Still Early

"What, you don't believe me?"

Seeing the doubt mixed into the old man's eyes, Leian couldn't help but ask in return.

Upon hearing this, the old man immediately reined in his emotions and replied with a slightly apologetic tone: "My apologies, my strength is insufficient to discern your power, sir. I assume you wouldn't mind a quick test?"

As he spoke, he pulled a crystal ball the size of a fist from under the desk and placed it in front of Leian.

Leian recognized the origin of the crystal ball on the desk at a glance; it was a common alchemical device used to measure battle qi levels, requiring only an input of battle qi to function.

Without further ado, he placed both hands against the surface of the sphere, and a surge of purple-black battle qi was channeled into it.

Soon, a purple-black ring condensed on the surface of the crystal ball, and then, the ring began to ripple outward until it stopped after forming nine distinct circles.

Nine circles represented the ninth rank!

The old man saw it clearly, and his entire being grew excited once more. He scrutinized Leian carefully, and after hesitating repeatedly, he finally couldn't suppress his curiosity and asked:

"Might I ask your name, sir, and how old you are?"

From "guest" to "sir," and now to "my lord," the old man's posture grew increasingly deferential.

Leian understood the man's intentions, but if he answered every question asked, wouldn't he appear easy to manipulate? Thinking of this, he deliberately let his expression turn cold and gave a light huff:

"What, is there a rule that one must provide their name and age to trade at the Youquan Trading Firm?"

"My apologies, it was a slip of the tongue!"

The old man knew he had been presumptuous. Seeing Leian's dissatisfied expression, he immediately apologized and dared not bring the matter up again, shifting the topic instead:

"Under normal circumstances, a ninth-rank warrior purchasing information on a God-level powerhouse starts at a minimum of one million gold coins. As for the time that God-level powerhouse attained godhood, that is considered basic information, so I shall charge you one million gold coins for it. May I ask which God-level powerhouse you are inquiring about?"

Leian wasn't sure if Beirut had attained godhood yet, or even if he had been born, so to avoid unnecessary trouble, he deliberately said:

"I am not certain of this God-level powerhouse's name; I only heard from others that he hails from the 'Dark Forest' of the Yulan Continent."

"The Dark Forest?"

The old man raised an eyebrow, his expression firm as he replied: "If you are certain he comes from the Dark Forest, then there is only one!"

Hearing this, Leian finally couldn't help but grow excited. Although neither party had explicitly mentioned the name "Beirut," Leian was ninety percent certain they were talking about the same person.

No, the same mouse!

However, before Leian could confirm, the old man suddenly frowned and said with some difficulty:

"The origins of this God-level powerhouse are quite ancient. Regarding the time he attained godhood, we only have a rough record here. Are you sure you wish to proceed with the transaction, my lord?"

Hearing the word "ancient," Leian's heart skipped a beat. In his memories, Beirut had said he had lived on the Yulan Plane for millions of years. Could the "ancient" time the old man spoke of be exactly that?

If that were true, wouldn't it mean the "Apocalyptic War" was not far off?

Thinking of this, Leian did not hesitate and nodded with great certainty to confirm the transaction.

As an insider at the Youquan Trading Firm, the old man was accustomed to such matters and had long since memorized the information on these God-level powerhouses, so he stated immediately:

"According to our firm's records, this God-level powerhouse attained godhood approximately seven hundred thousand years ago."

"Seven hundred thousand years?"

Leian was stunned, unable to believe it. Only seven hundred thousand years? Wouldn't that mean there was at least a million years left before the death of the Four Divine Beasts?

Thinking that the time was so far off, Leian couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. At that moment, the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head finally dissipated, and he felt incredibly light.

On the other side, the old man vaguely sensed the change in Leian's mood. Although he found it strange, he refrained from asking further, simply looking at Leian to signal that it was time to pay.

Half an hour later, Leian left the Youquan Trading Firm with long strides, carrying several items.

Leian did not have a million gold coins, so he had ultimately paid for the information by selling a top-tier battle qi cultivation technique.

At the same time, he had spent over a hundred thousand gold coins to purchase a Purification Spell scroll crafted by an eighth-rank light magus, a healing spell scroll of the same rank, and three Master-Servant Contract Scrolls for magical beasts.

The Master-Servant Contract Scrolls were prepared for taming magical beasts in the future. He planned to use the Purification Spell scroll as soon as he returned to the hotel, primarily to purge any "Heart-Eroding Potion" that might exist within his body, and the healing scroll was naturally intended as a trump card for life-saving.

However, Leian did not know that the moment he stepped out of the Youquan Trading Firm, the old man had reported his strength to the firm's manager, and a file on him was quickly established.

After returning to the hotel, Leian did not delay, picking up his parents and Aili and heading straight for the small courtyard he had rented earlier.

It was a two-story building made of bluestone. It wasn't large, but it had five rooms, enough for Leian's family to live in.

Once they were completely settled, the heavy hearts of Barry and Annie were finally put to rest. The two spent their days either wandering around the imperial capital or cultivating at home, living a relaxed and fulfilling life.

In the blink of an eye, over half a month passed. Early one morning, Leian strapped on two newly forged longswords and left the imperial capital, Maple Leaf City, alone.

His goal was clear: the Youquan Mountain Range located to the east of Maple Leaf City.

The entire Youquan Continent had only two mountain ranges, one large and one small. The Youquan Mountain Range was named after "Youquan," so it was naturally the larger one, which showed just how vast this range was.

The main ridge of the entire mountain range spanned from the southwest across the entire continent to the northeast, shaped like a spindle—wide in the middle and pointed at both ends.

Along this main ridge, many branches extended outward, reaching deep into the heart of the three great empires. For instance, the branch in Hashan County was one of them.

Because the Youquan Mountain Range covered such a vast area and was densely forested, a large number of magical beasts lived within it.

Precisely because of this, a large number of powerhouses from all different directions headed toward the Youquan Mountain Range almost every day.

They were either there to train and increase their strength, or to hunt magical beasts to earn gold coins. Almost every day, magical beasts had their magic cores dug out by human powerhouses.

Of course, there were also human powerhouses who met their end in the maws of magical beasts.

But generally speaking, as long as one did not venture deep into the mountains, the danger was not that great.

Currently, Leian's target was the main ridge of the Youquan Mountain Range. Moreover, since he was starting from the imperial capital, he needed to cross a small portion of the Byron Empire.

However, this road leading to the Youquan Mountain Range was a fixed route. Along the way, Leian encountered many other adventurers heading to the same destination, and from them, Leian learned many details about adventuring that he would not have otherwise noticed.