Chapter 92: Good Friends Are Best When They Die Fast!

Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Good Friends Are Best When They Die Fast!

"I’ll have to trouble you to look after things for a while, Senior Brother Huang," Fang Xu said earnestly, offering Huang Qingzhou a slight bow with cupped hands.

Huang Qingzhou waved it off. "I’m someone who loves making friends. It’s no trouble at all.

"Alright, just stay on the sidelines. I’ll clean up around here." As he spoke, he grabbed a nearby bucket and broom, scrubbing away the bloodstains and debris left behind from last night’s battle.

As the morning sun rose, Lu Qingluo wheeled Chu Muyun out of the room. Evidently, she had stayed by the girl’s side through the night.

"Fang Xu!" Upon seeing him, Chu Muyun called out with a face full of worry.

Holding his waist, Fang Xu slowly walked over to her. He gently rubbed her head and said, "I’m fine.

"Just focus on resting and recovering for now. When the time comes, I’ll have Senior Brother Huang take you to meet Steward Xu. Our Mu Yun is going to be a Pill Master in the future."

Off to the side, Huang Qingzhou chimed in with a smile, "Junior Sister possesses the Pill Fragrance Sacred Body. Her future achievements will be limitless."

Knowing about Chu Muyun’s constitution and that her body could recover, Huang Qingzhou was certain his master would take her in as a disciple. In other words, Chu Muyun becoming his junior sister was practically set in stone. Thinking about how this would be the first junior sister among his many martial brothers, he was visibly delighted.

The reassurance from both of them greatly eased the worry in Chu Muyun’s heart.

"Qingluo told me you got hurt," Chu Muyun said, looking up at Fang Xu. "Is it serious?"

Fang Xu quickly shook his head. "I’m up and walking around, so naturally, it’s not serious.

"Alright, Mu Yun, go cook us some breakfast." Terrified that she would keep interrogating him, Fang Xu shooed her away to make food.

"Senior Brother Huang, did you come to Fenglin Town this time to visit the Tilan Mountain ruins as well?" Fang Xu asked once Lu Qingluo and Chu Muyun had left.

"Yeah.

"The Tilan Mountain ruins are highly anticipated within the Ascension Association. We only arrived first because we happened to be nearby.

"It won’t be long before Ascension Association disciples from neighboring kingdoms start rushing over, one after another. Things will get a lot livelier then."

People outside the Yu Kingdom were also interested in the Tilan Mountain ruins? Hearing this, Fang Xu’s expression grew solemn. Fenglin Town was already chaotic enough as it was. If Ascension Association disciples from other kingdoms flocked here too, then...

"Alright, that’s not our concern. Come take a walk with me." After speaking, Huang Qingzhou strolled leisurely toward the exit of Zhiyuan Hall.

The two arrived in town, and Fang Xu took a glance at his friends list.

Great!

Aside from Li Xun, Mu Xuan, and the other two, the remaining six had all died again...

Were the Tilan Mountain ruins truly that dangerous?

As the thought crossed his mind, Fang Xu secretly shook his head. He looked at Huang Qingzhou and said, "Senior Brother Huang, I’d like to take a walk up the mountain."

Huang Qingzhou gave him a bewildered look. "You want to go to the ruins?

"Give it a rest. Let alone your current physical condition, even in your prime..."

"I don’t mean going inside the ruins; I just want to take a look around the perimeter," Fang Xu quickly clarified.

His friends list couldn’t remain empty. Otherwise, all those potential "friends" destined to die in the ruins would go to waste.

"Fine. I happen to be curious about what’s actually inside those ruins anyway. Let’s go scout for some information."

With his cultivation at the Ninth Realm of the Martial Master stage, coupled with his status as an Ascension Association disciple, as long as they didn’t enter the ruins themselves, they shouldn’t encounter any danger. Huang Qingzhou promptly changed direction and prepared to head toward Tilan Mountain.

"Hold on a moment, Senior Brother," Fang Xu said. He turned and walked into a nearby liquor shop, emerging with two jugs of wine. Smiling, he added, "Just something to quench our thirst."

Seeing this, Huang Qingzhou suddenly asked, "I’ve heard that Fenglin Town’s Maple Brew has a rather unique flavor. Is this Maple Brew?"

Fang Xu shook his head. What a joke. Authentic Maple Brew was very expensive. He was just getting some cheap booze to make a few fair-weather friends—using Maple Brew would be an absolute waste.

"Authentic Maple Brew is very expensive..."

"It’s just mundane silver taels. I’m not short on that kind of money." Huang Qingzhou waved it off nonchalantly, turning around and striding right back into the liquor shop.

"Shopkeeper, bring me a jug of your best Maple Brew!" Tossing out a piece of gold the size of a quail egg, Huang Qingzhou spoke with extravagant generosity.

When the shopkeeper saw that he had produced actual gold, he immediately hurried over with a fawning smile. Cupping his hands, he said, "Please wait a moment, esteemed guest! I’ll have someone dig up a jug from the backyard right away!"

Outside the liquor shop, Huang Qingzhou carried a jug of Maple Brew, happily drinking straight from it with a look of pure intoxication on his face.

Fang Xu, however, had a dark expression. "A top-tier jug of Maple Brew is worth twenty silver taels at most. That gold nugget you just threw down was at least two taels. Buying a single jug of wine for that much..."

"Ah, you can’t put a price on my own happiness. You wouldn’t understand." Swigging the fine wine in his hand, Huang Qingzhou remained unfazed. Clearly, the Maple Brew suited his tastes perfectly.

"Want a taste?" Taking a massive gulp himself, Huang Qingzhou offered the jug to Fang Xu.

Fang Xu paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle such an expensive drink."

The real reason he refused to share a drink with Huang Qingzhou was because, after what happened with Wang Erhu, he didn’t want to experience the helplessness of watching a true friend’s Life Value drop day by day while being completely powerless to stop it.

Huang Qingzhou was a genuinely good guy to be around, and deep down, Fang Xu already considered him a true friend. This kind of friend was different from the ones sitting on his friends list. Besides, his friends list only had ten slots to begin with. Li Xun, Mu Xuan, and the other two already occupied four of them. If he added Huang Qingzhou to the mix...

These five resilient guys would be monopolizing half of his friend slots. In the grand scheme of things, how much inheritance would he be losing out on? When it came to his friends list, the ones who died quickly were the only ones worth having!

Huang Qingzhou, oblivious to Fang Xu’s inner thoughts, assumed he was still upset about spending two taels of gold on a twenty-tael jug of wine.

"You really don’t know how to enjoy life," Huang Qingzhou teased.

"We Martial Artists gain a lifespan of a hundred and fifty years after breaking through to become a Martial Master. The lifespan of a Martial Venerable stretches up to three hundred years. Life is long—you have to seize the moment and enjoy it while you can."

Fang Xu didn’t reply; he just kept his head down and continued trudging toward Tilan Mountain.

Along the outer mountain path, the two of them frequently encountered groups of three to five Martial Artists hurrying toward the Tilan Mountain ruins along the trail that had been trampled out by countless footsteps. Looking at their faces, Fang Xu could see their profound yearning for the future. They all seemed to believe that by going to the Tilan Mountain ruins, they would be among the lucky few to claim heaven-defying treasures, Cultivation Techniques, and the like. From then on, they would soar into the sky and stand above all others.

Following the crowd, Fang Xu and Huang Qingzhou soon arrived in the depths of Tilan Mountain. This area was originally supposed to be the territory of high-level fierce beasts. However, with large swathes of Martial Artists passing through the mountain paths every day—including Martial Master and Martial Venerable experts visible everywhere—naturally, no blind beast dared to come anywhere near this place.

As Fang Xu walked, he suddenly felt the glowing screen deep within his sea of consciousness tremble slightly. He immediately sank his consciousness into it and discovered three flashing red arrows on the virtual screen. It appeared that three inheritances were right in his vicinity.

He halted his steps and looked around. Sure enough, in the woods beside the mountain path, he could vaguely make out three corpses discarded on the ground.

Fang Xu immediately walked over.

"Huh? Where are you going?" A bit curious, Huang Qingzhou followed Fang Xu over to the three bodies. Taking in their tragic deaths, he commented indifferently, "These three likely offended someone and were slaughtered on the spot."

Fang Xu didn’t reply. Looking at their somewhat familiar faces—and confirming that the arrows on the glowing screen in his sea of consciousness were indeed pointing at them—he promptly crouched down and felt around the body closest to him.

"Kid, if there was actually anything valuable on these corpses, someone would have already looted them. You think it’d be left for you?" Seeing that Fang Xu seemed to be "looting corpses" to strike it rich, Huang Qingzhou didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Fang Xu didn’t bother arguing. Playing along, he replied, "What if they missed something?"

After patting down all three bodies one by one, Fang Xu dusted off his hands.

The three "friends" had contributed 90 points to his Strength Attribute and 48 points to his Life Attribute. He was highly satisfied with this haul.

The trees he planted had finally borne fruit!