Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Cave

Jiang Ming bade Tian Buyi farewell. After leaving the bounds of Qingyun Mountain, he immediately took out the Soaring Frost Sword and flew toward Heyang City on his sword.

Speaking of sword flight, Jiang Ming had been stifled for far too long. There had been no entertainment at Da Zhu Peak, and it was boring enough already. He had clearly been able to fly on a sword for ages and experience the feeling of being a sword immortal, yet he simply could not. Sword flight was far more convenient, swift, and effortless than using his own lightness skill. The difference in speed was like night and day.

Jiang Ming flew his sword to the outskirts of Heyang City and landed. It was better to keep a low profile for now. If he ran into disciples from the other peaks, it would be hard to explain.

Since he had come to the world of Zhu Xian, he naturally had to admire its beautiful scenery, sample its delicacies, and check in at the sights. Otherwise, would this trip not have been for nothing? Life was not just about work; there was also living. On the path of pursuing the Great Dao of immortality, there was not only cultivation, but also the scenery along the way. As they said, the finest teacher in the world was heaven and nature itself: man followed the earth, earth followed heaven, heaven followed the Dao, and the Dao followed nature.

Single-minded cultivation would quickly lead to a bottleneck. Only through tempering oneself in the Mortal World and learning from nature might one break through a bottleneck and advance to a higher level.

And so, he had come to see the starting point of Zhang Xiao Fan and Bi Yao's collision of fate in the world of Zhu Xian—the beginning of everything—and stroll around! Jiang Ming felt that he might even find some unexpected gains. Besides, Kong Sang Mountain was three thousand li from Heyang City. At the normal sword-flight speed of the Jade Clarity Realm, the journey would take over ten days. He had to make preparations.

Heyang City, Mountain Sea Garden.

Jiang Ming entered Mountain Sea Garden. Under the warm reception of the waiter, he found a window seat and ordered several house specialties, planning to have a meal first. There was plenty of time, and Kong Sang Mountain was still quite far away, so there was no need to rush.

Before long, the waiter brought several dishes to the table. Jiang Ming looked toward the plate of stewed fish. Its body was elongated, rounded at the front and narrow at the sides toward the rear. It was dark brown, with two pairs of long, thick barbels. Its flesh was white and tender, and its fragrance filled the air, making one's mouth water.

So this is Stewed Mei Fish. Jiang Ming picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of fish. The moment it entered his mouth, a sweet and fragrant flavor spread across his tongue, making him nod involuntarily. It was truly well made.

Thinking of this, Jiang Ming felt that Mei Fish from the Primordial World would surely taste even better if prepared this way. No wonder the Desolate Heaven Emperor had loved eating the meat of strange beasts and drinking their milk as a child. He had definitely been an expert in this field. No wonder the Desolate Heaven Emperor had been so formidable—his nutrition had been properly supplemented from childhood. Just look at what he had eaten. Otherwise, how could his Supreme Bone have regenerated? The more Jiang Ming thought about it, the more convinced he became.

Then a thought struck him. Jiang Ming felt that his immortal path had only just begun, so it should not be too late to build a foundation and supplement his nutrition. Did this world not have lower-grade versions of Primordial strange beasts? Later, Wan Renwang of the Ghost King Sect had even gathered the Four Spirit Beasts to activate some Four Spirits Blood Array. If he caught those four first and braised them, stewed them, or oil-braised them... that flavor... no, that nutrition... Mm. The first step to becoming an emperor: carve a path with delicious food.

Action was better than thought. After finishing his meal, Jiang Ming decided to rest for the night and carefully plan how to catch Primordial strange beasts. Was there not also a Black Water Mysterious Snake at Kong Sang Mountain? Catch it and make a pot of snake soup. Should he make spicy snake, or cook it together with the Yellow Bird as a dragon-and-phoenix feast? That was the question. He needed to think it over...

The next day, Jiang Ming rose early. After washing up, he left Heyang City and flew his sword eastward toward Kong Sang Mountain, three thousand li away.

The journey of three thousand li took Jiang Ming around ten days. Of course, he could have gone faster, but he had to let that snake eat its fill and grow a little more first. A hungry snake might not taste very good. Besides, could a snake he had set his sights on possibly escape?

On this day, he finally arrived at Kong Sang Mountain. Jiang Ming descended from the clouds and landed on the ground. Within a hundred li, a great mountain rose steep and towering, yet it was filled with rocks and sparse vegetation. There was not even a trace of human habitation at its foot; the place was utterly desolate.

Seeing this, Jiang Ming immediately thought, This dump is nothing but rocks. I can't even see a living creature. With nothing to eat, can that snake possibly grow well?

Jiang Ming then shook his head. His expectations for that snake instantly fell by half. The place looked so desolate that it did not seem to have anywhere to stay, so entering Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Cave and finding Blood Drop Cave was more important.

Jiang Ming remembered that Kong Sang Mountain had been the stronghold of the demonic sect Blood Refinement Hall several centuries ago. With the Blood Devouring Pearl, Black Heart Old Man had made Blood Refinement Hall famous and nearly unified the demonic sects.

As the stronghold of Blood Refinement Hall, Ten Thousand Bats Ancient Cave lived up to its name—it was home to countless bats. Clearly, the bats here were no harmless creatures. Naturally, Blood Refinement Hall would not be a pleasant place either. Maybe these bats fed on blood and never bathed. Jiang Ming felt that they would definitely taste awful—disgusting, really.

In his previous life, he had heard that there was nothing people in Guangdong and Fujian would not eat. There even seemed to be things like dried rats, and people online even collected dried bats. Jiang Ming still found it rather disgusting. After thinking it over, he still felt that snake was the better choice. He would start with him.

Jiang Ming walked from the foot of the mountain to a platform halfway up. Suddenly, he heard a string of crackling sounds in the distance, growing denser and shriller by the moment. Before long, he saw a dark cloud sweeping toward him from afar.

With his night vision, Jiang Ming saw swarms of bats charging toward him. Their teeth were sharp, their eyes faintly blood-red, and they were more than twice the size of ordinary bats. Opening their bloody maws, they flew at Jiang Ming in great numbers, as though they had sensed a delicious meal. Like sharks drawn by the scent of blood, they were stimulated into a frenzy and darted straight for their target, eager to devour this flesh and blood.

Seeing this, Jiang Ming thought, Damn it, these beasts actually think I'm food? I haven't even made a move yet!

He immediately activated the Heavenly Frost Fist. Frost qi covered both his hands as he sought to freeze the bats solid. With a single punch from Jiang Ming, the huge swarm rushing at him was instantly frozen into ice sculptures, crashing to the ground and shattering into icy fragments.

But these bats were simply impossible to kill off. There were too many—if not ten million, then at least one million. They were unmoved by the deaths of their companions and, like moths flying into a flame, continued charging straight at Jiang Ming. Helpless, Jiang Ming could only keep throwing punches to freeze the beasts. After killing them for a while, he discovered that their numbers had not diminished in the slightest. He was so annoyed that he wanted to unleash a powerful move and flatten the entire mountain to save himself the trouble.

But after calming down, he realized that if he flattened the mountain, would the Heavenly Book beneath it not be gone as well? No... Suppressing his impatience, Jiang Ming increasingly felt that this was Black Heart Old Man's vicious scheme. He had never expected these bats to kill the righteous or demonic cultivators. He simply wanted to disgust them. Since everyone who came here had their own objectives, they would surely have reservations and would never use moves powerful enough to destroy an entire mountain. To enter, they could only use magical treasures to protect themselves or keep slaughtering their way forward.

With that in mind, Jiang Ming immediately stopped attacking. He activated the Protective Qi Shield and flew low toward the cave, allowing the bats to attack the shield as they pleased. They could not break it anyway. Instead, quite a few bats were killed by the shield's rebounding force, and bats constantly fell from the sky.