Chapter 228 - Elite Beasts, Tan and Chi
Edited by RED
With Zhuque rejoining the group, Xu Qi was now protected by two Divine Beasts. He felt that he could now return alive from Mt Fengwen, no matter how much of a failure this trip was.
Xu Qi led the way and headed towards Mt Fengwen along the small path, while Xuanwu and Zhuque followed him a step behind.
As the three started on their way up Mt Fengwen, two black silhouettes whose appearances couldn’t be seen appeared out of thin air where they were standing before.
This two figures exchanged looks after revealing themselves, and ran in Xu Qi’s direction. Their figures vanished without a trace again as they ran, as if they had never appeared here.
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Upon arriving at the foot of Mt Fengwen, Xu Qi studied the extended mountain path. He was a little disappointed after setting his eyes on this legendary land of treasures.
Mt Fengwen. Although it didn’t sound very elegant, it was a rather artistic name.1
Moreover, it was the burial ground chosen by a legendary Saint realm cultivator. It shouldn’t be that bad.
Although it wasn’t full of spiritual herbs, it should at least be filled with greenery and the crisp chirpings of birds.
Alas, the Mt Fengwen he witnessed for himself was too far from what he’d imagined.
A barren mountain; that was what he saw before him. When seen from a distance, it might still be somewhat considered a green mountain.
However, upon looking at it more closely, the mountain was basically filled with fallen trees and weeds. It was as messy as it could get. Even if there were spiritual herbs here before, they were probably unable to grow in such an environment.
Disappointing! Xu Qi was thoroughly disappointed.
Xu Qi turned around and looked at Zhuque and Xuanwu, asking undecidedly, “Why don’t we head back?”
“Look at you; are you afraid that you’ll be captured by the charming demoness on this mountain?” Zhuque ridiculed. For some unknown reasons, Zhuque always spoke to Xu Qi in such a quarrelsome manner.
All Xu Qi could do was to turn to his last resort: pay no heed to her, disregard her, and pretend that he hadn’t heard a thing.
Xuanwu looked at the mountain intently and observed, “Although this mountain is in such ruins now, it was probably a piece of rich land in the past. A mountain full of vegetation has withered to such a state, regardless of how much sunlight reached it. It seems like something has happened here.”
Xu Qi was immediately interested after hearing this, blinking earnestly as he waited for Xuanwu to continue.
“If my guess is right, the Saint realm cultivator’s burial grounds you’re searching for isn’t on this mountain,” Xuanwu said profoundly, gently stroking his beard.
Though, it was a little laughable to say that he was stroking his beard. He appeared to be a middle-aged man, but his beard wasn’t long at all. From the looks of it, he was only acting profound.
“Alright, stop pretending. Is there anyone who can’t tell that there’s a problem on this mountain? The vegetation here is all withered; the spiritual qi contained in their roots must have been forcefully absorbed by someone. It is obvious that some evil beings are up to no good on this mountain, to absorb the spiritual qi on such a large scale. It was most likely because of that Saint realm expert,” Zhuque interrupted.
“Oh?” Xu Qi murmured in an extended tone. He slapped his temple, lamenting his brain wasn’t working as well as he wished.
Zhuque and Xuanwu’s seemingly deep analysis were, in fact, very reasonable inferences. Why didn’t I think of this?
“But, damn brat, if my guesses are right…”
“Stop, stop, stop! Uncle, who did you learn to act in such a profound manner from? What’s with the ‘if my guesses are right’? Let’s discuss between the three of us; are we proceeding forward?” Xu Qi asked, interrupting Xuanwu.
“Haha, why are you being so impatient? You should have let me finish. Forget it; I’ll let your great madame explain to you. I see that you prefer her talking to you,” Xuanwu chuckled.
Xu Qi felt his goosebumps rising after hearing this, and saw that Zhuque was smirking at him.
“So you liked listening to this madame speak? Alright, what Xuanwu wanted to say was that there are probably many predators on this mountain. If we advance, we’ll probably be highly sought after.”
“Predators? What do you mean?” Xu Qi mumbled, confused now.
However, Zhuque and Xuanwu only exchanged smiles with each other, not answering him.
The two showed relaxed expressions on their faces, but blue energy shone in Xuanwu’s palm, while Zhuque held the Scarlet Firmament Sword in front of her, obscured from those behind.
Xu Qi was oblivious to the change in behavior of the Divine Beasts, and was still thinking over whether they should advance or retreat.
At this moment, Zhuque pushed Xu Qi from behind.
He staggered forward, and before he could understand what was going on, he found himself stuck between Xuanwu and Zhuque, heading up the mountain path.
Just as Xu Qi was about to speak up, Xuanwu sent a voice transmission to him. Damn brat, do you still remember the ten brothers?
The ten brothers? I seem to recall them. Weren’t they the ten Elite Beasts from the ancient era?
On Mt Burning Cloud over a decade ago, one of the ten brothers, Luan, was guarding the Purple-Flamed Dark Phoenix’s egg, which triggered a fight between the top schools of every nation.
In the end, the newborn Purple-Flamed Dark Phoenix left a ground filled with corpses and disappeared mysteriously, with no one seeing it or knowing where it went. Even Luan, who rushed over to contest for it, almost lost its life right there.
After that, due to the Dark Lady of Nine Heavens’ Godsfeather Bow being stolen, Luan left its cave in Mt Burning Cloud and pursued the thief.
During its pursuit, it encountered Xu Qi’s Twelve Constellation Guards by chance and broke out in a fight with them.
Finally, Luan was subdued by the arrival of Xu Qi and Xuanwu, and spoke about its circumstances.
Following which, Xuanwu was poisoned in Luan’s cave at Mt Burning Cloud, and Luan went missing without any further news.
Now that Xuanwu suddenly mentioned those ten brothers, could it be that Luan was here?
While Xu Qi was recalling all this, Xuanwu said, “There are two of them here!”
Two of them? Xu Qi looked at Xuanwu in shock after hearing this.
While they spoke, they had walked up to the mountain’s waist, with Xu Qi stuck between Xuanwu and Zhuque.
“It’s here!,” Zhuque said abruptly.
Xuanwu pulled the confused Xu Qi aside.
Zhuque drew the Scarlet Firmament Sword and slashed at a large rock among a thick growth of tangled weeds and shrubs.
The hard rock split open, and Xu Qi saw that a cave about the height of a man had been revealed.
Zhuque didn’t stop her attacks. Scarlet flames burned on her sword and streamed into the cave.
After a short while, Xu Qi felt the ground shaking, and stones rolled down the mountain.
Screams rang out from the pitch black cave, followed by the appearance of two robust figures that didn’t seem human, who just so happened to be on fire.
Upon taking a closer look, these two weren’t human! One of them had a tiger’s head, human arms, and a pair of dog legs!
The other was as tall as two men. His body was brown in color, with a bear’s head and human body. He was more normal by human standards.
“So it was the idiots Tan and Chi. I didn’t think they crossed over to this side, too,” Zhuque said after getting a better look at them, sounding a little doubtful.
Xuanwu ignored the two freaks, however, and placed his hand on his chin, looking over the cave entrance, thinking of something.
The freaks Zhuque called Tan and Chi snuffed out the scarlet flames on them, still screaming. It was only then that they realized there were others near them.
The one with a tiger’s head and dog’s legs was Tan, while the eight-foot tall, bear-headed one was Chi. They were Elite Beasts from the ancient era, and Luan’s brothers.
A pair of daggers appeared out of nowhere, spinning in Tiger-headed Tan’s hands before he grabbed them, looking at Xu Qi’s group greedily.
As for the Bear-headed Chi, he took two huge hammers in a motion off his back. When Xu Qi saw the hammers, he truly wanted to ask where the Beast retrieved them from...
Tiger-headed Tan exploded into motion without a word, a dagger in each of his hands, pouncing at Xuanwu, who was distracted with his thoughts.
Meanwhile, the bear-headed Chi raised his hammers and slammed down them at Xu Qi.
Xu Qi cried out loud after seeing this, proclaiming his innocence. The one they left out was the person who set them on fire. Xu Qi and Xuanwu were only passing by, but they were attacked regardless!
Although Zhuque loved watching the show, her Scarlet Firmament Sword shot out from her hand as Tiger-headed Tan and Bear-headed Chi were about to reach their targets.
A scarlet fire wall rose from the ground and halted their advances.
With two huge hammers in his hands, Chi was immediately enraged after realizing that the irksome scarlet flames were actually sent out by that pretty lady, and swung them at her.
On the other hand, Tan’s pupils were spinning after seeing the scarlet wall of flames.
“Stop!” the tiger-headed Tan suddenly yelled to the bear-headed Chi.
The huge hammers stopped in place after hearing his words. The hammers were only a short distance away from the fearless little lady, who was standing there with her arms crossed.
Cold sweat ran down the tiger-headed Tan’s back as he saw the smile on this woman’s face. He stammered, “Are you Deity Zhuque?”
“What, you don’t recognize this madame now? Should I leave another mark on your body?” Zhuque shot back.
Xu Qi wasn’t surprised that the tiger-headed Tan recognized Zhuque. Xuanwu had told him before that Goddess Nuwa once battled against the Ten Elite Beasts with the Four Divine Beasts, resulting in the deaths of several of the Elite Beasts, and the rest were sealed under a spiritual mountain.
Since they had fought before, it was no surprise that he recognized Zhuque’s scarlet flames.
After hearing this, the tiger-headed Tan couldn’t help but swallow hard, lamenting his encounter with this plague. Also, what was that about leaving another mark? There was still a mark left behind on his body during their battle back then!
The bear-headed Chi was full of brawn, but he wasn’t exactly someone with an underdeveloped brain. After hearing the conversation between the tiger-headed Tan and Zhuque, he immediately put his hammers away and stood aside, putting on an innocent face and not looking in her direction.
Tiger-headed Tan came slowly up to Zhuque’s side and smiled flatteringly. “Deity, us brothers have already died once at your hands. We have since run to this world; why are you still pursuing us? How about letting us brothers off?”
“Idiot, who said that I’m here to kill you?” Zhuque quipped.
After hearing Zhuque’s words, Chi blurted out, “What did you call me for?”2
Translator’s Notes:
1: Fengwen literally meant Wind Writing.
2: Idiot is pronounced Bai Chi. Bear-headed Chi mistook Zhuque calling for him.
Reminder: Tan and Chi mean Greed and Obsession respectively. I left it untranslated because they have the surname Mie, which means ‘exterminate’.
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