The Legend of Min Hong

Chapter 29: Entering the Mist Marshlands

There were all extremely good arrows and could be used multiple times.

"Esteemed young master." The one-armed man went forward, respectfully bowing. "Thank you for acting to save us. Might I ask if there is some way in which our Southern Sun Tribe can serve you, young master?"

The other tribesmen didn't dare to make a sound. Someone who brought a maidservant and a manservant along while adventuringthis clearly was no ordinary person. In addition, he had been referred to as 'young master' earlier.

Someone who has been respectfully addressed as 'young master' was generally a direct descent of a tribal chief of a major tribe with thousands of tribesmen. Clearly, this youngster should belong to an extremely large tribe.

"Is any one of you familiar with the Mist Marshlands?" Hong riding on the green spirit beast asked them.

The tribesmen looked at each other. Why was this young master heading to the marshlands? He definitely couldn't be going there to hunt or fish, right?

It would be very dangerous as that part of the forest is extremely close to the central region of the Soaring Cloud Village. Occasionally dangerous spirit beasts of the central region would stray far away from their lairs whilst hunting and end up in the marshlands.

"I am." The powerful brown-skinned Uncle Chen strode forward. "I have been hunting in the Mist Marshlands for dozens of years now, and I'm very familiar with the place. Young master, if you want to go to the Mist Marshlands, I can lead the way for you."

"Excellent." Hong laughed, and then with a flick of his hand he tossed over a pocket of gold. "Come with me then."

Accepting the pocket of gold, Uncle Chen's eyes immediately lit up. A pocket of gold, weighs exactly ten pounds, this would be more than enough for his child to live off for the rest of his life. He immediately gave it to the nearby one-armed man. "help me take it back and give it to my eldest son. If I die, then help take care of my three little kids."

"Alright." The one-armed man nodded.

"Report your name." Hong said.

"Honorable young master, you can address me as Chen." Uncle Chen spoke respectfully.

"Chen mount her spirit beast." Hong pointed to Min Ye's green spirit beast. "Min Ye, come ride with me."

"Yes, young master." Min Ye leapt down, then immediately mounted Hong's green spirit beast, then held her arms around Hong's waist.

Uncle Chen holding his breath, carefully mounted the green spirit beast. He had never ridden such a sophisticated mount in his life before.

"Let's go." Hong ordered.

Huala!

Hong and the others rode the green spirit beasts and quickly disappeared into the mountain forests.

"Uncle Wong" the youngster, Yi Wei, asked frantically. "Uncle Chen is going to take them to the Mist Marshland. Will it be dangerous?"

The one-armed man nodded. "They aren't like us. That youngster is definitely the son or grandson of the leader of a large tribe, and has received the finest guidance since he was young. That arrow was probably loosed by him. He has most likely come to the Mist Marshland for a rite-of-passage adventure! He has to kill a certain number of magic beasts, but the Mist Marshlands is too large and complicated an area. Just relying on a simple map is insufficient, so they asked for Uncle Chen to guide them to it."

"Rites-of-passage? But that youngster isn't an adult yet." Yi Wei said.

"Some people look younger than their age and others look older." The one-armed man said.

Although, right now, Hong was about ten years old, but he was already 1.7 meters tall.

"But that young master was very benevolent." The one-armed man sighed. "Just then, when the Dark Serene Jaguar attacked us, if he hadn't intervenedseveral of us by now would have died, and the first to die would have been your Uncle Chen!

Having his life saved, your Uncle Chen would go guide them, even if it cost him his life. But the young master gave him a pocket of gold. Ten pounds of gold!"

"Hurry, hurry, hurry." The one-armed man suddenly yelled. "Butcher that Dark Serene Jaguar's corpse and take it back."

"Quick." "Come."

One after another they pulled out their knives and hatchets, quickly butchering the Jaguar's corpse, and then continuing their return trip.

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Hong's squad, mounted three green magic beasts, charged through the borders of the mountain forest.

"Look." Uncle Chen pointed to the front. "The Mist marshlands is up ahead."

"Mist Marshlands." Hong stared into the distance.

An enormous, endless lake stretched far into the horizon, flashing with the beautiful light of the spring sun.

At one glance, one could see flying spirit beasts diving down and snatching up fish, or some tails of enormous aquatic creatures wriggling amongst the reeds. Occasionally, a massive head would be seen. This was a world of spirit beasts!

Located at the center of the Soaring Cloud Forest, the Mist marshlands was over ten thousand Kilometers wide and was equal to a third of the Min Family precinct. Such an enormous lake, naturally covered by light mists all year roundhad countless numbers of spirit beasts in it. The Dan Formation spirit beasts which the Min Family knew about numbered up to a dozen!

Ever since leaving the Min Family castle and adventuring, Hong had wanted to fight a few Dan Formation level spirit beasts, but beasts of that level were all hidden in deep lakes or islands and tall mountain caves.

How could they be easily found? In the past, he had spent nearly an entire month searching an area without success. Furious, Hong immediately changed their paths and headed straight for one of the danger zones, Mist Marshlands.

"There are many spirit beasts in Mist marshland, and quite a number of them are in the Dan Formation stage. I refuse to believe I won't encounter a single one." Hong was like a new born calf that didn't know the meaning of fear.

However, he didn't dare to be too careless either, because many members of the Min Family had died here in the Mist Marshlands, such as Min Ming's grandfather.

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"Min Hao. Min Ye." Hong leapt off his green mount and instructed, "Mist Marshland is too risky a place, and there is danger everywhere. In addition, the green mounts are of no use in the water. The two of you, take these three green mounts and head to the Southern Sun Tribe, wait for me at the Southern Sun Tribe!"

Min Hao and Min Ye glanced at each other. Since they've been protecting him over the past seven months, and he had finally reached his training area, they could only reply respectfully, "Yes, young master." As they were told not to interfere with his training.

"Chen." Hong looked at the tanned, big man. "You and I will make a trip through the marsh to that lake. Help me familiarize myself with the general areas around here, and then you can go back and join the rest of your tribesmen at the Southern Sun Tribe as well."

"Yes, young master." Uncle Chen answered respectfully.

"Let's go." Hong immediately stepped forward, towards the marsh alongside Uncle Chen who hefted his great-axe. Min Hao and Min Su watched as their young master entered the distant marsh.

Although, they were nervous, there was nothing they could do. One of them was a personal maidservant whilst the other was another servant who was appointed to teach the young master his abundant mountaineering experience. Their power was far inferior to Hong's.

"The vast lake was filled with myriad beautiful sceneries. Within this great lake, there are place with islands of firmer grounds and grasses as well." Uncle Chen laughed. "In fact, there are even some small villages. But of course, if you step on most of the muddy areas, you will sink into the marsh and additionally, there's the immeasurably deep lake itself. Within the marsh, it is difficult to move about, and if you aren't careful, you'll sink into it."

Min Hong was right next to him as he listened carefully and attentively.

"Our Southern Sun Tribe has lived in a village near the marsh for centuries now, and often come here to fish and hunt. We know exactly where the passable roads are located and where the bad ones are." Uncle Chen was very confident.

Paash! Paash!

Striding through the mud, Hong followed this tribal warrior through the Mist Marshlands. "Look." A scroll appeared out of nowhere in Hong's hands. "This is the map of the Mist Marshlands. Lead me to these marked areas."

"Eeeh!" Uncle Chen was terrified. "These these are all places where elite spirit beasts are hiding. These are the most dangerous places. We don't dare to venture into them."

"You don't need to go near them." Hong shook his head. "Just lead me there, and tell me how and where to go from afar."

Uncle Chen creased his sweaty forehead. He nodded. "Alright. I'll lead you, young master."

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The Mist Marshland was simply too vast. It was indeed quite slow for them to move through it relying on their legs alone. In addition, this was Hong's first time coming here, and the various meandering pathways stretched for thousands of Kilometers.

Fortunately, the experienced Uncle Chen guided him through one hidden pathway after another, which Min Hong easily mapped into his memory, allowing them to easily navigate through the marsh.

Min Hong familiarized his footwork technique with this tough terrain. He would never miss any opportunity to train his techniques on this expedition. From his footwork to his archery skills which he used to kill the Dark Serene Jaguar much earlier on.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed. Hong had carried food and beverages within his storage ring and furthermore, they could roast the meat of some spirit beasts. Whenever they want to sleep, they would just find a random patch of dry land or grass to lay on.

Hong wasn't in a hurry to go challenge the elite beasts of the Mist Marshlands. First, he wanted to locate them. Afterwards, he would travel by himself relying on his 'One with the World' level footwork technique to walk on the lake water and cover a thousand kilometers in a single day.

"This is the last place." Uncle Chen pointed from afar at a distant place where the luxurious growth of some aquatic plants, at least two meters high, waved in the wind. "Right there, where the aquatic plants are growing is the lair of an elite spirit beast. Supposedly, it is an extremely large aquatic rhinoceros, the size of a small mountain."

"Alright. Let's return. After returning to the Southern Sun Tribe, I'd definitely reward you heavily." Hong promised.

"Young master, you have given me enough." Uncle Chen said honestly.

This seemingly delicate youngster was actually extremely powerful. During their one month in this Mist Marshland, they had been attacked by quite a few spirit beasts, but they all died by a single piercing blow of the young master's sword!

Over the past seven months, maybe due to the hostile environment, Min Hong's cultivation had seen risen. He had finally surpassed his bottleneck and he had stepped into the King Stage at 2 Stars and at 9 Star Qi Creation stage. This journey filled with extremely hostile beasts had really stimulated his potential.

Min Hong didn't care about the corpses of the monstrous beasts either, but Uncle Chen's heart quivered each time. This were spirit beast flesh, if they sold it, the tribe would be in a much better place, financially. But he couldn't carry it all back, so all he could do was carve out a few valuable parts and take them with them.

"Hnm?" Hong and Uncle Chen both suddenly stared into the distance. From afar, there was a squad of troops, with quite a few figures within.

Deep in the marsh, there were solid grounds, muddy grounds and even hilly areas, along with a large mountain. That mountain was known as the Marsh Mountain, which was one of the major regions in this Mist Marshland.

Off in the distance, a squad of about two hundred soldiers could be seen clustered on a hill. Suddenly, ten figures abruptly ran over at rapid speed towards the Min Hong duo.

"What's the problem?" Hong frowned.

"Quick! Let's leave." Uncle Chen was so terrified that he immediately fled.

Whooosh!

One of the ten men was wearing a bronze metal armor, with a snort, he dashed forward at astonishing speed, overtaking the fleeing Uncle Chen, blocking off his escape route in one fluid movement.

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