Chapter 132: Dragon Valley
Zen was only a teenager, and he had only been joking when he asked Yolande to kiss him.
When remembering his experience of being locked up by her with her enchantments, he couldn't help but have come up with such an idea to revenge on her.
But surprisingly, Yolande kissed him on the cheek without any hesitation. After her lips had left his cheek, he gawked at her in shock for a while.
The soldiers standing beside them stared in shock too. They didn't expect that Yolande would have agreed to his request so easily.
"What's wrong with her?' they wondered as they shook their heads.
Ever since that little incident, Yolande spent almost all her time in her room, and Zen never met or saw her again.
On the other hand, Yolande was already used to this kind of life. In addition to defending the city with the imperial army, she had been practicing cultivation in her room for most of her time.
After some time, Zen was going to leave the city. He collected all his stuffs in a bag and hoisted it on his back before going out the door. He stopped in front of Yolande's house and looked at it for quite a long time before turning away.
He began his path to his destination on foot. Since all the disciples of Cloud Sect had left, of course nobody would send another giant flying chariot to pick him up. Thus, Zen had to go back alone.
Fortunately, the demon had been defeated and two demon kings had been killed. The demon's camps had reduced significantly as well. Furthermore, the imperial army in the White Emperor City had completely destroyed the demons in the surrounding areas and Sky Forest. What was left to do was to plan the next counterattack to take back the Heaven tower and the Earth tower.
However, these had little to do with Zen because he was only a disciple of Cloud Sect, not a member of the imperial army.
When Zen had reached the boundary of White Imperial City, he headed for Cloud Sect.
The trip to White Emperor City had definitely given him a lot of experience. Aside from refining his body into a middle-grade spiritual weapon by absorbing the demon's holy fire, he had gotten two crystals which were quite helpful for increasing his skills.
Even more exciting for him was he felt a change in his lower abdomen. After he had been punched hard countless times, the warm currents gradually expanded his lower abdomen. Maybe it was time for Zen to transform his life energy to life vitality. Once he succeeded, he would become a genuine nature creature!
If everything went well, his skills and competence would improve a great deal!
These thoughts made Zen speed up more at a brisk pace.
In the middle of his trip, he suddenly realized that he had passed through Sky Forest and entered the northernmost county of Burning Sky Empire--G County.
Compared with the other counties in the Eastern Region, counties in the north were not that prosperous.
Aside from the fact that G County couldn't compare to the luxurious Imperial Capital, it was also much poorer than Zen's hometown, C County.
Despite this, Zen felt much better because after running wild alone for two days and nights, he could at least see people here. It wasn't a big deal for him to run half the land of Burning Sky Empire and return to Cloud Sect.
However, since he had no important mission to fulfill, it was unnecessary to rush. So, Zen took his liberties and walked into a restaurant to rest after entering G County.
The restaurant he chose was called Golden Moon Restaurant. Although it wasn't on par with Golden Wind Restaurant, it was already considered a luxury place for ordinary people. It could easily be taken as the most high-end restaurant in G County as well.
The doors were opened by a polite waiter. After his journey of two days and two nights, Zen looked weary and dirty.
Fortunately, the waiters of Golden Moon Restaurant were very experienced. They didn't look down upon Zen because of the way he dressed. On the contrary, they were quite respectful to him.
As far as the waiters were concerned, people like Zen could be taken as a warrior. These men were usually very rich and generous. These waiters had learned from someone that the warriors had a kind of currency called cubic crystal. One could buy more than ten Golden Moon Restaurants with a cubic crystal. In these men's eyes, gold and silver were nothing at all.
All those things they overheard about the cubic crystal were by no means empty gossips. But a small amount of the cubic crystals Zen held could easily make an average family become rich.
After Zen had sat down at a table by the window, a waiter came to take his orders. Soon enough, delicious dishes and food were served in front of him.
Since no one was dining with him, Zen didn't have to care about table manners. He continuously munched on the dishes and food on the table without even raising his head. Soon, there were only scraps of leftovers on the table.
Perhaps because Zen ate too fast, people at the neighboring tables shot him dirty looks and whispered among themselves. However, he paid them no mind at all. What he thought about instead was where to get a horse after dinner, so that he could continue his journey as soon as possible.
'If only I can get a flying chariot in G County!' Zen thought to himself, but he knew that there was little chance that his wish would come true. In a county of this size, it was possible however to buy a swift horse like the flying dragon horse or the lightning horse. Although not as fast as the flying chariot, they could help Zen to speed up his journey and save his energy. 'The waiters might know where I can buy a swift horse. I'd better ask them later, ' he thought.
As Zen busied himself with finishing the remainders of his meal, a group of guys had entered the restaurant and walked upstairs. They spoke rather noisily and looked quite arrogant. One of them reached into his pocket and pulled out two pieces of gold bullion, each piece of them was about the size of a fist. He banged them loudly on the table and looked around.
“Waiter, bring us the best wine and dishes of this restaurant!” he yelled. The man who seemed to be their leader stretched his limbs carelessly as he slouched on his chair and ordered the waiters in a raucous voice.
All the waiters were dumbfounded at the sight of the big gold bullion the man had slapped on the table. They immediately served these guys with much bowing and fussing over their meals.
Meanwhile, Zen observed them for a few seconds and then went back to his food again. They spoke in such deafening volumes that everyone in the restaurant clearly heard their conversations.
The sound of the metal utensils clinking against plates mixed with their cacophonous voices. “Brother, are we really not going back to Dragon Valley?” asked a man among them.
The group's leader raised an eyebrow at the question. "Go back to Dragon Valley? You're just dreaming!
Do you even know who they are? Let me tell you, they are from top seven noble clans! No matter which one you provoke, they can even destroy our Bamboo Leaf Sect with a single finger!" he said with a wide-eyed expression. The rest of them just shook their heads at this fact.
“Alas! It's unfair! Our Sect has been staying at Dragon Valley for so many years, but now we have to leave because it was occupied by some powerful group! What a shame!” the man who sat beside their leader angrily exclaimed. It was true, and once again the rest of them nodded in agreement.
“Since we have no choice, we have to leave. Even though a strong dragon finds it hard to control a local snake in its place, our Sect is not even a local snake in their eyes! And who are they? They are even more powerful than strong dragons,” their leader continued.
He spoke the words with such exaggeration, as if he couldn't find a better metaphor.
They continued to eat their food as they talked more about their current topic.
“Fortunately, they are generous. With those cubic crystals they gave us, we don't have to worry about our future life. Let's find some girls and have fun in the brothel tonight!” another one of them piped up. When one of them started talking about fun and brothels, the rest of their words drowned in Zen's ears.
He raised an eyebrow when he heard them talk about Dragon Valley.
The name was not unfamiliar to him, because he had seen it before on a book page when he had previously read the Weapon Refining Principle. There were two place names on that page--Cloudy Mountain and Dragon Valley.
They were not well-known places, so Zen was not that familiar with them. Besides, he had been busy with preparing the mission of the trial for slaying demons, therefore, he hadn't paid much attention to those two places at that time. But now, since he heard the name again, he carefully began to listen to the conversation of the group.
From what he could hear, Zen could tell that these guys came from a Sect named “Bamboo Leaf Sect”, but they looked more like a gang of scoundrels. Since they said that they had been staying in Dragon Valley for years, then Dragon Valley must be their former base.
Now, they had been driven out from Dragon Valley by the top seven noble clans. To compromise for their loss, the noble clans had given them several cubic crystals.
A slight smile formed on Zen's lips. Since the Weapon Refining Principle could be sold at such a high price, there must be an amazing secret in it. Zen possessed the book, so he had every reason to know about this secret.
As soon as Zen finished his meal, he put down his chopsticks and walked towards the group of rambunctious guys.
“Dear friend, can I ask you something?” Zen asked with a smile.
The group leader felt a hand tap his shoulder and turned around. “What is it?” he asked in surprise, his eyes wide like brass bells.
“Can you tell me where's the place named Dragon Valley?” Zen asked.
Their table went silent for a few seconds.
Then, they all snorted. They looked like common civilians when they were in the county, but in the mountain, they were a gang of bandits who lived on robbery. It was only natural that they were reluctant to talk to an average person.
Besides, Zen looked so young, like an inexperienced teenager. The man shook his head and impatiently shouted, “Go away! Where is Dragon Valley? It's none of your business!”
However, Zen wasn't annoyed and instead, continued to ask, “It's in Cloudy Mountain, right?”
He briefly remembered that the Dragon Valley was located in the Cloudy Mountain.
At this point, the leader of the noisy group was irritated. His brows knitted and his eyes bulged in anger.
“Are you deaf? Whether it's in the Cloudy Mountain or not, it's none of your business! Young man, don't blame me if you don't go away!” he shouted.
Upon hearing those words, Zen narrowed his eyes into slits. The people on the table immediately felt an overwhelming wind-like shockwave roll out of him.
They were not average people and all of them had killed many others at some point. However, they had just reached the level of skin refining or flesh refining, and could only be taken as the junior martial art practitioners. Thus, it was impossible for them to bear Zen's attacks if he did.
The impact of the shockwave turned the faces of the noisy men from Bamboo Leaf Sect pale and green, and they couldn't help but fearfully grit their teeth and scream.
The green pallor of their skin didn't fade until Zen retracted the shockwave back. However, their faces still looked drained of color. They now realized that the young man in front of them was not a person to be trifled with.
After a while, Zen slightly touched his finger and procured a cubic crystal from his space ring. Then, he threw it on the table and ordered, “Tell me where's the Dragon Valley of Cloudy Mountain now!”
The group leader nervously glanced at the cubic crystal on the table and knew that he had no choice but to accept it, and tell Zen the address of Dragon Valley.
Small beads of sweat had formed on his temples before he spoke carefully. “Cloudy Mountain…is not big. In fact, it's rather small. You may reach it after getting out the north gate of G County and walking about 20 miles along the national road. Dragon Valley is located on the side of Cloudy Mountain. You'll see a bamboo forest when you climb up Cloudy Mountain. After bypassing the bamboo forest, you'll find a deep pool. Behind it, is Dragon Valley,” he finished. After all, Dragon Valley was their former base, so the leader told Zen about its location quickly even when he was extremely nervous.
After that, Zen patted him jovially on the shoulder and said, “Good job! This cubic crystal belongs to you now!”
He then paid for his meal and walked downstairs. He decided that he must pay a visit to Dragon Valley.
As soon as Zen left, the noisy group's leader slumped on his chair. All his courage went down the drain now. “These jerks!” he cursed.
Another disciple of the Bamboo Leaf Sect who stood beside him couldn't agree more. “He's not only incredible in power, but also in generosity. I didn't expect that we'd get another cubic crystal so easily!”