22 Expedition

It had been almost two week since Xue Chang had made an agreement with the guild.

Within this time many things had changed. Tian Hai and Tian Kai had been secluded in their room cultivating constantly. It was now such a rare occurrence to see them outside of their room. The only time they appeared regularly was for dinner and sparring against him.

And as they sparred, he couldn't help but feel a tint of jealousy grow in his heart, it had only been two weeks and yet their strength had received an explosive growth. While he didn't have much to compare them to, he gauged them to be around the level of B rank warriors.

And with their martial skills and teamwork, it wasn't impossible for them to match up to A ranks.

And yet just a short period of time ago they were still barely in rank C.

While they continued to train themselves. Xue Chang had been on a spree of missions for the guild. It seemed the number of demonic beasts sightings had increased drastically, and as such they needed him and the other cultivators in the guild to act.

Unfortunately this time he wasn't able to keep the cores, but he could trade them in for other resources, which he took complete advantage of.

With the number of demonic beasts he hunted, he was able to trade for a number of ores, herbs, and manuals. All in all, he made quite the hefty sum.

But this did not make him happy. After all, his gains was in direct correlation to the increase of powerful beasts. And their numbers only continued to grow. This showed that his earlier speculations were right. Something big was happening but he did not know what.

Worry overtook him as he couldn't predict what would be the outcome this scenario.

And worse yet, despite working so hard on it for the past few weeks, he couldn't seem to figure out how to increase his power.

Xue Chang estimated his strength to be around the peak of the second level of Qi refinement, hurt when he tried to break through that barrier into the third level, nothing came out of it.

He knew for a fact that the key to his breakthrough was within the aeon and comprehending it, yet it was much harder than he thought. Every time he seemed to get a hint of something, the world around him would change and his comprehension would be completely wasted.

It wasn't that he could not decipher the strange sights around him, but rather that he was missing something vital to the breakthrough. He was like a martial artist who completely captured the essence of a skill but was missing the final last bit of mastery over it.

But this wasn't something he could rush. That was why he spent his time doing guild quests. As he experienced more sights of the outside world, his perspective would slowly change and eventually the key to unlocking this door would be found.

"Hey, Yong Heng! You listening?"

The gruff voice of the middle aged man pulled Xue Chang out of his own thoughts, the man's name was Liu Yang. He was a Qi refinement level one hunter within the guild.

"We're you listening to the summary of the plan, you think you can handle some so 'complicated', kid?"

What he was talking about was an expedition into the nearby forest.

A couple of days ago, a cavern was discovered deep within the lakeside forest. It is said that while mostly unexplored, the extremities of the cavern were filled with rich resources that nearby sects were paying quite a lot for.

This was a wide area of woodland directly across the lake from the city.

It was well known for being abundant in rare and useful resources needed for cultivation and medicine. But due to the overflowing supplies found there, a large number of beasts had eventually migrated and built homes there.

Wild beasts swamped the area and worse yet, a large number of demonic beasts even lived here. It was an incredibly dangerous place where only cultivators could enter. As such usually those with numbered ranks were given tasks assigned to here and no one else.

But today was different.

Today the guild had gathered together a large group of individuals of various strength.

The weakest among them though was at the peak of B rank while their strongest was the middle aged man who was about to break through to the second level of Qi refinement.

Of course Xue Chang was technically already beyond that level of power, but unlike the others, his strength was difficult to measure. He did explain he was at least at the level of a level one cultivator though.

As such he was included on this expedition.

But that didn't mean everyone here liked him.

When he joined the team, it was under the recommendation of the guild master.

This was because most of the more powerful cultivators were away on missions and he wanted someone to supervise this group. And although he said his strength was only at the first level of Qi refinement, the guild master would have to be blind to believe that after seeing the beast core he collected.

As such he was assigned to this squad. Even so, the guild master did not reveal any news of his strength. Xue Chang believed this was because he wanted 'Yong Heng' to prove himself to the guild and hopefully end the strange rumors.

But that didn't mean the others liked him. Quite the opposite really. After all of the rumors spread around, the guild's disgust at him grew tremendously.

But he didn't really care. The one they hated wasn't "Xue Chang" but "Yong Heng" which was only a temporary identity for him.

Xue Chang chose not to respond to the man's provocative words and stayed silent instead.

But to the others, it just seemed like he was submitting to the abuse.

"Tsk, the guild master's boy toy is quite shy isn't he? Pathetic really."

Liu Yang continued to insult Xue Chang maliciously. He hated that this newcomer was already given a numbered rank so quickly.

As far as he could tell, it hadn't even been a week since he joined the guild, yet he was almost a higher rank than him!

As someone who spent years working to rise from the bottom, he absolutely loathed people who entered in through back door methods.

Just when he was about to say more words of ridicule, a powerful oppressive force began to crush down in him.

As if a large hand was pressing down right on his back.

The pressure almost caused his legs to buckle and collapse, but at the last moment it disappeared just as soon as it came.

The man released a heavy sigh as his eyes became bloodshot and fearful. Looking up at the calmly smiling Xue Chang, an ominous feeling welled up inside of his chest.

He swallowed back the words he was about to spew out in shock and just gave a short harumph.

Everyone else expected him to continue insulting Xue Chang but were surprised to see him stop halfway. But no one really cared.

Continuing his words on their mission and goals, everyone packed up their equipment and readied themselves for battle.

Xue Chang brought up his saber and held it between his arms lightly. He took several steps forward toward the entrance of the cave.

The guild had provided transportation for them to explore the area, at the cost of half of their findings going to the guild itself.

Even so, from what reports have stated, the rare commodities they could find in the cave would be extremely valuable and they wouldn't be missing out even if they sacrificed half of it.

The group all stared greedily into the entrance, some of them even ran ahead without a care in the world. Some of the older hunters who had more experience held them back however.

Only the cultivators were able to remain completely calm. Cultivation wasn't only the strengthening of the dantian and body, but the heart as well. All cultivators had to prepare themselves for the idea of longevity that they may or may not obtain.

One could not be afraid to live forever if they sought for it, each and every one of them were more than capable to controlling their greed to this extent. If they were unable to do at least this much, they should quit cultivating.

Even Xue Chang was abnormally calm. But this was because he already knew that the resources within the cave held no use for him. Although he could use it to help Tian Kai and Tian Hai, or even get some cash out of it, he did not forget his mission to be vigilant and make sure no mishaps occurred.

The large group took their time entering the cavern and gazing around. Many different ores and herbs were actually found in the area. But these weren't very valuable so only the B ranks collected them.

A few treasures that even piqued the interest of the A ranks appeared, but nothing was at the level of what the report stated yet.

This made Xue Chang worry a bit as what they were told and what they were facing were completely different.

After walking deeper into the area to the point where no light shown, Liu Yang finally told someone to light a torch.

And when they did, even the cultivators couldn't help but suck in a cold breath.

The cavern was beautiful with blue crystals surrounded the ceiling and walls. It reflected the light of the torch wonderfully and even gave off the sense of peace and tranquility.

Rainbow colored light reflected off of the surface of the cave, causing the dark and damp place to come alive. It was as if a kingdom of riches was discovered.

And it was quite warm. Not uncomfortably so, but rather like the warmth of snuggling up under a blanket on a cool winter's morning. It was quite the wonderful feeling.

"Brittle blue crystal. I didn't think your luck was so good."

While Xue Chang was gazing silently at the sight, a voice popped up within his head and commented lightly.

"So you're finally awake huh?"

Xue Chang didn't say this aloud and instead thought it silently to himself. Yet the voice gave an affirmative response as if it could hear him.

And in this case it could.

This wasn't the first time he heard this voice. In fact he's been listening to its chattering quite a lot recently.

Yong Heng, the real Yong Heng, had finally arrived.