Chapter Seventeen: Treasure

  Go into the mountains to practice and increase your strength!

  The sword points forward, invincible in battle!

  For the victory of the year-end exam in two and a half months, for never losing again. Gu Chao has already asked Nan Gongyuan elder for leave and started his mountain retreat to cultivate.

  Gǔ chāo now stands in front of a mountain peak named Yìng Xiá Fēng.

  Mingxia Peak is a mountain peak located at the edge of the Taishan Mountains, which are thousands of miles long. It is said that when the sun sets, the entire peak is covered in a beautiful mist, making it look exceptionally stunning and elegant, hence its name Mingxia Peak. Someone once climbed to the top of this peak and exclaimed: "Among the hundred peaks of Taishan, none surpasses this one in terms of the beauty of watching the sunrise."

  The scenery of Yingxia Peak is extremely beautiful, but the mountain peak is not too big and is located in a marginal position, so there are no inhabitants.

  For the mountain peak of Ying Xia, Gu Chao had made quite comprehensive preparations and understood many characteristics of this mountain peak. For example, this mountain peak did not have too powerful demon beasts, and the strongest were only the top-notch dual-headed sand snakes and iron-backed monkeys among the first-class demon beasts. First-class demon beasts basically correspond to the level of human acquired realm three layers to acquired realm seven layers, and the dual-headed sand snakes and iron-backed monkeys are the most top-notch among the first-class demon beasts, which is also at the level of acquired realm seven layers, not too terrifying. It was precisely because the demon beasts on this mountain peak were ordinary and not too powerful that Gu Chao chose this mountain peak.

  I am here to cultivate in the mountains, not to die in the mountains. If I choose a secondary demon beast or a tertiary demon beast that roams everywhere on the mountain peaks, and can be instantly killed by them with just one move, then it's because I'm not dying fast enough.

  After flipping through the "Monster Beast Atlas Volume 1", Gu Chao prepares to find the Blood-Drinking Flower in Yingxia Mountain as his opponent, to hone his martial skills. The Blood-Drinking Flower is a variant of flower-type monster beast that can split out many vines to attack its enemy, once it hits the enemy, it can stab the thorns on the vine into the opponent's blood vessels and absorb their blood, basically with strength at the third to fourth layer of the Postnatal Realm.

  Ku Chao had long since decided that the Blood Flower would be his opponent, because the Blood Flower couldn't move and could only attack with its vines. The vines also had a limit to their reach, and if they exceeded that length, they wouldn't be able to attack. If danger arose, he could retreat beyond the range of the vines' attacks. This way, he would be safe. Thinking ahead before acting was Ku Chao's consistent style. Fighting against the Blood Flower could hone his knife skills, reaction ability, and defensive abilities.

  Everything is quite well prepared.

  He didn't rush into the mountains for closed-door training, but instead made all the preparations he could beforehand. This was Gu Chao's style of doing things.

  "It's finally starting." Gu Chao stepped into the Yingxia Peak, now full of confidence.

  The Blood Flower should be in the southeast of Yingxia Peak. Gu Chao roughly indicated the direction, determined the southeast direction according to the sun's position, and then strode forward. The mountain road was quite narrow, only about a foot wide, and because it had been a long time since anyone walked on it, it was overgrown with grass, fortunately it was autumn and the grass color was fading.

  After walking for a while in the mountains, they were about to arrive at the place where the Blood Flower was located. Actually, Gu Chao was very curious now, what did the Blood Flower look like? Although he had seen it in books, he hadn't seen it in real life, so naturally he would be curious.

  At this time, a rustling sound of footsteps was heard, and Gu Chao immediately turned his head back. He saw that in the southwest direction, there was a 14 or 15-year-old boy with an ordinary face running quickly towards him. The boy's body was covered in blood as he ran, and finally fell to the ground with a thud about one zhang (a unit of length) away from Gu Chao. Gu Chao saw that the clothes this boy was wearing were the same as his own, both being the uniform of the Tai Shan Sect, with a "Tai" character on the corner of the garment. Since the Tai Shan Sect was a prestigious and orthodox sect, the second rule of their door rules was not to betray one's master or sect, nor to harm fellow disciples. Moreover, having stayed in the Tai Shan Sect for five months, Gu Chao had discovered that although there was competition within the sect, they were generally harmonious, and he had hardly ever heard of any instances of fellow disciples harming each other.

  So, Gu Chao was fearless and not afraid that the young man would suddenly stab him with a knife. He immediately reached the young man's side: "Brother, how are you?" Kneeling beside the young man, Gu Chao began to observe his injuries. In the Xin Xue Mountain Villa course, he had also learned several times about wound treatment. However, Gu Chao took a casual look and found that the young man was bitten all over his body, with fatal wounds on his liver and gallbladder area, where there were two sharp tooth marks. At the same time, blood flowed from multiple places on his body. Such injuries were basically hopeless and could only be left to await death.

  That young man looked at Gu Chao with a dull gaze: "Oh, is it the junior brother of Xue Shan Manor?" This was a very good judgment. Gu Chao was about 12 years old and wore the uniform of an outer disciple of the Tai Shan Sect, so he could be judged as a junior brother of Xue Shan Manor at once.

  This ordinary-looking young man let out a breath, as if reflecting on the past: "I'm afraid I won't survive, junior brother. There's treasure ahead, but this mountain peak... The master of this mountain peak, the two-headed sand snake, is guarding it. I'll die at the hands of the two-headed sand snake, you mustn't go to retrieve it, find Qiren and have him retrieve it instead." After finishing speaking, the ordinary-looking young man tilted his neck and died just like that.

  Gu Chao was taken aback for a moment.

  Treasure? What's been going on lately!

  This is the first time entering the mountain, planning to find the Blood Flower for martial arts training. As a result, I just bumped into a dead senior brother, and that senior brother said before his death that there was a treasure not far away, but unfortunately, this treasure was guarded by a top-notch double-headed sand snake among the first-class demon beasts.

  Gu Chao has been in this world for five months and knows that most things that can be called treasures have extraordinary power.

  Three months ago, I heard people chatting that in the Eighth Mountain Villa, there was a senior named Ma Yuan who obtained a treasure. It's unknown what kind of treasure it is, but after obtaining it, his strength has been increasing non-stop. Now, it's said that Senior Ma Yuan's strength has already approached that of the top ten outer door experts. I also heard that the fourth-ranked expert among the top ten, Senior You Yue, also has a treasure in her possession.

  Gu Chao had heard several legends about treasures in this world, and each legend was very attractive.

  Maybe with treasure, one can become stronger.

  Ko had already made a vow in his previous life: he didn't want to lose again this time. That's why now he yearned for power even more desperately.

  Treasures move people's hearts!

  However, there is a top-notch guardian among the first-class demons, the Double-headed Sand Snake. Going alone would be suicidal, as an adult Double-headed Sand Snake has the strength of a Seventh Layer Heaven Realm cultivator. If I were to gather more people and go again, it's uncertain how much treasure I could get my hands on. The more people there are, the less each person gets, and with my weak strength, I'd probably end up with even less.

  Gu Chao hesitated for a long time, if he went, it would be dangerous, but if he didn't go, he would miss the treasure.

  After a long deliberation, Gu Chao made up his mind to go and take a look at the treasure first, observe it, and see if he had any chance of getting it. If it was too dangerous, then forget it.

  The location of the treasure is actually quite simple. The senior brother of this Residual Snow Manor was running with blood, and as long as you follow the bloodstains back, you can find the place where the fight took place, and naturally, you can also find the location of the treasure. However, before that, there is one more thing to do, which is to take care of this senior brother's corpse. After all, everyone is from the same school, and he told himself that not far away, there is a treasure, how can he let his body be exposed in the wilderness, eaten by various insects, birds, and beasts? According to the rules of the Jianghu, Gu Chao used the red copper long knife to dig a hole and buried this senior brother in it.

  Due to the death of this unknown senior brother, Gu Chao felt even more deeply that this world is a very dangerous place, and everything must be done with greater caution. After all, life only has one chance, and once it's over, it's completely over.

  Apart from that, there aren't many feelings. Gu Chao also found it strange, this was clearly his first time seeing a dead person, yet he didn't have much of a reaction.

  Gu Chao followed the bloodstains, walking on the mountain road of Yingxia Peak. The bloodstains were sometimes on the ground and sometimes on the grass. After chasing along the bloodstains for a little over a mile, he saw nothing but endless quicksand ahead.

  In the "Monster Beast Atlas Volume I", it is recorded that the Double-headed Sand Snake: The Double-headed Sand Snake, one of the top-tier first-class monsters, likes sand, has venomous fangs, its skin can secrete a substance that makes the ground sandy, and is very fast. It likes to eat rabbits, has strong attacking power, and adult Double-headed Sand Snakes generally have the strength of the Seventh Layer of the Post-Heaven Realm. Weakness: cannot swim.

  Since the forest in front had become a desert, the two-headed sand snake was in front of them.

  Gu Chao finally saw the treasure.

  This is a pitch-black, hazy light-emitting small knife, about one foot long, and occasionally flashing a purple gas on the surface of the small knife, with a hint of mystery. The small knife that flashes from time to time with purple light, it's estimated that it's really a treasure, Gu Chao even faintly feels that this treasure has a fate with himself. However, next to the treasure, there is a two-meter-long double-headed snake, the double-headed snake has two snake heads, and its body has black scales, looking extremely ferocious, from time to time sizing up the pitch-black small knife, as if anyone who wants to take this small knife will be swallowed by it.

  The treasure is just ahead!

  (Updated at 12 midnight, please collect and recommend, new book list is intense, need recommendation votes.)