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Walking on the streets of Woniu Town, Ye Chen found that ninety percent of the people coming and going were martial arts practitioners.
In the eastern region of the Heavenly Wind Kingdom, thirty-six sects occupied vast territories surrounding Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, with the exception of the Taixuan Sect, which singularly dominated the massive tract of land to the west of the mountain. The remaining thirty-five sects were scattered across the east, south, and north.
Of these, there were nine sects situated on the southern side of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, and the Qingyun Sect to which Ye Chen belonged was one of these nine major sects.
Because Woniu Town was close to the southern beast region of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, most of the practitioners who came and went from the town were mainly disciples of the nine major sects to the south.
Among them, the stage of True Qi from the third to the sixth level was the most common among practitioners.
"Heavenly Net Sect disciple."
"Tiegang Sect disciple."
"Ten Thousand Swords Sect disciple."
Many practitioners wore their sect's attire, and Ye Chen could discern their origins.
After finding an inn in the town, having some food and drink, and taking a short rest, Ye Chen headed straight to "Woniu Valley" on the northern side of the town.
Before coming to Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, Ye Chen had heard that Woniu Valley in Woniu Town was a gathering place for forming teams.
The mountain was teeming with exotic beasts and was extremely dangerous.
Courageous and skilled individuals would venture into Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain alone, but many more chose to form teams to enter the mountain.
After all, many disciples from various sects had died in Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain over the years. Entering the mountain in teams and looking out for one another was much safer.
This was Ye Chen's first trip to Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, so he planned to find a suitable team in Woniu Valley to enter the mountain together, and after becoming familiar with it, then consider whether to act alone.
Many shared Ye Chen's thoughts, so the road leading to "Woniu Valley" was frequented by disciples from various sects.
Roar! Roar! Roar!
As Ye Chen was walking, a roar of a fierce beast suddenly came from behind him, followed by a rush of galloping beast hooves from afar.
Clearly, a stampeding herd was approaching!
Hearing the commotion, the disciples from the sects on the road hurriedly cleared the way, and Ye Chen stepped aside, looking back.
He saw that a group of people were riding exotic beasts at high speed from dozens of meters away.
In the group, leading the way was a white-clad youth in his late teens. The youth wore exquisite attire and had handsome features, but a red mole between his brows gave him a somewhat fierce appearance.
What attracted Ye Chen's attention, however, was the mount of the white-clothed youth.
This was a lion-shaped exotic beast over four meters long, with each strand of its hair fiery red like flames. From a distance, it appeared as though a ball of fire was surging forward. Its four claws flashed with a dazzling cold light. Every time the beast ran, its paws dug large holes in the ground.
Such a majestic exotic beast!
Just one glance at the lion-shaped beast was enough for Ye Chen to feel its power.
With his True Qi at the fourth level, even though he had practiced the Torrential Rain Sword Skills, he felt powerless against this exotic beast.
"An eighth-rank exotic beast, the 'Fiery Lion Beast.' That person is Zhou Hai of the Heavenly Net Sect!"
A shorter youth next to Ye Chen recognized the white-clothed youth and his mount's origins, exclaiming softly.
"An eighth-rank exotic beast?!"
"That's equivalent to a human True Qi eighth level expert's strength. To willingly serve as a mount to someone, could it be that this person is a high-level expert above the eighth level of True Qi?"
Ye Chen looked at the white-clothed youth and his Fiery Lion Beast mount and couldn't help but ask the shorter youth beside him.
The Heavenly Net Sect was a seventh-rank sect, more than ten times stronger than the eighth-rank Qingyun Sect where Ye Chen resided, and it ranked first among the nine major sects in the southern part of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, so Ye Chen had heard of it.
However, he didn't know much about the disciples of the Heavenly Net Sect.
Upon hearing Ye Chen's question, the shorter youth replied, "This Zhou Hai is not above the eighth level of True Qi. His cultivation is at the seventh level of True Qi."
The seventh level of True Qi? How could he have an eighth-rank exotic beast willingly serve as his mount?
Ye Chen grew even more curious.
Seeing Ye Chen's expression, the shorter youth explained, "Although Zhou Hai is at the seventh level of True Qi, his father, Zhou Yuntian, is an elder of the Heavenly Net Sect and a well-known mid-stage Spirit Sea Realm powerhouse!"
"It is said that Elder Zhou Yuntian dotes on Zhou Hai a lot. The 'Fiery Lion Beast' was personally captured and tamed by him to give to Zhou Hai."
"Every time Zhou Hai goes hunting in Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, he rides the 'Fiery Lion Beast,' and such a spectacle is not easily forgotten once seen."
So that's how it is.
Hearing the shorter youth's explanation, Ye Chen understood.
While they were conversing, the white-clothed youth Zhou Hai, riding on the "Fiery Lion Beast," along with seven or eight other disciples from the Heavenly Net Sect also on exotic beasts, rushed past them and headed straight for Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain to the north of the town.
Clearly, they were headed for a hunt in Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain.
Only after the exotic beast group was out of sight did the crowd start moving on the road again.
Encountering the Fiery Lion Beast was just a minor incident.
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Afterwards, Ye Chen kept encountering several groups of riders heading towards Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain. These groups were either riding powerful exotic beasts, or they were led by formidable individuals with eight or nine layers of True Qi.
Even more, when he was almost at "Woniu Valley," a gigantic purple sparrow dozens of meters long flew swiftly across the sky. On the back of the purple sparrow, one could vaguely make out a figure in black sitting cross-legged.
According to the gossip among the disciples of the various sects, the figure in black sitting on the back of the giant purple sparrow had at least reached the eleventh layer of True Qi, and it was very possible that they were a master of the twelfth layer of True Qi, just one step away from stepping into the "Spirit Sea Realm" and possessing divine abilities to fly through the skies and burrow through the earth!
Throughout his journey, Ye Chen became even more aware of the vastness of the martial world.
He had only just set out from Qingyun Sect, and he had already come across cultivating disciples of other sects, as well as powerful exotic beasts like the Fiery Lion Beast and the giant purple sparrow.
Looking at the entire Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, looking at the thirty-six sects of the Eastern Domain, and even the entire Heavenly Wind Kingdom, who knows how many powerhouses and how many powerful exotic beasts he had yet to see!
"My cultivation journey still has a long way to go."
"The fourth layer of True Qi is far from enough."
"This trip to Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, I must make another breakthrough in strength!"
Ye Chen thought to himself as he walked, and after a little while, he finally saw the Woniu Valley ahead.
Woniu Valley was a huge valley bustling with noise and excitement, even busier than Woniu Town.
Inside the valley, groups of people huddled together, some having seven or eight individuals, while others even had twenty to thirty people. Such small groups numbered over thirty, and as more people entered the valley, the number of groups continued to grow.
After looking around a few groups, Ye Chen nodded to himself: "The information I gleaned before was correct; 'Woniu Valley' indeed is a great place to form teams before heading into the mountain."
Each of these small groups had organizers who would set various team formation requirements. Whoever met these requirements was invited to join, forming a team. Once a team was complete, they would set out together towards Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain.
Most of these teams were formed of members with similar cultivation from the same sect; after all, entering the mountain with fellow sect members felt more secure, and it was also easier to distribute benefits when everyone had similar cultivation levels.
Ye Chen also planned to find a Qingyun Sect team to join.
After searching in Woniu Valley for a while, Ye Chen finally stopped at one of the circles.
In this circle, there were a dozen people, all dressed in Qingyun Sect disciple uniforms, clearly indicating it was a assembling place for Qingyun Sect members.
At this moment, two individuals were sparring in the center of the circle, one wielding a sword, the other using a knife.
In the innermost part of the circle, stood a tall and slender girl around sixteen or seventeen years old. She had a beautiful face, long straight legs, and was dressed in a green battle attire, wrapped in a fiery-red leather armor. Beneath the armor, her chest rose prominently, giving her an attractive figure.
By the tall girl's side stood a burly and honest-looking young man, both of whom were watching the two individuals sparring in the middle.
Bang!
Just as Ye Chen entered the circle, the sword-wielding youth slapped the flat of his blade, sending a great force that knocked the knife-wielding youth flying, who then crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
"Being only at the fourth layer of True Qi and unable to withstand my three moves, yet wishing to join our team? That's way too overconfident, even worse than the one at the fifth layer of True Qi," the sword-wielding youth said coldly after looking at the knife-wielding youth who fell to the ground.
"Zhou Mo!" the tall girl frowned upon hearing the sword-wielding youth's words, stopping him from continuing.
"Jing, when we're selecting teammates, we can't have anyone who will drag us down," the sword-wielding youth said, seeming somewhat afraid of the tall girl. He grumbled a bit but didn't say anything more.
"Hong Man, help him up," the tall girl instructed the burly young man beside her, and he immediately went to assist the knife-wielding youth to his feet.
Seeing a few more people gathering, the tall girl said with a smile, "The three of us are preparing to hunt exotic beasts on Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain and are looking for two more teammates. All three of us are at the fifth layer of True Qi and are planning to hunt beasts between the fifth and sixth rank."
"Anyone who plans to form a team to hunt fifth or sixth rank exotic beasts can try to join us," she continued.
"Our only requirement is to last ten moves against Zhou Mo without being defeated," the tall girl said, pointing at the sword-wielding youth at last.
Zhou Mo looked around at the crowd and raised his eyebrow: "Who else wants to challenge?"
Amidst the chatter of the crowd, another young man stepped into the circle to challenge Zhou Mo.
"Fifth layer of True Qi? It looks like these few are all formal outer disciples of Qingyun Sect," Ye Chen observed the trio of the tall girl in the middle of the ring.
Being an honorary disciple of Qingyun Sect, he had never had dealings with formal outer disciples.
"Currently, in Woniu Valley, there are only four Qingyun Sect team forming groups. Two are composed of second and third layer True Qi members, planning to hunt second and third rank beasts, and there's another team at the seventh layer of True Qi. Only this team of fifth layer True Qi suits me better," he thought.
Being at the fourth layer of True Qi and having mastered the powerful Torrential Rain Sword Skills, Ye Chen's combat ability was not inferior to many fifth layer True Qi disciples, and in some cases, even stronger. Hunting second and third rank beasts wouldn't serve to temper his practical experience effectively.
The team of seventh layer True Qi, however, was a bit too high for him at the moment.
"It seems this is the only suitable team for me."
"Defeat this Zhou Mo within ten moves? Let's give it a try!"
Just as Ye Chen made his decision, the new bout in the ring came to an end. Zhou Mo's treasured sword flickered with a cold light, instantly poised at the challenger's neck, moving at extreme speed.
"Huh, this sword skill..."
Seeing Zhou Mo's final sword move, Ye Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, "It's actually just like my Torrential Rain Sword Skills, also favoring speed."
"It looks like I really need to take this challenge," he determined.