Chapter 7: The March Period

  Watching Bai Shaoyang's figure disappear outside the door, Zhang Shan didn't feel any relief at all. He had to raise his cultivation within three months, not only for self-protection but also for the sect's grand trial.

  It's fine if he didn't have a martial soul, but now that he does, as long as he stands out in the sect's trial, there's a chance for him to join the Qitian Sect.

  Then with the help of various cultivation resources of this world's great sects, it is possible to go further and further on the path of martial arts, until finally becoming a Martial God.

  "Ah Shan, so you had this idea all along, no wonder you're so fearless."

  Gao Peng and Lei Meng gathered around at this time, with Lei Meng putting his arm around Gao Peng's shoulder in praise.

  "But there's only a three-month buffer period, and with Bai Shaoyang's strength, joining the Wēn Tiān Sect is almost a sure thing. Once he joins the sect, I'm afraid he'll be even more unscrupulous."

  Gao Peng thought that he could escape for a while but couldn't escape forever, so he was still worried and anxious.

  "So the only way is to defeat him and take that spot, if I become a disciple of the Tian Xiang Sect, the White family will be nothing but a joke." Zhang Shan analyzed calmly.

  "But there are only three months left, are you sure? He is already in the Spiritual Martial Realm now." Gao Peng furrowed his brow.

  "Not three months, but only one month. If you want to participate in the sect selection after March, you must win a top four spot in the Academy's year-end assessment next month."

  Zhang Shan shook his head and made a decision after a moment of contemplation.

  "In the days that follow, I plan to head to the Tianqing Mountains for training and to improve my strength. As for home, I'll be counting on you all to keep an eye on things."

  He said to Gao Peng and Lei Meng, the two nodded silently, naturally without a second word.

  The next morning.

  Zhang Shan bid farewell to his mother and left Qingyang City alone, heading towards the forest sea in the Tianqing Mountains.

  He had also come to the Tianqing Mountains out of curiosity before, but he only wandered around the periphery and didn't dare to go too deep. This time, in order to gain experience, he decided to venture deeper into the mountains.

  The Tianqing Mountains are a paradise for demonic beasts, hiding countless powerful demonic beasts. Many warriors in Qingyang City make a living by hunting these demonic beasts.

  Yao beasts are also divided into levels like human warriors, from low to high: wild beast, spirit beast, Yao king, Yao lord, and Yao god.

  Beasts are devoid of spiritual intelligence, just like livestock, but when some beasts' spiritual intelligence is slightly opened and they learn to absorb the primordial energy of heaven and earth, they become spiritual beasts.

  Spirit beasts are divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. Their strength is equivalent to that of a martial artist in the Lingwu, Zhenwu and Xuanwu realms respectively.

  With Zhang Shan's cultivation in the realm of martial arts, wild beasts are easily captured by him. If he encounters a lower-level spiritual beast, it would be somewhat troublesome. As for mid-level spiritual beasts, he can only flee for his life.

  After five days of trekking, Zhang Shan had already penetrated deep into the Tianqing Mountains, within a radius of 500 miles, but all he encountered during these days were just wild beasts.

  On the sixth day, he encountered a blood fox, a lower-level spirit beast. After a fierce battle that lasted for an hour, Zhang Shan finally killed the blood fox.

  What surprised him was that a peanut-sized demon crystal was found in the body of this blood fox.

  Yaojing can be used for alchemy, but warriors can also absorb the essence inside through qigong to cultivate themselves. However, the conversion rate is less than 30%, which is a wasteful act.

  But for Zhang Shan, who urgently needs to upgrade, it's impossible to keep the demon crystal and take it back to sell for money to buy elixirs.

  Fortunately, the Sen Luo Wan Xiang Jue was a divine-level technique that was not ordinary. The conversion rate of absorbing the demon crystal reached 50%, so after Zhang Shan refined and transformed the demon crystal, he advanced to the eighth level of Qi Wu Realm.

  "Originally, according to normal cultivation, it would take about five more days to break through, but now with the help of this demon crystal, I've broken through. This trip to the Tianqing Mountains was worthwhile."

  Zhang Shan thought contentedly.

  He stretched his waist and walked out of the cave where he was practicing, suddenly raised an eyebrow, and heard a rustling sound coming from tens of meters away.

  "Could it be a monster?"

  Zhang Shan suddenly became alert.

  He retreated back into the cave without hesitation, crouching at the entrance and carefully observing the situation outside.

  The bushes in front of the cave shook violently, and a girl stumbled out from inside.

  She was about sixteen or seventeen years old, elegant and refined, extremely beautiful, like a clear moon, like a flower tree covered in snow. However, her face was too pale, without a hint of blood color, and there was still a stain of blood on the clothes over her chest.

  She took two more steps and then stumbled and fell to the ground.

  "Was it because you encountered a monster and got hurt?"

  Zhang Shan hesitated for a moment, thought about it, felt that he couldn't just stand by and do nothing, so he quickly ran out of the cave and helped her up.

  "Miss, are you okay?"

  Between her fingers, he felt a chill emanating from her body, and Zhang Shan furrowed his brow and asked aloud.

  "Hurry up, people from the Xuanming Palace are chasing after us..."

  The girl's spirit was already a bit dazed at this time, but her mouth still spoke intermittently.

  After finishing speaking, he fainted and fell down.

  Zhang Shan's heart sank, Xuan Ming Palace was a sect he had heard of, it was as famous as the Wen Tian Sect and its influence was even greater than that of the Wen Tian Sect.

  I am just a small martial artist, it's unwise to get involved in this kind of vendetta. The smartest thing to do now is to immediately abandon the rescue and run as far away as possible.

  Just as he was hesitating, a symbol embroidered on the girl's sleeve caught his attention.

  "Is this the emblem of the Tian Xuan Sect's disciples?"

  As a student of Xiang Tian Xue Guan, Zhang Shan was naturally extremely familiar with this symbol.

  After seeing this sign, he gritted his teeth and no longer hesitated. He picked up the girl and quickly dashed into the nearby woods.

  He stayed here for two days and was already familiar with the surrounding terrain. After running out of dozens of feet, he came to a small stream.

  It was a three-zhang-wide creek with water only about two feet deep, and Zhang Shan directly rushed into the creek and waded downstream.

  Although I don't know how many people from Xuan Ming Palace are chasing after me or what methods they used to track me, it should be correct to try my best to erase my footprints.

  After walking for over ten miles, the creek water gradually deepened. Just then, Zhang Shan saw a broken tree trunk on the bank and pulled it into the water. He straddled the floating wood and drifted downstream, picking up speed as he went.

  An hour later, Zhang Shan estimated that he had also drifted out for 70 or 80 miles, and at this time the cold air emitted from the girl's body on his back became heavier and heavier.

  "The Xuan Ming Palace is said to be good at the cold and dark arts, if someone is injured by this art and can't drive out the cold energy, they will eventually freeze into an ice block. Her body is so cold, she must have been injured by this kind of attack."

  Zhang Shan thought for a moment, identified the direction, suddenly showed joy on his face, and with a forceful kick of the wooden board, his body jumped over the creek and landed on the shore.

  He originally followed this stream into the mountains and knew that there was a cave on the edge of a cliff not far from here.

  Soon found this cave, Zhang Shan put down the girl and lit a fire with dry branches.

  She was carefully moved beside the fire pit, and after a while, the chill on the girl's body had eased somewhat, but she still remained unconscious.

  "Jiemi Wushen" latest chapter is released by Yunqi Book House, the fastest and most popular online release site! (This site provides: traditional pagination, waterfall two modes, can be selected in settings)