Magic Treasures

After trailing the little creature for about two or three miles, Little Leopard's simmering anger had faded.

The little creature was simply too amusing. Dragging a roasted goat behind it, it farted all the way, sending every beast scattering. That was one thing, but after walking for a while, it actually began humming. At first, Little Leopard thought it was panting from exhaustion, but as he listened, he almost burst out laughing. The rascal was singing, and gradually, its song even began to carry a tune. It strode forward with its forelegs swinging broadly back and forth, looking utterly puffed up with pride. Its thick fur swayed in the breeze, and the tuft of white hair on its head fluttered upward, making it look just like a chipmunk from the cartoons he had watched in his previous life.

A chipmunk dragging food home past the wild trees in a forest-the sight blew every last trace of resentment out of Little Leopard.

"I'd like to see just where you're going, you little thing!"

His resentment had faded, but his interest in the creature had grown considerably. He followed it for another mile or two, until suddenly its body dipped out of sight, taking the roasted goat down with it.

Little Leopard looked ahead and saw a slope, with a patch of grass below it. Trees grew thickly throughout this dense forest, from towering ancient trunks to low shrubs, with vines dangling between them like an enormous net that trapped any person or beast venturing inside. The thick foliage blocked all the sunlight overhead, leaving the entire forest dark and eerie. In many places, not a single ray of light penetrated even in broad daylight. An ordinary person entering these woods would find every step a struggle. Even without encountering wild beasts or birds of prey, they would be trapped here until they died.

Yet Little Leopard had never expected to find such an open space within this dense forest.

The clearing was irregularly shaped and nestled against an exceedingly high cliff, covering roughly two or three hundred square meters. Its gray soil looked perfectly ordinary, yet not a blade of grass grew there.

Precisely because nothing grew there, this clearing received more sunlight than anywhere else in the forest. The soil looked very dry, unlike the damp ground and heavy moisture elsewhere among the trees.

Several beasts had gathered here to bask in the sun, but the instant the little creature appeared, they scattered like birds and beasts taking flight, leaving the clearing empty. Yet they did not flee as though faced with mortal danger. Instead, they ambled away at a leisurely pace, much as someone walking down a road might turn and leave upon spotting a person they disliked. As for the roasted goat dragging behind the creature, even the few carnivorous predators among them did not spare it a glance.

The little creature was used to this and paid no attention to the beasts that had been basking there. It simply dragged the roasted goat straight toward the cliff.

A small cave stood at the foot of the cliff. Its entrance was less than an adult's height, but Little Leopard, now nearly ten years old, could just about walk inside standing upright.

The creature shoved the half-cooked goat straight into the cave, then moved and vanished with a whoosh. When it reappeared, it was on the branch of an enormous Korean pine outside the clearing. It picked several large pinecones, vanished from the branch with another whoosh, and appeared inside the little cave a moment later.

The little fellow happily ate its goat meat with pinecones. Little Leopard could not understand how something the size of a fist could have such an enormous appetite. Never mind the few little pinecones-in mere moments, it had polished off half the half-cooked goat.

Once it finished eating, it cradled its swollen, perfectly round belly, belched, and slowly waddled into the depths of the cave. There, it lay down on a small scrap of yellow cloth and went to sleep.

The cave was not actually deep, only two or three meters, so Little Leopard could clearly see everything inside from where he stood outside.

Cloth? Where did cloth come from out here? Did someone live in this cave before?! Little Leopard froze for a moment, but no matter how he examined it, the little cave did not look as though anyone had ever lived there.

"What a lazy little thing!" When Little Leopard looked at the creature again, he saw that it had already flopped onto the cloth and fallen sound asleep.

Unless this thing really has some trump card to keep itself alive, it must be extraordinarily alert. Otherwise, it's been unbelievably lucky to survive. Sleeping so soundly in broad daylight-isn't it afraid a wild dog might carry it off?!

Puzzled, Little Leopard stopped concealing himself. He emerged from hiding and walked straight toward the cave, making no effort to muffle his heavy footsteps. He even used his internal energy, making each step boom like a drumbeat. Forget an alert chipmunk-even a lazy pig dead to the world would probably have woken up.

Yet the little creature seemed entirely unaware. Little Leopard reached the cave entrance, but rather than waking, it rolled over and smacked its lips, looking blissfully content. Faint snores even began to rise from its nose and mouth.

"Damn it, this blasted thing is even fucking lazier than a pig! I'd like to see what you're relying on to act so brazenly in the Vast Cang Mountains!"

Though his resentment toward the creature had already faded, its utterly carefree behavior still stirred a flicker of indignation in him. He reached out to grab it, but when his hand was still a foot away, a golden curtain of light suddenly flashed from the Yellow Cloth beneath it, blocking his outstretched hand.

"Ow!"

It did more than block him. Caught off guard, Little Leopard touched the yellow curtain of light and instantly felt as though dozens of steel needles had stabbed into his hand. A burst of excruciating pain struck, and he could not help crying out.

His cry was rather loud, and the little creature jolted awake. Opening its eyes, it saw Little Leopard standing at the cave entrance howling in pain. Far from being frightened, it began giggling gleefully.

Fortunately, the pain lasted only an instant. Once Little Leopard withdrew his hand from the curtain of light, it gradually subsided. He turned his hand over to inspect it. Nothing seemed wrong with his palm except a slight flush of red, as though something had scalded it. Seeing the little creature's delight filled him with utter frustration.

"Damn it, I'll have to consult the almanac before going out from now on. Taking a loss at this little fellow's hands for no reason-what a waste!"

Alongside his frustration, Little Leopard now felt a surge of wild delight.

A treasure! A genuine treasure!

He had seen it perfectly clearly: the curtain of light had come from the Yellow Cloth beneath the little creature. Whatever that Yellow Cloth was, Little Leopard was certain it was a treasure. With such a treasure appearing right before his eyes, how could he possibly not rejoice?

He was no longer an ignorant little brat. After mingling with that crowd of low-ranking martial wanderers at Green Ram Market, he naturally knew that magic treasures existed in this world. Unlike the magic treasures he had read about in cultivation novels, however, those of this world had entirely clear origins and were also much harder to find.

As mentioned earlier, so-called unusual arts were methods of refining and transforming the killing intent between heaven and earth for human use. The Twofold Heaven-Piercing Sword that Little Leopard practiced was a method of refining yin-yang killing intent into Sword Qi. Astral energies such as nine-dragon divine fire mystic astral energy and Blood Wuy a's bloodflame true astral energy also fell within the scope of unusual arts, and astral energy was acclaimed as the supreme form of unusual art. Aside from methods that directly refined killing intent for personal use, another branch of unusual arts involved combining killing intent with natural treasures and strange materials, then refining them together through special techniques to create extraordinary objects. Those objects were magic treasures.

Two more updates tonight!