Chapter Twelve: Sze To Fung

  At noon, the mountain is dark.

  Ye Yang clenched his fists and silently activated the Fire God's power, only to see a layer of pale yellow energy enveloping his fists, looking very mysterious.

  "Heh heh, Ye Yang, what's wrong?" Qin Fang's voice came over.

  Ye Yang said: "Qin Fang Grandfather, what level is my current strength in the Great Land?"

  Qin Fang couldn't help but smile: "Foolish kid, your true energy aura is yellow, so you're naturally at the fourth level of the Great Earth Realm."

  "Oh?"

  Seeing Ye Yang's half-believing and half-doubting expression, Qin Fang explained: "After all, the human body has a limited capacity to withstand things, so the strong who enter the Grand Earth Realm do not rely solely on their own energy. Their energy is actually drawn from the earth, nature, and air. This is the origin of the Grand Earth Realm. For example, your Fire God's power, half comes from yourself, and the other half comes from the earth. Each level of the Grand Earth Realm will have different external forces!"

  Qin Fang smiled and continued, "Different intensities of power will have different glows. The first level of the earth element appears as white, the second level is green, the third level is blue. Your fire god's glow is light yellow, indicating that your power intensity has already reached the fourth level of the earth element. After that, it will be red, orange, cyan, dark blue, and finally purple!"

  Ye Yang suddenly realized and nodded: "So it was!"

  Qin Fang smiled and reminded him, "Ye Yang, gather your spiritual awareness and sense carefully, you will discover something!"

  "Oh?"

  Ye Yang held his breath, the true energy of Huo Shen's residual scroll flowing unceasingly within him, his spiritual awareness spreading out, and in an instant, he caught a few extremely powerful forces hiding 500 meters southwest!

  "How is it?" Qin Fang stroked his beard and smiled: "The ability to know beforehand comes from this. Ye Yang, prepare for battle! The auras of these few people are filled with intense killing intent!"

  "Hmm!"

  Qin Fang continued to sleep soundly, while Ye Yang suddenly stretched out his hand and shouted: "Halt!"

  "Master Song's head was surprised and asked: "Young master, what's wrong?"

  Ye Yang swung his sword towards the southwest direction: "One mile outside this place, there is an ambush, everyone be careful and on guard!"

  "Good!"

  Several guards looked at him with a hint of doubt, yet were not quite willing to believe it. After all, Young Master Ye Yang had always been known for his lack of skills and idle nature, so who would have thought he actually had any real abilities?

  However, the team had not walked for five minutes when the jungle suddenly shook and more than a dozen sturdy men with leather armor and holding swords rushed out. It was a group of mountain bandits, led by a burly man wielding a battle-axe, with a face full of whiskers, a bare chest, and a fiery tuft of chest hair!

  "This road was made by me, this tree was planted by me..." The leader of the mountain bandits loudly sang an ancient ballad.

  Ye Yang raised his hand to stop him, and smiled: "This Qingfeng Mountain has dense trees, you say this tree is planted by you, what evidence do you have? Can you plant so many trees? Shouldn't I give you a 'Tree Planting Expert' banner?"

  The bandit leader was taken aback, furious: "You little brat, you dare to provoke me? You're going to die!"

  As he spoke, the man swung his weapon, and a deep blue glow appeared on the battle axe, which made Ye Yang slightly surprised. A mere mountain bandit actually possessed the powerful strength of the third level of the Grand Earth?

  Song Jiao's head was even more shocked, and he shouted loudly: "Young Master Zi Yu be careful! This person has already entered the peak level of the third rank of the Grand Earth, don't be careless!"

  Behind him, several guards drew their bows and shot arrows hastily.

  The mountain bandit leader, however, remained unmoved and unresponsive. The arrows struck the protective aura surrounding his body, making a loud clanging sound as they all bounced off, unable to harm him in the slightest.

  "Haha, brothers, slaughter them and take away all their wealth!"

  The bandit leader's giant axe seemed to tear through the air, carrying intense wind energy as it chopped down, its target being one of the shield-bearing guards at the front!

  "Crack!"

  Although the guardian raised his rattan shield, unfortunately, the strength of both sides was not on the same level. As soon as they came into contact, the rattan shield immediately turned to dust. The leader of the mountain bandits swung down a powerful axe, cutting through the guardian's shield and arm like a hot knife through butter!

  "Ah!"

  A shrill cry pierced the tranquility of the forest, and the guardian let out a mournful howl as he fell to the ground. One arm had already been severed, and the wound was torn into shreds by the opponent's wind-based energy. Blood gushed out like a fountain, and he tumbled out, falling like a broken kite in the grass thicket, his breath gone in an instant.

  Song Jiaotou stared in shock and then burst into anger, swinging his three-pointed knife and shouting: "You scoundrel, I'll chop you to pieces!"

  "Hey!"

  The leader of the mountain bandits let out a cold laugh: "Looking for death!"

  Song Jiao's head was filled with unexplained sorrow and anger, the three-pointed knife wrapped in a faint blue true energy glow, like a mad dragon rushing out to sea, the long knife blade rang out, the infused energy was too majestic, the fine steel-made weapon was about to be unbearable.

  "Clang!"

  In the flash of lightning, the three-pointed knife was stuck on the handle of the opponent's axe. The leader of the mountain bandits grasped it very accurately, and after a loud laugh, he shook off the three-pointed knife. The battle-axe was raised high, and with an air as if a god had descended from heaven, it chopped down from above. Judging by that momentum, it seemed that he had already made up his mind to chop Song Jiao into two halves.

  "Ah!"

  Song Jiao's eyes were bloodshot, his hands raised high with a trident knife, he must block this blow, otherwise the only thing waiting for him was a dead end.

  After a deafening crash, the mountain bandit leader stood calmly and fearlessly, holding a battle axe at a distance. Song Jiao's head, on the other hand, retreated repeatedly, spitting out a mouthful of blood from his throat. Although both sides were at the third level of the Great Earth, Song Jiao had just entered the third level, while his opponent was indeed at the peak of the third level. The gap in strength was extremely obvious, to the point where he fell with one blow!

  The leader of the mountain bandits had a ferocious face and burst out laughing: "I, Situ Feng, have been rampant in Qingfeng Mountain without meeting an enemy. What kind of onion are you, daring to be so arrogant on my turf?"

  As he spoke, the leader of the mountain bandits dragged over the corpse of the guard beside him, took a look at the emblem on his chest and said: "Hmph, the Ye family of the Fire God clan? Heh heh, interesting. The head of this family seems to only have Earth 5th level strength too. In my opinion, it's better for them to scram out of Liancheng sooner rather than later. Otherwise, once I've grown in power and come down from the mountain, I'll wipe out Ye Nantian! Hahahaha..."

  Facing the arrogance of Situ Feng, the leader of the mountain bandits, the crowd of guards were terrified, and Song Jiao's face was filled with shame. He said to Ye Yang: "Young Master Zi Yu, I'm sorry, it's our incompetence. This Situ Feng is a tyrant in Qingfeng Mountain, and the lord of Liang City has been wanted him for five years but no one can do anything about him. This time... we can't protect you anymore..."

  Situ Feng's eyes turned cold, and he stared at Ye Yang with a sneer. He couldn't help but burst into a fit of maniacal laughter, pointing at Ye Yang as he said: "You're the rumored useless young master of the Ye family? Hahahaha, the shame of the entire Huo Shen clan! Today, I'll be merciful and erase your shameful existence for the sake of the Huo Shen clan!"

  As he spoke, Situ Feng let out a loud roar and raised his power to its peak. His battle axe was wrapped in chilling energy as he charged forward like a bear and pounced like a tiger, unleashing a cleaving strike that split the air and descended from the sky!

  A faint smile appeared at the corner of Ye Yang's mouth, he calmly raised his head to look at the sharp axe in the air, suddenly his sword-like eyebrows rose, and he charged forward with a single fist hidden behind him, palm up, five fingers shrouded in crimson flames, it was the majestic Fire God's power born from the residual volume of the Fire God!

  "Huh?"

  Situ Feng felt that something was amiss, but with the arrow already on the string, he had no choice but to release it. This axe head still came crashing down with great force and momentum!

  "Brush!"

  The axe's trajectory was only halfway through, but it couldn't move forward by even a single millimeter. A completely different energy had blocked Su Tu Feng's attack, making it impossible for him to chop in another half inch!

  "Scary!!! The wall is collapsing..."

  Situ Feng spoke his last words before he died, the next moment, he saw the handsome young man in front of him make a move, a fist surrounded by flames heavily imprinted on his own chest!

  "Boom! Crack..."

  With the sound of his ribs cracking, Situ Feng's entire body seemed to plummet into the grass like a meteor, sending countless blades of grass and clods of earth flying, and actually pounded out a large pit on the ground!

  Several mountain bandits rushed forward in a flurry, exchanged a few words, and one by one their faces turned deathly pale. After withstanding this blow, Situ Feng actually died just like that!

  In the blink of an eye, the mountain bandits dispersed in all directions.

  A few seconds later, several guards burst into applause. Song Jiao Tou, wounded, walked forward and laughed: "Young Master, you're really awesome! You actually killed Si Tu Feng, such a villain, with just one move! Great, his head is worth 1000 taels of silver!"

  Ye Yang stood there in a daze, staring at his own blood-stained fist.

  He killed someone! This is Ye Yang's first time killing someone in his life!

  However, the person killed was indeed a bad guy, and Ye Yang's adverse reaction after killing only lasted for half a minute.

  Song Jiao cut off Si Tu Feng's head, wrapped it in black cloth, and had a guard carry it. He walked forward, smiling: "Young Master, when did you cultivate your Huo Shen Quan to be so fierce? The old master never mentioned it before!"

  Ye Yang smiled lightly, probably Ye Nantian still didn't know that he had already entered the fourth level of the Earth Realm. The Fire God's residual scroll was a great achievement, and Qin Fang's "Hundred Refinements" equipment refinement technique made his cultivation progress greatly, and his strength could be said to have improved dramatically compared to before.

  ……

  As they went deeper, the attitude of the Ding family towards Ye Yang was no longer flattering, but a heartfelt admiration. Someone who could knock out the villain Situ Feng with one punch, there might not be even a few in the entire Liang City. And Ye Yang, at such a young age, had achieved this level of cultivation, which couldn't help but make people look at him with new eyes.

  The deeper they went into the jungle, the more venomous insects and ferocious beasts there were. After Song Jiao beheaded two giant pythons and an iron-needle boar, all the family guards had a look of fear on their faces.

  This Qingfeng Mountain is indeed just like the legend, it's a hell for the weak and a paradise for the strong. Deep within Qingfeng Mountain, magical beasts roam about. The core of a high-ranking magical beast can be sold for a fortune that can rival a country's wealth, but killing one would also bring catastrophic disaster.

  Suddenly, Song Jiao stopped in his tracks, raised his long knife and pointed forward, saying: "Young Master Zi Yu, that is the entrance to the main peak of Qingfeng Mountain. It's a gorge filled with danger. In my opinion, it would be better to search around here for any sources of Xuanling Stone mines. This place is already within the borders of Qingfeng Mountain."

  Ye Yang could see that Song Jiao also had his concerns, and it was no surprise that further ahead, powerful magical beasts would indeed appear. If they continued to venture deeper, it would be no different from seeking death for themselves.

  Then Ye Yang nodded: "Everyone disperse and search, be sure to be careful!"

  "Yes!"

  A group of people dispersed, Song Jiao Tou then held a knife closely following Ye Yang, protecting the young master was his duty, although he already knew that Ye Yang's strength was far above his own.

  ……

  Along the foot of the mountain range, Ye Yang used his iron sword to part a cluster of dense foliage. Occasionally, wild rabbits and venomous snakes would dart out, but there was no real danger, after all, Ye Yang possessed the power of the fourth level of the Great Earth, and he had become more confident as well. Let alone these wild beasts, even if a magical beast were to appear, he wouldn't have to be afraid.

  Piece by piece, the ore appeared in the grass, but none of them were the Xuanling stone that Ye Yang was looking for. According to the hint from the blacksmith's shop owner, the Xuanling stone is a rare ore rich in fire elements, always hot in all seasons, once used as a treasure to warm beds in winter, and later found to be an excellent material for casting soldiers.

  At this moment, a shrill cry suddenly came from afar!

  Ye Yang's heart skipped a beat as he heard the voice of a guard, this was not good, something must have happened to those people!