Chapter IV: Qian Zexi's gang and the Xuegong Mountain
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Even though Yin Yun learned the Tiger's series through the memories of the martial expert artists, he didn't have enough physical strength to use them. Imitating a fierce tiger's fighting stance, the Tiger's series required a huge amount of training and before they can be used properly. Not even mentioning the huge amount of energy required for each technique, Yin Yun knew that he'll need more than several years of practices before he could use the techniques efficiently.Fortunately enough, he saw the training method from the martial expert artists and know what physical trainings he needed in order to learn them.
Deep in thought, he was interrupted by a knocking sound coming from the door."Did I disturb you? Since the meal was ready, I brought it to you." In front of the door, Cai Hong was carrying a wooden tray with a plate of foods on it."Not at all, I was only meditating." Letting Cai Hong entering the room, she put the wooden tray on the low-table next to the bed before leaving the room in hurry.
Looking at the wooden tray, Yin Yun swallowed his saliva. Excepted the single steamed bun that he ate during the day, he didn't eat anything the whole day. The delicious smell of the grilled fish filled the room and slowly tempted him to eat it.
Taking a bite of the grilled fish steak, despite the delicious smell, the taste was strangely horrible. Using his [Analyze], his brows suddenly frowned and he quickly understood the reason.
Item: Grilled Fish Steak Quality: Bad Ingredients: Garlic, Oil, Salt, Vegetables, Fish Improvement Requirement: 32 Soul Energy
'What the heck... How come the quality is bad with such a good smell coming from the food... Fortunately, I can improve the dish...'
'Improve!'
Even though he could directly improve the food to the level 9 without making the food in front of him disappear, Yin Yun wanted to try out the difference in taste between the level 1 to the level 9 of food improvement. Taking out a small piece of grilled fish steak after improving it, the bad taste was still present after the improvement.
The level of improvement of the food from the level 1 to the level 4 was eatable and became slightly better by each level. At least much better compared to the horrible taste he'd eaten when he first tried it without improvement.
Between the level 4 to the level 6, the food became delicious, it felt like it was a totally different food eating in a luxurious restaurant.From the level 6 to the level 9, it became even more delicious to the point of him wanting another bite before improving it.Exceeding the level 10, the pleasant yet strange feeling he had when eating the hard-boiled egg back in the Jiangsu Village came back into his body.It was as if he was traveling to another imaginary world where different flavors of the foods were dancing around his body.
The sweetness of the fish meat mixing with the taste of the fragrant taste of the garlic, the strong taste of the vegetables or even the quality of the oil that suddenly changed becoming a top-quality oil. Everything from the foods changed to a whole new level. It was literally a huge difference compared to the level 9 he just ate a few seconds ago.
Filling his stomach after finishing the improved grilled fish steak to the level ten, Yin Yun decided to cultivate his Body Strengthening Technique for a few hours before going to sleep.
*****
A week later...
During this week, Yin Yun explored the whole forest between the Xuegong Village and the Jiangsu Village searching for medicinal herbs. Not only did he Gathered quite an amount of Medicinal Green Leaf, he also discovered a new species of grass.
Item: Royal Magic Leaf Grade: Low Ingredients of: Alchemy, Soul Cultivating Pill Crafting Requirement: 10 Soul Energy Additional Bonus Effect Given After Eating: Increase the Endurance of the user of 10% for 30 minutes.
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The Royal Magic Leaf was a blue cyan magic leaf, an alchemy component used for the Soul Cultivation Pill. The Soul Cultivating Pill was a pill that increases the cultivation speed of the user by 10% for an entire day. Despite the fact that it can be used once a day, it was still an extremely good pill for Yin Yun.
After discovering the Royal Magic Leaf, Yin Yun cultivated his Body Strengthening Technique every day while using the Soul Cultivating Pill, using the Soul Cultivating Pill once a day, he was now able to now use the Body Strengthening Technique for several hours without consuming too much Soul Energy.
Apart from gathering medicinal herbs and cultivating his Body Strengthening Technique, Yin Yun also started the Tiger's series and gained two techniques after a huge amount of efforts.
One was the Tiger's Palm, a technique that gathered his Soul Energy within his palm sending a strong energy wave towards its enemy. Using around one-tenth of his Soul Energy, it was a relatively strong technique that required a lot of Soul Energy. Not having fully mastered the Tiger's Palm, it was only slightly stronger than a strengthened palm from his Body Strengthening Technique. Fused with the Tiger's Palm, it was tremendously strong.
The second Tiger's series technique that he learned from the Tiger's series was the Tiger's Fist, similar to the Tiger's Palm, it was a technique that gathered his Soul Energy around his fist unleashing an explosion of Soul Energy in front of him. Three times stronger than the Tiger's Palm, it could only be used three times per day due to its huge Soul Energy consumption.
Following a narrow path of the Xuegong Mountain, Yin Yun finally arrived at the top of the mountain after thirty minutes of walking.
Today, Yin Yun was feeling confident enough to decimate Qian Xezi and his gang of thieves. After hearing from the villagers of the Xuegong Village that Qian Xezi kidnapped many of their relatives and was going to kill them tonight, he could no longer postpone his duty.
Even though at first he just wanted to steal the treasures that Qian Xezi kept, now it was more the desire to save the villagers that motivated him to stop Qian Xezi and his gang.
"This is the Qian Xezi's hideout? It looks more like the castle of a king..." Sneakily approaching a castle surrounded by walls through the big rocks of the Xuegong Mountain, Yin Yun muttered.
The castle was surrounded by large walls made by stones and was 3 meters high. The castle itself was even more imposing and was three times taller than the walls. Surrounding the walls, big rocks could be seen everywhere.
'There are only two bandits watching the castle's entrance I should be able to take them down but the inside...' Since Yin Yun doesn't know how many bandits Qian Xezi led, he was worried that they could outnumber him and wondered how he could invade this huge castle by himself.
"Counting Qian Xezi himself and those in front of the castle, they numbered up to a total of twenty-six bandits." Suddenly heard a voice next to him, Yin Yun became instantly cautious. Turning his head towards the direction of the voice, a blonde-haired young boy with blue eyes around the same age as him was looking at the castle while letting out a desperate sigh.
From a closer look, the blonde-haired young boy had the same amount of Soul Energy as him. Feeling that he might even be stronger than him, Yin Yun took a fighting stance while retreating to another big rock.
The blonde-haired boy who saw Yin Yun taking a fighting stance raised both of his hands explained showing him that he doesn't want to fight at all. "Hey, I might be suspicious but I don't plan to fight against you. I only came here to recuperate a precious item that Qian Xezi and his gang stole from me." Showing a wry smile on his face.
The blonde-haired boy who saw that Yin Yun was still doubtful about him, he continued. "Besides, if I really was Qian Xezi's lackey, do you really think that I'll even bother talking to you? I could knock you out even before you noticed me right?"
After hearing the boy's explanation, Yin Yun let out a sigh of relief. "Sorry for doubting you. Not a lot of people are visiting the top of the Xuegong Mountain since they know that this is Qian Xezi's hideout." It was true, his explanation was right and that this boy was probably not Qian Xezi's lackey but Yin Yun was still cautious about him.
"Haha, don't worry about that. It was my fault in the first place to surprise you all of sudden." With an amused laugh, the boy's eyes were examining Yin Yun. 'At the bottom of the 1-Star Soul Warrior huh, he should be able to compete with Qian Xezi.'
Falling in a deep thought, the blonde-haired boy proposed a plan to Yin Yun. "What do you think about attacking the castle during the night? During the day, there are too much of bandits guarding the castle. Attacking during the night when they lessened their guard is way easier and with the both of us it should work somehow."
Expecting Yin Yun to accept his proposal, a surprised expression could be seen from the blonde-haired boy when he saw him shaking his head. "I can't wait until tonight. The villagers prisoned inside the castle are going to get killed by the time we saved them."
"Are you there to save the kidnapped villagers?" Such a question came out from the blonde-haired mouth. Seeing Yin Yun's nod, he let out a depressing sight. 'I see... he's that kind of guy...'
"Then forget it, you can attack the castle during the day if you want but I don't want to help you to do a suicidal attack. I'll just wait for tonight." Since Yin Yun didn't want to compromise with his plan, he didn't have any reason to help him to save the villagers either. Letting one or two villagers dying was better to die together with them.
"I never asked for your help to save them either." Yin Yun intended to attack the castle alone in the first place, he didn't want to let not even a single villager died and wait until tonight to reduce the number of bandits. Even though he doesn't know when Qian Xezi planned to kill the villagers, he wants to save them as soon as possible.
The blond-haired boy who already prepared to leave the place, he suddenly turned his head after noticing a huge amount of Soul Energy released behind him. Not even a few seconds passed since the blonde-haired boy lost the sight of Yin Yun but he already closed the distance between the two bandits and him with the help of his Body Strengthening Technique used on his feet.
'Wha─ He's fast!'
Once Yin Yun was close enough to the two bandits, he concentrated his Soul Energy on his fist and─ *Boom* a huge explosion resounded in front of the castle's entrance.
Watching the scene that happened in front of him, a smirk appeared on the blonde-haired boy. "This might be more interesting to help this guy to save the villagers." After muttering that sentence, he slowly walked towards Yin Yun.