Mo Qifeng was not really a mountain; it was more like a slope, marking the boundary between the Wolf Clan and the Snake Clan. The Six Towns were not far from the battlefield of Mo Qifeng, yet even so, Yuan Zhang and Siwa had been running for three days.
It was normal for a city to govern around one hundred and eighty towns, but what Blood Mountain City looked like, a small warrior like Yuan Zhang could only guess.
The true masters of martial arts and the genius warriors of the wolves all trained in Blood Mountain City. With Yuan Zhang's trifling three roots of spirit and his unremarkable yellow-patterned beast form, he had no qualification to train there.
His father had a black-patterned beast form; his mother had a gray-patterned beast form (and died on the battlefield). They were not good breeds by any means; it was already commendable for Qi Ming to have a yellow-patterned beast form.
Without a tattoo—or rather, if beastmen couldn't transform their beast forms—there would be no future in cultivation. In other words, having a root of spirit meant you had to have a beast form; that was a characteristic of beastmen.
Be content; after all, you are also a cultivator, aren't you? The probability of expecting to "win a million-dollar lottery" to obtain a rare and powerful silver or golden-patterned beast form was pitifully low.
Either you had an impressive tattoo, or you had two roots of spirit or the unattainable heavenly root; otherwise, who would care about you?
This aligned perfectly with what was often said in the fantasy novels of his previous life—the fewer the roots, the better. Unfortunately, Yuan Zhang's beast form was trash enough, and having three roots of spirit was quite ordinary; Blood Mountain City had little interest in such a wolfman.
Why was his wolf fur yellow while others were black or gray? This had been a constant source of frustration for Yuan Zhang. Was he a mixed breed? Perhaps he was just the product of garbage mixing with garbage.
"Siwa, you should leave early. A good cultivation environment is hard to come by; staying in this small place will only hinder your future," Yuan Zhang said.
Though Siwa was introduced to the world of cultivation by Qi Ming, he had only received a very ordinary book, "Spirit Drawing Manual," which led to the awakening of his roots of spirit and beast (tattoo) form. Siwa was always grateful to Yuan Zhang. Even after awakening the rare silver-patterned beast form, he had not gone to Blood Mountain City, staying with Yuan Zhang instead.
"This place is not bad! In less than a year, I've already reached the mid-level of warrior," Siwa said.
"Siwa, you should go to Blood Mountain City first. Once you cultivate successfully, you can look after me. Wouldn't that mean both of us have a way out?" Yuan Zhang was not a selfish person; even in a previous life filled with deceit, he maintained a sliver of kindness.
"Is that so?" Siwa felt that Yuan Zhang's words were becoming increasingly logical.
"Of course! If I can help you, you wouldn't forget your brother when you prosper, would you? Think about it; with your silver-patterned beast form, if you trained in the resource-rich Blood Mountain City, you might even advance to a formidable martial artist. At that time, with just a flick of your hand, you could sponsor me with a heap of spirit stones. Who knows, I might have a chance to break through to warrior as well, right?"
"Siwa, you need to think long-term."
...
Since his rebirth, facing his biological father for the first time, Yuan Zhang felt a bit anxious despite the natural feelings of this world. His mother died young, having passed away when he was only two years old. It was his father, Yuan Zhan, who raised him to this age.
"Brother Zhang, it's so lively!" Although Yuan Zhan was just an ordinary late-stage warrior, he was still the mayor of the Six Towns, and the biggest house in the Six Towns was Yuan Zhang's family home. However, with so many "nobles" coming and going, Yuan Zhang was surprised.
This didn't seem to align with his memory of the Yuan family... Why were there so many warriors coming in and out? Some were dressed distinctly like the mayor.
As mentioned, the Six Towns were considered quite small among the hundreds of towns surrounding Blood Mountain City. A town typically had only a dozen or so warrior cultivators; how could they have any significant status?
"Young master has returned! Young master, the old master has advanced to the great martial artist!" Yuan Fu, the family servant hired for appearances, spotted Yuan Zhang at the door and shouted excitedly.
A martial artist! No wonder he was called a remarkable figure whose lifespan doubled and who could kill from a hundred steps away—a high-ranking cultivator! Did that not deserve the respect of the martial-minded beastmen?
Yuan Zhan, with merely a black wolf beast form and three roots of spirit, had still managed to break through to martial artist? Talent was innate; perhaps, through later effort, one could still achieve success in the cultivation world.
"Father!"
"Zhang'er is back. Ah Fu! Close the door; we're not receiving guests today. Take Siwa downstairs to rest well." After all, he was his biological son; no matter how high his cultivation level, paternal affection was an unchanging truth.
"Congratulations, Father, on advancing to martial artist, achieving the great path…"
"Stop with the nonsense! When did you become so slick with your tongue, haha!" Yuan Zhan was in high spirits, and he usually interacted with his precious son casually.
"Old man, tell me about it. You suddenly advanced to martial artist—did you eat some precious elixir?" Seemingly out of instinct, Yuan Zhang began to adapt to the way of communicating with this old man. He plopped down in a chair and crossed his legs.
"What are you up to? Sneaking around!" Unexpectedly, Yuan Zhan leaned over, scrutinizing Yuan Zhang with his big head.
"Kid! Here, take this." Yuan Zhan mysteriously handed Yuan Zhang a ring, which seemed ordinary at first glance. The only novel thing was that the not-so-large ring had a tattoo of a black wolf that didn't appear to be engraved but seemed to meld seamlessly with the ring itself.
Upon closer inspection, the tattooed black wolf looked so lifelike that Yuan Zhang felt its eyes seemed alive, even showing signs of movement.
"A space ring?" Yuan Zhang had only heard Yuan Zhan mention space equipment in passing before. The small space pouch he wore on his waist had a capacity of just a few cubic meters. The space ring, on the other hand, must be the highest level of space equipment. Of course, Yuan Zhan was previously just an ordinary warrior, and owning a space pouch was extremely rare.
"Zhang'er, remember, this is our Yuan family's only and greatest secret, the Wolf Tattoo Ring! More than half of our family's direct descendants who have advanced to martial artist did so thanks to this treasure," Yuan Zhan whispered.
A cliché of rebirth—could it be that he was really about to obtain a heaven-defying treasure? Wasn't this how the fantasy novels of his previous life went?
"Old man, how do you use this thing?" Yuan Zhang could not help but feel excited; perhaps the legendary figures who could fly and move mountains would be him!
"This… I'm not sure!"
Damn! Just as his confidence had soared, Yuan Zhang was splashed with a bucket of cold water by his father.
"This ring was unintentionally acquired by my ancestors dozens of generations ago. As long as you wear it, one day, it might unleash its power, enveloping you with dense and pure natural spiritual energy. Whether you can break through to martial artist will depend on that moment," Yuan Zhan explained, sounding mysterious, though the so-called treasure was quite passive.
"Old man, what if this thing never changes?" Yuan Zhang asked.
"Didn't I say? It depends on luck. Among the direct descendants who received this ring, half had such opportunities, which is already quite good. I'm one of the lucky ones; the energy emitted by the ring enveloped me in a bath of exceptionally pure spiritual energy, stimulating and filling my dantian. Just like that, I broke through to martial artist."
With that little experience, Yuan Zhan was already quite proud; after all, he was among the lucky half, and his fortune seemed to be quite good.
"Of course, according to the legends of our ancestors, this magical ring is said to have even more extraordinary abilities. However, oh, perhaps due to the long years, I can't recall,"
Damn! Yuan Zhang couldn't help but disdain his beastman father once more; what kind of treasure was it that he couldn't even remember its full functions?
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