Ancient Strengthening Technique (Web Novel)
chapter-867

AST 867 – Hard To Find the Sky Penetrating Grass, Treasure Beast Treasure Hunting Pigs

When Qing Shui heard the lady’s words, he also felt that Cheng Clan was really unlucky. Since they dared to enter deep 100,000 li in, it meant that they were pretty powerful but were just unlucky to have came across the Golden Jiao King.

Sometimes, this was how people were. Everything would be decided in one unlucky event. Therefore, luck was very important. It was not something that could be grasped or seen but yet seemed to exist.

Qing Shui didn’t ask why they had gone to the Sky Penetrating Mountains, since it was not something he should be asking. In this area, he had been insisting that things were none of his business or were related to other people’s secrets, he wouldn’t take the initiative to ask. It was just like now, how he would not ask in detail why the other party had come to the Sky Penetrating Mountains.

“Are you here to look for something in the Sky Penetrating Mountains? Is it something that you are at ease to share? I can see if it’s located somewhere I know of,” the lady looked at Qing Shui and spoke softly.

“Of course. I’m here to look for Sky Penetrating Grass which is 5,000 Years or older,” Qing Shui looked at the lady and said slowly.

Hearing Qing Shui’s words, the lady was stunned and didn’t speak for a long time.

Qing Shui looked at that extremely unnatural expression on her beautiful face and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I can be very sure that there’s no Sky Penetrating Grass within 100,000 li. The Sky Penetrating Grass is deeper within the Sky Penetrating Mountains.” The lady hesitated for a moment before replying.

Qing Shui was stunned as well. Although he had expected this result, he still felt an indescribable sense of helplessness. It was because if it was not within 100,000 li, it would be really hard for him to get his hands on it.

“Then does Miss know how deep in I would be able to find Sky Penetrating Grass?” Qing Shui thought that since this lady from Mu Clan had came here not less than ten times, she should know something about the place. Even if she hadn’t encountered them, she should know something about them. Moreover, there had been people who had gotten their hands on Sky Penetrating Grass from these mountains.

“I’m not very sure but I’ve heard that someone had found the Sky Penetrating Grass about 300,000 li inside,” the lady from Mu Clan hesitated and said.

Qing Shui thought that since there was one near 300,000 li deep, then there might possibly be another. At the same time, it also meant one thing, which was that there should be the existence of Sky Penetrating Grass from this range onward.

Another thing was that there were people who could enter 300,000 li in, while Mu Clan could only enter 100,000 li in. It might be because Mu Clan had done this for the sake of the future and for safety purposes did not want to take greater risks.

“Thank you. After you guys have completed your mission or have reached the limits where you can go, there’s no need for you to care about me. I’ll go look for the Sky Penetrating Grass. Thank you for bringing me here.” Qing Shui smiled and said.

“With your abilities, if you were to head deeper beyond 100,000 li, chances are that you’ll die. Is the Sky Penetrating Grass more important than your life?” The lady frowned and asked. After all, Dong Clan had entrusted her with the task of taking care of him and even Dong Clan’s Old Master had brought it up himself. It was just that at the beginning, it was only agreed that he would be entering the Sky Penetrating Mountains with Mu Clan and there was no mention that he was going to look for the Sky Penetrating Grass. It was not something she could bring up on her side.

“I’d like to give it a try. Don’t worry, Dong Clan won’t blame you.”

“If I had known that you were here to look for the Sky Penetrating Grass, I’d definitely not have brought you along,” the lady sighed and said.

“I’ll familiarize myself with the environment while I’m with you guys before I enter slightly deeper in. It might not be as dangerous as it’s imagined to be.” Qing Shui seemed as if he was consoling himself.

“Can you not go? Don’t be hoping to be lucky,” the lady spoke through clenched teeth.

“I really need the Sky Penetrating Grass. I’ll be very careful,” Qing Shui hesitated a moment before saying.

This time around, the lady did not say much. She knew that Qing Shui would definitely go.

Very quickly, the two of them returned to the area where their tents were. Not long after, two old men from Mu Clan walked over to Qing Shui.

It was Mu Yiping’s and Mu Yiang’s third and seventh uncles. Their intentions were very clear, which was hoping that Qing Shui would not go deeper into the Sky Penetrating Mountains. They were on quite good terms with Dong Clan’s Old Master, who had specially gone to Mu Clan for Qing Shui. Therefore, these two old men were also hoping to change Qing Shui’s decision about entering deeper into the mountains.

“Sirs, don’t worry. There shouldn’t be any problems.” Qing Shui had not expected the two of them to be persuading him relentlessly. He knew that it was because of Dong Clan or it could also be because of his culinary skills…

For the past few days, Qing Shui had mostly been the one in charge of cooking and everyone’s taste buds had been trained up by him, making it hard for them to eat ordinary cooking.

“We knew that this might happen but when the time comes, before you leave, let us know.” One of the old men gave it some thought and said.

“Of course, that goes without saying,” Qing Shui smiled and said.

…

The next day, after the sun rose up and the fog in the mountains gradually scattered, Qing Shui and the others had entered the Sky Penetrating Mountains. There was only one huge entrance to the valley into the Sky Penetrating Mountains and upon entering everything lit up.

A vast swath of wilderness that stretched beyond the borders of one’s vision appeared before his eyes. Out there, there were many mountains in great numbers. This strange feeling gave him a visual impact, as if he was looking at a painting. It was from the viewpoint of a third party.

It was relatively safe within 1,000 li and there were basically no dangers there. Therefore, they sat on their rides and flew past this distance, stopping only after they had reached the 1,000 li point.

This was a transitional point!

Although there didn’t seem to be any dangers from here and they had also not come across any dangers within the past 1,000 li, Qing Shui didn’t dare to let his guard down. It was because upon entering the Sky Penetrating Mountains, he could sense a tremendous dangerous aura which was very suppressing. If one was not strong enough, the person would definitely not be able to unleash his abilities at full power.

Spiritual suppression!

Amongst the Sky Penetrating Mountains, if one’s spirit energy was not strong enough, the further one entered, the more suppressed the person would feel and to the extent that just the suppression alone would weaken one’s abilities by a lot. This was the reason why many people could only enter 1,000 or 10,000 li into the mountains. If they were to enter even deeper, they would have the abilities of normal people or feel weak and collapse.

From the 1,000 li mark onward, they would encounter many dangers and more so in the air. Sometimes, there would be a whole flock of demonic beasts passing by and thus it was safer on the ground. It was easy to hide amongst valleys or caves on land.

Within the first 1,000 li, they could still see groups of people but beyond the first 1,000 li, the number of groups around diminished and they might not even come across a single group even when half the day had passed.

“Bloody Vines!” Someone pointed to the midpoint of the cliff walls in the distance and shouted.

Qing Shui looked toward the direction the person was pointing to. It was a blood red colored vine type plant. Amidst the green plants around, it was like a huge blood red colored python and there was a translucent, blood red, fruit on it that was the size of a baby’s fist.

“Haha, not bad. We’re off to a good start. I’ve said that we should take this path and it seems like the decision was right,” the old man who was called Old Eight smiled and said.

“We might have come across a 3,000 Years Bloody Vines Fruit if we were to choose the other routes and not this which is not even 2,000 years of age,” an old man smiled and interrupted.

“Old Seven, are you out to challenge me?” Old Eight asked, infuriated.

The other people didn’t give any response. They were used to such situations and had long been numbed. Even if they were to start fighting, no one else would even furrow their brows.

They only picked that fruit. Qing Shui faintly recalled that the Bloody Vines Fruit could change one’s blood quality, making it more active and increase the user’s talent, abilities and physiques. It was quite a good item and the effects could be accumulated. Just one alone would not bring much impact but the effects would still be very obvious.

There were really a lot of good things within the Sky Penetrating Mountains. However, there were also plenty of dangers around. Even just for the distance which they had travelled, they had already chased off demonic beasts more than ten times. They had all been elementary Martial Saints, some of which were alone, some in a small group and some coming in a horde of over a hundred of them.

However, the people here were strong enough and thus could chase them off easily. If it was a weak group, they would have died many times over. Interests and dangers came in the same ratio and thus the benefits they received were also tremendous.

This was just the beginning. The deeper they went in, the greater the danger and the more powerful the demonic beasts they would encounter. The routes would also be restrictive since there would be weeds that were taller than humans, many of which came with sharp thorns. There were those in a multitude of colors, those which were scarlet and those which were pungent. Therefore, they were only able to fly over them, being careful of any miasma or poisonous creatures like poisonous snakes and worms.

Three days passed by and the group had only entered another 1,000 li deeper. The deeper they went in, the slower their speed. Earlier, they had even pushed back a horde of high level Martial Saint demonic beasts of about 100 in numbers.

This caused the lady from Mu Clan to frown. They had only entered 2,000 li into the Sky Penetrating Mountains. The situation seemed to be a bit different than from the past. By rights, at this depth, there shouldn’t be such powerful demonic beasts.

Thinking that they had only encountered this once, she relaxed her brows and continued to head in, seeming as if she had no targeted destination, yet at the same time, as if she had everything planned out. Her actions which followed made Qing Shui extremely astonished. She let out over ten golden-colored piglets that were about one foot in size.

Treasure Hunting Pigs…

The pigs were about one foot in size, their bodies like diamond and their speed was extremely fast.They darted about in the mountains. Qing Shui had not expected that this lady had such treasures and ten of them. Each of them were very cute and chubby, making one have the urge to hug them.

Treasure Hunting Pigs were treasure beasts and they were not very strong. Their bodies were tough as diamond and both their speed and endurance level were very strong. Their only unique trait was that they could look for treasures and thus the name Treasure Hunting Pigs.

Treasure beasts were unlike mutated beasts and fantastic beasts. An existence like the Treasure Hunting Pigs didn’t hold any attacking prowess but their survival abilities were very strong and were the dreams of many people.

Treasure beasts were covered in treasures all over. Take the Treasure Hunting Pig for example, it had a golden-colored pearl in its body which had a tremendous worth. However, no one would kill a Treasure Hunting Pigs to take away its golden-colored pearl since the greatest worth of a Treasure Hunting Pig was its ability to search for treasure.

The lady would be following the direction of the Treasure Hunting Pigs from then on. With over ten of them, they managed to reap great rewards, with most of them being medicinal herbs or wild fruits that were about 3,000 years of age.

However, these were already considered very good at this location. Of course, there were also those which had a greater age but were quite few. In fact, in the first 1,000 li, there were also 3,000 Years or even 5,000 Years medicinal herbs but most of them were not over 3,000 years.

It was really convenient with the Treasure Hunting Pigs. Qing Shui continued to looked at the running golden-colored creatures and then at that graceful and poised lady, feeling that she was really blessed with great advantages.