Chapter 133: Climbing The Mountain
Ye Chenyao explained in detail, but her tone was indifferent, treating it merely as resolving Su Yan’s doubts.
Such weapons already possess spiritual charm, and even without a martial artist controlling them, they can unleash tremendous power.
Even True Intent Realm Third Realm or Fourth Realm martial artists in the Condensing Momentum Stage or Spirit Merging Stage rarely possess such items.
As for spirit tools, only True Persons of the Dan Qiao Realm can easily wield them.
With a spirit tool empowered by true essence and coordinated with beast spirit true intent, a single casual strike could destroy an entire mountain peak.
Ye Chenyao fantasized in her heart: if her artifact refining skills improved further, and her cultivation advanced to the Fourth Realm of True Intent, she might even become a third-order artifact refiner.
“Don’t overthink it. Even without such an opportunity, nurturing a sharp weapon compatible with oneself is far superior to ordinary weapons.”
Su Yan’s eyes flickered as he pondered in his heart: “I still have a section of abyssal water leopard spine on me, which bears some tiger aspect, but fundamentally, there is still a gap. It may not fully compatible with me.”
He mulled it over in his heart, and suddenly had an idea.
‘Insect taming is under my control, with minds linked and power from the same source. Is there anything more compatible than insect taming? The fierce insect cauldron can heal fierce insect injuries. As long as it doesn’t die, it can recover, though it requires more resources.’
Ever since the yin water centipede and velvet fire scorpion insect, Su Yan’s insect taming had often resulted in injuries during hunting.
Broken appendages, shattered carapace—these had all happened before, but as long as it rested quietly for a period and was supplied with sufficient blood food and origin, it could gradually recover.
“I happen to have some second-order feral beast materials, which might work well. Ge Mister, please wait a moment. I’ll fetch the materials along with the metal. How about that?”
“Sure.”
Su Yan made an excuse to leave, and no one suspected anything. If Su Yan could produce things out of thin air, that would truly be strange.
In little Yun Cang Town, how could there be storage space artifacts?
Su Yan was gone for about two quarters of an hour. When he returned, he brought all the previously mentioned metal.
“Ge Mister, see if this can be refined into the spear.”
On the ground was a pitch-black scorpion tail over two meters long, with glossy carapace, incredibly tough, and a sharp tail hook emanating intimidating sharpness.
Ye Chenyao’s eyes lit up: “Good materials. This is at least second-order mid-grade. You…”
She hesitated, but even without her saying it, all three present could tell this scorpion tail was extraordinary.
They couldn’t identify which feral beast it came from, but they knew the materials were rich in demonic essence, and the carapace strength was not low.
‘This is the flame armored scorpion’s tail.’
Su Yan explained: “Refined some pills for someone and traded for them with pills.”
The three didn’t need his explanation; they had already judged as much in their hearts.
Ge Ming lightly stroked the cold scorpion tail and nodded: “Yes, but incorporating this feral beast material, even with tiger refining stone added, the condensed momentum may not be purely tiger momentum.”
“No matter. Tiger momentum is just icing on the cake. This spear will be based primarily on this item.”
“Come get the spear in one month.”
Having settled with Ge Ming, Su Yan left the Tian Feng Weapon Shop.
“What a pity. If I weren’t worried about them recognizing the six-winged blood centipede, taking a section of centipede fang might have been even better.”
Su Yan felt it was a pity, unaware that the newly metamorphosed flame armored scorpion had just severed a section of its own tail, making its appearance somewhat more miserable.
He visited several apothecaries, bought many poisonous medicinal herbs, returned to the Golden Ape Martial Arts School, refined them into poison pills, and gave them all to the flame armored scorpion.
The remaining beast essence pills were also given to it without holding any back.
Most of the night passed. The fierce insect cauldron also released power, slowly healing the wound and growing a small section of tail hook.
The tail hook grew slowly. At this rate, it would take at least half a month to fully regrow.
Su Yan was not in a hurry. After handling the flame armored scorpion’s scorpion tail, tomorrow was the Yanzi Mountain matter Xiang Ge had mentioned.
“I wonder how many people will go tomorrow.”
……
Early the next morning, Li Chuan personally woke Su Yan and Bai Yun.
“The sedan chairs are ready. Disciples from each family are successively heading out of the city.”
“A lot of people?”
Su Yan asked casually. Li Chuan said: “Not counting old families like the Lin Family and Wang Family, even the Pai Gang, Chai Gang, and street Black Tiger Gang have sent people. There are also quite a few martial world wanderers. Probably over a hundred people.”
“Quite lively.”
Seeing Bai Yun come out, Su Yan and she both boarded sedan chairs. The sedan chair bearers set off together, carrying the two toward Yanzi Mountain outside the city.
The sedan bearers’ foot speed naturally couldn’t compare to martial artists, but this time, with families gathering, even small sects and households, as well as some relatively clean greenwood folk, had masked their faces to come.
Otherwise, just Yun Cang Town locals couldn’t gather so many young talents.
With so many people converging, Yun Cang Town disciples going out, each family had also prepared sedan chairs.
It was an established custom, showcasing the differences among Yun Cang Town’s various powers.
Arriving at the foot of Yanzi Mountain, the mountain rose abruptly from the plain, surrounded by dense grass and trees—a picturesque peak of moderate height.
When Su Yan arrived, many from the city families were already there.
“Brother Su.”
The Lin Family arrived first and greeted Su Yan upon seeing him.
This time, it wasn’t just Lin Junhao and Lin Yuzhi; the previous Lin Family third miss Lin Yue was also among them.
Besides the three direct descendants, there were two somewhat dull Lin Family disciples, likely from collateral branches.
Su Yan greeted them, and arriving families did the same successively.
The crowd grew larger, all Spirit Nurturing Realm martial artists under twenty-five.
They all looked very young, though most were nearing twenty-four or twenty-five.
While the group waited, a burst of commotion suddenly arose.
Several black-clad sedan bearers strode over, carrying four sedan chairs with four young men and women atop.
Three men and one woman, dressed in black, swords at their waists. The leading man was thin, with sinister eyes, somewhat resembling Lin Tianlang.
“Lin Xiang, they actually came too.”
Lin Yue recognized them and sidled up to Su Yan.
“Who is he?”
“Little Mountain Association’s Lin Tianlang’s nephew. The three beside him are Xu Liqing, Zhao Kai, and Song Quan—all young experts of the Little Mountain Association.”
Lin Yue’s eyes showed curiosity: “I thought the Little Mountain Association’s momentum was too strong, fearing targeted attacks, so they wouldn’t dare send anyone.”
As she spoke, she secretly glanced at Su Yan.
What she didn’t say aloud was that everyone knew the Golden Ape Martial Arts School and Little Mountain Association had extremely poor relations. If they came and clashed with Su Yan, they’d likely suffer.
“Hmph.”
Lin Xiang naturally saw Su Yan too and let out a slight cold snort, his gaze carrying defiance.
He had heard of Su Yan’s reputation but hadn’t seen him in person, so he felt no fear.
Instead, he had fully learned Lin Tianlang and others’ attitude toward Su Yan and the Golden Ape Martial Arts School.
More and more people arrived, and the crowd waited half an hour.
Suddenly, steady and powerful footsteps came from outside the crowd.
The sound wasn’t loud—one step, one echo—carrying a special rhythm and aura.
Everyone immediately looked toward the sound and saw a pale-faced middle-aged man strolling over, accompanied by one man and one woman, both impressive and handsome.
Su Yan’s heart jolted slightly, stirred by the footsteps.
‘Concealing momentum in steps. What cultivation does Blood-Faced Tiger Xiang Ge truly have to be this formidable?’
Xiang Ge slightly raised his eyes, scanning the people at the foot of the mountain.
He said flatly: “Those not climbing, get lost.”
“Yes, Lord.”
The words were very blunt, yet even a True Intent Realm martial artist like Li Chuan bowed slightly and respectfully departed.
After they left, only a little over a hundred remained.
“Over a hundred people… then I’ll give you three days.”
Xiang Ge smiled, patted the cyan tiger-patterned pouch at his waist, and true essence surged.
Suddenly, a fierce wind arose from nowhere, carrying a bloody gust, followed by a terrifying tiger roar echoing throughout Yanzi Mountain.
Just one roar, and Su Yan immediately felt his heart tighten, body fully tense. Under the powerful aura, his form could barely move.
Those around him, even Lin Junhao and others, instantly paled, bodies trembling, faring worse than him.
A giant tiger five or six zhang long appeared before the crowd.
The tiger had four eyes, body deep red, black tiger stripes, ferocious appearance, fur seemingly flowing with blood.
Four-eyed blood tiger—this was Xiang Ge’s contracted feral beast, one reason he was called Blood-Faced Tiger.
“Up the mountain.”
He said it lightly, mounted the four-eyed blood tiger’s back, reached out remotely, and lifted Liu Bo and Ye Chenyao.
With one leap of its four legs, the four-eyed blood tiger reached the halfway point a thousand meters away; another leap took it to the 800-meter Yanzi Mountain summit.
The crowd was dumbfounded. Such speed, such power—was this truly a martial artist’s feat?
Yun Cang Town was too small. In this little place, True Intent Realm first realm experts were the sky.
But it prevented too many from seeing the vastness of the martial path.
The four-eyed blood tiger gave the crowd a small shock, then a roar came from the summit.
Powerful aura emanated, pressing down from above, enveloping the entire Yanzi Mountain.
The mountain’s shape resembled a ferocious tiger, howling mountain winds responding to the four-eyed blood tiger, blowing wildly.
“Go!”
Someone immediately dashed toward Yanzi Mountain. The 800-meter peak stretched over ten-plus li of mountain body.
But for martial artists, it was nothing.
The leading runner charged to the foot of Yanzi Mountain.
Suddenly, his body sank, and he nearly fell face-first.
The crowd instantly halted, seeing his pale face, hearts filled with shock and doubt.
“Country bumpkin, ignorant of heaven high earth thick. Under such aura, you think you can climb leisurely?”
Someone sneered mockingly.
Then they saw that person hold his breath and concentrate, stepping forward steadily despite a slight change in expression.
The four-eyed blood tiger had pressed its aura here. To climb, one had to reach the summit.
Su Yan watched curiously, chuckling inwardly: let me see where the difficulty of this assessment lies.
He strode forward. Fu Xuejing showed surprise but didn’t stop him.
As Su Yan stepped in, his shoulders sank slightly, as if tiger roars echoed by his ear, a ferocious aura pressing on him.
“So that’s it. This tests will and spirit strength?”
After sensing the aura, Su Yan instantly understood the assessment’s intent.
With a thought, the white ape roared behind him, its phantom emerging to envelop his body.
The green-scaled poisonous flood dragon didn’t manifest but coiled in his dantian acupoints, guarding the interior without revealing itself.
Su Yan strode up the mountain. If undisturbed, in just a few breaths, he had advanced a hundred meters.
Seeing this, Fu Xuejing, along with Lin Junhao, Wang Xiaohu, and others, also stepped into Yanzi Mountain, not wanting to lag too far.
Just entering, their bodies sank. Even summoning their beast spirit phantoms felt like carrying hundreds of jin, unable to move lightly.
At this moment, everyone instinctively looked toward Su Yan—he was already at the boundary between mountain foot and halfway, steps steady as if unburdened.
Monster!
“Sister Bai, how does your junior brother do it?”
Lin Yue bore the heavy pressure and couldn’t help asking, but Lin Junhao and others beside her also turned at the question.
“Don’t know. Innate talent.”
Bai Yun answered, her tiger momentum white ape following her strides forward, eyes on Su Yan as she climbed step by step.
Climbing under pressure wasn’t hard for Spirit Nurturing Realm martial artists—their physiques were strong. Even carrying a thousand jin or several thousand wasn’t impossible.
The difficulty was the intensifying pressure toward the summit, the clash between aura and true intent phantom.
As Su Yan went higher, he felt the four-eyed blood tiger’s aura lock grow stronger, like crimson iron chains constantly wrapping toward his white ape phantom.
Every segment upward, the wrapping suppression intensified, like adding more chains.
What Su Yan had to do was use the white ape phantom to counter and sever these chains.
“Tiger suppressing white ape—I’ll sweep with ferocious fists, turning phantom into reality.”
With a thought, the white ape phantom’s huge hand grasped, as if seizing countless aura chains.
Massive spiritual energy gathered, surging into the white ape body, gradually transforming it from phantom to solid.
Su Yan’s steps were steady as he ascended the Yanzi Mountain path.
His back straight, form stable—from true intent phantom to person, treating this as cultivation, actively confronting it.
After half an hour, enduring the terrifying pressure, Su Yan finally stepped onto the Yanzi Mountain summit platform.
The four-eyed giant tiger lay on the ground, glanced at him, then draped a paw over its eyes and went to sleep.
On the platform, Xiang Ge drank wine, while Ye Chenyao and Liu Bo stood nearby.
“Comprehend it yourself. You have three days.”
Liu Bo stated the rules, and the pressure on Su Yan vanished.
The platform was littered with stone peels and debris. A two-zhang boulder had two sides planed flat, stood upright in the center.
The boulder bore nothing else.
Only three tiger claw marks etched upon it, outlined with variations, containing powerful martial arts will.
Su Yan glanced once, and a complex seal seemed to float in his mind.
‘This feels like a true intent visualization diagram.’
He knew this martial arts imprint was that ancient seal.
What he had to do was comprehend the seal within three days.
“Fierce Beast Seal Method, the most basic seal? Quite complex, but for me, not difficult.”
“Thanks for the reminder.”
Su Yan responded, sat cross-legged, mind fully immersed in the fierce beast seal method seal, comprehending stroke by stroke.
Fierce insect cauldron, add some!
