The valley started halfway up the hill. If you looked down from the sky, it seemed like a basin within the mountains.
Just before they entered, Ye Zichen and Yang Jian felt a power surround them.
“I know a little of the Dao of Space. If we use it to descend, the odds of being discovered are relatively low,” said Gu Li as he peered into the valley.
“If you could do that, why didn’t you say so earlier?” said Yang Jian in a clear attempt to pick a fight, conveniently forgetting that there’d been no need for the Dao of Space earlier.
Having this ability to support them was naturally a good thing. Gu Li surrounded them with the power of Space, so as they descended, they were effectively in another plane. They gradually drew closer to the valley.
The valley was roughly a thousand meters deep. In just a few dozen breaths of time, they reached the bottom.
Everything went smoother than they imagined, and perhaps because they were using the Dao of Space, they arrived without alerting the vicious guardian beast.
“I only know a few odds and ends of the Dao of Space,” said Gu Li. He felt that everything had gone a little too smoothly, so he couldn’t help but warn them. “Even though we got this far without alerting the guardian, that doesn’t mean we’ll avoid detection so easily upon actually walking into the valley.”
“Isn’t it good that we weren’t discovered? Let’s pick the grass and hurry back,” said Yang Jian. His words hit Gu Li right in the heart; he’d felt this way ever since they set out in search of Worry-Alleviating Grass. Now that he heard Yang Jian urge him on, his caution, which he’d only mustered after much difficulty, disappeared. He no longer concerned himself with the unnatural smoothness of their operation thus far. He simply headed straight towards the Thousand Lotus Flowers.
An entire valley full of them…
Thousand Lotus Flowers had six petals in total, and they were roughly centimeters across.
Both the flowers and the leaves were pure and crystalline, and the stalk was especially so. That’s why they were so hard to detect amidst the snowy landscape.
Normally, bumping into just one of this type of precious medicinal herb was like heavenly grace, but here, there was a whole patch of them. A rough estimate put their numbers at over ten thousand.
But this was just the most superficial possible estimate; the most valuable part of the Thousand Lotus Flowers was their seeds.
Why was it that, upon encountering a lotus, bounty hunters would excavate the surrounding dirt and take it with them? It was because lotus seeds were in their roots.
If you planted the seeds and raised them, you could grow brand new lotuses.
Top factions of the Upper Three Realms all grew at least a few of the lotuses, but their numbers couldn’t even begin to compare to the giant patch before them.
If a bounty hunter saw so many Thousand Lotus Flowers in one place, they’d go insane.
Or never mind a bounty hunter. If Pu Jingwan saw this…
Ye Zichen could imagine how that would play out.
“The beast that lives here has quite strong tastes,” said Yang Jian, pinching his nose.
The fragrance was so intense, it pricked at their noses!
As they drew near, the overly-intense smell made them scrunch up their brows.
On its own, a single Thousand Lotus Flowers had a pleasant fragrance, but when you had so many in one place, it was like perfume…
An appropriate spray of perfume was enticing, but too much was nauseating.
“Quit wasting words. Let’s hurry up, find the grass, and get out of here.” Ye Zichen didn’t want to waste any time here. They’d yet to encounter the beast, but his heart was already thudding nervously in his chest. But they’d already come this far, so there was no point hesitating. They’d find the grass, leave, and be done with it.
Venerate Spirit Treasure hadn’t deceived them. There really was a grass-like plant growing around the periphery of the lotuses.
It, too, was crystalline, and hidden amongst the snow, it was also rather difficult to find. Only the leaves were visible, but their height didn’t exceed ten centimeters. They grew almost entirely beneath the lotuses’ protection.
They were worried that if they damaged the lotuses, they’d inadvertently summon their vicious guardian.
That was why, when they finally knelt to pluck the Worry-Alleviating Grass, they proceeded with the utmost caution. As such, after an hour, they’d only plucked around a dozen stalks.
“Hoo hoo….” Suddenly, an eerie cry appeared within the valley. Ye Zichen’s group instantly tensed up.
That didn’t sound like one vicious beast, but rather, a whole pack of them. They silently looked behind them. Only then did they realize that dozens of roughly three-meter-tall snow apples had appeared.
The apes were icy blue, except their stomachs, which sprouted long white hair.
They reacted as if they’d seen invaders. Their mighty arms pounded their chests, and their icy blue eyes flashed with fury.
Especially when they saw that Ye Zichen and his companions were holding Worry-Alleviating Grass in their hands…..
“Hoo! Hoo!” Their rage was clearly written on their faces. Ye Zichen’s group gathered together, their backs facing away from the surrounding snow apes.
“Jeez! They’re not guarding the lotuses, they’re guarding the Worry-Alleviating Grass! We’re doomed. They caught us right in the act! Look at those arms! They’ll rip us to shreds! I’ll never agree to steal like this again! Better to leave it to the monkey!” cried Yang Jian.
“Stop with the nonsense. We’ve already plucked more than enough grass for our purposes. Let’s kill our way out of here before the rest of the troop shows up.” Ye Zichen tossed the Worry-Alleviating Grass into the Yao-Sealing Pagoda. Then, his eyes blazed with tangible flames. “Raging Sea of Flames!”
The Grand Dao of the Five Elements, the Dao of Fire.
Surging flames suddenly enveloped the icy plain. Blazing white flames melted the accumulated snow into a stream, which flowed through the cracks in the rocks.
It was just as he’d thought. The snow apes, which were accustomed to snow year-round, were weak to fire!
When they saw this massive blaze, frantic terror appeared in their eyes.
However, when they saw the surrounding ice and snow melt, their terror gave way to fury and seeing their home destroyed. Their rage was even stronger than when they caught Ye Zichen’s group stealthily pilfering the Worry-Alleviating Grass.
“Hoo hoo!”
The apes pounded their chests and dashed directly through the flames. They were fast, and with every step, they left deep footprints in their wake.
Their fists were their best, most fatal weapons. After releasing the flames, Ye Zichen watched them draw near. Wind instantly formed wings behind him, carrying him several meters back and out of range of the apes’ fists.
“Tch…” To his surprise, even though the monkeys’ fists obviously hadn’t landed, a deep, bloody gash appeared on his face.
“Be careful! These apes are a bit strange. They can hurt you even without touching you.”
But when Ye Zichen glanced over at Yang Jian and Gu Li, he realized that his warning was entirely unnecessary.
Two people hefted weapons to fight the apes head one. You hit me, I cut you.
As for their party’s class distribution…
They were clearly two warriors and a mage!
Even though Ye Zichen’s cultivation was relatively low, this was no time for him to goof off. Yang Jian and Gu Li were both consciously trying to keep the apes from getting close to Ye Zichen. As the one protected all the way in the back, Ye Zichen really did take on the role of spellcaster…
“Flame Explosion!”
“Wind Shadow!”
“Roar of Rain!”
“Unstoppable Thunderbolt!”
Standing all the way in back, Ye Zichen was like a magic artillery cannon. He summoned wind, rain, thunder, and fire in turn. While he didn’t quite cook the apes until they were crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, the faint smell of roasted meat really did waft into the air.
However, as the sounds of battle boomed, more and more snow apes emerged from within the mountains.
Even now, they couldn’t figure out where the apes’ nest was. In any event, as soon as one group died, another mysteriously appeared to take their place.
“We can’t go on like this.” A little over two hours later, Gu Li frowned. Ye Zichen was in back supporting them with “magic”, while he and Yang Jian fought directly. The ordinary apes truly couldn’t defeat them so easily.
But they couldn’t deal with all these apes, either…
This was the apes’ main camp, and there were far, far too many of them.
When they beat one wave, another appeared to take their place. Never mind all the energy they were expending; they didn’t have time to waste tangling with these guys.
An Lu, Pu Jingwan, the Great Sage, Xuan Ji, and the others were waiting for them to return with the antidote.
Besides, the giant monster whose footprints they’d followed had yet to come out. Just beating the little guys was draining so much of their spiritual energy. What if the big guy showed up suddenly? What would they do then?
“Don’t you guys think that the more we fight, the more vicious these guys get?” Yang Jian swung. Before, one sweep of his Erlang Lance could take an ape’s head clean off.
But now, the apes could go a few rounds with him. Take the ape he’d just swung at; its return strike shook the lance, making the gap between his thumb and forefinger ache.
“Perhaps these are their elites.” Ye Zichen frowned. He, too, felt that the apes that arrived later were more noticeably more resistant to his Grand Dao of the Five Elements. Furthermore, some of the new snow apes could even fight directly within the sea of searing flame.
“I don’t think so,” said Gu Li, staring at the apes in the distance. This was a lull in their battle, a stare down. The apes felt that these invaders were difficult to handle too, and they didn’t want to die like their fellows. Ye Zichen’s group, meanwhile, needed time to take recovery medicines. As such, they were in the middle of a temporary truce.
Ye Zichen seized this opportunity to split his divine-grade recovery medicine among them. Fortunately, he’d had the foresight to keep some in reserve. Otherwise, if they ran into a situation like this and fully exhausted their energy, they’d be in real trouble.
“Hey, look at those wild monkeys.” Yang Jian suddenly pointed at the snow apes. “What are they flaring their nostrils like that for?”
When they heard that, Ye Zichen and Gu Li noticed that as they swallowed recovery medicines, the apes widened their nostrils. Furthermore, as time passed, their auras expanded steadily.
The increase was slow, so they hadn’t noticed at first. But looking at them now, they were clearly about one hundred and twenty percent stronger than before.
Suddenly, both Ye Zichen and Gu Li turned to look at the lotus patch behind them. They sensed the apes’ steadily rising auras, then…
“Destroy it!”
