Leaving the Valley

Zhou Heng had never imagined he would end up arguing with a donkey!

But this donkey was just too despicable. He couldn't help cursing it a few times! Zhou Xianming and the others were shameless and vile, but at least they had some dignity. This donkey, on the other hand, had none at all. It had taken the word "despicable" to its absolute limit.

"Stop! Stop!" The Black Donkey tried its old trick again, proposing a truce, but Zhou Heng wasn't falling for it this time. He swung his long sword even faster.

This Black Donkey was truly formidable. Only the Cloud-Soaring Nine Styles could deal with it, but the moment Zhou Heng used his sword intent, the donkey ran like the wind. Even Han Yulian could only watch it disappear into the distance.

After fighting for more than half an hour, both of them were panting heavily.

"Kid, I don't have time to waste fighting you. Hurry up and take Lord Donkey out of here, or I'll bite your head off in one gulp, woof!" the Black Donkey said, its long tongue lolling out.

"You're not a dog. Why are you barking like one?" Zhou Heng quickly steadied his breathing. He had used up nearly half his True Essence Power, and the strain on his body had been tremendous. Sweat poured down his forehead.

"Because I feel like it!" the Black Donkey said with haughty pride. Then it stretched out a donkey leg and pointed at Han Yulian. "Pretty girl, give Lord Donkey a back rub!"

He'd never seen such a lazy, shameless donkey!

"No wonder you got suppressed. You're so despicable, everyone hates you!" Zhou Heng laughed.

"Ee-aww—" The Black Donkey let out an angry bray. "Lord Donkey suffered a totally undeserved calamity! I was sleeping peacefully when that damn stone stele sucked away every last bit of my cultivation. Otherwise, with my strength, one spitball would be enough to crush you all!"

The despicable donkey seemed genuinely furious. Its eyes bulged, and it bared two rows of gleaming white teeth, snapping them together with a crisp clack.

Was that actually true?

Zhou Heng wondered to himself. He wouldn't believe a word that donkey said. "You're so despicable, you deserved to be drained dry!"

"Little brat, I'm going to kick your ass so hard you'll see why flowers are red!" The Black Donkey didn't actually move, only cursing at Zhou Heng. When it came to running its mouth, its fighting strength was every bit as fearsome.

"Despicable Donkey, how long have you been trapped under there?" Zhou Heng asked casually.

The Black Donkey didn't take the bait this time. It stared at Zhou Heng for a moment, then said, "You little punk think you can play tricks on me and get me to spill the beans? You're still wet behind the ears! I was doing stuff like that when I was three!"

"Now hurry up and get Lord Donkey out of here. I'm going to sweep across the four corners of the world and become the overlord of heaven and earth!"

As it spoke, its despicable nature got the better of it again. It reared up on its hind legs and struck a strongman's pose, its black coat rippling in a sight too awful to look at.

Zhou Heng and Han Yulian exchanged glances, both wincing. The donkey's sheer shamelessness completely eclipsed everything else, leaving them with nothing but the urge to give it a sound beating.

"You two, now that you've seen my invincible bearing, why aren't you bowing in submission?" The Black Donkey leaned against the mountain wall, raised one hind leg onto it, and crossed its forelegs over its chest. Its tail, completely ruining the pose, scratched at the middle of its back.

Facing this shameless donkey, Zhou Heng couldn't even figure out what to be angry about. All he felt was a mounting sense of helplessness.

"Fine, I'll take you out, you despicable donkey!" Zhou Heng thought it over, then nodded.

"I'm Lord Donkey!" the Black Donkey protested indignantly.

"But there's a condition," Zhou Heng continued. "What exactly are you?"

"Obviously, I'm the supreme Black Donkey God, above everything in heaven and earth!" the donkey replied shamelessly, proudly raising its hoof even higher.

"How can you talk?" Han Yulian interrupted. That was the strangest thing of all. She had never heard of a demon beast that could speak human language. It turned everything she knew on its head.

"I'm a wondrous beast nurtured by heaven and earth, a being above all existence. What's so strange about me being able to talk?" the Black Donkey said with haughty pride. Its shameless expression was enough to make anyone feel annoyed.

"You look like an ordinary donkey to me." Zhou Heng looked the animal up and down, shaking his head again and again.

"Little punk, I've told you a hundred times, ten thousand times! I'm a wondrous beast of heaven and earth!" the Black Donkey said furiously.

"Then how did you get suppressed?"

"Bah! I was just unlucky. I was meditating in seclusion here when, somehow, someone built a huge array. It nearly drained me dry!" the Black Donkey said angrily, looking utterly displeased.

That might actually be true.

"Despicable Donkey, you've been trapped for so long. Do you know what this place is?"

"I'm the unmatched Divine Donkey Lord!" the Black Donkey ground out, kicking the mountain wall with one hoof. "I don't know either. I only know this place is seriously evil!"

Even this despicable donkey didn't know?

Zhou Heng shook his head and said to Han Yulian, "Senior Sister Han, let's get out of here."

"Mm!" Han Yulian had no objection. Her life was in Zhou Heng's hands here. Without him to lead her, she would never find her way out. Who would want to entrust their life to someone else?

The two of them and the donkey set off, entering the layers of mist.

"Hey, Despicable Donkey, since you're a donkey, how about letting me ride you?"

"I'll bite you to death!"

"...You're not a dog!"

"I like it. What are you going to do about it?"

Amid their bickering, the two of them and the donkey soon emerged from the valley.

"Wahaha! I'm finally out! A mere misty valley could never hold Lord Donkey! Hahaha!" After laughing for a moment, the Black Donkey suddenly bolted, all four hooves flying. It shot away like a gust of wind and vanished in an instant.

That despicable donkey really knew how to burn its bridges. It hadn't even left so much as a thank-you!

"Senior Sister Han! Junior Brother Zhou!" Just then, Mao Xianzhi and Lu Qing came running over from nearby. Seeing Zhou Heng and Han Yulian, they both looked greatly relieved.

"By the way, I thought I heard another voice just now. Was it someone from the valley?" Lu Qing asked.

The two men hadn't seen the Black Donkey.

Han Yulian shook her head. Who would believe there was a donkey that could speak, unless they had seen it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears? She said, "There was no one else. It was just me and Junior Brother Zhou."

Lu Qing and Mao Xianzhi didn't question her. Though the strange, ducklike voice hadn't sounded like either Zhou Heng or Han Yulian, the valley was so bizarre that it wouldn't be surprising if they had heard wrong.

"Junior Brother Zhou, you—you—you've reached the Ninth Layer of Body Refining!" Lu Qing suddenly exclaimed, his voice trembling.

"What?" Mao Xianzhi immediately jumped up. After sensing Zhou Heng's aura, he wore the same utterly shocked expression!

It was beyond belief!

He had been at the Seventh Layer of Body Refining before. How had he suddenly reached the Ninth Layer?

"I had a bit of luck in the valley," Zhou Heng said casually, brushing it off. This kind of miracle couldn't be replicated. Without the Black Broken Sword, anyone else who entered the valley would only be walking to their death!

Lu Qing and Mao Xianzhi could only look on enviously, filled with regret. If they had been bolder and gone into the valley with him, would they have reached the Ninth Layer of Body Refining too?

To jump two minor realms at once—what a stroke of fortune!

They were both at the Eighth Layer of Body Refining, originally one realm above Zhou Heng. Now he had surpassed them by a minor realm, leaving them feeling a huge gap between them. But there was nothing to be done about their envy. All they could do was congratulate Zhou Heng.

When the agreed time came, Zhou Heng and the others met up with the squad led by Qi Guangyao and returned to the Nine Spirits Sect.

They had gained a great deal this time. Not only had they met their goal, they had brought back a hefty surplus, so the sect rewarded them. Everyone received one Sect Contribution Point—except Qi Guangyao, who had volunteered to help.

Sect Contribution Points were the Nine Spirits Sect's own currency. They were worthless outside the sect, but within it, they were even more precious than gold and silver.

That was because things like cultivation methods, martial techniques, and pills could only be exchanged for contribution points. A Spirit Gathering Pill, for example, cost ten points. That might seem cheap compared to gold and silver, but earning those points was extremely difficult.

Not long after they returned to the sect, Han Yulian brought Zhou Heng ten Gathering Essence Pills. They were his reward for coming first in this sect assessment.

Ten Gathering Essence Pills—that was quite a generous reward!

Zhou Heng was delighted. The energy he could draw from the Black Broken Sword was dwindling, and ten Gathering Essence Pills would save him a month of hard cultivation. They were exactly what he needed most.

His "chance encounter" in Mist Valley naturally couldn't be kept secret. Lu Qing and Mao Xianzhi had already spread the story far and wide. They couldn't guess what he had found, only speculating that he had eaten some rare treasure. In just a few days, he had become famous throughout the sect.

Zhou Heng didn't want this kind of fame in the slightest. He was already hiding a huge secret, and if anyone discovered the Black Broken Sword's existence... He didn't believe he could stand against someone in the Spirit Gathering Realm as he was now.

Fortunately, his Dantian had become its own world. Even if someone reached inside his body, they couldn't possibly discover the Black Broken Sword's presence, so he didn't need to worry for now.

Mist Death Valley had shaken him deeply and suddenly broadened his horizons, even more than leaving Raw Stone Town had.

"The shadow beneath the Cold Pool of the Absolute Valley, the donkey that could talk, the skeleton that came back to life... What secrets are hidden in the Heaven-Leveling Mountain Range?" Along with his confusion, Zhou Heng felt a powerful curiosity. He wished he had the strength to battle heaven itself, sweep across the world, and uncover the whole story from beginning to end.

"In a few days, it'll be the start of the month. I can challenge the Top Ten of the Outer Sect. I have to claim a spot so I can get the best cultivation resources and break into the Blood Refining Realm as soon as possible!"

He waited patiently, taking one Spirit Gathering Pill each day and using all his remaining time to cultivate the Moon Shadow Heart Art and build up his True Essence Power. The Black Broken Sword was providing him with less and less energy, and he couldn't live off his savings forever.

As for the Heaven-Soaring Nine Styles, he was still stuck at the fourth style. Grasping its sword intent required an opportunity; without one, no matter how much time he spent, it would be useless.

Zhou Heng seemed to have returned to the ten years when he couldn't cultivate. Apart from the rest he needed, he devoted every moment to cultivation.