Chapter 95: Solar Crow and Lunar Rabbit

"Brother Xu, why don"t you come with me to my family"s encampment. We will ensure that no one will be able to touch you," Ouyang Xiu promised while disregarding the risk involved. Now that the young master of Snow Mountain was dead, many of those who previously allied themselves with Snow Mountain were now trying to distance themselves.

Looking at Ouyang Xiu, these families could easily see that he was building a relationship together with this dynamic enigma that had appeared within their Immortal Valley Ranking. He was seemingly weak at first, but when he exploded with all of his power, his might was simply extraordinary.

The fire that he had displayed stunned everyone. They had never before seen anyone of the fifth-rank display such flames before. They did not know that Xu Min had mastered becoming one with the world.

"Do you think he is a six-star Warrior? Or can he use the Worldly Flame from being one with the world." Someone questioned. Xu Min, who stood a bit behind, was suddenly enlightened. 

Before, he had thought that the flames that appeared came from the sword – that the sword in his hands was simply an otherworldly treasure. However, now he understood why the flames had appeared at the same time he had first become one with the world and every time afterward. 

Ouyang Xiu also understood that this was the Worldly Flame, but he was unaware of whether or not Xu Min was truly a six-star Warrior. To be a six-star Warrior at this age was simply unheard of. 

Xu Min knew that some of these young masters had reached the fifth-rank only because they had trained five years longer than he had. Moreover, they were given limitless resources from their families and sects. Their talents were also likely to be similar to Xu Min"s. 

Xu Min had grown up in a world where he had never been gifted resources to increase his cultivation as a child. His master, who gave him his sword, had never imparted resources to him as an example. The first time he came into contact with medicinal pills was when he was in Ri Chu City. 

This lack of resources was the reason for Xu Min not to have reached a higher rank earlier, but he had finally caught up to his peers because of the Blood PaG.o.da, maybe even slightly above them.

When it came to comprehending the world around them and the energies within them, Xu Min was more skilled than his peers. Because he was an exception, he had been able to comprehend becoming one with the world.

Xu Min was fully engrossed in his thoughts as he automatically moved after Ouyang Xiu. This new friend of his did not interrupt him; instead, he just silently led them to a corner of the lakeside marketplace. 

At this corner was a group of experts. Most of them were a few years older than Xu Min. There were both women and men. Some were peerless beauties, while others were built like giants with muscles swelling all over their bodies.

When Xu Min and Ouyang Xiu entered this encampment, everyone looked towards the two who came walking in leisurely.

Xu Min had managed to rouse himself from his thoughts and was looking curiously at the people around him; at the same time, they were looking curiously at him. 

Even though the fight between Xu Min and the young master had just transpired, these experts already knew of the result. They were all aware that Xu Min had won; now he was there as a guest of their own young master. 

No one said anything; the atmosphere was quite tense. Xu Min felt a little embarra.s.sed being stared at by so many people, but he was also uncertain on how to deal with it, so he just stood there at Ouyang Xiu"s side and said nothing.

None of these people had dared talk before they were allowed to do so. Therefore, all they just looked at Xu Min with curiosity.

Sighing, Ouyang Xiu instantly guessed the emotions of everyone present. With a clasp of his hands, everyone turned their attention towards him. 

"This is brother Xu," he introduced Xu Min quickly, "I am sure you have all heard about his feats of strength and the a.s.sistance he has given us. Snow Mountain will stay as one of the hegemons of the Immortal Ruins for some years. When their older generation dies, they will have no one to take over. At that time we will be able to succeed in reducing the overlords by one."

Everyone cheered excitedly as they heard these words. It was indeed true that although it did not matter right now for Snow Mountain, it would mean a lot for them when it came to their next generation. They would be at a disadvantage. Even if they found another peerless genius in their next generation, then they had wasted all the resources to produce a genius who had fallen way before his time. 

"Treat brother Xu the way you treat me; he is my brother; he is stronger than any of us here, and he deserves your respect!" 

Xu Min was rather shocked to hear those words being spoken so directly. Although he was strong, he was also aware of his powers. He knew that if the entire Ouyang camp were to gang up on him, he would likely lose. Even if he used all his energy and Ye Ling by his side, they would both die. 

Ouyang was also aware of this, but he would gain nothing from killing Xu Min. Although he would rank as number one in the Immortal Valley Ranking, he felt that becoming a friend with Xu Min was worth more. With the astonishing and frightening talent he had shown so far, one day he was bound to become a true immortal. By then their relationship would be able to help the Ouyang family become the number one family in the entire Immortal Ruins. 

"He"s so young," someone muttered, while others agreed, "they say he is stronger than us, but he looks so weak. Could it be that he is not an external expert but an internal one? We did not see his battles ourselves, so I guess that it makes sense that it has been exaggerated."

"Why is Brother Xiu so kind towards this foreigner? If we group up, we could kill him instantly and steal his items." 

There were many people talking together. Although they were filled with excitement for the fact that Xu Min had defeated the young master of the Snow Mountain, they were not happy with the fact that Ouyang Xiu had said that he was the strongest amongst them. Did that not also include their young master? This they could not accept. Many were filled with an urge to challenge him to a sparring match.

They felt like challenging him to a match, but no one did so. They understood that he was currently a guest in their camp, and they were to treat him with respect. Otherwise, it was likely that their young master would get mad at them.

"We have a spare tent you can borrow," Ouyang Xiu said politely. He led Xu Min to a big tent that was placed right next to the biggest tent in the camp, "You just battled the young master of the Snow Mountain," Ouyang said with a smile. "You must be exhausted. Go rest up, and then we will have a banquet tonight! I am sure that many of my brothers and sisters have plenty of questions for you and would like to know more about your cultivation. It is simply hard to fathom that you are capable of reaching such a high rank at such a young age. Your master must be quite outstanding."

Xu Min just smiled and shook his head, "I was just lucky," he said in a low voice. "The battle could have been my loss had I not gone all out."

Although Xu Min spoke like this, Ouyang Xiu did not believe him. Ouyang questioned him no further. Instead, he smiled knowingly and shook his head. "In any case, please rest a little and restore your energy so that you are ready for the banquet tonight."

Xu Min thanked him before he turned and entered the tent. As he sat down on the ground, he took out a lot of storage treasures and started placing items all over the ground. 

One item after another appeared. Xu Min started to pile it in stacks. All the beast cores went into one stack, and the scrolls with abilities went to another. Magical treasures went to a third stack. Food and drink went to a stack of their own. Clothes were placed at a side together with medicinal pills and herbs. Gold was placed directly into an empty storage treasure, and miscellaneous items were at the last pile. 

It took Xu Min a full two hours to sort every single item into their respective pile. As he finished, Xu Min understood that he had truly struck it rich!

The gold alone was enough to fill up an entire storage treasure. It was not only gold but also precious metals and gems. These treasures were enough to pay for a life of luxury. Xu Min felt happy. Now he was not impoverished and could give Meilin anything she wanted. 

The next, most interesting thing that he had was the beast cores. Beast cores contained the energy of a beast, and they could be used to increase one"s cultivation rank. They were weaker than medicinal pills, but they were also easier to procure. Beast cores could also be used as a currency for cultivators. Xu Min currently had almost a thousand beast cores of various ranks. Killing cultivators had increased his wealth tremendously. 

Although Xu Min felt excited about the sudden rise in wealth, he also understood that this was only money. He could easily earn it other ways, but there was something he knew he could not easily get his hands on.

Xu Min was not from a large sect or family, so finding abilities and stances was almost impossible for him. After killing all these experts, he had managed to find quite a few stances of various rank and external abilities.

Currently, his internal strength was not very strong. He controlled the spirit bow and the Qi arrows. He understood he could control the wind in the air around him, but as to how he could utilize this, he still did not know. It was something he needed to meditate upon and gain enlightenment in. Right now, in the middle of this violent ranking tournament, Xu Min did not have the time to fully devote himself to cultivate.

Therefore, Xu Min"s eyes landed on the stack of abilities and stances. He genuinely wished to increase his internal strength. Before anything else, he started reading through one scroll after another.

"Berserking, an ability used for external cultivators to allow for their Qi to burn at a rapid speed but increases the strength of the cultivator with a whole star. Overdrafts energy and causes one to be feeble for a few days afterward." Xu Min was astonished as he saw this ability. Although the price was great and the consequences of using it were quite severe, if he were up against an overwhelmingly strong foe, then Berserking would be quite a useful ability.

Putting it aside, Xu Min turned to look at the other abilities and stances. A smile appeared on his face as he picked up a stance called Claws of the Solar Crow and Lunar Rabbit. 

This stance he had acquired from killing the young master of Snow Mountain. He had never been given the time to display the might of this ability. He needed to be a six-star Warrior before it was possible to begin even training in it.