Chapter 1088, Bird Wood
Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain
Generally speaking, a cultivator’s body could only contain one attribute of energy at a time. It wasn’t that this was a hard limit, but rather that achieving more than that was prohibitively difficult.
Achieving mastery over a single attribute was often more than enough for a single cultivator to dedicate their entire lifetime to.
However, most cultivators could use multiple different attributes with the help of Martial Skills or artifacts. For example, beforehand, Yang Kai was able to use Yang Attribute and Yin Attribute energies with the help of his Unyielding Golden Skeleton.
He could also use Wind and Thunder Attribute energy with the assistance of his Wind and Thunder Wings.
Of these four attributes though, the primary ones were the Yang Attribute and Yin Attribute energies and Yang Kai had dedicated most of his life as a cultivator comprehending their mysteries. In the end, he had managed to fuse these two attributes together to create the monstrous Demonic Flame which was capable of incinerating all creation.
As for the Wind and Thunder Attributes, Yang Kai could only use them when he summoned his Wind and Thunder Wings.
The Core of the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion, which innately contained two different yet perfectly fused attribute strengths, was of immense value.
Gui Che’s group of four gathered together, each of them displaying soaring fighting intent as they discussed they planned out their attack.
The Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion was a Ninth-Order Monster Beast, equivalent to an Origin Returning Realm cultivator. The four Saint Kings would have to bear a certain amount of risk if they wanted to kill it, but from their confident appearances, it was apparent they felt their odds of success were high.
None of these four people were foolish though, so naturally, they wouldn’t charge in without a plan.
Yang Kai was not included in this discussion. As a Third Order Saint, he wasn’t qualified to participate in this battle, and he didn’t try to force his way in either, simply standing to the side looking bored.
After an hour, everything had been discussed and Gui Che let out a snicker. Immediately, he rushed towards the area covered by the yellow sandstorm with Gan Ji and Ji Peng exchanging a stern look before following after him. Luo Yao wore a charming smile as she brought up the rear.
The four people wore varying looks but all of them ignored Yang Kai, soaring off like bolts of lightning, soon disappearing from sight.
After a while, Yang Kai noticed strong energy fluctuations coming from the distance as the sandstorm seemingly became more violent. Even from several dozen kilometres away, Yang Kai could smell the toxic scent of the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion.
Brilliant flashes from Martial Skills and artifacts blossomed, sometimes mixed with the shouts of the four Saint Kings. Obviously they were engaged in a fierce struggle.
Yang Kai squinted his eyes and stared towards their direction, but he could see nothing but blurry figures darting in and out of the sandstorm.
With the passage of time, the ominous aura gradually became weaker, and the energy fluctuations emitted by the four cultivators led by Gui Che became stronger and stronger. Obviously, they were preparing to put down this Ninth-Order Monster Beast.
Thinking it was about time, Yang Kai flew over to the other side in an unhurried fashion, a light smile of satisfaction appearing on his face.
When he arrived, he found that atop the yellow sand was a house-sized beast lying down motionless, its vitality extinguished.
Gui Che and others were all wounded and even though they were still standing they were panting for breath. The man named Gan Ji was in an especially miserable state with a long wound across his thigh that was bone-deep.
This wound had nearly cost him his manhood, and as Yang Kai looked in his direction, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of sympathy.
Without even thinking about processing the spoils of victory, the four people took out pills to help restore themselves.
Yang Kai walked up to the Monster Beast carcass and after circling a few times, he reached out and knocked his fist on its hard carapace, marvelling at its toughness.
He could tell that Gui Che and the others were right. The carapace of this Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion, as well as its pair of pincers and its barbed tail, were all excellent materials for Artifact Refining, and as long as they were supplemented with some suitable ores and an appropriate Artifact Refiner could be found, creating an Origin Grade artifact would be guaranteed.
It was no wonder they all got excited when they heard about this Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion.
After half a day of hard work, the four of them gradually finished restoring themselves from their great battle.
Gui Che first consulted with the other three before walking over to the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion, tearing open its carapace plates on its more fragile abdomen, then exploring its interior with his hand for a moment before taking out its green and yellow Monster Core.
Gui Che laughed, “This Core along is worth no less than 50,000 High-Rank Saint Crystals. Good, I’ll hold on to it for now, and when we get out of this place, we’ll find someone to sell it, then everyone will get an equal share of the Saint Crystals.”
Saying so, regardless of whether the others were willing or not, he put it directly into his Space Ring.
Yang Kai could clearly see that all three of the others were frowning, apparently a little unhappy at Gui Che’s conduct, none of them objected.
Gui Che then proceeded to divide up the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion into eight pieces.
He himself took away the hard shell on the back of Monster Beast, which could be used to create an excellent Artifact Armour while Gan Ji obtained the scorpion’s tail while the two huge pincers were evenly divided between Ji Peng and Luo Yao.
Yang Kai stood aside and watched. He did not participate in the battle so naturally he was not qualified to obtain any of the spoils.
The small amount of blood that was left was also pocketed by Gui Che, allowing Yang Kai to come to some conclusions.
Although this kind of distribution was somewhat selfish, it could reluctantly be considered fair. Even if these people had some objections, they weren’t big enough to voice them. As for Yang Kai’s opinion, none of them would care.
“Let’s take a break,” Gui Che commanded and everyone began meditating again.
Ji Peng took out the animal skin again and began carefully studying it with a frown.
Suddenly, Ji Peng let out a cry of surprise, startling everyone else who turned to look at him only to see him in a jubilant state, nearly dancing and jumping for joy.
“What did you discover?” Gui Che hurriedly asked.
“I believe we’re not far from our goal,” Ji Peng said with a face full of smiles, any dissatisfaction with the distribution of the scorpion by Gui Che swept far, far away.
After hearing what he said, everyone raced over to Ji Peng, with Yang Kai also wearing an expectant look.
The animal skin was filled with all kinds of strange symbols, but at the topmost position was a huge mark which seemed to be their ultimate destination. In other places on the animal skin, there were pictures that seemed to represent special locations.
“Look at this yellow area, I didn’t know what it meant before, but now I understand, it must represent where the Scarlet Tailed Purple Armoured Scorpion made its nest,” Ji Peng pointed to the animal skin and explained.
“If this mark is where we are, isn’t this cyan area, the jungle we just passed through?” Gui Che asked thoughtfully.
“Then this is the lake we stopped at,” Luo Yao also pointed to a place to express her opinion.
“It should be, so as long as we continue to move forward, we should be able to reach our goal in a few days.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone’s mood became excited.
“It seems there’s danger up ahead,” Yang Kai interjected, pointing to a mark on the animal skin that looked like a flying bird, understanding at first glance that it wasn’t an existence they should provoke.
Flying beasts were always more difficult to contend with than those restricted to the ground, they were both fast and agile. In the same Order of Monster Beasts, flying beasts could always display superior combat power than their land counterparts.
“One step at a time, if there really is danger in that place, we’ll just bypass it,” Gui Che declared.
After resting for a while, everyone restored themselves to their peak condition and the group set out again.
The flying bird picture on the animal skin made everyone in the group somewhat nervous so they raised their vigilance as they travelled, looking up into the sky from time to time, but even after travelling quite some distance, they did not spot any traces of Monster Beasts. This development caused some confusion among the group and even made them worry that they had gone the wrong way.
Suddenly though, a brilliant arc of light appeared up ahead and a rampaging thunder and lightning aura surged up, causing everyone’s expression to become solemn.
Looking around, the group soon spotted a relatively short tree standing about a dozen kilometres away from them with sparse leaves constantly flickering with white lightning.
The Divine Senses of the five all rushed out to investigate their surroundings and after confirming there was no danger around them for a hundred kilometres, they slowly approached the tree under Gui Che’s leadership.
A short time later, the group of five stopped in front of the tree and stared at it curiously.
The tree, as tall as a human, contained a potent Thunder and Lightning Attribute energy and the few dozen leaves it had all seemed to be condensed out of the purest lightning essence. These leaves seemed like they were crafted from fine crystal or translucent jade and shimmered with light.
“What kind of tree is this?” Luo Yao asked curiously.
With the exception of the unlearned Yang Kai, everyone in this group could be considered relatively well-informed, but none of them could recognize this tree.
“Isn’t it recorded in the ancient record your ancestor left behind?” Gan Ji turned to look at Ji Peng who slowly shook his head, “No, perhaps this tree didn’t exist when he came here.”
“Such a strange tree couldn’t have been formed for no reason, are you hiding something from us?” Gan Ji stared Ji Peng with clear traces of disbelief.
Ji Peng coldly snorted and replied unpleasantly, “Why would I need to hide anything?”
“This is a Bird Wood!” Gui Che suddenly shouted with a look of excitement filling his eyes.
“Bird Wood?” The three parroted in surprise, Ji Peng quickly turning around and staring at Gui Che, “You mean…”
“The bird pattern on the animal skin map should be a bird species of Monster Beast which died here. Its flesh and Monster Core then gave birth to this Bird Wood!” Gui Che shouted, his look becoming somewhat frantic.
Ji Peng also seemed to think of something and quickly said, “It is recorded in the ancient books my ancestor left behind that he saw a giant bird clad in thunder and lightning, he even mentioned that this beast was likely a Thunder Luan!”
Gasps of shock echoed all around as everyone’s face couldn’t help showing expressions of fear, with Gui Che and the other three glaring towards Ji Peng angrily.
Ji Peng just shrugged, “If I told you about it earlier, none of you would have come. In any case, now that Thunder Luan is dead, there’s no need to worry about it.”
“You knew there was a Thunder Luan in this place, yet you dared lie to us about it? When we leave this place, we’ll settle this account,” Gui Che ground his teeth.