Chapter 50

Chapter 50

The merchant group consisted of about thirty people, with over twenty of them being ordinary people without cultivation. Among the eight guards, six were at Spirit Communication Realm, and two at Soul Control Realm. This configuration was actually quite formidable, as the goods this time were quite valuable. Back then, Cheng Lu, who was responsible for escorting illumination Stones, was only at the ninth stage of Soul Control Realm. Profound Beings above Soul Control Realm were not common.

Profound Beings, in Sun City, were at the level of generals. Ordinary people lived to a hundred, while Profound Beings lived to five hundred. This five-fold difference was equivalent to two different species. The vast majority of people couldn’t enter the Profound Realm in their lifetime. For alchemists, fourth grade was a hurdle, while fifth grade held an extremely high status. The fundamental reason was that fifth-grade alchemists could refine fifth-grade Profound Entering Pills, which could increase the chances of entering the Profound Realm, making them very precious.

Zhanyue rode a fine horse, following the merchant group. He quickly discovered that the black-robed person from before was also in the merchant group. The black-robed person also noticed Zhanyue, and kicked their horse to come before Zhanyue.

“Young Master Zhan, we meet again,” the black-robed person said in a hoarse voice.

“Greetings, senior. The Wind Sprint Pills improved with your guidance last time were indeed effective,” Zhanyue said politely, though he was curious why Steward Luo didn’t seem to have come along.

The black-robed person nodded, asking, “You’re also planning to attend the auction in Pearl City, right?”

Zhanyue didn’t conceal it and nodded, “I need to prepare for becoming a fourth-grade alchemist. It’s better to collect materials in advance. By the way, senior, what kind of city is Pearl City?”

The black-robed person didn’t expect Zhanyue to ask this but patiently explained, “Pearl City is located in the southeast of the Eastern Kingdom, built by the sea. It’s the most important port city in the Eastern Kingdom, very prosperous. If the imperial capital is the political center of the Eastern Kingdom, and the Academy Town is the cultural center, then Pearl City is the trade center.”

Zhanyue nodded. No wonder such a large-scale auction would be held in Pearl City.

The land route from Thousand Feather City to Pearl City was very smooth, with many inns along the way. Originally, this journey should have been very safe, but Zhanyue felt a vague unease in his heart, as if being watched by tigers and wolves.

“What mountain is that ahead?” Zhanyue saw a series of majestic peaks in front, with such a continuous mountain range on the vast open plain.

“It’s the Celestial God Mountain Range. We won’t go through it, just skirt around the foothills. Legend has it that this mountain range wasn’t naturally formed, but was moved here. Of course, this is just a legend, I’m not sure. But it’s really strange to have such magnificent mountains suddenly appearing on the plain,” the black-robed person explained.

“Moved here?” Zhanyue drew in a sharp breath. What kind of divine being could move mountains? When he had time later, he should visit this Celestial God Mountain Range. He might discover some ruins there.

As the saying goes, “The mountain seems near but takes forever to reach.” They walked from early morning to afternoon before reaching the foothills. They didn’t need to climb the mountain; the official road went around the mountain range and was quite spacious. Although the road was wide, the terrain was very treacherous, with high mountains on the left and cliffs on the right, with a rushing river below the cliffs. However, people in this world weren’t afraid of cliffs. The danger was only for ordinary people.

“Once we follow this river out of here, we’ll reach Wangshan Inn. We can rest well there today,” the black-robed person explained. Everyone still adhered to the principle of not staying overnight in the wild.

The majestic mountains nearby were very quiet. Only the sound of horse hooves could be heard on the road. Zhanyue frowned; that feeling of being watched became more obvious.

A horse neigh echoed in the valley below. The lead carriage stopped, and those behind also stopped. Five tall horses were blocking the group’s path. On these huge horses sat five muscular men, each bare-armed and wearing a conical hat, their eyes fierce.

“The Five Horses of Dongye? How did they wander here?” The black-robed person’s eyes showed worry.

“You...” The black-robed person looked at Zhanyue with fury.

“Senior, hold these two off for a few breaths. I’ll deal with the others and then come help you. This is the method with the least casualties,” Zhanyue said, avoiding them and moving to the front. The two on horseback naturally didn’t take Zhanyue, at the sixth stage of Spirit Communication Realm, seriously, and all went towards the black-robed person.

“Damn it!” The black-robed person gritted their teeth, then took out a handful of pills and threw them at the two men. Purple smoke exploded, and when the two emerged from the purple smoke, their horses had already fallen to the ground, whinnying.

Affected by this purple smoke, the two men felt unbearably itchy, momentarily losing the desire to attack, stopping to circulate their energy to expel the poison from their bodies. While the black-robed person held off the two strongest, Zhanyue joined the battlefield at the front, where the guards were already fighting with the remaining three horses.

A figure ghostly disappeared and ghostly reappeared behind one person. That person had already dismounted, holding a bone flute in his hand. This was his contract object, with sound attacks effective over a large area.

Zhanyue, who had been burrowing underground, suddenly appeared behind that person. The long-compressed flames in his hand shot out like a rocket, instantly piercing through the person’s heart from the back. The flute player fell down with a look of incomprehension. He still had so many techniques unused, how could he die so carelessly?

“One!” Zhanyue said calmly. It was the first time he had killed someone with clear consciousness. The blood in his body was somewhat boiling. He seemed like a born cold-blooded killer, without any fear.

“Fifth Brother!” The two nearby were greatly shocked to see their fifth brother killed. They forcibly fought off the surrounding guards and rushed towards Zhanyue, determined to avenge their brother. One of them had contracted a kitchen knife, extremely sharp, while the other had a sickle, very fast. Before becoming contractors, they were just ordinary villagers.

The two attacked Zhanyue from left and right, but no matter how they slashed, they couldn’t harm Zhanyue at all. To others, it looked as if the two were seeing things and slashing wildly, not actually aiming at Zhanyue at all.

“The Phantom Light Step is so powerful. It’s good I killed that flute player instantly. His large-area attacks would have been hard for me to dodge,” Zhanyue thought as he moved. While dodging, he finally counterattacked, condensing fire into a sword in his hand. He burrowed underground and appeared behind one person. This sword strike was narrowly avoided by that person, but still injured his kidney.

“Third Brother, be careful. This person can teleport,” the severely injured man immediately retreated, protected by his third brother.

The sneak attack failed, and Zhanyue sighed. The Phantom Form Sword Technique was used for the first time in front of others. The third brother saw Zhanyue thrusting towards his head and hurriedly turned his head aside, only to see the fire sword pierce through his heart.

“What... what’s going on?” This was his biggest question before death. How could they know the profundity of a gold-grade martial technique?

“Alright, I’ll leave this kidney-injured one to you,” Zhanyue immediately ran towards the black-robed person. The remaining guards looked at each other in bewilderment but quickly reacted, swarming the injured man.

“You two fools, don’t you know who’s the strongest here? Look back at your three brothers,” the black-robed person taunted the two men constantly approaching. Having taken pills, their speed and reactions were very fast, without any injuries.

The two looked back to see their fourth brother surrounded and hacked to death by the guards, while the third and fifth brothers had long since fallen to the ground.

“Fourth Brother!” The two were enraged and abandoned the black-robed person to rush back. On the way, a pair of hands suddenly stretched out from the ground, grabbing their feet. The two stumbled unexpectedly.