Translator: Tamon
Ergou’s retarded look made Xu Hei gulp hard.
He had a burning question in need of answering.
[Who put her up to refinig pills?]
“Xu Hei, do you need me for something? Tell me what it is, and I’ll do my utmost best!”
Xu Bai stared at him with big puppy eyes, eager for his answer.
Xu Hei was stuck. He did come over with the idea to have her make some pills, but did he have the nerve to eat them?
“Right, why did I come here? I’ll take a walk and see if I remember.”
Xu Hei gave a strained laugh as he left.
“Is that alchemy furnace behind you for me? Do you want me to make pills?” Xu Bai’s eyes sparkled.
Xu Hei froze, his face going through all the colors.
[Fine! I have bones of steel and skin of bronze; there’s no pill I can’t eat! I won’t end up like Ergou.] Xu Hei comforted himself.
He carefully placed the furnace on the ground and took out the Snake Fruit Tree along with many high-grade ingredients.
He also offered all his jade slips about alchemy, spiritual herbs, and recipes in a neat row.
“This is everything I have on alchemy. There’s also the Minor Boost Pill recipe among them.
“Could you give it a try? Don’t force yourself if it’s too much.”
Xu Hei was tactful.
“I won’t fail you.” Xu Bai spoke with glee.
Xu Hei took a deep breath and left.
[I passed on the task then comes eating, though I can always try after Hei Huang.]
[She only messed up her first refining since she just started off. She’ll do fine.]
Xu Hei was unusually optimistic for once, despite the signs.
He really needed an alchemist by his side. Venturing into the human world for pills was bound to end up badly at some point. If Xu Bei grasped alchemy, she would be perfect.
Xu Bai glanced at the catatonic wolf. “Ergou, Xu Hei has a task for me that I must finish. I’ll leave the tasting to you.”
Ergou’s dumb smile never left his snout despite the horrors painted on his eyes for all to see.
…
As a one-star sect of the southern area, the Shifting Mountain Sect was under the Snake Catchers Sect. It had five hundred years of rich history and a legendary ancestor.
“Humph, you picked on the wrong disciple, Shifting Mountain Sect. Now I’ll end you.”
Hei Huang snickered as he vanished behind their mountain.
An overseer was making his rounds around those parts when his eyes went wide and gawked at the unbelievable scene.
Minutes later, a wail of horror shook all of the Shifting Mountain Sect. “This is horrible! Ancestor’s tomb was robbed!”
The entire sect was in uproar.
The leader, Grand Elder, the Snake Catchers Sect guest, and all men with status gathered behind the mountain and stared at the now large hole replacing their ancestor’s tomb. The third-grade array wasn’t even triggered.
“No~!” Grand Elder Shi Fengzi howled in grief.
Another said, “See if Ancestor’s body is still there.”
Shi Fengzi snapped out of it and entered the tomb to find an empty coffin, bare of not just the funerary items but the remains as well.
What was worse, the arrays, warnings, and shields put up were left untouched.
The grave robber ignored them all!
“Who the hell did this?” Shi Fengzi roared with the furry of a thousand suns.
Ancestor Ban Shan was his role model, having more respect for this glorious figure than for his own life. The robber had gone way too far!(Tamon: ban shan is lit. shifting/moving mountain)
“Ancestor Ban Shan was an almighty Golden Core cultivator! Only another cultivator in the same stage could’ve run off with his body!”
“No, a Golden Core cultivator wouldn’t bother being sneaky about it.”
“If they’re not in the Golden Core Stage, why didn’t the third-grade array react?”
The powers that be were in a heated debate.
The sect leader, Shi Yazi, kneeled before the tomb with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“This disciple failed you, Master!”
Before long, he was barking orders, sparing no expense or manpower in finding the grave robber. A sky-high bounty was issued.
The Snake Catchers Sect guest was in deep thought.
[Why is it that your sect was the only one targeted? What set you apart?]
He was quick to find the situation’s particular details. [You lost a Foundation Establishment Elder, but the other party didn’t lose anything.]
“Haa.” He held his forehead.
The ancestral desecration took the southern area by storm. All sects doubled their defenses in panic to avoid suffering the same fate.
The robbing of one’s ancestors was a stain on one’s honor, a shame nigh impossible to wash. It was worse than personal disgrace.
As for the culprit, he was dog-tired from his first tomb robbing, not having enough to keep at it.
But the feat was totally worth it.
“A shame I don’t have the Sky Effigy Sect’s cultivation method’s third stage, or I’d have made you into a mighty fine puppet.” Hei Huang grumbled.
Regret took him. [Why, oh why, didn’t I use threaten the Sky Effigy Sect into giving it over back in the day?]
Not just them, but even their main sect, the Divine Effigy Sect would’ve balked.
“Little Xu has great fortune. With someone bearing a wood spirit root beside him, pills are assured. I’ll also impart some alchemy skills to her and see how she fares.”
Hei Huang let his mind wander as he swam through the earth.
…
A pack of furred, black-skinned elephants was munching on the plants in an overgrown forest. Their leader was five meters tall and had no trouble eating an entire tree in one go.
Xu Hei hid below, observing the mammoths and biding his time.
The leader was a Mammoth King, at peak Awareness Stage.
Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would think twice before approaching it.
Its type of demons was at the top of the food chain and dominating the areas with their packs. Taking on a single demon would require confronting the entire group. Foundation Establishment Stage would provide little advantage, if any.
On top of that, the demon’s skin was thick, immune to common magical arts.
“Just one will last me days.” Xu Hei hissed, filled with greed.
With no pills and out of demon meat, he had to hunt.
He had mastered Earth Armor and Earth Spike, with his puppet mastery not lagging behind either. He could control fifty small lizards or twenty big ones.
Xu Hei aimed for the peak Awareness Stage leader, or the 8th layer second strongest mamoth.
“Let’s not frighten them and lead them instead.”
Xu Hei pondered as he sent a little lizard out.