Overlord of the Wilderness

(This is a note from the author to the readers and not part of the story.)

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Zhaang Wu casually recalled some past stories about the competition, finally saying, ”This Gathering Flower Fruit competition is just too brutal. Each time, over a thousand Martial Artists participate, but in the end, only a dozen or so manage to walk out with the fruit. The rest... they all become nutrients for the Cyan Mulberry Tree...”

Zhaang Ye sighed. ”Over a thousand people, and only a dozen or so survive. That’s a death rate of ninety-nine percent. It’s a little too terrifying.”

Zhaang Yitong, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. ”We Martial Artists walk a path that defies the heavens, fighting for that one sliver of opportunity. For the sake of a breakthrough in Cultivation, no matter how great the risk, it is worth it.”

Zhaang Ye, Zhaang Zisong, and Zhaang Wu all nodded at the same time. A Martial Artist should possess such a fearless heart to be able to continuously advance on the Martial Dao and go further.

After bidding farewell to Zhaang Zisong and the other two, Zhaang Ye returned to his small cabin.

The cabin hadn’t changed at all, but a piece of Beast Hide was posted by the door with a few words written on it. Zhaang Ye took a look; the Beast Hide was from Zhaang Qing and Zhaang Que, who had left to go out and train.

Entering the cabin, Zhaang Ye tidied up a little and began to take stock of his gains.

Zhaang Ye’s gains from this trip could be described as enormous. Financially, besides the 432,000 taels he had just received for selling the Beast Whiskers and Bone Spikes, he had also collected over ten Golden Tickets from the Martial Artists he’d killed, totaling 210,000 taels. Adding these Golden Tickets to the 20,000-plus taels he already had on him, plus the 10,000 taels from Zhu Nulang, Zhaang Ye now had a grand total of 672,000 taels of gold.

Aside from the huge amount of gold, Zhaang Ye’s second gain was a considerable number of Elixirs. These included nine bottles of Low-level Qi Gathering Pills, one bottle of Mid-Level Qi Gathering Pills, several bottles of Healing and Calm Spirit Elixirs, and two bottles of Antitoxic Pills. There was such a jumble of bottles that Zhaang Ye barely had any place to put them on his person.

Zhaang Ye’s third gain was several Mid-Level Martial Arts Secret Manuals. These included *Seven Seas and Heaven Swords*, *Little Luo Sword Technique*, and *Little Luo Step Method*. If he could successfully sell these Martial Arts Secret Manuals, they would be worth no less than one million taels of gold. It was just a pity that he was in Cyan Mulberry City; even if he had ten times the courage, he wouldn’t dare sell the Luo Family’s Martial Arts Secret Manuals here.

The fourth gain was the Jade Box he had seized from the red-robed, middle-aged man of the Zhou Family. The jade of this box was fine, smooth, and white; a single glance told him it was no ordinary item. The Jade Box alone was worth a small fortune, so what could be inside it? Zhaang Ye couldn’t help but grow curious.

He got up and secured the cabin’s door and windows. Zhaang Ye slowly opened the Jade Box, revealing a medicinal herb, entirely emerald green, lying inside. This herb had nine leaves and seven branches, and on the tips of three of those branches grew small, light-purple flowers.

’This medicinal herb has nine leaves, seven branches, and three flowers. Could it be the Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass—the kind of mutated medicinal herb that can improve a Martial Artist’s aptitude?!’ Zhaang Ye’s eyes revealed a hint of wild joy as he sized up the herb.

The Medicinal Herbs of the Barbaric World could be divided into six grades. This Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass was a Top-grade mutated herb, and extremely rare. The Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass had a truly astonishing effect: it could remove impurities from a Martial Artist’s body and improve their aptitude. If combined with other Medicinal Herbs, its effects were even more pronounced.

Aptitude was crucial for practicing martial arts. The quality of one’s aptitude directly determined the extent of a Martial Artist’s achievements. A person with good aptitude had a high affinity for the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi, allowing them to easily absorb it into their body and refine it. They could absorb sixty, or even seventy, percent of an Elixir’s Medicinal Power.

In contrast, people with poor aptitude had a low affinity for Heaven and Earth Essence Qi and numerous impurities in their bodies, making it difficult to absorb Heaven and Earth Essence Qi during Cultivation. Even when consuming Elixirs, they could only absorb five to ten percent of the Medicinal Power, or even less.

In short, people with good aptitude could achieve twice the results with half the effort in their Cultivation. People with poor aptitude, however, would achieve half the results with twice the effort. It was for this very reason that all the major families placed extreme importance on those with good aptitude. As for those with poor aptitude, unless they performed exceptionally well, they were generally ignored.

Zhaang Ye’s aptitude was low. He had been able to get to where he was today step by step by relying on his Comprehension, diligence, and fortuitous opportunities. Although he was ahead of his peers thanks to his Comprehension, diligence, and opportunities, his low aptitude remained a regret in his heart. Now, to suddenly encounter this Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass and have a chance to change his aptitude—how could Zhaang Ye not be overjoyed?

Zhaang Ye carefully examined the medicinal herb once more before slowly closing the Jade Box. ’I’ve heard that this Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass is most effective when consumed with other ingredients,’ he mused. ’It’s a pity that even though I spent some time gathering herbs, I have no idea which ones to use with it...’

After a moment of contemplation, Zhaang Ye set the Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass aside and continued to take stock of his gains.

Zhaang Ye’s fifth gain was the Long Whip that the Mammoth had tossed him. In the outer forests of the Barbaric Beast Mountain Range, Zhaang Ye had kept the whip wrapped around his waist and hadn’t gotten a good look at it. Now that he was back in his own cabin, he could finally examine this exquisitely beautiful Long Whip properly.

Zhaang Ye unwrapped the Long Whip, examined it closely, and found nothing unusual. He then brandished it and tried to crack it.

WHOOSH!

The moment Zhaang Ye swung the whip, he immediately felt something was wrong. The Long Whip he cracked was for some reason limp and light, completely lacking any force.

PAK. The Long Whip struck a piece of wood with a soft sound. Zhaang Ye looked and saw that, just as he expected, there wasn’t a single mark on the wood.

’Strange! The Mammoth gave me this whip; it shouldn’t be an ordinary item. How can it not even leave a mark on a piece of wood?’ Zhaang Ye wondered, channeling True Qi from his hand into the whip, preparing to activate it.

The moment Zhaang Ye activated his True Qi, he immediately sensed something abnormal. The True Qi that flowed from his palm into the Long Whip vanished without a trace, like a clay ox entering the sea. No matter how he tried to channel his True Qi, the whip remained limp, seeming even less impressive than an ordinary one.

”What a strange whip!” After trying a few more times with his True Qi and even striking it a few times with his Thick-Backed Saber, Zhaang Ye still couldn’t figure anything out. He had no choice but to give up and wrap the Long Whip back around his waist.

Although the whip couldn’t be used to kill enemies, it made a decent belt. Its material was exceptionally tough—even the Thick-Backed Saber couldn’t harm it. Wrapped around his waist, it could help block an enemy’s weapon in a moment of crisis.

After finishing his inventory, Zhaang Ye suddenly remembered that he had buried the hide and teeth of a monster in a forest ten thousand li from Cyan Mulberry City. Both items were extremely heavy, but if he could get them back to Cyan Mulberry City, they would represent another substantial income.

’Forget it. I’m not short on money right now. I’ll just leave those two things there for the time being.’ Zhaang Ye had no intention of going back for them. He had something more important to do: find someone in the family and ask what ingredients would work best with the Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass.

Zhaang Ye packed his things and hurried to an old, three-story building. Outside the building hung a plaque with two powerful, large words written on it: ”Enlightenment Tower.”

The Enlightenment Tower, as its name implied, was a place to get all sorts of questions answered. Some of the family’s older members possessed a wealth of experience and knowledge, but were too old to venture out and struggle anymore. And so, the family had arranged for these experienced elders to be stationed in the tower, specifically to answer the questions of the clan’s disciples.

Although these people were old, their experience and knowledge were vast. Whether it was a problem with Cultivation, Alchemy, or Artifact Refining... as long as one could pay the price, they could generally provide a satisfactory answer. Furthermore, the entire process was kept confidential, so there was no need to worry about others finding out.

Zhaang Ye went to the medicinal herb inquiry area, sat down in a chair, picked up a pen, and wrote his question on a piece of Beast Hide: ”With which ingredients does the Nine-leaf Seven-branch Three-flower Grass have the strongest effect on improving aptitude?”

After writing the question, Zhaang Ye casually inserted the piece of Beast Hide into a small hole in the wall.

After a moment, an ancient voice from within the wall said, ”To get the answer to this question, you must pay five hundred taels of gold.”

’Five hundred taels of gold for one question? This old geezer is practically robbing me!’ Zhaang Ye cursed inwardly. Cursing was one thing, but he still needed to ask the question. Annoyed, Zhaang Ye took out a five-hundred-tael Golden Ticket and stuffed it into the small hole.

A short while later, a piece of Beast Hide fluttered out of the small hole. Zhaang Ye glanced at the answer written on it and was instantly stunned...