Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Sixteen Countries of the East Valley.
The country of Yunyang.
“Are you certain that you recognize him?”
In the Western Chu Ridge, within the Yang family mansion, a middle-aged man wearing a black robe sat at the head of the table in the living room asked in a somber tone as he looked at another middle-aged man who was standing at attention.
In the hand of the black-robed middle-aged man was a portrait, and drawn on it, was a young man.
“My lord, while he has just lost his child-like features and looks a lot more mature… Even if he were turned to ashes, I would definitely recognize him!”
The lower-ranked, middle-aged man confirmed without a doubt in his mind. “His name is ‘Zhou Donghuang,’ and he is from one of the inferior counties in Yunfeng in the Western Chu Ridge. This is no longer a secret in the Chu royal city.
“My lord, if you do not believe me, you may check this against other sources.”
The middle-aged man was not just anyone, but Yang Yunji, the head of the Yangs, a grand family.
This day, a huge figure suddenly descended from the sky and landed right at the Yang family mansion. Yang Yunji was stunned and hurriedly asked a group of Yang elders to see what was happening.
The shock of what he saw at a glance almost killed him!
A giant eagle with both wings spreading over 20 meters landed in the spacious front yard of their Yang family mansion… As the Yang family head, and having lived to such a grand old age, Yang Yunji did indeed have knowledge of such beasts.
A giant eagle with a wingspan of over 20 meters, even if it was considered a Connate stage demon, it was certainly not an ordinary Connate stage demon!
Based on what he knew, the wingspan of an ordinary flying Connate-level demon had a wingspan of just over 10 meters.
But this giant eagle had a wingspan of over 20 meters!
And what shocked him the most was that there was a middle-aged man in black robes on the back of this eagle. As the man leaped into the air, rays of white light seemed to be coiled around him, as he floated, looking back at Yang.
“A Primal Core adept!”
Even the strongest of the Connate adepts could not tread the air like this man. The folk tales spoke of only one type of adept that could defy gravity like that to float in the air and travel the universe, and it was a Primal Core adept.
And so, at that moment, he guessed that this man was a Primal Core adept.
Even though he knew nothing of why this man was here or what he intended to do, Yang Yunji spared no time in greeting this person personally and invited him into the living room of the Yang mansion.
He did this because, on one hand, he was worried that he might inadvertently offend the other party, and on the other hand, he feared that this Primal Core adept had orders of some sort that had gotten to some other person first.
A Primal Core adept needed only speak the word, and he could quite easily have the Yang family at his mercy, and they would not dare make any complaint.
To be on the safe side, he decided to dismiss everyone else who was there.
The only thing was, Yang Yunji would never have thought that the Primal Core adept before him, had, in fact, come for Zhou Donghuang!
“In that case, follow me!”
The man in black robes was none other than the Divine Light Sect’s tenth elder, Lin Hantian. After scouring the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley for a period of time, he had inevitably arrived at the Western Chu Ridge of the country of Yunyang.
Then as he set foot in the Chu royal city, in the heart of the Western Chu Ridge, it was incidentally in the middle of the Yang family mansion where he would meet Yang Yunji, the head of the Yang Family.
“I am yours to command, my lord!” Yang Yunji replied in deference.
And in the instant, as Yang Yunji responded, Lin Hantian seemed to fly in front of Yang Yunji in a flash, grabbed Yang Yunji’s wrist with one hand, and leaped out of the living room.
After Lin Hantian flew out of the living room with Yang Yunji, he continued to soar into the air until they were overlooking the Chu royal city at his feet, and all the buildings in the city were clearly visible.
“Who else knows that young man? I will take you to each doorstep to verify this,” Lin Hantian said plainly.
“My lord, the mansion located in the very center of the Chu royal city is the Chu royal household. The royal family there controls the Western Chu Ridge… I am but an insignificant family head and cannot afford to buy you that information.”
Yang Yunji summed up the courage to open his eyes and pointed out the place where Chu royal household was located and said to Lin Hantian, “If the Chu Royal Family cannot prove that what I said is true, my lord, you can kill me at once!”
“If I do find that you are lying, you would certainly be dead.”
When Lin Hantian spoke again, his body flickered, and Yang Yunji flew over the Chu Palace with a blink of an eye. Then he dropped Yang Yunji on top of a building in the Chu Palace. “You will wait for me here.”
As Lin Hantian said this, his body seemed to flicker, and in the blink of an eye, he and Yang Yunji were flying over the Chu Palace. He then dropped Yang Yunji off on the top of the roof of a building in the Chu Palace and said, “You will wait for me here.”
“Yes, my lord,” Yang Yunji responded faithfully.
Lin Hantian flew into the air in an instant, disappeared into some buildings nearby and seemed to vanish before Yang Yunji’s eyes.
At this time, just as Yang Yunji found some time to breathe, he was all at once frightened. “Who is this Primal Core adept, exactly? He has definitely not come with good intentions!
“Has that Zhou Donghuang provoked him somehow?” Thinking of this, Yang Yunji couldn’t help but sneer. “Even the most powerful Primal Core adept, he would dare provoke… that Zhou Donghuang is really tired of living!”
Before long, Lin Hantian returned again.
“My lord, what of it?” Yang Yunji asked.
“I reckon you should know the inferior prefecture where the town of Yunfeng is located at?” Lin Hantian asked plainly.
“Yes I do, I do know.”
Yang Yunji nodded his head like a little chicken pecking at rice grains. “If my lord wants to go there, I will personally show you the way!”
“Mm.” Lin Hantian nodded. “If you follow me on this trip, you will be justly rewarded after this whole affair.”
“You have my gratitude, my lord!”
Yang Yunji’s eyes were bright, and he hurriedly bowed to thank him. A reward granted by a Primal Core adept would definitely be something remarkably big, especially for a qi-gathering adept like him.
As he thought of this, the excitement would keep him awake for days.
…
Swish!!
Starting from the southeast border of the Shenguang Empire, it only took a little more than half a month, and Big Gold had transported his master, Zhou Donghuang, and Su Mo back to the vast Valley of Medicine Masters.
March 20, Year 1232 of the Ziyun Era. Master and servant, Zhou Donghuang and Su Mo, returned to the Valley of the Medicine Masters.
“Valley Head!”
As the golden-crowned eagle, Big Gold, flew into the Valley, a Valley elder standing guard at the lookout post drew his flying beast closer and had recognized Su Mo from afar.
Of course, the qi-gathering flying beast at his feet would not dare approach Big Gold.
The Big Gold before was in fact still marginally more approachable for the other qi-gathering flying beasts, but now, as he had entered the Connate stage, the same flying beasts would only keep their distance from him.
“Are we here?”
At this point, Su Mo also seemed to have been shocked awake by the sudden voice.
“Valley Head, I will notify the elders.”
The Valley elder who was on duty at the lookout post greeted Su Mo quickly and then left with his flying beast.
However, before long, he returned again.
This time, there was an extra person on the back of his flying beast, the head elder of the Valley of Medicine Masters, Yu Meiqin.
“Valley Head, you have finally returned,” Yu Meiqin said bitterly as he looked at Su Mo.
“Why? What is the matter… Has something happened in the Valley during my absence?”
Su Mo frowned slightly, his figure flashed, and he leaped into the air. Under the shocked eyes of Yu Meiqin and the Valley elder beside him, he walked on air, step by step, until he was in front of them.
“Valley Head, you… You have really entered the Primal Core stage?”
The Valley elder stared in surprise.
He still remembered that some time ago, the Primal Core adept who came to the Valley of the Medicine Masters on the back of his Primal Core beast had declared that the Valley Head was a Primal Core Adept.
At that time, he was still wondering, when had their Valley Head become a Primal Core adept?
Today, he finally realized that at the time, the Primal Core adept was not making wild presumptions at all.
Their Valley Head had, in the span of a year, entered the Primal Core stage and had become a flying, gravity-defying Primal Core adept!
“Primal Core adept?!”
Yu Meiqin’s pupils contracted sharply in panic at this moment, a lost look on her face, and she seemed to be lost in thought for a long time.
“Their Valley now had a Primal Core adept too?”
The long-awaited appearance of a Primal Core adept could finally be written in the history of the Valley of the Medicine Masters after all this time?
“From what you’re saying, I guess you already know that I have entered the Primal Core stage?”
Su Mo frowned as he looked at the Valley elder.
“Valley Head…”
Under Su Mo’s interrogation, the Valley elder hurriedly described the incident that had happened in full detail without skipping a beat and spoke of how they had fooled the Primal Core adept who had visited them.
“To think that he was fooled by all of you?”
On hearing that his own people had managed to dupe a Primal Core adept, Su Mo was rendered speechless, but at the same time, he was relieved.
That person was definitely not a friendly force.
If they had confirmed that he was indeed the Valley Head of Medicine Masters, who knew what would have happened to all of his people.
Just then, Su Mo had guessed that it was the Divine Light Sect that had come looking for them in the Valley with him and his master Zhou Donghuang’s portraits and had intended to tell Zhou Donghuang as much.
Yu Meiqin, however, was a step ahead of him and spoke first. “Valley Head, there is one more thing.
“Not long after you had left, there were two men who said that they had come from Yunyang, one of the Sixteen Countries of the East Valley… They had direct orders to come looking for you in the Valley.
“After that, upon knowing that you had long left the Valley, they sought to tell me their purpose.
“They said… they wanted to tell the Valley Head that in the Western Chu Ridge in Yunyang, there was a young man named Zhou Donghuang who had gotten hold of the essence left behind by a Primal Core adept and asked that you, the Valley Head, go forward to steal it away.”
As he came to this point, Yu Meiqin locked eyes with the man clothed in white standing on the giant eagle’s back, behind Su Mo. She distinctly remembered that this man was their Valley Head’s master, named Zhou Donghuang.
“Oh? Someone had come to find me to report this news?”
Su Mo’s eyes narrowed as his cold eyes flashed. “It looks like they are my master’s enemies. And where are they now?” Su Mo asked.
“I had also guessed that they were Young Master Donghuang’s foes… and so I have ordered for them to be locked up and wait on you and Master Donghuang’s return for further orders,” Yu Meiqin said.
“Let me have a word with my master and then you can take us there… I would like to see what kind of man would dare harm our master!”
As Su Mo said these words, an icy glare flashed across his eyes.
Feeling Su Mo’s respect for the young man in white on the eagle’s back in the distance, Yu Meiqin trembled as she thought, “It seems that our Valley Head achieving the Primal Core stage in just one year has everything to do with this Zhou Donghuang!”
