9 Chapter 9 - Seizing treasure

The thin body of Ye Xiwen was completely soaked in sweat and was also covered in some black impurities, those impurities which used to stay concealed within the body.

"Great, finally I made a breakthrough to the fifth stage. On top of that, now I also have the strength of five tigers along with the eighth echo of Rushing Thunder Hand. So when the time comes, I can easily blow away even the experts of the sixth stage. My breakthrough is simply advancing by leaps and bounds!" Ye Xiwen said happily.

Altogether there were nine stages in Houtian realm; each stage enormously differed from the other. Initially those who had the strength of two tigers could only enter Houtian fifth stage, but Houtian sixth stage actually needed the strength of five tigers, which meant more than 2500 Jin!

Considering the current fighting strength of Ye Xiwen, now he could be considered as the high rank disciple within Inner Sect as he had the strength to blast away even the experts of the sixth stage now. However in order to get promoted to the status of a core disciple, this was still insufficient.

Only if he could reach Houtian sixth stage, then in due course he had the considerable hope to become a core disciple.

After making a smooth breakthrough to the strength of five tigers, Ye Xiwen conveniently pounded his fist in midair which sent shockwaves everywhere. If his current strength was to be compared with his previous form, then naturally there was noticeably a huge difference between them just like the difference between the heaven and earth.

Although his strength increased terrifically, the price he had to pay was also significantly huge. Earth's Core Fruit had already been completely digested by him, in addition to that those forty spirit-stones had also nearly been exhausted in the process of deducing Rushing Thunder Hand's last echo. This was much larger consumption compared with the total consumption that happened during the comprehension of eighth echo earlier.

Obviously after achieving the eighth echo of Rushing Thunder Hand, its overall might could not be mentioned in one breath. Now it had already reached the might of a mid-level power technique and that too in one fell swoop.

If he wanted to enhance his strength by leaps and bounds and that too in a short period of time, then whether it was learning martial arts or advancing the stages, it was all inevitably linked to the spirit stones and Heavenly material treasures such as the Earth's Core Fruit. After all, they were really scarce and difficult to obtain. At present, the most reliable and safest means was to hunt and kill demon beasts and then exchange their demon cores for crystal stones. This could also enhance one's fighting experience in one fell swoop.

After making this decision, Ye Xiwen hurriedly left Yi Yuan School and advanced towards the depths of the Qingfeng Mountain.

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Time flew by with passing days. Ye Xiwen had already spent three days, entering deeper into the Qingfeng Mountain. Now, he had already made his way through Houtian fifth stage, not to mention even the demon beasts of Houtian sixth stage were roaming about there.

Yesterday, Ye Xiwen bumped into a demon beast of Houtian sixth stage peak and was about to lose his life inside that demon beast's mouth.

At that time his life was truly hanging by a thread. All along, Ye Xiwen deeply felt that it was highly inconvenient without a weapon. A confrontation with a person was not that troublesome, however while confronting these demon beasts, he truly suffered injuries everywhere. After all, his hands could not be compared with the claws and teeth of these demon beasts.

This day, Ye Xiwen crossed through a piece of canyon where he found a red ginseng above a cliff. He had already seen this kind of ginseng in various martial records. Actually, it belonged to a species of ordinary ginsengs which usually had the capability of enhancing a person's internal power efficacy, but this red ginseng was several times beneficial than ordinary ginsengs.

Upon seeing the appearance of this red ginseng, it could be deduced that it was at least more than one-hundred-years old; it was a fully matured spirit fruit. If this ginseng fell into his hands, then at least he could make a breakthrough directly to Houtian sixth stage. And in due course, he could steadily be promoted to the ranks of core disciples. At that time, no one would dare to underestimate him.

Hence without a bit of hesitation, Ye Xiwen promptly climbed up the cliff. His movement was very flexible. Just like a quick and smart ape, very swiftly he crawled to the position where the ginseng was.

Immediately after that, he extended his hand towards the red ginseng to grab it.

"Bang!" As he was about to grab it, a handful of soil were clutched in his hand instead of that ginseng. He raised his head to look ahead and noticed that the ginseng had surprisingly moved one-hundred meters away from its original place.

"This red ginseng actually has a hazy sub-consciousness!" Ye Xiwen was really extremely astonished at this sight. In this world, myriads of things had mysterious powers, in fact even a piece of stone after passing through a trillion years of time period could actually attain consciousness. A heavenly treasure like this red ginseng furthermore gathered the essence of heaven and earth. A millennium-year-old Ginseng King could attain hazy consciousness as well, hence an ordinary person would be unable to catch it. With the supernatural power to connect to the earth, it could travel a few hundred kilometers in a day if needed. While in the case of a Ginseng King, it could be a ten-thousand-year old treasure, which could even take form of a human being or become a mountain spirit.

This red ginseng was really worthy of being called a mutated ginseng. It only had one-hundred years of maturity but had surprisingly achieved a hazy sub-consciousness. However, it seemed like it could not change its form until it achieved the maturity of a millennium. Now that Ye Xiwen had already caught sight of it, he would naturally not let it slip by.

At this instant, Ye Xiwen's whole body turned vigorous and his Zhen Qi suddenly surged. Immediately after that, he abruptly flew up in the air and threw himself at that red ginseng just like a big eagle preying on its target.

"Bang!" He advanced towards the cliff and grabbed it finally. The red ginseng didn't get enough time to flee and ultimately fell into his hands and got dragged out of the cliff, leaving the protection of earth. However, after getting uprooted from the earth, it completely lost its supernatural power.

Soon a pleasant smile peeped out on Ye Xiwen's face. After taking it, he climbed down the cliff. However when he wanted to find a secluded place to swallow it, right at this instant, suddenly a loud voice burst out from behind him.

"Hand over that red ginseng!"

Ye Xiwen turned around and saw that there were three young men gazing at him indifferently.

Among these three young people, two were approximately twenty years old. One was clad in black clothes while the other was clad in purple. The youth in the middle was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old guy who was wrapped in a white robe. He was about the same age as Ye Xiwen, however had a very arrogant look stuck on his face. The one who shouted loudly just now was actually the black clothed youth.

"You are a disciple of Yi Yuan School!" The black-clothed youth sounded very arrogant when he said that.

"Are you the people of Zhang family?" Ye Xiwen's eyes drew towards their shoulders where their family emblem was hanging, so he immediately turned somewhat vigilant. The Qingfeng Mountain was stretched across several hundred miles. It was also a branch of Great Yue State's mountain ranges. It had altogether two super powers dwelling on it, one was Yi Yuan School and other was this Zhang family.

This Yi Yuan School was a branch of Yi Yuan School's Main Sect, while right behind it was Zhang family which belonged to another big shot of Great Yue State, namely Tianfeng Hall. Their immense power and influence was absolutely not inferior to Yi Yuan School's. However, since both parties belonged to the two different forces, therefore the bilateral relations had always been quite tensed.

Out in public, they had scruples about the other party's background influence, but on the surface they also maintained a friendly relationship with each other. However they secretly hated each other. In the depths of the Qingfeng Mountain, the disciples from both sides used to learn through experience and the matters of mutual killings were not something new.

"This is our Zhang family's young master, hand over that red ginseng!" That black-clothed youth clamored.

"I found this first!" Ye Xiwen vigilantly said while secretly pondering in his heart that did he really have to come across such a situation where people choose to murder their opponent so as to seize treasures?!

"Young master, did you hear what he said just now?" The black-clothed youth said.

"Why are you still talking rubbish with him? He is just a trash of Yi Yuan School. Just kill him and that red ginseng will become ours." The purple-clothed youth said somewhat impatiently, while his face revealed a hint of fierceness.

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