Chapter 38 – Rising Sun Mountains
After returning to the Jiang Family, Terra Su first went to find Sophia Xu and handed her the Hundred-Year Yang Pill.
Terra didn't say much to Sophia, only telling her to take the pill.
Trusting Terra completely, Sophia did as he instructed without hesitation.
Watching Sophia take the Hundred-Year Yang Pill, Terra finally felt a weight lifted off his shoulders. If all went well, the cold poison in Sophia's body would be completely eradicated within seven days.
"Auntie, I'm going to the Rising Sun Mountains. I'll be back in no more than a month. Take good care of yourselves in the meantime," Terra said.
"To the Rising Sun Mountains?" Sophia asked, "Little Terra, are you going for training?"
"Yes, I want to train in the mountains for a while," Terra nodded.
Although Terra had never practiced Martial Dao in his previous life, he knew that for a martial practitioner, actual combat was the best way to improve strength. Real combat often brought out a martial practitioner's potential, especially those who had faced life-and-death trials. Their strength often grew rapidly because such trials were the best way to temper a person.
Living another life, Terra's most urgent desire was to gain powerful strength. No one understood better than him that only by mastering great power could he firmly control the fate of himself and those around him.
Sophia looked at Terra, feeling increasingly reassured by her nephew. Although entering the mountains for training was extremely dangerous, coming from Terra, it gave a sense of confidence.
Even so, Sophia was still very worried. She cautioned, "Did you bring enough healing medicine?"
Terra nodded. Before coming back, he had gone to Five Treasures Hall to buy some healing elixirs and medicinal powders, which were quite expensive. Although he could have gotten these medicines from the Alchemy Guild, Terra didn't want to abuse that privilege.
"Wait a moment, Little Terra." Sophia seemed to think of something and went inside the house. When she came out, she was holding a sword case.
"Open it and see," Sophia placed the sword case on the table and said softly.
Terra opened the sword case to reveal a three-foot-long sword with a blade that gleamed with a cold light, clearly made of high-quality steel. Unlike ordinary swords, this one was notably wide, at least twice as wide as a typical long sword.
The scabbard was engraved with three characters: "Cang Hai Sword."
"This is the sword your uncle Robert Jiang left behind. He used it frequently back in the day. After he left, Emma didn't like practicing sword techniques, so it has been idle ever since," Sophia said, looking at the sword case with a hint of nostalgia. "A weapon should be used often. Little Terra, take this sword for your protection."
Terra took the Cang Hai Sword from the case. The blade had a good weight and felt very comfortable in his hand, much better than an ordinary iron sword.
"Thank you, Auntie. I really like it." Such a high-quality steel sword was hard to come by outside, and Terra immediately took a liking to it.
"Little Terra, the Rising Sun Mountains are very dangerous. Be careful during your training," Sophia advised, though she knew that true martial practitioners couldn't be nurtured in a greenhouse. For Terra to advance in Martial Dao, he had to undergo real combat trials.
Fortunately, the powerful Condensing Origin Realm monster beasts were deep within the mountains. As for Inducing Qi Realm practitioners, as long as they didn't venture too deep, the outskirts of the Rising Sun Mountains were an excellent training ground.
After packing up, Terra set off for the Rising Sun Mountains.
The Rising Sun Mountains weren't far from Clear River City. Traveling southeast from the city for about 120 miles would bring him to the outskirts of the mountains. Because the journey wasn't far, Terra didn't bring much luggage, just a few sets of clothes and some elixirs.
Even so, the luggage still required a sizable bundle to carry.
"If only I had a storage ring."
Terra knew it was wishful thinking. In the Alchemy Domain, storage rings were common, but in Clear River City, they were extremely rare. Even Master Mo might not have one.
Putting aside his thoughts, Terra began to hurry towards the Rising Sun Mountains at full speed. With his peak eighth layer of the Inducing Qi Realm foot strength, the 120-mile journey would take just an afternoon and an evening.
This time, Terra's goal in the Rising Sun Mountains was to break through and maximize his cultivation level.
Two days later.
On the outskirts of the Rising Sun Mountains, in a dense forest.
"One Sword, Five Waves!"
A flash of sword light cut through an eighth-layer Inducing Qi Realm monster beast—a Corrosive Rat—splitting it in two.
At the same time, the sword light grazed a nearby small tree, cutting it cleanly in half with a smooth, mirror-like surface.
"The Cang Hai Sword is indeed sharp."
Terra nodded in satisfaction, looking at the Corrosive Rat's corpse. He murmured to himself, "It's time to venture deeper."
He had been in the outskirts of the Rising Sun Mountains for two days, searching for monster beasts to practice on. However, the mountains weren't teeming with monster beasts; most were just wild animals. In two days, Terra had encountered only a dozen or so monster beasts.
Moreover, the monster beasts on the outskirts were all at the eighth layer of the Inducing Qi Realm, which no longer provided a challenge for him.
Now, he needed to fight stronger monster beasts to quickly advance to the ninth layer of the Inducing Qi Realm.
The powerful monster beasts were deeper within the mountains. Terra sheathed the Cang Hai Sword and walked further in.
After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Terra saw a dark shadow flash before his eyes. He immediately drew his sword, "An Iron-Tailed Leopard!"
The Iron-Tailed Leopard was a ninth-layer Inducing Qi Realm monster beast, much stronger than an eighth-layer one. Even Terra had to take it seriously.
Generally, when human martial practitioners fought monster beasts, even if they were at the same realm, humans would most likely lose. This was because monster beasts were natural fighters with innate combat instincts and more diverse fighting techniques than humans. Unless a human martial practitioner was a natural combat genius, it was hard to compete with a monster beast of the same realm.
Moreover, Terra was still at the peak of the eighth layer of the Inducing Qi Realm, not yet breaking through to the ninth layer, making his cultivation level slightly lower than the Iron-Tailed Leopard.
However, Terra's advantage lay in the "Waves Stacking Slash," an extraordinarily powerful martial technique that gave him the confidence to challenge a ninth-layer Inducing Qi Realm monster beast.
"One Sword, Five Waves!"
Without wasting words, Terra slashed at the Iron-Tailed Leopard.
The Iron-Tailed Leopard didn't expect the human at the peak of the eighth layer of the Inducing Qi Realm to dare attack it head-on. It roared and pounced at Terra with lightning speed.
Clang!
Terra's sword collided with the Iron-Tailed Leopard's tail in mid-air, producing a teeth-gritting metallic sound.
Terra felt a sharp pain in his wrist, but he also saw a deep half-inch sword mark on the Iron-Tailed Leopard's tail, with blood flowing out.