Chapter 93: 15-21
Chapter 15. You Never Aksed
When he woke up, it was already the second day of his stay in the Martial Spirit Sect. Ren Qingquan quickly prepared himself for a long journey to level up. Before that, he still needs to learn some movement skills to make his travel outside more convenient.
'System, Help me choose an agility skill that is suitable for long distance travel through mountainous terrains.'
After knowing the system is sentient, Ren Qingquan became too lazy to look for a suitable skill himself. If there is one thing Ren Qingquan is currently good at, it is to adapt himself into weird situations. Afterall nothing could beat getting transmigrated.
[Ding! System found a skill called 'Mountain Measuring Step' that met most of the host's needs.]
'Then, let's learn it.'
[Do you wish to spend 2 points to learn Mountain Measuring Step?
Note: System recommends the host to merge all agility based techniques first before learning the merged technique to save points.]
'It seems after getting caught red handed, the system started to be more proactive. It actually gave an extra note which didn't come out when he learned Body Tempering Technique'
As Ren Qingquan thought so, he chose to merge all agility techniques first.
[Merging all agility techniques requires the host to spend 100 points. As it is the first time the host tried to merge techniques, the price has been decreased to 1 point. Are you sure to proceed?]
'yes.'
[Ding! Skill merging successfully. Please name the new skill.]
'Agile Step.'
Afterall, almost every agility skill Ren Qingquan sees has the suffix step in it. He will also follow the naming tradition in this world.
[Successfully named the new skill as Agile Step. Do you wish to learn it? Learning Agile Step will cost 5 points.]
'How come the price multiplied by two and a half?'
[Agile Step is much more complicated compared to Mountain Measuring Step which makes it cost more points to learn.]
'fair enough. I choose to learn Agile Step.'
With that, a memory about Agile Step came to his mind. After breaking from the trance caused by the additional memory, Ren Qingquan feels himself gaining basic comprehension of Agile Step as if he personally trained in that skill for several years.
As expected of skill that should require 100 whole points to merge. Agile Step combines evasion, movement, and escape skill together. His Feather Step skill, which is already one of the strongest among evasion type techniques, is considered trash compared to Agile Step's evasion.
'But system, shouldn't you immediately raise my proficiency to perfection?'
Everyone in this world acknowledged three levels of proficiency for skills.
Low level proficiency only allows the user to use the skill exactly as learned. They must follow the exact movement and blood energy circulation to activate the skill. Just like his Feather Steps which require Ren Qingquan to bend his body into shape similar to '(' or ')' while circulating the energy to activate it. Which makes him hate to use that skill. not because of its ability, but because the way it moves is embarrassing.
Middle level proficiency allows the user to manipulate how much energy a skill costs by manipulating the speed of blood energy circulation. Which makes creating decoy attacks by spending a little blood energy or full force attacks by spending much more blood energy possible.
Meanwhile perfect proficiency allows the user to manipulate even the movement to a certain degree. The user could imitate other similar skills and confuse the enemy.
Of course there are some skills where the above separation doesn't work. His Iron Clothes being one of them. Increasing proficiency just increases their effectiveness at converting blood energy to power.
[Host, there is no such good thing as achieving perfection with mere 5 points. To achieve mid level in Agile Step requires 20 points, and 100 points for perfection.]
'System, now I know you are sentient and need me to stay alive to survive. How about giving me a discount for upgrading my skills?'
[No. Survival is survival. The system's principle is another thing altogether.]
'Damn black hearted merchant. Then, upgrade my Agile Step to mid proficiency.'
Ren Qingquan looked blankly as his points decreased by yet another 20.
[Name: Ren Qingquan
Realm: First Stage Martial Master
Point: 39
Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)
Skills: Tiger subduing palm(Middle),
Agile Step (Middle), Iron cloth (Low).
System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]
His Feather Step Skill has been swallowed by Agile Step that combines all movement based skills he has.
Taking the bed and dried food he bought last night, Ren Qingquan went to the sect's mission hall.
After taking the mission to kill some ferocious beast and obtaining permission to leave the sect, he immediately went to the sect's gate and left.
Upon leaving the sect's area, Ren Qingquan immediately opened the system map and started circulating his blood energy following Agile Step's movement part, Ren Qingquan could feel the wind breezing past him at incredible speed. As he is still new to the technique, he walked through paths with little to no trees in fear of colliding against it.
After spending time from morning to afternoon running past two mountains away from the Martial Spirit Sect, Ren Qingquan could finally see several big blue dots representing items with a certain amount of energy.
Running toward those blue dots one by one, Ren Qingquan started to activate [Devour] and swallowed it. Looking at his point that only increases by one after a whole hour, Ren Qingquan feels it is a bit too slow.
And so, after thinking it thoroughly, Ren Qingquan spent all his points to increase his [Devour]. The reason he asked the system those questions last night is due to a dilemma. As he has thought of two ways to increase his point quickly.
The first one is to use a system map and look for items with high energies before devouring them to gain points. If he followed this plan, then he would need to increase the range of [Scan] to search for high energy items quickly. Although it is tiring, if the amount of points gained is high enough. Ren Qingquan is willing to run around collecting things.
He also has thought about the impact of this plan which will decrease the amount of precious materials stored in Endless Mountain which might quickly alert the Martial Spirit Sect. Although the Martial Spirit Sect have their own medicine garden, foraging for resources in the Endless Mountain is still one of the main sources of income for disciples of the Martial Spirit Sect.
As for the second plan, it is to upgrade [Devour] and start devouring things indiscriminately. Whether it is wood, dirt, corpse, water, grass, or even poop. Ren Qingquan will use [Devour] and swallow them all.
The impact for this second plan will be lower compared to the first one. Because it will at most cause some mountain to go missing from the Endless Mountain. But, as its name implies, the amount of mountains in Endless Mountain is almost endless. As long as he doesn't devour too many mountains in the same area, most people shouldn't realize it.
Spending 30 points to increase the power of [Devour], Ren Qingquan chose to walk further east for another day to make sure he is far enough from the Martial Spirit Sect. By evening, Ren Qingquan had encountered only one ferocious beast. Which is a big boar at Martial Apprentice realm that he killed using Tiger Subduing Palm after a tiring battle.
Ren Qingquan also collected the beast's heart which Martial Spirit Sect uses to concoct pills that have similar effect to eating ferocious beast meat but with a longer expiration date. And stored it in system's [Storage]
Of course, he collected the heart while accompanied by a cacophony of vomiting sound coming from himself. As people from the modern era, Ren Qingquan still couldn't get used to mutilated corpses like this yet.
Upon collecting the heart, Ren Qingquan used [Devour] on the board.
'Ferocious beasts are also marked as pretty big blue dots on the system map which should mean they could be devoured right?'
As a small whirlwind came into existence at his feet, Ren Qingquan touched the boar's corpse using his foot. Looking at the boar that gets more and more mutilated due to the whirlwind coming from [Devour], Ren Qingquan feels his stomach fluctuate once again. After five minutes, The boar's corpse already disappeared while adding 4 energies on his panel.
Soon after, Ren Qingquan sees another ferocious beast on the system map with a huge blue dot behind it. This time, it is a bear in the Martial Grandmaster realm.
Ren Qingquan could see the bear sleeping in front of a huge cave seemingly guarding it. Activating Agile Step's escape part which contains stealth and instantaneous movement, Ren Qingquan arrived on top of the cave. Jumping above the bear from on top of the cave, he released the ten tons of metal stored within [Storage].
Suddenly, a huge 4 square meter metal plate with 20 cm thickness and many spikes below it appeared. Seemingly sensing danger, the bear quickly tried to stand up and looked around. Before the bear fully stood up, Ren Qingquan kicked the metal plate hard toward the bear.
*BOOM*
Accompanied by a massive booming sound and scream from the bear, Ren Qingquan circulated his blood energy and activated Iron Clothes to withstand the damage from falling.
Storing the metal plate back into [Storage], Ren Qingquan looked at the bear turned meat paste under it. As he looked at the bear corpse while in a dilemma whether to pick it or not, a system notification sounded seemingly knowing his dilemma.
[Ding! Host, you could devour a selected part of item while leaving the other by thinking about which part you wish to absorb]
'Does that mean I could use [Devour] to swallow the meat paste while leaving the ferocious beast's heart?'
[Yes.]
'Why didn't you tell me?! I vomited my whole breakfast when I tried to collect the heart of that boar.'
[You never asked.]
Ren Qingquan: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Chapter 16. Good Luck With Your Plan
After activating [Devour] using the sole of his feet because he don't want to touch the meat paste. Ren Qingquan could see his feet turned into something like a vacuum cleaner and suck the meat along with the surrounding air and soil. Due to the bear's size, he spent a total of eight minutes to suck everything while repeating the command to leave the heart in his mind.
Looking at the leftover heart that had been pierced and leaking blood, Ren Qingquan sent it into [Storage]. Devouring that bear increased his point balance by a whole 30 points.
Spending most of his points while leaving only 5 points in case of emergency, he proceeds to enter the cave behind that bear. Inside, Ren Qingquan could see a blue glowing flower inside that looked extremely precious. Scanning it due to curiosity, a system panel opened in front of him.
[Moonlight Glow Flower, devour for 2 points.]
'Something that is worth 2 whole points?'
Ren Qingquan stares wide eyed as this is the first time he has seen something worth two whole points. Because it seems to be precious, Ren Qingquan just stored it in system storage instead of devouring it.
Continuing his journey, Ren Qingquan ran until the sky completely darkened. This time, Ren Qingquan thought of a new idea and ran while activating [Devour] on the sole of his feet which sucked the surrounding soil and air. Which actually increased his total point by 2. During his journey, he also killed another two ferocious beasts because it is already quite far from the Martial Spirit Sect and so the amount of ferocious beasts increased.
When Ren Qingquan found a cave, he chose to camp there. Entering the cave, he started building the tent he has prepared, which is made out of six 2x2 meter metal with several small holes covered with metal net for air circulation while blocking insects inside the hole. Ren Qingquan then proceeded to lock the mechanism to make it stay in place.
He then continued to release his metal plate on the cave mouth to block it. Looking at his masterpiece, he proceeds to enter the metal box and pull the bed he stored in system storage. Feeling the surrounding solid metal, Ren Qingquan slept in peace.
Next morning, he drank some water stored in storage and ate his dried meat.
'Damn, this dried meat is so unappetizing.'
[Host, then why don't you buy a warm meal while at the sect?]
'Of course it is because a warm meal has a short shelf life and will go bad in two or three days within normal temperature.'
WAIT!
Ren Qingquan suddenly realized he forgot that [Storage] actually froze time for the item inside.
'I am so stupid.'
[It's good that you have self awareness, host.]
After some banter with the system, Ren Qingquan started to store his tent and weapon. Opening the system map, he continued to run eastward from the Martial Spirit Sect. In the afternoon, he felt the location was already far enough from the sect, and chose to start the plan of devouring a mountain.
Before that, he spent all his points to increase [Devour] once again. As the saying goes, sharpening his ax will make him cut trees faster. Actually he forgot the exact word but it should be something like that. Finally, he activated [Devour] that already has double the power toward a tree.
'Let's start with this tree'
And so, Ren Qingquan's journey to destroy Endless Mountain begins from a single tree.
***
The night when Ren Qingquan slept at a cave in the Endless Mountain
After separating from the Third Princess, Ren Qingchen started on his journey to look for a backer. He already has several suitable candidates in mind. But after disqualifying most of them, the peak master of medicine refining peak which doesn't have any disciple yet is the most suitable for him.
In his previous life, next year that peak master will hold a medicine refining competition that will be open for everyone. He does that for the sake of looking for a disciple to succeed him as he is already a 140 year old Martial Lord that has almost no hope to reach the Martial Emperor realm.
That competition caused some pretty big ruckus at that time which made Ren Qingchen have some recollection about it. But, as the people involved are limited to medicine refiner, the effect caused by changing that event wouldn't be too big.
There are several reasons Ren Qingchen chose the medicine refining peak master as his target. As previously said, he is looking for a disciple to succeed him which means the peak master doesn't have any disciple, which saves him time from doing intrigue against fellow disciples. Next, The status of the medicine 's peak master's successor is an extremely strong protective umbrella where even the Martial Emperor from the sect will come to help in case of danger. And last, Ren Qingchen is absolutely confident in his medicine refining technique as he previously achieved his peak by using medicine refining as one of his foundations.
But before that, he must find a way to at least meet that peak master and show his ability.
The next day, having determined his target. Ren Qingchen went to collect information about the medicine refining peak. Of course he doesn't just go to people and ask a specific question. Instead, just like a new disciple, he went to ask many things about the sect.
While purchasing a medicinal herb from an outer disciple that often works at a medicine refining area to help the inner disciple there, Ren Qingchen found the information he needed. Medicine peak master usually went to overlook the medicine peak's disciple's progress once a month.
That means, all Ren Qingchen needs is to increase his disciple rank from outer disciple to inner disciple quickly and select the medicine refining peak as his destination. Unlike outer and servant disciples that are gathered together in several mountain areas, inner disciples and above need to choose a certain peak as their destination. Because every peak has a different specialization, choosing a peak also means choosing their future profession.
After adding some detail to his plan, Ren Qingchen proceeded to enter the Martial Spirit Sect's mission hall. Taking missions related to gathering herbs and killing ferocious beasts, Ren Qingchen got permission to leave the sect. Due to the fact the Martial Spirit Sect exists as guardian of mankind against ferocious beasts, the Martial Spirit Sect's status advancement not only requires the disciple to have sufficient realm but also requires the disciple to kill enough ferocious beasts of the same realm. For outer disciple, they are required to kill 100 ferocious beasts at the martial master level. Beast of one realm lower will also increase the kill count by one fifth of a beast. Meanwhile, the beast of the higher realm will increase the amount of kills by at least 2 depending on the realm difference.
The kill count will increase when the sect's disciple brings the ferocious beast's heart to the exchange hall located next to the mission hall.
As he is already at the eighth stage of Martial Master realm and will soon break through to the ninth stage, Ren Qingchen just needs to focus on the requirement of killing 100 beasts.
Thinking until that point, Ren Qingchen went to purchase a bag, dried meat, several airtight containers to store ferocious beast hearts, jade box to store medicine, camping equipment, and several other items used to travel in the Endless Mountain, he spent most of his sect coins leaving behind only a dozen of them as emergency funds.
Arriving at the sect's gate, Ren Qingchen walked Southeast of the Martial Spirit Sect to start his journey of killing ferocious beasts and collecting herbs to help increase his realm faster.
Activating his movement technique that has been pushed to perfection, Ren Qingchen started running in one direction at full speed. His target is the border between the inner and outer area of Endless Mountain.
Although the Martial Spirit Sect is said to be located at the border of inner and outer Endless Mountain which is indeed true. But due to the sect founder's idea, instead of being clustered together like what others think. The Martial Spirit Sect is shaped like a super long line that started at the peripheral area of the Endless Mountain where the servant and outer disciple area he currently lives in is and ended at the central peak where the meeting hall and the sect's Martial Emperor together with their disciples reside which is located at the inner section of Endless Mountain.
While killing every ferocious beast he met during the journey, Ren Qingchen arrived at his destination after spending two whole days traveling. His target was to kill as many Martial Grandmaster ferocious beasts and return to the sect to focus on breaking through.
In Endless Mountain, the closer it is to the core area of the Endless Mountain not only will the highest level of ferocious beast increase. But, their average realm will also increase which will make the area between inner and outer section to have the most Martial Grandmaster beasts.
Not long after arriving, Ren Qingchen could already sense an early Martial Grandmaster level ferocious beast. Walking stealthily toward the beast, he stopped behind a tiger shaped beast. Activating his sword skill, with a sudden and silent leap he directly sashed the neck of that tiger directly killing it.
Arriving at the corpse, Ren Qingchen proceeded to dismantle it. Picking the important parts like fang, heart, and claw he just left everything else due to the limited weight he could carry without affecting his own movement.
With that, he continued on the journey to look for the next prey but even after two whole hours, Ren Qingchen still failed to see any ferocious beasts.
'Sigh, guess I will need to spend a long time here.'
Chapter 17. Sexy Widowed Wolf Near Your Location
Having spent two whole weeks devouring the mountain he is in, Ren Qingquan glanced at the result of his hard work. On the previously green mountain filled with tall trees and many bushes, there is currently a steep cliff caused by him devouring more than half of the mountain. Under the cliff, there is an empty patch of land filled only with grasses and flowers Ren Qingquan purchased from the system. As leaving it empty without any greenery at all will make this place stand out too much compared to the surrounding greeneries, he spent some points gained from devouring to buy a lot of ready to plant grasses. Although a patch of land without any tree is already suspicious enough, it is still much less suspicious compared to a completely bald one.
In terms of income, the amount of points he gained is already more than 200 points. If he includes the points gained from devouring some ferocious beasts, his income in these five days alone is already slightly more than 250 points. The point gained from ferocious beasts being so low is mainly due to the ferocious beasts he met are merely at Martial Master and Martial Apprentice realm. And those beasts seem to have all run away after he swallowed a third of this mountain.
[Name: Ren Qingquan
Realm: First Stage Martial Master
Point: 10
Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)
Skills: Tiger Subduing Palm(Middle),
Agile Step (Middle), Iron Cloth (Low).
System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]
As Ren Qingquan spent most of his points on upgrading [Devour], the amount of point balance shown in his system panel is only 10 which he left in case of emergency.
Although the points he has are extremely small, the strength of [Devour] has already massively increased. From the previously small range at around a palm capable of causing a small vortex , at one point in time it increased to more than one meter in radius. Not only the size, even its conversion speed has greatly increased.
Taking devouring a tree as an example, the previous speed of [Devour] is akin to eating slowly bit by bit which requires around four to ten minutes to swallow a tree depending on its size. Right now, just by activating [Devour] at the tree's bottom trunks, with the support of gravity the tree will vanish as if swallowed by a portal. The time required has been greatly decreased to around 30 seconds to one minute at most.
What a pity though as at first, the increase on the power of [Devour] is extremely significant. Just tens of points could already more than double its speed of conversion and range, but the stronger it is, the less increase he gets. Although occasionally the power of [Devour] will somehow get a much bigger increase compared to previous upgrade, but that might be him thinking too much.
Due to [Devour]'s power getting too strong, recently Ren Qingquan has even stopped it from devouring air and light which make it stop showing as a small blackhole with vortex and instead just silently causing the item around one meter of his body part, depending on which body part he use to activate [Devour] to silently disappear from existence. Which is to be honest, much scarier than a blackhole surrounded by wind vortex. At least, a blackhole will show you how those things disappeared.
Previously, when the range of [Devour] is still small. The blackhole like darkess is also extremely small which make it merely seems like a shadow in his body part due to the light. But now, having an increasingly bigger blackhole everytime he activated [Devour] is extremely eyecatching.
As for the reason Ren Qingquan stopped [Devour] to swallow air, it is due to the lack of breath he experienced. As a Martial Master, he still needs air to breathe and live. Scratch that, he thinks even Martial Emperors still need air to breath and live. Otherwise, once the radius of [Devour] reached his mouth, it will suck the air surrounding him and cause him to suffocate.
Actually not only air and light, when the radius of [Devour] had yet to reach one meter radius, it also caused a whirlwind that almost swallowed his slightly too big Martial Spirit Sect disciple's robe that came together with his residence. Which just shows how lazy the Martial Spirit Sect is in regard to their uniform as it seems they choose the one size fit all approach.
Due to the martial centric custom of peoples in the Great Azure Empire or even the whole continent. They don't have the habit of wearing sandals or shoes because it is accepted as showing a sign of weakness. Which make him failed to realize the possibility of [Devour] skill swallowing his clothings when he devoured the previous ferocious beasts corpses using his bare feet.
At first, he thought anything he used will automatically turn into exception from [Devour]'s swallowing. Just like how it couldn't swallow him as he have the will to ressist it. Now he think about it, Ren Qingquan also added the restriction in [Devour] to not swallow himself. Who knows, he might get accidentally swallowed once the ability reached higher level, which is no joking matter.
The current Ren Qingquan's robe actually has a torn sleeve and quite a big hole near his stomach after his robe got pulled by the air sucked by [Devour] causing some part to enter its swallowing range.
Learning from that lesson, Ren Qingquan stopped [Devour] from swallowing clothes and anything he wore in general.
As he already swallowed half of the mountain for two week straight, Ren Qingqian chose to spend some time resting and lazing around. Pulling his trusted 2x2x2 metal shelter from system storage, Ren Qingquan started to chat with the system while reading novels stored in system space.
'System, you called that function of yours as calculate and not skill upgrade. Does that mean there is another use for that function?'
[Ding! Yes, the calculate function could be used to calculate anything within its capability. Host may also upgrade the calculation function to increase its ability.]
'Then, could you calculate how long it would take to completely devour this mountain?'
[without increase in devour, a week. If you spend all points on increasing devour's capability, around 5 days.]
After resting for a moment, Ren Qingquan continued his work with increased efficiency. This time, except for sleeping, eating, and answering nature's call, he spent all of his time working to devour the mountain.
In just slightly more than 5 days, Ren Qingquan successfully turned this mountain into a flat plain. Together with this mountain's disappearance, Ren Qingquan also gained 200 additional points which once again he spent entirely to upgrade the [Devour] function.
This time, Ren Qingquan stopped choosing a mountain based on his whim. He chose to ask the system about which mountain will have higher efficiency at devouring and will get less attention when devoured
'System, didn't you say your [Calculate] function could be used to calculate many things? How about you help me choose my target? Help me choose a mountain with higher energy content but wouldn't catch too much attention upon disappearing.'
[Ding! Calculating. For more accurate data, the host is required to walk around the area while activating the scan.]
Ren Qingquan followed the system's needs and started to wander around. After spending four whole hours circling around the mountain turned plain, a new notification from the system finally sounded.
[Calculation result is out. System has detected a suitable mountain for the host to devour. It has been marked in the system map. The mountain is located south, near a small flat area which will make it camouflage into the surrounding area upon being devoured. According to the scan, the further south it is, the higher the average energy content a mountain has.]
Alright, then let's go south!
[Warning! Please be careful to not enter the inner area of Endless Mountain accidentally as it is also located at the south.]
Alright then. Let's return to work!
Just like that, Ren Qingquan has spent two whole months traveling the Endless Mountain. Right now, his current victim count has reached a staggering amount of 4 mountains. The size of his [Devour] already reached more than four meters in range. Probably reaching five meters after he devoured the next mountain.
With the increase in his experience of devouring mountains, accompanied by the increase in the size of his [Devour], Ren Qingquan could now devour a medium mountain similar in size to the first mountain he devoured which probably had a height of less than 300 meters in less than 3 days.
To be honest, Ren Qingquan doesn't know whether that thing counted as a mountain or a hill instead. But this place is called Endless Mountain and not Endless Hill or Endless Mound so, he will stick with calling them mountains.
Following the system's advice, he walked further south and finally arrived near the border of the Endless Mountain's inner section.
With the help of his partner in crime, the system, he finally selected a mountain as his next victim. It is a small mountain that is much smaller than the first mountain he devoured. Probably less than 100 meters in height, which might only require the current Ren Qingquan to spend several hours.
While hiking the mountain to search for a comfortable area to start his journey to swallow this mountain, he actually detected a group of ferocious beasts consisting of two Martial Grandmaster beasts, six Martial Master beasts, and dozens of Martial Apprentice beasts.
Walking stealthily toward their location using Agile Step, he could see a pack of wolves with a pair of huge 2 meter tall wolves which looked like its commander.
'From the dangling thing under one of the wolves, it seems one of them is male while the other one is female?'
While thinking about some random thing, he also prepared his trusted weapon. The metal plate with a spike has increased in size and weight due to him leaving the metallic content while devouring those mountains and combining them with his weapon. As both Grandmaster Wolf are separated quite far away from each other, Ren Qingquan immediately walked stealthily toward the male wolf Grandmaster.
With a sudden dash using Agile Step, Ren Qingquan immediately jumped and released the now 20 tons metal plate spike.
Before the male wolf could sense anything, he stepped hard into the metal plate. The wolf, seemingly detecting the sky darkened above it raised its head which is the last thing it did in its life.
*Boom*
*Caw caw*
A massive explosion accompanied by the sound of fleeting birds finally made the wolf pack realize their missing leader. With a howl that spread to the surrounding mountain, the wolf quickly gathered toward their leader's killer.
*Awooo*
As the recently widowed female Grandmaster wolf howled to command her pack, Ren Qingquan quickly stored his weapon in [Storage]
Just like playing whack-a-mole, Ren Qingquan stored and released the metal plate and squished the surrounding wolves into meat paste.
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
Hearing the consecutive explosive sound, the female wolf started to sense danger and tried to escape.
Unwilling to let his points run away, Ren Qingquan quickly chased after it. But, with another howl of that female wolf, the surrounding survivors of the wolf pack quickly blocked his path.
As Ren Qingquan saw the Female Grandmaster wolf run further and further, he got angry and released his anger toward the surrounding surviving wolves. Smashing them until there is no survivor left, Ren Qingquan started to devour their corpses leaving only their hearts.
Although many of those wolves got their heart pierced by the spiky part of the metal plate or squeezed by the metal plate until it exploded. Luckily the Wolf leader's heart, which is more precious, is still intact. Storing all of them in [Storage], Ren Qingquan lost his mood to travel and started to devour the mountain right there.
Just like he expected. In just eight hours, the mountain has successfully been devoured and his [Devour] actually reached 6 meters in range due to the additional points gained from the wolf pack. With this, Ren Qingquan feels the power of [Devour] is already huge enough and will start to spend his points to increase his martial arts realm and enter the inner section of Endless Mountain to devour better mountains.
***
Consciousness Space
Actually the occasional massive upgrade in the so-called [Devour] ability is my work. I also understood the theory of spending money to generate more money. So, I also spent some of my personal energy to upgrade my [Absorb] skills which I renamed to [Devour] for Ren Qingquan because it sounds cooler. Due to that, the amount of points I currently have only increased a bit
Also, thanks to Ren Qingquan slowly upgrading the [Absorb] skill, I actually found out that its speed of energy conversion could actually increase.
In case one is confused, the points Ren Qingquan spent to upgrade the so-called [Devour] function actually goes to my [Absorb] skill before causing an increase on every [Absorb] skill I give to things anchored to me. As every anchored skill is connected to each other with me as its core, It also caused the stones I previously anchored in the rivers to have an increasingly stronger suction force. Making my daily income to actually multiply by 8.
Damn it, this whole devouring and absorbing thing makes me confused. Let's change the name of absorb skill in my panel to devour too.
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
[Name: System
Skills: [Storage], [Transfer], [Calculate], [Devour], [Scan], [Create], [Anchor]
Energy: 17 700
Daily income: 80 Energy]
Chapter 18. Endless Mountains With One Less Mountain
Not long before Ren Qingquan arrived at the last mountain.
Ren Qingchen has almost finished his third round of hunting. As the amount of food and harvested ingredients he could bring is limited, Ren Qingchen needed to waste some time going back and forth between his chosen hunting ground located southeast to the sect and the Martial Spirit Sect.
After spending 2 whole months going back and forth twice, he finally already collected 98 kill counts from the ferocious beasts. Actually, the amount of beasts he killed is much more than that. But due to some accident, several ferocious beast hearts got slashed and became unusable. Not only that, some of the beast heart is too big for the air tight container he brought which makes it unable to be preserved.
Now, Ren Qingchen only needed to kill a ferocious beast at Martial Grandmaster realm or two Martial Master ferocious beasts and he could finally return to the sect and focus on training for at most one week to increase his realm to Martial Grandmaster.
Because during his two months of hunting, Ren Qingchen also never stopped training. When the sky darkened, he started training and before the sun rose he also started another round of training. Coupled with the martial arts technique he specially chooses which have incredibly high training speed without sacrificing combat power nor foundation. Right now, he has already achieved the ninth stage of the Martial Master realm and is infinitely close to the Grandmaster realm.
Continuing his travels, Ren Qingchen sensed the existence of several ferocious beasts through a vital energy sensing skill he had. Quickly, he started to activate his stealth skill and ran toward the source of vital energy he sensed. Choosing a high ground, he could see a group of wolves traveling around with two giant 2 meter wolves standing at the front of the pack.
'Damn it, there are two Martial Grandmasters and at least three Martial Masters. Let's retreat.'
Silently retreating from this pack of wolves, Ren Qingchen quickly used his movement skill and vital energy sensing skill to choose another suitable target.
Skipping the Martial Apprentice stage ferocious beast that will only make his bag full, Ren Qingchen quickly locked onto a Martial Master level vital energy nearby seemingly escaping from something at fast speed.
Activating his stealth skill, he ran toward the place that Martial Master needed to pass. Hiding behind a group of trees while circulating his blood energy and preparing an ambush, Ren Qingchen immediately slashed his sword toward the target upon hearing a stepping sound and the rustling sound from bushes.
*Ding!*
The sound of metal collision could be heard when Ren Qingchen slashed his sword. What stands in front of him is a girl wearing white full body armor running for her life. With a pale blue hair that is in a mess with some leaves sticking at random places and a red face from overexerting her blood energy.
Looking at the familiar person, Ren Qingchen called into her.
"Third Princess?"
Luckily, he quickly suppressed his blood energy when seeing his target. Otherwise, Third Princess might get at least a heavy injury from his slash at her current condition.
"Ren Qingchen? Quick! We must escape from this place."
Looking at her panicked face, Ren Qingchen tried to calm her down.
"Please calm down for a moment and circulate your blood energy slowly and try to explain what is going on. If you continue to overexert yourself like this, it might damage your body and destroy your path forward."
Slowly calming down, the Third Princess started her explanation.
"Sorry to make you see such an embarrassing thing. Actually, when I tried to hunt at a place nearby, I suddenly heard a massive explosion-like sound. When I climbed into a tall tree trying to see what was going on there, I saw a massive snake fighting against an extremely huge bird. From the destruction they caused on the surroundings, they seem to be at least at Martial Saint realm or perhaps even Martial Lord realm. They fought from one mountain to another, quickly moving toward the direction I am at. In panic, I ran toward the approximate direction of the sect."
Hearing the Third Princess's explanation, Ren Qingchen doesn't feel afraid and instead feels excited. Afterall, during the fight between two experts of the same realm, a loss-loss situation is extremely common. If the winner of that fight actually got greatly weakened, he could just use some of his trump card and achieve a leapfrog double kill. With this kind of achievement, Raising his status in the sect will be a breeze and he could move forward with some of his plans.
"Then, let's escape from this place but don't run too far away. If the conditions permit, we should try to see whether we could try to kill the winning Martial Saint beast that has been greatly weakened from fighting."
"You are insane! We are only Martial Masters. Just their sneezing is enough to make us dead several times over."
*Boom*
*Caw caw caw*
While they were arguing, they could hear a massive explosive sound coming from a small mountain nearby accompanied by the sound of fleeing birds. They could even sense the trembling ground from such a long distance.
"Let's escape."
Without any more nonsense, Third Princess started another round of escape. But, this time she ran together with Ren Qingchen.
Soon after they could also hear a vague wolf howl.
'It seems the wolf pack I met just now met with an accident.'
When they already ran quite a distance from that mountain, a consecutive booming sound could be heard.
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
They continued to hear that sound for several minutes before it suddenly came to a stop. Stopping from curiosity, both of them climbed toward a nearby cliff and looked into the distance.
As both of them have no skill that grants enhanced vision. They couldn't see the suspected battle between two Martial Saint beasts. But from the surrounding tree that fell one by one and occasional landslide, it seems the battle is still intense. Seeing that, both of them continued their escapade for another hour. Until Ren Qingchen called to a stop and continued the talk about his plan to be the oriole and took advantage of that ferocious beast's weakness to kill it.
This time, the Third Princess agreed. Compared to the first time she saw it, the turmoil caused by their battle has indeed become much weaker.
When there was no more movement from that place, for several hours, both of them returned to the place they first met. Looking for a tall tree to climb and look at the location of the Martial Saint beast's battle, both of them became wide-eyed.
(๏_๏)
The Third Princess is the one to first break their silence.
"Are we in the right location?"
"Well, from the surroundings, we are indeed in the correct location." he answered by pointing at his surroundings.
Glaring at the now beautiful flat plains where the mountain should have stood, both of them fell into silence once again.
"Then, where is the small mountain nearby?"
"Maybe it got destroyed during their battle?"
Actually Ren Qingchen couldn't even believe he actually said that. Afterall, even a moron knows after those landslides and falling trees, what welcomes them should be a scene of carnage instead of beautiful plains.
The Third Princess used her usual ultimate technique -Looking at someone as if they were a moron- at Ren Qingchen.
"How about we go to the place where you saw both of those Martial Saint beasts fighting? We might have found a clue there."
"I agree."
With the Third Princess in the lead, both of them ran for another ten minutes toward another mountain. Upon arriving nearby both of them didn't detect any fighting sound at all. Climbing a high place, all they could see was a ruined mountain landscape with many fallen trees and messy stone piles caused by a landslide.
Looking at these scenes, both of them sighed in relief instead. Compared to the previous weird scene of a mountain turning into a plain, this scene of ruins is much more pleasing to the eye.
Upon entering the ruined area, Ren Qingchen constantly activated his detection skills.
After walking for several hours, it finally detected a massive source of vital energy. Telling the Third Princess to wait there for a moment, Ren Qingchen quickly walked toward the source while activating his stealth skill at full power.
Looking ahead, Ren Qingchen could see a snake with deep gash on one of its eyes eating the corpse of a giant bird.
Walking toward the snake, Ren Qingchen poured some liquid into his sword. With this, as long as his sword would pierce the scale of that snake, his special liquid poison could easily kill this Martial Saint ferocious beast.
When the snake took another deep gulp at the bird, Ren Qingchen immediately struck and slashed toward a wounded area on the snake and immediately retreated far away.
It immediately hissed in pain before convulsing after several minutes passed. Not long after, the snake stopped moving, making sure it is absolutely dead by activating his sensing skill and throwing a throwing dagger toward the snake's remaining intact eye. Ren Qingchen finally called the Third Princess over.
"I have killed that snake using my poisons. As I got this information from you, how about we share the loot in half?"
Third Princess stared at the snake for a moment before staring at him as if lost in thought.
"Alright then. I will remember this favor."
Collecting the heart from both ferocious beasts, Ren Qingchen then proceeds to harvest the precious parts on those beasts like their claw fang and poison sack while helped by Third Princess. He then divided the loot in half and gave one part to the Third Princess.
With that, both of them immediately ran back to the sect. During their travels, Ren Qingchen and the Third Princess are lucky enough to collect several more ferocious beast hearts and precious plants.
Upon arriving at the sect, Ren Qingchen and Third Princess immediately went to the exchange hall and traded the ferocious beast hearts they collected. After some appraisal, without getting questioned at all, both of them got several thousand worth of sect coins mostly from the Martial Saint beast heart. Ren Qingchen also received an additional mark on his disciple badge which meant he already fulfilled the requirement of killing 100 ferocious beasts and could advance to the inner sect upon advancing to Martial Grandmaster realm.
Both of them then proceed to move toward the mission hall as the mission hall also does the job of information gathering from the disciples. They told the person in charge about the weird event they see today, especially the mountain turning into plains and about how a Martial Saint beast has entered the outer area while fighting. The person in charge there finished writing their statement and collected it together with a pile of paper containing other miscellaneous information that will be sent to the information gathering team for inspection later. After being told they will receive an announcement about their reward at a later date, both of them left and separated.
With this, Ren Qingchen could finally start his possibly one week long training to quickly reach Martial Grandmaster realm. Before starting, he purchased some precious plants to be turned into medicine. While at it, he also collected some medicine that will be used to craft a medicine to get the medicine peak master's approval to be his successor.
Entering the sect's training ground, Ren Qingchen started to practice his technique. The next time he comes out from the training ground will be when he advances to Martial Grandmaster.
***
Meanwhile, after removing another mountain from Endless Mountain. Ren Qingquan is happily looking for another victim.
This time, his target is to quickly reach Martial Saint realm~
Chapter 19. Ren 'Cheater' Qingquan
After raising the range of his [Devour] to six meters, Ren Qingquan immediately went to another mountain system has recommended. Activating his movement technique, he quickly ran toward the designated area. After exploring around the area and killing the ferocious beasts living there, Ren Qingquan immediately devoured the mountain. In half a day, the big mountain has already turned into a grassy plain. Contributing an increase of 400 points for him.
'System, spend all of my points for vital energies.'
[Do you wish to spend 414 points to purchase 207 strands of vital energies gained from 'Body Tempering Technique'?]
'Yes.'
[Ding! You have purchased 207 Vital energies. It will be sent directly to your body in several batches.]
After the system's notification, Ren Qingquan could feel his body feeling warm and relaxed as if bathing in a hot spring while being massaged by sexy maids.
After two minutes, that warm sensation finally ended. Opening his panel, Ren Qingquan could see the massive increase in his realm.
[Name: Ren Qingquan
Realm: Second Stage Martial Grandmaster
Point: 0
Technique: Body Tempering (Martial Saint)
Skills: Tiger Subduing Palm(Middle),
Agile Step (Middle), Iron Cloth (Low).
System function: Devour, Shop, Scan, Library, Map, Calculate, System Storage (10 cubic meters).]
Looking at his updated personal panel, he nodded in satisfaction. Especially when he looked at his martial arts realm that has increased by a whole big level.
To advance from Martial Apprentice to Martial Master requires martial artists to collect 10 vital energy, and from Martial Master to Martial Grandmaster require 100 vital energy with every stage at Martial Grandmaster realm requiring 100 vital energy to increase. The 207 vital energy he purchased has directly pushed his realm to second stage Martial Grandmaster. If other people know they might spit blood several times and die.
'What else should I say? As expected of the system.'
╮(╯▽╰)╭
Running toward yet another mountain with his increased speed due to the rise of the realm, he quickly arrived at the mountain. This mountain is much bigger in size compared to the surrounding mountains. The system said it has chosen this place due to the ruined condition this mountain is currently in, which seems like the aftermath of an earthquake.
'System, are you sure about targeting this mountain? It is pretty huge compared to the surroundings and seems pretty eyecatching.'
[Ding! Don't worry host, it should be normal for a mountain to get shorter after experiencing an earthquake.]
Actually Ren Qingquan is a bit doubtful, but he is no expert in this kind of thing and just chooses to trust the system.
Even from a far distance, Ren Qingquan could already see a disastrous scene with many trees falling and overturned earth as if there was a super big earthquake happening.
Following his habit of exploring the mountain he has chosen as a victim, Ren Qingquan could see many ferocious beasts gathering at a location. Due to most of the trees having fallen, his line of sight is not obstructed and he could see the corpse of a huge snake and a huge bird being eaten by dozens of ferocious beasts.
Looking at that scene, several thoughts immediately ran through his mind.
'Both of those ferocious beasts are huge! I wonder how much I could get from swallowing them.'
Immediately running toward those ferocious beasts, Ren Qingquan immediately smashed his weapon on them and killed many beasts at once to make them stop eating the corpse. Hearing that smashing sound, the surrounding beasts stopped for a moment before quickly running away.
Retrieving his metal plate into system storage, Ren Qingquan released it several more times toward slower ferocious beasts and quickly killed them. Looking at the hell-like scene, Ren Qingquan, who has already done this several times, finally could keep a seemingly calm face. But, from his slightly pale face, it seems Ren Qingquan is still far away from capable of killing things in cold blood.
Activating his [Devour] and swallowing the corpse of those ferocious beasts he recently killed and the corpse of snake and bird while leaving the heart from those corpses from being devoured. Storing the hearts that have been left, he starts to look at the now clean area without any trace of blood and feels a bit disappointed.
'It seems I am not quick enough and someone has already harvested the hearts from both of these gigantic beasts. Luckily, the flesh in it is still worth quite a lot of points.'
Just from devouring the body of surrounding ferocious beasts and both of these massive beasts has increased Ren Qingquan's point by another 300. Repeating his previous action, he immediately spent all of the points toward upgrading his martial arts realm. Experiencing the warm and relaxed feeling once again, Ren Qingquan soon felt his body strengthened. With this, he is currently at the peak of third stage Martial Grandmaster, soon reaching the fourth stage.
Starting his work of swallowing the mountain, Ren Qingquan started another round of devouring the mountain. Actually, after devouring those two giant ferocious beast corpses, he started having thought about focusing on hunting beasts instead. But, the location of ferocious beasts residing in Endless Mountain is inconsistent. One mountain might have dozens of ferocious beasts residing within, while another mountain will be empty.
While lost in thought the sky already started to darken. Creating a cave using devour, Ren Qingquan released his metal tent from system storage and slept.
Repeating those things for another three days, he has gained more than 1000 points. As the huge mountain he devoured is located almost at the inner section of Endless Mountain, the energy it contained is immense.
Spending it all on his martial arts realm, Ren Qingquan soon reached the ninth stage of Martial Grandmaster realm. Along with it, his storage of dried meat also ran out.
'Finally! All of this tasteless dried meat is already gone. *Ahem* I mean, damn it I am out of food. Let's return to the sect.'
'System, mark the location of the Martial Spirit Sect's outer sect.'
Following the mark placed in the system map, Ren Qingquan ran toward a direction. This time, due to the massive increase in realm. He only spent half a day reaching the Martial Spirit Sect.
After arriving at the Martial Spirit Sect, Ren Qingquan traded another 1000 sect coin using silver at the exchange hall before going to the stalls to buy several more air tight containers and sealed all the ferocious beast hearts he gathered inside. With that, he immediately went to the exchange hall once again to trade all the hearts he had collected.
When the person in charge realized he had reached the Martial Grandmaster realm, he asked Ren Qingchen for his disciple badge and changed it into another disciple badge for inner disciple. Hearing the person in charge's explanation, Ren Qingquan realized he had fulfilled the criteria to be an inner disciple.
After writing something on his paper, the person in charge asked him a question.
"an inner disciple needs to choose a peak to enter. So, have you decided which peak you wish to enter?"
"I haven't decided yet. Could you wait for a few days and let me think about it? Also, do you have a list of available peaks?"
"Alright, here is a list of available peaks at Martial Spirit Sect. According to the procedure, you have three days upon receiving the inner disciple badge to choose a peak. So, please come back in time. Otherwise you will be appointed to a random peak."
"Thank you."
Leaving the exchange hall with close to 10 000 sect coins in his pocket, Ren Qingchen realized he forgot to trade the other resources he gained from his adventure.
When Ren Qingquan wanted to go back to the exchange hall, he met with fatty Zhang.
"Brother Ren, what have you been doing since entering the sect? I couldn't find you no matter what." Fatty Zhang asked while wearing a concerned face.
"Hehehe. Actually, I have been training to reach Martial Grandmaster realm while hunting some ferocious beasts to raise my disciple rank. I have just finished rising my rank to inner disciple just now."
As he spoke, Ren Qingquan showed the new inner disciple badge he got.
"Damn! As expected of brother Ren, you actually reached Grandmaster so quickly. I think you might have broken the record of youngest Grandmaster already. This is definitely good news! Let's go to my tavern and have a party."
The Martial Spirit Sect is incredibly huge with a total population that could equal to a big city. Which makes entertainment establishments exist. Walking past the place with many disciples opening stalls, Ren Qingquan followed fatty Zhang toward his new tavern.
While eating and drinking, fatty Zhang and Ren Qingquan exchanged what they had experienced in the past months. But, when Ren Qingquan started to tell an altered story about how he killed a Martial Grandmaster realm as a mere Martial Master, fatty Zhang suddenly asked him some questions.
"Wait, brother Ren. Did you just say you found a Moonlight Glow Flower?"
"Yep. That flower is glowing and looks incredibly precious so I choose to keep it. I could give it to you if you want as a thanks for this meal. After all, ferocious beast meat is pretty expensive too."
With that, Ren Qingquan placed his hand in his bag and released the flower stored in system storage. Pulling his hand from the bag, Ren Qingquan gave the flower to fatty Zhang.
Once fatty Zhang saw the flower, he immediately went to the tavern's storage room and took a jade box. Placing the flower inside, fatty Zhang quickly thanked Ren Qingquan.
"Brother Ren, I couldn't thank you enough. My aunt has been looking for this flower for some time."
After saying that, fatty Zhang seems to be extremely happy and anxious. Before long, they parted from each other. This time, Ren Qingquan purchased some food from fatty's tavern to be stored in [Storage]. Eating that dried meat for two whole months makes him want to vomit.
***
Soon after at a certain peak within the Martial Spirit Sect.
*BOOM*
The sound of the door to a medicine refining chamber being smashed could be heard.
A fatty running while being drenched in sweat could be seen from behind the door as he slammed it open.
"Arggggg. The medicine got burned! Fatty! This time if there is nothing of importance, I will immediately beat the shit out of you for real."
"Aunt! On my way to my tavern, I met Brother Qingquan and he gave me the Moonlight Glow Flower you have been searching for. From your description about mature Moonlight Glow Flower, I could see the Moonlight Glow Flower brother Ren gave me seems to have almost matured and met your needs."
Hearing Fatty's words, Aunt Zhang held back her anger.
"Really? Quickly show it to me! If this is truly the Moonlight glow, then I will not make you take responsibility for the dozens of doors you previously destroyed. "
Fatty Zhang quickly pulled a jade box with a glowing plant within. Upon checking the content, aunt Zhang quickly took the box and ran toward a pavilion located at the top of the medicine refining peak.
"Peak Master! Peak Master! Quickly come out, I have found the plant you need!"
After calling for some time with no response, aunt Zhang seems to have lost her patience and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"OLD FART, COME OUT QUICKLY OR I WILL BURN YOUR MEDICINE GARDEN!"
Slowly a white haired elder walked out from the pavilion.
"Elder Zhang, what are you screaming like that for? Don't you know i am already old enough. Hearing your scream makes me feel like losing a whole year of my lifespan."
"Old far *Ahem* I mean, Peak Master. My fat nephew has found the Moonlight Glow Plant you are looking for. Are you sure this is the thing you need?"
The white haired elder looked at the box in aunt Zhang's hand and nodded.
"Well, it is indeed the right plant. With this I should be able to craft that life extending medicine and increase my lifespan."
Chapter 20. A Peak Full of Salted Fish
Hearing the confident tone of Medicine Peak Master, aunt Zhang sighed in relief. Aunt Zhang and Medicine Peak Master are fellow disciples from the same master. During her early year of apprenticeship, Medicine Peak Master has been helping her quite a lot.
So, although aunt Zhang called him old fogey, old fart, old guy that smells like soils, half buried guy, and other nicknames. She still thought of him as family.
"Are you sure you could successfully refine that life-extending medicine? After All, it's a recipe from the ancient era and most of the plants used have gone extinct already."
Hearing her words, the white haired elder just smiled.
"Don't worry. I have already thought of a substitute for all of those plants and collected all of them except for this Moonlight Glow Flower. Whoever found this flower is incredibly lucky. If they found it several days later, this flower might have reached maturation and would have been in danger of being eaten by the beast guarding it."
"Well, then I will be going. Good luck, old fogge *cough* senior brother."
Answering aunt Zhang, medicine peak master just waved his hand.
Returning to her refining room, aunt Zhang could still see fatty walking around touching many things.
"Fatty, do you have anything else you want to say? Also, stop touching my things!"
"Aunt, shouldn't you reward me with anything?"
Fatty asked while looking a bit embarrassed. Listening to fatty's words, aunt Zhang fell into thought.
"I will give you medicine to help condense your innate energy once you reach peak Martial Grandmaster realm. Now, scram!"
Listening to his aunt's words, fatty Zhang immediately ran back to his tavern. Finally left alone, aunt Zhang continued her work.
"Soon, my aphrodisiac will be ready~"
Aunt Zhang seems to be in a good mood as she continues to craft her suspicious medicine.
***
Upon leaving from fatty's tavern, Ren Qingquan returned to his room. As the place has been left alone for 2 months, it is currently filled with dust. So, Ren Qingquan activated [Devour] while only targeting the dust. In just a second, his whole room has been cleaned.
Opening the list of available peaks, Ren Qingquan started to read through them. Seeing as no peak has made him interested, he finally decided to choose the same peak as his third uncle. At least, he might get some help or two.
Having made his decision, Ren Qingquan just lay on his bed until tomorrow. After living in the wilderness for weeks, he misses the feeling of sleeping in a safe room. Furthermore, due to the deadline given to select a peak which lasts for three whole days. Both things combined make Red Qingquan's procrastination disease to relapse.
Waking up feeling refreshed, Ren Qingquan placed all of his belongings in the room into system storage. Because, once he selected a peak, he would need to stay there and leave this residence in the outer sect area.
Returning to the exchange hall, Ren Qingquan went to the information department and told the person in charge yesterday about his choice.
Hearing the peak Ren Qingquan had chosen, The person in charge looked at him with a weird eye.
"Are you sure you want to choose this formation peak? I will tell you this, there is no such thing as formation in the current world. In ancient times, those might have existed. But, nowadays we can only see books about formation from ancient ruins. So, if you entered the peak trying to learn formation, please reconsider your choice."
"Senior brother, thank you for your caution. But, I chose that peak because there is already a friend waiting for me there."
Ren Qingquan lied about the friend part. Afterall, telling others you chose a peak for easier nepotism is embarrassing.
"Alright then. Please give me your disciple badge."
The senior brother quickly stamped many documents using a jade seal before stamping a golden symbol on the backside of his disciple badge.
"I have marked your badge with the symbol for formation peak. Also, you could follow this map here to look for it."
After stamping his badge, that senior brother also gave him an additional map with the location of formation peak marked in a circle.
"Thank you, senior brother."
Ren Qingquan thanked him and left in satisfaction. If there is a rating and review system, he would have given that senior a five star and good review.
'System, mark the location of this place.'
[Location has been marked.]
Opening the system map, Ren Qingquan could see a new symbol located at the border of his map as the formation peak is far beyond the system map's boundary.
'It seems upgrading the system's scan must be done asap. Having such a small map is inconvenient.'
Following the guide from the system map, he soon arrived at the Formation Peak. When he looked at the peak with extremely beautiful scenery akin to a scenic spot that contributed to 20% of a city's GDP, Ren Qingquan felt he had made the right choice.
Walking up the white stone stair, Ren Qingquan soon found a male disciple pruning some plants there. Activating [Scan], Ren Qingquan could see the status of that male disciple.
[Human: ???
Age: 31
Realm: Martial Grandmaster (Fifth Stage)
Technique: ???
Please study more about martial arts,anatomy, and other arts related to humans for further details.]
After scanning him, that disciple seems to realize Ren Qingquan's presence and calls him.
"Hello, are you a new disciple joining our formation peak?"
"Hello there, senior brother. I have indeed just joined the peak."
Upon hearing his word, that disciple's face soon looks happy.
"That is good! I will help to introduce you to our peak."
"Then, I will apologize for bothering my older brother."
"It's not a bother, I am currently free and have nothing to do. I will first introduce you to some areas in the peak."
Ren Qingquan followed that senior brother for the entire day to explore around the place before both of them finally stopped at the residential area and dispersed.
"Well, that is almost everything. Tomorrow, I will bring you to the peak master. Coincidentally, tomorrow is the peak's monthly meetings."
Entering his room, Ren Qingquan started to sort his thoughts. From that senior brother's explanation there are only several things to note.
First, Formation Peak is much much more deserted compared to other peaks. Including the elders and the peak master, there are only 8 people in it. Including him, a recently arrived disciple, there are 9 people. Compared to the hundred of people in other peaks, it is indeed deserted.
Second, just like previously said. Although there are many formation books, there is no one capable of making a formation in this world. So, the job of Formation Peak is merely to help do some feng shui calculation according to the knowledge in those formation books when the sect needs to open a new city or selecting the location to build the main branch of their business. But, things like opening a new city might not even happen once in a decade which make people in Formation Peak only getting a minimum resource most of the time.
Third, due to that extremely free schedule. Formation Peak turned into the gathering place of salted fish. From the disciple to the peak master, everyone is throwing their responsibility around toward each other. That senior brother is even nice enough to tell him some technique to evade his responsibility.
Last, the Formation Peak is a recently created peak built by a Martial Emperor currently staying in the Central Peak of the Martial Spirit Sect at the inner section of Endless Mountain. It is unknown what kind of brain fart the emperor got to build such a useless peak. But at least, due to the backing of that Martial Emperor, the salted fish at Formation Peak could live a happy and carefree life.
'It seems I somehow joined a weird peak. But the situation of this peak is exactly to my liking.'
The next day, Ren Qingquan followed that senior brother and went to visit the peak master.
Near the meeting hall, Ren Qingquan could hear many faint noises coming from inside that soon subsided.
Entering the meeting hall, he could see 7 people sitting. Including him and the senior brother, everyone in Formation Peak actually gathered together. Which shows just how free they are.
From one of the seats, Ren Qingquan could see an old man sitting in the center seat which is slightly more elevated compared to the rest. Next to that elderly man, his third uncle sat with a slightly blank face seemingly falling into thought. There are also 5 other unfamiliar people sitting around, 3 female and 2 male.
Activating his [Scan], Ren Qingquan couldn't help but be amazed at the average level of this Formation Peak. Except for the senior brother standing next to him, there is only another female Grandmaster. As for the other people, they are all above the Martial Saint realm. Ren Qingquan even sees three Martial Lords with his uncle being one of them.
'It seems the third uncle has just advanced. I guess I need to congratulate him later.'
While he is lost in thought, Ren Qingquan doesn't forget to greet the others, especially the elderly man that sits in the middle in an elevated seat which shows his status as a Peak Master, all while following the senior brother toward one of the empty seats.
"Ren Qingquan greets Peak Master."
"Hello there, no need for such a formality. You could just call me Fen Yundao or Peak Master Fen. All of us have heard of you from elder Ren, but you seem to be even more talented than what we heard."
"Thank you for your praise, Peak Master Fen."
After saying that, Peak Master Fen continued while glancing at the senior brother next to him.
"It seems that guy has already brought you to the surrounding areas. So, i will just talk about the main points here. Every month, Formation Peak will have a meetings to decide future plans. Unless you have extremely important matters to tend to, I hope you could spend some time gathering here as this monthly meeting is also the time when formation peaks give everyone's share of training resources . Except for the monthly meetings there is also time when the Martial Spirit Sect need some people to do some mission. At that time, i will send the news using an information bird that has detected your aura. If you fail to attend it, you are almost guaranteed to be listed to join that mission. Except for those two meetings, you are free to do anything on your own. Do you have any question? *Pant* *Pant*"
After saying all of those words at once, Peak Master Fen seems to be out of breath and his face paled. Looking at his pale face, Ren Qingquan felt even if he had a question he wouldn't dare to ask here, afraid that the peak master might faint.
"I don't have any question. Ren Qingquan thanks Peak Master Fen for his explanation."
*Pant* "Mhmm. Good." *Pant*
It seems one of the elders is annoyed by the Peak Master's panting sound as she immediately spoke.
"Damned old fart! Cut it out with your fake panting. That guy already has no intention to ask questions. Your old trick could trick that newbie but we all already know each other's trick like the back of our palm."
"Hehehe. Okay then, let's continue our previous topic. When are we selecting a new Peak Master! I have been working as a Peak Master for 30 years! 30 whole damned years!"
Answering Peak Master's tantrum is a middle aged woman. She is one of the Martial Lord Ren Qingquan detected.
"No can do, Peak Master. You are the only one at Martial Lord realm in this peak. According to the sect rule, only Martial Lord and above could take the seat of peak master."
Glaring at her, Peak Master spoke slowly through gritted teeth.
"Anyone else could say it except for you! Do you think I forgot that time you flew to capture your precious bird that had just escaped? Only skill in the Martial Lord realm could achieve flight!"
"How many times have I told you, I am gliding! Gliding!!! Couldn't you differentiate gliding from a flying damned old fool!? If you don't believe it, you could check my realm using your eye skill."
Soon, the hall turned into a noisy mess. Except for his third uncle, him, and the senior brother, Ren Qingquan could see those people screaming and throwing the position of Peak Master toward each other. It continued until noon when all of them suddenly stopped.
"Alright, it's noon already. Let's disperse."
With that word coming from Peak Master Fen, everyone suddenly turned silent and immediately left their seat, leaving dumbfounded Ren Qingquan that soon followed suit.
Realizing he has nothing to do now, as even that senior brother has left because his job is done.
Ren Qingquan decided to meet his third uncle and congratulate him for his increase in realm.
Chapter 21. Uncle, You Are Actually That Kind Of Person
Deciding to visit his third uncle, Ren Qingquan first prepared some gifts for him. Opening the system shop, he is going to purchase the metal used in Third Princess's armor.
[Daily shop (refreshed at 23:24:56)
Water, 1 point. Description: normal drinkable water.
Ferocious Beast Meat, 1 point. Description: Meat purchased from fatty Zhang's Tavern.
Potato, 1 point. Description: A lot of normal potatoes
Paper, 1 point. Description: A stack of paper. Customizable size.
Wolf, 10 points. Description: A living Sixth Stage Martial Apprentice wolf.
Note: as it is a living creature, it will be summoned to the outside world.
Permanent shop:
Vital Energy, 2 points.
Poison, 20 points.
1 Kg Unknown Metal, 2 points.
Blood and flesh energy, 1 point.
Grass and flowers, 1 point.]
๏_๏
What the heck, system? What is that wolf you are selling?
[As the description said, it is a living martial apprentice wolf. For further information, the host may try to do some experiment himself.]
Looking at that wolf, Ren Qingquan is incredibly curious. Who knows, the system might secretly start a beast summoning business and he could own several beasts under his command. Just thinking about several ferocious beasts doing the fight for him while he rests at the rear is cool.
He quickly decided to pay a visit at the stall in the outer sect selling miscellaneous things and bought several things to absorb.
Upon arriving, Ren Qingquan quickly opened the system map and purchased many things marked as high energy. In just 5 minutes, his savings decreased by almost 1000 sect coins. In exchange, he gained a total of 20 energy.
On his way back to Formation Peak, he stopped at a deserted part of the sect and purchased the wolf. Immediately, a wolf less than one meter tall spawned next to him. Seeing the wolf appear, he prepared himself for an attack from that wolf. Afterall, the wolf being immediately tamed is merely his guess.
Under Ren Qingquan's expectant eyes. That wolf slowly moved. Or more accurately speaking, it started to tilt and fall.
???
'System? Did you sell me a defective product?'
[No. The system has sold a living wolf and that wolf is living although it seems to have no soul which makes it enter a state similar to coma. Host may try to detect its heartbeat by placing your hand toward its chest.]
Doing as the system said. Ren Qingquan placed his hand on the chest of that wolf. He could indeed feel the heart of that wolf beat.
'Damn it, system. Have you learned how to scam through word games?'
[Creating the wolf is an ability the system recently gained and is still at experimental phase.]
'What a bummer. Now i lost my mood to even visit my uncle. Sigh.'
Although Ren Qingquan lost the mood to do anything after being tricked to purchase a comatose wolf, he still bought 4 kg of Third Princess's metal from the system and turned it into a shield as a gift for his uncle. No matter what, his third uncle is his immediate backer in the Martial Spirit Sect.
***
Consciousness space
Actually, that wolf is the result of my experiment. Since Ren Qingquan rode the bird at Martial Spirit City to enter the sect, I have always scanned every ferocious beast that Ren Qingquan met thoroughly.
But, everytime I want to create exactly the same ferocious beasts as the one I scanned. I could sense the amount of energy required which is scarily high, so high I am not even sure whether I could even collect that much energy.
After some experimentation and activating [Calculate] at full power, I finally found the source of that massive increase in price.
As my [Create] skill requires less energy the more I understand something, I found out it seems my understanding of souls is limited as even my current [Scan] could only detect its existence and some memories from remnant souls. Except for that, I have no other knowledge about the soul. For example, what makes a soul a soul, the connection between soul and body, etc.
But, even though I know that, I still want to test my luck and try to create a wolf with as much knowledge about souls as I have. who knows some miracle might happen. That is why I sold the wolf at [Shop] and even used some word play to trick Ren Qingquan into purchasing it.
I already realized from the start that my skills are far from perfect. But, this experiment finally helped me to further understand the limitations of my skills.
Also, actually I have already thought about this experiment since a long time ago and thinking about creating a human. I have even collected a lot more data on humans already. But, it seems I still have my own bottom line as an ex-human. Although, I am not even sure what kind of existence I currently am.
***
Formation Peak
Running toward the residence of his uncle, Ren Qingquan knocked toward his door.
"Come in."
Ren Qingquan entered the room while wielding the metal shield he made as a present.
"Congratulations to my uncle for reaching the Martial Lord realm."
Instead of accepting the gift, his uncle instead seemed to be in shock and asked a question instead.
"How do you know?! I am sure I have always activated my realm camouflaging skill. Even Peak Master Fen couldn't detect it. Otherwise, he would have targeted me during the previous meeting."
'Third uncle seems to get a big shock as he actually spoke many words at once. Also, Damn. I got too used to scanning others. I forgot there are skills that could hide their realm from other's prying eyes.'
"Umm. Talent? I could detect the approximate energy contained in any living creature after reaching Martial Master realm."
Ren Qingquan used the skill 'telling half lies half truth'. It seems to be super effective as upon hearing his explanation, the third uncle nodded before opening his eyes wide in yet another shock.
"Martial Master?"
"Yep. I found several nice things using my talent and devoured them."
"Devoured?"
"It is a Martial Technique I gained from a dream when on my way to the Martial Spirit Sect."
Ren Qingquan just repeated the story about getting technique from a dream he already told Xiao Ling. Sigh, it seems he is extremely bad at keeping secrets.
"Mhm. I understand. Thank you for your gift. Also, have you used your talent to detect what realm the female elder that fought against Peak Master Fen is?"
"Does uncle mean the elder that keeps on saying she just glided? She has also reached the Martial Lord realm."
Hearing his answer, the Third uncle smiled and seemed to be in an extremely good mood as he whispered something.
"Guess I could blackmail that old hag to take over some of my missions. Otherwise I will sell this information to Peak Master Fen. Did that hag think I will forget how she forced me to take the job as examiner of that recruitment tests. Hehehe"
'What the hell uncle, your image as a cold person with few words is breaking and your sadistic side comes out!'
Seemingly realizing he just spoke out loud, Third uncle coughed in embarrassment.
"*Cough* Anyway, Qingquan, I might need you to meet the Peak Master together with me in the future."
'Uncle, even if you act like nothing happened I still heard what you said just now, you know.'
Promising his uncle that he will follow him to tell the Peak Master about that female elder's realm in the future, Ren Qingquan left the third uncle's room and entered his own room.
Packing most of his belongings, Ren Qingquan decided to continue his journey to level up tomorrow. But, before that he will purchase more metals and scan the other books in the outer sect's library. This time he will stay in Endless Mountain until the next monthly meeting. As it is still the evening, Ren Qingquan started his preparation first.
Due to the small number of disciples in Formation Peak, there is nothing else there except for scenery, residential area, training ground, and a small storage filled with formation books that he had scanned while the older brother introduced him around the peak. Which makes Ren Qingquan need to enter the outer sect disciple area to do most things.
First, Ren Qingquan went to the outer sect's library. Passing through the first floor, he is warned yet again by the disciple guarding the door about the price to enter the second floor. Thanking that disciple, he entered the second floor once again. This time, Ren Qingquan purchased entry to the fourth and fifth floors. Different from second and third floors that only have skills and cost 100 coins per hours to browse, fourth and fifth floors of the library contain a much more diverse collection that the Martial Spirit Sects's higher ups deemed precious, which consist of martial technique, extremely strong skills, and seemingly important miscellaneous knowledge. It also caused the amount of coins required to enter reach a massive 1000 coins per hour and another 1000 coins to copy the books within.
Entering the stair and continuing until the fourth floor, Ren Qingquan gave 3000 coins to the elder sitting there. Gaining 3 hours to browse around, he just immediately ran around without care and only occasionally stopped to pull some random books. Although it caused the elder guarding that floor to glare at him, at least he successfully achieved the target of scanning both floors in two hours.
He also finally found those familiar immortal cultivation-like knowledge at several shelves on the fifth floor. It seems the Martial Spirit Sect held it in high regard and thought of it as an important knowledge. At least compared to the Ren family that just threw it together with other miscellaneous knowledge.
Leaving the library, he went to the shopping area and purchased some metals. Entering several stores selling metals, he spent 5000 coins to purchase around 20 tons of steel. It seems the cost of metals has been steadily increasing nowadays.
After purchasing the steel, he went to a deserted area and stored it in system storage, before returning to the shopping area and bought many foods at several taverns, which Ren Qingquan also stored in system storage. He hadlearned his lesson from eating bland dried meat for two months straight and purchased a normal meal instead.
Taking the mission to kill ferocious beasts, he then returned to formation peak. Tomorrow he will travel outside of the sect. This time, his target is the inner area of Endless Mountain.
***
Meanwhile, Ren Qingchen finally finished his training upon reaching the Grandmaster realm in six days, which is one day earlier than what he predicted. Soon, he joined the Medicine peak as an inner disciple.
Upon arriving at the medicine peak, what comes into his view is a mountain peak that is full of buildings and medicine garden. Soon, he followed one of the senior brothers there to tour the medicine refining peak. While traveling around, that senior brother also explained about the medicine peak. The whole peak has been filled with many residences, medicinal gardens, personal medicine refining rooms, and a huge pagoda used by medicine refining peak disciples to work.
Because every peak could only get one mountain, and medicine peak is one of the peaks with the most disciples which amount close to a thousand. It resulted in the current style of building filling the whole mountain.
After half a day of traveling and being introduced to every building at Medicine Peak, Ren Qingchen could finally start his plan.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone