Chapter 65: Arrival at the Hundred Thousand Mountains

After leaving the small mountain village, Gu Mingxi and Gu Mingyue did not linger in Wen City, but headed straight towards the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Soon, they arrived at a small town not far from the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Upon reaching the town, neither Gu Mingxi nor Gu Mingyue stayed long. They merely bought a map of the outer and middle perimeters of the Hundred Thousand Mountains and headed straight in.

Gu Mingxi and Gu Mingyue parted ways upon entering the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Since they were out for experiential training, it would be better for each of them to train independently.

Before separating, Gu Mingxi said to Gu Mingyue, "Mingyue, if you encounter any danger, you must send out a distress signal—send out the signals for both the sect and the family. I will come immediately upon seeing it. If I cannot make it in time, any sect or family disciples nearby who see it will also come to your aid."

Gu Mingyue nodded. "You too, Mingxi, take care of yourself!"

Gu Mingxi replied, "Alright!"

***

The Hundred Thousand Mountains were divided into the outer perimeter, the middle perimeter, and the inner perimeter. The outer perimeter was suitable for cultivators in the Qi Conduration and Foundation Establishment stages to train, the middle perimeter was suitable for those in the Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Formation, and Deity Transformation stages, while the inner perimeter was suitable for cultivators in the Void Refinement, Tribulation Transcendence, and Mahayana stages.

With cultivation like Gu Mingxi's, she could only train in the outer perimeter of the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

Although Gu Mingxi had previously come to the outer perimeter of the Hundred Thousand Mountains for training, the outer perimeter was exceptionally vast.

The distance Gu Mingxi had covered during her last trip to the Hundred Thousand Mountains was not even one-fiftieth of the outer perimeter.

This alone demonstrated just how immense the Hundred Thousand Mountains truly were.

According to rumors, the demon race lived in the inner perimeter of the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Although the truth of this was unknown, Gu Mingxi knew for certain that the inner perimeter must house high-level spirit beasts with profound cultivation; with her current strength, going there would simply be serving herself up as food.

The map in Gu Mingxi's hands only marked some rudimentary information. After all, with the Hundred Thousand Mountains being so vast, who could possibly explore it completely?

Shortly after entering the outer perimeter of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Gu Mingxi encountered a few late-stage Tier 1 wild boars.

Seeing these wild boars, Gu Mingxi raised an eyebrow. She truly seemed to have a peculiar affinity for wild boars; she had encountered several in the Ziyun Secret Realm last time, and now she ran into them again upon coming to the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

However, wild boars as a species of spirit beast could only grow up to the peak of Tier 1 at most. With Gu Mingxi's current cultivation, dealing with these few wild boars was as easy as reaching out and taking something.

The Hundred Thousand Mountains were far from safe, so after killing these wild boars, Gu Mingxi stored their carcasses in her storage bag rather than putting them into her spatial ring.

What if some idle high-level expert happened to be wandering around the outer perimeter of the Hundred Thousand Mountains and noticed such a display? In the outside world, caution was always necessary.

After packing away the wild boars, Gu Mingxi continued deeper inside. After walking for a distance, she bumped head-on into a spirit beast.

It was an early-stage Tier 2 crimson-feathered fire bird patrolling its territory.

Upon discovering that Gu Mingxi had broken into its territory, the fire bird immediately let out a series of sharp cries.

Then, opening its blood-gaping maw, it lunged straight at Gu Mingxi to bite her.

Seeing the fire bird charging fiercely toward her, Gu Mingxi swiftly executed her movement technique to retreat rapidly. After putting some distance between them, she instantly summoned her Morning and Evening Sword and executed the first form of the Cloud Spirit Sword Technique, attacking the fire bird.

Gu Mingxi's first strike did not inflict any damage on the fire bird. Upon sensing the incoming sword attack, the fire bird nimbly flapped its wings and took flight, dodging the sword beam before continuing its assault toward Gu Mingxi.

Watching the fire bird dodge the attack, Gu Mingxi could not help but sigh, "Having wings really gives you an advantage over those without them!"

"Well, you can fly, but so can I!"

With that, Gu Mingxi summoned her flying magical artifact—shaped like a small flower, it was a gift previously given to her by Yuchen.

And so, Gu Mingxi began exchanging blows with the fire bird in mid-air.

When her first strike missed, Gu Mingxi continued to swing her sword, relying solely on the Cloud Spirit Sword Technique each time.

For this training session, Gu Mingxi had already made a plan: she would fight entirely using sword techniques. Only if she failed to kill the opposing spirit beast with sword techniques alone would she resort to spellcasting.

She hoped that through this training, she could successfully comprehend sword Qi and truly become a qualified sword cultivator.

Among the numerous sword strikes Gu Mingxi directed at the fire bird, some hit their mark while others were successfully evaded.

Every time the fire bird came close to closing the distance, Gu Mingxi would manipulate her flying artifact to widen the gap once more.

In this manner, Gu Mingxi maintained her distance from the fire bird while continuously swinging her sword.

Just as the fire bird grew accustomed to this pattern of attack, Gu Mingxi suddenly shifted her sword style.

Caught entirely off guard, the fire bird failed to dodge the attack of the first form of Gu Mingxi's Primordial Beginning Sword Technique.

This single sword strike landed squarely on the fire bird's vital point. Immediately, fresh blood began to stream from its body, and at the same time, the fire bird let out a series of mournful cries.

Just before the fire bird died, Gu Mingxi could almost perceive the lingering resentment radiating from it.

(Author's note: If the fire bird could speak, it would definitely yell, "Gu Mingxi, you old fox! You don't play by the rules of martial honor! Hahahahaha!")

Once the fire bird stopped moving, Gu Mingxi stepped forward to examine it.

Just as Gu Mingxi was about to get close, the fire bird suddenly stirred, fiercely spitting a stream of flames from its beak directly at her.

Fortunately, Gu Mingxi had been maintaining her guard against the fire bird all along, preventing it from succeeding.

Gu Mingxi remarked, "I knew you wouldn't die that easily; I was watching out for you!"

The fire bird was, after all, an early-stage Tier 2 spirit beast; how could it possibly be killed by Gu Mingxi in a single stroke? Gu Mingxi was not foolish and had naturally prepared defenses.

Although the fire bird had not died from Gu Mingxi's previous attack, it had suffered severe injuries, and this final desperate counterattack still failed to hurt Gu Mingxi.

Though the fire bird continued to spit fire at Gu Mingxi in a frenzy, none of its attacks landed.

Instead, under the relentless, successive sword strikes of Gu Mingxi, the fire bird finally perished completely.

Looking at the dead fire bird, Gu Mingxi smiled faintly, stored its carcass into her storage bag, and then popped a few spiritual replenishment pills into her mouth to restore the spiritual energy consumed during the battle.

Gu Mingxi set up a defensive array disc and quickly replenished her depleted spiritual energy.

Once her spiritual energy was fully restored, Gu Mingxi left the area.

Shortly after Gu Mingxi departed, a group of people appeared at the exact spot she had just vacated. "Didn't we hear commotion here just a moment ago? Why is there no one here now?"

The group searched around and realized that Gu Mingxi had indeed already left, prompting one of them to punch a nearby tree in frustration.

"Consider her lucky to have run away so fast!"