Chapter 194
Chapter 194: Rainy Road in Shu, Golden Goose Cup
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Immortal Palace!
This was the first time this man mentioning the name of their organization, a very weird name.
“Immortal Palace?!”
“Hey, lad, don’t be so surprised! Our organization is called Immortal Palace. What do you think of it? Not a bad name, right?”
“Its indeed very interesting!” Junior Leopard nodded, “How far is the foothold?”
“At most 30 miles. Do you still have any energy left to go on?”
Junior Leopard nodded, but never said anything more. That was because they only had 30 miles left to go. There was no need to complain, or else he would become the laughingstock. On the remaining journey, this man was not like before, where he used his body’s movement to dump Junior Leopard far behind. Instead, he was keeping up with Junior Leopard’s speed, keeping a certain distant of about 5 feet. Although Junior Leopard was not using his full body movement, he was still maintained a fast speed and finished the journey within an hour.
“It’s here?” Junior Leopard looked at what was in front of him with a dark face.
“Yes, it’s here.” The man laughed, “What, not satisfied?”
“It’s a mortuary!” Junior Leopard gave a bitter smile.
The mortuary was actually a public morgue, where people who met a mysterious death, died uncleared of a false charge or whose body was unclaimed would be sent to.
In this world, a mortuary was usually built by organizations like yamen, temple or Taoist temple. Of course, the imperial court provided the most capital to show its righteousness and justice. What was more, building a mortuary didn’t need much money. It was no more than finding an empty place, building a big house and finding a lonely jinx to guard it.
The cost was really low.
Junior Leopard had heard of this mortuary, for it was not far from Jiang City and founded by County Administration of Jiang City.
However, he would never think that this was the foothold of the Immortal Palace.
“This place is spacious, secluded, hardly being visited by people, and even if there is someone here, it is the best foothold. Is it wrong to choose this place?!”
“Yes, spacious and people rarely come here. Even if someone would come, they would be dead, right?”
“You are afraid of dead people?!”
“Of course I am! I am so afraid of death! This place is so ominous!”
While they were speaking, the door of the mortuary opened.
A little old man in gray came out. He was trembling. From his short stature, it was clear that he was not far from being dead. His light footsteps showed that he had no martial art skills. His eyes were covered in dirty sleep, which was almost blinding his eyes, making Junior Leopard feel so uncomfortable.
The door of the mortuary was opened. The chilly wind was blowing from the inside, fanning the horrible smell of corpse.
Despite Junior Leopard’s martial arts, he still could not help shivering on such a weird night in such a weird place.
The old man raised his head and looked at these two people. When he looked at the man in front of Junior Leopard, a bright light flashed in his blurry eyes. However, the bright light was not because of a certain level of Internal Strength practice, it was the pure surprise of an ordinary person.
“You are…!”
The man raised his right hand, waving the black ring on his fourth finger to the old man, who then stopped talking, lowered his head and led the two people into the mortuary.
“Hey! We are actually staying here tonight?!”
“Or why did you think I brought you here?”
Following the old man, they passed through the lobby of the mortuary’s dead morgue, then a yard full of reeds and coffins and entered into the backyard of the mortuary through a round door.
The backyard was not large, yet there were plenty of rooms, well-cleaned and with neat bed sheets. It seemed that the old man did a lot, however, did the old man know that they would come here today?
Having seemed to sense the doubts of Junior Leopard, the man laughed, “It’s regularly cleaned in here!”
“No wonder!” Junior Leopard nodded, and his eyes shifted to the man’s ring on his left hand. He was a blacksmith, which could be recognized naturally by seeing the ring, whose texture was very common, only created by ordinary black iron.Yet, what drew the attention of Junior Leopard was the big rooster carved on the surface of the ring, the same one that had been embroidered on the back of his eccentric robe when he arrived at the backyard of the Wen Family.
When he first saw this man, he did not have this ring on his finger and Junior Leopard did not know when he put it on.
Seeing Junior Leopard looking at the ring on his hand, the man smiled, waving the ring in front of him, “This thing is of no use, but a little thing for identification in our organization!”
“For identification!” Junior Leopard smiled, “Having met for so long, I still don’t know your name!”
“Oh, I thought you would not ask!” He said, “My name is Jin Yuquan, and people call me Golden Rooster!”
“Golden Rooster?!” Junior Leopard laughed, “This is a good name!”
“If it’s good, you can call me Golden Rooster!” Jin Yuquan said.
“So, can you tell me, what our t…task is?!”
“We are going to South Yuezhou State to solve a problem!”
“South Yuezhou State?!” Junior Leopard eyes were suddenly wide open, “It is thousands of miles from Qianzhou!”
“I know!”Jinyu Quan nodded, “after resting for one night, we will arrive at Wuzhou City tomorrow, and there will be someone who will prepare horses and money for us!”
“I was scared to death! I thought we’d go on foot!”
“Going thousands of miles on foot! You’ll be dead!” “Jin Yuquan patted Junior Leopard’s shoulder,” Well, don’t think so much. Take a good rest tonight, and tomorrow I will explain to you in detail! ”
Immortal Palace was an underground organization. This was the only thing Junior Leopard knew after setting out the next day.
Of course it was an underground organization! If not, this name would have long been famous in the world.
Although, in his heart, Junior Leopard was cursing this Golden Rooster who was infront of him, the mouth of Golden Rooster was as though locked by an oversized iron lock. No matter how Junior Leopard asked again and again, he no longer spoke a word.
Although he didn’t talk about the secret of Immortal Palace, he explained clearly the task at hand. Governor of South Yuezhou State Ruan Ming had gotten a treasure recently, which was the target of their mission, to take back this treasure.
“Just as you took Tianluo Dark Gold the other year?!”
“No, I robbed the Tianluo Dark Gold because I needed it to build a weapon. It’s personal. But this time, it’s an order from the organization!”
“What kind of treasure is worth the organization going to all this trouble to get it?”
“A luminous pearl, but not a normal one. It is a Blue Moon Pearl from the body of a Blue Moon Octopus which lives at the bottom of the sea. It’s a very precious Mysterious Object which can be used to make External Elixir!” Speaking of this, he looked at Junior Leopard, “I heard from Wang She that you have already made your External Elixir. Is it the earring dangling on your ear? Where is it now? Show me!”
“HeHe!” Junior Leopard cursed Wang She in his heart again and unwillingly took out the Dragon Chimera skull which was hanging on his neck and handed it to Jin Yuquan, “This was picked up by the river accidentally when I was young. I thought it was interesting so I kept it with me, not knowing that it was the perfect material for making External Elixir!”
“What a good thing!”
Golden Rooster held the External Elixir, feeling the surging Internal Qi in it, and showing slight envy in his eyes, “It’s such a good thing. I never expected to see such an eccentric External Elixir. The texture is top class even among External Elixirs! Eeeh? This External Elixir’s Internal Qi is not the Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique, is it?”
“It’s the Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill that I inherited from Chief Wang!” Junior Leopard said.
“Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill?!” Golden Rooster was stunned, his face was puzzled, “Why do you need Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill? If you successfully practiced Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique, then the External Elixir can support you with Internal Qi every minute. Although your cultivation is only at Level Four, with the addition of the External Elixir, you can achieve the strength of Level Six cultivation!”
“It’s Chief Wang’s suggestion. He not only told me that this is the perfect material for making External Elixir but also imparted the knowledge of how to make External Elixir as well as passing me the Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill, which is very suitable for the External Elixir.”
“Bullshit! Your body practices the Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique while your External Elixir practices Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill? It’s impossible to manage that!” Golden Rooster said, “I don’t know what was in Wang She’s mind. Even if he wants to pass on the Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill, he can’t do this! Indeed there is a precedent and you can use External Elixir to practice different Internal Strength, but the result is not better than practicing the same Internal Qi which is very profitable because the biggest function of External Elixir is to store the extra Internal Qi which cannot be stored in your own body. However, you are practicing two kinds of Internal Strength. It will distract you! You should be careful that it doesn’t hold you back!”
“I know about this. So I stopped practicing when my External Elixir achieved Level Six cultivation.” Junior Leopard said, took back his External Elixir and wore it on his neck, “Anyhow, it’s better than nothing! And this is an External Elixir of Level Six cultivation, which may save my life one day!”
“Haha, you are pretty philosophical about it!”
“Oh, what should I do? What’s done is done. I can’t start again right?” Junior Leopard laughed bitterly.
Golden Rooster shook his head, “There are always no rules when Wang She does things. It’s his specialty to make fun of others. For what he says, you should just listen and forget it. Never take it seriously; otherwise you’ll be the one suffering.”
“Thanks for your advice!”
The sky was so blue, with only a few white clouds like balls of white cotton stretching over the green hills.
It was getting hotter as they moved south, the cold in Jiang City gradually disappearing.
The sun in the sky was like fire. There were no traces of wind, grass lowering down and even the beasts were reluctant to come out, curling up in their caves and waiting for the arrival of the night.
The sun gradually moved over to the ridges on the other side of the mountain. Suddenly, a large black cloud floated from the far away horizon on the northwestern part covering the sun which was radiating endless heat.
Black clouds swept over, piece by piece, like a marquees covering the vast sky, making the entire land become gray and dark in a very short time.
Suddenly, a dazzling lightning flashed across the sky, followed by thunder resounding through the earth.
Meanwhile, raindrops like soybeans poured down from the sky, fast and urgent, hitting the ground, the stones and the branches, crackling like someone was cooking beans. From the distant mountain to the stream nearby, everything was lost in a vast expanse. The earth was in a vast white, yet rocks and forests could still be seen in the dark.
At this time, from the other side of the mountain came two people who rode horses along the mountain road. The two horses were running fast. However, as the heavy rain fell, the speed of the already extremely fast horse dropped rapidly. It was Golden Rooster and Junior Leopard who were rushing to the South Yuezhou State. They changed the good horses in Wuzhou City and then began to gallop all the way south, using only five or six days to finish a thousand miles journey and entering into the territory of Shuzhou, the place full of mountains. Although the two horses were top class, they were unsuitable for the mountain roads. The worst thing was that weather here was unpredictable, where the bright sun might be followed by pouring rain in a very short time and without notice. In the mountain, it was hard to find shelter, thus they could only move forward until they found a huge rock protruding from the mountain which formed a shelter.
“Oh what kind of weather is this!” Hiding under the rock with their horses, Junior Leopard kept on cursing, “Damn, only a few miles and I’m deadly exhausted!”
“Your cultivation is not bad if you can hold on till now!” Golden Rooster laughed, “I am surprised that your Internal Qi of Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill has been practiced to this degree!”
“Enough! You have Gang Qi to protect yourself, so stop laughing at me!” Junior Leopard said angrily.
They were both reluctant to get wet in the rain, thus they both used Internal Qi to protect themselves. Junior Leopard’s body practiced Nine Dragons Heavenly Fire Technique which was incompatible with water. He was not stupid to not know this. So he used Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill in his External Elixir which barely protected him and his horse.
However, he hadn’t practiced Gang Qi after all. Only that depending on Internal Qi of his External Elixir cost him a lot more energy. On the contrary, Golden Rooster was a Level Seven expert, whose Gang Qi could defend against hailstones let alone rain. Therefore, he was relaxed, paying no attention to whether they could find shelter or where to find shelter.
“With your qualification and current strength, to achieve Level Seven cultivation only needs a short time. There is no need to envy me. Now that Wang She has passed Green Jade Qian Yuan Skill to you, I suppose that he told you about how to condense the Jade Original Power Gang!”
“He also told me where to condense Jade Original Power Gang!”
“So he really told you all everything!”
“Almost everything, except for this!” Junior Leopard said, “I did not know that he was one of your Immortal Palace’s members!”
“He recommended you to be his successor, but he didn’t know if he needed one!” Jin Yuquan laughed, “He caused big trouble, yet no matter how big the trouble is, there will always be a way to deal with it!”
” Big trouble? He is one of yours! Why don’t you help him?”
“Living Buddha with Golden Body, Dark Lord Mie Chen and Kunlun Master. These three people are not easily provocated as you think!” Golden Rooster laughed bitterly, “The Immortal Palace is now in a dark place. Once we take part in this, we will expose ourselves.”
“But you are going to rob the treasure of Yuezhou Governor! Aren’t you afraid of being exposed?”
“It won’t be a problem.” Jin Yuquan said, “There are no real experts. Even if there is, we are able to handle them. Just as last time in Ningzhou City, I robbed Tianluo Dark Gold of Wen Family; do you know the existence of Immortal Palace?
Speaking of this, he sighed, “Wang She’s movement this time is so big that three masters of Northern Yuan are now hunting him. If we truly want to help him, then we need most of our power. Only one or two people like us appearing is ok, but if a large number of unfamiliar experts of Level Seven, Level Eight or even Level Nine would appear, what do you think would happen?”
After hearing this, Junior Leopard stopped talking.
Jin Yuquan was right. The sudden appearance of one or two experts would only puzzle a few people but if a lot of experts suddenly showed up, it would arouse the vigilance of the martial arts world and even cause panic. All influences would launch their own power to find this mysterious influence. At that time, no matter how deep the Immortal Palace hid, it would be discovered.
“But there is no need to worry so much. I know Wang She well. If he doesn’t have enough confidence, he would not do it. Although the three masters are fierce, Wang She is not easy to bully. With Level Nine cultivation, even if he can’t fight with them, he has no problem running away.”
“I’m not worried about him!” Junior Leopard curled his lip, “I am now worried that what he did might cause a great storm!”
“You sure know how to worry about the nation!” Hearing what Junior Leopard had said, Jin laughed.
“I am an official in the court after all. I need to care about certain things, right?”
“Well, do not show your bureaucracy in front of me. I am not your boss, so there is no use for this bureaucracy. The rain has almost stopped, time to set off!”
“The rain has stopped, but the road is hard to walk on!” Junior Leopard said, and Jin Yuquan looked down at the direction that Junior Leopard’s finger was pointing at, with the same depressed look showing on his face too. The road was already muddy because of the heavy rain, and full of crushed stones that had rolled down from the hillside. What was more; they were both riding horses, which made it even harder for them.
“Forget it, we won’t ride there. We can just walk there and then find two horses at town centralization!” Jin Yuquan said and suddenly rushed out. The figure darted out, and between several ups and downs, disappeared into the ridge.
“Damn!” He’s Lightness Skill is just a little bit better than mine, every time his speed is so fast!” Junior Leopard complained in his heart and followed up with some flashes.
It was said that it was easier to climb to heaven than to take the Shuzhou road. It was true. Although the cultivation of these two people had reached a high level and they both had Lightness Skills, they were still greatly influenced by the muddy Shuzhou road and their speed had slowed down considerably. After spending more than four hours, they still could not see the end of their journey.
This time, even Jin Yuquan was too tired to continue. He stopped.
“Damn, I have heard about how difficult it is to walk on Shuzhou road, but I would not believe it. Now it gives me real big trouble!”
Junior Leopard just laughed, “We have been walking for a long time, so it should not be too far away. Is this the first time you’re coming here?”
“Of course it’s the first time. Once you’ve been there once, will you come back a second time?!” Jin Yuquan said with slight anger. During their talk, they both stopped, finding a trace of the color of surprise and doubt in each other’s eyes.
They both heard the shouting and the clashing sound of gold and iron coming from not far away.
“Interesting, I never thought that we could actually watch a good show here!” Jin Yuquan laughed, took out a Bronze Mask and put it on. Junior Leopard took out the Smiling-face Mask just as Jin Yuquan did.
Now he was wearing the same outfit as what he wore on the day when he went Lu Mansion during the bride kidnapping with Wang She, only without the mask. But he always brought the mask with him, just in case.
At this time, the distant sound of shouting and fighting was getting closer. After wearing masks, they ran toward the sound. Turning over a small shallow slope, the situation was revealed. Five or six men in different clothes who were holding different weapons were storming around one person who was a strong man in green with a thick sword in his hands. A determined Qi Power appeared with every movement of his wave. However, the people who besieged him were not mediocre. They worked together and tightly trapped him in a very small range. They didn’t pursue personal gains but slowly consumed his physical strength, only to wait until he was exhausted, giving them the chance to go forward and subdue him.
Junior Leopard and Jin Yuquan did not appear. They were just standing on a hill a thousand feet away and watching this fight quietly. These people’s cultivation was not so high, at most Level Three. Therefore, there was no way that they could discover Junior Leopard and Jin Yuquan, whose eyesight easily enabled them to watch the whole thing.
“Li Jianxin, if you are wise enough, you should hand over the thing quickly. Then we will consider setting you free!”
During the fight, one man shouted.
“Hmph, Huang Deguang, everyone knows about your infamy in Jianghu! You think I can believe you?!”
After hearing this, Huang Deguang’s look suddenly became fierce, “Li Jianxin, now that you wish to die, I will give you what you want!” While speaking, his attack suddenly became tight, pushing towards Li Jianxin.
Seeing this, the other people who seemed like they were taking orders from Huang Deguang stepped up their attack as well. Suddenly, Li Jianxin was in big trouble which he could hardly deal with.
After a few rounds, suddenly there was a flash of the sword. With a sound of stuffy hum, Li Jianxin waved the sword and barely blocked the attack. His left hand jerked the blue bag from his back and put it in the front as a defense.
Everyone stopped the attack after seeing this, withdrawing their weapons. No one dared to touch this bag. Suddenly they were in a deadlock.
“Huang Deguang! If you dare to come closer, I will smash this Golden Goose Cup!”
“Golden Goose Cup?!” After hearing this name, Golden Rooster’s eyes started to flash, and a sense of excitement appeared in his voice, “Junior Leopard! It looks like we are going to be very rich today!”