Chapter 12 Entering the Mountain

Chapter 12 Entering the Mountain

Chapter 12 Entering the Mountain
After Chen Yuan finished practicing his sword skills, the sky had completely darkened, with a bright moon in the sky and densely populated stars.

He sheathed his knife, returned to the house, and took out the cloth bag containing the jade pendant.

Over the past three years, in addition to escorting the convoy when he went out, Chen Yuan would draw starlight into his body whenever he had the chance, and his physical strength increased day by day.

He took the jade bead out of the cloth bag. Under the starlight, the jade bead emitted a faint green light.

The stars in the sky twinkled together, forming a beam of white light that fell from the sky and circled around Chen Yuan.

Compared with three years ago, the white light that was originally as thin as a hair has become twice as thick and the color has also become deeper.

After ten breaths, the white light dissipated.

Chen Yuan opened his eyes, feeling the sudden surge of hunger, and calmly took out three thumb-sized, black pills and swallowed them with water.

After a moment, a warmth flowed into every part of my body, making me feel comfortable all over. The feeling of hunger slowly dissipated.

"call……"

Chen Yuan let out a long breath, feeling his strength increase, and murmured:

"It's a pity that there is only one pill of the Essence Nourishing Pill per month. If I could take it every day, I could draw the starlight at will and infuse it into my body..."

This black pill is called the Yangjing Pill. It is a benefit given by the Fuhu Gang to bone-refining warriors, one pill per month.

But as a disciple of Manager Li, Chen Yuan could receive a Nourishing Essence Pill after breaking through the Skin Refining Stage. In two years, he received a total of twenty-four pills.

The Yangjing Pill has the effect of strengthening the foundation, enhancing the vital energy and blood, and strengthening the physical body. When a bone-refining warrior takes it, the qi and blood in the body will be activated within the next three days, and the effect of martial arts training will be doubled.

But after Chen Yuan broke through to the marrow refining stage, three essence-nourishing pills were needed to replenish the energy gap after one infusion of starlight.

The rest of the time, he could only replenish his energy slowly to avoid attracting other people's attention.

After Chen Yuan realized the miraculous effect of the Yangjing Pill, he was so excited that he asked Zhao Shan about the origin of the Yangjing Pill. Only when he learned that the market price of the pill was two taels of silver per pill did he give up the idea.

The price of the Yangjing Pill was too high. He had to send one tael of silver back home from his monthly salary of four taels of silver, and he also had to give five hundred coins to the old scholar, with which he could only buy one pill.

Including the pills distributed by the gang, Chen Yuan took a total of forty-eight essence-nourishing pills over the two years.

Chen Yuan's physical strength has greatly increased now. He has a strength of a thousand pounds, his meridians are strong, his five senses are sharp, not even a feather can touch him, not a mosquito or a fly can land on him, and no sound can be heard within five meters.

While escorting the convoy, Chen Yuan saw Zhang Jinkui fighting with another bandit leader who was at the peak of the marrow refining realm.

Although the two were not fighting for their lives, they both used at least 70% of their strength and were far less powerful than him.

This tremendous strength is Chen Yuan’s biggest trump card.

He usually only showed two or three tenths of his power in front of outsiders, but he was regarded as having supernatural powers.

If we go all out, I wonder how powerful it will be.

Chen Yuan did not have the opportunity to test it, but he was confident that he could crush the peak marrow refining warriors, and even compete with internal strength warriors.

It was precisely because he had the power to protect himself that he dared to show his bone refining strength and strive for the opportunity to join the county city’s main gang.

He had entered the Chimang Mountains three times with the caravan before. Every time he encountered bandits, he behaved very bravely and made many contributions, which earned him the appreciation of Manager Li.

But that was on the edge of the mountains, the bandits were weak, and in the end they were safe.

This time they entered the depths of the Chimang Mountains, where the road was dangerous and full of bandit camps.

Chen Yuan made up his mind to be careful along the way and not to be the first to take action.

The leader of the bandit camp that was able to gain a foothold deep in the Chimang Mountains was at least a martial artist at the peak of the marrow refining realm. There was also no shortage of internal strength martial artists, and there were even masters at the Gangjin and Huajin realms.

If Chen Yuan continued to charge forward as bravely as he had done in the past, it would attract the attention of the bandits and would be too risky.

Even if Zhao Shan didn't remind him today, he would find an excuse to hide behind Manager Li.

……

The next morning, Chen Yuan got up early, had breakfast, put on black clothes, packed his luggage, took a long knife, and came to a large house in Xingyefang.

There is a vast training ground in the courtyard, about one acre in size.

More than thirty black-clad guards had gathered on the parade ground, carrying luggage on their backs and holding ring-handled swords. They were divided into three teams and stood in a loose formation.

There were two black-clad commanders standing in front of the crowd, one of whom was Zhao Shan.

Chen Yuan came to Zhao Shan and saluted:
"Senior brother."

Zhao Shan waved his hand:
"Join the team."

Chen Yuan came to the end of the third team and stood quietly.

A quarter of an hour later, all sixty guards and three guard commanders arrived.

Another quarter of an hour later, Manager Li, also dressed in black, walked in with another burly middle-aged man.

The two came to the front of the crowd, and the three commanders bowed and saluted:
"Meet Steward Li and Steward Zhang!"

The middle-aged man was another manager of Baibing Hall in Leping County, Zhang Jinkui, who wielded a ring-handled sword and was known as Mang Jingang in the martial arts world.

Zhang Jinkui waved his hands impatiently and said loudly:

"Today, this batch of goods needs to be delivered to the mountain. Manager Li and I will be your guard. Be careful along the way. If anyone makes a mistake, I will skin him alive!"

"Yes!"

The guards responded loudly, and Zhang Jinkui turned to look at Manager Li:

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Manager Li stepped forward and said, "Since Manager Zhang has spoken, let me say a few words... This deal is very important. If anyone goes wrong during the process, all of their monthly wages will be deducted next month! But if this deal goes smoothly, when the convoy returns, each member of the escort team will be rewarded with three taels of silver!"

When everyone heard about the deduction of monthly salary, their faces changed, but when they heard about the reward, their eyes lit up again.

The guards of Baibing Hall in Leping County are all leather-refining warriors, and their monthly salary is only one or two taels of silver. Three taels of silver is already a very considerable reward for them.

As soon as Manager Li finished speaking, Zhang Jinkui stared at his face and asked:
"Why do you deduct the monthly salary of my guard team?"

Manager Li said with a fake smile:

"Don't worry, Manager Zhang. This is what Manager Sun meant. If you have any objections, I will report it to Manager Sun right away."

Zhang Jinkui's face darkened and he snorted coldly, but said no more.

Manager Li smiled slightly:
"The convoy is ready, let's set off now!"

……

The Chimang Mountains stretch across the territory of the State of Qi, stretching for tens of thousands of miles and thousands of miles deep. It is full of rocks and ravines, numerous peaks and ridges, lush forests, and rampant wild beasts.

On a mountain path, the Baibingtang convoy formed a long line and passed slowly.

The mountain road was narrow and difficult to travel on, and the driver drove the horses carefully. There were twenty guards in front of the convoy to lead the way, twenty guards in the back to cover the rear, and more than ten guards on both sides, patrolling back and forth.

Chen Yuan followed Zhao Shan, hurrying along in silence. His black suit was stained with many stains and had several torn holes.

Today is the third day since the convoy set out from Leping County, and has only traveled sixty miles in the Chimang Mountains.

The mountain roads were difficult to travel on, and the deal was with bandits, which was not allowed in public. The convoy did not dare to take the flat and wide Yuanpingxing Pass, and could only take the mountain paths, passing through forests and valleys, and the journey was slow.

During the journey, they also encountered mountain bandits blocking the road. Fortunately, in front of the convoy were hanging the flags of several large bandit camps in the Chimang Mountains, and the escort team was large in scale. Those small camps were afraid and did not take action.

However, many ferocious beasts were disturbed by the caravan. They were frightened and became extremely ferocious. They were surrounded and killed by the guards and ended up in the stomachs of everyone.

When Chen Yuan faced the bandits, he was timid and hid behind Zhao Shan, but he was extremely brave when he encountered ferocious beasts.

A bone-refining warrior can fight lions and tigers. Chen Yuan has great strength and he killed a tiger with just one blow without any help from others. His clothes were torn at that time.

He originally didn't want to take action, but he had to maintain his image as a young and reckless man and couldn't keep shrinking back.

But he did not forget to deliberately expose his flaws, and his clothes were torn by the tiger, making the scene look quite dangerous.

After setting up camp at night, Zhao Shan scolded:

"Brother, you are too reckless. Your swordsmanship is not delicate at all. You are just too ferocious. You killed a tiger and almost got injured. If you were scratched and poisoned by the tiger, there would be no doctor in this mountain to treat your injury!"

Chen Yuan touched his head and said awkwardly:
"I'm sorry, Brother. As soon as I picked up the knife, I forgot everything..."

Zhao Shan shook his head helplessly:
"It's just a beast. If you encounter bandits... you can't attack it without my permission!"

"Yes, senior brother!"

The two guard commanders nearby looked at Zhao Shan scolding Chen Yuan with sarcasm on their faces.

One of the thin commanders laughed strangely:
"Brother Chen, don't listen to Zhao Shan. You are a bone-refining warrior with great strength. The bandits are no match for you. Just fight bravely and kill the enemies. I will ask for credit for you in front of Master."

Zhao Shan's face turned pale with anger, and with a clang, he drew his sword halfway out of its sheath:
"Zheng Jun, don't go too far! I haven't settled the score with you for encouraging Junior Brother Chen to charge last time. If you continue to talk nonsense, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Zheng Jun did not expect Zhao Shan to react so violently. His face changed, but facing Zhao Shan's fierce gaze, he did not dare to say anything. He could only say angrily:
"I asked Junior Brother Chen to do more meritorious deeds. Is that wrong? You don't know how to appreciate kindness!"

Then, he and another commander turned and left, complaining:

"I don't know what Master is thinking. He has not yet expelled Zhao Shan from the guard team. He is almost taking advantage of us!"

Another short and strong commander laughed sinisterly:

"Haha, Senior Brother Zheng, don't be angry. Li Yong is extremely cunning and he pleases Manager Sun. He inserted Zhao Shan into this, which is also a headache for Master. But this Chen Erniu is simple-minded. We can find an opportunity to take action against him first..."

The two spoke in very low voices, which were completely inaudible to others, but they were heard clearly by Chen Yuan.

A hint of sternness flashed in his eyes, but he smiled innocently:
"Brother, Brother Zheng is not a good person, I will listen to you!"

Zheng Jun and another commander Ma Yaozong were both disciples of Zhang Jinkui. They had always been at odds with Zhao Shan and had ill intentions towards Chen Yuan, especially after he broke through to the Bone Refining Realm.

But Chen Yuan never fought back, he just pretended to be stupid, and Zhao Shan blocked all the attacks for him.

Zhao Shan sheathed his sword and said unhappily:
"You only know how to listen to me. Can I take care of you forever? When will you be more careful? Then I can rest assured!"

Chen Yuan nodded heavily:

"I will listen to you, Senior Brother. I will try my best to be more careful and make you feel at ease!"

"You kid..."

Zhao Shan shook his head and laughed, remaining speechless for a while.

While the two were talking, several guards were not far away and heard their conversation.

An inconspicuous guard quietly left, found Manager Li, and told him the whole story.

Manager Li said in a deep voice:

"Okay, I understand. You continue to keep an eye on the movements of those commanders."

"Yes!"

The guards took their leave. Manager Li looked out at the vast mountains shrouded in the sunset glow, stroked his beard, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)