Young Jin Wei: Hunting a Divine Treasure Beast!

Hunting ferocious beasts only to hunt down a living, breathing person-there was truly nothing like it.

As he watched the sturdy youth, Qingyang Huan kept turning things over in his mind. Against those three punches earlier, he had only barely suppressed him by mustering all his blood power.

And this was still within his Qingyang territory. He had underestimated others. Across the entire Ancient Land of La Mountain, how many more were there? In the Great Wilderness, opportunities did not belong to him alone.

Crackle!

The flames popped. Qingyang Huan turned a small beast on the spit, its fat seeping out and dripping into the campfire, sending fragrant wisps curling upward as he waited for the sturdy youth to wake.

After absorbing the blood Qi essence of two entire ferocious beasts, the fluctuating presence around the sturdy youth finally settled. He opened his eyes and watched Qingyang Huan roasting the meat without speaking.

At that moment, that wild bearing spilled out once again.

"You're awake. Which tribe are you from?"

Seeing the youth wake, Qingyang Huan smiled, tore off a beast's leg, and tossed it to him.

Without the slightest affectation, the youth caught it and started eating.

This gave Qingyang Huan a very good impression of him-wild and unrestrained.

Only after finishing the leg did the youth look at Qingyang Huan again. Catching sight of the bronze token at his waist, he said somewhat hesitantly, "A lord of the Qingyang Clan."

Qingyang Huan nodded noncommittally. Qingyang reigned supreme over these ten thousand li, and the tribes beneath them held the Qingyang Clan in admiration.

Now the wildness faded from the youth's eyes. That expression put his mind at ease. It seemed there was a chance. Taking a youth like this under his wing was precisely what he ought to do.

Qingyang Huan was not at all surprised by the youth's gaze. The Qingyang Clan sheltered ten thousand li and hunted other races. Which tribe did not live beneath Qingyang's protection? Without Qingyang, who knew how many of these tribes would have been slaughtered by scattered bands of other races?

This was Qingyang's glory!

At that moment, he unconsciously squared his shoulders. A lord of the Qingyang Clan-this was the honorific the tribes used for Qingyang, earned with the blood of generation after generation of the Qingyang Clan!

"Why were you wearing a beast hide and lurking in a cave, making yourself look like a ferocious beast?"

"When I was old enough to remember, a band of other races overran my tribe. Later, a powerful warrior appeared and saved Mother and me, but the tribe was gone. Mother wanted to take me to shelter with the White Wolf Tribe a hundred li away. Unfortunately, we met a ferocious beast along the way. Mother died protecting me. Just then, Jin Yuan appeared, and things stayed that way until the old Jin Yuan passed away a year ago."

As the youth spoke, a trace of pain flickered in his wild eyes, remembrance for his family and for Jin Yuan, who had raised him.

"So I got used to being like this."

The youth's voice was low. Blood Qi flickered around his hand as he crushed the leg bone he held.

"Later, I learned that the powerful warrior who saved me back then was a Qingyang Guard, a lord of the Qingyang Tribe." Seemingly unaccustomed to speaking with people, the youth's gaze flickered, and even his words to Qingyang Huan were somewhat jumbled.

"Oh, right. I gave myself a name. Jin Wei."

Qingyang Huan listened quietly, without the slightest impatience. At last, he spoke. "Jin Wei, do you want to join the Qingyang Guard?"

"Really?"

Qingyang Huan's words instantly lit up the youth's eyes with anticipation and a measure of caution. Yet that light soon dimmed.

"But I've been to the White Wolf Tribe a hundred li away. They said you have to reach the Divine Treasure Realm to become a lord of the Qingyang Guard. I'm not qualified, and I don't have a method for advancing to the Divine Repository either."

His voice was somewhat downcast, but his expression stirred again. Looking cautiously at Qingyang Huan, he said, "Before Mother died, she told me that if I joined the Qingyang Guard, I could keep lots of children like me from being slaughtered by other races. Even though I was little then, I've always remembered. Can I join the Qingyang Guard?"

Looking at the somewhat guileless youth before him, Qingyang Huan felt his face burn. It seemed his own thoughts had too many things mixed into them. Meeting that expectant gaze, he nodded firmly. "You can!"

"Really!"

Biting out that word, Jin Wei's scattered light gathered in his eyes again.

His thoughts were simple. All the places he had traveled over the years were near the White Wolf Tribe, and his horizons extended no farther than a hundred li around it. The one thing he could never forget was the sight of his mother dying to protect him.

Join the Qingyang Guard, kill other races, and protect more children.

"I'll take you to Qingyang to join the Qingyang Guard."

Qingyang Huan nodded firmly. He could tell that the youth before him had not experienced much, just as he himself wanted to leave Qingyang and see the Ancient Land of La Mountain.

The world in Jin Wei's eyes was a stretch of land a hundred li across. The world he had seen was merely one corner of Qingyang. His wish was to join the Qingyang Guard, a very small wish.

This wish was not insignificant, however. It was solemn indeed-a youth's unwavering fixation.

"On what grounds?" Yet in response to Qingyang Huan's words, Jin Wei shook his head.

The next moment, Qingyang Huan handed him his bronze spear and pointed to the cloud-pattern characters for Qingyang on its shaft, already worn from handling.

"I come from the Qingyang Clan." Qingyang Huan then told Jin Wei, "Because my name is Qingyang Huan. I'll take you into the Qingyang Guard!"

Yet Jin Wei still shook his head.

The crackling of the flames filled the cave, illuminating the two youths. One wore a fierce expression, the other a look of determination. Both were equally young, yet they stood sharply opposed.

Boom!

Blood Qi swept through the burning fire and blasted it apart. The two figures collided again, and the cave shook violently. When the commotion subsided,

blood Qi wreathed Qingyang Huan's hand beneath his beast-hide robe. He clenched and loosened his fist to ease the impact in his arm, while Jin Wei was once again embedded in the cave wall.

"Do you believe me now?"

"No!"

Though Qingyang Huan had punched him into the rock again, stubbornness still shone on Jin Wei's face. He did want to join the Qingyang Guard; that was what he pinned his hopes on.

But he had not reached the point of believing just anyone who said they would take him into the Qingyang Guard, even if that person could defeat him.

Looking at the stubborn Jin Wei before him, a dark gleam flickered in Qingyang Huan's eyes. That look of a wolf spotting prey appeared again. The less Jin Wei believed him, the more it stirred his fighting spirit to bring him back to Qingyang.

"Then I'll beat you and carry you back to Qingyang Mountain, so you can see whether I'm telling the truth!"

Half a month later, two figures darted through a vast ancient forest. Behind them, an enormous earth dragon fully ten zhang in size came thundering through, flattening the forest.

Qingyang Huan and Jin Wei ran furiously. Under Qingyang Huan's shameless pestering and threats, Jin Wei had begun hunting with him in the mountain forests.

He had no choice but to follow. Whenever Jin Wei thought about it, he wanted to smash his fist into the face of the person before him.

Every time he tried to leave, this wretched fellow would duel him and exhaust his blood Qi. It happened over and over, yet he could not beat Qingyang Huan.

What was he supposed to do?

Had this person truly come from the Qingyang Clan? He could not help doubting it. Even the hope he had cherished since childhood wavered somewhat!

Roar! Roar! Roar!

This was a Divine Treasure Realm Earthwalking Dragon. Though called a dragon, it looked more like a giant lizard. Wherever its enormous body passed, all the vegetation and scattered rocks were pulverized.

With a helper at his side, and through a chance coincidence, Qingyang Huan had nevertheless roused an Earthwalking Dragon that had been sleeping soundly underground. Its surging blood Qi swept down like a great river, billowing more than ten zhang away.

"Wind and Rain Gather!"

Running ahead, Qingyang Huan abruptly turned and swept his spear at the Earthwalking Dragon charging behind him. His bronze battle spear stirred a skyful of howling blood Qi and struck its head with a sound like a great bell, sending him flying sideways.

Yet immediately afterward, he used the momentum to halt his backward flight, reversed his grip on the bronze battle spear, and stabbed down again. Through their exchanges, this Earthwalking Dragon had already crossed a hundred li of wild forest, leaving devastation in its wake, its body riddled with bloody holes.

Yet its blood Qi was far too immense. Even after their constant fighting along the way, this giant lizard remained as violent as a surging tide, its blood Qi arching like a rainbow.

"Kui Ox Emerges from the Mountain!"

The bronze battle spear flickered with blood-colored light, a killing presence faintly lingering around it. This time, Qingyang Huan stabbed straight at the earth dragon's neck.

Pfft!

Covered in earthen-yellow scales, the earth dragon still could not withstand that murderous edge. This time, the bronze spear drove savagely into its body, the grinding force of that killing presence tearing open a huge bloody hole.

Roar!

The earth dragon roared, releasing a savage howl. Qingyang Huan retreated immediately after his strike, flying more than ten zhang before stopping and shouting.

"Strike!"

In an instant, the earth dragon roared and shook its enormous body, about to charge forward with the bronze spear still lodged in it. Jin Wei lunged across and punched the butt of the spear.

Pfft!

The arm-thick bronze spear pierced through flesh until only its butt remained outside. Scalding blood erupted along the spear's butt, spraying fully ten zhang high.

Roar!

At that moment, the earth dragon's roar shook the mountains and wilderness. Its tail swept through the surrounding ancient trees like a heavenly whip. Wherever it passed, earth churned and ancient trees splintered, blood mingling with savage violence as it ravaged the surroundings.

Kill!

The two figures split to either side like a gale sweeping through, abruptly striking the roaring earth dragon before immediately retreating. They kept darting in like this, and only after a full quarter of an hour did the earth dragon release an unwilling roar and crash to the ground!