Splitting the Heave

The herbs might be precious, but Shang Xia had no way of bringing them away. 

Unless he knew of a way to transplant them perfectly, otherwise, he would greatly damage the herbs by harvesting them out of season. 

He knew that he couldn’t remain on the Jingxiu Peak for long anyway. He needed to locate Shang Pei urgently!

Searching through Duan Liufeng’s cultivation chamber twice, Shang Xia discovered several random treasures. It was a pity none of them truly interested him.

Shang Xia tried to look for other secret chambers or hidden tunnels that might contain a secret stash, but he was bound to be disappointed.

Didn’t Duan Liufeng manage the Jingxiu Peak for tens of years?! How can he be so damn poor?!

Shang Xia scoured the place reluctantly. He quickly discovered a tiny inconspicuous structure in the huge manor. The fragrance of wine quickly drifted into his nose.

There was actually a fermentation room located in the manor!

Forcing his way into the room, Shang Xia discovered a full set of equipment for refining wine lying around. From the looks of it, it had been some time since the equipment had been used.

Shang Xia realized how much he had messed up by allowing everyone to run away. He should have captured a few members familiar with the Jingxiu Peak when he came earlier! Now, he had to look for everything himself! 

Extending his divine perception to the room, Shang Xia carefully examined everything within. He quickly discovered a sealed redwood case under a piece of limestone on the stove.

Prying open the case, Shang Xia discovered a jade board that contained the recipe for a wine called the Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine.

“Don’t tell me this is the recipe for another rank four advancement medicine!” Shang Xia felt a trace of excitement filling his heart.

He might have several rank four advancement formulas back at the Shang Clan, but he knew how precious one was! Every single rank four advancement formula was a testament to the foundation of a strong faction.

However, he felt his excitement quickly dying down after reading the recipe.

The recipe was for making rank four wine. It wasn’t a recipe for an advancement medicine, and Shang Xia discovered that the effects of the Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine were way different from the Monkey Wine.

Whatever the case, the crafting process seemed slightly similar. The rank of wine created would be decided by the amount of time it was left for fermentation. Its effects might not be as good as Monkey Wine, but they were pretty similar in the sense that rank one, two, three, and four Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine could be used by cultivators of corresponding levels.

It seemed as though Duan Liufeng had planted many flowers and herbs on the Jingxiu Peak in order to nurture his wine. Also, the creation process of Duan Liufeng’s Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine was probably related to the extermination origins he had refined and some secret herbalism art he had practiced. 

It was too bad a portion of herbs growing on the mountain was destroyed when Shang Xia forced his way into the Jingxiu Peak. As the cultivators made their escape, there were even more herbs that had been trampled and looted. The Jingxiu Peak barely had half of the herbs originally growing on it.

Luckily for Shang Xia, his invasion of the Jingxiu Peak wasn’t wasted now that he had obtained the recipe for Duan Liufeng’s Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine.

Just as he was about to leave, something caught his eye. Shang Xia saw traces of excavation in the courtyard that contained the wine-brewing hut.

Lightly tapping his feet on the ground, an underground hole was blasted into the ground.

Shang Xia extended his divine perception into the hole and his discovery caused his eyes to light up. The corners of his lips curled upwards to form a brilliant smile.

He discovered 3 vats that were supposed to contain rank one Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine, but 2 of them were already empty.

There were also 3 large jars of rank two Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine, but barely half was left.

Another 3 earthen jars of rank three Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine were present, but fortunately, two jars were filled to the brim while the last was bone-dry.

As for rank four Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine… There were 3 bottles sitting in the middle of the room and they had obviously been properly sealed by Duan Liufeng before he left. All three bottles were full, and Shang Xia nearly broke out laughing with joy.

Considering the volume contained in each storage instrument, Shang Xia profited big time. A bottle could hold a catty of wine, while an earthen jar could hold 10 catties. Those large jars that contained rank two Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine could hold 30 catties, and the vats of rank one Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine contained 100 catties each.

When Shang Xia thought about rank four wine, he recalled that he had a tiny portion of rank four Monkey Wine on him. He was planning to drink it after entering the Four Constellation Realm in order to hasten his cultivation speed. Too bad he hadn’t developed his personal rank four martial art. There was no point in drinking his Monkey Wine as he couldn’t cultivate quickly without it. Drinking the wine would be a godly waste of resources.

Anyway, Shang Xia quickly kept the 3 bottles of rank four Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine into his Embroidered Cloud Case along with the 2 filled earthen jars of rank three Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine. 

He only managed to store the large jar of rank two Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine into another Embroidered Cloud Case, but there was nowhere left to store the rest.

Even though it was a pity, he couldn’t do much about it. 

Sighing softly, he emerged from the wine-storage hole in the ground before taking a single step to arrive in the skies above the Jingxiu Peak. “Since fellow cultivators have already arrived, why don’t you show yourselves?” Shang Xia muttered.

He folded his hands before him as his chilly gaze flashed across the space before him. His voice rang loudly in the void. 

Shang Xia’s divine perception could detect an area of 10 miles around him. It was a range only possessed by experts who were about to reach the third layer of the Martial Extermination Realm.

Back when Shang Xia had started his attack on the Jingxiu Peak, he had long since been detected by other experts. It seemed as though those experts were finally unable to sit still after realizing that Shang Xia had been plundering the Jingxiu Peak.

Actually, the reason they took so long to arrive was that they didn’t expect Shang Xia to blow the protection formation apart with two palm strikes.

They were planning to appear to ‘mediate’ the problem between Shang Xia and the Jingxiu Peak after Shang Xia exhausted himself by blasting the protection barrier. After all, all of them had some sort of relation with the Jingxiu Peak. Duan Liufeng’s Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine was extremely famous throughout the Taihang Mountains, and he was only able to complete the fermentation of his wine every 7 years. 

Duan Liufeng was no fool. He's got on good terms with many experts in the Sixth Pass with his Hundred Flowers Spiritual Wine. Now that the Jingxiu Peak was under attack, even if the other Martial Extermination Realm experts didn’t head over to defend the Jingxiu Peak with their lives, they would try to soothe the situation over at least. At the very least, Duan Liufeng thought that they would be able to dissuade the attacker from causing more damage. It was a shame things didn’t work out the way he thought.

Shang Xia barely called them out when a Martial Extermination Realm expert appeared in the eastern direction of the Jingxiu Peak. The person who appeared was skinny to the point where his bones were protruding out of his skin, and he yelled, “Who the hell are you?! Why did you attack Master Duan’s Jingxiu Peak?” 

“Heh, don’t you know that you’re supposed to introduce yourself before asking for my name?” Shang Xia sneered.

As a foreign cultivator, Shang Xia knew that the experts in the Sixth Pass wouldn’t be too friendly to him. That was precisely why he had to appear extremely tough during their first interaction. It would be for the best if the experts of the Sixth Pass would show some restraint after his initial show of strength. 

A trace of rage flashed in the skinny expert’s eyes and he was about to start yelling at Shang Xia when he felt a terrifying pressure coming from the youngster standing in the air. A frightening aura battered against him and he desperately roused his divine perception to defend himself. He was suppressed so heavily that he couldn’t utter a word. The blood also drained from his face as he stared at Shang Xia in fright.

“As a foreign cultivator, not only did you attack the Jingxiu Peak in Master Duan’s absence. You even dare to disrespect fellow cultivator Zhong Gu in front of us. Do you really think that there’s a lack of experts from our Sixth Pass to deal with you?” Another old expert donned in hemp cloth made his appearance. A pure stream of energy went towards Zhonggu in an attempt to assist him.

Shang Xia quickly retracted his divine perception that was locked onto Zhonggu, further displaying the control he held over his strength.

Zhonggu, who was desperately defending against the endless pressure on his body, flew several feet into the air when the pressure disappeared abruptly. He only managed to regain his balance after some time, causing him to humiliate himself in front of the other experts. 

The stream of energy the hemp clothed expert sent out was utterly wasted and he too looked like a fool.

In just a short second, Shang Xia managed to mock 2 Martial Extermination Realm experts from the Sixth Pass and establish his might. 

“Young man, your inheritance is impressive and I believe you hail from an impressive background. Aren’t you afraid of angering all of us by humiliating the two of them?” A calm but strict voice came from behind him.

Turning around, Shang Xia saw a shorter-looking cultivator glaring at him from several miles away.

The person who appeared seemed to be well recognized in the Sixth Pass and the moment he appeared, the skinny expert and the hemp clothed expert cupped their fists in his direction. “We greet the Yin Cave Master!”  

Soon after, two more Martial Extermination Realm experts appeared around him.

With the exception of Shang Xia, there were 5 Martial Extermination Realm experts of the Sixth Pass present around the Jingxiu Peak.

Looking at the formation of the 5, they perfectly encircled Shang Xia. It seemed as though they were going to gang up on him the moment he said something wrong.

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Looking at the shorter-looking cultivator, Shang Xia gasped, “I didn’t expect the Yin Cave Master to come. Cave Master Yin Wanxiang, I have been looking forward to meeting you. I attacked the Jingxiu Peak in order to save my fellow cultivator. I mean no disrespect to anyone else.” 

Shang Xia seemed to restrain himself a lot more now that Yin Wanxiang had arrived.

Since he had already shown them that he wasn’t a pushover, there was no need for him to maintain his tough front. Not to mention the fact that Yin Wanxiang was a third layer Martial Extermination Realm expert… Shang Xia wasn’t willing to offend him because of a small conflict like that.

Shang Xia was wary of Yin Wanxiang’s cultivation level, but Yin Wanxiang was also sizing him up all the same. In fact, Yin Wanxiang seemed a little more wary of Shang Xia’s identity.

Nodding slightly, Yin Wanxiang revealed an expression as if he had expected as much. After all, he guessed that the foreign cultivator had arrived in the Sixth Pass to rescue a fellow comrade. However, he continued to ask, “Regardless, you don’t look like you’re trying to save someone after all the destruction you caused. You destroyed the Jingxiu Peak, wasting Duan Liufeng’s hard work just to save someone? Who could it possibly be?” 

Shang Xia smiled in response, “Yin Cave Master, you’re a wise man. Can’t you guess who I’m really trying to save?” 

“Are you talking about Hai Pei from the Youyan Stronghold?” Yin Wanxiang’s eyelids jumped slightly as he replied.

“Exactly.”