Chapter 8: Xuanwu Peak

  Wang Ke withdrew his gaze from the sky and began to size up the people on the square, among the four people standing closest to Kuroki Makoto, there were three men and one woman.

  A hunchbacked old man in a black robe, with a face full of wrinkles, a middle-aged Taoist priest who wore a cyan long gown that seemed to be pierced through, looked like he was in his forties but had a weathered face, next to him was a beautiful woman wearing a fiery red long gown, exuding a fiery aura all over her body, yet with an icy expression, and another one surprisingly wore a set of white battle armor, looking somewhat like a general on the battlefield, emitting a sharp and fierce killing intent.

  From these four people, Wang could feel a strong spiritual pressure that was no less than Kuroki's, and he secretly thought that these four were all mid-Golden Core stage experts.

  "King Ko, you stay behind, the rest of you can leave." Kuroki Makoto turned his head, his majestic voice ringing in everyone's ears. The young disciples of Qingmu Sect who were standing not far from King Ko all nodded silently and set off one after another, leaving only King Ko standing alone on the spot.

  Wang Ke remained in place, his heart somewhat nervous, with several formidable experts standing before him. He couldn't help but steal glances at them.

  "Hei Mu, how was the harvest at Qian Feng Ridge this time? Did you obtain any rare treasures?" The first to speak was the hunchbacked old man, who was now gazing at Hei Mu with an expectant look on his face. The other three people beside him were also looking at Hei Mu with anticipation.

  "Hmm, this time the Sect Master's trip to Qianfeng Ridge didn't yield much, but you'll all find out soon enough. However, it was a good opportunity to eliminate the Soul Demon, which is a great deed for the Cultivation Realm." Kuroki Makoto said calmly.

  "What, the Soul Demon has been eliminated by the Sect Master? That's great! I heard that this demon, in order to cultivate an evil treasure, actually sacrificed tens of thousands of civilians and extracted the life souls of dozens of cultivators. The righteous cultivators have long wanted to get rid of him, and now the Sect Master has taken action, it's very timely."

  "Who is this kid, anyway? Zasurin, with such poor talent, only in the initial stages of Nascent Soul, could he be a young master from some family?" The beautiful woman wearing a fiery red long gown suddenly shifted her gaze to Wang Ke, and a flash of light flowed through her beautiful eyes. Wang Ke only felt a faint divine sense scanning over his body.

  "No, he just happened to help a little when eliminating the soul demon. The sect master accepted the request of Yao Wang and took him into Qingmu Sect. Xuanwu Zhenren, this king will join your Xuanwu Peak." Hei Mu Zhenren introduced simply, then turned his gaze towards the hunchbacked old man.

  "Hei Mu, you also know that our Xuanwu Peak has a large number of people, and the resources for cultivation are not abundant. This kid is just a miscellaneous spiritual root, putting him there would be a waste of our Xuanwu Peak's resources." The hunchbacked old man had a difficult expression, thinking that Wang Ke's poor qualifications made him a cultivator who was simply wasting resources.

  "Hmph, if there's anything difficult, go find the Sect Master directly, this is his arrangement. The Sect Master has already agreed to let Medicine King take him in as a disciple of the sect, at least give him the status of an inner sect disciple. Later on, if Medicine King asks, it'll be easier to explain." Kuroki Shinjin said coldly to Xuanwu Zhenren.

  Wang Ke shifted his gaze to the hunchbacked old man and saw that he had a Xuanwu pattern embroidered on his chest. His eyes swept across the other three people, seeing that each of them also had a different mythical creature pattern on their chests: Zhuque, Baihu, and Qinglong.

  "Wang Ke, come and pay respects to the four Peak Masters. From now on, you will be a disciple of Xuanwu Peak. As an inner door disciple, you must cultivate diligently and take it as your duty to exorcise demons and protect the Tao to bring peace to the world, do you understand?" said Hei Mu Zhen Ren with a stern expression.

  Wang Ke hastily walked over and respectfully bowed, saying: "I've seen the four Peak Masters."

  "Ah, this is the master of Xuanwu Peak, this is the master of Zhuque Peak, this is the master of Qinglong Peak, and this is the master of Baihu Peak. All inner disciples of the sect are managed by these four people. You can follow Master Xuanwu back and he will teach you some basic rules. Alright, I have something to attend to, so I'll take my leave first." Kuroki Shinichi said, then raised a flash of light and shot off into the distance.

  "Congratulations, Xuanwu Peak has added another inner disciple. I have something to attend to, so I'll take my leave first." The middle-aged man in the blue robe looked at the master of Xuanwu Peak with a faint smile and instantly disappeared into the distance with a flash of light.

  Xuanwu Peak's master gazed coldly at the departing back of Qinglong Peak's master, letting out a cold snort. Beside him, Zhuque Peak's master didn't say a word, and with a flash of red light, he also took to the skies, disappearing into the distance. The remaining Bailong Peak's master cast a glance at Wang Ke before taking off into the air, vanishing in an instant.

  "Come on, follow me back to Xuanwu Peak." The master of Xuanwu Peak said coldly, stretching out his hand and waving it. A black light enveloped Wang Ke, transforming into a flash of light that instantly disappeared from the platform, flying straight towards Xuanwu Peak. Wang Ke's face stung with pain from the fierce gusts of wind, but he didn't make a sound, only gritting his teeth against the pain on his face.

  He naturally saw that the master of Xuanwu Peak was in a bad mood and didn't dare make a sound.

  However, as they approached the Xuanwu Peak, the speed of the Xuanwu Peak's main general slowed down, and Wang Ke only felt that the gusts were much smaller, and his face no longer had a stinging pain. In the midst of this, Wang Ke began to take in the scenery outside.

  Looking from afar, the Xuanwu Peak was already enormous. Now that they were closer, the majestic and awe-inspiring feeling filled Wang Ke's heart even more. This gigantic Xuanwu Peak had mountains on top of it, with strange peaks standing tall everywhere, looking like a mountain range itself.

  Waterfalls cascade between mountains, flowers and grasses grow thickly, tall trees cover the entire mountain top, occasionally seeing cranes flying leisurely up and down among the trees, and eagles hovering in mid-air, sometimes revealing the edges of pavilions and buildings in the forest, giving a peaceful and serene feeling.

  "What a paradise on earth, is such a beautiful scene only recorded in books?" Wang Ke was almost intoxicated, he had read some ancient books and scrolls when he was in Fengxue County, and he yearned for the secret realm of immortals recorded in them. He didn't expect that one day he would come to such a place, feeling even more beautiful than what was recorded in the books.

  Xuanguang, the master of Xuanwu Peak, had a gloomy face and didn't say a word. He directly carried Xuanguang to fly to the highest mountain peak. After a moment, they arrived at the highest point. Wang Ke looked up and saw that there was a beautiful courtyard built on top. The buildings were exquisite and unmatched, but they were all in black, giving off a heavy feeling. In front of the courtyard, there was a small square with an area of several hectares, paved with neat and tidy green bricks.

  Xuanwu Peak Master brought Wang Ke and flew directly over the square, landing at the entrance of the courtyard. Behind him, Wang Ke shook his body and stood firm, looking up to see a black-robed young man rushing out from inside the courtyard.

  "Feng Zhu, you've returned!" The young man ran forward, bowing his head and greeting respectfully. Wang Ke's gaze fell on the young man, who looked to be not even twenty years old, yet the spiritual pressure emanating from him was far stronger than his own. The young man's eyes sparkled with intelligence, clearly very clever.

  "Alright, Wang Ke, you just wait outside, I'll take care of it." The master of Xuanwu Peak said coldly and strode inside with a wave of his sleeve. After the master walked past, the young man finally lifted his head and curiously looked at Wang Ke standing behind him. He glanced at him and then curled his lip, revealing a faint look of disdain on his face. Then he turned around and followed Xuanwu Peak's master into the inner chamber.

  Wang Ke couldn't understand why this young man looked at him like that, the disdain in the youth's eyes was so obvious. Wang Ke didn't mind shifting his gaze elsewhere. The mountain top was shrouded in mist, hazy and indistinct, with distant trees looming vaguely, exuding an air of mystery that deeply attracted Wang Ke.

  Xuanwu Peak Master walked into a large hall with a stern face, the hall was very spacious, in the middle of which stood a huge tripod furnace, at this time the fire was burning vigorously, two fifteen or sixteen year old boys were intently watching the fire, seeing Xuanwu Peak Master come in, the two hastily stood up and bowed their heads.

  Xuanwu Peak's master walked directly to the central seat and sat down, then suddenly his right hand heavily slapped the wooden table beside him. A loud "bang" sound was heard, and the wooden table beside him shook violently, making a creaking sound that seemed about to collapse.

  The two boys with their heads down trembled all over, scared and stuttered for a moment. The young man who followed behind also shuddered all over, walked to the side with his head down, and didn't dare to speak.

  "He actually arranged for the little son of the miscellaneous spirit root to come to my Xuanwu Peak, and even wants to treat him as an inner disciple. It's simply treating my Xuanwu Peak as a place to raise idle people!" The master of Xuanwu Peak said angrily.

  Upon hearing the tone of anger in Xu Wu Peak's voice, the two young men below trembled even more violently. However, the black-robed youth beside them rolled his eyes rapidly, with a cunning and sinister look, as if he was thinking of some plan.

  "Hmph, a newly entered Nascent Soul stage disciple of the Miscellaneous Spirit Root is assigned to Xuanwu Peak, and yet it's caused the peak master to be so unhappy. In recent years, Xuanwu Peak hasn't produced any outstanding disciples, and each disciple still has to pay their monthly stipend. The expenses for maintaining Xuanwu Peak are not small, and usually only those with exceptional talent can enter Xuanwu Peak. Now they have to distribute spirit stones to a Miscellaneous Spirit Root disciple like this, no wonder the peak master is so angry." This disciple's eyes spun rapidly as he had already guessed why the peak master was furious.

  "Suddenly he had an idea in his mind, and respectfully walked to the front, saying in a low voice: 'If Master Feng doesn't want to arrange for this miscellaneous spirit root disciple, I have a good method'."

  The master of Xuanwu Peak turned his gaze, looked over, and slightly furrowed his brow. His aura naturally fell on the young man, causing him to tremble all over, his face turning somewhat pale. However, he soon calmed down with great effort.

  Xuanwu Peak's master was at the peak of his power, and his aura naturally emanated from his body. The disciple in front of him had exceptional talent and was clever and agile, deeply pleasing Xuanwu Peak's master, who also wanted to hear what ideas this disciple had.

  "Feng Zhu, I know that next month the Gong De Temple will announce a task. The task can allocate a certain amount of Ling Stone every month. Why don't we arrange for that miscellaneous spirit root's disciple outside to take on this task?" The young man proposed in a low voice after calming his mind.

  "There are tasks for distributing Ling stones, and other disciples are still fighting to grab them. Are they waiting for me to arrange someone to go?" The master of Xuanwu Peak raised an eyebrow, staring at the young man and asked.

  "The Peak Master is unaware, this task is quite special. Although executing this task will yield some spiritual stones every month, the place where the task is executed has not a single shred of spiritual energy. Moreover, outer sect disciples are absolutely not allowed to take on this task. So, Peak Master can rest assured, no one will be fighting to do such a task. As long as I go and say a word, this matter will definitely succeed." The young man smiled smugly.

  "You're talking about the mission to guard the forbidden land, are you going to re-release it next month?" The main general of Xuanwu Peak's body collected his momentum and asked in a low voice, with a hint of excitement flashing in his eyes.

  "That's right, it's that task. If Peak Master trusts me, I'll take care of the arrangement and guarantee that everything will be done perfectly without any mistakes." The young man said, slightly raising his head to look at the expression on Peak Master's face. Seeing Peak Master's eyes flicker with a hint of excitement, after a moment, he saw Peak Master nod his head and tap his right finger on the wooden table several times before saying in a deep voice: "Alright, I'll leave this matter to you to handle."

  "Stone, you go out first and take that junior brother outside to Black Stone Rock, then find him a few introductory books, and settle him down. The rest will be handled by Lingmu." said the master of Xuanwu Peak with a smile on his face.

  "It's Lord Feng!" One of the boys with his head down bowed and backed away, ran out of the hall and disappeared quickly.

  "Hmph, summon a idle Spirit Root to me at the Xuanwu Peak, I won't waste resources for nothing." The master of Xuanwu Peak sneered in his heart.