15 Dragon and Phoenix 4

"Young miss, Hu Nan is the general for this times campaign. I heard from the servants that several officials criticized Long Aotian, so the emperor appointed Hu Nan instead." Mei Lan said as she combed through Yin Mei's long black hair.

"Big brother really does a good job," Yin Mei said, before changing the subject. "Did you already send the letters out?"

"Yes, young miss. Are you really going to go out to the Amethyst Mountain Range? You should at least let one of the young masters accompany you..." Mei Lan answered in a worried tone.

"My brothers are busy, there's no need. Anyways, the people I've invited are capable enough. Big brother and father have already given permission." Yin Mei said. Because she was a little cautious over the difficulty of obtaining this treasure, she decided to invite her friends and their brothers and enjoy the trip. Well, that treasure was well hidden among other treasures, so Yin Mei didn't think anyone would fight with her for it.

Now that Yin Mei thought about it though, she had never gone treasure hunting with the demon king. In fact, she hadn't seen his face in over seven years, now. Had it really been that long? As a cultivator, she didn't age, and her memory didn't fade either, so her sense of time had become rather warped. She could still remember his appearance like yesterday. Mm, she preferred his appearance the most after all. Although now that they were in the upper realm, where beauties could be found left and right, heavenly appearances abound, she still liked the demon king's looks the best. Not even the most handsome man in the upper realm, Long Aotian, could be compared. Or rather, comparing that scum man to the demon king would be rude.

Several days later, Yin Mei set off on a journey with her friends while her family sent her off in tears. In the group were Gui Neng, her younger brother, Gui Heng, Mao Mao, Hu Rong, her third eldest brother Hu Xi, Yao Lan, and Yao Lan's eldest brother, Yao Yan.

Gui Heng was a young boy of not even a hundred years of age (for the long lived upper realm cultivators, he was still considered a child), and looked small and skinny, perhaps 14 or 15 years old at most in appearance. His messy hair was tied into a short ponytail, and his eyes were hidden by the bangs, just like Gui Neng. They both had the same ghostly aura around them that reeked of death, but that couldn't be helped as they were both ghost cultivators.

Hu Xi, on the other hand, seemed like the opposite of Gui Heng. He was tall, with an athletic build and short cut black hair. He was only wearing a vest over his bare chest, revealing his well defined muscles. Yin Mei felt that people in this xianxia world seemed to oddly like wearing very little... the demon king, too, preferred wearing only a loose robe that revealed quite a fair amount of skin. She thought that ancient people were all super conservative, but it seemed that this xianxia world technically didn't abide by those ancient customs.

As for Yao Yan, he was gentle and kind looking, similar to his sister, Yao Lan. He had a scholarly aura, and Yin Mei thought that he would look perfect surrounded by flowers and animals, such was the way he looked. Yin Mei immediately disliked him, for the sole reason that he made her uncomfortable. He felt different from Yao Lan, who was two-faced and had a jealous heart, and instead seemed innocent through and through. Maybe because he was in stark contrast to everyone else, who had hands stained with blood, that made Yin Mei feel uneasy.

But, she didn't pay much mind to it. The eight of them were traveling on a flying boat with several servants. Mei Lan was also here. It was more like going camping for vacation then treasure hunting, to be honest.

The treasure that Yin Mei was aiming for this time was another ring. Yin Mei realized that just like in this plot and the previous plot, along with all the novels that she had read, rings were extremely, extremely common precious treasures. Rings, special spaces, old expert spirits, or some other miscellaneous treasure seemed all too common.

Anyways, this ring possessed the spirit of a former medicine saint that was practically a legend from the golden ages, before this upper realm had fallen into a deadly war with the devils and much knowledge had been destroyed. Yao Ling found this, and as a result, her medical skills had improved by leaps and bounds, and in the end, she inherited the title of medicine king, becoming someone whose position could stand on par with that of the dragon king.

There was no way that Yin Mei would let this happen. Let her remain mediocre for all her life. And, she personally believed that the person who should take over the family should be Yao Lan. Yao Lan's only brother was too naive, and although Yao Lan herself had some personality issues, it was not too bad. She knew how to put on airs and restrain herself. To top it off, in Feng Hua's memories, Feng Hua sincerely admired Yao Lan's dedication and skills in medicine. So, Yin Mei made the decision to later give this ring to Yao Lan.

And, aside from that ring, there were still some other good treasures to be found in the Amethyst Mountain Range. For example, the one that she planned on taking was the Water Crystal Crown. Like all the treasures that they would find in the mountain range, it was also from the upper realm's golden age. It was a precious defensive tool that would save Yao Ling's life multiple times in the plot. In addition, there was the Pearl of the Styx River, the Clockwork Staff, and the Seven Lotus Pill.

This was the first time that Yin Mei saw a story where the main character actually looted so many good treasures from one place, but she didn't question it. This was easier for her anyways, and wouldn't require her running around here and there.

That being said, there were still a couple of places she would need to go to later. Talkan's Realm would be opening up in five years, and the male lead would be getting a lot of gains in there. She didn't know if she would be able to destroy his chances of going into Talkan's Realm (the amount of people who could enter were limited, so the Jade Emperor would give a certain number of chances to each clan to allow them to send people inside), but she would certainly take the opportunity to steal his treasures. It might even be a good opportunity to kill him? Yin Mei pondered. She wasn't sure she had the ability to do so, but this place was definitely out of the jurisdiction of the Jade Emperor and the dragon clan. If she really did kill him in here, they would have a much harder time tracking her down. Yin Mei wouldn't say it was impossible, but it certainly wouldn't be as much trouble if she killed him out here instead.

But, that was all for another time. She could make some preparations now, but there was still five years left. She didn't have to rush things.

The boat flew in the air for a few hours before they reached the Amethyst Mountain Ranges. Although the speed of the boat was very fast, several times the speed of a plane, the size of the upper realm was also several times that of the Earth.

The Amethyst Mountain Range wasn't extremely far from the capital city, but it also wasn't close.

The mountains, like their name, were like giant pieces of amethyst, the different colors of purple and lavender mist entwining together to create a mystical scene.

It was a treasure trove just waiting to be opened.

The boat didn't need to find a safe place to land, as the eight people all just jumped off into the dark purple leaf trees waiting underneath them. The servants wouldn't be coming and would watch over the boat while they were gone.

In the upper realm, aside from devils, cultivators still had to fear the occasional demonic cultivator, that were widely acknowledged as "evil" due to the fact that their minds were corrupted by devils, as well as demonic beasts, who were also the same way, though they were beasts that hadn't taken a human form yet. Although the word used in their names was "demon", they weren't related to demons, but instead devils.

(T/N: demon just sounds better imo)

"Everyone, here, take this pill." Yao Yan said, handing out pills to everyone. The light purple mist that hung thickly around the group was poisonous, and what Yao Yan had gave out was the antidote. "This should last us the week," he said, as he ate one himself.

For those who didn't have this antidote and still dared to venture into the fog, they would find themselves experiencing hallucinations before ending up dead, like they had overdosed on drugs. Even in the upper realm, there were still some occasional idiots out there that would try venturing in here without the antidote, and such deaths would happen every few thousands of years or so.

Yin Mei checked the information. The place that Yao Ling had found the treasure was near the Southern half of the mountain range, the entrance to a hidden city located in some valley or another. Yin Mei hoped that they wouldn't have to search every valley in the south of the mountain range, or she would definitely go crazy.

She wanted to expand her senses and use them to search, but the fog was limiting her abilities. She could only sigh, and go along with the group to search every place personally. "Let's go to the southern half of the mountain range," she said. She didn't explain why she wanted to, and the group didn't ask, just agreeing. The reason they came here to treasure hunt was because of Yin Mei's invitation anyways, so if she wanted to go south for whatever reason, they didn't mind accompanying her.

Yin Mei and the other travelled quickly through the purple trees and fog. Because the fog restricted their ability to expand their senses too far, they had to be careful not to get lost. Things like compass or tracking devices also lost their effectiveness out here, and they could only rely on themselves.

This was probably the reason why the treasures lay untouched for so long. Although it wasn't impossible to find that place, it was really hard due to the fact that too many people would lose their way here, wandering around for a long time before leaving without gaining anything of importance.

A sound of beast footsteps caught their attention, and the slowed down, as a demon beast ran towards them from the distance. Yin Mei didn't make a move before Hu Xi had already cut down the beast. For the elites of the upper realms noble families, this level of monster was definitely not enough to trouble them. Even Yao Lan and Yao Yan, who were the weakest in combat, would probably still be able to defeat the average demon beast here. After all, the upper realm's elite just had a different measure of strength compared to others.

"It's so boring! This is the only demon beast we've encountered in the last twenty minutes." Mao Mao complained, her tail swishing back and forth as she stood over the black corpse of a large dog-like thing that Yin Mei couldn't name.

"That's a good thing. You can't expect us to fight demon beasts every five minutes, right?" Yao Lan answered as she stood by Yao Yan, who was extracting any useful materials from the demon beast's corpse. Actually, any materials from this sort of low level demon beast wasn't too useful for them, but the medicine king clan used these low level materials to make pills that would be donated out to the poor on occasion who couldn't afford to see a doctor during normal times. Because of this, the medicine king's clan had a high prestige among the people of the upper realm.

"This fog is blocking off our senses. It's a perfect place for training," Hu Rong said, though then added on. "But the demon beasts are a little bit too low level. It would be good if something stronger came along."

"Don't-" jinx us, was what Yin Mei was about to say, when a loud roar echoed through the forest, applying a heavy pressure on the group. "..." Yin Mei was silent, only looking at Hu Rong with judging eyes. On the other hand, the heroic looking girl had already drawn her sword in excitement. Why did I ever take along this goddamn battle maniac?