Chapter 165

  Tang Yin wanted to go to Yancheng personally to rescue people, and the civil and military officials naturally did not agree, thinking that there was great risk involved, and as their highest commander, it was unnecessary for him to take risks personally.

  Qiu Zhen initially opposed it, but after some thought, he remembered the shadow clone technique used by Tang Yin when negotiating with Beisa. With this magical skill, even if they went to Yancheng, they wouldn't need to appear in person, just let the clone go and rescue people.

  He agreed that Tang Yin should go, with Tang Yin there, things would go more smoothly, and in terms of coping with crises, no one could match him.

  Qiu Zhen suddenly changed his mind and agreed that Tang Yin should go first, which made everyone feel quite surprised.

  Shangguan Yuan let out a low, muffled laugh and said, "This kind of thing naturally can't be done without me. If the adults don't bring me along, I estimate that this trip will have more misfortune than good fortune. But if they do bring me along, it'll basically be a sure thing."

  Tang Yin couldn't help but laugh out loud when he heard this, one of the important reasons why he liked and admired Shangguan Yuanshu was that the latter's personality had something in common with his own, both of them having a liking for adventure and a thrill-seeking streak.

  Without further ado, Tang Yin said: "With Yuan Rang's company, it would be even better."

  Everyone looked at each other and no longer obstructed. Qiu was indeed the first strategist under Tang Yin's command, and Shangguan Yuanrang was the first fierce general under Tang Yin's command. Both of them supported Tang Yin's decision, making others' opposing voices seem insignificant.

  Decided to go to Yancheng personally, Tang Yin found Qiu Zhen and Shangguan Yuange on the same day, letting them temporarily preside over the situation at Tianmen, while he himself was going to enter the mountain for self-cultivation.

  The danger of this trip, Tang Yin naturally understood it more clearly than anyone else. He felt that relying on his current cultivation and skills, he might not be able to return safely from Yangcheng, so he must strengthen his skills.

  He mainly wants to cultivate the Dark Flame, currently his Dark Flame has only reached the first level of the realm, Death Burn, and the spiritual energy absorbed is not much, only fifty percent. Using Shadow Clone to fight also consumes a lot of spiritual energy, if there is no timely replenishment, the battle can't last long. So he wants to raise his Dark Flame to the second level of the realm, which is Soul Burn. Soul Burn can absorb spiritual energy at 100%, this point is too important for him, absorbing one person is equivalent to two people in the past, if he can absorb a Spirit Warrior, the spiritual energy gained will be even more, this point is enough to support his clone to fight for a long time.

  It's easy to say, but it's too hard to do. The boundary of the Dark Fire is not that easy to upgrade, and even Yan Lian didn't achieve this point back then.

  Suddenly heard that he was going to enter the mountain to practice, Qiu Zhen and Shangguan Yuanyi were both stunned, subconsciously asking: "Which mountain is the master going to?"

  Tang Yin smiled and asked in return: "Which mountain is near Tian Guan?"

  The location of the Tian Guan is between two mountains and a valley, with the two mountains being the famous Wan Shou Mountain within the Feng Guo border. The Wan Shou Mountain stretches for hundreds of miles, crossing the Feng Guo border, and if it weren't for the Tian Guan connecting them, it would be as if the Tian Yuan Prefecture and the Feng Guo mainland were cut off from each other. The mountain range is high and steep, with a vast area covered by lush primeval forests, making it easy to get lost inside. In the past, there have been rumors of ancient magical beasts appearing in Wan Shou Mountain, and many spiritual practitioners have ventured into the mountains to explore, only to either never return or gain nothing, gradually leading to no one daring to enter Wan Shou Mountain again.

  "Sir, you want to enter the Mountain of Ten Thousand Beasts?"

  "Yes!" Tang Yin didn't hide it, nodding his head. To cultivate the Dark Fire, he had to use the Dark Fire, and now that he couldn't find a suitable target, he could only use the animals in the mountains as practice objects.

  "Is the master going in alone?" Shangguan Yuánjí asked tensely.

  Tang Yin smiled and said: "You two don't have to worry, I've lived in the mountains since I was a child, entering the deep mountains and old forests is like going home, nothing will happen."

  Although they said so, Qiu Zhen and Shangguan Yuangei still had their brows tightly locked, with a face full of worry.

  Tang Yin continued, "This time I entered the mountain, at least five days, at most ten days. By the time I return, Lu Fang's news will have spread, and we won't miss our chance to attack." He paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Since I started practicing the Ling Wu, I've been constantly fighting, never having the time to systematically train. This trip into the mountains is precisely to strengthen my skills, and also to ensure that our trip to Yan City won't be in vain."

  Qiu Zhen no longer blocked him, but instead let out a quiet sigh, nodded his head, and said seriously: "When you enter the mountain, sir, you must pay attention to your own safety."

  "This is natural." Tang Yin narrowed his eyes and smiled, saying: "I'm leaving for a while, you must keep the secret strictly, otherwise, the soldiers below might think that I, this county governor, fled in battle!"

  Qiu Zhen and Shangguan Yuanyi also laughed and nodded in unison.

  Apart from Qiu Zhen and Shangguan Yuanyi, no one knew about Tang Yin's plan to enter the mountains for cultivation. That night, he packed his bags, changed into casual clothes, and secretly left Tianmen, entering Wanshou Mountain.

  The mountain of Wan Shou is too big and the forest is too dense. As soon as people enter it, they are immediately submerged in the vast sea of forests.

  Tang Yin had long lived in the mountains and forests, with extremely strong adaptability to the mountain environment. Now that he also possessed spiritual martial arts cultivation, he was even more like a fish in water. After entering the mountains, he went deep into the belly of the mountains and forests.

  Due to the rarity of human presence here, there are many birds and beasts in the mountains. These flocks of birds and beasts became the objects of Tang Yin's practice of dark fire.

  He walked in the mountains for a whole night, and when the sky was bright, he didn't know how far he had walked. He looked around and saw nothing but a sea of trees and towering mountains that pierced the clouds.

  Walking further ahead, suddenly a vast expanse opened up before me. In front was a large mountain valley, with no forest inside the valley but instead vast expanses of lush green grasslands. A dense flock of sheep were leisurely grazing on the green grass in the valley.

  Upon seeing this, Tang Yin was overjoyed. He crouched down and slowly approached the flock without making a sound. When he got close, he stretched out his palm, and dark flames danced in his hand. After a moment, he suddenly darted forward, grabbing one of the mountain goats by the neck. With a whooshing sound, the goat was instantly incinerated into a wisp of spirit smoke. The other goats realized their danger and began to scatter in all directions. They ran fast, but not faster than Tang Yin. He chased after the flock, occasionally unleashing his dark flames, and one by one, the fleeing goats were reduced to faint mist under his dark fire.

  The spiritual energy transformed from the goats is much less than that of humans. Tang Yin was not trying to increase his cultivation, but just to practice the Dark Fire. However, he killed half of the goat herd, and the Dark Fire still remained in a state of dying embers.

  Finally, he too was exhausted and sat down on the ground, spreading out his palms to gaze at the small black flame that had ignited in them, letting out a helpless sigh.

  Raising the boundary of Dark Flame is much more difficult than raising cultivation, otherwise, the initial strictness would have practiced Dark Flame to the second layer long ago.

  After a brief pause, Tang Yin had calmed down somewhat, and he stood up again, continuing to walk deeper into the Wanshou Mountain.

  He walked in the Mountain of Ten Thousand Beasts for three days, and during these three days, whenever he saw birds or beasts, no matter how big or small they were, he would rush up to them at the first time and use the Dark Fire on them. Countless birds and beasts were burned by him, but the Dark Fire still showed no signs of improvement, which greatly disappointed Tang Yin.

  However, he did not give up and continued to delve deeper.

  It wasn't until the fourth day that he miraculously ran into two people, two hunters who had ventured deep into the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain to gather medicinal herbs.

  It's not easy to meet people in the deep mountains, Tang Yin was very happy and took the initiative to greet them.

  At first, the two hunters were on their guard against Tang Yin, but as they chatted, they found him to be polite and courteous, with a natural smile that was very likable, so their vigilance gradually dissipated.

  Two hunters in their thirties, dark and lean, with baskets on their backs full of various rare medicinal materials, including ginseng and lingzhi.

  The two men asked Tang Yin: "Young man, what are you doing entering the Mountain of Ten Thousand Beasts?"

  Tang Yin's eyes rolled around and he smiled: "I've heard that the Mountain of Ten Thousand Beasts often has ancient magical beasts appearing, I want to take a look!"

  "Haha——" Upon hearing this, the two hunters laughed and shook their heads, saying: "That's just a rumor, the ancient magical beasts have long been extinct. Now, where can you still see them? We've been collecting herbs in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain for over ten years, and we've never seen a single magical beast."

  Tang Yin wasn't here for the demon beast, but hearing him say this still left him somewhat disappointed. He asked in doubt: "However, many people who entered the Mountain of Ten Thousand Beasts never came out, and there were also cultivators among them, so what's going on?"

  Two hunters shrugged and said, "I guess they got lost in the mountains, thought they could get out but couldn't. The Wan Beast Mountain is so big, and all the mountains look similar, it's easy to get dizzy if you come here for the first time."

  "Yes! We've also met adventurers who just went back and forth, circling around a mountain. Alas, those adventurers were determined to find the demon beast, dreaming of making a big fortune, but I think the real demon beast is actually living in their hearts."

  Tang Yin looked up and smiled, but it was hard to tell. These two ordinary hunters, when they spoke, were actually quite philosophical.

  "Where are you going, young man?"

  "Cross over this mountain." Tang Yin pointed at the big mountain in front of him and said: "Continue walking inside."

  Two hunters' faces slightly changed, shaking their heads and saying: "Young man, I advise you to stop here and not go any further inside."

  "Why?" Tang Yin looked at them in confusion.

  Hunter said, "Further in is the center of Wan Shou Mountain. Neither of us has been there before, but we often hear older generations warning that fierce beasts like wolves, tigers and leopards appear there, extremely ferocious, eating people without spitting out bones."

  Another hunter nodded and added: "And there are also giant pythons and bear dogs."

  Tang Yin didn't think so, he just shrugged his shoulders.

  Seeing this, two hunters asked: "What? Young man, are you still going?"

  Tang Yin said: "Wild beasts are not terrible, what is really terrible is that people are against each other."

  The two hunters did not understand what he meant, but seeing that he was determined to go, they both shook their heads in regret, as if he would never come back once he left.

  Tang Yin looked at the medicinal herbs in their grass basket and smiled: "I didn't bring much food, I don't know if I can buy some things from you two."

  Two hunters asked: "Young man, what are you going to buy?"

  Tang Yin rummaged through the grass basket, pulled out two of the largest ginseng, and said: "Let's take these two!" As he spoke, he reached into his sleeve, took out a piece of gold, handed it to the two men, and asked: "Is this enough?"

  The medicine collected by the hunters was also sold to the pharmaceutical merchants. Although these two ginseng were not bad, the pharmaceutical merchant would never give out so much gold. The two hunters saw this and hastily took over the gold, weighed it in their hands, confirmed its authenticity, and then said repeatedly: "Enough enough! In fact, we can't use that much. Young man, you...you pick some more!"

  The man is honest and simple-minded, after taking advantage of others, he feels very sorry for them.