Chapter 23: Exotic Beasts

Not long after, the news that Lu Ren would gather Qi this month at the latest spread among the outer disciples, shocking everyone.

It usually took three months to reach the first martial barrier; Lu Ren gathering Qi in two months was a staggering speed.

If his family conditions were good, and he could have the resources of tens of taels of silver a month like those rich kids, this time would be even shorter.

Zhang Yong and Zhang Hong both felt a sense of urgency and trained even harder.

"Brother Lu Ren is going to gather Qi this month. Can Xu Yang still keep up with Brother Lu Ren’s pace?"

This was the question asked when Luo Dehu was spreading the news of Lu Ren gathering Qi this month.

"Can he keep up?" Zhang Hong asked with a smile.

Xu Yang shook his head!

Even if he could keep up, he wouldn't say it. Showing off like that—who could say what would happen in a month?

Luo Dehu was building momentum for Lu Ren every day; it looked glorious, but he would fall sooner or later.

Seeing this, Zhang Hong felt disappointed. He actually hoped Xu Yang could surpass Lu Ren and trample him underfoot, but it looked like Xu Yang couldn't do it.

"Right, we’ve arranged for a few people to go into the mountains in a few days to hunt exotic beasts. Do you want to come along?" Zhang Hong suddenly asked.

Exotic beasts were a type of strange creature in the deep mountains, extremely fierce, but they were treasures from head to toe. Hunting one was worth at least twenty or thirty taels of silver, and some rarer ones could be worth hundreds or thousands.

It was just that these things were not only hard to kill but also very difficult to find.

Some martial artists who didn't want to become retainers for big families would specialize in going into the mountains to hunt exotic beasts.

Xu Yang had once thought about going into the mountains to hunt exotic beasts when he was short on money, but after learning about them, he gave up the idea. Some powerful exotic beasts were said to be too much even for martial artists.

Xu Yang shook his head, "Exotic beasts are dangerous. I advise you not to take the risk."

If exotic beasts were so easy to hunt, there wouldn't be so many poor people.

He didn't ask who else was going; even if there was a martial artist leading the team, he wouldn't go.

Zhang Hong said, "It’s a senior brother from the inner hall leading the team, and Zhang Yong and the others are participating too. We’re mainly helping to find the exotic beasts, so it’s not very dangerous."

So there really was a martial artist participating, and a senior brother from the inner hall at that.

But Xu Yang still refused. He didn't want to think about why such a good thing would fall to them, a few mud-legged disciples, among so many outer disciples.

He didn't voice this doubt; he didn't want to offend an inner hall martial artist senior brother.

He didn't continue to persuade Zhang Hong either.

He was confident he could become a martial artist, so he didn't need to take risks. But if Zhang Hong didn't take risks to get cultivation resources, his chance of becoming a martial artist was really only one in ten.

Zhang Hong didn't try to persuade him to join again and got up to leave.

"Well, did he agree?" Zhang Yong asked.

Zhang Hong shook his head, "Xu Yang refused."

"I didn't expect him to be such a coward."

Zhang Yong had thought Xu Yang would join. Once they hunted an exotic beast and had cultivation resources, given their root bones, the chance of gathering Qi and becoming a martial artist was high; it was worth the risk.

"Mud can't be plastered onto a wall. The Huang family was right to abandon him." Luo Dehu said disdainfully.

Of the nine people cultivated by the Huang family, all of them participated except for Lu Ren, who didn't need to take risks because of the level of cultivation he was receiving. They all knew that only by risking their lives would they have a chance to succeed in gathering Qi in the future.

Xu Yang, whose talent was second only to Lu Ren, didn't have the courage to risk his life.

"I originally thought about pulling him along. I guess he thought we were trying to harm him." Tang Ruiyang sneered.

He was the one who contacted this; he had some connections with that inner hall senior brother and thought about taking care of those in the same mud pit, which was why he asked Zhang Hong to find Xu Yang.

"Let’s not talk about him. Everyone has their own choices. Let’s talk about when we’re going into the mountains."

After Zhang Hong left, Xu Yang found Qiu Wenjie: "I want to ask you something. I heard there’s a thing called 'mesmerizing smoke' that, when lit in a tube and blown into a room, makes the people inside fall unconscious instantly. Does such a thing exist?"

Qiu Wenjie looked at Xu Yang with a strange expression and said, "Brother Xu Yang, do you want to be a flower-plucking thief too?"

"Too..."

Xu Yang didn't delve into it and said, "So it really exists?"

"Of course it does!" Qiu Wenjie nodded.

"Where can I get it?"

"I don't know!" Qiu Wenjie lowered his voice and said, "Brother Xu Yang, have you taken a fancy to some girl?"

"Get lost!"

Unable to ask for anything useful, Xu Yang stood up and wanted to leave, but was pulled back by Qiu Wenjie.

"I don't know where to get the thing you mentioned, but I know of something called 'Soft-Muscle Powder.' Once sprinkled, if inhaled, as long as you aren't a Qi-Gathering martial artist, you’ll be weak and limp on the ground within ten breaths at most."

"Even a Qi-Gathering martial artist might fall for it if they inhale too much."

Soft-Muscle Powder?

The effect sounded similar to mesmerizing smoke, but if this thing was sprinkled and the wind direction was wrong, or if he accidentally inhaled it, he would be in trouble too. He couldn't hold his breath while fighting forever.

"You can take the antidote in advance." Qiu Wenjie rolled his eyes, "The person who created Soft-Muscle Powder had already thought of these things." ===== CHAPTER 44 =====