flstandardbreds Chapter 189: Mountain
Chapter 189: Mountain
Ye Jun left the Law Enforcement Hall with a thoughtful look on his face. He wasn’t really surprised that Feng Hui was dead, as he already knew there was something behind him the moment their eyes met.
If someone powerful wanted Ye Jun dead and used Feng Hui as an intermediary. In case the plan failed or the man was captured , they would blame his petty nature and twist the facts to bury the truth.
Still, it wasn’t a failsafe plan so whoever wanted him dead actually made a seal on Feng Hui’s Soul which worked as a bomb. The moment it sensed truth getting out, it destroyed his soul.
That way, Feng Hui was dead and there was no way one could find the information anymore considering the Soul itself was destroyed.
It was a good plan that left no traces to follow for Ye Jun. But it wasn’t like he was completely clueless.
’Whoever did this is very powerful. The fact that even Law Enforcement Hall couldn’t suppress that Seal tell enough and I haven’t really made that strong opponents yet.’
The only ones he could think were Meihui’s enemies or Song Clan’s but he had doubts. ’It is related to me but why?’
There were many questions, but for now he had no answers so he didn’t want to ruin his mood too.
"Whatever! I’ll just discuss it with them later and think about what to do."
The night sky of the White Gale Pavilion was always laced with an encroaching, frost-bitten chill, but tonight the crisp mountain air felt entirely different to Ye Jun.
He stood at the edge of the pathways, looking down at his own hands. Beneath his skin, the chaotic, wild currents of Qi that had once threatened to tear his fragile mortal frame apart were gone.
In their place revolved a deep, silent ocean of boundless power, the hallmark of the Soul Tempering Realm. He had broken through the boundary before his twentieth birthday, a feat that guaranteed his entry into the legendary Heavenly Frost Palace.
Yet, his departure from the sect wasn’t going to be a solo journey toward the peak. He was leaving the White Gale Pavilion alongside Song Liangxue and Meihui the next day.
The formidable Song Clan had finally sent word to their heiress, it was time for the King in the North’s lineage to officially meet their sudden anomaly of a son-in-law.
But before the grand carriages and armored war beasts arrived to carry him away into the high-stakes politics of the northern rulers, Ye Jun had some debts of the heart to settle.
In this world built on deceit, blood feuds, and opportunistic alliances, he had managed to carve out a small loyal circle of friends who didn’t care about his clan name, his rapid rise, or his proximity to highborn beauties.
They simply cared about him.
Turning away from the main pavilion halls, he took a familiar, winding path toward the eastern precipice of the sect grounds.
The cliff area was isolated, raw stone exposed to the howling winds, but as Ye Jun approached, the bitter cold was thoroughly vanquished by a roaring, crackling fire and the rich, heavy aroma of roasting fat, pungent wild herbs, and sizzling spirit meat.
Sitting cross-legged before a massive clay oven he had built himself was a figure that looked like a boulder torn straight from the peaks.
"Muahahah! Lowlander steps quiet, but belly rumbles loud enough to wake the dead!"
Mountain’s thunderous laughter boomed across the gorge, completely unbothered by the sect’s nighttime. The massive Ulankar giant turned his broad face toward Ye Jun, his bushy eyebrows rising in genuine delight, "Come, brother! Sit. Fire is hot, meat is perfect. Timing is heaven-sent."
Ye Jun chuckled, the heavy, defensive layers of his caution naturally melting away as he dropped down onto a flat stone beside the giant, "You never change, buddy. Half the inner court is starving themselves to refine their breakthrough pills, and here you are running a late-night barbecue."
"Lowlanders are crazy bunch," Mountain snorted, using a dagger that looked more like a shortsword to slice off a massive, glistening slab of roasted Tier 2 spiritual boar meat.
He handed it over to Ye Jun on a clean, broad leaf, "Always meditating, always worrying about rankings, always looking at sky instead of plate. Food is foundation of life! If soul is tempered but stomach is empty, you are just a powerful ghost."
Ye Jun grinned and took a massive bite. The meat practically dissolved on his tongue, a burst of rich spiritual essence surging through his pathways. It was damn delicious.
Mountain’s training under Old Lan in the Spirit Food Hall was clearly yielding ridiculous results. The subtle inclusion of crushed sun-dried clover and roasted roots perfectly offset the dense, heavy profile of the spiritual fat.
"Damn," Ye Jun muttered, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I’m going to miss this cooking when I’m up in the high palaces eating frozen lotus seeds haha."
Mountain’s boisterous demeanor softened slightly, the firelight catching the honest, fiercely independent glint in his wide eyes.
He picked up a wooden jug of crude mountain ale, taking a deep swig before passing it over, "Heard the whispers in the hall today. You leave tomorrow with the main wife and the female man."
Ye Jun almost choked on his ale, coughing dryly. "I’ve told you already, Mountain, Meihui is just wearing a disguise. Stop calling her a female man."
Yes, he had already told him that since he had began to trust him. Of course, he first asked Meihui if she was fine with it and apparently she was. All because the bloodline of Ulankers was said to be of honest and loyal people.
"Disguise, illusion, all same thing to Ulankar bones," Mountain waved a massive hand dismissively. "Point is, you go to big cold palace. Dangerous places. High lords have sharp tongues and hidden daggers."
He leaned forward, his massive frame casting a protective shadow over the fire. "But you are my brother, Jun. You went into the wild lands with me, you respected the food, you never looked down on the mountain folk. If those lowland kings give you trouble... you send a bird. I will carry my clay oven and my cleaver up that mountain and roast their sacred guardians for breakfast."
"I don’t doubt it for a second," Ye Jun said softly, clinking his wooden jug against Mountain’s massive container.