Chapter 170: Picking Up a Huge Bargain!
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon had a limited opening time for visitors. Additionally, the area open to visitors to explore was probably not even a thousandth of the entire canyon!
Further ahead were the huge regions of no-man's-land. As Bei Feng trekked forward in silence, the number of people began to dwindle. At this time, there weren't many tourists remaining.
That was because all the tourists who came here had to consider the time needed for their return trip, while Bei Feng did not have to worry about going back on the same day. He only needed to continue going forward!
His steps were neither fast nor slow, and his gait was as if he was merely taking a stroll through his own garden.
That stroll stretched until the afternoon, when he arrived at the end of the path designated for tourists. Bei Feng climbed over some large stone blocks and officially set foot in the no-man's-land of the canyon.
The stone blocks seemed to be the demarcating point between two different worlds. This part of the canyon was close to the raging river and the forest of boulders. Although the ground was covered in snow and the weather was frigid, numerous strands of grass could be seen stubbornly poking their heads out of the snow!
The rocky cliffs on both sides of the cavern were filled with even more life. Large patches of green plants could be seen waving about gently in the wind everywhere.
'What a nice place. The waters are clear, the mountains are majestic, and the scenery is extremely enchanting too.'
Bei Feng could not help but to sigh with admiration. After that, he continued forward at a brisk pace. The most important matter right now was to find a place to spend the night before the temperature plummeted with the setting of the sun.
Fortunately, right before the sky turned completely black, Bei Feng managed to find a suitable shelter. It was a cave on the side of the cliff. It seemed like it had been formed naturally by water erosion from a long time ago.
After placing a bunch of dried branches outside of the cave, he set them aflame before going off to gather some dried grass to form a bedding in the cave. Before long, a cozy little nest was completed.
With a thought, a piece of beef jerky appeared in his hands. This trip was a last-minute whim of Bei Feng's, and his purpose was only to take a look at the deepest canyon in the world. Naturally, he would not treat himself as harshly as before.
The spatial ring was filled with plenty of food this time. Even so, his position was not much improved from his previous trip in the forests. After all, this treacherous canyon was littered with the bodies of countless well-prepared explorers year after year who had fallen into eternal sleep!
The cave was filled with the merry crackling sounds of burning wood, and Bei Feng lay atop the grass bed, staring up at the cave's ceiling until he gradually fell asleep.
Early the next day, Bei Feng arose naturally to the clear chirping of a myriad of birds and the roar of the flowing river. He climbed onto a ledge and began practicing Minor Illumination Breathing Technique.
The purplish ray was becoming more and more dense in color with each session of cultivation. The purple this time was so dark it was close to black, and Bei Feng's body was radiating like a huge purple LED! His violet face coupled with the horrific scars caused him to look like some sort of demon!
As soon as the purple ray wrapped itself around his skeleton, Bei Feng felt like there were millions of ants gnawing at him from the inside. Waves of weak, nibbling ache and itch emanated from his bones and that sensation, when compiled together, created an describable pain!
"Peng, peng!"
The creepy sound of a man banging against a tree resonated over and over again through the wide canyon in the wee hours of the morning. The tree shook violently with each collision, as if a bear had run headlong into it, and large patches of leaves which originally were due to fall soon were all knocked off the branches!
Bei Feng lay on the ground in a daze, exhausted beyond belief. He didn't know when this phase would end; every time, he felt like he was reaching the end, but it always seemed to be just short of completion.
After lying on the ground for a long time, he got up and ate some breakfast before continuing on. Five days passed, and Bei Feng looked over the wide landscape. There wasn't any trace of human activities at these parts, and he felt like he was the only person between the heavens and the earth. A strange sense of loneliness suddenly flooded over Bei Feng.
"Senior Brother Ma, who would've thought that of so many people, we are actually the first to discover the tracks of the Reishi King!"
Li Zhiyi was visibly excited as their small group shot through the forest.
"This time, we must definitely not allow the Reishi King to escape! As long as our esteemed master can breakthrough to Xiantian realm, him helping us reach Evolved Jing would not be empty talk!"
Ma Dao Zhu kicked off lightly with the tips of his foot and his body flashed forward several meters ahead. He didn't even turn his head as he instructed the group behind him.
"Understood!"
The group nodded their heads repeatedly. Everyone understood that this was their long-awaited chance to reach Evolved Jing stage!
With their mediocre talent, the people most likely to reach Evolved Jing stage among them... well, probably only Ma Dao Zhu would have this chance. But, if their aged master could break through to Xiantian realm, they would immediately obtain a large number of resources! At that time, they would only need to sit tight and wait to break through to Evolved Jing!
Although the Reishi King was a plant, it would not stay in one place and wait for people to capture it! It was a being with some weak consciousness, and wielded the magical abilities of Primordial Yi wood! [1]
As long as there were trees and other plants, the Reishi King could jump about endlessly before its magical powers were exhausted!
Born of the divine! If the Reishi King had not been born on Earth and had appeared in another world with bountiful spiritual Qi, it would be a being that could reach Xiantian realm as soon as it was born!
Regrettably, this Reishi King was born in this place with thin spiritual Qi. There was simply not enough spiritual Qi for it to support it taking form! Thus, it only possessed weak consciousness and a bit of magical power.
Because of the sudden appearance of such a large number of martial practitioners in the canyon, the Reishi King had felt an innate sense of unease and quickly avoided the areas with human activity.
That was when Ma Dao Zhu and the rest happened to be the closest to it. They were barely one hundred meters away, but could only watch helplessly when it disappeared right before their eyes!
At the same time, Bei Feng was staring speechlessly at the flash of green which had suddenly appeared on the tall ancient tree right beside him. It was actually a small Lingzhi mushroom which was emanating a weak green light!
Bei Feng was sure that this Lingzhi mushroom was definitely not there before. But, in the blink of an eye, this Lingzhi mushroom had appeared out of nowhere!
"Could it be... this is the Reishi King?!" [2]
Bei Feng murmured dumbly as he continued staring at the Lingzhi. He had not even intended to participate in the hunt for the Reishi King, but it actually ran to him by itself! What should he do abut such a situation?
Bei Feng reached out a hand and touched the extraordinary looking Lingzhi tentatively. Normally, for Lingzhis, they could be recognized as Cinnabar Lingzhi, which was scarlet in color, or Purple Lingzhi. This was the first time Bei Feng had ever seen a bright green Lingzhi!
He plucked the Reishi King off the tree lightly, and pulled it before his nose to take a sniff. Unexpectedly, there was actually no smell emanating from it at all, as though its fragrance was all kept hidden within it.
Bei Feng nodded his head as he examined it. Right, if it released any kind of smells, it would have been discovered by people long ago!
"Ding! Grade 5 treasure discovered, Green Lingzhi! (Grows 1 cun (3 ⅓ cm) every 100 years, unlocks full consciousness and magical awareness after 1,000 years, and attains human form after 10,000 years! Prolonged consumption over a long period by the human body will produce an unaging mortal body, and even extend longevity of celestial beings!) Experience gained: 0!"
The familiar monotone voice of the System suddenly rang out in Bei Feng's mind, causing his eyes to light up with shock. He had just picked up a huge bargain!
As for what the System said about attaining an unaging body, that part was completely thrown aside by Bei Feng. It was already a great feat for a single Reishi King to appear on Earth, so there was no such thing as 'prolonged consumption over a long period of time' to talk about. Did the System take the Reishi King for common carrots sold on the streets?
"Put the Reishi King down!"
Far away, Ma Dao Zhu and the rest flew into a rage and shouted loudly as they looked at the Reishi King in Bei Feng's hands.
They had been searching so painstakingly for such a long time, but they had actually been beaten to it by some random guy, who was now holding their prize!
Bei Feng took one look at the approaching group and immediately kept the Reishi King into his spatial ring without any hesitation before sprinting away deeper into the forest with as much speed as he could muster!
Right now, he was like a tiger who fell on hard times, and was being insulted by dogs. He was not a match for these people at the moment, and could only flee from them first.
The gap between the pursuing group and Bei Feng was closing at an alarming rate. Fortunately, the terrain of the forest was complicated and Bei Feng's movements were extremely agile here. He was like a monkey as he ran and leaped flexibly. His movements were rather quick in the forest.
At the same time, Ma Dao Zhu and the rest possessed frightful raw power and speed. Each of them utilized their lightweight skills, and they could travel several meters with each revolution of their Qi!
'This won't do, I'll be caught sooner or later!'
Bei Feng's movements did not slow down as his brains worked tirelessly to find a way to escape his current situation.
"Brat, you'd better be sensible; stop running and hand over the Reishi King! Otherwise, when I catch you later, I'll let you suffer utter misery!"
Ma Dao Zhu hollered irritably as he chased behind. That brat was obviously not a martial practitioner, but he was as slippery as an eel! They had chased him for so long and yet they hadn't managed to catch the thieving bastard yet!
Bei Feng smirked coldly as he continued running like a madman. Did those guys really take him for a three-year-old kid? Even if he were willing to hand the Reishi King over right now, it would be hard for him to escape death!
After all, the best person to keep a secret was a dead person!