for trouble. We just need your help to find a way to get out.” No response again. The man wasn’t disturb with Ma Qian’s behavior. Ye Tian used his turn, and said, “Sir, we apologize if we have disturb you in any way. We will be on our way then.” Ye Tian pushes Ma Qian along and were about to leave until they heard a powerful an ancient voice. The voice seems like it was coming from the floating temple. “Jiao Er,” the voice calmly said. “Fuck you!” the man on top of the rock said. “Jiao Er!” the voice said again. “Suck my…..” the man responded. Baammmmm! The man that was on top of the rock got smacked into oblivion by a gigantic transparent hand. He crashed and slided on the surface of the water until he slammed into another huge rock. Ye Tian and Ma Qian were shocked, confused, and scared. Such a filthy mouth from the man who seemed so pure and monk-like. They felt the gigantic hand could crush them into a pulp easily. They kept quiet and stood there motionlessly. “Jiao Er, you are fated with these two young men. Your destiny intertwines with theirs. It’s time for you to leave this place and go on a journey with them,” the voice continued to say calmly. Meanwhile, the man struggled to stand up and was wiping his mouth from the blood. He then stared at Ye Tian and Ma Qian for several breaths. Ma Qian kind of struggled but Ye Tian didn’t feel enough pressure coming from the man. The man figured Ma Qian was at the same cultivation as him, and as for Ye Tian, he still had his doubts. He then looked up at the floating temple and said, “Master, is what you say true?” Then a gigantic bracelet bead flew towards the man. “Jiao Er, this artifact belonged to you ever since I found you as a baby. Only you could use this to its maximum potential. I believe whoever left you also purposely left this artifact to help you escape from any dangers you might face. It is also something that you can use to save people from the outside world. Go and explore the world. You are bound to do great things in this world,” the voice replied like a fortune teller. “Master. I want to stay here. I don’t like greatness. I like being mediocre,” the man tried to say convincingly. “NO!!!” the voice immediately yelled. Meanwhile the transparent hand transformed into a fist that was waiting to crush the man, but it stayed floating above. “Why?” the man asked again. No response. Everything was quiet. This kept going on for a couple of hours, until the man gave up. He bowed towards the source of the voice and walked towards Ye Tian and Ma Qian, then said, “I’m Xiang Jiao. Let’s go.” Ye Tian didn’t mind another company even if he was a bit of a weirdo. Ma Qian, on the other hand, could only think of Xiang Jiao’s name. Does his name literally means banana? The transparent hand lifted them to the the top of the waterfall cliff. As they left, Xiang Jiao was following behind them quietly with his hands palmed together like he was praying. The bracelet bead that was also floating suddenly flew to Xiang Jiao’s back. The bracelet bead was actually half the size of him and never touched him. It continued floating 6 inches away from his back rotating slowly. Ye Tian and Ma Qian looked back and did not know what to think of this bead. Such a gigantic bead floating on his back….it felt like an ultimate weapon. As their figure disappeared, a bunch of monks of all ages appeared from the floating temple. “The devil has left. We’re finally able to live at peace!” one monk exclaimed. “Yeah, that kid is crazy. He’s like a time bomb waiting to explode,” one elder said. “Everyone go back to your area and continue cultivating,” the familiar voice said. Everyone kept quiet and went back to their original places. The ancient voice whispered, “Jiao Er……please forgive me. I had to kick you out. Everyone was scared of you. Sometimes….you have the urge to be violent that you’ve beaten half of the disciples and most of the elders. I don’t know how your destiny will be….I’m no fortune teller….” “but I hope you will find out where you came from…..” After being exiled by his master, will Xiang Jiao share the same fate as Ye Tian and Ma Qian?
Chapter 22 – First mission completed! Spoiler: Continue Although he was a man of few words, Xiang Jiao guided them out of the jungle. “Left.” “Straight” “Right.” That’s all he said throughout the journey, and they followed his instructions. They finally got out of the jungle and arrived into a familiar area. Ye Tian said, “Okay, since we’re near the city, Xiang Jiao, I don’t really know what your plan is, but if you want to come along with us, you are more than welcome. However, we’re currently is need of zoids, so we’re planning to do bounty missions to earn our living. If you’re sticking with us, then we need you to register as a bounty hunter as well.” “That’s fine,” Xiang Jiao responded. All three went to the guild alliance center to get Xiang Jiao registered and tested. Wang Rong guided him since he was a part of Ye Tian’s party. A few hours later, Xiang Jiao came out of the exam with his usual monk posture. Ma Qian grabbed Xiang Jiao’s book and looked at his rank. “Xiang Jiao – S Rank Bounty Hunter.” Ma Qian was disappointed once again. He was hoping that Xiang Jiao was bit less talented than him. Why are there so many geniuses popping up everywhere now? “Ma Qian, you can keep my book,” Xiang Jiao said and walked away. He didn’t want to bother carrying such things anyway. Ma Qian turned out to be the squire of the group, but he didn’t realized it. Back inside the inn, they strategized on how they could use each others strengths to complete some of the missions most effectively. They could actually complete three missions if things goes well for tomorrow. As they finished strategizing, Xiang Jiao suddenly asked Ma Qian, “Are you gay?” “What?” “Are you gay, homosexual. Do you like boys?” Xiang Jiao asked again, but this time with more clarity. “Hell no! Why would you think that?” Ma Qian responded angrily. Xiang Jiao only nodded and did not respond any further. Ma Qian was furious. He didn’t want any misunderstandings and he wanted to be clear that he is 1000% straight as a wolf. Seeing that a conflict was about to start, Ye Tian sighed and said, “Ma Qian relax. It’s just a misunderstanding. Xiang Jiao kept seeing you grinding at Wang Rong during the exam. But there was another man besides her and it looked like you were grinding at him instead of Wang Rong.” Ma Qian felt embarrassed. He did remember there was a man close to Wang Rong, but he continued to ignore that man. How would that man have felt seeing Ma Qian grinding constantly, and it seemed like the target was him? Now that he thought over it, it was reasonable that Xiang Jiao thought of him like that. Ma Qian did not want to think any further embarrassing stuff he has done. Ignorance is bliss! “I’m not gay! There are three things that I admire the most – Zoids, Women, …..and more beautiful women!” Ma Qian emphasized before going to bed. Everyone begin to sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s mission. Morning arrived, and everyone was set and ready for the big day. All the missions they chose were to kill specific wild beast that are in the supreme dao realm cultivation, except for the last one which was at the infinite dao realm. With the team as a support and Ye Tian doing the heavy load, it should be relatively easy to complete these missions. Inside the forest, the team decided to first target the infinite dao beast. They laid out traps and and secured a couple of places to escape in case things didn’t go as planned. Ma Qian became the bait of the team. What luck? His vines have high defensive ability and can at least temporarily save him from a crisis. Ma Qian had a very gloomy face. After all, how the hell can he face an infinite dao beast when he can’t even beat a supreme dao beast? Ma Qian walked slowly without the vines. The vines would prevent the beast from biting the bait. “Ma Qian, walk faster, you coward!” Ye Tian whispered angrily while hiding high up above the tree, while Xiang Jiao was hiding in another place. “Screw you, you do it then!” Ma Qian responded quickly. A few minutes have passed, only to see Ma Qian walking baby steps one inch at a time like a geisha. He knew this was ridiculous but he was scared and nervous. After a few minutes, Ma Qian gathered up his courage and started walking normally deeper towards where the beast resides. For the next 10 minutes, Ma Qian kept on walking. Everything was as quiet as a cemetery. No other beasts was around the area, because they knew the territory was exclusive controlled by this powerful beast. Ye Tian continued surveying the scene ahead of him while Xiang Jiao was seen writing his name on a tree branch with a stone. He felt Ma Qian was some kind of gay devil, which was against his beliefs, and that kind of irritated him while on this mission. “Helppppp meeeee!” Ma Qian yells while jumping like a trampoline by summoning his vines to help him escape faster. Ye Tian sees Ma Qian running back and this is the time for him to act according to plan. Ma Qian passes by Ye Tian, who’s hiding on top of the tree, then stops at a certain location, turns around, and starts whispering a spell. The moment the infinite wild beast almost passes by Ye Tian, Ye Tian transforms into a water dragon and dives towards the wild beast. The wild beast senses danger but is too late to react. The water dragon opens his jaws and bites deeply into the infinite beast’s neck, while the beast struggles wildly until the water dragon lost the grip and crashes to the ground. While Ye Tian’s water dragon is biting the beast, Xiang Jiao starts activating his massive beads and starts rotating around his body. One bead flies near the beast and starts releasing sleeping gas. Another bead flies near the beast and transforms into multiple needles and pierces the beast’s vital areas. Then another bead flies near the beast, transforms into a gigantic pole, then continually bashes the beast’s head. His attacks won’t be enough to severely injure the beast, but it’s enough to distract, delay, and cause a few wounds. The remaining beads continue to revolve around Xiang Jiao while everything else is happening. Ma Qian raises his hands and his vines start to tie up the 3 legs of the beast. The vines forms like a rope but with the addition of curved spikes. As the vines twist around the beast’s legs, the spikes are able to cut and pierce the skin. The spikes has another special ability – poison! Anything the vines pierce will also be poisoned. But one of the beast’s legs is able to escape and whips a sonic beam towards Ma Qian. Ma Qian surrounds himself with vines that acts like a capsule shield. The beam crashes into the vines, but Ma Qian’s capsule shield can’t take further impact and flies backward until he crashes into another tree. Ye Tian, from the distance, unleashes the water dragon again and bites the beast’s jaw to avoid the beast from opening his massive jaws. Ye Tian then quickly dashes and takes out a black sword, and stabs the beast’s forehead with lightning speed. The beast’s roars become quieter and quieter after 30 seconds. The pierced forehead on the beast starts shining as it opens wider. Inside the forehead is the monster core. Once it’s taken out, the beast can no longer live. Ye Tian grabs the monster core and pulls it out of the beast’s forehead and moves back quickly, before it unleashes a red poison from the beast’s body. The beast falls to the ground heavily and no sign of life is left after the monster core was pulled out. Xiang Jiao wasn’t injured. Ye Tian was slightly injured, but Ma Qian took the heavy blow as his head was bleeding. Poor him. As they looked at the lifeless infinite dao beast, they were happy to have completed their first mission. The three legged beast had a racoon-like head where the jaws could open wider than the head. The body was about 6 meters long and had lots of white and golden furs. The eyes were golden colored and shaped like a pentagon. All of these, if extracted, would be given a nice amount of zoids if they were to be returned in good condition. Ye Tian activated his storage ring and the body of the beast was sucked into the ring. He looked at Xiang Jiao and saw he wasn’t injured. Then he looked at Ma Qian sitting on the ground lying on the tree he crashed to. Ma Qian gave him a thumbs up, and then fainted…..Ye Tian felt a bit relieved, although he was injured, half a day of rest and a healing potion would do the trick. He took out a mini crystal in which he inserted into Ma Qian’s body. This was a healing potion to help Ma Qian recover faster. He then said to Xiang Jiao, “Xiang Jiao, can you carry him while we do the next mission. I think I’ll be able to handle the supreme dao beast alone, but please continue to support me at a distance while guarding Ma Qian.” Xiang Jiao nodded. After all his job was pretty easy. He had nothing to complain when Ye Tian will be doing the whole dirty work. They moved to another place in the forest while Xiang Jiao was seen dragging Ma Qian on the ground by the foot, not carrying! First mission completed!
Chapter 23 – Pigopotomaus! Spoiler: Continue For the next couple of missions, Ye Tian was able to reign supreme over the other beasts he fought against. Xiang Jiao didn’t look interested, but he had already laid out trap arrays and was ready to support throughout the whole time Ye Tian was fighting. During this time, Xiang Jiao realized that Ye Tian was stronger than him….by quite a bit. Strong and yet humble, Xiang Jiao thought when he looked at Ye Tian. But when he looked at Ma Qian, he could only think of one thing – gay! It’s not that he had a problem with this, but he grew up in a temple and there were no intimate relationships among girls and guys. This was just something he’s not used to. He has read a couple of books that mentioned lovers between man and a woman were the norm, and lovers between men and another men or women with another women were more of a rare occurrences. Xiang Jiao thought deeply…..which one would he have chose if he was in a similar situation – being intimate with a man or a woman? Ma Qian regained his consciousness, only to see a slightly sharp and angular object just a few inches away from the front of his eyes. His vision was blurry, but by the time his vision became clearer, the sharp object have already descended quite a bit. “You’re awake,” Xiang Jiao said. He was still thinking about those intimate books he came across, which released something that he had never experienced before. He always thought that little snake below him was always dead. Never did he thought it could become bigger. He felt a bit happy inside, which turned his mood more positively. Since Ma Qian couldn’t see clearly, he didn’t think anything of it. Ma Qian asked, “Are we able to finish the other two missions?” “Don’t worry, Ye Tian is taking care of it. We’re actually on our last mission and he should be done in a few moments,” Xiang Jiao replied while watching the battle cautiously. Ma Qian got up as he watched Ye Tian battle. He was getting prepared to summon his vines to support Ye Tian, but a few breaths later, a painful sound was heard. “Auuuurrgg, aurgrhhh, aurrghgh.” The sound came from the beast. She was on her last breath staring at Ye Tian with so much hatred. A little while later, she fell to the ground without moving ever again. Ye Tian collected the monster core and put the body inside the storage ring. Xiang Jiao and Ma Qian walked towards him, and said, “Great job!” “No big deal, the first mission was the most difficult one and I couldn’t have done it without your help,” Ye Tian responded. Although he felt a bit annoyed that he had to do all the heavy work, he understood the others were weaker than him. Now it was time to head back towards the city, so they can collect their first rewards from the guild centre. Things went smoothly for a few miles until they felt the ground shaking. It felt like a giant was approaching them. Ma Qian communicated with his vines from the underground, shocked to the bones. “Shit…run now! a wild beast much stronger than an infinite dao realm is coming towards us,” Ma Qian warned quickly. The group ran as quickly as they could. They needed to get out of the forest, because most often wild beasts won’t come out of the forest. The forest provided a better environment for the wild beasts to cultivate and nurture than the outside world. They kept running but the beast was getting closer and closer! They knew they couldn’t make it out of the forest in time, so they started to prepare their strongest attacks and took out some life-saving artifacts. A new battle begins, but this time their life is on the line! Ma Qian summons all the vines he could muster and merge it into one incredibly strong circular shield with curved spikes around it. Xiang Jiao summons his beads. The beads from his back begin to separate into two bracelets and surround Xiang Jiao’s forearms. The bracelet beads start to spin rapidly looking like a glowing halo. Ye Tian summons a flame wall and water swords appear floating in the air waiting to strike their target. The beast continues to head towards Ye Tian’s group. The beast had the face of a black bull with two horns on the forehead and another curved horn on the chin area. His body was shaped like a white snake measuring at 10 meters long with a tail that’s shaped like a black scythe. Beneath the body, there were several mouths ready to eat its prey! This beast was recorded as the “King Earth Bull,” with a similar cultivation at the peak of the infinite dao realm. The beast charges forward and passes through the fire with minimal burn injuries to his body. Xiang Jiao dashes forward bravely while his halo beads are spinning like crazy. The spinning halo has a screeching-like sound to the ears. Xiang Jiao’s beads are gathering massive energy power until he was close to the beast, then punches forward 10 meters away from the beast. Halo beams start shooting out and hits the eyes of the beast. “Roarrrr.” The beast feels the pain and uses his forehead horns to stab at Xiang Jiao, but luckily Ma Qian arrives in front of Xiang Jiao with his vine shields and blocks the horns. The vine shield disintegrates from the heavy impact. Both Xiang Jiao and Ma Qian flies backward heavily, but Ma Qian is already whispering where his vine shield reforms and starts spinning. The vine shield spins, shoots forward, and cuts one of the forehead horns in half and gets stuck cutting halfway at the other horn. Ye Tian showers the beast with his water swords like a falling stars. Boom. Baam. Boom…booom…..bammm…booomm. Some of the water swords are deflected and explodes to the ground. A few of them is able to cut deep skins on the beast’s body and face. Although the beast is cut and is injured, it is too powerful. Ye Tian then unleashes the water dragon and bites into one of the legs while Xiang Jiao dashes forward again protected by Ma Qian’s vines. This time Xiang Jiao punches the beast’s forehead. As it touches, the halo beads makes a unique trembling sound. WHimm….whimmmmmm………..KABOOMMMMMM! The energy unleashes like a nuclear impact. The ground shakes, the beast feels his mind is about to explode from the immense pressure of the halo beam, then crashes to the ground violently. However, the beast tries to counter with a tail swipe but Xiang Jiao uses his other arm where the halo beads makes another pressuring sound that pushes him off away from the beast like a rocket. The halo beads has multiple functions, with one of them giving Xiang Jiao a temporary speed boost towards any direction. The beast summons his scythe tail and almost cuts the water dragon in half. But the water dragon reacts quickly in time and releases his bite, but snaps at the incoming scythe tail. However, the current motion causes the water dragon to be off balance and crashes to another area. All three are out of energy because they have spent all their energy defending for their lives, but it was not enough. The beast stands up again after recovering from the dizziness and targets Ye Tian. Ma Qian unleashes a web of vines but the beast breaks through it. Xiang Jiao pounds the ground and the earth erects a spiked wall, but the beast is able to break through again. Ye Tian is on one knee and knows he has nothing to counter, but he remembers the time he met Tian Ren from the other dimension. “Hahaha, don’t worry. This pearl is integrated with your heart. If you call upon it, a heavenly divine beast will come out and help you. At the least, it will help you escape for sure,” Tian Ren confidently said. Ye Tian, closes his eyes and calls upon the divine beast from his heart. The sky suddenly turns white, and lightning starts appearing. The clouds starts rotating like a whirlpool and forms a word, “Heavenly Beast.” A huge purple lightning pierces through the cloudy word and strikes the ground. Sparks flow through the air current, and a heavy mist is surrounding a small area. Vr……..VRoommmmmm! Unable to see clearly through the mist and sparks. A shadow of a gigantic Liger appears with a massive body, muscular legs and arms, tail of a dragon! Snoorrrkkkkkkkkkk! The beast walks outside the the foggy area. Now everyone can see the beast! Ye Tian looks speechless. Xiang Jiao feels helpless. Ma Qian’s eyes are felt with extreme intense. As the beast started to walk into visibility, the head appeared like a white-colored pig. Next appeared the body, which looked like a miniature version of a hippopotamus but with small wings. Then a small tail appeared that kept twirling like a helicopter. This beast walked slowly forward like he was the king! The aura that was supposed to be like a divine beast was not there. “Snorrkkkkkk, hufff, hufff.” This heavenly divine beast, the heavens call him, “Pigopotomaus!”
WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS! Chapter 24 -Bad Boy Spoiler: Continue “Snorkkkkkk” The divine beast looked at Ye Tian. He knew Ye Tian was his master right away. He wanted to say, “Damn, this kid is just a weakling. How can I, a divine beast, be summoned for stupid stuff like this! The heavens must be desperate….oh well, I’ll just get rid of that weakling beast so I can go back to sleep again.” Note: I will call the divine beast as PIPO. The wild beast stands there not knowing what to do. He can’t figure out if this Pipo is stronger than him or not. However, at this moment Pipo disappears from his original place. Everyone can feel the air vibrations. Suddenly, Pipo reappears at the side of the wild beast with his tail transforming into a huge flail that is three times bigger than his own figure! The flail pulverizes the wild beast and he crashes to the ground violently, but not before the wild beast swinging his scythe tail towards. The tail smashes Pipo into another tree. “Snirrrkkkkk. I’m a bit rusty….my senses and instinct are like those retarded boys over there. I need to regain my original powers back as quickly as possible,” Pipo concluded. Pipo becomes more serious and takes a first step before disappearing again. Half a breath later, he appears at the same spot and hammers the same spot again. The wild beast retaliates in pain, then swings his scythe tail trying to stab Pipo, but Pipo vanishes again, and the tail swings nothing but air. The momentum of the tail ends up stabbing his own rib cage. Pipo reappears on the other side with his tail transforming into three spears, then quickly stabs the wild beast but it’s only able to pierce slightly deeper than the beast’s thick skin. WHAMMM. The wild beast kicks Pipo to the side. Pipo flies away smashing multiple trees along the way. He hasn’t fought for a very long time….. probably since ancient times. His strength, speed, instinct, and senses are currently dull, and he needs to fight more battles to regain his original power. “Fudge! This pig is useless,” Ye Tian and the others thought in their minds. Ever since the battle started with the pig and the wild beast, the others tried to follow closely behind Pipo. When Pipo gets slammed to the ground, they follow behind him quietly. After all, that pig was their last hope to survive……and their first line of defense! Pipo furiously regains his balance and disappears again. A breath later, Pipo can be seen in the sky flipping while his tail has formed into an enormous blazing hammer. On the bottom of that hammer, there was a glowing circle with the ancient word “Hell Crush.” BOOOOMMM. The blazing attack hammers down onto the wild beast with such immense strength that the impact causes the ground to rumble and the surrounding air to become chaotic. “Shriiekkekkkkk………” The wild beast was smashed into a meat pulp, and rested for eternity. The nearby areas sank deeper into the ground and became abnormally hot. After the battle was over, Pipo looked at Ye Tian, Xiang Jiao, then Ma Qian as he was evaluating each individual. Pipo’s eyes rolled in disappointment, then jumped towards the sky and disappeared magically….although, he only jumped three inches off the ground. His body was too heavy! “Was that thing your pet?” Ma Qian asked, while Xiang Jiao looked at him as well. No response. Inside Ye Tian’s mind, he felt embarrassed, furious, and shocked. “Let’s get the monster core. We can use this to enhance our cultivation,” Ye Tian said while ignoring to answer the question. Luckily, the head wasn’t smashed like the body was. The remaining of the body could also be sold for a bargain. The three missions they’ve selected were all completed. By luck, good or bad, another bonus was that they were able to obtain the monster core of the peak infinite dao realm. With their current cultivation, they could use this massive energy core to increase their cultivation. They went back to the guild branch. On the way, they all kept quiet not knowing what to say. They could only see Ye Tian was in a bad mood. “Not bad. Three bounty missions completed. Two three stars and one four star missions. Wait….what? you also killed a peak infinite dao beast?” Wang Rong asked. The party already arrived and headed directly to the guild branch to collect their rewards. “That’s right, I killed that little beast. No biggie,” Ma Qian tried to impress her. “Ms. Wang Rong, we just got lucky. Someone else killed it and left the body there,” Xiang Jiao told the truth. Wang Rong glanced at Ye Tian for an answer, only to see Ye Tian nodded without speaking a word. Wang Rong felt something was odd with Ye Tian. He was usually very well-mannered, so she didn’t want to ask any further. “Alright, here’s 50,000 zoids for the missions you’ve completed. And another 20,000 zoids for the peak infinite dao beast. It’s unfortunate….if it was still in good condition, it could’ve gotten around 60,000-80,000 zoids. This is your card and all your zoids are stored in here. You can use it to make transactions throughout this world,” Wang Rong explained and gave them the card. She continued, “By the way, we sell armors, weapons, martial scrolls, potions, and other stuff that you might need for future missions. Just go to the second to fourth floor. You’ll find some interesting stuff.” “Ms. Wang Rong, may I exchange 1,000 zoids in physical form. You can subtract it from the card,” Xiang Jiao asked. Wang Rong gave Xiang Jiao 1,000 zoids. The zoids looked like bright diamonds with holes in the middle, and there were 10 of them, each equaling 100 zoids. Xiang Jiao then took out a golden string and inserted it between the zoids. Now all the zoids are hung on the string, where Xiang Jiao hung it on his neck….Bling, Bling! “I’m going back to the inn. If you guys want to look at the upper floors, make sure you leave 40,000 zoids on the card,” Ye Tian said, and left the building. Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao decided to go up to the second floor before Ma Qian left a love letter to Wang Rong. On the second floor, there were security guards checking their identity, because all the items here were exclusively for guild members and a few special guest with powerful backgrounds. Xiang Jiao had to split his massive beads into arm and ankle bracelets. The second floor sold armors and weapons. As they passed by different people and vendors, Xiang Jiao got their attention with the bling bling hanging on his neck. Everyone thought, was he someone famous? Meanwhile, Ma Qian was looking for some armors he needed badly after getting beaten unconscious inside the forest. “How much is this?” “10,000 zoids.” “What? Are you crazy. Do you think we look like fools?” “Yes, I do actually.” Ma Qian became furious, but luckily Xiang Jiao took a chance in negotiating. “Lady butterfly, my friend and I are in need of some armors. My friend looks dumb, but he’s a righteous person. As for me…..it is true that I’m lacking. I have been living in the temple all my life and have never experienced the outside world until these past few days. And in these past few days, only you resemble the purple butterfly that I’ve been fond of during my temple days,” Xiang Jiao said with a bashful cheek while scratching his head. Ma Qian was speechless. He never thought this monk had a natural way of enticing others, and most important of all he felt wronged to be accused of being dumb. People’s first impression of Xiang Jiao was that he looked intimidating with the long braided pony tail and the forehead mark he had. But he had always negate that impression while walking with his head down and his hands palmed together like a peaceful monk. “Oh Sirrr, I was mistaken. I did not mean to insult you. When I looked at you, I knew you were a righteous person. What I said earlier, was towards that other man” the lady said. She was enamored by Xiang Jiao’s humble words and uniquely handsome looks after getting a close look at him. Monks were usually bald, but not Xiang Jiao. He certainly carried a different aura with that intimidating hair and sharp facial features. If he wasn’t wearing a robe monk, many people would’ve assumed he was a powerful warrior that was from a high noble birth. Many would say he’s like the bad boy version of a monk. Peaceful yet violent. Quiet yet rebellious. Shy yet quite the charmer. You just don’t know what you’re going to get with this guy!
AND LOTS OF PRESENTS! Chapter 25 – Heaven’s Call Spoiler: Continue The lady was enamored with Xiang Jiao’s words, but when Xiang Jiao tried to lower the price, the lady unexpectedly refused to yield. Xiang Jiao sighed, palmed his hands together, lowered his head, turned around, then whispered, “…..Bitch” Luckily, the lady couldn’t hear clearly, but Ma Qian did and could only smile. He’s never met anyone like Xiang Jiao in his life. Ma Qian tried again to negotiate but the lady was like a pro. They had no choice to leave the store and looked for other alternatives. After going to a few places, they were able to find another vendor that were selling some armors crafted with special spells on it. Another negotiation war ensued. Who won doesn’t matter, but both parties had sweats all over their faces and a very dark aura surrounding them after the transaction was completed. They continued to check the other floors. Meanwhile, at a local library, Ye Tian had an extremely unsightly look and was eager to look for answers. He looked at the different books he could get his hands on trying to find any clues on any of the divine beasts that have been recorded throughout history, but he could found nothing on that pig!. He went back to the inn and still felt irritated until he thought of something. He went to his bed, then started cultivating. Several breaths later, his consciousness flew into another dimension where he met the pudgy old man. Ye Tian walked up to him at a fast pace. “Ahhh, Ye Tian! Didn’t you believe me? The divine beast was great, wasn’t it,” Tian Ren said while giving a welcoming posture. “Great, my ass!” Ye Tian replied hurriedly. WHAMMM! Ye Tian started beating the pudgy old man! A shocking and anger look could be seen on Tian Ren’s face. Tian Ren started fighting back. BAM…BOOOMM “Ahhhh” “Urghhhh.” “You, piece of shit liar.” WHAMMMM. “You…..you…ungrateful kid. I never lied to you….” BAMMM! This was an all out brawl! Nothing fancy. No magic or skills were involved. Only punches, biting, hair pulling, kicking, elbowing, and head butting were used. This went on for quiet a long time until they were starting to get tired. Meanwhile at the guild. Xiang Jiao and Ma Qian were negotiating with other vendors intensively. “7,000 each. We buy 3 for a total of 21,000 zoids,” Ma Qian offered. “No can do. 10,000 each,” the vendor replied. “Look, this scroll is missing some parts. Lower the price and we’ll buy it.” Xiang Jiao said. Before they went to this vendor, they came up with a plan. The plan was for Ma Qian to distract the vendor, while Xiang Jiao pretended to check out the scrolls. He was actually trying to memorize all of it without paying. On another occasion, Xiang Jiao distracted another vendor, while Ma Qian ripped a part of the scroll that he memorized, then told the vendor that the scroll was damaged. After a few hours of shopping, Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao went back to the inn and arrived at their room. They bought a lot of stuff. Armors, weapons, potions, and some scrolls could be seen from their collection. They were in a happy mood after all the negotiating they did…..they were also kicked out of the building for interfering with some of the vendor’s customers who wanted to purchase the same thing they did. Some of the customers were willing to pay the asking price, but not them. So they acted despicably again until the vendor got sick of it and sold the items for a bargain. Eventually, some of the victims, or vendors, complained to the guild of these two gangsters. As they laid down their shopping collection, they wanted to let Ye Tian know about it, but he was seen sitting cross-legged while cultivating. They took a closer look at Ye Tian, because they didn’t believe what was going on with Ye Tian. They saw Ye Tian’s nose started bleeding, and a bruise started appearing on one of his eyes! Xiang Jiao and Ma Qian looked at each other dumbfounded. Xiang Jiao started tapping Ye Tian, but there was no response. Ma Qian started shaking him lightly, but there was still no response. Xiang Jiao checked his pulse, so they knew Ye Tian was still alive. Then Xiang Jiao slapped Ye Tian on the face lightly, and there was still no response. Ma Qian slapped harder, and still no response! Xiang Jiao suddenly thought of an idea. “Let us use this opportunity to practice some of the new skills we just bought!” Xiang Jiao said. He selected one of the scrolls he bought earlier. He read the scrolls for a few moments, then shook his head after understanding the main principle of it. He walked in front of Ye Tian, closed his eyes, focused on his technique, and then….. Bammmm! Xiang Jiao punched Ye Tian’s body! He was practicing his new skill and his target was Ye Tian! Ma Qian also read one of the scrolls. After understanding the basics, he also practiced his new skill with Ye Tian being the target. They took turns for a while until they felt it was enough, but it was more likely that they could see Ye Tian’s mouth was coughing up blood like crazy. Meanwhile, Ye Tian was almost done fighting with Tian Ren. After the fight, Ye Tian stared at Tian Ren. Both were bleeding from their noses, bruises showed on their bodies. Tian Ren was holding his face like he had been wrongly beaten. “You little rascal. Why did you beat me? Didn’t my divine beast saved you from danger?” Tian Ren repeatedly asked. He knew the divine beast had been summoned and battled another beast saving Ye Tian and the others from danger. “It’s a damn fat pig! How can that be a divine beast” Ye Tian replied furiously. “So what if it’s a pig. Besides, he’s a pigopotamaus! Don’t underestimate him. I’ve groomed him since he was born and he could even kill immortal dao cultivators!” Tian Ren said proudly. “Bullshit! He could barely fight against that infinite dao beast!” Ye Tian yelled back. “He’s a bit rusty…..he just needs more battles to regain his natural powers,” Tian Ren said with a guilty face. He did see the battle and saw the pig was struggling a bit even though he was in another dimension. “Forget about that fat pig. I want to ask you what other special powers can this pearl in my heart do” Ye Tian quickly changed the subject. Tian Ren tried to recall what the pearl can do. After all, no one have used it in a very, very long time. “There is one other skill, but you need to be at least in the peak of supreme dao realm to use the skill. You also need the wooden sword you have with you in order to summon the skill. It’s called “Heaven’s Call.” “Don’t underestimate it. If you know how to use it, it can destroy cities, civilizations, or anyone in the planet. As long as you direct it to kill a specific target, then it will only aim for that specific target without harming anything else. Otherwise, it can also be used as a wide area attack with the same devastating results.” After Tian Ren explained, he handed a jade slip to Ye Tian. That slip was the secrets to learn the skill. “Another question, why is it after this pearl was integrated with my heart, my cultivation progress have been slowed down significantly?” Ye Tian curiously asked. He’s been cultivating with some of the monster cores he had, but the increases weren’t even detectable. “When you almost died in your village, the only way to save you was with that pearl. Besides healing your severe wounds, the pearl activated and protected you from the extreme flames. Since the pearl have integrated with your heart, you can no longer cultivate above the supreme dao realm…..also……also….you only have 10 years left to live.” Tian Ren said but near the end, his tone of voice was almost like a whisper. “WHAT!!!!!” Ye Tian yelled. He was ready to attack Tian Ren again. “You can still reach the peak of the supreme dao realm. Relax. I can teach you how to fight against infinite, heavenly, or even immortal dao fighters. I’m the great Tian Ren! When there’s an obstacle, Tian Ren can always find a way out!” Tian Ren proudly said while thumping his chest. Instantly, Ye Tian stood up in a form of torpedo with his feet aiming to kill Tian Ren at lightning speed! Kaboom! Tian Ren smashed into one of the walls instantly. Ye Tian was no longer interested in even looking at Tian Ren. He left the dimension. As he was about to leave, Tian Ren furiously yelled. “You…you….you’re even more despicable than your ancestor. I’ve never thought that I would meet someone more shameless than your first Patriarch, but you’re the worst…BY FAR!!!!
Chapter 26 – Steps To The Heaven Spoiler: Continue Ye Tian looked back at Tian Ren before leaving the dimension. Everyone knew who the first patriarch was in the village. He was the founder of the clan, but no one knew what he was like in terms of personality and behavior. When Tian Ren mentioned about the first patriarch, it was bit shocking and puzzling to Ye Tian, because even the village had very little information about him. The moment Ye Tian regained his consciousness, he opened his eyes, but he felt painfully miserable. He knew he had some bruises from fighting with Ye Tian, but why the extra bruises that he didn’t recall? His face was swollen and his body was aching in more areas than he suffered at the other dimension. He looked around the room, only to see Xiang Jiao and Ma Qian who was already sleeping peacefully. Ye Tian thought, “Did they do this to me?” This was his instinct but he had no prove! He didn’t want to think of this matter right now. He was trying to recall what Tian Ren said to him about his cultivation and the first patriarch. Inside the special dimension, Pipo appeared in front of Tian Ren. In that moment, Tian Ren kicked him right away with a giant transparent foot made of clouds. “Snorkkk.” “What was that for master? That hurts,” Pipo said. Tian Ren was still holding his face softly while staring vehemently at Pipo. Pipo knew he did something bad, but didn’t know exactly what he did that made his master mad. “Master, I’ve gotta admit, that Ye Tian kid is pretty good…..even better than that Ye Pa (Scaredy Leaf) punk. Wait….Ye…Ye……are they related?” Pipo curiously asked. “It’s his descendant, but this one….this one is much more troublesome than the first one!” Tian Ren sighed. “Snorkkk, snorkkkk, he ain’t bad. He’s weak right now, but him and his friends are actually strong if they fight against the same level cultivators. They could even hold for quite a long time against that infinite dao beast, not bad…not bad at all” Pipo replied. “I’ve given the Ye clan some of the best martial skills this world can offer, so that they can protect some of the heaven’s treasures from being used for evil purposes. I gave Ye Pa these treasures, because I thought no one could ever take it away from him or his clan. The Ye clan possess a very rare bloodline that enables them to be supreme in different types of battles. Furthermore, they have a very strong comprehension that enables them to be superior in learning any martial dao. But I asked them to protect these treasures was because they were unparalleled in craftiness and shamelessness. They’ve never killed innocent people, but they somehow always get what they want,” Tian Ren explained after recalling the first time he met Ye Pa! He got tricked a few times by Ye Pa. How can that happen? Tian Ren continued to sighed, “One of the immortal treasure have been stolen by someone. I’m afraid if they knew about this pearl treasure, then Ye Tian would be in real danger……It’s a shame, he’s only at the supreme dao realm. If he was at the Immortal or even the heavenly dao realm, I wouldn’t be too worried. That Ye Pa was already at the immortal dao realm when this pearl merged with him. He was the sole reason that some ancient civilizations and families have still survived till today from that apocalyptic battle….” In the real world, Ye Tian was thinking about the first patriarch. Was he really shameless? He thought carefully and recalled that his parents and other clansmen were indeed a bit shameless when they were dealing with outsiders during the few journey he went with his parents or other elders. “Maybe what that old fart said was kind of true,” Ye Tian thought. He wanted to ask Tian Ren about the first patriarch, but this wasn’t the most appropriate time after their epic battle. Ye Tian took out the jade slip to see if he can gain some insight on this skill called, “Heaven’s Call.” He still couldn’t accept the fact that he would be stuck in the supreme dao realm for the remaining part of his life, which is only 10 years left! He needed to find out who masterminded the massacre of his village before time runs out, and this “Heaven’s Call” skill might be his ultimate weapon! As he was falling asleep, he murmured, “In 10 years…10….10 years.” Xiang Jiao and Ma Qian was pretending to sleep, so they heard Ye Tian murmuring these words. They tried to decipher the meaning of this, but couldn’t. However, they knew this was something extremely important, especially to Ye Tian. The next morning, Ye Tian woke up only to see stuff all over the floor and on the tables. Ma Qian was polishing his armor. Xiang Jiao was reading his scrolls. “How much did you guys spent?” Ye Tian worriedly asked. Ma Qian ignored the question, then said, “Ye Tian, we bought an armor for you.” Xiang Jiao added, “And some martial skill scrolls.” “How much?” Ye Tian didn’t care and asked again. “Look, this armor is so nice. This is the best one we got for you. It increases your strength by 30%,” Ma Qian continued explaining. “HOW MUCH!?” Ye Tian asked like he was yelling. Xiang Jiao threw the card at Ye Tian. Ye Tian slipped his conscious into the card and went into a rage. “How the hell did you guys spend 75,000 zoids on these craps! We only got 5,000 left for our next journey. Are you guys dumb or stupid?” Ye Tian yelled. Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao were both quiet. They recalled a similar experience when their auntie or master told them off like a little kid who just got in trouble except this time they were told off by someone younger than them. Ma Qian didn’t want to say anything further. He knew he was guilty of overspending and he had no control of his spending habits. But Xiang Jiao tried to respond, “Ye Tian, this will help….” “SHUT UP!” Ye Tian instantly interfered. For whatever reason, Xiang Jiao kept quiet. He was usually the type of person to retaliate, but after witnessing Ye Tian’s combat ability, he knew only he would be the one on the ground if they were to fight. There was a sense of fear, but also respect and admiration for Ye Tian. “Let me see what you guys bought!” Ye Tian continued. They all gave him all the things they bought while Ye Tian calculated all the prices. After calculating everything in hand, the total didn’t match with all the accumulated products. Ye Tian stared both of them viciously. “It’s missing something. The calculations don’t match,” Ye Tian explained. He continued to stare at them sternly until someone gave in. Xiang Jiao handed a scroll from his sleeves to Ye Tian. Ye Tian took a look at the scroll, then kept looking at Xiang Jiao. Xiang Jiao just closed his eyes to ignore Ye Tian’s continuous glares. After some time, Ye Tian gave the scroll back to Xiang Jiao. Ma Qian tried to sneak in one of the scrolls that was laid out on the floor to one of his sleeves, but Ye Tian caught him on the act. “Why does he get to keep one and I don’t,” Ma Qian childishly asked. Ye Tian didn’t respond. He took a careful look at some of the stuff they bought . He was more interested in the martial skill scrolls. One that caught his attention was a martial skill scroll called, “Steps To The Heaven.” This skill provided a compounded boost in strength, speed, and power for every step they take. The first step provided a 5% increase in overall ability, 10% for the next step, 15% for the third step, 20% for the fourth step, 25% for the fifth step, 30% for the sixth step, 50% for the seventh step, and unknown for the eight step. For the second step and onward, the increase would be more than 15%! For a cultivator to master and utilize these 8 steps, each step requires the individual to gain enlightenment in their dao. It has to be a profound enlightenment for each step. Ye Tian wondered about the eight step as it was unknown. That means no one has mastered the eight step. Ma Qian collected his armor and other scrolls after being approved by the team. He then left the room to sell his maps. After he left, Xiang Jiao followed suit, but before going out of the room, he said to Ye Tian, “Thanks.” Ye Tian looked at Xiang Jiao’s back as he disappeared. What the hell is wrong with this guy, Ye Tian thought. The scroll that he gave back to Xiang Jiao wasn’t actually a martial dao skill, but it had paintings of naked men and women, something similar to the Karma Sutra!
Chapter 27 – All These Guys Are Flirting With Me Spoiler: Continue For the next few days, Ma Qian sold some of his copied maps to earn some side money. Xiang Jiao was also able to make some money by sitting in the center of the city with a bowl hoping for by-passers to donate some money to him. Of course, he stored his bling bling away before doing this. They knew they screwed up with their uncontrollable shopping habits. Making extra money on the side would help the group to go on with their next journey, whichever road that might take them to. The world was vast and traveling from one continent to another would take a lifetime if the person did not use any flying ships, transportation altars, or cloud streams. The first two required a hefty sum of zoids, which only left the group with the last choice. They needed to move to the capital Kingdom of Shui, which was about a day away from United Temples City. As they left the city riding the huge turtle, they were also hunting for other smaller wild beasts to use to travel the cloud stream. When they found easy preys, they would use it as bait to prey on bigger targets. Fortune was on their side that day when they were able to capture 5 white falcons while crossing the wild desert. The falcons were considered pretty huge at 6 meters long and 8 meters wide of their wings were spread out. They were known to be fast and very mobile in air combat. Most of the falcons had grey-colored eye spots accompanied with other grey spots found in different areas of their body. Their legs were similar to a tigers legs that would enable them to take long strides on the ground. Capturing these falcons caused the group a heavy price. What they thought were easy prey didn’t turn out to be easy at all! All of them were bandaged heavily. Ma Qian had half of his hair shaved after escaping the claws of the falcons. Ye Tian had his face brutally beaten. Xiang Jiao had it worse, he broke many parts of his body after falling from such great heights trying to capture one of the falcons that were flying. Fortunately, they found a small oasis where they decided to postpone their journey until they recovered. Ma Qian was designated to hunt some wild animals for food. While he was hunting for food, he heard a singing voice. He decided to take a look as the voice was very very feminine and captivating. As he was passing by, there was a pond behind one of the bushes. He could see the back of a naked figure with soft shiny skin, silky smooth black hair, firm butt cheeks, with a flawless curvy back. Ma Qian gulped and decided this would be a good opportunity for Ye Tian to see his first naked woman. He hurriedly went back. “Hey, virgin boy! Come, you’re gonna love this….naked woman…..beautiful naked woman!” Ma Qian said directing his words to Ye Tian, but both Ye Tian and Xiang Jiao looked at him when he said “Virgin boy.” Ma Qian felt their stares, then rephrased his words, “Okay, virgin boys.” Ma Qian had to drag Ye Tian, while Xiang Jiao voluntarily went. They arrived at the scene. The alluring singing voice caused them to weaken while they continued watching the back of the figure. Suddenly, someone made a sound, which caused the nude figure to turn around and screamed. “Ahhhhhh.” “Arrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” However, what the group saw also made them screamed, then turned around to flee like a bunch of herds. The nude figure almost ran, but since he saw the others running, he decided to stay. The bottom part was censored. “You piece of shit, we’re not like you! We don’t care if you’re like that but don’t drag us into this hobby of yours. You couldn’t even tell the difference between a man and a woman. You’re a damn fudging virgin too!” Xiang Jiao furiously yelled at Ma Qian. “Look, I didn’t know. Besides, you didn’t know either until he turned around. His back was like a woman’s back!” Ma Qian guiltily replied. Ye Tian didn’t even say anything. He covered his eyes with his hands while running away. He was almost in tears. The first naked figure he saw was a man! Ever since he met Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao, life has been pretty awful. He opened his eyes and stared at Ma Qian viciously with killing intent. Ma Qian felt Ye Tian’s glare and Xiang Jiao’s. He knew he was in deep shit this time. He wanted to sleep, but throughout the night, Ma Qian could only feel the death stares of Ye Tian and Xiang Jiao. Somehow Ma Qian could finally relax after seeing the other two falling asleep. A few moments later, he also fell asleep. Everything was quiet except Ye Tian suddenly opened his eyes. He stared at Ma Qian, then took out a sandy powder. He walked towards Ma Qian, then poured the powder all over his body. Ma Qian was so tired, he couldn’t feel anything. Ye Tian went back to sleep feeling a bit relieved. A few moments later, Xiang Jiao woke up……he then stood up and walked towards Ma Qian. A bead flew in front of him. He whispered a spell where the the bead opened up dropping a drop of liquid on Ma Qian’s forehead. A spell craft emerged on Ma Qian’s forehead, but Ma Qian couldn’t feel anything. Xiang Jiao smiled, then went back to sleep just like Ye Tian did. All three can be seen smiling as they were sleeping comfortably while trying to forget this horrible night caused by Ma Qian. By the next day, everyone’s wounds were all healed up. They prepared to continue to travel to the capital with their turtle. Ma Qian felt a bit itchy on his chest, but later on the itchiness spread out to all over his body. He was scratching everywhere leaving red scratch marks all over his chest and back. “Hey, how come you guys aren’t itchy and I am?” Ma Qian confusedly asked. “Maybe you haven’t taken a shower…..” Ye Tian replied while studying his scrolls. Throughout the journey, only endless itchiness almost caused Ma Qian to go insane. Rolling over here and there, and even using his knife to scratch some areas. Thin cuts with dots of bloods were coming out slowly. Luckily, they arrived at the capital and rented a room at the nearest inn. Ma Qian quickly went to the hot springs and cleaned up his wounds. By then, all that itchy powder Ye Tian poured on him have been washed off. He felt relieved, but he still didn’t know why he was the only one that was itchy throughout the whole journey. “Hey, are you coming with us? We’re gonna take a look around before we leave for the cloud stream,” Ye Tian asked while looking at Ma Qian half naked. After the nightmarish incident from the day before, he didn’t think it could get any worse than that. “Yeah, let me get dressed up first,” Ma Qian replied. They explored the capital to gain some new information. They also went to the guild center to check for other new missions. But somehow along the way, Ma Qian attracted many men flirting with him while his forehead had a little glow mark that was similar to what Xiang Jiao used on him the day before. Some touched him softly, some even smacked his butt that caused him to beat some of the guys furiously. “What the hell is going on? First I felt really itchy, then all these guys are flirting with me……” Ma Qian murmured. He realized that throughout the whole time, he was in front of the gang. It was usually Ye Tian in front. Even more surprising was that they were always on the far side of the road with a devilish smile whenever there were guys flirting with him! He didn’t know exactly what kind of curse he had, but he knew that Ye Tian and Xiang Jiao were definitely the perpetrators! He pushed some of the guys that were close to him and ran away while saying, “You bastards, what did you guys do to me?” Nevertheless, he was still chased by some dudes that were big, small, rough, or gentle in stature. Ye Tian and Xiang Jiao felt a sense of happiness in their heart, but they still followed closely behind.
Chapter 28 – Lin Yang, The Fallen Noble Spoiler: Continue The chase went until the next morning when the spell on his forehead started to wane. Ma Qian was deadly exhausted with all that running until he saw a young man kneeling and kowtowing towards a recently burned house. The house was actually a mansion, but everything turned into nothing but ash. Just what happened? “Father, when it was time for me to support you, I didn’t believe you. When others said you were a bad and tempered person, I believed them without investigating the facts. I was naive…..I was immature….and I was stupid. The day that I could no longer see you was the day I realized how much you have given me….how much you have sacrificed for the family…..and how much you continued providing for the family without the support or trust of the the family. Father, I realized how sad you were. I realized the pain of betrayal you’ve carried after helping those ungrateful people,” the young man said while crying in tears. He was recalling his memories, the good and the bad. He continued, “If I could change back the time I would……, I would have done things differently but the heavens will never allow this. I have always wanted to help you, but my ignorance and the distrust that I had for you have only made you suffer all this time. I saw your aged face disappointed in me, and yet I still sensed the care you have for me. I saw your angry face, but you have always pardon my mistakes.” “At one point, I looked down on you, believing what others had said about you. I believed I could fly on my own and proved to you when I come back stronger. But….I realized that it was too late…..I realized that behind the scenes, you’ve made great sacrifices for the family.” “These regrets….I wished for you to give me another chance, but what good is it for if you’re no longer here by my side. This heavy sin, I will carry and embrace it all my life as a reminder of how great of a father you were to me and how great of a person you are to others. I will change…..I believe in good karma…..I will make it happen……I will make sure when you are reincarnated, you will be loved by your parents, your siblings, your wife, and your children! For now, I wish for you to let go of that burden and pain, and I will endure all of that while living in this world. I, at least, owe you that commitment. I wish for you to rest peacefully without further suffering. I want to see you joyfully smile looking ahead at the heavens!” The young man bowed ten times slowly while on his knees. The last bow was an eternal bow of gratefulness. At this moment, the wind blew slightly. Somewhere in the sky, two ancient eyes looked down on the young man with tears. They were tears of worry, regret, forgiveness, and undying love. An old voice could be heard, “Take care, my child….” The echo of that voice was carried by the slight wind all the way to the place where the young man was bowing. Within the burned areas, a baby flower bloomed, a miracle unaffected by the flames. A fallen leaf swayed from left to right until it fell on the young man’s hand. The sun shone brighter within that area as it was giving more energy than usual. Approval….this was an approval by the ancient eyes that disappeared a moment ago. The young man felt a tremor throughout his body as he looked at his surroundings with watery eyes. He smiled because he could feel this was a parting gift message from his father! Within a short distance Ma Qian clasped his hands and bowed towards the burned house. And a distance away from him, Ye Tian and Xiang Jiao also clasped their hands and bowed towards the same area. They have heard everything the young man have said, and even they could feel the genuine feeling he had for his father. Ye Tian could feel the young man’s pain after having similar experiences. The young man continued kneeling there without a sound while recalling memories of his father. Ma Qian and the others decided to walk up to him to try to console the young man. After all, they all share something in common – No parents. “Hey, are you okay?” Ma Qian initiated the conversation. “I’m alright. Thank you for asking,” the young man replied. “I’m Ma Qian, this is Ye Tian and Xiang Jiao,” Ma Qian replied back. “It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Lin Yang,” the young man said while he cupped his hands towards them. Lin Yang had a noble and handsome face, shoulder-length smooth black hair, and wore a v-shaped collar silver robe that showed his muscular figure. The robe was cut off at the arms where it showed Lin Yang’s well defined muscular arm. He was as tall as Ye Tian, but unlike Ye Tian’s messy hair, his hair was kept neatly. “Brother Lin Yang, we are not sure how long you’ve been kneeling there for, but perhaps your pray have been answered. If that is the case, would you like to have some breakfast with us? This will be our treat,” Ye Tian asked politely. “Brother Ye Tian, I will have to apologize and decline your offer. I have promised to kneel here until tomorrow morning,” Lin Yang replied with a disappointed face. “This is my way of …….” “It is fine, We understand and we respect your decision.” Ye Tian said. “When I had nothing to lose, I had everything. When I stopped being who I am, I found myself,” Xiang Jiao solemnly spoke filled with a touch of wisdom. Lin Yang looked at Xiang Jiao then cupped his hands again. He repeatedly whispered what Xiang Jiao had said as if he only understood half of the meaning but not the whole meaning. Ye Tian and Ma Qian were speechless when they heard the words coming out of Xiang Jiao’s mouth. It was so unexpected after traveling with him for the past week or so. Just who is this guy?, they all thought. “Lin Yang, we won’t disturb you any further. We’ll come back again tomorrow morning and we will invite you again for breakfast,” Ye Tian concluded after gaining his senses from Xiang Jiao’s spoken piece of wisdom. As they explored the city, they overheard gossiping rumors about Lin Yang. “Did you hear? The Lin family was killed by 5 other family clans. How horrible! They were such a good and a righteous family,” one pedestrian said. “I’ll bet those five family clans were behind that fire after they distracted some of the Lin’s family strongest fighters,” another said. “Yeah, it’s a real shame. Only the son have survived. He should leave before they kill him as well,” an elder sighed. “Lin Yang, the fallen noble!” another old man sadly whispered. Ye Tian interrupted one of the elders walking by, and asked him, “Pardon elders, may I ask why the 5 family clans are trying to destroy the Lin family?” “I’m not too sure. Probably because the Lin family controlled many of the markets and they were also influential on the capital’s ruling. They were loved and respected by the people and hated by the other major powers,” the elder expressed his assumption. Ye Tian wondered if they should help Lin Yang or not. He might be in grave danger, considering that he’s all alone now. But Xiang Jiao said, “Let destiny fall unto place.” “Hmpppph, screw destiny! Look how I turned out after waiting for my destiny!” Ma Qian replied grudgingly. “Destiny does not apply to dickheads like you…” Xiang Jiao replied calmly while still walking with his palms together. A killing intent rose up, but Ye Tian was able to calm Ma Qian down. “If we happen to meet him again by chance, then let’s help him. If we don’t meet him, then there is nothing we can do,” Ye Tian disappointingly concluded.
Chapter 29 – Conspiracy Against The Throne Spoiler: Continue Ye Tian and the others went out to check out the site of the cloud streams, and then bought their traveling tickets. This will allow them to use the streams to travel to another continent. The day went by in peace with no news of Lin Yang in danger….. until midnight arrived. Ye Tian and the crew were about to go back to the inn until they saw a bright burning flame far in the distance. They could hear yells and screams, and weapons clashing against each other. They saw some people with black masks running towards the same direction of the noise. Ye Tian and the others instincts felt that Lin Yang was in the middle of that current chaos. They tried to ignore it, but they couldn’t resist. After all, they were righteous people, at least that was they thought of themselves. They jumped seamlessly from building to another building towards the chaotic area. When they arrived, they heard Lin Yang’s familiar voice and another elderly voice. “Lin Yang, give us that box. We will let you live. I will tell the King to pardon you for your family’s conspiracy against the throne” a black masked man said. “Hahaha, Conspiracy? Everyone knows it was you and the 5 family clans that planned all of this. I never thought even the King would even bite the hands that fed them!” Lin Yang replied feeling the pain of betrayal. “Kid, do you want to die?” the man continued asking. “Devil Ming, you think you can fool me wearing that mask. I respected you as an elder, but I will never call you an elder ever again! Even if you got the box, you would kill me. I will never believe your shit again,” Lin Yang furiously responded. “Kill him. We’ll eventually find the box,” the masked man said to all the other masked troops. One masked soldier charges at Lin Yang, but he stands there with a calm exposure while holding his sword with both hands. The man stabs at Lin Yang, but he dodges leaving a mirror image of himself, then slides pass the masked man. The man made no movement, but blood is dripping until it burst. The man’s head suddenly slips and falls to the ground. Ye Tian and the others watched shockingly. They only saw a phantom image of what happened. Everything went by so quickly and in one move, Lin Yang was able to cut off the man’s head easily. Three other guys charges in, but before they’re able to come close to Lin Yang, he slashes upwards and a transparent shield erects as high as 10 feet! The men’s swords tries to penetrate the shield but Lin Yang vanishes and reappears to the side. He dashes again like a phantom and slashes! “Aarrrrgh” Blood spurts out on all three of the men’s back, and falls to the ground. Immediately, all the masks men charge forward. But Ye Tian and the others arrive beside Lin Yang before they are able to react. Ye Tian summons his flames like a dragon shield swirling around the masks man. One of Xiang Jiao’s bead flies towards the men and starts releasing mists. Ma Qian closes his eyes and starts making arm motions. He’s a bit of a distance away from the masked men but he punches straight. A void appears among the mists, then a closed fist comes out of the void at an extreme speed, and then punches one of the masked man. Ma Qian punches through the air again and again, and voids keep appearing in different places. “Ahhhh.’ “Uurrghh.” “What is th…..arrrghh.” With a heavy mist and a wall of flames, the masked men couldn’t get out nor figure out who was punching them. Ma Qian felt so ecstatic, because he was starting to get the hang of it. At first, his summoning was slow, but it got a bit faster as time went by. He was punching and kicking. He knew every punch and kick connected even though he didn’t have great accuracy. That would still take some time to practice. Some of the masked men were kicked in the balls, some were poked in the eyes, and some were ruthlessly punched again and again. “Hahaha….haha….hahaha.” Ma Qian’s eyes were getting redder by the minute and his face showed a berserk mode while smiling. He was getting too excited with the new skill he just learned. About 90% of the masked crew were trapped in wall of fire. The leaders of the masked men who were outside of the ring of flames, witnessed what was happening in front of them, was furious. “Kill them all” the commander of the masked crew yelled. Five charged towards Lin Yang’s team. Ma Qian didn’t realize they were coming until Ye Tian smacked him in the face. “Oucchh, what was that for?” Ma Qian angrily asked. “Look!” Ye Tian replied while pointing ahead of them. “Each gets one, the lucky one gets two,” Ye Tian continued while smirking. He saw two figures were actually heading for Lin Yang, but then one of them pointed towards Ye Tian. “Fudge…damn bastards” Ye Tian furiously thought to himself. Now he has two opponents to fight against and this was supposed to be Lin Yang’s battle to fight! Everyone except Ye Tian went on the offense rather than waiting for them to come. Boomm. Baamm. Kaboom! Ye Tian tries to execute the first step of the “Steps to the heaven” martial skill but fails to execute because he’s still lacking the full comprehension of the first step. Instead, he summons water blades on both of his arms to block the incoming attacks. Ye Tian counters quickly with one of his blade slicing one of the opponent’s legs, then smashes his knees upward at the opponent’s face. Another sword comes at him, but he dodges again and counters with a stab at one of the man’s knee. He then punches the man’s chest. The man is still standing there while holding his sword high up above about to strike Ye Tian down, but blood spurts out from his mouth and ears. This punch is no ordinary punch, it is actually filled with special qi that destroys the internal qi of the victim. Xiang Jiao summons four beads. One bead transforms into a metallic shield, another transforms into a metallic spear. The other two beads are floating around his opponent without any changes. His opponent, confused about the beads floating around him, focuses on them instead. While the two beads are distracting the opponent, Xiang Jiao dashes forward and stabs at the man. A bloody cut appears on the man’s right shoulder as the man retreats, but Xiang Jiao continues to dash forward and uses his shield to slam on the man’s body. The man’s body flies further backward. “Activate,” Xiang Jiao said. The two beads lock in on the man until a visible spherical array appeared. Out of nowhere, multiple lightning strikes the man. The man screams wildly until he loses consciousness. Ma Qian summons his vines and starts whipping his opponent like an octopus. The man can’t handle all the hits and angrily throws a dagger at Ma Qian. Ma Qian barely dodges the dagger, as there was a slight cut shown on his arm. Lin Yang is exchanging sword attacks with the masked man he was talking earlier. They look equally match but Lin Yang was losing ground slowly. “Give me the box!,” the masked man said. “In your dreams, asshole!,” Lin Yang replied. Shriiikkkk! Booommm. Bammm! Lin Yang got stabbed on his stomach, then was punched on the chest. To make matters worse, the man kicked him on the same chest area. Lin Yang spitted blood while intensely looking at the masked man. “Devil Ming, even if you kill me, you will never find the box,” Lin Yang smilingly said. “You punk, this time you I will send you to your family’s grave and pee all over it,” the masked man said. Losing his patience, he jumps forward with a sword pointing at Lin Yang. A Phantom Hyena appears behind his back. This was the masked man’s totem – the black hyena. The phantom hyena opens his massive jaws trying to bite Lin Yang in half. But Lin Yang appears calm again. he closes his eyes until he whispers, “Sky Ascension!” Lin Yang opens his eyes, leans forward, like a traveling wind, he dashes forward while slashing at the phantom image. He continues to slash forward with his sword. The masked man is hit and floats slightly in the air from the impact. Lin Yang closes in again, then slashes diagonally upward on the man’s body. The man’s body is hit again and floats higher in pain. Lin Yang slashes upward again, and again, until he was 25 feet above the ground along with the masked man. The masked man shows eyes of fear because he is unable to see Lin Yang’s lightning phantom attacks. At the peak of their elevation, Lin Yang unleashes a downward stab and pierces the man’s chest with incredible strength. The downward momentum is so fast, it resembles a lightning striking the ground” A whispering sound could be heard. “Punishment served….”
HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE! Chapter 30 -I’m Going To Beat You If You Ever Come Back Here! Spoiler: Continue After Lin Yang said those final words, he fainted to the ground after successfully killing the leader of the masked men. The sun already started to rise when the battle was finished, and soldiers could be heard coming to the scene. Ye Tian quickly carried Lin Yang on his shoulders, then yelled to the others, “Let’s go!” Xiang Jiao and Ma Qian followed behind. Except for the leaders of the masked men, the others have survived but were severely injure. They had no hope of fighting back or pursuing Ye Tian and the others at their current situation. “We’re leaving the capital right now,” Ye Tian informed the rest. They ran as fast as possible until they arrived at the site of the cloud stream. There were actually multiple streams that went into different direction. They quickly summoned their falcons while showing their tickets to the guards. “Hey, you’re missing an extra ticket,” one of the guard said while he was about to chase them. “This body is just a fake doll for that pervert right there,” Ye Tian responded while running and pointing at Ma Qian. “Suck it!” Ma Qian said looking at the guard. “WTF bro…….I was just asking…” the guard murmured. The guards actually realized that the “doll” was actually Lin Yang. They knew what has been happening the past few days, but most importantly, they felt bad for the Lin family. Many of the guards considered the Lin family to be one of the few honest and righteous family in this capital, and they had a suspicion that the story about them conspiring against the throne is just another wicked plan by the other families. They couldn’t do anything about it due to their low status, but at least they could help the young Lin Yang escape from this mess. They went so fast riding their falcons, the guards acted like they couldn’t stop them quickly enough. The cloud streams allowed traveling through the sky at an amazing speed with little effort. The falcons only needed to spread their wings for balance, and the cloud stream will carry them all the way to their destination without any hard work involved. Ye Tian and the crew were finally safe for now. He took some healing crystals to help Lin Yang recover. He was running out of healing crystals and didn’t get to resupply while he was in the city. His zoids was also running low and now he felt incredible pain because he had to give some healing crystals to Lin Yang. This noble better have some treasures in his storage ring, Ye Tian thought. He tried to resist his temptation but couldn’t, and ended up body searching Lin Yang in search of any valuables he might have as a security payment. Unfortunately, Lin Yang had nothing on him. During the journey, Ye Tian was in a world of his own. He was thinking about how those masks and uniforms were quite similar to the ones the bandits wore in his village. Was there a connection to this? He planned to take a more careful investigation on the available missions when he gets to the next branch of the guild center. Besides that, he was studying the “Steps to the heaven” to see if he could make any progress on his comprehension of this martial skill. He went to the special dimension to ask Tian Ren if he had any clues on how to master this martial skill. “Pudge! Have you seen this martial skill before,” Ye Tian asked while throwing the scroll to Tian Ren. “My name is Tian Ren! You should actually call me Elder!,” Tian Ren replied angrily. “Whatever, do you know it or not,” Ye Tian brushed it off. Tian Ren checked the scroll and his face showed a bit of a surprise. “I would never thought you’d find this skill scroll….” Tian Ren laughingly said. “Do you know how it works?” Ye Tian asked curiously in hopes of getting some hints from the pudgy old man. “Of course I do. I invented this skill when I was younger!” Tian Ren laughed. “Stop bullshitting! You can’t even take a beating from me,” Ye Tian shrugged. “You! Look who’s talking. I beat you to a pulp kid!” Tian Ren quickly countered. “You wanna go again, huh, old pudge?” Ye Tian stood up preparing for another brawl. “Let’s go then!” Tian Ren stood up as well. Now they were face to face but only their bodies were pushing each other to gain some type of edge. “What, you want some? huh, huh” “Let’s go. You hit me, I will beat the crap out of you” “You do it first. Come on, throw the first punch. I dare You!” “What? What?” All these trash talks didn’t lead to anywhere. Their bodies just kept pushing each other while daring each other to make the first move. However, their temper calmed considerably after a few moments. “How do you gain the first enlightenment? Do I need to make any sacrifices right now in order to use this skill?” Ye Tian seriously asked. If he had to sacrifice something, the image of Ma Qian and Lin Yang came up for some reason. Otherwise, using this skill would not be worth it to make some serious sacrifices in the future. “No. As long as you understand the flow of life, you will eventually understand the first seven steps. Sadness, happiness, fear, resilience, will, kindness, hatred….each individual possess these emotions. It’s up to the individual to understand and embrace these feelings. The more you understand, the easier it is for you to master the first seven steps,” Tian Ren explained. “Then what about the 8th step?” Ye Tian curiously asked again. “You don’t need to know the 8th step yet! Now go. I want to take a rest,” Tian Ren replied while seriously staring at him. Ye Tian didn’t leave but he actually sat down thinking deeply about Tian Ren just mentioned. “Happiness…..happiness…..happiness,” Ye Tian kept murmuring to himself. Tian Ren looked at him and thought he was going insane. He sighed, then laid down to sleep. Ye Tian stood up while raising his head with a smile, then blurted out, “I got it!” He closed his eyes summoning a new type of energy that was revolving around his right hand. Ye Tian vanishes and reappears in front of Tian Ren. He then punches Tian Ren’s face like the might of an asteroid! The air vibrates within the surrounding areas due to the impact. Tian Ren flies backward quickly crashing deep inside the wall until crumbles of rock pile on top of him. “Hahaha….happiness….I’ve mastered my first step!” Ye Tian proclaimed loudly with his eyes blazing like the stars. He turned around and disappeared from the dimension! “You…you….you punk.I’m going to beat you if you ever come back here!” Tian Ren yelled furiously while still laying on the ground. He was softly holding his bloodied and swollen face from Ye Tian’s punch. Since ancient times, he had never reach such a high level of anger until now, and he had never been treated so badly like Ye Tian did to him! Meanwhile, Ye Tian opened his eyes and smiled. “The first step….I’ve done it and it felt so good!” Just a moment ago, he realized that beating Tian Ren gave him a sense of great satisfaction and happiness that he’s never experienced since he came out of the village. He knew the old pudge was strong. That’s why he dared to experiment this technique on him. His theory turned out to be correct. Besides, the punch wouldn’t be able to seriously injure Tian Ren. Ye Tian was confident of that. If the old pudge had been living since the ancient times, then Ye Tian knew Tian Ren would be incredibly strong and had to be craftier than other legendary figures if he is still living in this current era. Ye Tian continued to focus on studying “Heaven’s Call,” while cultivating. Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao, on the other hand, was ecstatic to see how fast and wide the cloud streams traveled. To them, they didn’t understand how these streams could exist in the first place. They could see below them were some barren lands, some fertile lands, snowy mountains, and pristine lakes along the way. What gave them the most jaw-dropping effect was the color of the yellow ocean with huge underwater sea beasts jumping out of the water and diving back again. Lin Yang was still unconscious and it would take some time for them to arrive at the Bravia continent. The rest decided to use their time to continue to cultivate and gain more familiarity with their new skills. With a new member joining the gang, how will Lin Yang, the fallen noble, react to this crew’s behavior, their unique personality, and this financially broke ass brigade?
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Chapter 31 – Dancing Around Spoiler: Continue After nearly a day of traveling the cloud stream, the stream started slowing down significantly. At the end of the stream laid a platform for visitors. The falcons flew of out of the stream and landed on the platform smoothly. The movement of the falcons caused everyone to wake up. They saw a big sign that says, “Welcome to the Min Grasslands.” Ye Tian and the others looked at a map posted on the platform. They frowned after they realized where they landed. “Crap, we used the wrong stream. This Min grassland is a small town that should be at the Aurora Continent. If we travel north, we should arrive at the Min Kingdom,” Ye Tian concluded after pointing the map with his fingers. They don’t have enough money to pay tickets to use another stream. They decided to wait for Lin Yang to regain consciousness, so that they can complete some missions to earn some money. They withdrew the falcons to the storage ring before Ma Qian summoned his turtle . The falcons have been flying on the stream without any sleep for almost a day, so they needed the rest. The convenience of Ma Qian’s huge turtle is that it can be used to travel on the ground without losing too much time even though the falcons are faster. The turtle traveled almost half a day until the sun was setting. Lin Yang finally regained his consciousness a couple of hours ago and focused on healing faster. While they were traveling , everyone could see the multiple hills covering a part of the sun. On one top of the hill, they could see multiple figures dancing around the endless yellow grasslands. Add to the shredded luminous grasses swaying in the air from left to right caused by the slight wind made the scenery look even more breathtaking! As Ye Tian and the others got closer, they could see the dancing figures were all women. One of them was wearing a navy blue headband decorated with silver ornaments all around. The sides were actually a bit longer hanging all the way to her cheeks. She was wearing black tight pants that were covered by an overall navy blue dress designed with mysterious embroidements. As she twirled around, the moment Xiang Jiao and the others exactly passed by each other, Xiang Jiao and the woman were looking at each other. It felt like an endless moment between them until they looked away from each other. Ye Tian’s senses were much sharper than the others, so he could tell there was something going on with these two. Ma Qian and Lin Yang didn’t notice anything unusual since they were mesmerized by the other women dancing on the fields. They passed by the area and about half an hour later, they arrived at the gate of the Min Kingdom. After getting through the security guards, they found out that many of the inns were charging inflated prices to newcomers. They also found out that Lin Yang didn’t have much money in his storage ring. They couldn’t rent out a room nor could they find an abandoned house; therefore, they decided to leave the capital to stay at the nearby villages. But to their luck, even the villages were fully occupied and had no way to receive anyone. Finally, they found a place to stay but the place was a dusty cave. It was moderately big and cool. All they had to do was get rid of the dust and the small beasts that were living there. It didn’t take them long to clean up the cave. The gang knew they would be here for quite a bit, so a permanent fireplace was created by Xiang Jiao. Lin Yang made some straw beds while Ye Tian went with Ma Qian to collect some information at the local brothel. Ye Tian didn’t really want to go, but he knew Ma Qian would never make it back the same night, and he didn’t want to tell anyone yet about Ma Qian’s sense of direction. Inside the cave, Xiang Jiao and Lin Yang were awkwardly quiet, after all, they barely knew each other, and out of the whole group, it was most likely that Ma Qian or Ye Tian that would initiate a conversation. Soon enough, Ye Tian and Ma Qian came back to the cave, which gave the others a sense of relieve. They were all sitting near the fireplace. Ye Tian told Lin Yang about their situation, which he did not have a problem with the group’s situation. He was still living. Everything is better than death. He also agreed that he should register for the bounty hunter exam tomorrow in order to help with the more difficult missions together. The higher the difficulty, the better the rewards. “Lin Yang, I’m curious about those masked men that were chasing you. Who were they?” Ye Tian asked. “They’re all part of the five families that have been in conflict with my family since past generations. My family wanted to distribute more power to the citizens of the kingdom, but the other families opposed the idea. In many cases, they have always opposed any suggestion we have made towards the king. There was a rumor that there was an even stronger backer behind these five families, and this backer is most likely an outsider,” Lin Yang explained. Ye Tian frowned a bit, then asked, “Does this mean that this outsider wanted that box of yours? What does it do anyway?” “Probably….. but this box have been a legacy treasure passed down since the founder of the family. It was not supposed to be known to outsiders, but I don’t know how they found out…..” Lin Yang answered while thinking of this mystery. “Then, it should be a strong treasure that you can use…” Ma Qian said. “Haha….I’m not even sure how this box works. In my family’s record books, only the founder was able to use it. Ever since then, no one else has been able to use it, but the founder left a note, ‘If one desperate day arrives, the Lin bloodline will be able to activate the box.” Lin Yang concluded. Xiang Jiao, on the other hand, was not interested in their conversation. He had his body turned the opposite direction lying on the straw beds while happily looking at the Karma Sutra scroll! After their conversation, The crew decided to plan for tomorrow. Ye Tian will go with Lin Yang to the guild centre, while Xiang Jiao had to accompany Ma Qian to create his map. Of course, Ye Tian had to whisper to Xiang Jiao about Ma Qian’s problem. Xiang Jiao only had a devilish smile when he heard it, but Ye Tian had to warn him not to mess around on the first day because they needed money fast or they go on a hunger marathon. The night was still early, so everyone cultivated and studied deeper into their martial scrolls. Only Lin Yang was focused on healing. Ye Tian, while studying the “steps to the heavens,” was murmuring “seperation, seperation….seperation.” He could only think of the day he left his younger sisters to the Xue clan, and the other village kids to other families. The second step required him to remember the things he valued the most, but to also let it go. This was something he had trouble doing. How could he forget his younger sisters and brothers? Ma Qian was practicing his “Void Break” on the cave walls. He was testing out if his vines could also be used with this skill. As he was practicing diligently, he felt a devilish aura behind him, but he thought nothing of it since the other party members were in the cave. How can a demon be inside the cave without the others knowing about it? But a few breaths later, the aura became more devilish to the point where it made Ma Qian sweat. As curious as he was, he decided to turn his face around to look if anything was behind him. “Aaahhhhhh!” Ma Qian felt horrified at this instant and screamed like a little girl. His arms were shaking to the core. A gigantic phantom image of a demon was about to swallow him, but then it suddenly stopped and retreated. As it retreated, the image became smaller and smaller until Ma Qian could see it the image was returning to Xiang Jiao. “Fuck you A-hole!” Ma Qian yelled at him, while sitting on the ground awkwardly. Sweats were visible all over his body and face. He wanted to retaliate badly but his body felt so numb, he wasn’t able to move an inch. Xiang Jiao didn’t respond, because he was still focusing on the skill he just practiced executing. Lin Yang was the most surprised out of all of them, because Xiang Jiao was using Ma Qian as his target practice! He didn’t know what to think of this, because he’s never seen a monk that was so randomly aggressive in nature, yet calm at the same time.
Chapter 32 – I accept! Spoiler: Continue The next morning, Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao left early in the morning toward the tallest hill they could find. Lin Yang have recovered around 90% by now, add to his late great dao realm cultivation, he should be able to handle the exam fairly easily. Ye Tian accompanied Lin Yang to the guild for the bounty hunter exam. Coincidentally, Wang Rong was actually working there, which made it convenient for them. While Lin Yang went on to take the exam, Ye Tian reviewed all the available missions the guild posted for both assassins and bounty hunters. He also asked Wang Rong if there were any new missions recently. Wang Rong had always favored Ye Tian not because she was attracted to him, but she felt something special about Ye Tian that she had not discovered from all the other boys she met throughout her life. But she also had to admit that Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao were also special in their own unique ways. Even the newcomer, Lin Yang, had caught Wang Rong’s attention. All they boys were all talented and much stronger than they looked. Ye Tian carefully reviewed at each mission in details. He frowned a few times during his review. At other times, he was in a very deep though, almost seemed like he was trying to solve a huge mystery. He even asked Wang Rong if she had heard of those masked men he saw in the Shui Kingdom. Wang Rong said that there were something similar described in some assassin missions, but because it’s never been solved, it has been stored in another book. Wang Rong fetched the dusty book to let Ye Tian look at it. Ye Tian focused heavily on the content of the book where even outside noises could not even disturb him even a bit. He continued reading the missions from the dusty book, then he walked towards the normal navigation system that would reveal the rest of the assassin missions. He would walk back and forth, which caused Wang Rong a headache. She even felt that Ye Tian had some kind of obsession with these missions, especially the ones from the book. Luckily, after these few hours, Lin Yang finally came back from the examination. It was another examiner who accompanied him and handed the book to Wang Rong for approval. Wang Rong took a look at Lin Yang’s book feeling a bit of surprise, and yet not as surprising as before. “Lin Yang – S Rank Bounty Hunter.” Wang Rong wondered why Ye Tian can always find someone very talented recruited into his group. It’s really rare to see such a group of young talents together. Furthermore, all of his friends aren’t even from powerful family backgrounds, with the exception of Lin Yang, but even his status has changed just recently. Ye Tian wasn’t interested in Lin Yang’s rank. Based on what he’s seen, he knew more or less that Lin Yang would be an S rank. He was more interested in getting Lin Yang to become a part of his zoids revenue schemes. “Lin Yang, go look at the missions you think we can do,” Ye Tian said to Lin Yang, in which he obliged. “Ms. Wang Rong, I have decided to accept these missions. I know it’s a bit excessive but I wonder if you can help me out,” Lin Yang explained. “Hmmmm, this is going to be hard……Why do you want to accept so many of these?” Wang Rong was puzzled. “This……” Ye Tian whispered. “I’ll try to convince the elders of the guild. Wait here for a moment,” Wang Rong replied sensing that Ye Tian had his good reasons for it. After an hour of waiting, a couple of elders showed up with Wang Rong. These elders were actually the same as the ones that tested him during his examination. Why were they all here? Did they also have an important mission to do? “Young man, why do you feel the need to accept so many missions? I see you’ve completed three missions that are quite difficult, which is impressive considering your cultivation base.” One of the elder asked curiously. There was no response from Ye Tian as he was looking down, thinking deeply on how to respond convincingly. “This……Elders, I apologize that I cannot explain to you right now as I have my own purpose, but I can guarantee you this….if you approve on whatever missions I have accepted and will continue to approve the missions that I accept in the future, I swear on my life that I can accomplish all of it within 10 years! If not, then mark my word, I will become a slave for the guild for the rest of my life!” Ye Tian finally responded with such assurance. Wang Rong, Lin Yang, and the elders were shocked to the bones when they heard what Ye Tian said. Lin Yang frowned a bit. He was thankful that Ye Tian and the others saved his life, but to be a slave……The elders, on the other hand, discussed further in private. After a decision was made, one of the elders offered, “Ye Tian , this will be difficult for us to bypass, but it’s still doable. However, we would want to make a different deal with you. We’re not a guild that enjoys any form of slavery. But if you don’t complete all of those missions by the time 10 years have ended, we want you to work and fight for us for 100 years when that time comes. Our guild is also investigating on something that we can’t inform you right now, but the elders and I have faith that you will someday become a very powerful helper, and your strength would be a great aid for us in the future. How about it?” “I accept!” Ye Tian said while clasping his hands and bowing to the elders. But within a short distance away from them, Lin Yang was about to raise his hand to object but no one was paying attention to him. Lin Yang sighed as it only took one day for him to fall from a high and respected nobility to an insignificant figure. He wanted to cry, but all those tears were already gone when he cried for his father. The elders smiled since this opportunity would enable them to recruit Ye Tian and his friends. They’ve seen each of the gang’s profile and their examination performances. Each of them were supremely talented, even among other S ranks, the gang were the top elites of the S rank members. Their talent, ability, and character have impressed all the elders and even the chairman! Ye Tian was also happy, after all, he was the one who had nothing to lose! If he can’t complete all those missions in 10 years, who cares! He will die eventually due to the that little mysterious pearl in his heart. Throughout this negotiation, he never thought about the others opinions on this matter. If they didn’t ask, then he wouldn’t tell them about it and continue pretending to be stupid. After all the contracts were signed, evening arrived. Ye Tian and Lin Yang headed to the brothel where they agreed to meet Ma Qian and Xiang Jiao. Lin Yang was nervous since he never went to a brothel, then he thought about Xiang Jiao who’s a monk! How would Xiang Jiao respond to this situation? In a small table were 4 young men drinking wine, but it was actually water that they brought with them. They couldn’t afford the wine, and as long as they didn’t get caught, they would keep doing it. Lin Yang was blushing immensely while pretending to sip on his cup of wine. Ma Qian was flirting with the ladies of the house. As for whether he had any success or not, that’s still unknown, but the ladies appeared to enjoy his company. Ye Tian looked at Xiang Jiao confusingly, because Xiang Jiao had his eyes wide opened since he came in the brothel. Usually, he was the one closing his eyes with his head down like a typical monk. The night went on until Xiang Jiao really paid attention to one woman in the corner. They were both looking at each other passionately without an exchange of word. This was the same woman as the one he saw when he passed by those grassland hills! Was this love at first sight or was this another trouble at first sight?