Chapter 19: Crouching Dragon Mountain Range
After two more days, Ling Xiao’s <Meteorite Fist> had been cultivated to the perfection realm.
It was in complete accordance with his Landscape Martial Soul’s standard movements, without any difference.
<Pure Yang Technique> had also rapidly progressed. He had finally perfected the ninth layer, sharply increasing his true qi once more.
At the same time, his cultivation had smoothly reached Peak Rank Two Martial Vein. His two martial veins were extremely stable due to his consistent tempering.
Now, the thickness of his true qi, overall strength, and physical toughness didn’t lose to Rank Three Martial Vein martial artists.
In an extremely short week, he had jumped up from being so-called trash to a Peak Rank Two Martial Vein martial artist. Furthermore, his strength had increased by several times.
Naturally, all this had come after he had awakened his Landscape Martial Soul.
Now, his interest towards this Landscape Martial Soul grew even stronger.
Merely, when trying to breakthrough to Rank Three Martial Vein, he had encountered a small problem. This breakthrough needed the assistance of certain external aids.
Like that, not only would the breakthrough be easier, but it would also prevent a qi deviation.
Bluntly speaking, he needed pills!
Pills like breakthrough pills, heart-guarding pills, vein-guarding pills, and so on.
Now, he only had a breakthrough pill, which was far from enough. If he wanted to be safe, he needed a heart-guarding and a vein-guarding pill.
Because he had only one life and would have no dharma protector, he had to protect himself.
After returning home and eating a meal, Ling Xiao didn’t cultivate but rather sat in his room and methodically planned his future.
In the past, he hadn’t dared to think about the annual competition.
However, it was different now. He was confident that he could successfully breakthrough to Rank Three Martial Vein before it.
As long as he achieved good results in the annual competition, he would receive focused nurturing.
At that time, he wouldn’t need to personally worry about many things. He would enjoy more resources and even a monthly stipend, completely different from his current situation.
Not to mention Ling Feng, Ling Fei, and the others, even Ling Yixue, and the genius disciples of the other clans in Heavenly Peak City, he wanted to surpass them all!
“Landscape Martial Soul’s effects are not limited to perfection and analysis. There is a village and land. Perhaps, one can even grow precious medicinal herbs or breed ferocious beasts!”
The raw materials of pills had two sources: plants and animals.
If he wanted pills, he would first have to gather enough materials. If he could grow plants and breed demonic beasts in the Landscape Painting, that would be truly marvelous.
Powerful analysis and advice on how to perfect skills, coupled with the harvesting of cultivation resources, was simply too perfect!
He had to test it out!
Ling Xiao looked outside the window and saw a wide expanse of dense forest on the mountains to the rear of the Ling Clan.
Mountains surrounded Heavenly Peak City on all sides, forming the “Crouching Dragon Mountain Range.”
Covered in a dense forest, its terrain was complicated, and its highest altitude reached no less than 8,000 meters and was covered in snow throughout the year. Its caps looked magnificent.
Exactly how big Crouching Dragon Mountain Range was, no one knew. Even when standing on the highest peak, the end of the mountain range couldn’t be seen.
According to legend, a dragon roamed this mountain range, but no one had ever seen it. The mountains, however, definitely had many demonic beasts. For a long time, it had always been a place that martial artists feared and loved.
Feared because the demonic beasts were powerful and terrifying.
Loved because many parts of demonic beasts could be sold for money or used for refining pills.
The people had divided the demonic beasts into ten ranks.
It was data obtained with the blood and experience of countless martial artists.
Generally speaking, demonic beasts’ ranks mirrored martial artists’ cultivation levels. For instance, rank one demonic beasts were equivalent to Rank One Martial Vein martial artists.
However, demonic beasts had innate benefits. Thus, in actual combat, rank one demonic beasts were stronger than most Rank One Martial Vein martial artists.
A legendary rank ten beast could easily destroy a country, practically unchallenged. No one was willing to face that kind of demonic beast.
Ling Xiao visited Crouching Dragon Mountain Range, not to make money or fight demonic beasts, but to find some special medicinal herbs as well as demonic beast cubs. He wanted to cultivate them in his Landscape Painting.
If he succeeded, he could raise any rare plant and animal he encountered, which would be a great advantage.
Whoosh!
After jumping over the wall surrounding the Ling Clan’s residence, Ling Xiao’s stride lengthened as he used <Soaring Cloud Steps> to rush towards Crouching Dragon Mountain Range.
Even when not using <Violent Qi Formula>, <Soaring Cloud Steps> was faster than riding a horse. If <Violent Qi Formula> were used, his speed would have been even more terrifying.
Although he consumed true qi, since he cultivated <Return Qi Formula>, he could continue running almost indefinitely.
Besides, constantly using movement techniques was also a kind of cultivation.
Not long after, Ling Xiao arrived at the periphery of the Crouching Dragon Mountain Range.
Nevertheless, he didn’t dare to charge into the forest. If he encountered a fierce demonic beast, or even a beast king, not even ten lives would be sufficient.
In any case, he had come for only two purposes. One was to test whether he could plant and breed things in his Landscape Painting. The other was to gather materials for refining pills.
Ling Clan’s Medicine Hall had specialized refining and alchemy masters. As long as you provided the materials and paid the labor costs, they would refine pills for you.
Naturally, the prerequisite was that you had to be one of Ling Clan’s disciples.
The moment Ling Xiao entered the forest, he smiled.
He had discovered yet another benefit of the Landscape Painting.
In Landscape Painting, a layer of clouds dispersed, revealing a forest. It was not difficult to figure out that this was the Crouching Dragon Mountain Range.
Merely, the Crouching Dragon Mountain Range displayed had a radius of roughly one kilometer with Ling Xiao at the center, clearly scaling itself down.
If only a map were shown, it would have been useful but not that terrifying. The key point was that several options were displayed on this map.
“Medicinal Herbs!”
“Wild Beasts!”
“Demonic Beasts!”
“Humans!”
If selected, the respective tag would be displayed on the map.
Medicinal herbs were marked with green dots, and upon selecting them, he could even see what kind of herb was present. In addition, a simple summary was displayed.
Wild beasts were marked with yellow dots, and demonic beasts had red dots. Selecting them revealed their rank and some extra details.
Humans were marked with white dots. Some simple analyzed data could be displayed, but it was not as detailed as demonic beasts’.
Ling Xiao wanted to laugh in excitement. his Landscape Martial Soul was even more mystical than he had previously imagined.
This painting seemed to include the entire world, only needing certain requirements to trigger its display.
However, excitement was only excitement. He didn’t forget his original purpose. Since he now had this display, his life had become a lot more convenient.
Ling Xiao’s main goals were medicinal herbs and demonic beasts below rank three.
“Let’s start!”
Ling Xiao rushed towards a green dot.
The plant there was called “Sky Vanilla.”
“Sky Vanilla” was the most important herb for refining vein-guarding pills.
However, this medicinal herb only grew on precipitous cliffs that ranged from several to even 100 meters tall.
Could Ling Xiao have obtained it before?
He wouldn’t have even dared to imagine it.
However, now, it was nothing. Using <Soaring Cloud Steps>, he could easily scale cliffs, especially if he knew exactly which to choose. Even a 200-meter cliff would only be a matter of time.