Chapter 9: The Black Dragon Triad Rises to Get Inner Elixir, Wang She Enters Misty Mountain
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Within the southwestern region of Qingyang Market sat the Black Dragon Triad’s branch altar of Qingyang Market.
This was a piece of the building complex, nearly covering all parts of the southwestern region and even leaving no road for passers-by. Only through the black building complex could we see how the Black Dragon Triad was oppressive in Qingyang Market.
The outer wall, about 20 feet high, was stacked up with thick black stones. In the middle of the wall was a thick black iron gate, which was like a small-sized city wall. Inside the wall, tiled roofs and flying angles loomed and pavilions seemed to be hidden. Of course, these only could be seen from the outside.
Besides members of the Black Dragon Triad, officers of government also lived in Qingyang Market. However, only bureaucrats, private advisors, and the head constable ever stepped over that black iron gate.
There was a small garden in the northern corner of the branch altar of the Black Dragon Triad. In the garden was a three-storeyed building which was small in size but had a refined shape. On the four-corner upturned eaves hung golden bells, which would produce crisp and melodic “Ring, Ring!” sounds when the wind blew.
In the night, a dim light shone out from a window on the third floor. It was the only bright spot in the whole building.
Behind the window was an empty room in which a piece of red carpet lined with a gold border was spread on the floor. The border of the carpet sparkled in the lamplight. On the north side of the wall hung a huge picture on which a black dragon flew in a cloud, with its claws extended and full of momentum.
Under the gigantic picture was a gold armchair. At that time, a man of about 60 years old sat in the armchair, wearing a suit of gold silk garments with two cuffs embroidered with nine twisting dragons.
The two sides of the gold armchair were flanked by four silver armchairs. The armchairs were full of men and women, young and old. The youngest was an over-30-year-old woman with a pink face, on which showed a very unflattering Evil Qi.
There was no sound in the room except the slight and long breathing sounds of the people. In that instant, even if one needle were to fall on the ground, its crisp jingle would surely have been heard.
“That’s all. Everybody, the news is true. Half a year ago, the One-eyed Wolf in West Mountain showed up in a village beside Qingyang Market but didn’t hurt anyone. Instead, it was repelled by a sergeant named Wang Tianlei. Everyone, what’s your opinion on this matter?”
After a long time, the old man in the golden armchair broke the silence. His eyes wandered on the faces of the eight people as if he saw through their thoughts just from their expressions.
“We’ve investigated Wang Tianlei. He was recruited into the army a few years ago, and defended the border of Shenwu city of Yuezhou as a Giroro. As was said, his practice has reached the phase of a Level One fighter only by using Dark Bear Fist and Unusual Strength Qigong. With just one step, he could enter the Bone Forging Realm. It’s just a pity that he has no strong background and even can’t read. Unfortunately, stripped of his military merits, he came back here after his service had expired.”
It was the woman in red with the pink face but evil look who was talking to the others. In a few words, Wang Tianlei’s main experience was told.
“A Level One fighter?” A middle-aged man, sitting opposite her, frowned. “If the rumor about the One-eyed Wolf is true, it may be a monster. It’s impossible for a Level One fighter to push the monster back, even if he has great strength.”
“Altar Master Tong, are you questioning my intelligence?” The Evil Qi became stronger suddenly on the face of the woman in red.
“I didn’t mean that. Your intelligence has been always accurate. I just think that we seem to be missing something on this incident with the One-eyed Wolf. After all, it’s an evil beast. Even the lowest-level evil beast can compare with a Level Four or Five fighter. How can a Level Two fighter push it back? It’s somewhat strange!”
“Yeah, it’s indeed strange. I didn’t believe it at first!” The old man in the gold armchair gently waved his hands and stopped the conflict. “But after multi-verification, it proves that the intelligence is correct. I don’t know why the One-eyed Wolf left suddenly, but I can affirm two facts. Firstly, the news is true and the One-eyed Wolf indeed exists. Secondly, it’s sure that Wang Tianlei pushed it back on his wedding day. From the description of each party, the One-eyed Wolf held the absolute upper hand at that time and even could kill Wang Tianlei at any time. But in the end, it left suddenly. In the eyes of those rough men, it was Wang Tianlei that naturally pushed the One-eyed Wolf back.”
“In other words, the One-eyed Wolf was not pushed back by Wang Tianlei. It’s possible that it left by itself,” altar master Tong said.
“Hum!” The woman in red gave a cold snort and turned her head away.
“We don’t know why the One-eyed Wolf withdrew voluntarily, we only need to know that it indeed exists.”
“It not only exists, but it’s an evil beast!” When saying “evil beast”, a middle-aged man sitting diagonally opposite the woman in red could not help flashing a wildness in his eyes.
“Little Jin is right. The One-eyed Wolf is an evil beast. This is what is most important!” The old man nodded his head heavily with the same light in his eyes.
It was an evil beast, that was what was most important.
As long as it was an evil beast, Inner Elixir would exist in its body. And Inner Elixir of evil beast was the most precious treasure for these people who practiced martial arts and Qi.
In this world, Inner Elixirs of evil beasts were not the same as those of martial arts novels that Little Shiba had read. Of course, both had many similarities.
Evil beasts gathered all the spirits and pneuma of the whole body to a place before they died, thus forming Inner Elixirs of evil beasts. Inner Elixirs were different sizes. But generally speaking, no matter how gigantic the evil beast was, the generated Inner Elixir would be as small as a fist. For some smaller ones, Inner Elixirs were just as small as soybeans.
Inner Elixir was of great use. There was strong vitality in the core of an Inner Elixir, which was of great benefits for those who practiced martial arts. Medicine soup lotion was especially used to wash bones for people. And if you could add the Inner Elixir of the evil beast into medicine soup lotion, the effect would be greatly improved.
Although the land was boundless and evil beasts existed in the vast mountains and forests such as Misty Mountain, it was difficult to find the Inner Elixir of an evil beast.
The trouble was that you could not catch any.
Except for those natural evil beasts. Evil beasts, even the lowest which had just evolved into evil beasts from ordinary wild beasts, had the power that was at least equal to a Level Four or Five fighter. This was not the main excuse. In the world, fighters with a four or five class cultivation were in abundance, but these evil beasts lived in the high mountains and marshlands. In order to find evil beasts, you had to go to places such as the depths of Misty Mountain, in which even inborn fighters could only seek self-insurance. Once he did not have good luck, he would lose his life, let alone be able to hunt evil beasts.
What was more, there were not just evil beasts, but hordes of them. If you attacked one, others would be alarmed and you would be very miserable in the end.
In human habitation or crowded places, it was nearly impossible to find an evil beast.
But now, it seemed that the people of the Black Dragon Triad saw hope.
The One-eyed Wolf in West Mountain!
The legend of the One-eyed Wolf had spread for a long time. It had spread for almost 100 years. But the spread was not very wide, just in some mountain villages around Qingyang Market. In the early years, the Black Dragon Triad was not interested in such a legend and just regarded it as a groundless rumor.
But it was different this time.
Since a sighting of the One-eyed Wolf had indeed occurred, it was possible that the One-eyed Wolf was an evil beast based on the legend of the surrounding mountain villagers. Besides, it might be the lowest among evil beasts, the kind that was easiest to deal with, and evolved into an evil beast from an ordinary wild beast due to good luck.
Generally speaking, such wild beasts were not very intelligent. The most important thing was that it showed up in West Mountain.
For those villagers, West Mountain was in the depths of Misty Mountain. But for fighters, it was just the border of Misty Mountain. In such a place, except for odd animals such as the One-eyed Wolf, it was impossible for evil beasts to exist. From this point, it could be seen that the One-eyed Wolf should have only become an evil beast a short while ago. Otherwise, it would not have so easily exposed itself to others, nor continued to live in a place like West Mountain. But it would not be long before the spiritual intelligence of the One-eyed Wolf was fully matured. After that, it needed to leave West Mountain and enter the depths of Misty Mountain. At that time, even if they tried, they would not succeed.
“Look at the weather. It’ll soon snow. We must go into the mountain before it begins snowing. As long as we get the Inner Elixir of the One-eyed Wolf, we’ve done a good job.”
“We’re willing to follow you!” answered several people.
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“Well, it does look like it’s going to snow. This damn Yunzhou. It’s snowing in winter. What a pain!”
The handsome young man stood at the door of a small inn in Qingyang Market, frowning, looking into the gloomy weather, and feeling the chill of the wind from the north. It seemed that something bad had hit his mind. His delicate body could not keep from trembling a few times. “Well, my blood is almost frozen. Where will I find the strength to go into the mountain for medicine?”
That young man was 17 years old. He had an extremely handsome face. His rosy skin was tender, like soft beancurd, and water seemed to flow out from it with one pinch. He had a pair of big eyes that looked as though they were covered by a layer of mist. He wore a blue gown with a white silk belt at the waist, and a piece of jade hanging on the belt. His long black hair fell behind him, and was casually tied into a horsetail. The corner of his mouth showed a faint smile, as if everything between heaven and earth was a joke in his eyes.
“Well, it looks like I can’t be lazy. I’d better go into the mountain as soon as possible. It’s best to get medicine before the snow comes. Otherwise, I’ll be trapped in the mountains and suffer from the cold weather. How do the two guys enjoy themselves on the mountain? Why did I come to such a damn place in the cold winter? How miserable!”
His face twitched two times. Then he turned and walked towards the inn.