Volume 1 Chapter 10 — News of Treasure Trove

A light flickered, then a thump followed, the wild boar's body collapsed with a missing head.

After killing the beast, Xin An loosened his grip on the sword and the remnants of fire essence and light essence on the stick began fading.

Glancing at the corpse, Xin An muttered. "Although I'm profound 5th realm, the Luminous Secret Skill is beyond powerful. However, I can only cast two of the techniques at the moment because of the required essence to execute the secret skill."

Luminous Secret Skill has 4 skill types. It was Movement Type, Agility Type, Attacking Type, and Defensive Type.

At the moment, Xin An could only use the Defensive Type which was the Blinding Flame Prison, and the agility type that he was frequently using, Sunstroke.

Blinding Flame Prison required 40 drops of light essence as well as 100 drops of fire essence for execution. That would cast a blinding effect, restriction effect, and strength suppression effect. Once trapped within the skill, escaping will be very difficult to succeed.

Sunstroke, on the other hand, required 75 drops of light essence and 75 drops of fire essence. When performed, the technique would form an irregular and unordinary sword stroke. Blocking the strike without the cultivation of peak Profound Realm was difficult than thwarting the strike of peak 1st level Diremonsters! It was because Sunstroke has the property of swiftness and rapidness.

While the last two skill types, Inferno Light and Heaven Breaking Flames could deplete half of his stored essence. It was one use opportunity so it was considered a trump card. Furthermore, Xin An was unwilling to use it unless forced. After all, both of the skill was toiling to his current condition.

When the corpse collapsed in the smooth greenish ground, blood gushed out from its neck, dyeing the area with a red hue.

Xin An gathered foot strength and evaded these rains of blood while retreating. He sprinted under a shade of trees that was thirty meters away from the corpse; the stench and rain of the blood couldn't reach this location.

Xin An spectated the area and around the right corner sat a teenage boy wearing purple clothes. This young man was sprawling and clutching his shivering body.

Xin An's brows furrowed when his eyes happened to see the teenage boy and finally remembered his reason for killing the wild beast.

"Was his name Mu Zen? How did I fail to remember him?"

Xin An smiled wryly and began sauntering towards him when the rain of blood stopped. Moving closer to the area, Mu Zen seemed to be mumbling some words.

"Oh heavens! A young hero heard my prayer and came to save Little Mu from being the meal of this fat lord! I can't believe it, I'm bloodied!"

Mu Zen sprang to his feet and hopped like a free bird that had just escape inevitable death. Tears streaming from his eyes, he pulled out a woven handkerchief to a spatial pouch on his waist and wipe the tears. Mumbling some words such as 'I almost died without finding someone to marry me', 'How can this dead fat lord think that handsome little Mu can be anyone's meal.', and some stuff that stunned Xin An.

Xin An recalled his memories and the name Mu Zen was very distinct to him. An uncommon name. Not to mention the details surrounding this Mu Zen! Bright eyes, unsheathed purple sword hanging at the belt on his waist, his bloodied purple clothes; In any angle, Mu Zen looked like tribesmen of that particular tribe on the northern lands; Lightning Tribe.

The lightning tribe's tribesmen were skilled on Lightning Essence and they were terrifying offensive experts. Purple clothes were their traditional dress and mostly all of them never wore other dresses. They even have an outstanding genius who placed sixth in the Heavenly Ascension Ranking named Mu Shan.

After done with his tears, Mu Zen slowly wiped the blood on his body with the woven handkerchief. At this moment, Xin An silently appeared behind him. Mu Zen's heart leaped from his heart when he felt a shadow behind him, however upon knowing that it was his benefactor, he wiped the sweats on his forehead, saying, "May the Elemental Lord bless this young hero's bravery. Without you, this frenzied beast would have little Mu as its meal."

"Frenzied beast?" Xin An raised an eyebrow, looking at Mu Zen's adorable sapphire eyes full of admiration. No wonder this brat had been chase by that wild boar, so it was a frenzied beast!

Frenzied Beasts are known to be cruel and muddled-headed. Slaughtering was all they recognize and devoured sentiments that they notice. Oftentimes, frenzied beasts would fight among themselves and eat the flesh of their kins.

However, frenzied beasts were rare to a governed region such as Beast Bright Mountain Range. Before recovering foundation, Xin An had to worry about encountering such beasts. However, now that his foundation had been repaired, Xin An was unafraid of them.

Xin An looked at Mu Zen and thought that how did this brat even encounter this kind of beast. He said, "With your cultivation, how did you ever meet one of them?"

Mu Zen looked at the corpse and remembered the painful experiences he had with this fat lord and clenched his teeth in response. "I was fleeing from a treasure trove and I met this wild pig by coincidence. I thought this fat lord was being friendly but it was after my flesh all along! How scheming!"

Xin An who had been listening was stunned. Were all tribesmen of Lightning Clan are like Mu Zen? That seemed not the case. Lightning Tribe's tribesmen are known to be fierce and brave. They like to fight, but Mu Zen was very different! He even feared a wild beast!

However, Xin An quickly remembered the treasure trove. "I heard you talking about treasure trove, you encountered one?"

Treasure Trove stored a cluster of spiritual herbs and treasures that were usually guarded by 2nd rank ferocious beasts. There are many treasures there useful for cultivators at the realm of Profound and Essence Foundation, however, the trove was also filled with dangers and risks.

These treasure troves can be found in the wilderness or some instances in the Beast Bright Mountain Range. The wilderness had numerous of these treasure troves, but it was very rare in the Beast Bright Mountain Range; strong martial artists and royal blood diremonsters fought for these places.

In reality, Beast King Jin Brightmoon had the law of 'seek not to give'. If there are any Treasure Troves that have been found inside the region of Beast Bright, the royal blood juniors have to seek these opportunities themselves and were not spoon-feed.

Mu Zen looked at Xin An and his lips were trembling. "Oh young hero, that treasure trove is dangerous! Many young martial artists and scary diremonsters were waiting there!"

Xin An looked at Mu Zen weirdly and said. "Was the trove had been opened when you left?"

"Not yet. From what I heard before I flee, it will open in the next five hours."

Five hours. Xin An's eyes shone and smiled. "Can you lead me to the location?"

Xin An wanted to increase and restore his cultivation as soon as possible. This treasure-trove will be useful to him. Perhaps there are many talented profound and essence cultivators there, but as a former Essence Core cultivator, Xin An believed that he can reap some benefits from it

Mu Zen's eyes widened and thought that his benefactor was too brave. However, his benefactor seemed powerful, so he was not so surprised. He warned, "Oh Brave hero, I'm afraid that going there will only arise our death!"

Hearing him, Xin An was momentarily stunned. He said with a helpless smile. "Don't worry. If something unforeseen happens, I can leave safely."

"Oh." Mu Zen was surprised and suddenly his eyes widened with fear. "You can flee, but how about me?"

Xin An looked at the fear in this Mu Zen's eyes and gave another helpless smile. "I just want to ask for the location then you can leave the rest to me."

Mu Zen calmed down hearing him. He thought that it was pretty reasonable. However, this benefactor was the one that saved him from the claw of death. He can't be ungrateful!

Having these thoughts, Mu Zen looked at Xin An while gritting his teeth. "Alright. However, I have to follow you."

"And why?" Xin An was again stunned. Didn't he flee in the trove because he was afraid, why come he wanted to follow now?'

"I have to repay you." Mu Zen said as he put the woven handkerchief back to his spatial pouch. "Brave hero, follow me. This is the way."

Mu Zen began walking without Xin An's consult. Seeing this, Xin An was just silent and followed behind him.

....

Meanwhile. Somewhere around the Beast Bright Mountain Range, a large bulky diremonster had a lifeless expression as it laid in the ground. This beast was a common diremonster called Iron-Monkey. Iron Monkey was very strong, and when it was mad, its strength was in no way inferior to newly advanced Essence Foundation cultivators.

However, such beast had died without even able to transform into its berserk mode?

Near the corpse of Iron Monkey, two teenage boys wearing a martial robe with sword symbols could be seen meditating.

When one of the teenage boys had done his mediation, he stood up and sprinted to the corpse. He chewed some grass on his mouth as he pulled a sharp dagger on his spatial pouch. With a sneer, he stabbed and stabbed the corpse, and only when his hand was numb did he stopped and looked at his companion.

"Brother Guo, that treasure trove is about to open and Xin An is nowhere to be found. He's probably dead!" The teenage boy said as he spat the grass from his mouth. He skillfully maneuvered his dagger as he stabbed the corpse without even looking at it, and blood drizzled like rain in the area.

Coincidence or not, some blood happen to land at his companion, and his companion's eyes snapped open. He roared, "Cao Li! Stop it!"

"My bad. My bad," Cao Li smirked, stabbing one last stab to the monkey's pupils. Licking lips, he said with a melodious tone, "I can't stop it. Blood is similar to Blood Lily. A slight and gentle taste of its delicacy can make a person turn crazy. Why not try to taste, Brother Guo?"

Guo Niu looked at Cao Li and simply shrugged. Cao Li has been a crazy person; when blood is present, he was even more terrifying. Thirsting for blood and playing with a corpse was his nature. Although Cao Li was from the human race, his stored essence was ample and large, similar to a royal-blood diremonster stored essence of a similar realm. Even Guo Niu had to mediate far longer than Cao Li, even more so Guo Niu used more stored essence during the fight with this diremonster, Iron-Monkey.

"I'm different from you." Guo Niu chuckled after replenishing most of his stored essence from fighting the Iron-Monkey. With a shake of his head, stood up, he said. "Blood is the way of crazy people like you. For me, it's reputation. Without reputation, we can't survive this world of fittest. Once we lost the protection of Master, we will be miserable and enemies will plunge to eat our flesh. Enough on this! Let's do a quick search of Xin An, if we cannot find him, we will head to the treasure trove and reap benefits on it."

Saying that Guo Niu pat the dust and cleaned the blood on his clothes. He pulled a woven handkerchief on his spatial pouch and covered it to his mouth. Foul smells always rendered him dizzy, blood was an even worse experience to him, so he did his best to avoid it. And then with a wave of his hand, he signaled to Cao Li and began sauntering.

Looking at Guo Niu's figure the smirk on Cao Li's face slowly switched into a frown. His brows slightly furrowed hearing his phrase and dark scenes of his past replayed to his mind. He clenched his fists and murmured, "If we have strength, why do we have to rely upon someone else's reputation to survive?"