Chapter 19: Thief, Emmie1!

These little fellows were finally his.

Yun Yang did some verification according to Supreme Wind's Illustrated Encyclopedia of All Beasts; he pulled the creature's ears, looked at its stomach, flipped its eyelids, checked its nostrils, examined its throat, and even directed some mystical Qi into the baby beast to check... Not one of the dozen of continuous tests conducted did not match!

He had finally confirmed that these were cubs of ninth class beginner mystical beasts, Eclipse Panther!

Eclipse Panther was fast like wind in its movement, great in concealing itself, and furiously speedy in preying. It had always had the name of "Assassin among the Mystical Beasts". A grown Eclipse Panther could swallow gold and jade as food; its skin malleable like bronze while bones strong as steel, it was indestructibly strong.

Yun Yang was overjoyed.

At the same time, however, he had a question in his heart. What was the real identity of his eight brother Supreme Wind?

People from Ximen Family of the top 8 families, Ximen Wandai's companions who were definitely also young master of significant status, and their guards as well as servants were all experts.

Yet they had not even suspected a thing while he could easily recognize and determine the beasts from a book!

Each of the top 8 families had at least a thousand years of history but their knowledge paled in comparison to a book simply placed beside Supreme Wind's pillow!

Even if each field had its own master, this was not something as simple.

Yun Yang kept this question deep down in his heart.

He had to find out eighth brother's identity; he would also complete whatever it was that eighth brother had not without reservation!

Before that though, he had to first recover from his injuries and elevate his cultivation base, so he could take the endless enemies head on!

"Young master, you..." Lao Mei was dumbfounded.

A day ago, his young master went out. When he came back, a monkey followed. Uh, and a lively woman.

Today, his young master went out again. When he came back, he brought back five cats! Uh, and a half-dead man.

Lao Mei was really curious, "Young master, next time you go out, would you have brought back a pack of hundreds or thousands of wolves? Or another large group of men and women?"

"Mm, nothing much, just a few pets." Yun Yang said, "Inform Ma and Qin to come over to Residence of Yun tonight. Cough, tell them there's something good in store for them this time."

Lao Mei wanted to shake his head.

Inform them?

Do they dare to come still?

Shouldn't these guys have already been traumatized?

"It's okay, they will come for sure this time," Yun Yang said in confidence.

"..." Lao Mei was confused. Just as he wanted to bid his leave, Yun Yang took a small bag out and passed it to him.

"There's some cultivation resources inside, use them to cultivate. If you could break through to the sixth peak soon, that'd be good."

Lao Mei received the bag and left.

Only when he was no longer within Yun Yang's area of vision that he opened the bag to let out a surprised gasp.

His shaking hands almost threw the small bag away.

The inside was all radiating with bright shimmer and spiritual Qi; there were 50 mystical stones and 10 mystical crystals!

These were invaluable gems that could help cultivation!

"Where did young master get these from? There's so much of it." Lao Mei thought, his heart filled with warmth. He had been stuck at the bottleneck of the fifth peak for approximately five years already.

With these things now, he could definitely advance to the sixth peak!

There was a premise for martial artists who wished to cultivate to the level of true experts, "six innately awakened chakras are not odd, one could step right into the level of mystic; the heavens dictate only three parts of your fate, the extrinsic seven parts could make or break".

This meant that only those with six or above innately awakened chakras could be a mystical Qi martial artist. Even then, six innately awakened chakras were only still gifts bestowed by the god, nothing would come out of it if there were no effort put in.

Only then would it be... "twelve peaks of skill levels, a heaven's difference between each"!

The sage once said, "Cultivation of martial artists is like going up a mountain weighed down with baggage; only by going all the way up to the peak could one see where the next peak is."

There would always be one highest mountain in a person's eyes; before arriving at the first peak, you would never know that there existed a taller mountain in this world than the one you were at.

This unknown was known as knowledge barrier.

There was then another saying, "To reach the heavens, one must first claim the peak; thereafter the peak, a heaven lies."

Its meaning was simply, "A whole new world awaits upon claiming the peak of a particular mountain."

Therefore, "twelve peaks of skill levels, a heaven's difference between each; conquer all twelve before all else, brave the ninth heaven thereupon"!

It seemed simple and easy to comprehend, laced with some tasteless humor even, (TL note: I don't see no humor, but that's what author said :/ ) but it was a theoretically progressive!

...

"I'm back!" Ji Ling had a timid tiny silver animal on her shoulder as she charged in excitedly.

"Look, Silver Moon Celestial Wolf, I've bought it. How is it? You meant this little guy right?"

Yun Yang went forward to have a look and nodded. "Right, right, that's it! Your luck is not too bad, it still hasn't been bought after such a long time."

Ji Ling's eyes squinted in joy but she said this instead, "This is all thanks to you. The whole market is talking about your shocking bet, who would have the mood to continue their business..."

"Haha..." Yun Yang chuckled loudly and said, "I'll start training your pet tomorrow."

"Then today..."

Before Ji Ling could finish, Yun Yang had already sent her away without much courtesy.

"I still have things to do today. Didn't you see there's a critically injured person here?"

"This bastard is ungentlemanly at all! He's so rude and uncompromising even when it's a pretty girl!" Ji Ling mumbled and stomped her foot indignantly, leaving with a pout.

Her volume was not low, so Yun Yang had naturally heard it, the corners of his lips lifting into a dismissive smirk.

What's chivalry? Can it be eaten? Why must men be gentlemanly towards pretty girls? Why do they have to compromise? If this pretty girl will ultimately become this man's wife, then it's alright to take a step back. But not every woman will become a man's wife right?

Then why should I put up with you?

Just because you're a woman?

That'd be called digging myself a hole, not chivalry!

Yun Yang did not say these out loud. Of course, if Lao Mei had known Yun Yang's thought, he would definitely be frustrated and said, "Young master, there's a reason why you're still single when you're already 19..."

...

Yun Yang went into a room.

As he walked, he vaguely felt something was off but could not pinpoint where the feeling came from. It was when he got to the bed where the half dead man was that he thought about it.

Eh... Why is there powder dropping from my stomach?

He subconsciously brought his hand into his robe.

Sucking in a breath with a hiss, he pulled a big bag out right away.

Except... the bag that was rather big earlier had shrunk more than half its size.

Yun Yang's eyes widened into the size of two copper bells. What was going on?

As he opened the package, there was nothing wrong; they were still the mystical stones, mystical crystals and mystical pills won from today's bet.

The mystical pills are still the same, still two of them here.

However, the mystical stones... How did 200 of them go missing? Those remaining seem to have shrunk in size as well?

The mystical crystals too, there should be 30 of them. I've given five to Lao Mei, there should be another 25. Why are there only... 13?

Where did the other 12 go?

Other than that, there were copious of powder in the package...

Yun Yang felt faint as he looked at them.

Don't tell me my disappeared mystical stones and crystals have all... turned into powder?

Yun Yang went into his subconscious in distress and saw that the leaves of Lotus of Endless Fate were swaying in delight.

Although the second lotus leaf had yet to grow, it was obvious that its color had turned darker and it seemed stronger...

Where the root of Lotus of Endless Fate was, there were some mist that looked crystal clear in condensation. Yun Yang shuddered in heartache as he saw it.

This... Isn't this the most refined mystical Qi within the mystical crystals and stones?

I was still wondering how did they turn into powder... They're... They're actually stolen!

"Despicable thief!" Yun Yang glared at the seedling, about to go mad.

The cultivation resources that he had gotten from offending Ximen Family by chance had actually been depleted by this Lotus of Endless Fate in such a short time!

As if feeling Yun Yang's anger, the small seedling swayed gently, its leaf coiling as if guilty, and actually looked... abashed.

It looked much like a misbehaved child who was admitting their mischief innocently, "Aww, I know I'm wrong..."

The adorable sight had Yun Yang's temper dissipating into thin air within an instance.

"Those calming Frost Jade on my neck and arm, under my pillow, and in my study room days earlier... did you steal them too?"

The seedling's leaf curled up even tighter, almost into a long piece, as it swayed lightly.

Feeling funny yet annoyed, Yun Yang finally understood what was happening.

It seemed like this little thing needed not only the simple air of injustice to grow but also spiritual Qi from heaven and earth, as well as the refined air of treasured materials and gems of the earth.

The only difference was that the air of injustice could increase the growth of its leaf and speed up leveling up while the spiritual Qi from both heaven and earth, and treasured materials and gem, could make it stronger.

"Mm, just like a child who needs to grow tall and big..." Yun Yang understood, "Alright, don't sneak around next time, just take it openly. But don't you touch those I need, otherwise, none for you!"

With a soft 'wah' sound, the leaf uncurled itself right away as the seedling swayed happily, as if dancing in celebration.

Yun Yang could distinctly feel the joy radiating from the seedling, the corners of his lips could not help but lift into a grin as well.

Hmm, a lotus that could... understand what I said?

Thinking about it, Yun Yang felt like laughing.

Who would believe him if he said it out loud?

As if rewarding him, Yun Yang watched the seedling trembled before a ray of green light shone through and shot into his meridians.

Instantaneously, Yun Yang felt a cooling sensation throughout his body as an indescribable vitality filled his meridians. The injury he had sustained from Ximen Wandai's strike disappearing into nowhere.

At the same time, he felt rejuvenated, his mind seemed to clear up a lot as well.

Hmm, this guy could heal me? Yun Yang was delighted as he asked, "Can my cultivation base be returned to how it was a year prior as soon as possible?

Yun Yang had longed for his ability for far too long!

Without his ability, he could not do anything.

The seedling swayed slowly, seeming to be shaking its head yet it also looked rather despising...

Yun Yang continued asking, finally having his doubts answered.

It would seem that his cultivation base could no longer be recovered...

After the lotus merged itself into his blood and meridians, it had utterly devoured his cultivation base, igniting the chance of its birth; when the air of injustice came along, it then sprouted...

Besides, the seedling had an implicit meaning laying under, "Your power was rubbish... it's the same if I don't have it..."

Yun Yang had mixed feelings.

Fine, he would just start all over again.

"It's awkward sounding to call you seedling or Lotus of Endless Fate every day. Why not let me give you a new name?" Yun Yang said in a negotiating manner, "You have the shape of a rattan with flower and leaves; Rattan? Stemmie? Flower? Leafy? Lolo? Emmie?"

The seedling kept swaying in disagreement until the last name, 'Emmie', came up.

It stopped swaying for a short moment before actually lightly nodding its sprout.

It actually acknowledged this name?

Yun Yang felt an incoming headache.

Of all the names, the one he thought was the worst and least acceptable was actually Emmie.

That was why he had placed it last.

Who would have known this name that he thought was the worst sounding was actually approved.

Emmie...

"Uh... Oh my god... Emmie..." Yun Yang slapped his forehead, feeling speechless, "What kind of revolting name have I given?"

In his subconscious, Emmie was dancing merrily, one of its tendrils rolled and twisted into various shapes in celebration that it had finally gotten a name.

"Emmie!" Yun Yang then continued in desperation, "You have to think of something, that man in my room has to live!"

Emmie was stunned but its tendril quickly resumed waving about.

"No problem!"

Translator's Note:

Emmie (绿绿lǜ lǜ): Lotus of Endless Fate's nickname given by Yun Yang; literally means light green and light green. Emmie is derived from emerald and attached with suffix -ie to make the nickname sound cute.