Translated by: Zaza
Edited by: Krithika, Rango
TLCed by: Zaza, Shiroyukineko
Yue Bing's letter was vague, only stating that she had been kicked out of her team and now had to finish the training on her own.
That she was being vague about this matter clearly showed that this might have something to do with the Second Branch's Fourth Son, Yue Yan.
From the letter, one could see that the young lady Yue Bing felt that she had been wronged and was angry. The Fourth Brother, though he was from the same clan as her, not only had he not helped her, instead he had sowed discord, stirred up the flames, and then rubbed salt into the wound. In the end, she had been forced to redo the training from scratch alone, because she had been kicked out of the team despite almost completing it earlier. In her letter, the young lady Yue Bing even kind-heartedly reminded the beautiful woman not to tell Third Brother about this matter, in order to ensure that he did not worry for her. However, after the matter with the Black Mountain Bandits, the beautiful woman already treated her son Yue Yang as the pillar of the family. If there was a problem, of course, she would not keep it from him.
"Si-Niang, I will go fetch Younger Sister Bing-Er home. Although I only recently contracted the Grimoire, I should be able to give Younger Sister Bing-Er some help.
The beautiful woman did not doubt Yue Yang's words at all. His recent actions had comforted her so much that she felt that this son had grown up and was already a man who could take charge of himself.
That night, she had thought that the Black Mountain Bandits were going to attack the City and in her heart she had panicked. However, he had said he would use all his strength to protect his family, and listening to those words moved her a lot and gave her comfort.
Her Third Son had finally grown up.
She agreed to Yue Yang's request to go and fetch Yue Bing. However, she rejected his request and idea to first escort her back to the Yue Clan Castle.
Although the beautiful woman had a kind-hearted character and was accustomed to resigning herself to adversity, she still had self-respect even if she did not voice it out. When the clan felt that her husband had no future, they had forced them out of the clan by moving the Fourth Branch out of the Yue Clan Castle to the Misty Cloud Mountain. Further, they caused her husband to idle away as a minor government official, adding multiple blows to her heart. Residing in White Stone City was in no way peaceful and safe, but even so, no matter how well-fortified the Yue Clan Castle was, if it weren't the Clan Elder asking her to return to the Yue Clan Castle personally, she would definitely not move back voluntarily to the kind of family that swept her out like dust on the floor.
Her husband was a filial son and she did not oppose his working all-year-round for the Yue Clan, even when it made him extremely busy and kept him away from his wife and children.
However, in her heart, she held a resolution that she would strive to keep improving and would definitely not be a person that only had to endure the First and Second Branch's moods.
San Er's contract with the Grimoire was her biggest wish for the last 15 years. Now that this wish was fulfilled, she had no other demands and was even less inclined to return to the Yue Clan Castle to suffer her family's cold words and sarcastic comments.
To the beautiful woman, as long as her son improved and her daughter was a good girl, that was more important than anything else.
"Si Niang, after I meet Younger Sister Bing Er, I'll bring her back straight away. While I'm away, you and Younger Sister Shuang Er must take care and stay safe. These days, the White Stone City is in a bit of disorder and it's best not to go out much. " Yue Yang warned repeatedly, but the beautiful woman normally did not go out much anyway. There were also a few loyal and devoted servants to look after them, so there would be no problems. The most important thing was that although Yue Ling was a minor government official with no real power, for good or worse he was still a child of the Yue Clan. So, even the more audacious mercenaries and robbers would not dare to come up to this kind of family and stirred up trouble. The Four Great Clans' reputation was displayed here and it was a good deterrent.
"I understand. San Er, you must also be careful. " Hearing those words, the beautiful woman's heart was sweet, as if it had drunk honey.
It was inconceivable, that this reticent son showed so much concern for her. He had really grown up and compared to before, he was a lot more thoughtful.
After sending Yue Yang on his journey, the beautiful woman suddenly realized something… It seemed that San Er was already over the Xue Clan's Young Mistress rejecting his offer of marriage. Now that he had gotten out of that painful situation, perhaps she should help him find another potential marriage partner?
Yue Yang did not immediately head over to the Lord of White Stone City's residence to ask for escort troops. This was not to save on paying a gold coin for escort services, but rather, to keep his secret.
As far as possible, he did not wish to meet any Rankers from White Stone City.
Right now, Master Golden Blade and the Lord of White Stone City were working together to investigate the truth of the events that caused Merry Forest to go up in flames. The Empire had also sent special investigators and Yue Yang did not want his identity to be seen through by others, bringing those people's anger upon himself. Moreover, he had previously buried the Demon King Ha Xin's arm in a hidden mountain ridge on Black Mountain, but then he had decided to take it away. After the remnants of ice had completely melted, the arm was constantly dripping blood, and with each drip, it corroded a large piece of the ground causing even rocks to catch fire.
So now, in the daytime, Yue Yang buried it deep in the ground and at night he dug it out to disperse the filthy impurities in the demon blood using Innate Qi.
The Level 8 Demon King Ha Xin's arm was more suitable for evolving his Thorny Flower than living human bodies. This would be a great supplement for the Thorny Flower. If it swallowed the arm, advancing would definitely not be a problem, but Yue Yang was reluctant to just let the Thorny Flower devour it all right now.
Yue Yang hoped that after raising the Thorny Flower to Gold Rank, by borrowing the power of this Demon King Ha Xin's arm, he could evolve it into a humanlike 'Thorny Flower Demoness'.
Only at that time, would devouring this Demon King Ha Xin's arm give the largest benefit.
Although the time he set off on his journey was pushed back by 2 days, Yue Yang still rushed to where he had hidden the Demon King's arm, heading towards the two cities Red Forest and Black Rock. Along the way, he got rid of 6 revenge-driven Level 3 Heroes and 50 plus bandits that were chasing him by letting them become the Thorny Flower's fertilizer. After devouring more than 200 human bodies, the originally incomparably small and weak Spitting Thorny Flower finally reached Gold Rank.
The current Thorny Flower had a stalk that was thicker than a person's leg, was 5m tall, and was entirely covered with thorns.
The former crown had also slowly become a giant human head with indistinct facial features and instead of having eyes, it had large spots similar to human eyes.
Its gaping maw had teeth as sharp as daggers. Now, when it devoured a person, it could gulp it down in 10 seconds, and within 2 minutes, it would be completely digested. That thick stalk was just like a bottomless abyss, no matter how many people it devoured, it still had effortless freedom of action.
After evolving into a Gold Rank Level One, the Devil Mask Spitting Thorny Flower became a 'Magic Eye Spitting Thorny Flower'.
From now onwards, the Thorny Flower began to have some instincts of an animal's.
For example, it was now able to sense motion. Of course, it had no eyes, it was not looking at things directly. Instead, it was akin to that of snakes or spiders, using its tongue to sense heat energy, using cilia to sense the movement in the air, yet the results were similar to that of having eyes, a wonderful way of reaching a goal using different methods… … The most important thing was that the Gold-ranked Thorny Flower began to have the most basic sentience. Although it had no capability of thinking, it could carry out the commands Yue Yang gave it through telepathy, even through long distances.
(TL Note: 纤毛 – Cilia are hair-like projections . )
Gold Rank Level One Magic Eye Spitting Thorny Flower. Although it was still Level One, its strength was at least 10 times stronger than when it was still a Silver Rank.
Moreover, even the weakest Gold-ranked Beast was equal to a normal level 4 beast... Yue Yang felt that his own Thorny Flower, having been raised using living people, in battle, would be stronger than normal Level 4 beasts.
"As long as you can successfully become a Thorny Flower Demoness, I will give you a name. "
In his heart, Yue Yang actually held a sense of accomplishment.
Raising a Gold Rank Thorny Flower from a small and weak Spitting Thorny Flower, this, was completely the result of his own hard work.
He really did not know what it would become when it finally evolved into a Golden Crown Thorny Flower Queen… … The only thing Yue Yang was sure of, was that when a Thorny Flower evolved, it always evolved into a female, there were no males. Perhaps, in the world of Thorny Flowers where they propagated by splitting themselves, there was no such thing as males.
Just a bit more, and the Gold Rank Thorny Flower would be able to evolve into a Thorny Flower Demoness.
Yue Yang was very excited and slipped into the Black Mountain like a wisp.
However, the scene he saw when he reached the ridge where he had buried Demon King Ha Xin's arm made him extremely agitated and angry.
The buried Demon King Ha Xin's arm had been dug out, that gigantic demon arm was exposed to the air, and at the bottom of the mud pit, there was an Iron-clawed Wolf twitching in pain.
Perhaps this Iron-clawed Wolf, after smelling the odor of the demon, for some reason or another, instead of running away like other beasts, decided to become a thief instead. However, the Demon King's arm was not something it could covet, before it even ate the flesh, it already almost lost its small life in this place. Yue Yang was so angry that he grabbed the Iron-clawed Wolf out of the mud pit it had dug, giving it a painful beating.
He was not worried about it stealing and eating the Demon King's flesh since it wasn't something the wolf could eat.
Furthermore, once it touched the Demon King's blood, its entire mouth would have been burnt to a crisp by the demon flames.
What made Yue Yang angry was that his actions could possibly harm others. After digging out the Demon King's arm, what if someone saw it… …
Fortunately, this was a wild and mountainous area, no one would come here. If they did, the Demon King's arm that he had suffered so much to get would have become someone else's collector's item, making him waste his efforts. Maybe, this could even stir up an ambush. He could be surrounded or fall into Master Golden Blades and Lord of White Stone City's ambush the moment he stepped down from the mountain.
"You dare try to steal my treasure? You think that since you look like that pitiable Hui Tai Lang, I will forgive you?" Yue Yang beat up the Iron-clawed Wolf.
(TL Note: 灰太郎 – Hui Tai Lang is a famous Chinese cartoon character, think of it like a villain hello kitty/Micky mouse. Link to Character Wiki: )
However, there was something that felt strange, this wolf was really strange. Why was it that the more he beat it up, the more comfortable its expression was?
Could it be that it was the same as Hui Tai Lang, born to be smacked around?