37: Chapter 37 Solo Journey Through the Heavenly Demon Mountain Range

The wings of the Black-feathered Eagle tore through the clouds, and the fierce gale felt like blades, scraping painfully against people's faces.

Quite a few new Disciples channeled their Spiritual Qi to resist, appearing somewhat disheveled.

Yet Zhao Ruoan stood steadily beside the Bearded Elder.

When the raging wind reached three feet in front of him, it automatically diverted, not even stirring his clothes a fraction.

The Bearded Elder was surnamed Xiong, and he was an Elder of the Outer Sect's Law Enforcement Hall, always stern and unsmiling by nature.

At this moment, however, he took the initiative to explain the mountains and landscapes flashing past below to Zhao Ruoan.

"That giant city ahead is Tianyao City."

Elder Xiong pointed at a massively contoured city appearing on the horizon.

The city was grand in scale, far surpassing mortal imperial capitals. Even looking down from high altitude, one could still feel the majestic Life Qi of converging crowds.

"This city does not belong to any Sect, and it is a mixed bag of dragons and fish, serving as a gathering place for nearby Cultivators. If you have the opportunity in the future, you can go and experience it."

His tone was directed at Zhao Ruoan alone.

The other Disciples could only vaguely hear it from afar, feeling envy, jealousy, and hatred in their hearts, yet not daring to utter a sound.

The Black-feathered Eagle did not stop at Tianyao City, but flew straight past it, heading towards the boundless dark green mountain range behind.

The Tianyao Mountain Range.

Just by approaching it, an ancient, primitive, and ferocious aura rushed towards them, causing all the Disciples to feel a wave of palpitations.

"Alright, pull yourselves together!"

Elder Xiong's voice suddenly turned stern.

"The Tianyao Mountain Range is fraught with danger, and Yao Beasts are only one of them."

"More danger comes from Cultivators just like you. Killing people to seize treasures is a common occurrence here."

"This trial will last for one month. Your food, clothing, daily expenses, and what you gain from hunting Yao Beasts will depend entirely on your own abilities."

"The Sect will evaluate your performance and distribute contribution points based on items like monster cores and Spirit Medicine you finally hand in."

"We Elders will only make a move when you encounter a mortal crisis. At all other times, whether you live or die is up to your own fate!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the hundreds of Disciples below instantly erupted into an uproar.

The excitement on many people's faces faded, replaced by tension and fear.

"Up to your own fate?"

This was completely different from the outing they had imagined, where Elders escorted them the whole way.

Zhao Ruoan, however, had little reaction to this.

He knew very well that the Sect was not a babysitter; the path of immortal cultivation inherently required stepping on skeletons to climb upward.

Senior Sister had long since warned him that human hearts are more venomous than Yao Beasts.

Elder Xiong's words were merely placing the cruel reality ahead of this group of greenhouse flowers.

Soon, the flock of Black-feathered Eagles began to lower their altitude, finally stopping in a relatively open foothill area.

With a wave of Elder Xiong's large hand, dozens of Black-feathered Eagles were stored into a Spirit Beast ring.

"The trial officially begins!"

"You are allowed to form teams freely, or you may act alone. Gather at this place one month later."

As soon as his voice fell, the crowd immediately became restless.

Disciples who were familiar with each other quickly gathered together in groups of three or five, vigilantly eyeing their surroundings.

"Senior Brother Zhao, we are Disciples of the Spirit Plant Peak and are quite familiar with the herbs in the mountain range. Would you like to team up?"

Several pretty female Disciples mustered up their courage, walked up to Zhao Ruoan, and extended an invitation.

Their appearance caused many male Disciples who originally wanted to come over and latch onto a powerful figure to stop in their tracks.

"Thank you for your kind intentions, Senior Sisters, but I am used to being alone."

Zhao Ruoan gently refused.

His goal was clear: he was going to "stock up" for himself. What sense would it make to bring along a few dead weights?

Disappointment surfaced on the faces of those female Disciples, but they did not dare to pester him further. After bowing, they stepped back.

Having refused the first wave, no one else courted humiliation afterwards.

Under the complicated gazes of the crowd, Zhao Ruoan did not pause at all, chose a direction by himself, and turned to walk into the dense jungle.

His back figure quickly vanished behind the overlapping tree shadows.

"This kid really just barged in alone."

A remaining Elder stroked his beard, marveling in amazement.

Elder Xiong let out a cold hum, but his face carried a hint of approval.

"Which true Genius is not a lone traveler? Teaming up with a bunch of rookies will only slow down his pace."

Another Elder chimed in: "Indeed. One month from the Middle Stage of the Spirit Gathering Realm to the Perfection of the Spirit Gathering Realm—I have never even heard of such a speed. For those tier-three and tier-four Yao Beasts in the outer perimeter, this trial is simply a disaster."

"Keep a close eye on him."

Elder Xiong instructed in a deep voice.

"This is Senior Sister Yun's precious darling. If anything goes wrong, none of us can bear the responsibility. When that person on Qinghan Peak gets angry, even the Sect Master gets a headache."

Hearing this, several Elders felt their hearts tighten, and they silently locked a wisp of Divine Sense firmly onto the direction where Zhao Ruoan had departed.

...

Zhao Ruoan traveled through the dense forest.

He was not in a hurry to hunt any Yao Beasts.

Before coming, he had long since thoroughly browsed the Materials in the Scripture Pavilion regarding the Tianyao Mountain Range, and he knew the distribution of Yao Beasts in this region like the back of his hand.

His target was a kind of Yao Beast living in the middle region of the mountain range—the peak tier-three Red-Eyed Demon Tiger.

If the Demon Tiger Skill wanted to break through to the third layer, the most compatible Materials were the Qi, blood, and soul essence of feline Yao Beasts.

This kind of stuff definitely wasn't sold in the Sect's market.

Even if there were, the price would definitely be an astronomical figure.

Rather than spending that unjust money, it was better to do it himself and be self-sufficient.

The outer region mostly consisted of tier-one and tier-two Yao Beasts, corresponding to the Body Refining and Qi Condensation realms of Cultivators.

These minor monsters didn't even qualify to fill the gaps between his teeth.

Zhao Ruoan didn't even deliberately conceal his Qi.

The coercion of the Perfection of the Spirit Gathering Realm permeated outwards. Within a radius of several miles, birds and beasts vanished, and insects fell silent.

Sensing this aura from far away, those low-tier Yao Beasts ran faster than rabbits, fearing that being a step slower would make them the other party's snack.

This also saved Zhao Ruoan a lot of trouble.

He was unimpeded all the way, moving extremely fast and continuously advancing towards the depths of the mountain range.

About half a day later, he had crossed most of the outer region. The surrounding trees became increasingly tall, and the Spiritual Qi in the air grew much denser.

Occasionally, he could feel some not-so-weak auras lurking in the dark, but before he approached, they all chose to retreat.

Clearly, the Yao Beasts able to survive here all possessed a bit of instinct to pursue advantages and avoid harm.

Just as he crossed a mountain ridge and prepared to venture deeper, his footsteps came to a halt.

Ahead was a precipice.

Beneath the cliff face, a dark red dwarf tree over half a human's height was rooted between the rock crevices.

Hanging on the tree were two fist-sized fruits.

The fruits were likewise dark red, their surfaces covered with strange patterns.

There was no refreshing exotic fragrance, nor any dazzling brilliance.

It just hung quietly there; if one didn't pay attention, it would easily be mistaken for some ordinary wild fruit.

Yet Zhao Ruoan's breathing stagnated for a split second.

The dark blood spirit fruit!

He had seen the illustration of this thing in an ancient book introducing Body Refining Spirit Medicines.

This was an extremely rare Body Refining spirit fruit, containing pure and immense Qi and blood power. For Cultivators refining their Physical Body, it was a supreme treasure that could be encountered by chance but not sought by demand.

Its value was not even inferior to the inner core of a tier-four Yao Beast!

He hadn't expected that just half a day after entering the mountain range, he would run into such great fortune.

This trial got off to a flying start.