Chapter 84: Advancement of Tian Yu

Enforcer Dong was baffled and fixed his eyes on Ye Shang. He could tell there was something going on when Ye Shang’s eyes burnt with prowess and an aura of battle intent surrounded his body just at the mention of Xu Mu’s name.

“They are both outstanding, but destined to be enemies,” Enforcer Dong murmured.

He had a better impression of Ye Shang because Ye Shang was affable, when he entered in a conflict with Qin Zhan and Ao Lie, he displayed an earnest vigour. On the contrary, Xu Mu felt like a vicious wolf, a virulent snake-like evil wolf and Enforcer Dong did not like the look in his eyes.

Ye Shang guided Tian Yu and flew towards Lushan Mountain, where the Lushan Bandits were last spotted, once they were out of Danding City.

Bandits plagued the mountains in Dongxuan Area, but only the powerful ones would take over a mountain and crown themselves as kings of the mountain. Most rove about the mountains in fear of extermination. With the help of Tianji Tower, the rich would commission tasks to wipe them out when provoked while independent cultivators considered robbing bandits as a way to accumulate resources.

The Lushan Bandits often appeared in Lushan Mountain, where the powerful Venerable Lushan once lived.

According to the information provided, this group of bandits burned, plundered and committed all kinds of evil deeds, even women and children were not spared.

The current task was commissioned by the owner of a medicine shop in a small town under the jurisdiction of Danding City. His daughter came across the Lushan Bandits on her way home and everyone in the caravan, including his son-in-law, daughter and two grandchildren were murdered.

The old man was grief-stricken and wanted to destroy the Lushan bandits, even at the expense of his life’s fortune.

The Lushan Mountain range covered a large area with a circumference of over one thousand kilometres and the bandits last appeared in the eastern ridges of Lushan Mountain.

It took two days for Ye Shang to arrive at the eastern ridges of Lushan Mountain on Tian Yu’s back.

Along the way, Tian Yu caught a blue-and-white python. They ate the python after it was roasted.

This blue-and-white python was massive and weighed over a hundred kilograms. It was quite challenging to roast such a big animal. Fortunately, Ye Shang came prepared and had two slender steel rods in his storage ring. All he had to do was skewer the prey and roast it.

Tian Yu now had an amazing appetite. Although it could go without food for one to two days, food weighing less than a hundred kilograms was insufficient, once it started eating.

Ye Shang knew that was because Tian Yu needed the energy for the growth. Although Ye Shang couldn’t see Tian Yu’s cultivation base, Qing Ji had told him that Tian Yu had reached the peak of the second-order stage, and would enter the Pseudo-Core or Core-Formation stage at any time, back at the Longquan Manor.

Qing Ji also told Ye Shang that Yian Yu might advance straight to the Core-Formation stage without staying at the pseudo-core stage since humans and beasts with great talent need not go through the transitional Pseudo-Core stage.

After Tian Yu was fed, Ye Shang laid out a bearskin for Tian Yu to rest comfortably while he cultivated.

This time around, Ye Shang was not in a rush to complete the task since there wasn’t a time limit and he could cultivate during his free time.

During this period of hard work, Ye Shang’s Qi had finally entered the Soul-Condensation stage and he had also made great progress in his Myriad Dao Treasured Tome, reaching level 7 of the Blood Quenching Realm.

After cultivating all night, he got up and started practising the Chasing Wind spear method and the Heaven Obscuring Palm early in the morning and let Tian Yu out to hunt for prey.

Briefly during Ye Shang’s spear practice, Tian Yu came back with another blue-and-white python between its claws and a five-coloured pheasant held in its beaks.

“Well done, Tian Yu! You like pythons and I like poultry. Now we can both enjoy our favourite food,” Ye Shang laughed approvingly. He headed for a stream not far away and started preparing and roasting the food.

As Tian Yu grew up, it became more intelligent. Not only was it able to comprehend Ye Shang’s instructions, but it was also capable of thinking independently and returning with two different prey this time was one such instance.

After their meal, Ye Shang climbed on the back of Tian Yu and started searching for trails of the Lushan bandits.

If they found no clues, they would rest and cultivate. Anyway, Ye Shang was not in a hurry.

A few days later, Ye Shang still couldn’t find any trace of the bandits, but fortunately, his cultivation practice was not delayed.

Once, Tian Yu took off and circled the area around their campsite after their meal. After landing, Tian Yu tweeted at Ye Shang before laying down inside a canyon nearby.

After some thought, Ye Shang understood that Tian Yu was preparing for a breakthrough, and was surveying the skies for any danger.

Ye Shang sat down and started cultivating after a concerned glance at Tian Yu. As long as he was not in a state of close-door cultivation, he would still be able to react to any unexpected situations.

Ye Shang started to get a little anxious and worried after Tian Yu did not move for two days in a row. However, he could do nothing but wait. He had reached the bottleneck of the Blood Quenching Realm in his practice of Myriad Dao Treasured Tome but did not have the time to think about making a breakthrough. His priority was Tian Yu’s smooth advancement to the next stage.

In the afternoon of the third day, there was an energy fluctuation emerging from Tian Yu, its feathers trembled, before the energy around Tian Yu stabilised.

After a brief observation, Ye Shang found Tian Yu’s breath to be much stronger and knew that Tian Yu had advanced successfully.

Ye Shang was reassured and went hunting. He had to prepare food before Tian Yu woke up.

Tian Yu woke up after Ye Shang had roasted a cow weighing over 300 kilograms. It chirped and spread its wings, soaring into the sky.

Ye Shang estimated Tian Yu’s speed to be a third faster after watching it fly around in the sky.

Tian Yu returned to Ye Shang’s side after flying a few laps. Although Tian Yu’s body did not grow much, it was much stronger than before.

“Let’s eat! After you’re done, I need to level up too,” Ye Shang sliced two pieces of beef for himself, before giving the rest of the cow to Tian Yu.

“Alright, protect me when I’m levelling up. Don’t let any beasts disturb me,” Ye Shang instructed Tian Yu, before settling down at the spot Tian Yu laid on as it was breaking through, and began to cultivate.

He intended to enter the second stage, Body Strengthening Realm, of the Myriad Dao Treasured Tome as soon as possible so that his combat prowess would greatly improve. He planned to ingest the dragon elixir after entering level 8 of the Blood Quenching Realm so that his cultivation base would reach the peak of level 8 quickly. After stabilising his cultivation base at Blood Quenching Realm level 9, he could prepare for the second-order stage of the Myriad Dao Treasured Tome.

Cultivators must stabilise their cultivation base at the last level of every major stage as it helped to increase the success rate of advancement. There was a big difference between improvement in levels and the improvement in stages, as the growth from one stage to the other was a fundamental change in the intrinsic quality of their cultivation base.

It would still take some time before Ye Shang reached the second-order stage of the Myriad Dao Treasured Tome, but with a level advancement, it would be easier for him to eliminate the bandits.