The group was settled into a routine, where Lan Long would not move a bit, Jiang Long would occasionally get to do an attack with his saber and Huang Ren would accompany Su Ming just before the sun set. They would take Little Kong and Little Qing with them. Soon, the fifth day at the camp arrived. Everyone was well set into their routines but that ended as Lan Long walked out of his tent. His Ki was now completely refined into the heavy Ki and he had now broken through the Late Ki sea realm. This breakthrough brought about a severe change in Lan Long's aura, the atmosphere around him was different. As such if anyone from before would not be able to recognize him based on his aura alone.
"Guys, we are leaving." Lan Long said as he placed his tent and sheets inside his ring. He was no longer constrained to Ki gathering realm, hence, he immediately decided to head into the mountains.
"Have you broken through?" Jiang Long said as he came out of his tent. He had a feeling that Lan Long would only leave his seclusion after attaining another level of strength, but never expected it to be this soon. He sighed as he saw Lan Long nodding and kept quiet. No one would be able to keep up with such a monster. Comparing to him would only incur a depression.
"Brother Lazy, do you have any plan?" Su Ming questioned as she left.
"No, but the general idea is to get some experience the wilderness. So, the deeper we go, the better for us." Lan Long said as he looked at the clouds shrouding the mountain peak in mystery.
"Father, said the beyond a million Kilometers, only mortal pellet cultivators could survive and even those that are considered a genius would find it near lethal to venture any further." Huang Ren said as he looked at Lan Long. Even though, Huang Ren was thick headed, he was always heeding his father's commands and warnings.
"No need to worry. I will take care of anything exceeding peak Ki gathering realm. So, you guys only need to worry about everything below that realm." Lan Long said as he started to walk. This time he had chosen not to rely on Little Kong as a mode of transport. Little Kong's huge body would invite unwanted attention and it was also quite good to get used to the terrain before being plunged into the battle. Soon, they had travelled a thousand kilometers into the mountain range. Although, the place was called the beast mountains, the beast mostly resided within the huge valleys present between these mountains. The valleys contained lush forest and swamps for the creature that survived in tropical climates while the mountain peaks were desolate and cold, perfect for creatures of that climate. These mountains contained various biomes that were perfect for almost any creature to thrive which was why these mountains were called beast mountains. Within the core of these mountain resided many beast and some of them were at the celestial level. The cultivator had waged many wars to purge these beasts to occupy the mountain range but failed. Soon, the beasts and cultivators came to an understanding that, the outer reaches of the mountains would become accessible to all while the inner reaches would be limited to the beasts. If any cultivator was found wandering the inner reaches, he would be killed without question and the beasts had also agreed not to attack humans in outer reaches of the mountains. After all, battles were the best way to increase in strength. In order to strengthen their offspring, the powerful beast would often choose to give birth in the outer reaches where battles were more common than grass. The surviving beast would then be brought to the inner reaches to cultivate further under the guidance of other stronger beasts.
"Wait, there is a beast ahead and it seems to be a peak Ki sea realm fire monkey. Brother Huang, didn't you say that, the stronger beast would be residing closer to a million-kilometer mark?" Lan Long asked in a low voice. He hadn't expected to find a decent beast this soon.
"What? Peak Ki sea fire monkey at only 15,000 kilometers. Did it come to attend the beast tide? No, it must be here to give birth." Huang Ren hypothesized. He had actually guessed correctly; the fire monkey was indeed here to give birth. Little Qing was startled as she was jolted awake by the roar that accompanied after Huang Ren's voice. With a light mew, Little Qing popped her head out of Lan Long's sleeve and looked at every one's worried face. Feeling that she might have messed up; Little Qing hid within the sleeve without moving.
"Do you think it heard us?" Su Ming said as she looked at Lan Long. Lan Long pointed up to the sky at the huge fire ball that approached them at an astounding speed.
"Die filthy human. You dare try to plan against me." A loud voice was heard, although it had a feminine feel to it, the calming effect was lost due to the fact that the female monkey was mad with rage. It's elder had already warned it about the scheming humans and now it didn't want to take any chances with its own babies. Lan Long waved his hand and cancelled the fire ball in the air.
"Fire monkey, leave us alone. We will be on our way." Lan Long shouted back. He really didn't want to kill a pregnant monkey.
"No, you cannot fool me into one of your schemes." The monkey yelled as she threw another fire ball at the group. Lan Long waved his had a second time and cancelled the fire ball.
"Okay, that's it." Lan Long said as he disappeared into thin air, only leaving behind an after image. He immediately appeared in front of the monkey surprising it. As a reflex, it attacked Lan Long with a sweep of its hands. The fire monkey was wearing a crude armor made of leather and her hands were covered thick gauntlets. Lan Long placed his hand in the front of the gauntlet and stopped it without moving. He raised his hand slightly, lifting the huge monkey with a single hand as he looked intently at its eyes.
"Listen, if I wanted I would have killed you already. Now, scram." Lan Long said as he threw it far away from his location. The monkey was after all a peak Ki sea cultivator and would not be harmed a bit by such a throw. Although, it flew over a few hundred kilometers before landing, it was safe. "Guys, come over here it's gone." Lan Long said as he notified his companions.
"Is it really okay for us to be here?" Jiang Long said. Although he was no longer afraid of death, walking straight to one's death was considered foolish, not brave.
"Well. It is okay for me but I really can't say about you all." Lan Long said as he looked around. He had decided to rely only on his physical sense during the time at the beast mountains. This was also the reason why they had run into the fire monkey, if Lan Long had used his soul sense, it would affect his whole experience of adventuring within the mountains. "Also, the fire monkey was just a coincidence. Don't worry about it." He finally said to diffuse the situation. These were the only people he could call friends and he really didn't want to travel alone.
"There can only be a few of such coincidences." Jiang Long agreed with Lan Long, he too wanted to experience the infamous beast mountains. Retreating within a single day seemed to be a waste of an opportunity.
With that, the group soon travelled deeper into the mountain range. Although, they encountered many beasts, the beasts were at a lower realm and were either ignored completely or dispatched with little to no effort. Soon, the day ended and the group set up a temporary camp with in valley. In order to get some rest, Little Kong had released some of his aura deterring any of the beasts that tried to approach the camp site. The night ended in a flash as the group headed deeper into the mountains. Every ten thousand kilometers the group travelled into the mountains, the number of beasts they encounter would increase. Although, this increase was limited to numbers less than 5, considering the sheer magnitude of the mountains, it was still considerably a lot.
"Look that was our first Ki condensing realm beast, that was underwhelming considering we travelled for 5 days and only ran into a single Ki condensing realm beast. Looks like the fire monkey was just bad luck." Huang Ren said as he smashed the early Ki condensing realm wolf to a puddle of blood.
"Hmm, it's really strange. The books and elders described the mountains like a nightmare." Su Ming added. Despite the attention, she paid to the surroundings, she was also bored with the current state of events. The group was lucky enough to run into a few precious herbs but the feeling of danger subsided over time. Under the watchful eye of Lan Long, the things had been too peaceful.
"Look there are some more purple berries. Let's gather those first." Jiang Long said as he walked towards the berries. He was also craving for a good battle.
Within a cave few hundred kilometers away, a huge spider was calmly resting. A few palm sized spiders came to it and let out a high-pitched screech. The spider was resting to recover from the exhausting tribulation it had faced a few days ago. Although it had succeeded, the injuries from the tribulation were immense and needed quite a few days to be completely healed.
"Hmm, humans. Ki gathering level ones. It had been a few years since I tasted human flesh." The huge spider was about a hundred meters tall, and had spikes on it legs. Its black hairy body and legs were covered in poison and emitted afoul stench. From far away it looked horrifying and creepy. The spider despite reaching the Mortal pellet stage, had not developed soul sense. It was this reason why it had ordered a few smaller spiders to keep a look out for enemies. The spider crawled slowly towards the group savoring every moment of it. The spider had a perverted habit of stalking its prey and only attacking when it was at its most relaxed state. The look of surprise of the faces of its prey brought it great satisfaction.
Lan Long who had also not used his soul sense had no idea about the imminent treat. Although, he was careful, he had also been dulled by the relaxing hours the group had spent collecting herbs and berries. The group soon reached a small pond at the edge of the valley and set up camp for the night. The scene was beautiful; the clear pond at the edge of the mountain with a lush green forest to the side, even Lan Long thought that it resembled a beautiful painting. Sighing, Lan Long took out a vat of wine and took a few gulps.
"Brother Jiang, want to spar for a bit?" Huang Ren asked. He was expecting fierce situation at every corner but to the contrary, the past few days were nothing but peaceful. Even when travelling the territories, Huang Ren had been ambushed by a few bandits.
"Sure." Jiang Long said as he pulled out his saber and faced Huang Ren. Soon, they clashed and a few sparks flew from their blades. Su Ming sat on the ground with Little Qing in her lap, enjoying the fight as she petted the cat. After suffering many defeats at Su Ming's hand, Huang Ren had gained his will to excel at battle arts. He had improved by leaps and bounds after the beast tide and he had gained another level of power completely. He could now be called a genius of the generation capable of fighting a complete realm above himself. He was not as impressive as Jiang Long and Su Ming in battles, but he was also not too far from it. His heavy sword was not as savage as Jiang Long sabers and not as precise as Su Ming's swords. His sword was the most domineering and contained far greater power than either of his companions.
The fight went on for a few minutes without anyone gaining advantage, but soon after Jiang Long's skills were beginning to pressure Huang Ren's style. Jiang Long was not called a supreme genius without reason. He was far more agile and savage with his attacks, his fighting style would change regarding the situation and every move savage without end. Huang Ren's moves were like his spirit, it didn't have any hidden intent or the necessary savagery but the sheer forceful attack rendered Jiang Long's blocks to shatter like glass.
SCREECH. . .
"Ha-ha, now it's time to. . ."
"Holy shit, die." Huang Ren was startled and immediately threw the pebble at the spider that had descended from the mountain. He had thrown the pebble with all his force. The spider didn't even have the faintest idea that the small pebble contained a horrifying amount of weight and strength behind it and for all intents, neither did the trio.
SPLOSH. . . BOOM. . .
The spider burst and all its gooey inside flooded out. The unsuspecting Lan Long who was nearest to the spider was immediately drenched in the resulting filth. The explosion that followed was the pebble hitting the mountain. Huang Ren had forgotten Lan Long's warning and hadn't called it back.
"You idiot. Call it back." Lan Long yelled from inside all the sticky filth. He wasn't sure that the pebble could kill the beast, so he had prepared to attack it. Huang Ren immediately waved his hand a small pebble flew into his ring. Everyone was shocked at the developments. Jiang Long was shocked that such a huge beast could sneak up them. Huang Ren was shocked at how he was awesome enough to kill such a beast. Su Ming was shocked at the strength of the pebble. Lan Long was shocked as some of the goo went in mouth and induced vomiting. Little Kong was safe from the goo because he was still inside Lan Long's sleeve but still threw up due to the smell. Lan Long jumped into the water as he furiously cleaned his skin and hairs, he immediately discarded the clothes and let out a Ki burst from his skin expelling everything away from himself. He finally took out a fresh set of clothes a wore them in a flash.
"Huang Ren, you bastard. Didn't you see that I was under it?" Lan Long immediately put the blame for his embarrassment on Huang Ren as he walked closer to him.
"Wait, it was not my fault. Didn't you see how disgusting it was. Common, Brother Lazy, it was far to disgusting for me think at that time." Huang Ren slowly walked backwards as he smiled wryly.
"Yes, I felt how disgusting it was. I tasted how disgusting it was." Lan Long roared as he picked up Huang Ren and threw him into the goo that was flowing out of the corpse. Su Ming looked at flying figure of Huang Ren and shook her head. Jiang Long burst out laughing but soon found himself facing a smiling Lan Long.
"Funny, isn't it?" Lan Long said as he threw him into the goo as well.
"What did I do?" Jiang Long roared as he flew into the puddle as well. Su Ming was about to laugh but she controlled herself.
"Sister Su, I have two words for you." Lan Long said as he appeared beside Su Ming.
"What?" She said in an innocent voice and she immediately turned on her heel, trying to flee.
"Gender equality." Lan Long said as he grabbed Su Ming and chucked her into the puddle as well. Lan Long calmed down as he saw his companions vomit and rush into the water. He looked at the mountain the pebble had crashed into, the majestic mountain now had a hole and two cracks that extended vertically. The mountain was now split in two.
(So, the response over the past few days has been overwhelming. Thanks to all my readers for choosing this story to read. Also, a shout out to Kinsy1234. This was the first person to life like my story.
Again, the upload schedule would be from Monday to Friday.)