Into the Mountains

The Taihang Mountain Range lay in the far north of the Great Yu Cultivation World, along the border of Yan Kingdom.

Layer upon layer of mountains rose and fell without end.

It was said that even a Nascent Soul True Lord had once failed to explore the boundary of the Taihang Mountain Range.

One had to know that in this cultivation world, the realms were Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Violet Palace, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Transformation!

Spirit Transformation cultivators could already ascend in feathered transcendence and enter the Spirit Realm. Even Nascent Soul True Lords could not survey the Taihang Mountain Range; one could well imagine how vast it was.

Of course, there were also rumors that Jade Dragon Peak in the Taihang Mountain Range had too many Demon Emperors, and that they were too powerful.

Ye Jingcheng naturally had no way to verify any of this. He simply stood on the left side of the wooden boat, leaning against its hull as the wind howled past his ears, his sharp eyes fixed on the distance ahead.

Though the gale howled fiercely, it could not reach the four of them.

A thin spiritual barrier covered the wooden boat, shielding them from the gale.

The spirit boat crossed hill after hill, and before their eyes rose peaks taller than the last.

Soaring Cloud Peak, which he had once considered incomparably lofty, now appeared rather unremarkable within this mountain range.

The Jade Ring Rat was pressed against Ye Jingcheng as well.

The saying that looking at mountains could wear a horse to death fit the scene perfectly. After flying for an entire day and crossing who knew how many hills, the four finally reached the foot of the mountain range. By then, the sky had grown completely dark.

"We'll rest for the night. We enter the mountains tomorrow!" Ye Jingyu began carefully searching before a small hill.

Before long, he found a cave. This was clearly a cave the Ye Family used often. At the entrance, Ye Jingyu carefully examined the branches on the ground. Only after finding nothing unusual did he lead the other three inside.

"Don't disturb the branches on the ground. They're markers left by our uncles," Ye Jingyu said. The others nodded.

The cave was extremely dry, without the slightest dampness. Deeper inside, several moonlight stones that naturally emitted light had been placed there.

The cave immediately became bright.

"Everyone, release your spirit beasts," Ye Jingyu instructed again. Then, at the entrance, he took out a set of array plates and array flags and began setting them up with great secrecy.

"Fourth Brother is also a formation master of the family. He's very skilled!" Seeing Ye Jingcheng's curiosity, Ye Jingyong patted him on the shoulder and explained.

Ye Jingcheng nodded, then turned to look at Ye Jingyong's Flying Cloud Leopard and Azure-Scaled Snake. Sure enough, the two beasts were not much different from how they had been in the Demon Hunting Hall.

The Flying Cloud Leopard was doing fairly well. It had grown a full size larger; if it had initially been the size of a puppy, it was now the size of an ordinary household dog.

The Azure-Scaled Snake had merely become darker in color. Noticing Ye Jingcheng looking at it, Ye Jingli could not help feeling somewhat ashamed. After all, Ye Jingcheng still had to care for the Crimson Flame Fox, yet his Jade Ring Rat had still been raised better than Ye Jingli's spirit beast.

One had to know that he was an artificer. His ability to earn spirit stones was not much worse than Ye Jingcheng's.

Naturally, Ye Jingcheng had no idea what Ye Jingli was thinking. At present, he was comparing the growth of their spirit beasts.

His understanding of the ancient book within his body deepened by another measure.

Clearly, that spiritual radiance could spur demonic beasts' growth, and it should complement the Spirit Feeding Pill.

Having reached this conclusion, Ye Jingcheng would need to give the Jade Ring Rat less spiritual radiance in the future. After all, the Crimson Flame Fox's growth could still be explained by its talent, and the Ye Family did not have a second Crimson Flame Fox. But the Jade Ring Rat was different; quite a few members of the Ye Family possessed one. If it grew too quickly, it would be difficult to explain away.

Before long, Ye Jingyu finished setting up the formation and walked inside.

The four then exchanged their experiences in beast taming.

Of course, most of the questions were directed at Ye Jingcheng. Not only had his Jade Ring Rat grown a great deal fatter, but the faint spiritual radiance on its fur far surpassed that of the other spirit beasts.

Ye Jingcheng naturally used Spirit Feeding Pills and spirit incense to brush them off. His Ninth Grandfather, Ye Haitian, had mentioned this before, and there was evidence to support it.

As for anything more, he simply claimed not to know.

After all, he was still a novice at beast taming.

On the contrary, he learned quite a bit of novel beast-taming knowledge from Ye Jingyong and Ye Jingyu.

Besides beast-taming knowledge, Ye Jingcheng also asked Ye Jingyu for tips on cultivation.

He was at the fourth level of Qi Refining; Ye Jingyu was at the seventh, Ye Jingyong at the sixth, and Ye Jingli at the fifth. Thus, even Ye Jingli could offer him guidance now.

Ye Jingcheng was exceedingly humble, and the three explained everything in great detail without holding anything back. This gave him many new insights into points that had previously seemed obscure.

Late at night, the four still took turns keeping watch. Ye Jingcheng was assigned first watch, since during the day he had only piloted the wooden boat for half the time.

With four spirit beasts to keep him company and the formation at the cave entrance, the task was not particularly arduous.

They had not yet ventured deep into the mountain range, where demonic beasts were extremely difficult to encounter. As for the occasional wild beast, none could enter the formation at all.

After standing watch for an hour, Ye Jingli came to relieve Ye Jingcheng.

"Jingcheng, can I buy some Spirit Feeding Pills from you? At the price of the family's spirit pills," Ye Jingli asked at last. Clearly, he had taken Ye Jingcheng's earlier words about pills containing spirit incense to heart.

"Sure." Ye Jingcheng nodded. According to the rules for selling spirit pills, he received one contribution point from the family for each pill, equivalent to one spirit stone.

But when the family sold them to Ye Family members, they cost one and a half spirit stones each, so he could still make a little profit.

"Sixth Brother, I don't have many either. I only have three left here. Four spirit stones will do," Ye Jingcheng said, taking out a pill bottle.

There were indeed three Spirit Feeding Pills inside. When he uncorked the bottle, a fragrance truly wafted out.

Ye Jingli was immediately overjoyed.

"Jingcheng, I won't say any more thanks. I can now refine low-grade first-tier magic artifacts. If you have the materials, I'll refine magic artifacts for you free of charge!" Ye Jingli promised happily.

Once the transaction was complete, Ye Jingcheng went deeper into the cave and slowly began cultivating his technique. The cultivation art he practiced was called the Fire-Li Scripture, a mid-grade Yellow-rank technique. Within the Ye Family, it was considered a fairly ordinary technique: its cultivation speed was not fast, and its spiritual power was not particularly condensed.

The only advantage was that it gave one greater insight into controlling fire, making it more suitable for becoming an alchemist or artifact refiner. Ye Jingli cultivated this same technique as well.

The spiritual power of the Fire-Li Scripture was exceedingly warm. As it flowed through the meridians across his body, it could even disperse the bitter chill of mountain nights!

After completing a full cycle, Ye Jingcheng's body was already drenched in sweat.

Nothing happened through the night. The moonlight quietly faded, and the second day soon arrived!

The four of them appeared at the cave entrance once more, but this time, they did not take out the spirit boat.

Flying within the Taihang Mountain Range was a major taboo.

After all, there were plenty of flying demon beasts in the mountain range. Flying through the sky made it far too easy to attract demon beasts.

Thus, all four of them cast Lightness Techniques, maintaining their formation as they swept deeper into the mountain range.

The two Flying Cloud Leopards led the way, while the Jade Ring Rat perched on Ye Jingcheng's shoulder.

At this moment, the Jade Ring Rat's abilities were on full display. Whenever it detected another sound, it would squeak incessantly in obvious urgency.

Upon hearing it, Ye Jingyu would change direction.

And so, after another half day, an exceptionally secluded valley appeared before the four of them!

The valley was extremely well hidden, concealed behind several great mountains.

It was also lush and tranquil beyond compare.

After finding a suitable spot, Ye Jingyu began setting things up at the mouth of the valley once more.

"There's a spring in a low-lying area within the valley, as well as a small first-rank low-grade spirit vein. It's enough to attract quite a few first-rank low-grade demon beasts here. This used to be the lair of the two Flying Cloud Leopards!" Ye Jingyu explained as he made his arrangements.

Once Ye Jingyu had finished setting up the formation, Ye Jingyong strode toward the valley in great strides, only to be stopped by Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingcheng shouting at the same time.

"Second Brother, let's investigate it again!"