Farewells always made one sad.
Therefore, Zhou Donghuang bid only Lin Lan farewell as he was leaving this time, leaving it to Lin to Lan inform the others in turn.
On the morning of January 8, 1230 of the Ziyun Era, Zhou Donghuang rode the golden-crowned eagle, Big Gold, and they both departed Qingshan town, preparing to travel to the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
As for the golden-crowned eagle Little Gold, he was ordered by Zhou Donghuang to stay at Qingshan town to protect his mother Lin Lan and little sister Yun Lu as well as the others. “Little Gold, keep a close eye on them. If anything happens to my mother or Xiao Lu, I will hold you solely responsible!”
Little Gold had a thousand objections to being instructed to remain in Qingshan town. After all, if he left the youth, he would have no way to enjoy the glow of the Buddhist light from the Buddhist essence, and his rate of practice would drop.
However, in the end, he had no choice but to stay behind, being constrained by the youth’s power.
Moreover, the youth had already told him that when his big brother attained the Connate stage and became a Connate stage demon, he would order his big brother to return to Qingshan town and take over, allowing him to travel to the Valley of the Medicine Masters and practice with him.
Several days later, Zhou Donghuang and Big Gold returned once more to the Chu royal city, appearing in the air directly over the Chu royal mansion.
As Big Gold landed in the Chu royal mansion carrying Zhou Donghuang, they naturally caused a commotion and a large amount of movement. A group of palace guards who had arrived at the sound of the commotion scattered, not daring to approach.
“It’s the golden-crowned eagle!”
“That youth in white on the golden-crowned eagle’s back… could that be that Connate-stage youth?”
“In the territory of our country of Yunyang, there is no one other than he who can use a golden-crowned eagle as a mount.”
As the group of palace guards whispered to each other, the second elder of the Chu royal family Xiang Donghua presented himself, leading several other elders of the Chu royal family. They all bowed respectfully to the youth. “We acknowledge Young Master Donghuang!”
At that moment, the group of palace guards watching at a distance were completely certain of the youth’s identity when they heard the words of the second elder of the Chu royal family. This was the Connate-stage youth, Zhou Donghuang!
Although the Ziyun Era had entered the year 1230 and Zhou Donghuang was considered to be almost nineteen years of age, his face still bore some traces of youth, such that a casual observer would still naturally assume that he was still only a youth.
Going strictly by age, one was considered a young man on the planet of Ziyun after turning eighteen.
“Who is currently in charge of the Chu royal family?” Zhou Donghuang stood on the back of the golden-crowned eagle with his hands clasped behind his back as he surveyed Xiang Donghua and the elders of the Chu royal family as he addressed them calmly.
“Young Master Donghuang, Head Elder and I are in charge at the moment,” Xiang Donghua answered respectfully.
Although the youth before them had killed the king and the royal consort of the Chu royal family, he was a Connate-stage adept, and this meant that the Chu royal family could do nothing more than swallow this bitter pill.
“Let the Chu royal family send men to find the herbs written on this paper, and no matter how much they find, send them at once to Qingshan town in Yunfeng prefecture and hand them over personally to my mother, Lin Lan.”
With a flourish of his arm, Zhou Donghuang sent a piece of paper fluttering out and flying in Xiang Donghua’s direction.
“As you command.”
Xiang Donghua received the piece of paper and acknowledged respectfully without even so much as a glance at it.
“This is a second-grade offensive technique. Consider it a gift to the Chu royal family for their labors. In the future, when I return to Qingshan town, and if I see that you have been productive, I will give the Chu royal family a second-grade swiftness technique.”
With another flourish of his arm, Zhou Donghuang sent another piece of paper crammed with writing fluttering and flying towards Xiang Donghua.
This time, when Xiang Donghua heard Zhou Donghuang’s words, his eyes widened and his face began to flush with excitement as he hurriedly reached out to receive the second piece of paper that Zhou Donghuang had thrown over.
As the second elder of the Chu royal family, Xiang Donghua was a Petty Consummation adept, and with a single glance, he could tell that what was recorded on the paper in his hand was indeed a second-grade technique!
Before this, the Chu royal family only had several third-grade techniques and did not possess any second-grade techniques.
Even in the imperial court of Yunyang, second-grade techniques were extremely rare, such that the imperial court of Yunyang was unwilling to share them with the various royal families under them.
“Big Gold, let’s go!” Zhou Donghuang commanded.
With a flap of his wings, Big Gold shot into the sky like a flash of black lightning and vanished into the clouds, leaving Xiang Donghua and the other elders of the Chu royal family with expressions of excitement on their faces.
Although Zhou Donghuang was not worried that the Chu royal family would not do work for him if he did not reward them, they would not be efficient in their work if they were forced into it by the threat of his power.
And now, by giving the Chu royal family a second-grade offensive technique and promising to give them a second-grade swiftness technique if they were efficient in their work…
Under these circumstances, the Chu royal family would definitely go all out to work for him as efficiently as they could.
Swoosh!!
After Zhou Donghuang rode Big Gold and departed the Chu royal city, they flew in the direction of the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
Previously, before they had left the Chu royal city, he had obtained a map on which was indicated the location of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, and he had already shown it to Big Gold before they had set out.
So Big Gold already knew the route from the Chu royal city to the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
Although Big Gold had not yet attained the Connate stage and become a Connate-stage demon, few Great Consummation flying demons could match his speed in his current state. In less than ten days, Big Gold had already left the borders of the country of Yunyang.
During this period of time, Zhou Donghuang had been seated cross-legged all the while on his back as he practiced, and even though bitterly cold strong winds had buffeted them, it did not affect his practice one bit.
The Valley of the Medicine Masters was located southwest of the country of Yunyang, and was still some distance from the country of Yunyang.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.
“Young Master, we have arrived.”
Since setting out from the Chu royal city of the Western Ridge, Big Gold had spent ten days and had now reached the airspace just outside the Valley of the Medicine Masters, and he informed Zhou Donghuang immediately.
“We have arrived?”
Zhou Donghuang roused himself from his practice and opened his eyes, gazing ahead. With a single glance, he took in the vast valley before him.
Buildings could be vaguely seen scattered in clusters around in the valley, and there were several wide roads that connected the buildings and led out of the valley.
“The environment of this Valley of the Medicine Masters is really not bad.”
Besides the clusters of buildings, the valley itself retained the original appearance of mountain forests, and seen from afar, the swath of green made one feel happy and relaxed.
“Young Master, do we go straight in?”
In the blink of an eye, Big Gold had ferried Zhou Donghuang to the airspace bordering the Valley of the Medicine Masters, and he questioned Zhou Donghuang as he circled in the air.
“We go straight in,” Zhou Donghuang said casually.
The master of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Su Mo, had already acknowledged him as superior and was willing to be submit to him like a dog.
Now that he was coming to his dog’s territory, why should he have to stop at the entrance to the Valley of the Medicine Masters and let someone announce his arrival?
“As you say,” Big Gold acknowledged, and with a flap of his wings, he seemed to transform into a bolt of black lightning and hurtled through the air into the valley where the Valley of the Medicine Masters was located, entering into the airspace of the valley proper.
“Young Master, how shall we seek out that Valley Master of the Valley of the Medicine Masters?” Big Gold asked Zhou Donghuang as he circled in the air above the valley proper.
“Wait a while, he’ll naturally come over.” Zhou Donghuang replied casually, as though he concluded from his own words that the Valley Master of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Su Mo would personally come over to welcome him.
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Donghuang, who had was sitting cross-legged on Big Gold’s back, closed his eyes and began to meditate.
There were observation towers at various points in the valley where the Valley of the Medicine Masters was located, and there were usually elders of the Valley of the Medicine Masters mounted on Great Consummation flying demons there on duty.
The main responsibility of their duty was to be the “eyes” of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, keeping a lookout in all directions.
One of the elders of the Valley of the Medicine Masters soon spotted a flying demon that suddenly appeared and began circling in the air above the Valley of the Medicine Masters. It seemed to be a flying demon of an eagle species.
“The rider is probably the esteemed guest that the Valley Master informed us about earlier,” he thought.
Earlier, Valley Master Su Mo of the Valley of the Medicine Masters had returned from outside, and he immediately convened a meeting of the group of elders responsible for the duty of the observation towers. He informed them to keep a constant watch on the airspace over the valley where the Valley of the Medicine Masters was located.
If there was someone riding a demon eagle into the valley, they were not to offend the new arrival and were to notify him immediately. That would be his esteemed guest, and he would receive his guest personally.
Muttering to himself, this elder of the Valley of the Medicine Masters leapt onto the back of an enormous grey vulture. Riding the vulture and transforming into a grey blur, he hurtled towards the side of the valley.
That big grey vulture was one of the Great Consummation flying demons reared in the Valley of the Medicine Masters, a thunder-feathered vulture. Flying demons made up the majority of the Great Consummation demons reared in the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
This could be attributed to the former Connate-stage demon, the Silver-Crowned Crane of the Valley of the Medicine Masters. As a Connate-stage flying demon, that Silver-Crowned Crane could easily hunt and kill Great Consummation flying demons and plunder their eggs.
Those eggs eventually became the property of the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
“Valley Master.”
As soon as the elder of the Valley of the Medicine Masters had ridden the thunder-feathered vulture and landed at the accommodation of the master of the Valley of the Medicine Masters, Su Mo, reporting to him that someone riding an eagle species demon had arrived, Su Mo hurriedly mounted the thunder-feathered vulture’s back and rode the mount up into the air.
“What manner of esteemed guest would cause the Valley Master to so hurriedly rush to welcome him in such a manner?” With an expression of surprise and shock, the elder of the Valley of the Medicine Masters watched the thunder-feathered vulture rapidly become a little black dot before his eyes.
“Even when the sect master of the Guiyuan sect arrived, I had never seen the Valley Master lose his composure like that.”
The Guiyuan sect was a sect of similar strength to the Valley of the Medicine Masters, and their sect master was also a late Connate-stage adept.
The Valley of the Medicine Masters commanded a vast swath of territory adjacent to the Sixteen Countries of East Valley, and the Guiyuan sect commanded a vast swath of territory adjacent to the Fourteen Countries of the North Border.
“Su Mo acknowledges Master!”
Zhou Donghuang, who was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed and meditating on the back of the golden-crowned eagle, had waited just fifteen minutes before the Valley Master of the Valley of the Medicine Masters Su Mo arrived.
When Su Mo saw the youth once again, he respectfully prostrated himself on the back of the thunder-feathered vulture with a humble demeanor, as compliant as a well-trained dog!
The thunder-feathered vulture had no true intelligence. Otherwise, seeing the valley master of the Valley of the Medicine Masters kneel before a youth and address him as “Master,” it would probably be so shocked that it would forget to flap its wings and plummet through the air.