AGM 0069 – Meeting Again
Two hours later, several silhouettes appeared in the same mountain valley. The one in the lead was a young cultivator about 16 to 17 years of age. Possessing a calm disposition and an otherworldly grace, he gave off a feeling of an insurmountable mountain. Just by merely standing there, one could almost feel radiance emanating out of him, so bright that it seemed as though everyone nearby merely served as a background, enhancing the contrast and bringing him out with a greater brilliance.
Logan and the rest stood around the youth, feeling extremely apprehensive. Naturally, they failed to catch Little Rascal. That bastard led them on a merry go round chase for a long time before ditching them, and when they made their way back to their original spot, Luo Qianqiu and the rest of his entourage had already arrived.
“Where are the Blood Ember Fruits?” The sound of Luo Qianqiu’s voice was calm, without any traces of emotions. But just from hearing that sentence alone, tremors spread down Logan’s spine as his whole body tensed. He respectfully replied, “Young Master Luo, Qin Wentian cunningly delayed us in purpose while instructing the demonic beast he reared to steal away all the Blood Ember Fruits that we wanted to present to Young Master Luo.”
Franklin approached Luo Qianqiu as he whispered a few sentences to him. Even then, there was no change in his expression.
Ranked one among the new batch of students, Qin Wentian?
Luo Qianqiu had no interest in this..
“Go flush him out.” Luo Qianqiu commanded quietly. Logan, immediately bowed low and replied with confidence, “Logan will definitely do his best.”
After pledging this, Logan led several others away, chasing after the direction Qin Wentian was last seen in.
“This mountain valley is very well hidden. Go and look around and see if there are any more valuable treasures nearby.” Luo Qianqiu commanded. Upon hearing the commands, the men behind him immediately dispersed in all four directions, their bodies flickering as they moved. It was as if Luo Qianqiu’s words were an imperial decree that couldn’t be defied.
Very quickly, only Franklin and Zero remained behind at Luo Qianqiu’s side.
“Zero, a new student of the Emperor Star Academy, is willing to obey all commands and follow Young Master Luo from now on.” Zero bowed low. He was very certain of Luo Qianqiu’s position and status within Emperor Star Academy.
A genius sent by Heaven, Luo Qianqiu was also ranked one among the new batch of students when he first joined the academy. Not only that, he could effortlessly dominate even the 2nd year seniors. A year later, he joined the Asura Faction and assumed one of its leadership positions.
In addition to Luo Qianqiu’s inconceivably strong talent, the cultivation arts and innate techniques that he cultivated were extremely terrifying. Not only that, he hailed from an extraordinary background, and thus not many would be willing to offend him. Other than having great talent, he was exceedingly hard working in his cultivation. Almost everyday, he could be found tempering himself in the Dreamsky Forest, dueling all challengers until he died of injuries before starting the whole process again.
Since he could already be this cruel to himself, treating himself so harshly and even dying several times in the process, his attitude towards his enemies was needless to say.
“Betraying your own comrades, you don’t even possess the qualifications to be my dog. Scram!” Luo Qianqiu exclaimed coldly, causing Zero’s unsightly countenance to turn pale, void of blood. He had chosen to betray Qin Wentian in order to get some Blood Ember Fruits from Franklin, but who knew that the spiritual fruits would all eventually end up in Qin Wentian’s possession?
And now, he was even humiliated to such an extent by Luo Qianqiu.
Zero bowed as his face contorted, opting to leave silently.
“Young Master Luo, do you want me to arrange his death?” Franklin whispered at Luo Qianqiu’s side. Since Zero could betray Qin Wentian because of hatred, he could similarly cause trouble for them in the future. What was the use of leaving such a person alive?
“No need.” Luo Qianqiu calmly replied. He then turned and walked in the direction of the valley. He, Luo Qianqiu, was someone of extraordinary status; why would he be bothered about some little character like Zero? After all, he had his own sense of pride.
Qin Wentian and Fan Le returned back to the lake where they had washed themselves earlier. A few moments later, the silhouette of Little Rascal appeared. Little Rascal trotted over with a bag full of fruits in its mouth, stopping when it arrived at Qin Wentian’s side.
“Good fellow.” Qin Wentian opened the bag and saw ten Blood Ember Fruits secured within. Little Rascal transformed back to its small size as Qin Wentian rubbed its head, letting out small barks of contentment and wagging its tail in enjoyment.
“Little Rascal, you consumed so many Blood Ember Fruits to no effect. Don’t you find that you’ve wasted heavenly treasures?” Fan Le exclaimed as he moved to pat Little Rascal on its head. Arching its back, Little Rascal sprang away and stared at Fan Le with disdain in its gaze causing Fan Le to roll his eyes.
“To think that this fellow had a keen nose for treasure.” Qin Wentian’s face was full of smiles. Soon after they split they fruits, they swiftly left the area. Since Zero knew of this place, it would be better for them to find another safer place to consume the Blood Ember Fruits and attempt their breakthroughs to the 3rd level of Arterial Circulation before doing anything else.
It had been quite some time since both of them had stepped into the 2nd level of Arterial Circulation and tempered themselves within the Dark Forest. Almost salivating, Fan Le wolfed down three Blood Ember Fruits one after another as he successfully broke through to the 3rd level. His actions caused Qin Wentian to be speechless. Wasn’t what he doing equivalent to what he just told Little Rascal? Wasting heavenly treasures……
And as for Qin Wentian, after he consumed two of the spiritual fruits, he continued to temper himself in the Dark Forest, not daring to neglect his cultivation. And finally, ten days later, he, too, successfully broke through to the 3rd level of Arterial Circulation, opening up his 3rd circular arterial pathway. The Astral Energy flow in his body was much smoother now compared to before, and it was as if his entire being underwent a transformation. The feeling of this type of change…extremely miraculous!
As for the remaining three Blood Ember Fruits, Qin Wentian was not in a rush to consume them. This type of spiritual fruits could be considered extremely precious and was very tough to find. If it wasn’t for Little Rascal leading the way, they would not have spotted the hidden mountain valley. It would be better for him to store the Blood Ember Fruits for the future, only ingesting them during the times when he attempted breakthroughs.
Qin Wentian and Fan Le were not in a rush to leave the Dark Forest. Now, after their breakthroughs, hunting of 4th level demonic beasts became much easier. The cores of flying-type demonic beasts belonged to Qin Wentian, while cores of land-type beasts belonged to Fan Le.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed. The leaves of the trees in the Dark Forest turned into a myraid of colors as they drifted along with the wind and fell down to the earth, signifying the coming of Autumn.
Currently, in the Dark Forest, the silhouettes of two youth and a snowy puppy could often be seen. They traverse in all four directions, hunting demonic beasts left and right. Very quickly, the demonic beasts of the nearby regions recognised them and treated them as monsters, fleeing away, not even attempting to fight when they encountered the three hunters.
Qin Wentian’s Garuda Movement Technique had already reached the peak of the Skillful Level. The faint Garuda’s mark got clearer as it glimmered faintly with light; even the aura exuded by Qin Wentian underwent a slight change. Perhaps it was because he absorbed the demonic essence from numerous cores, but his whole person now seemed to exude a very faint demonic presence, undergoing a qualitative change. Despite of his dirt-stained body and travel-worn clothes, all of this couldn’t mask the light of vitality in his eyes. After all these months tempering themselves in the Dark Forest, Qin Wentian and Fan Le also grew slightly taller.
“Fatty, your figure is getting more masculine.” At this moment, Qin Wentian slashed apart the head of a demonic beast with his dagger, retrieving the demonic core within, as he smiled to Fan Le.
Fan Le had gotten slimmer and more masculine after their constant fights with the demonic beasts throughout this period of time.
“Well, I’m a man that was born to woo goddesses, of course I have to look handsome enough.” Fan Le grinned, “Boss, do you still have any Blood Ember Fruits left? Can you give some to me?”
“You bastard, you gorged yourself until you finished your share, and you still want me to split my portion with you? Keep on dreaming.” Qin Wentian snorted. This Fatty, in a bid to break through to the 4th level of Arterial Circulation, had consumed his remaining stash of two Blood Ember Fruits in one go upon reaching the 3rd level. However, he failed to breke through, and instead his cultivation base rose to the peak of the 3rd level.
“Come on, we are brothers.” Fan Le grumbled, but as they decided to leave the place, the sound of someone calling out for help could be heard. The bodies of Qin Wentian and Fan Le flickered, and some moments later, they saw a group of people chasing after a sorry-looking figure.
“Zero?” An interesting expression appeared on Fatty’s face. He cast his gaze upon the person who was being chased after.
Noticing Qin Wentian and Fan Le, Zero halted his steps as a ray of hope appeared in his eyes. He shouted, “Qin Wentian, Fan Le, save me! They want to kill me!”
The pursuers caught up and surrounded Zero. One of them exclaimed, “Friend, during our battles with some demonic beasts, this despicable fellow actually stole the demonic cores that we left at the side. Please don’t interfere in our business.”
“They are lying, they took the demonic cores from cultivators they killed!” Zero’s countenance underwent a drastic change as he stared pitifully at Qin Wentian and Fan Le. They were his last hope of survival.
“People like you should count yourseves lucky that I didn’t personally kill you myself.” Fan Le coldly replied. Back when Zero betrayed them by bringing a group of people to deal with them, did he even think of their feelings even once?
Zero’s expression froze. Looking towards Qin Wentian, he earnestly begged, “Qin Wentian, we were once comrades. Please save me!”
“My friendship is only given once. Once you abuse the trust between us, it is gone forever.” Qin Wentian, like Fan Le, coldly replied before turning his back as he prepared to leave.
“They have the Blood Ember Fruits on their bodies.” Zero frantically shrieked as he pointed to Qin Wentian and Fan Le. “Not only one, they have over ten of the fruits with them.”
Qin Wentian and Fan Le halted their steps, only to see the face of Zero contorted with hatred. Glaring angrily at them, Zero cursed. This was all their fault, landing him into such a situation today.
“Haha, wow so lively.” A voice drifted over from the distance as a number of silhouettes sprinted over. There was a total of six people lead by the one and only Logan.
“Qin Wentian, hand over the Blood Ember Fruits.” Logan’s gaze went cold. Meanwhile, the group of people who had been pursuing Zero turned their gazes over to Qin Wentian with greed visible in their eyes.
Qin Wentian remembered a saying he had heard long ago regarding the Dark Forest: Demonic beasts were not the most dangerous beings that one would face. Instead, the most dangerous thing was the human heart.
“Qin Wentian, Fan Le, prepare to go to hell.” Zero shouted hatefully.
Unexpectedly, Qin Wentian’s body instantly transformed into a blur of shadows. Zero’s pupils narrowed as he rapidly backpedaled, trying to retreat.
A ray of blood red light flashed, followed by a dagger slashing Zero’s throat. With both hands around his throat, the look in his eyes spoke of absolute terror as he stared at the looming Qin Wentian. He fell to his knees. Never had he thought that his life, a young flame burning in the void, would so easily be extinguished in this manner.
In his sea of thoughts, many things flashed by. He was so young yet strong enough to qualify for the Emperor Star Academy. How proud of himself was he back then? Inviting Qin Wentian and Fan Le to hunt for demonic beasts and tempering their combat skills in the Dark Forest, this was his idea. How happy was he back then when they had agreed?
But all of this disappeared into thin air with the appearance of the Blood Ember Fruits. His path of life was already destined to end the moment he made his decision to betray Qin Wentian.
Announcement:
I’m going to try something crazy.
From now to the end of this month (30th June), for every two sponsored chapters, I will add an additional bonus chapter.
If there’s a total of 20 sponsored chapters or more by the end of the month, during the first week of July, I will make that a 10 regular chapter week! Please support ~.~ thank you :p
Total No. of Sponsored Chapters from now to 30 June 2016: 3
Total No. of Bonus Chapters currently: 1 (the bonus chapters will stacked up, and would be released once there’s 10 bonus chapters)