Chapter 131: Beautiful Beast
Asking no more questions, Xu Min just casually nodded his head. He followed behind the group of experts as they went towards the city where they originated from.
The leader of the group was uncertain about what to do. Inside he was fuming over the fact that he had been forced into such a situation due to this youthful looking man.
Even more, he was also confused as to why this young man was so close to the Immortal Valley. Even though he was curious, he was incapable of asking questions as he knew that Xu Min would not answer.
Glancing back at the three friends behind him, his eyes slightly widened, and he felt his throat go dry. He noticed that the lion was a Golden-Furred Blood Lion, a creature which lived within the Immortal Valley.
Had these three come from the Immortal Valley? But didn’t they just say they were lost? If they came from the Immortal Valley, they needed the approval of the Guardians to be able to enter and leave. Suddenly he felt weak at his knees. He had almost fought someone from the Guardians of the Immortal Valley! This was the same as certain death!
The other creature by the side of this carefree young man was a long and beautiful snake. It was a snake which seemed as if it was carved from the purest jade. Its eyes were so clear and filled with intelligence that the man in charge of the group felt a shiver run down his spine.
In the end, he was satisfied with the way things had played out. These two beasts seemed fearsome. Xu Min was also an extreme expert. Fighting him, especially if he had the backing of the Guardians would have caused a calamity for his entire city.
The more he thought about it, the more fearful he became. Nevertheless, as time went on, he began to calm down. They became closer and closer to the city where they lived.
They had left the snow covered mountain peaks and were descending the mountain through animal trails. Everything was covered with pine trees and leaves on the ground. Even still no sound could be heard from this group of people.
Now and then they would meet demonic beasts, but all of them would be killed by the leader of the group with only a wave of his hand; every time he killed a beast his group's morale would increase. Some of them even started to look at Xu Min's group with greed and hostility again. Every time this would occur, the leader would notice it and would tell them to stop. He feared this young man all throughout the journey.
As they made their way down the mountain, they soon came to the bottom of the mountain where a long valley spread before their eyes. In the very middle of this valley was a city.
This city was not a large city, but it was not small either. Looking at it, Xu Min compared it to Ri Chu City size.
The moment he thought about Ri Chu City he also thought about Meilin and his heart softened. His carefree gaze grew warm; he was clearly eager to reunite with her. However, he knew that he could not do so before he had managed to get rid of the Zhong family.
Shaking his head, he removed all these thoughts from his mind. Although he had managed to threaten the leader of this group he was not certain of their success. If he truly went to battle, he needed to focus on the situation present instead of dreaming about what would happen in the future. If he kept dreaming, it was likely that he would not even have a future!
As they reached the city, the leader of the group that leads them turned around and faced Xu Min, who looked at him curiously. There was a change in his demeanor and attitude that Xu Min could sense instantly. However, as to what had caused this change, he did not know.
"We have arrived at our home," he said while spreading his arms wide and pointing at the city beneath him. "This city is one of the minor cities within the Immortal Ruins. Even so, we are very bustling with life. Many people come visiting us because of our proximity to the Immortal Valley."
"Here you should be able to find anything you need, so feel at home. There are also roads to the other major cities of the Immortal Ruins. I am sure that you will find your way soon. If anyone dares to bully you while you are in the city, please feel free to find me, and I will instantly sort it out. I am not the strongest expert within this city, but I am within the top three."
Hearing this, Xu Min was quite surprised. This man was already rather strong, but to think that he was not the strongest implied that there were people within this city that maybe even Xu Min would have a hard time dealing with. This was a problem considering that it was already such a small city compared to many of the other cities.
If every city within the Immortal Ruins contained such strong warriors, then they truly were at a disadvantage. Thinking like this, Xu Min changed the flow with which the energy within his body rotated. Now, anyone who looked at him felt as if they were looking at a five-star warrior rather than an eight-star warrior.
This made much more sense. No one would pay attention to a five-star warrior as they would to an eight-star warrior. Hiding his real strength would keep him a lot safer than otherwise, and he could easily mingle within the crowd.
Nodding his head approvingly, the leader looked at Xu Min. He understood that this young man was not only a talented individual when it came to his cultivation, he was also rather smart as well. He had said a few more words before he headed to the city, leaving Xu Min and the two beasts behind.
"Why are we not following?" Ye Ling asked curiously. However, Xu Min just looked at the group which vanished in the distance before answering, "Although we could follow them, it will draw attention to us. That group of experts is protecting the borders of the Immortal Valley. To find us there would make them curious about us; right now we are not interested in others being curious about us."
After thinking about what Xu Min had said both Cao Cao and Ye Ling nodded their heads. It made sense.
Waiting around for roughly an hour or two the group of three finally made their way down to the city and entered through the city gates.
The leader from before had not lied. This was truly a bustling city. There were experts everywhere. All of them, though, were moving out of the way whenever Xu Min walked past. Not because of his strength, but because by his side were two beasts, and both beasts had quite a cultivation base.
Although they had suppressed their cultivation to the fifth rank similarly to Xu Min, they were still amazing beasts. One was a Golden-Furred Blood Lion, and the other was an unknown but beautiful snake with a massive body that made all of them feel fear in their hearts.
Xu Min had been aware that it was going to be impossible for him not to stand out since he had two beasts by his side. However,t he was not the only one with beasts on his side within the city. Quite a few of the mercenaries and young masters had mounts and other beasts that they brought around with them. Nonetheless, neither of those beasts could hold a candle to the ones that Xu Min had with him.
The trio’s next step after arriving in the city was finding a place to reside for the night. This was not difficult. Xu Min quickly located an inn that looked to be in decent shape, and he entered. He still had quite a lot of wealth since the Immortal Valley Rankings that he won by killing expert after expert and taking their storage treasures, so paying for a room was not a problem.
"Wh-what c-c-can I d-d-do for y-y-you?" The clerk behind the counter stuttered in fear as he saw the beasts on Xu Min's side. However, he gained great courage and greed when he saw Xu Min withdrawing a few gold coins and tossing them on the table.
"I want your best room and a meal for me and my companions," he said straight forward. Xu Min was aware that he was overpaying, but at that moment he did not care. The clerk, of course, did not tell him he was overpaying because he planned to keep one of the gold coins for himself; the rest was simply a great business.
"Okay, please follow me!" he exclaimed and picked a set of keys from a board behind him after which he almost flew up the stairs to the top floor of the inn where a large room was revealed.
This room was not overly adorned with beautiful things, but it was practical. There was a lot of space on the floor where Cao Cao and Ye Ling could lay down.
"I will bring food for you soon," he said before he bowed deeply. He turned around to leave and rushed down to the kitchens to have some food prepared.
While Xu Min was in the room eating his food, rumors about a new expert and his outstanding beasts appearing in the city started spreading as quickly as the inn owner to took Xu Min’s money, quickly.
This rumor reached the city Lord's mansion and his son, which was a twenty-year-old six-star Warrior. He furrowed his brows when he heard about the beasts.
The Beasts were so frightening that just looking at them was enough to frighten the public, one was beautiful as if it was carved from jade, and another so frighteningly powerful that it could scare a mortal to death excited this wealthy and privileged expert himself.
"Their rank is only five-star which is quite acceptable," he mumbled to himself after sending people out to gather information, "their owner is also a weakling of the fifth-star rank. I should easily be able to get them from him if I threaten to kill him."
Although he had reached this conclusion, there was a bit of discomfort in his heart. Could it be that this youngster who had reached the fifth-star Warrior rank had some background? He did not know, but his greed overcame his reason. He truly wished to possess those two wonderful beasts.
While he was busy thinking about the beasts, the leader of the group which had led Xu Min here was in the presence of the ruler of the city.
"My Lord I am certain!" he exclaimed with fear in his voice, "It was a young man, very young, maybe seventeen years old, but he was already an eight-star Warrior. He possesses a Golden-Furred Blood Lion."
"You know as well as me that it is impossible to get your hands on one of those beasts from outside of the Immortal Valley. He must have come from within."
The ruler of the city was thinking for quite some time, stroking his beard and looking at the fearful expression on his subject's face before he sighed, "He has been in the Immortal Valley that is true. As to whether or not he has the backing of the Immortal Valley, we do not know. Right now, troubling him would be a bad idea. If we can make him ally with us, that would be a good idea. Then he won’t leave the city as soon. I will do what I can to make sure that he does not cause trouble within our precious city."