An Encounter

A night passed in a flash. The next morning, the group was gathered again at the door of the Reception Pagoda. It did not take long for the third Elder Liang Feng to join them. When he came, Jiang Muchen thought, 'Here he comes again!'.

"Since you are all ready, let's not waste anymore time. Your Master must have given you a whole lot of Protections to keep you safe in the One Hundred Thousand Monsters Mountain Range. However, you still need to be careful. Don't overestimate yourself by underestimating the monsters in it", Liang Feng instructed, and continued.

"Some monsters are big, but their combat power does not complement their size, that is, they have low, even very low combat power. On the other hand, some monsters are small, but they have high, very high combat power. You have to be on the lookout for such monsters"

"Yes, I will, Third Elder", Jiang Hou replied.

By this time, they have already reached the edge of the Secret Realm, the Realm Boundary, Liang Feng said, "Remember, safety first. I will walk you to this place only. Humans are the most despicable in the outside world".

"Thank you for your care this time, Third Elder", Jiang Hou said.

"You are welcome. Now hurry and be on your way already!", he said.

Jiang Hou took out the ship, and everyone with him boarded it, while Liang Feng watched on.

 There is no need for a Token this time around. The Flying Ship is the key to enter or exit the Secret Realm for the Holy Son. And when it reappeared again, it was in the Inner Region just before the Voil Wall.

The Ship was stowed Northward. When it reappeared again, the residents of the Inner and Outer Regions who missed the sight yesterday got to see the Flying Ship of the Holy Son. Several discussions and speculations were made. 

…

But these did not concern Jiang Hou. When he told Elder Chen, and his Master, Jian Wushuang, that he felt a premonition in his heart that an opportunity was waiting for him to claim in the outside world, it wasn't totally a lie. 

He did feel something in his heart. It wasn't as strong as he claimed, however. As someone whose perception has always been sensitive since childhood, and after the merging of RAJH's Sphere, he felt a slight ripple in his heart some days before his breakthrough to the King Realm.

It came at the right time too. Since he wanted to find an opportunity to leave the vicinity of the Holy Land after his break through too. So, here he was.

The Flying Ship quickly shuffled into the Mountain Range. At the Boundary between the Outer and Inner Circle of the Mountain Range, Jiang Hou said to the Zhao brothers,

"You have broken through to the Soul Formation Realm's Mid Stage, the best place for you to practise and explore is in this boundary. Of course you can wander into the Inner Circle too. Just don't enter the lair of monsters that are too powerful. Otherwise, no one will be able to save you". Turning to the servants, he said to them

"The rest of you are at the Purple Mansion Realm early stage at least, if you want to practise, the Outer Circle is the best place for you. You can search for opportunities here too. Whatever resources you obtain will be yours to use, so take advantage of the next few months to make progress",

"The Zhao brothers will practise together. The rest of you will go in groups of three, making a total of 4 groups. At the end of this training, I don't want to see someone within the range of his current Great Realm. The least powerful among you should at least be at the Soul Formation Late Stage"

Zhao Dayi and Zhao Xiao Er and the servants replied, "We will not disappoint the Holy Son"

"Good. Now, go!", Jiang Hou said in satisfaction.

So, the Zhao brothers and the servants flew down from the ship after an opening was made in its Protective formation.

Jiang Hou looked at the Guards who came from the clan and said, "Two of you should follow the Zhao brothers. And six others should follow the other groups in pairs. Remember not to reveal yourselves unless they are in danger of death"

"Yes, Second Young Master", the Guards replied, and 8 of the 12 Guards left.

Watching them leave, Jiang Hou sighed, 'Now the entourage is lighter'. He was about to instruct the remaining four Guards when Jiang Muchen interrupted him, saying, "Hou'er, you are not thinking about getting rid of everyone, are you? They were specifically sent from the Clan to accompany you, but now you have sent them to do something else"

"Well, you are here already, and the Protectors too. Isn't that an overkill of training in the outside world? How can I feel pressure and grow if I am sure that you will rescue me when my life is in danger?", Jiang Hou asked instead of answering the question.

"You are really sending them away. What? Will you send us away too? That will not work. We will not disturb your training. We're here just to make sure you don't die. Even if you lose consciousness, as long as you still have breath, we will not interfere in your affairs", Jiang Muchen said, and looked towards the Protectors, "Protectors, am I right?", and asked with a weird expression.

Protector Liu and the other two, Protector Lei and Protector Kang looked at each other, and nodded. They understood Jiang Muchen's weird expression, it was like saying to them to agree on the surface.

"See?", said Jiang Muchen who knew his plan worked. He thought his actions were smooth, but Jiang Hou whose perception was strong could already tell what they were planning. His mouth twitched, but he didn't say anything more.

It was impossible to send them away anyways. Even if he successfully sent them away, it will raise suspicion as to what he wanted to do behind their backs, which is not a good thing for him at this moment. He needs to develop quietly, and steadily.

…

They continued on their journey and quickly entered the Inner Circle. They didn't stop too and ventured deeper. It wasn't until they reached the lair of a Soul Projection Realm that they stopped.

They all flew down from the Flying Ship, while Jiang Hou retrieved it. Then, he quickly dealt with the monster. Jiang Hou is a fan of fancy moves. He has always been someone who favoured quick and clean movements.

"If you can kill it instantly, why torture it? It is not a human enemy you need to display your greatness to", he'd say.

So, for the next few days, Jiang Hou would resolve all the monsters he encounters in a single move, including Half-Step Integrated Union Realm monsters. Also, it didn't matter whether they were flight type monsters, crawling monsters, humanoid monsters, swamp monsters, lake monsters. 

As long as their luck brought them to Jiang Hou's path, they would be instantly resolved, which saved a lot of time. It also pleased the Protectors. Even Jiang Muchen was very satisfied with this.

On this day, Jiang Hou and others arrived in the lair of a Crawling monster. But, there were marks of resistance in this place. Torn pieces of cloth, flesh, blood marks, and even… innards?

It was actually Protector Kang who voiced it out earlier, saying, "This smell, it is blood. And it's been in the air for some time"

Pointing northeast, he continued, "That way".

And here they are. They have seen trails along the way. The trail was coming from the direction of the Outer Circle. Which means that whichever monster caused this must have entered the Outer Circle for a while, then someone must have taken it to be an easy prey. But they became the prey themselves.

In front of them is a mountain cave, the mouth of which was big enough to fit two adult men. So they went in to explore. When they came to the mouth of the cave, they could hear the voice of a man shrilling and begging, but his voice was weak. He must have been shouting for a long time.

"Master Dragon, please forgive me! Please let me go! I di..didn't mean to offend yo...you. Please let me g..go this time…", and so on.

They have seen many broken bones along the way. Bones of monsters and humans alike, none of which were intact. Especially half-eaten skulls.

Also, the closer they get to the voice, the weaker the voice becomes. They turned a corner to the left, and before them was a sight that is most disgusting. Rotten corpses are everywhere, humans and monsters alike.

Most importantly, the corpses are also not intact. 

"Oh, it's the Life Devourer", Jiang Muchen siad.

Jiang Hou looked at him and said, "Isn't that the lizard-like monster?"

Before anyone could reply, 

"Yo.you are the lizard. Your whole family is the lizard. I am a dragon-kin. Show me some courtesy here", came a voice laced with anger.