Book 2 - Chapter 79: Bounty

Chapter 79: Bounty

Although Xu Min had managed to get his hands on quite a few emblems and treasures, none of these were from the Immortal Valley itself. All of it had been delivered to him by the many people who had tried to kill him.  Xu Min could not help but to chuckle slightly at this.

One could consider his luck to have been the worst. Had it not been for the sake of him having run into a demonic beast as strong as Ye Ling,  his luck would truly have been the worst. 

 His luck, although, when it came to finding treasures and demonic beasts was rather bad, Xu Min still managed to be one of the higher ranked members within the Immortal Valley purely because of all the people who had given up their lives to Xu Min and Ye Ling. Together with their lives came all the treasures and beasts they had managed to kill alongside their emblems.

Others were also on the killing spree, killing human participants instead of beasts, but no one was as lucky as Xu Min when it came to encountering people. This was due to many factors, but mainly his low rank. Looking at Xu Min, it was possible for everyone to underestimate him. They saw him as if he was an easy target. They would only be defeated by him afterward.

This was not the only reason, though. Almost anyone within the Immortal Valley knew about the enmity between Xu Min and the Snow Mountain. Though no one was permitted to seek vengeance outside the Immortal Valley, they could carry favor with each other and have the large sect such as Snow Mountain owe their families was something everyone wanted.

“Around hundred kilometers in front of us something strange has happened,” Ye Ling commented as the two were moving through the forest. The further they went the more people they found. However, these people,  recognizing Xu Min, did not attack him. Instead, they kept moving forward. This indifference made Xu Min curious previously but even more so now that he heard that something was happening a hundred kilometers from them.

“Do you think they are amassing a large army to go against us?” Xu Min frowned. Although the outside world had been able to see and followed the many fights within the Immortal Valley, other participants only knew which people had died and which were ranked highly. Xu Min was ranked high, but he was not in top three. Thus no one knew how many points he had. 

“ It is likely that they are going against you. I highly doubt it, though” Ye Ling said with a dry voice, “I don’t think that they are that interested in killing you. They will lose a lot from grouping up like this. Let us go and see what is happening. .” Ye Ling continued, and Xu Min shrugged. They had nothing else to other t do so going to this place was as good as anything else.

“If I knew some way to hide my appearance,  that would be for the best,” Xu Min mumbled. He found some bamboo shoots which he created a bamboo hat from. It was a large hat which covered his features. From his storage bag, he found a large cloak which he draped over his body, making it hard to guess his features. 

“This should work. No need to hide you, no one knows about the fact that I found a companion within this Immortal Valley,” Xu Min said casually. Nonetheless, his casual words made Ye Ling proud. Most humans would have said something along the lines of having tamed a beast or gotten a contract beast. However, Xu Min referred to him as his companion, something which made him feel very happy. He even considered leaving the Immortal Valley together with this human when the Immortal Valley Ranking ended. If this was possible, no one knew what the Guardians would do; they had already taken one beast from Xu Min; he would not be surprised if they took another. Not even if they were considered his friends or family,  he could do nothing against the guardians.

Neither Xu Min nor Ye Ling was speaking, both were on high alert as they looked at the surroundings. Many glanced at Xu Min, but no one moved towards him nor the lion. Many glanced a few extra times at the beast, fear shining in their eyes. Ye Ling had no intention of hiding his aura and the sheer power he controlled.

Xu Min, on the other hand, had reigned in his cultivation so that no one could see his strength. Even someone stronger than him would find it difficult to see through the cultivation level in him. This was also one of the reasons that people did not even go towards him.

Traveling a hundred kilometers was not a challenging thing. An hour afterward they reached the outskirts of an area filled with people. As they reached this area, Xu Min, and Ye Ling were both greatly surprised. 

What they were looking at was not a garrison or people gathering in an army; rather, it was a large marketplace. Many of the participants of the Immortal Valley had gathered at a large lake in the middle of the forest. All around the lake were people. Some were walking around others were seated down and selling items they had either brought with them or gathered in the forest. 

Most people sold medicinal pills and protective treasures. Though these items were needed by many of the participants, the participants also realized that if they wanted a chance to rank higher in the rankings they needed to get their hands on some beast cores or emblems. 

Entering this lake area, Xu Min looked around him. He was quite surprised to see how many people had gathered here. He was even more surprised to see some people were selling for the sake of getting a higher ranking, there were also others who had decided to buy these items.

It was clear that the group of experts was split into two groups. The first group was the people who decided that survival was of the utmost importance. These were the experts who were buying items from the many sellers. The other group was those who valued high ranking, and these were the ones who sold items for the sake of jumping at least a few ranks to hopefully gain some fame for their family or some recognition from the Guardians and their faction. 

Xu Min did not care too much about the rankings. He had joined the Immortal Valley Rankings for the sake of increasing his strength. The stronger he became, the more likely he was to defeat the Zhong family. Strength was all that mattered to him. He had joined this Immortal Valley Rankings for this reason alone., However, now that he had joined and reached a high ranking, he could not help but feel that he should strive for a great position as possible.

Moving through the lake district, Xu Min looked at everything that was happening around him. He looked at the many things for sale but even, so there wasn't anything that caught his interest. He was not in need of protective treasures nor was he in need of medicinal pills as he still had the ones from Ri Chu City alongside the ones he had been gifted in the Tournament. 

He had been looked after by a master alchemist; this alchemist had created some miracle medicines for Xu Min.  He had already used some of them, but he had not used all of them. Having these pills in his possession made it so that he was not willing to purchase other pills either. Nonetheless, when he reached halfway around the lake, he did find something which piqued his interest. 

“This stance,” Xu Min said as he leaned forward and looked at a jade slip that was up for sale. “How much do you want for this stance?” 

Looking at him, the seller was surprised. He had placed out everything he had which included some martial arts stances  he had acquired from his teacher. However, no one seemed to be interested in these things since they could not prolong one’s life. The stance was from his faction of the Sunset Valley’s highest ranked sect the Sect of the Thousand Suns. The stance was one of the hardest to practice, but it was also outstanding in attack power. It was called Stance of the Setting Sun. It created the sun from Qi, the sun which would roast the opponent and if enough Qi was poured into it it could explode itself. 

This attack was outstanding, but if one were to explode it, it was likely that they would also wound themselves in the process. It was a desperate attack but having one was not a bad thing.

Looking at Xu Min, this seller could not make out his appearance at all. When he looked at the lion by his side, he felt cold sweat pouring from his skin. It was clearly a very strong beast!

“Oh, uh, good sir, this is a very important stance from my sect. Selling it would obviously require a high price. Either four three-ranked beast cores or one four-ranked beast core!”

This man thought that this was a very high price. A four-ranked beast core was equal to killing a four ranked Warrior, not something that one could easily do. Getting one of these, it was clear that he would be able to rise in the rankings quite a bit. 

Three three-ranked beast cores were of less value than one four-ranked beast core. Nevertheless, the expert did not expect that Xu Min had a four-ranked beast core, thus he came up with this alternative trade.

To Xu Min, this price was incredibly low. At the rank he was at, three ranked beast cores were worth nothing to him.  He picked up four which he quickly tossed to the seller before he took the jade slip and turned away to leave. Four three ranked beast cores were just a little less than one four ranked beast core, but it was a price this seller was satisfied with. 

Leaving the stall, Xu Min wished to leave the entire lake district and find somewhere where he could focus on learning this newly acquired stance, but just as he was about to leave he ran into a group from  Snow Mountain. 

This group was clearly in a foul mood. As he was about to sneak around them, he suddenly felt curious about what they were about to do. Clearly, they had something important to tell everyone who was present. 

Thinking like this, Xu Min gestured for Ye Ling to have the two of them follow the crowd and soon all of them were standing in front of the Snow Mountain, waiting to hear what he had to say. 

“Everyone here we have an important announcement to share with you all,” the expert started as he looked at everyone around them. Many of them were looking different, hiding their true appearances, so Xu Min did not stand out as he was hiding in the crowd. 

“The expert Xu Min, a two star ranked Warrior, has caused chaos and wantonly murdered his way through the Immortal Valley Rankings. Anyone he has found on his way has fallen to his devious tricks, has been slain and their emblems were stolen. We have just been informed that this Xu Min has killed a group of experts led by our junior apprentice Shen Yu.  He has stolen all their emblems. We wish to make an alliance with everyone here at the Lakeside district. Anyone who kills Xu Min will not only get to keep all the emblems and treasures on him which is enough for him to have reached the top five, but we will also give four five-ranked emblems in trade for his life. The Bounty will only be paid out to someone who will deliver his head to us here within the Immortal Valley. We will have an expert staying here in the Lakeside district ready to take the head and give the reward!”

Hearing these words, murmurs broke out; everyone started chatting with one another. No matter how strong they were, all of them were filled with excitement. The bounty was simply too outstanding!