Deep in the mountains, there was a clearing. The entire forest was silent and the trees so dense that not even a patch of sunlight could reach the ground. It was damp and gloomy, and much of the ground was still covered in snow.
A silver-haired snakeman and a black-clothed young man held their weapons, constantly on alert.
"Uncle Zong, it has been almost an hour since we entered, yet we haven’t met even a single magical beast!"
"Sigh, you..." Zong Ling shook his head helplessly; his nephew might seem mature, but he still somewhat had the temperament of a teen. He whispered, "We only just entered the mountain and are only at the most outer part of the outer perimeter. Naturally, to encounter a magical beast here would be very unusual, but the deeper we proceed, the easier it will be to encounter one! By that time, the only way to survive will be by depending on your strength."
"En."
Dong Bo Xue Ying nodded lightly.
"Sha~~~"
Dong Bo Xue Ying’s ears moved as he heard a faint sound. His arm immediately shot out and blocked the Zong Ling who was walking beside him. Zong Ling’s heart tightened; although he hadn’t heard the sound himself, he knew that Dong Bo Xue Ying’s hearing had become extremely sharp after awakening his primordial blood.
"It’s there!" Dong Bo Xue Ying stared at the front left.
Zong Ling also stared in that direction.
Rustling noises could be heard from a distant bramble as a figure with four thin black hoofs slowly appeared. Its appearance was quite similar to that of a wolf’s, but it was one foot smaller. Its body was covered with thin, black, densely-packed scales. A pair of ice-cold dark pupils looked at the two humans calmly.
"Black-Scaled Jackal?" Both Dong Bo Xue Ying and Zong Ling’s hearts tightened. They had met a troublesome magical beast right after entering the Mountain Range of Desolation.
The Black-Scaled Jackal was a magical beast of the third rank.
Black-Scaled Jackals were extremely calm but vicious creatures. They preferred to attack in groups, and their claws and teeth were covered in acute poison.
Why was it rank 3? Each individual jackal’s strength was that of a Heaven Rank Knight’s! They lived in small groups, but the group of Black-Scaled Jackals which came from the brambles in front was quite large; there were no less than thirty-five. Even a rank 4 magical beast by itself would be torn to shreds.
"This is troublesome." Zong Ling was somewhat nervous. "Xue Ying, you must be careful."
"En, uncle Zong Ling, protect yourself, leave them to me."
Dong Bo Xue Ying took a deep breath, his breathing adjusting to become stabler and stronger. He stared at this group of Black-Scaled Jackals.
These numerous Black-Scaled Jackals started to separate, surrounding Dong Bo Xue Ying and Zong Ling in a fan formation. Being stared at by so many pairs of dark red eyes at the same time… Dong Bo Xue Ying’s heart was slightly anxious! His willpower was amazing and the level of his spear techniques were high, but it was his first time facing such formidable opponents.
Roar~~~ Gloomy and unpleasant sounds came from the Black-Scaled Jackals at the very back.
Shou shou shou!!!
All the Black-Scaled Jackals suddenly leaped and attacked from all directions. Even a Meteor knight wouldn’t be able to withstand being attacked by so many Heaven Ranked Knights on all sides at the same time.
"Die!" Dong Bo Xue Ying’s spear moved.
Shiu!
His spear flashed like lightning.
The instant his spear thrust forward, countless number of snowflakes appeared, creating an incomparably beautiful scene.
The Black-Scaled Jackal that suffered the attack immediately brandished its sharp claws to block the spear. Chi~~~ In the split second that the head of the spear was stopped, the entire spear abruptly spun, creating a torque that split open the sharp claw. Pu chi! The tip of the spear stabbed into mandible of the Black-Scaled Jackal and ran all the way through to the back of its head. The rank 3 Black-Scaled Jackal magical beast’s body twitched until finally, there was no response.
The instant it was killed, Xue Ying rapidly withdrew his spear, and like lightning, stabbed again!
His withdrawing and stabbing was like a viper flicking it’s tongue.
Pu!
Another Black-Scaled Jackal was killed on the spot.
These Black-Scaled Jackals were all experts at close-quarters fighting, but Dong Bo Xue Ying’s spear technique that had been tempered under ten years of hardship and madness was truly too formidable.
Roar roar roar~~~ A cacophony of muffled roars resounded from the Black-Scaled Jackals as they continued besieging them without slowing down at all.
Within that short period of time, Xue Ying had been able to kill three Black-Scaled Jackals. Suddenly, eight Black-Scaled Jackals simultaneously threw themselves at him!
"Get lost!"
His spear was like shadow, rapidly whipping and striking.
It was just like those long days in the past when Xue Ying thrashed the refiner dummy; now, he beat four jackals with only one wave of his spear. Another four jackals were knocked back by his reverse sweep! Xue Ying had the absolute advantage in strength, but one man could hardly win against a group. The true threat of a Black-Scaled Jackal pack was in their endless and fearless attacks.
"Xue Ying, hurry, hurry. Just run if you cannot block them." Zong Ling entwined his tail high around a nearby tree. His speed and flexibility had protected his life when he’d entered the Mountain Range of Desolation before.
"I know."
Xue Ying’s attention was highly focused.
Even though he was an expert at spear techniques, he was still affected by the pressure of being in a life or death situation. Besides, the bones and scales of the jackals were very hard. It took time to pierce and pull out, thus slowing his spear down.
"I have to move in order to avoid their siege." Xue Ying started implementing his experience from his usual training. In the castle, he often allowed a large group of soldiers to besiege him. Xue Ying fought them with his spear techniques by moving nimbly about, dodging and weaving. Of course, they were all unarmed in matches.
Hu, hu....
Xue Ying gradually mastered it. He would occasionally make small movements that would reduce the number of jackals he had to face. So the jackal pack lost their target! Allowing him face to only three jackals at a time!
Pu, pu, pu. The snow was flying and blood was splashing. One after another, the jackals fell.
Peng, peng.
Xue Ying’s actions were becoming more and more natural and fluent. He imbued the spear with power and whipped a Black-Scaled Jackal with it. The jackal twitched, its body weirdly twisted and its bones shattered.
Standing high in a tree, Zong Ling looked down at the ground and beamed.
He adapted to this faster than I expected. He can already bring out all of his strength in this battle of life and death." Zong Ling nodded. "He might be fully adjusted after two or three days."
Hou!
A short, panicked roar sounded from the pack of Black-Scaled Jackals. The remaining jackals immediately fled in different directions.
Xue Ying stopped after killing two more beasts.
"Hu, hu."
Only then did Xue Ying let out a sigh of relief. His breathing was heavy and his blood circulated quickly.
"How was it?" Zong Ling jumped down from high up.
"It was really different." Xue Ying nodded and said, "Three years ago, when I fought with the territory’s prisoner, I felt this tension as well, but that was a one-on-one battle! I have gained some insights into my spear techniques from this group battle."
Being an expert of spear technique merely signified a high level of achievement in spear techniques.
However, in a real combat, how would one know how to link together attacking, defending and their foot techniques? These were all skills learned from combat!
"In a battle of life and death, blood boils within the body and strength rushes forth. The control needed over the whole body is even more fine!" Xue Ying said.
"This is the creature’s instinct under the threat of death!" Zong Ling said.
" I might breakthrough in my spear technique earlier than I’d expected." From the depths of Xue Ying’s heart, his blood had been ignited. Ten years of hard practice had given him amazing skill… Wasn’t the best place to display his skill in the mountain?
"Let’s go. There is a heavy smell of blood here. More beasts will come soon." Zong Ling urged.
"Hmm." Xue Ying noded.
They didn’t care about the rank 3 beasts’ bodies. Although they carried some value, how much could they possibly carry with them? They weren’t worth the effort! As for the Xue Ying’s storage talisman,he feared that it could only store one Black-Scaled Jackal!
...
Within the Mountain Range of Desolation, Xue Ying was like a dragon who had entered the sea. He was unceasingly accumulating combat experience as well as improving his spear technique.
Every single night, they would immediately return to their camp!
One of them was a noble of the serpent clan and the other had awakened his primordial bloodline. They ran extremely quickly, maintaining a speed of 30 miles per hour when they were returning, even if it was in the Mountain Range of Desolation! Although they took a long time when searching, it didn’t take long for them to return.
They had to stay in the camp during the nights; after all, they needed to rest properly. It would be too exhausting for them to spend the nights in the mountains.
...
Time passed by day by day..
Xue Ying’s progress surprised Zong Ling. He could see Xue Ying becoming more and more experienced. With each battle, Xue Ying gradually perfected himself.
"Since childhood, he had always understood how to reflect and conclude, and from each battle he had made a conclusion! It’s not surprising that his spear technique is so powerful!" Zong Ling murmured. He had always felt Xue Ying was very intelligent.
He thought himself clever as well.
Including him, many people understood the importance of learning from the past, but Xue Ying had a unique way of thinking. Therefore, his efficiency was even higher! For example, an ordinary child could only remember the wonderful stories of Transcendent Knights in biographical novels, but Xue Ying could discover the nature of the rising Transcendent knight’s growth.
For example, 90 percent of them had not attended the academy.
Xue Ying had been inspired by a few words in the biographical novels. He found that Transcendent Knights paid attention to their foundations, so he had emphasized on training the foundations of his spear technique to an exaggerating extent.
On a mountain top within Mountain Range of Desolation, Xue Ying and Zong Ling squatted while looking into the distance.
"Uncle Zong."
Xue Ying asked him, "It’s been 12 days since we started searching the Mountain Range of Desolation, but we still haven’t found any traces of the Bent Blade Union."
"Every time the Bent Blade Union fled into Mountain Range of Desolation, they would appear around this area. According to the information collected over the past few years, the area we outlined shouldn’t be wrong."
Their main goal for this adventure in the Mountain Range of Desolation was to hunt the Bent Blade Union!
The Bend Blade Union had been the scourge of Water Rites Town for a very long time. Every time, people would see them come out and do evil things, then flee after, so they knew approximately where the Union was.
They also had to investigate any camps they had outside their base.
They had chosen to camp in the center of an area that penetrated 250 kilometers into the mountain range! That was the target area that Xue Ying and his aides chose.
They believed the Bent Blade Union was within this area!
"The bandits of the Bent Blade Union often come and go, so naturally, there must be a relatively safe path for them! However, it’s the Mountain Range of Desolation. Magic beasts may show up at any time, so they probably don’t go very deep into the mountains. Otherwise, it would take about 15 hours for a round trip. Their pace is not much faster than ours. Many of them aren’t even knights," Zong Ling said. "Let’s take our time, we will find them eventually."
"En."
A range of 250 kilometers did not seem like a big area, but it was still difficult for two people to search.
Anyway, the base of the Bent Blade Union had to be some secret place.
...
Xue Ying and Zong Ling kept searching carefully. They occasionally encountered magic beasts, but because his power rivaled that of a Silver Moon Knight’s and he also had his powerful spear technique, Xue Ying could hold them back. There were rarely magic beasts that exceeded rank three in the periphery anyways.
Huhuhu~~~
In the dark mountains, snow wouldn’t melt for thousands of years. A chill filled the air.
Xue Ying and Zong Ling quietly searched for traces of the Bent Blade Union.
"Eh?" Xue Ying’s ears twitched. He said in a low voice, "Uncle Zong, let’s go there and have a look." as he pointed to a distant highland.
"What did you find?" Zong Ling asked as he quietly walked in that direction with Xue Ying.
"You’ll know when you see it."
Xue Ying carefully climbed up to the highland.
Zong Ling followed him. They hid themselves behind the highland and looked into the distance.
In front was a big, beautiful lake which resembled jade. A large group gathered around the lake, splintering off into smaller groups of twos or threes. They were all either drinking or resting on the grass. At first glance, it seemed that the group had about two or even three hundred wolves! The wolves were much larger than the Black-Scaled-Jackals. Each wolf had smooth white fur that even rivalled that of a Frost Pegasus.
"The Silver Moon Wolf pack!" Zong Ling gulped, his face a little pale.
"And the Wolf King!" Xue Ying looked at the wolf farthest away. The largest wolf on the lakeside was the Wolf King. About ten relatively larger wolves surrounded their king.
"I never thought that I’d really find the Silver Moon Wolf King." Xue Ying smiled, but his face was bitter.
"Let’s go. There is no chance for us to win." Zong Ling shaked his head.
Xue Ying stared at the wolf.
That’s right.
Not even a bit of a chance!
Even as a rank 3 magical beast, the Silver Moon Wolf was still much larger than a Black-Scaled Jackal! The wolf had a strong impact force as well; when a 4000 kg wolf ran, its impact force could exceed 10,000 kg! Xue Ying could defeat five jackals with one single swipe, but a wolf? Xue Ying could only swipe one wolf at a time! Even five Meteor Knights couldn’t defeat 300 wolves.
And the strongest wolf king!
By moving nimbly, I can control the battle so I’m only facing a few wolves at a time. Xue Ying planned in his heart.But it probably won’t be so easy if the wolves are under the king’s command. Once I’m surrounded by the wolves, there’ll be no chance for me to escape.
"Go!" Xue Ying chose to give up.
Xue Ying had entered the Mountain Range for quite some period of time, so he clearly understood how scary these magic beasts could be. If he went to fight with the wolves, his chance of winning was less than 10%, and the probability of his death could be 80%!
It wasn’t worth the risk.
...
Three days later.
Xue Ying spared no effort to search for the Bent Blade Union base.
"Indeed, the Bent Blade Union hid themselves very well." Xue Ying gritted his teeth. They had searched the area twice since half a month ago.
"They fear that their nest might get discovered." Zong Ling smiled. "Xue Ying, you need to be more patient. Your uncle, parents and I spent three whole months searching for a precious deposit."
"Did you find it?" Xue Ying asked.
"No," Zong Ling said.
"No?" Xue Ying stared blankly back. He thought Uncle Zong mentioned this because it was a big gain.
Zong Ling smiled, "What, is it weird? Does searching for a treasure means you’ll get it eventually? Most things in this world won’t go as we wish."
Xue Ying nodded.
This stirred up his feelings.
In this world, nine out of ten things wouldn’t satisfy people.
Although Xue Ying thought himself better than Uncle Zong in some fields like finance and cultivation techniques, but he knew little of philosophy.
The two men kept searching.
Right at this moment——
A thin, small, four-legged beast with a vague dusky figure stood in a tree and looked down at Xue Ying and Zong Ling.
Xue Ying and Zong Ling hadn’t noticed it at all.
Shua.
With an easy jump, the beast landed on another tree. It continued to stare at them. Even though Xue Ying had keen senses, he hadn’t notice its movements.
It had a streamlined figure and was as big as a Black-Scaled Jackal.
But its fur was like silk, giving the illusion that its body was like that of a ghost.
This was a horrible hunter—the rank 5 magic beast, Shadow Leopard.
A frightening Shadow Leopard lurked silently within the shadows. By the time it showed its fangs, it’s prey would usually already dead! It was the top predator in the mountain range.
The legendary rank 6 magic beast, ‘Shadow Leopard King’, could conceal its whole body in the shadows. People couldn’t see it even if they kept their eyes wide open.
Hu, hu, hu...
The Shadow Leopard moved towards them quietly, locking onto the young man in black as its target.
As a top-class predator, it could feel that the young man in black was more threatening than the silver-haired serpent. It would be easy as long as the young man was killed.
Shou!
Killing intent flashed in the Shadow Leopard's gray eyes as it suddenly leapt out.
A gray shadow!
Too fast.
Even Xue Ying’s maximum speed was slower than the speed of a Shadow Leopard. Its speed was a headache for even Silver Moon knights.
"Mn?" While walking with Uncle Zong, Xue Ying’s complexion suddenly changed. His hairs stood on end and his heart clenched.
"Die!"
There was no time to look back or otherwise defend. Xue Ying could only rush forward and stab backwards! His stab was powerful enough to block a rank 4 magic beast, but the Shadow Leopard attacking them was a rank 5 magic beast!
The leopard’s claws smashed onto the shaft of the spear. It pushed the spear downwards, jumped up and scratched Xue Ying’s back. A horrible impact pushed Xue Ying’s body forward and down to the ground.
Peng!
As a Great Master in spearmanship, Xue Ying was able to spin his spear around while being attacked by the Shadow Leopard’s sharp claws. He swung down on the Shadow Leopard, giving it no time to dodge. Although Xue Ying’s body was flying forward, he managed to flip around and make this powerful attack.
The Shadow Leopard fell onto the ground, but its soft body quickly absorbed the force and it fled away.
Xue Ying landed while rolling and crouched on the ground. Gripping his spear, Xue Ying glowered at the Shadow Leopard. His back was on fire and his organs were shaking. He tasted blood.
Pu. Xue Ying spat the blood out, dying his teeth red. He unwaveringly watched the Shadow Leopard.