Mountain of Beasts

In Fiery Wind City, the Lu Family was true to its reputation of being a leviathan amongst families. No other family was able to come close.

The Li Family was originally a small unknown family. Soon after, as Li Ping was married to Lu Yuntian, the Lu Family's Lord at the time, the Li Family took advantage of the Lu Family's influence to rise to the top, their power ever increasing.

Lu Ming remembered that back then, the Li Family had treated Li Ping and him benevolently. 

But after the incident involving Lu Yuntian, the Li Family's attitude towards the mother and her son changed, especially after Lu Ming's grandfather passed away. His uncle was now the Lord of the family, who further estranged the duo, to the point where they turned a blind eye on them.

Such was the fickleness of human nature, and the reality of the world.

In the main courtyard of the Li Family.

Li Ping was kneeling on the floor, her body shivering ever so slightly.

There were many juniors from the Li Family gesturing, surrounding her on all sides.

Above the courtyard, a potbellied middle-aged man said as he coolly gazed at Li Ping, "Little sister, how long do you plan on kneeling? Aren't you embarrassed?"

He was Li Ping's brother, Li Fu.

"I'm begging you, Brother. It was not easy for Ming'er to cultivate Essential Qi. He's your blood-related nephew, please give him a few martial art manuals!"

Li Ping was pleading with tears swirling in her eyes.

"Little Sister, allow me to say something that you might dislike. Lu Ming has had a frail and weak body ever since he was born. He's also unable to awaken a blood meridian. Even if he's lucky enough to cultivate a strand of Essential Qi, what use is there? He won't be making any significant accomplishments in the future, why not just let him peacefully live out his life as a normal person?

"Furthermore, let me tell you that the Lu Family's First Branch Elder has already talked to me and put me in my place. Little Sister, it's hard on me too. Helping you means that I'll offend the First Branch Elder."

Li Fu murmured. 

"I'm begging you, Brother. I don't hope that Ming'er will have any great achievements. I'm content as long as he can become a martial artist and have a strong, healthy body. Brother, I swear this is my last request to you, I'll never make things difficult for you again in the future," Li Ping continued pleading.

Li Fu furrowed his brows and pondered for a moment. He took a book out and tossed it before Li Ping. "For the sake of our relationship as siblings for so many years, take this 'Three Sword Slash'. Although it's Unqualified Level, it's enough for Lu Ming. Never come back to trouble me again," he said.

"Mother!"

At that moment, Lu Ming and Qiu Yue made it to the scene.

Lu Ming lifted Li Ping from the ground. He could feel that her body was vibrating, clearly because she had been kneeling for so long.

"Ming'er, aren't you going to say thank you to your uncle?" Li Ping told Lu Ming as she gazed at Li Fu.

"Thank him?"

"We don't need their handouts! Mother, let's go back." Lu Ming was filled with anger.

Lu Ming did not even glance at the martial arts manual. He carried his mother and left the Li Family Residence.

"So ungrateful. He was only lucky enough to cultivate the slightest bit of Essential Qi but he thinks himself a genius."

"He's just trash."

The Li Family's juniors did not stop sneering.

Lu Ming did not pay attention to them. He was powerless, there was nothing for him to say. If he said too much, it would instead earn him their disdain.

However, Lu Ming swore that he would one day shut everyone's mouths with facts.

After leaving the Li Family Residence, Li Ping sighed. "Ming'er, you're too impulsive. That was a martial arts manual! As long as you're able to become a martial artist, it would be worth it for me to suffer through any amount of grievance."

Lu Ming stood up straight like a sword. He said with firm conviction in his eyes, "Mother, even without handouts from the Li Family, I'll still be able to become a martial artist, and a powerhouse at that!"

After returning to their residence, Lu Ming entered the Supreme Shrine and placed even more effort into cultivating.

He finished cultivating the Flame Dragon Fist first, then continued cultivating the Dragon Serpent Step.

The Dragon Serpent Step was a mysterious body art. After cultivating it, his movements were similar to dragons and serpents, nimble and as fast as lightning.

With the help of the chanting from the palace, Lu Ming was progressing with astounding speed.

He could already get a taste of its power after cultivating it twice.

Woosh! Woosh!

Lu Ming's twisting movements were like dragons and serpents. With a twist of his hips and a single step, he had traveled over three meters.

The distance of three meters was equal to one foot.

"Reaching the First Stage of the Dragon Serpent Step, I can get a taste of its power. I can travel one foot in a single step. On the Second Stage, I will be able to reach two feet in one step. And on every new Stage after that, I'll be able to add another foot to the distance traveled. I still have far to go, I must continue."

Then, under Lu Ming's ascetic training, ten days had passed.

In these ten days, Lu Ming opened up two meridians successively, placing him on the peak of mid Novice Realm.

His greatest acquisitions were the martial skills.

He had fully comprehended the Flame Dragon Fist and Dragon Serpent Steps, and had cultivated them both to the Third Stage.

"The cultivation of Essential Qi is still too slow. At this rate, it'll be a long time before I can open up three Divine Meridians."

Lu Ming started to ponder.

If he wanted to speedily open up his meridians and proceed to step into Warrior Realm through condensing a Qi cyclone, he would require a large amount of Dragon Tiger Pills.

However, a single Dragon Tiger Pill would cost a hundred taels of silver, and one could say that Lu Ming had nothing to his name.

"I'm now at the peak of mid Novice Realm, I've also fully comprehended two martial skills through cultivation. I've gained some means of defending myself, so it's time for me to head to the Mountain of Beasts to test my luck."

The Mountain of Beasts was a massive mountain range that was twenty-five kilometers away from Fiery Wind City. Its boundary expanded over fifty kilometers, with ancient trees growing as tall as the skies.

There were a multitude of spiritual herbs growing in the mountain range, attracting a large number of martial artists from Fiery Wind City to enter the mountain in search of herbs.

Of course, with opportunity came risks. There were many beasts in the mountain, even demonic beasts that were much stronger than the usual beasts. Every year, many martial artists would die at the jaws of these demonic beasts .

Lu Ming was not thinking of exploring the depths of the Mountain of Beasts. He only wanted to test his luck on the outskirts of the mountain, while honing on his martial skills at the same time.

He came up with an excuse, and bid Li Ping goodbye, heading for the Mountain of Beasts.

Two hours later, Lu Ming reached the foot of the Mountain of Beasts. The Mountain of Beasts was, itself, like a giant beast. It gave off a powerful oppressive force to any who looked at it.

Lu Ming rushed into the Mountain of Beasts without hesitation. 

Roar!

It was only a few kilometers into the area when a beast charged towards Lu Ming.

It was a white-fronted tiger. It was a meter tall and over three meters long. Even before it arrived, A fierce aura was already surging towards Lu Ming. 

Lu Ming narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. Swaying to one side, he flashed to a corner. Then, he circulated Essential Qi starting from his legs all the way to his spine, and threw a punch with his entire body's strength behind it.

Flame Dragon Punch.

Bam!

The punch landed solidly on the tiger's neck.

Its power was explosive, the tiger was struck aside.

Roar!

The tiger was in pain, making it even more ferocious. It roared and pounced towards Lu Ming again.

Lu Ming used Dragon Serpent Step and evaded the tiger's pounce by twisting his body. He followed up with a Flame Dragon Fist, landing the punch on the tiger's waist, causing it to be flung away once more.

Lu Ming was cultivating the Divine Level technique, the True War Dragon Technique. The Essential Qi that he cultivated was swimming in his meridians like an actual dragon, with an extreme explosive force.

Although Lu Ming's cultivation level was only at the peak of mid Novice Realm, his explosive force was not something that someone from the same level could match.

Together with the Flame Dragon Fist, Lu Ming's fists packed at least 500 kilograms behind them.

The tiger had already sustained heavy injuries after suffering two successive hits from Lu Ming. Blood was dripping out of its mouth.

At that moment, it roared and attempted to turn and escape.

Lu Ming did not let up and followed closely. 

A few minutes later, the tiger fled into a hole in the mountain. Lu Ming hesitated for a moment, and followed in pursuit.

Entering the cave, he found that the tiger was lying on the floor. It was already on its last breath, its blood constantly spilling from its jaws.

"Eh? That's a silver bellflower, an Inferior First Level spiritual herb!"

Suddenly, Lu Ming's eyes sparkled. In between the cracks of rocks in the cave, he noticed a stump of spiritual grass. There were nine leaves, and each leaf was shaped like a bell.

Spiritual grass was categorized into nine levels, and there was Inferior, Mediocre, and Superior for each level.

An Inferior First Level silver bellflower harbored a massive amount of spiritual energy inside it. It was worth three hundred taels of silver, comparable to three Dragon Tiger Pills.

Lu Ming did not expect that he would be able to reap such rewards after entering the Mountain of Beasts for such a short amount of time. This trip was definitely worth it.

He finished off the tiger with his next punch, and took out a rucksack which he had prepared earlier. After harvesting the silver bellflowers, he kept them in the rucksack.

"Brother Feng, do you really know a side route that leads into the Psammophis Pirates' den?

At that moment, a voice came from outside the cave.