Volcanic Age

Zhou Xuchuan retrieved the bag he had left nearby and walked over to Duan Hecheng's group, who were still stunned.

"Zhou Xuchuan of Mount Hua," he introduced himself curtly.

"I-I'm Duan Hecheng of the Diancang Sect…"

"Ah! The Seventh Young Master of the Diancang Sect!" Zhou Xuchuan's eyes widened in surprise.

Why would someone of his status come to a place like this..?

Even though the Diancang Sect's martial arts were highly practical, they still did not use poisons. They had no reason to come to the Poisonblood Valley.

"Excuse my earlier impoliteness. I was unaware of your status."

"You're our savior, Great Hero Zhou, please don't worry about such things."

Duan Hecheng might be the youngest of the Diancang Sect's young masters, but he was still above Zhou Xuchuan in age and was in his early thirties. Not only was he a senior in this world, he was also above Zhou Xuchuan in status considering that he was the disciple of the sect master, even though they didn't belong to the same sects.

Everyone was frozen in shock, but they weren't exactly in good condition right now. The nearly thirty people they had started off with had now been halved, with half of them being injured. Not only that, they had barely slept, not to mention eaten, so they were all in terrible condition.

"Understood. I discovered a cave that could be used as refuge. Follow me."

*

The cave was not that deep, at least not deep enough for them to worry about any creatures showing up suddenly from inside. Duan Hecheng and his group were finally able to relax.

"We owe you our lives, Great Hero Zhou," Duan Hecheng expressed his gratitude.

"Not at all. I have only done what I had to." Zhou Xuchuan waved his hand dismissively.

"Helping someone may be natural as a person of the Orthodox Faction, but it is not easy to put it into practice. Above all, aren't we in the notorious Poisonblood Valley where one cannot guarantee their own lives? Please, allow me to express my gratitude."

Duan Hecheng respectfully cupped his fists.

He is like a character from heroic tales!

Zhou Xuchuan couldn't help but inwardly exclaim. From what he could tell, Duan Hecheng's actions were all genuine. He wasn't saying things out of formality. Putting everything else aside, it wasn't easy for someone to bow toward juniors much younger than them.

"Thank you, Great Hero!"

The cultivators resting behind him also stood up and expressed their gratitude.

Hm, this feels strange.

For some reason, Zhou Xuchuan felt an odd sensation prickling at him. This was the first time other cultivators—over a dozen of them to boot—had shown gratitude toward him.

Usually, it's the other way round…

When his life hung by a thread on the battlefield, some people appeared like the wind to save him. He could remember bowing toward them in gratitude as they left.

"That aside, are you alone here, Great Hero Zhou?" Duan Hecheng asked, his eyes filled with hope.

"Oh, yes. I'm by myself."

"Whoa… you're here by yourself in the Poisonblood Valley?" Duan Hecheng's disbelief was evident, he seemed to be wondering why Zhou Xuchuan would do something so outrageous.

"Wh-what's so wrong with being by myself?"

For a moment, Zhou Xuchuan felt a surge of frustration that he even stuttered. His previous life, when he woke up by himself, ate by himself, trained by himself, studied by himself, and fought by himself flashed before his eyes.

"I see. Consider me overly worried after the remarkable skill you just displayed, but aren't you aware that the Poisonblood Valley is one of the most dangerous places in the martial world, and is even designated to be a forbidden zone? You'll risk your life the moment you are overconfident in yourself, so you should abandon that train of thought immediately," Duan Hecheng said, expressing his genuine concern.

Zhou Xuchuan felt embarrassed that the bitter memories of his previous life got the better of him and stayed quiet. He felt like he would only embarrass himself further if he talked about it.

"Ahem! Thank you."

"You seem to be on your cultivation journey, but what brings you to the Poisonblood Valley?" Duan Hecheng asked.

"I wanted to prove my strength by surviving against the poisonous creatures here."

Some of the visitors of the Poisonblood Valley were like this. Among them, half of them died, while the other half returned after loitering near the entrance.

Zhou Xuchuan couldn't exactly say that he was after the internal core of the Seven-horned Serpent. He feared mentioning it would spark greed. Thankfully, Duan Hecheng didn't seem suspicious.

"Great Hero Zhou, if you do not plan to leave the Poisonblood Valley… I know it is shameful of me to ask this after you saved our lives, but could I ask you for a favor?"

"A favor? What do you mean by…"

"If you could, we'd like you to hunt down a spiritual beast known as the Seven-horned Serpent with us."

Zhou Xuchuan almost gasped out loud.

The Seven-horned Serpent?

From what he knew, the Dark Heavens Association was the only organization that knew about the Seven-horned Serpent. Hearing Duan Hecheng, a cultivator from the Diancang Sect, mention it, naturally shocked him. He briefly wondered if the Diancang Sect was the Dark Heavens Association in disguise.

He quickly dismissed that idea. They were all too weak, and this ploy seemed too clumsy for them to be considered the Dark Heavens Association in disguise. Moreover, if the disciple of the sect master belonged to the Dark Heavens Association, Zhou Xuchuan would have known about it in his previous life.

"I'm sure you have a lot of suspicions. Allow me to explain the details," Duan Hecheng anticipated Zhou Xuchuan's reaction. "First of all, how much do you know about me, Great Hero Zhou?"

"Hm…"

Zhou Xuchuan hesitated, prompting Duan Hecheng to smile wryly.

"It's okay. You probably only know that I'm the youngest of the seven young masters of the Diancang Sect. That's normal."

This was true for both of Zhou Xuchuan's lives, since he didn't know much about Duan Hecheng. He had heard that this man had died somewhere, but he couldn't remember exactly when.

"I, Duan Hecheng, am a disciple of Diancang Sect's master, but I am also the son of the Galaxy Manor's lord," said Duan Hecheng, revealing shocking facts with a calm expression.

"Whoa…" Zhou Xuchuan exclaimed. He hadn't expected this at all.

"This will take a while," Duan Hecheng continued. "Are you okay with that?"

"I am okay, but… would it be okay for you to tell me all these things?"

"You saved my life. Besides, considering the favor I'm asking, it feels natural to provide this information."

If the Tang Family could be considered out-of-place among the Five Great Ancient Families, the Diancang Sect was also out-of-place among the Ten Major Organizations.

The Diancang Sect, was a Daoist Sect alongside the Zhongnan Sect, but it also had visibly secular tendencies. This was as a result of their geographical location in Yunnan, where they were surrounded by Tibet, Nanman, Guizhou and Guangxi, which made them develop their martial arts in a more practical manner.

The Diancang Sect's entire history was riddled with conflicts with surrounding regions, that was the problem. Conflict, or in other words, war, needed money, and not a small amount. Ending a conflict came with its own set of problems as well, such as reparation of damages. These problems strained the finances of the Diancang Sect.

"When the Diancang Sect was having a headache over their finances, the Galaxy Manor approached them with a proposition."

Zhou Xuchuan had a good guess about what it was.

"Take the child of the manor lord as the sect master's disciple. In other words, the manor wanted the Diancang Sect's martial arts and protection."

Even if the Galaxy Manor ran the Flying Tiger Agency, and nearly had a monopoly of all business in Yunnan, they were in the end, just merchants. They needed power to protect the manor and their assets, and their own escort agency did not suffice.

Not to mention the lack of experts among the escorts, even those escorts were hired wanderers. They needed the power and reliability of experts. Naturally, the Diancang Sect of the Ten Major Organizations was a powerful guarantee for them.

"The Diancang Sect agreed, but with three conditions. First, only one person can become the sect master's disciple. Second, that disciple will be restricted from telling anyone else about the martial arts. And third, there would be complete silence about the arrangement. I believe you can see why."

The first and second were all self-explanatory, and the third was because they feared criticism from other organizations in the martial world, since this deal between the Diancang Sect and the Galaxy Manor amounted to trading martial arts for money. No matter how flexible the Diancang Sect became, they would receive disdain from other sects in the martial world if they were to commit such acts.

Buying martial arts manuals for money was frowned upon by the Orthodox Faction. Although the Diancang Sect had done so with severe restrictions, they wouldn't be able to avoid disdainful gazes if they were to be discovered.

Even the Evil Faction would ridicule the Diancang Sect for losing their dignity if they knew about it. This led to the sect enforcing a silence order on the matter to prevent rumors from spreading.

"Is it okay for you to tell me something important?"

"And my senior brothers, the other Seven Young Masters, know about this." Duan Hecheng avoided Zhou Xuchuan's question.

"Would you like guess what my senior brothers think of me?"

"…Mm." Zhou Xuchuan groaned instead of replying. He could guess from Duan Hecheng's grim expression.

"A rich young master who became the sect master's disciple through luck, as well as the shame of the Diancang Sect. That's how they see me." Duan Hecheng laughed bitterly. "It would been easier if I had family to encourage me, but I had none of that, so it was hard to endure."

Zhou Xuchuan thought that there was more to the story than this.

"Anyway, I wanted to be acknowledged as a cultivator of the Diancang Sect by my senior brothers. That is why I came to the Poisonblood Valley to hunt the Seven-horned Serpent."

"When you mention the Seven-horned Serpent…"

"Oh, my, I totally forgot… I asked you for help in hunting the Seven-horned Serpent and didn't even explain what it is." Duan Hecheng scratched the back of his head apologetically.

"This happened before the Poisonblood Valley was designated as a forbidden area, but there was a time when cultivators of our sect went on an expedition. Back then, they came across a snake with seven horns, and from the records, even augmented qi couldn't harm it."

I see, the Diancang Sect knew about it too, huh.

Zhou Xuchuan wasn't surprised, since Mount Diancang and Mount Ailao were close. If local herbalists kept running into accidents around the area, the Diancang Sect naturally had to respond, since helping others resolve problems through their martial prowess could increase their reputation.

Above all, if they could process some of the poisons they obtained and traded it with the Tang Family, it could help out with their finances as well.

"I heard that crafting a weapon from its horn could probably create one of the greatest swords in the world. If I can verify its legend and hunt it down, my senior brothers will definitely acknowledge me as a true member of the Seven Young Masters of the sect."

He isn't wrong, but…

Zhou Xuchuan was originally planning to take the horn as well, given its value as an ingredient for a weapon.

Duan Hecheng. His personality isn't bad, and his martial prowess is also quite decent. His background is intriguing too. The fact that he isn't well-known despite that is because his sect considered him a disgrace and hid him, huh?

Zhou Xuchuan could picture the circumstances in his head.

And the fact that he had not made himself known in the future means that…

He was probably destined to die here.

"I know I am practically taking a mile when you already gave me an inch, but I must ask you regardless. I swear I will never forget this grace!" Duan Hecheng pleaded desperately.

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