Chapter 120 - Hurrying along the journey
Beyond the thick layer of clouds, the Wind Vulture was flapping its enormous wings. In just a moment it had darted hundreds of meters away, the shrill and lingering sonic booms it left behind weren't able to reach the group’s’ ears as the Wind Vulture was flying faster than the speed of sound.
Head Elder and the Fourth Elder both stood straight in the front of the Wind Vulture's back. They were like two stable and gigantic mountains, they blocked most of the wind pressure going past them for Ye Chen and the other two disciples. Otherwise, just the fierce airwaves caused by this supersonic speed alone could easily blow them off the vulture’s back, and they would have to fall from such a terrifyingly high altitude.
“Junior brother Ye, you have to mentally prepare yourself for this journey to the Emerald Martial Palace. I believe you are aware as to why the administrators have sent you along with the elders this time." Xu Jing’s voice abruptly sounded in Ye Chen’s ears due to a Zhen Qi transmission.
Ye Chen nodded and responded, “Why didn’t senior sister Zhu Mei come along?”
“All of the first ranked core disciples of the four famous martial academies aren't going to attend unless they manage to step into the Early Clasping Yuan Realm, and reach the same level as Young master Emerald.”
“Ah, I understand!” After a brief thought, Ye Chen realised that if senior sister Zhu Mei had come along, people would have certainly compared her with the Young master Emerald. But if she declined to attend, people could only compare those second ranked disciples and the other talented disciples of the famous martial academies.
At this very moment -
“A large group of Flesh beasts are ahead of us! Be careful, don't let them catch you with their mouths!” Fourth Elder sent his warning to Ye Chen and the other two disciples with a Zhen Qi transmission.
Flesh beasts?
Ye Chen was slightly surprised. Flesh beasts were an unintelligent species that floated high up in the air, they were shaped like huge meatballs and every one of them had numerous frightening mouths. Normally, first-grade Flesh beasts had three mouths, second-grade flesh beasts had six mouths, while third-grade flesh beast would have nine mouths, and so on.
Flesh beasts usually lived absorbing natural Yuan Qi, but occasionally, they also fed on living creatures.
Before Ye Chen could recall more information regarding this group of horrible creatures, a tremendous group of disgusting and gigantic meatballs appeared from the vast ocean of clouds ahead. These meatballs were all a brown-red, entirely covered in gross mouths that had thick and sharp teeth.
The largest one was as big as a small mountain, while the smallest one was the size of a buffalo. These meatballs would float in the air, and drift along with the wind. Every time something comes across them, they would open those numerous mouths and release a massive suction force and suck those poor creatures into their mouths.
“Sky-torching palm!”
The Wind Vulture had been flying at an amazing speed, seeing that it was about to come close to the group of Flesh beasts, the Fourth Elder let out a resonant growl before he pushed his palm forward.
Followed by a series of thunderous booms, a large number of flesh beasts exploded, and were then burnt into puffs of ashes. The violent airwaves even tore the thick layers of cloud apart.
Ye Chen was silently shocked, he couldn’t help but exclaim within his mind, 'Late Clasping Yuan Realm warriors are indeed extraordinarily powerful, even a careless move of theirs seems to shatter the ground!'
Suddenly, the Wind Vulture began swaying intensely and was rapidly slowing down.
The people standing on the vulture’s back turned around and saw that one of the mountain-sized meatballs had sneakily arrived right behind them, with its enormous mouths widely open, it sucked the clouds and the air into its mouths in spirals. The Flesh beast’s body was like an endless black hole, it was something that could devour everything in the world.
Ye Chen and the other two disciples were relatively weaker, and were about to be pulled off from the vulture’s back due to immense suction force.
The Head Elder made his move.
He raised his right hand, joined his forefinger and middle finger and then swiftly waved it across the air.
Along with a slight puffing noise, a beam of purple and golden light darted out. It was as sharp as a sword and it directly cut the meatball in two. The cut was perfectly smooth without the slightest bit of coarseness.
The Fourth Elder said in admiration, “fifth-grade Flesh beasts have a greater defensive power than even real mountains. It seems like your [Purple Light Finger] has already reached the peak stage. With this, you can even cut a real mountain as easily as cutting through air.”
“Eh, I spent over ten years to achieve the peak stage of this medium rank Earth Realm martial skill, I am not comparable to those talented kids.” said the Head Elder with a bitter smile.
Ye Chen couldn't help but begin sweating slightly, obviously the Head Elder was talking about himself.
Hearing the Head Elder’s words, Fourth Elder was struck speechless once more. He had met all kinds of geniuses, but never had he heard of anyone who could learn a low-rank earth realm martial skill within a month, what a freak.
……
In another ocean of clouds, a hazy and white stream of light had been darting at lightning speed. In the blink of an eye it had already appeared a mile away.
Looking closer, one could find that the stream of light was actually a gigantic white bird, which was both muscular and strong. It had a pair of dark yellow claws hidden beneath its belly.
Four people were standing on the white bird’s back. The two standing at the front were both over forty years old and were wearing white cloaks decorated with golden edges and had snowflake patterns on their sleeves. Standing behind them were two young men.
The one to the left was tall and sturdy, he was a head and shoulder taller than the one standing beside him. He had a fierce and aggressive look on his face, the expression in his eyes was like a beam of roaring sword light given off by a heavy and solid blade.
The other young man looked quite ordinary and was also wearing a white outfit. If one was only judging by his appearance, they probably wouldn't even recognise him in a group of young men. However, once you looked right into his eyes, you would realise that he was in no way someone ordinary. That pair of crystal-like eyes possessed a dangerous, soul-gripping power that was releasing a faint yet forceful sword light, seemingly about to transform into sword intent. This young man was none other than the ‘North Snow Fast Blade’ Lin Qi. As for the sturdy young man, he was the second ranked core disciple of the North Snow Martial School, named Yu Yue, who also known as the ‘Aggressive Blade’.
“Our North Snow Martial School never liked competition. However, even though we don’t like competition, it will be a great shame if we were to fall behind others. Therefore, the two of you will have to fight harder.” said a seemingly simple and honest middle-aged man that stood to the right, in front of them.
Yu Yue grinned and responded, “I admit that I am not yet powerful enough to be Zhuang Fei’s opponent. But, when it comes to the younger generation warriors of the Windy Nation, I, Yu Yue, will not be afraid of any of them.”
By this time, the other middle-aged man who had whiskers on his face and who seemed to be the leader of this small group sighed and said, “In the recent years, our North Snow Martial School has become more and more anaemic. No talented disciples have been discovered in the ranking competitions among the inner disciples. Unlike us, the Sky Cloud Martial School is now treading in its fortune. Lately, one of their disciples has even attained the half-step sword intent.”
Lin Qi’s eyes shone when he heard this. He was recognised by their leader, Xue Wuren, as the one who had the most hope to attain sword intent. Now he heard that someone had already attained half-step sword intent and was merely a step away from achieving the real sword intent. More or less, the passion for battle was silently growing inside of his heart. Excitedly, he began having expectations for the fight between that person and himself.
Rainwater was ceaselessly clattering against the ground.
A loach-shaped black scaled beast was moving in the thick layers of clouds. Every time, it would pop out from a cloud and dive back again, the next time it popped out, it would be hundreds of meters away from where it had been the last time around; given its enormous size and terrifying appearance, ordinary people would probably see it as a legendary evil dragon that had come to destroy this world.
“Junior Sister Yuan, you have improved quite a lot during these past few months, otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed you to come along to the Emerald Martial Palace together with us.” Among the five people standing on the black scaled beast’s head, was a tall and slim young man who was holding an umbrella as he said to the tall and slim girl with a smile on his face.
If Ye Chen was here, he would certainly recognise this girl. She was Yuan Xuemei, who had once teamed up with Ye Chen to complete a task for the Ling Family.
By now, her Zhen Qi vibration was much greater than a few months ago, apparently, she had achieved great improvement.
Giving a faint smile, Yuan Xuemei responded, “I assume that the elders just want me to go out to expand my vision and attain some experiences. Besides, no one can ever bully me when you, junior brother Nangong is around.”
“Why does every single one of our Rudra Martial School’s girls have such a great gift to talk, only I am a lousy talker.” said the young man with the umbrella.
“Hehe!” Yuan Xuemei chuckled.
Abruptly, an ear-piercing beast roar came from afar, even shocking the entire ocean of clouds.
One of the Rudra Martial School’ elders standing in the front raised his head and gazed forward, but failed to see even a shred of an afterimage. He then murmured to himself, “It should be the Double-headed King Bat of the Purple Sun martial school, quite fast!”
Hundreds of miles away from the black scaled beast was a black and red double-headed, gigantic bat, with a wingspan of over ten meters, it swiftly darted across the sky.
Standing on the bat’s back were four people, one of whom was Godly Legs’ Ouyang Ming from the Purple Sun Martial School, who had a conflict against Ye Chen in the Northwest auction market. The short and scrawny young man standing beside him looked very average, even a bit ugly in stark contrast with Ouyang Ming.
Breaking out from the thick and dense clouds, the bat carried those four people and went swishing off towards the Southwest.
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Translated by: Sheryl
Edited by: Jaggerjakk, Jatz