Martial Peak

Chapter 2812, White Net Mountain

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“No! That won’t work! That absolutely won’t work!” Inside the log house, the Village Chief seemed to be stimulated by something. He shook his head vigorously and looked at Yang Kai with a devastated look, “Ah Niu, do you know what you are talking about?”

Yang Kai sighed, “I just want to go out and train for a bit. I’ll be back by spring.”

The Village Chief said, “Winter is at its worst and the snow has buried the mountain roads. Even if you are a High-Rank Shaman Apprentice… Huh? W-W-W-When did you become a Shaman Warrior?!”

When Yang Kai first came over, the Village Chief had not observed Yang Kai carefully; thus, he was shocked by what he saw at this moment. [Ah Nui has already become a Shaman Warrior!]

The Village Chief was not entirely capable of recognizing a Shaman Warrior when he saw one, but he took notice of the aura around Yang Kai as being something a Shaman Apprentice could not have. [How is that possible?! Ah Niu only received the favour of the Barbarian Gods and awoke his Shaman Strength half a month ago! It was shocking enough that he broke through to become a High-Rank Shaman Apprentice overnight! I can’t believe he has already become a Shaman Warrior! That’s the realm I had hoped to reach for my entire life but failed to!]

Yang Kai smiled slightly, “Village Chief, don’t you think that I, as a Shaman Warrior, have the power to protect myself outside?”

The Village Chief said, “Even if you are already a Shaman Warrior, how many Shamanic Spells do you know? I taught you all the Shamanic Spells that you know…”

Before he could finish speaking, his mouth fell open in shock as he stared blankly at the Shamanic Spell Shield that emerged in front of Yang Kai and the Fireball Spell in Yang Kai’s palm. He parted his lips to speak only to realize that he could not find a reason to stop Ah Niu from going adventuring.

Yang Kai said, “Village Chief, I only came here to let you know about my plans. Even if you disagree, I will still find a chance to slip away.”

The Village Chief sighed heavily. After a long while, he finally spoke again, “Three days. Give me three days. I will teach you a few things you’ll need to know.”

“Good!”

For the next three days, Yang Kai stayed in the Village Chief’s house and lived there with him.

During those three days, the Village Chief did not teach Yang Kai any particularly powerful Shamanic Spell nor did he teach Yang Kai anything about cultivation. There was nothing else he could help Yang Kai with regards to this; however, he was aware that Ah Niu used to isolate himself and rarely interacted with the other villagers in the village, let alone having an understanding of the world outside.

Just strength wasn’t enough for Ah Niu to protect himself on this trip; therefore, what the Village Chief taught Yang Kai was the knowledge of the world, various local customs and practices, as well as ways to respond when encountering dangers. After all, he had also wandered the world when he was younger…

Three days later, the Village Chief had nothing left to teach Yang Kai and had even finished teaching Yang Kai how to read the ancient characters.

“I will tell the villagers that you are cultivating in retreat and ask them not to disturb you. You should secretly leave tomorrow before dawn arrives. Don’t forget to come home soon!” Like a parent instructing a child who was about to travel abroad, the Village Chief looked extremely worried and anxious.

“I know.”

“Go and rest. From tomorrow onward, you will be facing a new journey!”

…..

Before the sun came out the next day, Yang Kai set off on his journey. Most of the villagers were still asleep at this time; however, a sudden feeling made him look back when he left the gates. He saw Ah Hua standing on the wall quietly. She was in charge of the night watch and their gazes met, so they nodded at each other lightly. Everything that needed to be said was conveyed with that simple gesture so Yang Kai strode forward and soon vanished from her line of sight.

Five days later, Yang Kai stood at the foot of a mountain that was thousands of kilometres away from the Blue South Village and took out a yellowed animal skin. Checking his position against the map, Yang Kai looked at the mountains in front of him and said, “This should be the place.”

White Net Mountain! This was Yang Kai’s goal for this trip.

The Village Chief had not gone too far during his travels outside the village, but White Net Mountain had been one of the spots he visited during his journey. The yellowed map in Yang Kai’s hands was also something the Village Chief had given to him before he left.

According to the Village Chief, there were many Barbarian Beasts in White Net Mountain, some powerful enough to rival Shaman Grandmasters in strength. The Village Chief had repeatedly warned Yang Kai to only do what he could, but Yang Kai ignored those warnings. The main purpose of his trip was to look for these Barbarian Beasts after all.

A short while later, Yang Kai stepped into White Net Mountain. Another half-day later, he stood inside a cave and sighed. Stepping over the corpse of a Monster Beast under his feet, he murmured in dissatisfaction, “How weak.”

In his opinion, this Monster Beast was roughly equivalent to a Third-Order or Fourth-Order Monster Beast. At his current level, he could kill it with his physical strength alone without even using his Shaman Strength. Still, gains were gains.

Retrieving the Monster Core, Yang Kai cleaned it slightly before popping it into his mouth and swallowing it. Then, he sat down cross-legged and circulated his Secret Art to refine the Monster Core.

A strange yet thunderous gurgling sound came from his abdomen. The entire process took him less than a quarter of an hour to finish. Yang Kai then silently checked out his progress and frowned at the results.

[The results are very unsatisfactory. Even though I refined a Monster Beast Core, the increase in my power is not very obvious.] This Monster Beast seemed to be weaker than the one he killed in the canyon previously; therefore, it was only natural that the energy stored in its Monster Core was not that great.

[At this speed, I might not become a Shaman Master even if I refine a thousand Monster Cores!] Yang Kai’s goal was not that ambitious, he simply wanted to become a Shaman Master so he could finally use his Divine Sense. It was a pity but he had no better options at the moment even though he was dissatisfied with his progress. Hence, he could only persevere in his efforts and steadily accumulate his strength through numbers while searching for powerful Monster Beasts.

In the following days, Yang Kai wandered around White Net Mountain, going deeper and deeper inside to look for Monster Beasts to kill.

Time flew by, and a month passed just like that. During that period, Yang Kai killed many Monster Beasts and obtained many Monster Beast Cores. Unfortunately, his cultivation only increased slightly, without any further breakthroughs despite consuming so many Monster Beast Cores. In other words, he was still a Low-Rank Shaman Warrior.

[Weak. Too weak! The Monster Beasts in White Net Mountain are too weak to satisfy my needs!] He had planned to advance to become a Shaman Master within a month and subsequently access his Space Ring. Then, he wanted to focus on cultivating in retreat for two months before finally returning to the village as a Shaman King or even a Shaman Saint. From the looks of things though, he had been too optimistic about his goals. Even so, he could only go deeper and deeper into the mountain while trying to temper his expectations with reality.

One day, while Yang Kai was refining a Monster Core that he had just obtained, his ears twitched. Frowning slightly, Yang Kai listened carefully and picked up the sound of footsteps approaching the cave he was hiding in. Moreover, the footsteps sounded like they belonged to more than one person.

[Why are there people in this damned place? It’s the middle of winter right now, so who else would be willing to wander around outside, aside from me? Aren’t they worried about freezing to death or starving to death?] While Yang Kai was musing over his questions, those people reached the cave and one of them immediately called out, “Careful! I smell blood!”

The footsteps quietened down and they silenced even their breathing. Still, Yang Kai could sense that they were slowly but surely approaching him and sure enough, a member of the Ancient Barbarian Race appeared approximately fifteen meters away from Yang Kai a few moments later. When that man noticed Yang Kai, he was visibly surprised; shock covering his face. He obviously did not expect to encounter another member of their race here.

Several others appeared closely behind that man, one after another. All of them were badly beaten up, looking as if they had experienced a huge battle recently. The worst one among them had lost an arm and blood was still flowing freely from his wound. The injured person was pale-faced with pain and Yang Kai could tell at a glance that his arm had been bitten off by a beast. The Ancient Barbarian Race was truly amazing when it came down to it. Despite suffering such a grievous wound, this man didn’t make a single sound in complaint and even held a cracked stone spear in the other hand.

“Who are you?” The leader of those people took one look at Yang Kai and asked loudly while thinking, [This boy looks small and weak. He doesn’t look like one of us. Just where did he pop out from?]

Yang Kai shifted his eyes and glanced at that man, but seemed intent on ignoring them.

That rash and arrogant attitude instantly annoyed the other party, but just as he was about to explode in anger, a tall woman appeared from behind him without warning. She had a cold expression on her face as she said, “Don’t disturb him! He is in the middle of cultivating!”

The woman seemed to hold a rather high status in this group so after she spoke up, the man, who had spoken before, did not say anything else even though his anger was still simmering inside. Instead, he studied Yang Kai suspiciously with a frown and whispered, “Cultivating? Could he be a Shaman?”

The woman was also looking at Yang Kai in astonishment and nodded, “Yes, he is indeed a Shaman. Moreover, he is a Shaman Warrior!”

“A Shaman Warrior?!” The rest of the Ancient Barbarian Race Warriors jumped in shock. They could barely believe their ears; however, those words came out of their Shaman’s mouth, so they had no choice but to believe her. But could someone who looked so weak really be a Shaman?

Stepping forward, the woman looked at Yang Kai and said, “My companion was injured in the battle just now. We need a place for him to recuperate quietly and there are no other suitable locations nearby, so we could only choose to come here. Please, don’t worry; we will not disturb you.”

Yang Kai nodded gently and secretly found it rather funny. [They probably think that I am at a critical point in my cultivation and cannot afford to distract myself by talking to them. What they don’t know is that I am just too lazy to bother with them. I simply want to quickly refine the Monster Core I just ate.]

“Many thanks!” The woman thanked him then led the rest of her party a distance away, arranged for the injured clansman to sit down, and began to treat his wounds.

A distinct power fluctuation washed over him soon after, and although Yang Kai did not know what that woman was capable of, he had sensed that she was a Shaman Warrior too. Moreover, she was most likely a High-Rank Shaman Warrior! In other words, her cultivation was higher than his.

Still, she seemed to be a good person. She had not been hostile towards him. After all, as far as she knew, he was currently in a state of cultivation that could not be interrupted. If she were really malicious, this would have been a great opportunity to attack him.

A few members of the Ancient Barbarian Race had gathered near the outer half of the cave and watched as their Shaman treated the injuries of their companion. The Shamanic Spell that woman was using produced an extreme cold, seemingly having a special characteristic of freezing everything. She quickly froze the wound and then took out some herbs from an animal skin bag she carried on her for the injured person to eat.

Soon, that injured person looked much better. He was probably in less pain than before and in response, the woman breathed a sigh of relief.

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice rang out from behind them, “He is poisoned. He won’t live for long if you don’t help detoxify the poison.”