Treasure

Beside the babbling stream, the Earth Dragon drank quietly, its enormous body laden with bottles and jars.

Mo Yan Yu sat high in the palanquin on the Earth Dragon's back, idly turning a Blue Smoke Bomb in her hand as she stared into space.

For the past two days, Shi Yan's image had kept surfacing in her mind, refusing to fade. Whenever she recalled the naked possessiveness in his eyes, she could neither eat nor sleep. She wished she could capture him and tear his tendons and break his bones just to satisfy her rage.

With Kalu dead, the Medicine Slaves who had accompanied them were no longer of any use, so she had released them long ago.

Now, only eleven Postnatal Realm Martial Artists from the Mo Family remained with her. This force was nowhere near strong enough to let her search for Shi Yan without restraint. All she could do was wait for reinforcements from her Lineage.

A burst of deep-blue light suddenly shot skyward five li ahead. Thick mist swirled within it, then slowly dispersed.

"They're finally here!" Mo Yan Yu cried, her spirits lifting. She hurriedly tossed the Blue Smoke Bomb in her hand into the air, and a hazy blue light burst open above her head.

The Martial Artists beside the Earth Dragon all looked delighted. They rubbed their fists, eager to get to work.

Before a quarter of an hour had passed, three figures came flying over from the distance. The man in the lead had a long, flowing beard and a faint smile on his lips. He soon reached Mo Yan Yu's side and called out with a laugh, "Yu'er, where is Master Kalu?"

"Third Uncle, Master Kalu is dead." Mo Yan Yu forced herself to explain. "We ran into a petty thief on the way. He was only at the Postnatal Realm, but somehow managed to behead Master Kalu."

Mo Chao Ge's expression changed, and his face darkened at once. "Did you get the things Kalu had on him?"

Mo Yan Yu shook her head. "That boy took those, too."

"Idiot!"

Mo Chao Ge cursed under his breath, his face sullen. He snorted. "We received word that Kalu stole a fragmentary map depicting the 'Heavenly Gate' from his master. His master, Mu Xun, has been searching everywhere for him, trying to get that map back. They say the 'Divine Realm' beyond the Heavenly Gate holds Spirit Grade, perhaps even Saint Grade, Martial Skills. That's why I rushed here with two Attendants—to get that map. And you couldn't even keep an eye on him! What an idiot!"

"What?" Mo Yan Yu's pretty face filled with shock. "How could something like that happen?"

"If he hadn't stolen his master's treasure map, why would Kalu have agreed to leave Medicine King Valley with you? Did you really think he was after the Mo Family's wealth and status? Hmph. He was afraid Mu Xun would hunt him down, so he wanted to flee to the Merchant Alliance for shelter."

Mo Chao Ge's face remained dark. After a moment's thought, he said sharply, "Tell me exactly what happened. That boy should still be in the Gloomy Forest. We have to find him! The treasure map is of the utmost importance. The Mo Family must have it!"

Mo Yan Yu realized how serious the matter was. Leaving out the two times Shi Yan had violated her, she gave a truthful account of every other detail, omitting nothing.

"Idiot!" Mo Chao Ge cursed again, furious. "You didn't even chase after him? That boy was only at the Postnatal Realm. No matter how he killed Kalu, he must have paid a heavy price. He might even be badly injured. If you'd pursued him, you could have killed him with ease! What an idiot!"

"I was afraid we'd suffer even greater losses, so..." Mo Yan Yu lowered her head in shame.

"That boy was only at the Postnatal Realm, and you were afraid of him?" Mo Chao Ge stamped his feet in anger. "The Lineage wasted so many resources on you for nothing! What are you standing around for? Show me the way! You, you, and you—drive the Earth Dragon back to the Merchant Alliance along the safe route. The rest of you, come search with me!"

Shi Yan had pursued them for two days without catching even a glimpse of them.

Under the cool moonlight, Shi Yan leaned against an ancient tree, frowning as he finally gave up on continuing the chase.

He took the pack he had gotten from Kalu off his back and opened it, staring blankly at its contents.

Inside the pack were a Poison Scripture, several bottles of poison Kalu had refined, and two Mortal Grade Martial Skills: Dark Light Shield and Mysterious Yin Art.

Aside from those, there was only a wax-yellow fragment of a map. It depicted two peaks shaped like a woman's breasts. Shi Yan had looked at it over the past two days, but couldn't make heads or tails of it, so he had paid it no mind.

Of the two Martial Skills, cultivating Mysterious Yin Art required gathering Mysterious Yin energy. Shi Yan had spent two days pondering it, but still had no idea where to find such energy, so he had set that aside as well.

Dark Light Shield, on the other hand, required no external aid. He only had to circulate his essence energy along the meridian diagram to cultivate it.

Taking the Dark Light Shield manual out of the pack, Shi Yan closed his eyes and memorized it, committing the method to memory by force. He decided to give it a try.

Dark Light Shield was a purely defensive Martial Skill. It used the essence energy within the body to form a layer of dark light over the skin, protecting the user from an opponent's attacks. It was only a Mortal Grade Martial Skill, so it had no entry requirements; anyone with essence energy flowing through their body could cultivate it.

He put the pack away and glanced around. Then he quietly climbed the ancient tree behind him and hid among its thick branches and leaves before beginning to cultivate Dark Light Shield.

After entering the Innate Realm, all the meridians in his body had become unobstructed. The moment he focused his thoughts, essence energy could race through them.

Closing his eyes and holding his breath, Shi Yan silently gathered his essence energy and cultivated according to the circulation diagram for Dark Light Shield.

Wisps of essence energy flowed through his body like little streams. Shi Yan controlled them with care, then suddenly increased their speed.

Bang!

A hazy dark light burst from his body. The light felt almost solid and was remarkably resilient. It slowly pushed the branches and leaves around him aside, forming a thin membrane that wrapped around his entire body.

Shi Yan's heart settled. He knew he was on the right track, so he increased the speed of his essence energy again.

The dark light spilling from his body gradually grew. It had covered barely half a meter at first, but slowly stretched to a full meter, exactly as it had when Kalu used Dark Light Shield.

After a long while, Shi Yan exhaled a breath of stale air. His essence energy had completed six Greater Celestial Circuits. He slowly opened his eyes.

It had worked!

Shi Yan smiled. Cultivating Dark Light Shield wasn't difficult after all.

After just one night, he had grasped the key points. As his essence energy increased, he would only need to circulate it faster to make Dark Light Shield's defense stronger and stronger.

He looked up at the sky and saw that the moon had disappeared. Dawn seemed close.

In no hurry to leave, Shi Yan calmed himself and once more stirred the essence energy in his body. He directed it toward his left arm. When it touched the first acupoint, he suddenly shifted his focus, and the essence energy began to spin with the vortex inside the acupoint.

Three breaths later, Shi Yan changed his focus again. The essence energy abruptly reversed direction, and a tearing pain shot through that meridian!

This was the distinctive sensation of cultivating Berserk.

Grimacing against the agony in his arm, Shi Yan gritted his teeth and kept pushing the essence energy onward, exerting himself as he had when he trained his right arm.

The muscles in his left arm contracted, and it gradually grew thin and withered. A hazy white mist slowly seeped out of it...

The mist held fear, savagery, and despair—the negative emotions wielding an eerie power to ensnare the mind. They came from the acupoints in his left arm and were temporarily confined within the white mist. Once he fought someone, they could surge straight out of his arm.

The sun hung high overhead.

Among the ancient tree's branches and leaves, Shi Yan was drenched in sweat. His gaze was as sharp as a blade as he stared at his left arm. Mist billowed around it, and strands of evil power coiled over his skin like demonic spirits, filling him with an urge to vent the rage building inside him.

"Haah, haah!"

He panted heavily and fought to control his desire. Slowly, he withdrew the essence energy from his arm, drawing it bit by bit back into his lower abdomen. His arm gradually returned to normal, and the hazy white mist wrapped around it flowed back along his meridians into the acupoints, until not a trace remained.

Leaning weakly against the tree trunk, Shi Yan looked pale, his feelings tangled.

The Berserk Martial Skill could unleash the many negative forces hidden in his acupoints, but those same forces could throw his mind into chaos. It was a double-edged sword: even as it helped him kill his enemies, it could also drive him into a state of madness. Berserk's power was astonishing, but it was also extremely dangerous.

Still, when he remembered how Berserk had smashed through Kalu's Dark Light Shield like a dead tree snapped before a gale—and how the negative force had flooded into Kalu's mind—Shi Yan made up his mind to cultivate this sinister Martial Skill throughout his entire body as soon as possible. He wanted to see what would happen when the negative forces in all his acupoints were unleashed at once.

He vaguely felt that once he fully mastered the first level of Berserk, his body would undergo a tremendous transformation. His strength might even double or triple in an instant.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The sound of figures tearing through the air suddenly came from the distance.

Shi Yan frowned and quietly suppressed his aura. He even stopped the essence energy in his body from flowing, silently watching the area below.

Before long, seven figures dressed in gray and wearing pale masks stopped beside the ancient tree beneath him. They seemed to be waiting for someone.

Six of the seven gray-clad figures had silver stars embroidered on their shoulders. The seventh had a silver crescent moon.

Buzz, buzz, buzz! A strange sound wave came from the woods ahead, like a signal being used to communicate.

Beneath the ancient tree, the tall, thin gray-clad man with a silver crescent moon on his shoulder listened in silence for five seconds. Beneath his mask, his eyes gleamed with a cold, sinister light. Then he said icily, "They're in a small valley twenty li away. The Dark Envoy has already spotted them. Follow me!"

The seven of them hurried off.

Only after ten breaths had passed since they left did Shi Yan poke his head out from the leaves. He frowned grimly, hesitated for a moment, then leaped down from the tree and quietly followed them.