Valley of The Ten-Thousand Trees

Hundreds of mountains stretched across the Valley of the Ten-Thousand Trees, covering more than one out of twenty parts of the northern region of the Black Tortoise Continent. This place was abundant with greeneries, tens of thousands of species of herbs, and home to the highest population of magical beasts within the Black Tortoise Continent.

Leng San reached only the fourth level of the violet qi on his first visit. Every place within the valley was extremely dangerous, as ninety percent of magical beasts were able to crush him with ease.

However, this time, he could easily enter the valley, as he had the dragon’s fire qi and a third-level indigo qi. As long as he did not venture too deep, his life would not be in danger.

According to Freya’s detection, this valley was divided into three levels. The areas were outlined in the shape of half a circle. The deepest part of the Valley of the Ten-Thousand Trees was connected to the ocean that encircled the Black Tortoise Continent.

The first level was inhabited by more than a million magical beasts, ranging from violet to indigo qi, with an area spanning over fifty thousand square kilometers.

The second level was made up of magical beasts ranging from indigo to blue qi, covering more than thirty thousand square kilometers.

The deepest level was connected to the ocean, covering around twenty thousand square kilometers. Most magical beasts had qi ranging from blue to green stage. In addition, Freya could sense a faint presence of magical beasts with yellow qi that were probably hibernating.

“Freya, do I have to dig up a pool again?”

Perturbed, Leng San scratched his head.

“Oh!!... even a monster like you is afraid of the blood pool.”

“Hahaha, only a liar would say that he wasn’t afraid of being tormented in the blood pool.”

Leng San laughed ironically. He had experienced its horror first-handed for more than half a month.

“The blood pool is unnecessary if you’re not in a hurry!!”

“Hehe... Freya, you’ve left me no choice.”

Leng San let out a sigh.

“Anyway, I have good news and bad news to tell you.”

“Good news and bad news?” Leng San tilted his head out of curiosity.

“Hehe, the good news is, according to my senses, if you put up your Mountain Dragon Qi while you’re in the blood pool, the sensation of pain would be numbed by fifty percent.”

“Really! Why didn’t you tell me last time!!” Leng San knitted his eyebrows.

“Poor thing, last time your qi was so weak, even if I were to tell you this trick, your Mountain Dragon Qi would have lasted only thirty breaths. So, I decided to keep it a secret, to not distract you.”

“You’re probably right,” Leng San stroked his chin.

“But with my current qi, I should be able to keep up the Mountain Dragon Qi for more than two shichen at a time. It would make the ordeal a lot more bearable. Hahahaha... but what’s the bad news?”

“The poison of the beast blood pool for cultivating indigo qi will be at least ten folds worse than the previous one.”

“Shit!!!!!!!”

....................…

At the Indigo Cloud City, the Fire Fortress Sect was consumed by chaos, as five users of blue qi were assassinated, and one out of the seven elders, Su Zhao had sustained serious injuries, losing an arm and a leg. Su Zhao wasn’t just any ordinary elder, he was the younger brother of the current leader of the sect and the son of the former leader. Furthermore, one out of the three runic weapons owned by the sect had been stolen!!

The incident was a disaster. Su Balong, the former leader of the sect who had retired for more than ten years, had to participate in the meeting as well.

The members in the meeting consisted of Su Balong, the former leader, Su Songyu, the current leader, and the six remaining elders. All of them were consumed by indescribable rage.

“You’re telling me that the sole perpetrator was just a fifteen-year-old boy with low-level indigo qi!?”

Su Songyu was outraged after he listened to Elder Hong and Elder Ye’s report.

“My lord, as our encounter with the boy was brief, it would be too early for us to decide which clan he belongs to. But we found out that our fire qi is pitifully inferior to the boy’s blue flame qi!!”

Su Songyu slightly turned to Su Balong, cupped his hands, and courteously spoke to his father.

“Father, do you know which clan in this continent does this blue flame belong to?”

Su Balong stroked his beard that stretched down to his chest as he slowly closed his eyes to ponder.

“I’ve traveled to every single place within the Black Tortoise Continent and have traveled a bit to the other three continents. On the way, I’ve met hundreds of clans that were users of fire qi, but not even one of them had this blue flame qi.”

“But…” Su Balong frowned a bit.

“But what, father??”

“But I’ve once come across a record in the Azure Dragon Continent, that a magical beast of the dragon species, the strongest being in the Azure Dragon Continent, used its unrivaled blue flame to destroy enemies before facing extinction tens of thousands of years ago.”

“Dragon!!”

Su Songyu and the six elders were shocked as dragons were one of the four most powerful magical beasts in this world!!

Su Balong shook his head after seeing the expressions of the other members.

“Do not be mistaken. This is just an excerpt from a record. There’s nothing that could prove its accuracy. And even if this excerpt turns out to be true, it’s impossible for human beings to inherit any form of power from a magical beast.”

“I think that the boy’s blue flame might just be a differently colored flame. It could be a technique of a sect that we do not know of.”

Su Balong’s words calmed down the members, who showed signs of relief. After that, one of the six elders stood up and reported.

“What you’ve said might be true indeed. As per one of Elder Su’s reports, Leng San was a core disciple of the Mount Taizhu Institute, located to the south of the Black Tortoise Continent. And Elder Su has sent an instructor with blue qi, along with a handful of disciples, to find additional information about this institute. But the southern part is more than ten thousand li away from our city. It would take them several months before they could relay any information to us.”

“Hmm… I see,” Su Balong nodded.

Su Songyu stood up and said.

“Well, if that’s the case, there’s nothing we could do for now. Spread the orders to every disciple of the sect, that they have to report immediately if they see Leng San, and to put up wanted posters of the boy. Anyone who could capture the boy would be awarded fifty thousand gold coins!!”

“Understood!!”

The elders responded in unison and cupped their hands to accept the order...