Mystical Journey

After sitting in the teahouse for more than half an hour, Garen quickly found out most of the information in even more detail thanks to this punk Zhao.

The East Continent was too far away from the three main continents, the martial arts world here was relatively independent, but the influence of the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate was still prevalent here. The Martial Prohibition was still the best way for regular martial artists to obtain powerful secret techniques.

After hearing all the information this guy had, Garen fell into deep thought.

His motive was very simple, he just wanted to find Ying Er first, or anyone related. But now the Immortal Palace’s Martial Prohibition made this thought slightly harder.

Then how could he find the people he wanted as soon as possible?

The best way was to borrow other powers, if he could borrow a pre-existing large-scale power, he could accomplish whatever he wanted to do with half the effort.

"How is the situation here in the local martial arts world?" As he thought it, Garen decided to just ask.

"L-Locally, there are three main sects, the White Dew Gate, the Black Killer Gate, and the Dragon Gate…" The military punk Zhao hurriedly replied. "If you're looking for the elite fighters of the three main sects, I can also help you, I know an outer ring disciple of the Black Killer Gate, they would definitely be of use to…"

"And then? Since there is already a self-made system here in the East Continent, then there would surely be someone with as much influence as some of the Immortal Palace’s or the Demon Gate's power here? Otherwise they would surely have been swallowed up, right?" Garen asked calmly.

"Naturally, naturally, the White Dew Gate’s Yue Qingdi is one of the East Continent’s Three Absolutes, and there's the Dragon Gate’s Yu Qingzi, and the Black Killer Gate’s freelance guest, Master Sanshan, oh, they are all what you martial artists call Aura Condensation level fighters."

"Aura Condensation?"

Garen had heard some natural-born elite fighters use this term back on Earth, to think it had the same meaning here.

White Dew Gate, Black Killer Gate, Dragon Gate, these were the three strongest martial arts factions here on the East Continent.

"That means they can almost liquify their aura, the combat classics mentioned three states, gas, liquid and solid, these states represent the levels of the Grandmasters of Combat. Other than that, the three main sects are all in cahoots with three of the main military warlords, forming alliances, of the four military warlords, Kong, Lin, Zhao, and Hu, only the Hu army does not have the support of a martial arts family." The military punk Zhao spilled everything he knew, telling Garen everything at once.

Garen mused slightly, he knew the levels of aura very well. The White Dew Gate, based on the name itself, it might have some connection with the White Cloud Gate, so that might be worth a visit. The only problem was what excuse he should use to go there. Should he just pull out his own White Cloud Gate identification, or he go over there quietly?

Garen found it troublesome, so he decided to forgo thinking too much about it, he would just find the White Dew Gate first.

"Take me to the White Dew Gate, I'll let you go once we get there." He looked at the military punk Zhao in front of him calmly, "What's your name?"

"Zhao… Zhao Jun…." The military punk Zhao kept shaking all over, watching as Garen's expression grew calmer and calmer, there was an ominous feeling in his heart.

Whumph.

Just then, his friend beside him fell forward onto the table and remained there motionless, as though drunk.

Zhao Jun’s heart skipped a beat, and his face went instantly pale. He could feel, his friend's body beside him grow colder, and colder…

He saw Garen, who was sitting opposite him, smile slightly, revealing eerily white teeth.

***************

Between the green ocean of trees, amidst the rise and fall of the.mountains, the uneven tide of the trees seemed to have been covered by a green carpet.

In the middle of it was a twisting small white road, like a grey-white cotton thread in the sea of trees.

"Sixty years of Ying Xu, each as temperate as a cold summer’s day."(1)

Garen frowned as he looked at the red words on the white mountain cliff. Even standing on a small path and looking from a distance, he could tell that the words were written with steely power and depth. They gave off the air of being carefree but also delicate.

Zhao Jun was behind him, pulling two healthy black horses, his attitude timid and respectful.

"This is Ying Xu Valley?" Garen turned back and asked.

"Yes, yes it is." Zhao Jun nodded hard. "This is the place the White Dew Gate receives guests!" he said very certainly.

"Then why isn't there a single person here?"

"It's morning now, someone will probably be coming soon… And the White Dew Gate’s standard is unnaturally high, many people have given up on being accepted as disciples." Zhao Jun replied without hesitation.

These days, he had to withstand the feeling of his body temperature lowering every night, feeling as though he was on the verge of death, that feeling as though he was sinking into an endless darkness had increased his respect and fear toward Garen to the highest possible degree. He was even nicer to Garen than he was to his own father.

Garen nodded nonchalantly, and strode down a fork into the forest beside the stone wall.

There was a cool green bamboo forest on either side of the branching path, the light was slightly dim here, and the air was rather cool, making the whole place somewhat creepy.

One in front of the other, the two of them walked slowly down the path while pulling their horses beside them, and in no time at all, a grey-black wooden square mountain entrance appeared in front of them, with the sign of the Ying Xu Valley hanging over the entrance.

There was a flight of stone stairs beneath them, leading directly down and deeper into the mountain entrance. They could see that the steps kept extending upwards, reaching for the top, and the peak was veiled with a white mist so that the end could not be seen.

There was a young man in green at the mountain entrance, sweeping the floor lightly with a broom.

Garen saw the sweeping young man, his eyes narrowing slightly, he could vaguely see a hint of the White Cloud secret technique blood qi channeling method in the boy's actions, with the power of his Northern Trident Frost-Fire True Water Evil Technique, he could not miss any movement of liquids within a two hundred meter radius. Naturally, he would be very clear about the movements of this young man's blood.

"Spare me, sir! Spare me, sir!" Beside him, Zhao Jun suddenly howled, turning around and running away.

Garen did not even look at him, flicking his finger towards the back.

Psst!

Zhao Jun collapsed on cue, red and white blood fluids flowing slowly from the back of his head. He never moved again either.

The young man who was sweeping over there paled instantly, screaming and throwing his broom down as he immediately ran up the mountain.

"Somebody, help!! Somebody!! There's been a murder!!"

The young man practically scrambled away on all fours, disappearing in an instant.

Garen did not bother with him either, and just walked up the stairs himself. Before walking for too long, he heard the clanging of a bell from above, followed by the sound of many disorganized footsteps.

Garen sped up, climbing more than ten steps in one stride, and soon enough, a green-black temple appeared in front of his eyes.

There were clouds and mist surrounding the temple, as though he was in a divine mist, and just then the doors opened wide, several elderly people dressed in black striding out of the door, surrounded by their disciples in green, walking towards the stone steps.

Seeing Garen appear, the elders in black all froze for a moment, and immediately looked wary.

"This layman…"

"Haha… There really is a shadow of the Behemoth secret technique…" Garen's eyes lit up slightly. "Summon your leader."

"Dear sir layman, for what reason doth you come?"

One of the old men asked wordily.

"I'm looking for your White Dew Gate for something." Garen grinned.

"How insolent…" There was a dissatisfied voice from the crowd. The people moved slightly, it seemed like the disciples of the White Dew Gate were growing restless.

"I am the person in charge here, Bai Yuqing." Suddenly there was a flash of a shadow, and an old man with snow-white hair appraisers between Green and the others, wearing white Taoist robes and holding a horsetail whisk in his hand. He looked thin as a deity, as though he was separate from the mortal world.

"Sir layman, you have a deep gaze, it is obvious from a glance that you are no simple person, so why don't we all sit down for a cup of cooling tea, and exchange some of our martial studies experiences?"

"Bai Yuqing, is it?" Garen smiled slightly, "Looks like you're the strongest person here."

Before he finished speaking, his figure flashed, disappearing from where he stood.

Bai Yuqing’s heart tightened as well, and he also disappeared from the spot.

The two figures instantly clashed once in the empty space in front of the Taoist temple, brushing past each other.

Garen's figure slowly appeared at the temple entrance, and behind the crowd, while the old priest Bai Yuqing’s face was deathly pale, standing in front of the steps and wavering on his feet.

"Im-impressive Qinggong(2)..." He raised his right hand, the sleeve on his right forearm had had a large chunk shaved off, and he only noticed afterward. "I thought that learning up to Triple Floor Qinggong was already impressive enough, to think…"

As one of the White Dew Gate’s elders, he was a powerful old elite fighter even amongst the Grandmasters of Combat, so even his bodily functions had decreased with age, his experience had increased instead. The kungfu he took the most pride in was his ultimate Qinggong called the Triple Floor. But he did not expect that this young man who suddenly showed up today would break past it.

The people from the temple watching them all had terrible complexions now, shocked speechless, even their ancient Grandmaster of Combat had lost in one move, that meant nobody in all of this mountain sect could stop him, if they were to accidentally provoke this man…

In this chaotic world where lives were worth nothing and people killed without batting an eyelid, anything could happen.

Instantly, it was absolutely quiet around the temple entrance, all the gazes were trained on Garen.

"Your Excellency…"

"I need the White Dew Gate to help me find some people." Garen voiced out his demand straight away, "The people from the old White Cloud Gate back on Stonecliff Continent, as well as, the people from the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate."

Before his words stopped reverberating, everyone’s pupils instantly dilated.

The Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate!

"You are a filthy survivor of the Southern Sky Gate…"

Before that voice in the crowd finished his sentence, there was a bam and his head exploded, red and white brain parts splashing everywhere like a watermelon.

A filthy survivor of the Southern Sky Gate!

"I am the White Cloud Gate Master, the number one Divine General of the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, Garen Trejons Lombard, and I hereby summon all my gate members, be it the White Cloud Gate or the Southern Sky Gate."

Garen’s voice shook the whole temple, like rumbling thunder, and some of the weaker young people had gone all numb, nearly falling to the ground.

"The Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate!! You… you…" Bai Yuqing’s face twisted, the others had not experienced that era, they did not know the terror and vastness of that battle, only they of the older generation knew, back then he had been one of the martial arts disciples who had headed to the Black Smoke Island, and he had personally witnessed that earth-shaking battle with his own eyes.

"Ga-Garen?! You're Garen?! The King of the Century!!" Bai Yuqing's scalp had gone numb, all the strength he had gathered in his body instantly scattering, his gaze on Garen as though he had seen a ghost.

"Spread the word for me." Garen's face was calm, "There's no problem, is there?"

There was a loud booming noise.

With Garen in the center, a terrifying blood-like aura exploded in an instant, in just that moment, it had utterly engulfed the whole temple.

The blood-like aura seemed to dye even the sky red, and a strange eerie wail began to ring out.

Translator’s notes:

Raw ‘盈虚一甲子,寒暑六月天’, ‘Ying Xu’ from the name of the valley also means change, turbulence, deterioration.

轻功, lit. light technique. A Chinese gravity-defying martial arts technique extremely common in wuxia. It’s the stuff that makes people zip around like they’re on wires.