29 Strange Village

It has already been 1 week since Meng entered the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range.

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[Name: Su Meng]

[Cultivation: 8th stage of Elementary Profound Realm (Yin-Yang energy) 22 open Profound Entrances]

[Physique: Hell Suppressing Physique (Initial stage)]

[Personal Skills: Cloud Steps(Lv. 5), River Crossing Slash(Lv. 2, Yin), One with the Shadows (Lv. 1), 7 Moves of Ferocious Sun (Lv. 3 - 3 moves, Yang)]

[Skill points: 1250]

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Meng used the time to mostly fighting with only his physical body while spending the skill points from the beasts he killed on his Alchemy. The Alchemy was probably the most pricey skill to level as one level cost him 2.000 points. The moment his alchemy advanced to the Intermediate level, he can make Profound Strengthening pills for Nascent Profound Realm practitioners and also for True Profound Realm. Unfortunately, for him, those pills aren't even half as effective since he is absorbing pure Yin and Yang energies. Also, when both his Tracking and Detection advanced to an intermediate level, they disappeared and instead, he gained a Spiritual Sense. After gaining this skill, he noticed that he can completely check a specific perimeter around him in an instant, right now, he was capable of scanning a circle of 5 meters in radius with him in the middle. Ever since gaining this skill, his time looking for rare herbs shortened by a lot so he was able to pick up a lot of different herbs, completely filling his inventory. Even Meng himself had no longer an idea of how many herbs he possess unless he focuses his mind on going through the entire inventory. He tried it once and discovered that he is quite a hoarder since his inventory was filled up with thousands of herbs and a few hundreds of profound beast's cores.

'I can feel my Physique nearing some kind of bottleneck, maybe a little bit longer and I will be able to enter the Minor Completion that Vista told me about.' Meng thought while clenching his right hand into a fist while looking at it. He was currently having a small break, sitting on a branch of the tree, swinging his legs back and forth in a carefree manner. If anyone saw him, they would actually think that he came to Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range for a vacation. Actually, he was enjoying his time exploring mountains and dense forests, he loved the thrill of the unknown. And now that he was in a completely foreign world, waiting to be explored, his mood stayed happy and satisfied almost every day.

'Heavens are truly kind for giving humans an opportunity to pursue a longer lifespan...By becoming stronger, I can explore dangerous places. By becoming stronger, my lifespan naturally increases which gives me time to explore this large world...everything is playing into my cards. I wonder if there are other worlds...must be. In those stories, the so-called legendary cultivation base seen only once in a few thousand years usually becomes just a start of a true cultivation path. I wonder if this world is the same as those few fantasy stories I read, it definitely is based on how people behave arrogantly, haha.' Meng thought while enjoying his quick meal with a smile plastered on his face.

"Hey, that village is completely worthless, there are no beauties we could take..."

Suddenly, Meng heard 3 men talking aloud.

'Hm? Bandits? Those clothes certainly don't look like they belong to any of the sects. Anyway, there is a village in this large area covered by numerous profound beasts?'

"Hey, we can still kidnap a few kids, they might fetch a good price plus aren't you interested why that village can remain standing in the middle of this damned place filled with dreadful beasts? There even might be a treasure that protects their entire village!"

"We already tried talking to them but they were too stubborn, maybe if we kidnap a few of their kids to tell us their secrets, they might turn a bit docile, hehe"

Hearing them talk, Meng narrowed his eyes with a disgusted expression appearing on his face. Meng had some bottom lines and one of them was small kids being involved in slavery. This won't be his first time getting involved in such a case.

"Hey, where is the village you are talking about?" Meng decided to reveal himself by calling out to them when they were under the tree he was using as a resting place.

"?! What the-?! Who the hell are you?! Why should we even tell you anything." 3 men looked around before they looked up and saw frowning Meng standing on a branch of the tree above them, looking down at them with his arms folded and a stern look on his face.

"*Wait...that guy is just at 8th stage of Elementary Profound Realm. Also, his clothes look quite exquisite, maybe there is some good stuff on him.*" The other guy whispered to his friends but Meng was able to hear him loud and clear due to his Spiritual Sense.

'Maybe I should try practicing hiding my profound strength, with my Intermediate Concealment skill, it should be possible.' Meng thought as it was turning a bit annoying, hearing people constantly underestimating him. He had no reason to not accept it since it only gave him the advantage but that doesn't mean that it wasn't getting annoying.

"I do not possess any spatial rings, all I have is my clothes. Now, you mentioned something about the village being in the middle of this damned place, no? Is that village exactly in the middle?" Meng replied which slightly shocked the guy who just whispered to his buddies.

Meng tried to talk to them peacefully but they kept demanding him to leave all his valuable and they might let him leave. In this place, leaving someone without a proper equipment could only mean death so their "kindness" wasn't really perceived by Meng.

At the end, when Meng still refused to give them anything unless they want to sell the information about the village, they decided to attack him and rob him of everything he had, including his life. Meng was capable of dealing with Spirit Profound Realm so 3 guys at Nascent Profound Realm gave him absolutely no challenge. He could even fight them in collisions of pure profound energy without any techniques.

Meng killed two of them instantly while grabbing the third one by his neck and rising him up in front of him.

"Where is that village and what do you know about it?" Meng asked calmly, his tranquil eyes completely scared the guy in front of him. After all, Meng just killed 2 humans yet his look in his eyes or expression never changed, not even for a little bit.

"W-Wait, I will tell you... The village is located several kilometers south-west from here. However, we have no idea what is wrong with that village..." The man quickly replied with horror visible in his eyes.

"Good, now I want information on your group, you possible couldn't be venturing this deep inside Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range without other people than 3 of you at Nascent Profound Realm." Meng nodded his head calmly and demanded.

"That..." The guy hesitated at first but when Meng tightened his grip on the guy's neck, he started quickly talking.

"Alright, now tell me, were you truly intending to kidnap those kids? Lying won't do you any good..." Meng asked and gave him a little warning as his eyes turned from crimson to amber-colored.

"?! I- Of course, we would use them to have the villagers tell us their secrets but after that, w-we would let them go" The guy almost pissed his pants when he saw the change in Meng's eyes and as they began staring at him as if they were looking straight through him.

Hearing his answer, Meng frowned in a displeased manner.

"I told you not to lie to me!" Meng shouted and channeled his yin energy to invade that guy's body and after a few seconds, the guy who had a shocked expression stopped moving entirely, his whole body turned cold upon touch. Meng's Yin energy completely disturbed the functionality of his profound veins and energy, freezing it along with his blood and heart.

*Thud*

"If you told me honestly despite your fears that I might kill you for those words..., I would perhaps let you leave alive for the information you provided to me."

'Not like it would matter, their leader is already aware of this strange village so it is only a matter of time when they decide to take more drastic manners. Before that happens, I want to have a look at this strange village with my own eyes.' Meng thought before a crimson flame appeared on his palm. He burned down their bodies to ashes so no one can find them before he decided to go towards the strange village located in the middle.

As he was nearing his destination, he noticed that he hasn't met any profound beast for a long time.

'They are really keeping their distance from here. Why is that so? The profound beasts usually don't respect humans even if they are stronger but even unintelligent profound beast can recognize another profound beast that is much stronger and deserves respect. Could it be that a strong profound beast resides near the village?' Meng thought while holding his chin with a thoughtful expression.

When he arrived at the village, his welcome wasn't exactly twice friendly. Kids were hiding behind their parents' backs while adults were cautiously glaring at him, watching his every move. When he entered their village, he noticed someone running off somewhere immediately when he saw Meng, therefore Meng deduced that he went to call the leader of this village so Meng decided to wait at the entrance under the gazes of everyone.

When others saw him just waiting at the entrance with closed eyes, they started looking at each other in confusion, slowly dropping their guard down.

Soon enough, someone approached Meng, making him slowly open his eyes. He was currently practicing the hiding of his profound strength.

"My name is Feng Baichuan and I am the current leader. May I know the name of the little brother and his intention of visiting our small secluded village?" The middle-aged man respectfully bowed to him and asked with a cautious tone.

"My name is Su Meng and I am in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range for my training. Just several minutes ago, I had the honor of meeting not so honorable people talking about some kind of village inside this dangerous place. I just wanted to take a look and if possible, stay for a while here since my body feels a little bit sore from sleeping in the trees" Meng bowed back and introduced himself while observing others.

'All of them have visible flame imprints on their foreheads...some kind of bloodline? Wait...bloodline, the presence of strong profound beast that scares other beasts, flame imprints...Could they be...?' Meng thought but was slightly surprised when he noticed that no one in the village was stronger than the 10th stage of Elementary Profound Realm.

'Now I understand why they said this village is strange...Looks like it has nothing to do with any treasure but they are simply being protected by something...Could it possibly be phoenix? I have heard about the strong Divine Phoenix Empire and its Divine Phoenix bloodline. But is it possible that these people also possess Phoenix's bloodline? Well, there is only one way to find it out!' Meng thought in a slightly excited mood.

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