After returning to the village, start chasing the mountain from binding Emei

Chapter 995 Upgrade: Level 12 Mountain Chaser!
"Let's see if you dare to talk nonsense again."

Chen Yang glanced at Mo Yuan. Fortunately, they had been vague in their previous remarks, only saying that they would add some seasoning to the wild elephant carcass, without specifying what they would add.

Otherwise, if this serpent heard this, it's uncertain whether it would still be so easy to talk to.
Mo Yuan smiled wryly. Putting everything else aside, it still admired Chen Yang quite a bit; he had actually managed to stand firm under those circumstances.

If it were an ordinary young person, they would probably have wet their pants by now.

They took out the Mountain King Seal and summoned the Water Monkey back.

A thought flashed through Chen Yang's mind: since Bei Zheng could empower the Mountain Lord Seal, Ba She should be able to as well.

The energy that Bei Zheng injected into the Mountain Lord Seal allowed him to use it three times, but in the two battles against Danyangzi and Shi Xiangsheng, he had already used up all three chances and exhausted the energy.

Now that Bashe has asked him to help him avenge his enemies, he should ask it to inject some energy into the Mountain Lord Seal. This request should be reasonable, right?
With that thought in mind, Chen Yang had already made up his mind that he would go up the mountain tomorrow to see the Bashe and tell it about this matter.

The campfire was still burning.

The water monkey came down the mountain in no time, leaving the two wild elephant carcasses behind.

Although it was a wasted trip, it had at least done its best, and Chen Yang would not break his promise.

However, breaking through to the Dao True Realm is no small matter, especially since the Water Monkey is a Divine Fiend Body, and the Heavenly Tribulation can easily turn into Heavenly Punishment, which will be much more powerful. How to proceed with this requires careful consideration.

Chen Yang himself is also about to break through to the Dao True Realm; it's still uncertain who will do so first.

Chen Yang opened the system panel and checked his stats.

-

Name: Chen Yang

Physical strength: 64165.

Mental power: 57690/57690.

Yuan Shen: 23520.

Experience Points: 2012550/2000000 [Upgradeable]

-

Bashe contributed 10 experience points to him, and combined with the experience gained from picking Yao grass in the Rift Valley that morning, Chen Yang's experience points had now exceeded 200 million.

The conditions for another upgrade have been met, and the "Upgrade Available" button reappears.

A smile appeared on Chen Yang's face. This secret realm was indeed a blessed place for leveling up.

If I were outside, I don't know how much effort and time it would take to accumulate this much experience.

Chen Yang was filled with emotion.

"Consume 2000000 experience points to upgrade to level 12 Mountain Hunter?"

"【whether】"

……

Without hesitation, Chen Yang directly selected "Yes".

……

"Ding! Congratulations, host, you have upgraded to Level 12 Mountain Chaser!"

"Ding! Congratulations, host! Radar detection range increased by 640 meters!"

"Ding, congratulations to the host for obtaining the upgrade reward: [Upgrade Gift Pack] *1. The reward has been placed in the warehouse and the host can use it at any time."

"Ding! Congratulations, host, you have reached level 12. Your system privileges have been upgraded, and the number of mountains you can bind has increased by 2. [Click to view details]"

……

A barrage of information flooded Chen Yang's mind, overwhelming him.

After all the messages popped up, Chen Yang checked them one by one.

The radar detection range has doubled to 1024 meters, enabling real-time and effective detection within a radius of one kilometer.

After upgrading to level 12 Mountain Chaser, the number of mountains that can be bound to actually increases by 2.

This surprised Chen Yang somewhat.

However, he hasn't decided which two powerful figures to align himself with yet, so he's putting it off for now and saving the spot for when he needs it.

Let's take a look at what's in the upgrade gift pack first.

……

Item: Upgrade Pack

"Introduction: After opening, you can choose one of the following three rewards."

"1. [Hundred Elephant Pill *5]: After consumption, it can temporarily enhance the power of all elephants, and the effect can last for several days. (Note: Stacking is ineffective.)"

"2. [Advanced Tribulation Transcending Pill *3]: After consumption, it can temporarily improve physical constitution, increase the body's compatibility with heavenly lightning energy, and greatly increase the probability of safely passing the tribulation. (Note: Take before the tribulation.)"

"3. [Dao Zhen Pill *1]: After consumption, you will temporarily gain the cultivation level of the late stage of Dao Zhen Realm. (Note: This is a specially made pill. It is ineffective for those who have not condensed their Yuan Shen. The effect lasts for 30 minutes. After the effect wears off, there will be a period of weakness of 1 to 3 hours.)"

……

This time, the system seems to be giving out more rewards than before.

All three options are elixirs.

The Hundred Elephant Pill can temporarily enhance the power of a hundred elephants after consumption. A hundred elephants is ten dragons, which means it adds the power of ten dragons. It is an advanced version of the Five Dragons Pill.

This time they were generous, giving out five directly.

However, Chen Yang had already taken one pill, and its effects had not yet worn off. It had indeed greatly improved his physical strength, but in the battles against Dan Yangzi and Shi Xiang Sheng, the improvement in the power of the Ten Dragons did not seem to have the effect he had imagined.

Against beings of Danyangzi's caliber, the power of ten dragons simply cannot create a significant disparity in strength.

Both of them were much stronger than Chen Yang at their peak. Even if Chen Yang added the power of ten dragons, he might not be able to surpass their physical strength.

Against opponents of the same level or slightly stronger physique, the Hundred Elephant Pill seems somewhat useless. After all, even without the Hundred Elephant Pill, Chen Yang could deal with these types of opponents using other methods.

Strength is important, but the means are even more important.

Having considered this, even though the system gave him five Hundred Elephant Pills, he decided to step aside and rest for now.

As for the [Dao Zhen Dan].

It's a top-quality item, but he already has two Dao Zhen Pills in hand, so this pill isn't as urgently needed for him right now.

Of course, only six or seven of the fifteen days have passed. There is still more than half of the time left, and we don't know what will happen or what we will encounter. Two Dao Zhen Pills may not even be enough.

However, compared to the other option, the second one, the Advanced Tribulation Transformation Pill, seems to be more urgently needed by Chen Yang.

When Chen Yang broke through to the Creation Realm last time, he used the Tribulation Transformation Pill and narrowly escaped the Creation Tribulation.

This time, the system gave me a high-grade tribulation-resolving pill, which should be targeted at the Dao True Heavenly Tribulation.

Giving this thing at this critical juncture shows that the system is intelligent enough to know what it urgently needs.

And there were three of them.

There seems to be no reason not to choose this.

Chen Yang hesitated slightly and did not make a choice for the time being.

After all, it's hard to say what the future holds.

Although he has two Dao Zhen Pills as a backup, it's hard to guarantee that they won't be enough. If he runs out of both Dao Zhen Pills before breaking through to Dao Zhen, and then encounters some danger, he will have no choice but to use Dao Zhen Pills to save his life.

However, if the Dao True Heavenly Tribulation arrives first, then there's no other way but to choose the Tribulation Transformation Pill.

……

-

Silent all night.

The appearance of the Bashe (a mythical snake) gave Chen Yang a fright, but the outcome was good.

The mountain breeze in the early morning carried a slight chill, and as soon as it was light, Chen Yang went up the mountain.

With the pass given to him by Bashe, Chen Yang was no longer afraid of the mountain's restrictions.

Mo Yuan and the water monkey were taken into the Azure Pearl by Chen Yang.

Although the mountain was steep, it was not too difficult for Chen Yang to walk, and he soon arrived at the crevice halfway up the mountain.

Waterfalls cascade down the cliffs on both sides, the water flowing endlessly, and a white river meanders through the valley, flowing westward toward the outside of the mountains.

The abundance of water veins on Dong'e Mountain is evident.

The two wild elephant carcasses that the water monkey left here last night are also gone. Without a doubt, they were made dinner by that serpent.

"Senior, I'm here."

Standing at the entrance of the valley, Chen Yang shouted into the valley.

The sound rolled out, echoing through the valley and drowning out the roar of the water.

The river in the valley rippled, and beneath the surface, a dark shadow seemed to be moving about.

"Wow!"

The dark shadow approached and suddenly crashed through the water, revealing a huge snake head emerging from the water.

Water splashed more than ten meters high, the surface of the water exploded, and it churned endlessly.

The snake has a huge head and a huge body, standing straight and tall, like a towering pillar.

Its body, just above the water, is probably twenty or thirty meters tall, comparable to a ten-story building.

Fortunately, Chen Yang doesn't have megalophobia, otherwise he would definitely have wet his pants by now.

Chen Yang was intimidated by its imposing presence and retreated a short distance.

"Where's the stuff?"

A voice rang in Chen Yang's ear.

Chen Yang was slightly taken aback before realizing that Bashe was referring to the snacks he had brought for it.

“I brought it. Where is your cave, senior? I’ll take you there,” Chen Yang said.

"No need, just throw it in the river," Bashe replied calmly.

Chen Yang didn't hesitate and simply took all forty-odd carcasses of the wild elephant herd out of the system space and casually threw them into the river.

The body quickly sank to the bottom.

One of the corpses was exceptionally large, resembling a small mountain.

"This wild elephant king was already at the early stage of the Dao True Realm. It died at the hands of a white fox under the stone elephant seat. It has some of the white fox's methods on it. Please be careful when you eat it, senior."

Chen Yang still reminded him that the Wild Elephant King was killed by the white fox Hu Xuan. Before it died, its body was covered in fox urine, which was extremely smelly. If he didn't explain this to Ba She, Ba She might think that he had added something to it, and then it would be impossible to explain.

"Ah."

Bashe grunted and said nothing more. After all the elephant carcasses had sunk to the bottom of the water, its massive body immediately swam out of the water.

It's huge, really huge.

It was dark last night, so Chen Yang didn't get a good look at it. Now that he could see the beast's appearance clearly, he was truly shocked.

Last night I thought it might be forty or fifty meters long, but now it seems that was too conservative.

This giant snake is probably over sixty meters long.

Its entire body was covered in bluish-black scales that gleamed with a cold light, and its body was enormous, probably nearly ten feet long.

Its head is huge, comparable to the locomotive of a train, and when it moves on the ground, it's just like a high-speed train.

It has no horns on its head, but some bone spurs protrude. On both sides of its neck are two fan-shaped, fin-like things. When the fins are spread out and its tongue is flicked out, giant sword-like fangs are exposed, making it look extremely fierce.

The eye in the very center of its forehead remained tightly closed; only a thin slit could be seen upon close inspection.

"Get on my head!"

Bashe left behind a sentence, then emerged from the valley, lowering its head that had been held high.

"Senior, this..."

This is a bit too polite, Chen Yang was a little taken aback.

"Hurry up and stop talking nonsense."

Bashe, however, was getting a little impatient.

"Offended."

Without saying anything more, Chen Yang leaped onto the head of the Bashe snake.

"Stand still!"

The snake let out a cry, then raised its head and quickly darted out of the valley.

Chen Yang's feet were firmly attached to the head of the Bashe snake, whose massive body moved swiftly through the forest.

The whistling wind filled his ears, giving Chen Yang the feeling of standing on the roof of a high-speed train.

The serpent moved smoothly, and the scene in front of him quickly zoomed out. Chen Yang couldn't help but feel a little emotional. How cool would it be to have such a huge creature as a mount?
After leaving the valley, the Bashe headed straight for the mountaintop, quickly approaching the southern slope along the mountain ridge.

"Where are you taking me, senior?" Chen Yang asked.

"Weren't you looking for the Mountain Lord's Cave?"

Bashe quickly replied, "I have lived on Dong'e Mountain for many years and have heard that there is such a cave on Dong'e Mountain. The ninth mountain lord, Ye Huai'an, passed away on Dong'e Mountain, returning his cultivation to heaven and earth. But that was a long time ago. I have been imprisoned here for only six hundred years and have never seen Ye Huai'an, so naturally I have no way of knowing the location of his so-called cave..."

"However, over the years, whenever I had free time, I would get curious and search around the mountain. I usually live on the northern slope, and I've searched almost the entire area there, but there's nothing suspicious. On the southern slope, however, there's a rather strange area. My primordial spirit can't penetrate it, and my body can't get close either. So, I suspect that if Ye Huai'an's cave dwelling really exists on Dong'e Mountain, it's very likely to be in that area..."

……

"Has the senior been guarding this place for six hundred years?"

"Yes, it's been six hundred years. Among the four guardian beasts, I'm the youngest and least experienced. I've only seen two mountain lords, Chen Tianyang and Zhao Quanzhen..."

"Back then, I was living a carefree life in the Daba Mountains when Chen Tianyang found me and brought me back to Emei. The guardian beast of Dong'e Mountain, Senior White Dragon, had passed away, and a new guardian beast was urgently needed. I was born with a divine and evil body, and my cultivation had reached the late stage of the Creation Realm. I stood out from a group of competitors and won the position of guardian beast..."

It unexpectedly started talking and began telling Chen Yang about its past.

Chen Yang was somewhat puzzled by its words. "Senior, I have something to say. I wonder if it might be offensive?"

The Bashe seemed to know what it wanted to ask, "Are you saying that you gave up your freedom and chose to come here to be a guardian beast, losing your freedom and having so many competitors? Are you out of your mind?"

"That's somewhat true." Chen Yang didn't shy away from admitting that he did have this question.

With the strength of Bashe and Beizheng, they are practically top-tier beings below the Celestial Realm. Where wouldn't they be powerful and influential? Why are they being restricted in their freedom here?
Chen Yang initially thought they might have been forced to be sealed off here, but now it seems that this is not the case.

If they had been forced, they wouldn't have reacted that way when they learned Chen Yang was a disciple of Emei.

They not only came voluntarily, but also competed for the positions; it wasn't something you could just decide to do.

This is really confusing. What's the point?

Bashe said, "You don't understand. Although we, the Divine Fiend lineage, possess powerful talents, we are rejected by the heavens. Cultivation is extremely difficult for us. Others undergo tribulations with just a few bolts of heavenly lightning, but for us, it's a different story. When I was undergoing the Tribulation of Creation, the tribulation lightning mutated and turned into heavenly punishment, accompanied by heavenly fire. It was a near-death experience, and I barely survived by sheer luck..."

"If the Tribulation of Creation is so perilous, what about the even stronger Tribulation of Dao? Moreover, having experienced Heavenly Punishment, with Tribulation Qi accumulating within their bodies, the Tribulation of Dao will only be more terrifying than imagined. Therefore, although there aren't many of us from the Divine Fiend class who can break through to the Creation Realm, our numbers are not small. But those who can safely break through to the Dao Realm are truly as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns..."

"But we are born with inauspicious signs and cannot change our physical constitution. What can we do? We can only seek alternative methods and seize that sliver of hope."

"As long as one can become a guardian beast, one will be granted an official title by the Mountain Lord and protected by the Shu Mountain lineage. The power of the Heavenly Tribulation will be reduced, and the probability of successfully breaking through will be greatly increased. Moreover, one can enjoy the incense offerings of the Shu Mountain Lord's lineage, and the earth veins and water veins of Dong'e Mountain will be at my disposal. For us Divine Fiends, the most difficult cultivation and the most terrifying Heavenly Tribulation will no longer be difficult or terrifying..."

"Where isn't cultivation? You'll get used to it. Besides, the contract Chen Tianyang signed with us back then didn't mean we'd be suppressed here forever. Our purpose here is simply to cultivate. Once we attain the Heavenly Realm, the law seals on our bodies will disappear, and then we'll be allowed to come and go as we please..."

"But who could have imagined that a cataclysmic event would occur later, severing the Heavenly Path and making the dream of breaking through to the Heavenly Realm a pipe dream, thus wasting so many years of effort..."

"Originally, I thought I could gain some inspiration from the Vajra Mantra I knew, and see if I could reduce the power of the law seal on my body, but it seems I was overthinking it..."

"However, complaining is useless. All I can say is that I chose this path, and I have to finish it even if I have to crawl on my knees..."

……

Bashe talked at length, and he seemed quite open-minded, but I don't know if it was just an act.

Chen Yang asked, "Is the law-based incantation mark on your body, senior, the Purification Altar Sealing Demon Incantation of Emei?"

"Not at all."

Bashe said, "The Cleansing Altar and Sealing Demon Spell is a secret spell of the Emei Buddhist sect. Back then, Emei was not just a Buddhist sect. Besides the Cleansing Altar and Sealing Demon Spell, I'm afraid the spells on my body also include the Three Pure Ones spell from Taoism, as well as other spells. In short, it's extremely complicated..."

Chen Yang said, "We have quite a few people coming in this time, including many from both the Buddhist and Taoist sects. If you trust me, senior, I will discuss this with them to see if there is any way to deal with the curse on you..."

"Thank you very much."

Bashe smiled, but clearly didn't take it seriously.

After all, in its eyes, those who can enter the cave are just juniors with limited strength and knowledge, so what help can they be?

Chen Yang asked, "Senior, I heard that the seals on Nan'e Mountain and Xi'e Mountain have been lifted, and the two guardian beasts have been freed. What's going on?"

"This is a long story..."

Bashe chuckled upon hearing this, "Although the seals on Nan'e Mountain and Xi'e Mountain have been broken, they are not necessarily free. They are willing to associate with those people and be at their beck and call. That is their own choice. They don't need that kind of freedom."

(End of this chapter)