Chapter 80: Change of Appearance Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Since he had joined, Su Zimo had not left the sect nor taken on any missions. Since he wanted to head out, Su Zimo decided to take on a mission along the way to earn some contribution points. Arriving at the mission stele of Weapon Peak, he raised his head and looked. The mission stele was divided into two sections. The upper section contained missions for the five peaks that any disciples could take on while the lower section only had missions of Weapon Peak reserved for their own disciples. The further front the mission was, the more difficult it would be and the more contribution points earned. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦 Great Rock Forest. It was located dozens of miles Northward of Ethereal Peak and was abound in pure gold, a crucial material for refining flying swords. The mission to gather materials was not considered to be difficult. However, because it was in Great Rock Forest, the difficulty level became much more significant, even slightly treacherous in fact. Every single mountain range and forest was bound to contain beasts. Around the outer regions, most of the beasts were either wild ones or weak spirit ones. Yet, the deeper one ventured, the stronger the beasts were. In fact, spirit demons may even be found right in the core regions. If targeted by a spirit demon, even a Foundation Establishment Cultivator may not be able to escape unscathed. The gold mine was located right in the core region of Great Rock Forest! This was a mission for Weapon Peak and even though it was already listed for sometime, no one really dared to take it on. Great Rock Forest was one of the nearest forests to Ethereal Sect. Because Su Zimo had intended to head over to begin with, he took on the mission out of convenience. A sleepy elderly man rested at the mission station. From Xue Yi, Su Zimo learnt that this was one of Weapon Peak’s three elders, Elder Liu. The disheveled old man, Elder Li who kept guard over the Weapon Peak and Elder Liu were the three elders of Weapon Peak. In Ethereal Peak, anyone who could gain the title of elder had to be in the Golden Core realm at least. Su Zimo came before Elder Liu and handed the latter his sect badge. Raising his head, Elder Liu frowned before throwing the sect badge back to Su Zimo and barking coldly, “Not allowed to go!” “Why?” Su Zimo asked. Elder Liu rolled his eyes and replied, “Are you stupid, lad? You want to court death going to Great Rock Forest with Level 5 Qi Condensation? Even Perfected Qi Refinement Warriors would have to form a team to take on this mission!” “I just want to go take a look. If it’s dangerous, I’ll leave for sure,” Su Zimo smiled. In truth, even though Great Rock Forest was dangerous, the mission wasn’t too difficult for someone like Su Zimo who had spirit perception. “You think you can escape if you really come across any danger?” Elder Liu pouted his lips. “Look how weak you are! Say, don’t blame me for not reminding you if you die out there!” “Don’t worry, elder. I’m not going to die. I’m quite the lucky man,” Su Zimo chuckled. Harrumphing coldly, Elder Liu made a record and the mission on the stele dimmed in color, indicating that someone had taken it on. After a brief silent, Elder Liu pulled out an intricate paper crane from his storage bag and passed it to Su Zimo. “This spirit crane is used for communications in our sect. If you really encounter trouble, you just have to let this fly.” “Thank you, elder,” Su Zimo kept the spirit crane in his storage bag and cupped his fists before leaving Weapon Peak on his flying sword. Closing his eyes lazily, Elder Liu went back to sleep before grumbling, “Juniors these days really don’t know what’s good for them.” ... This was Su Zimo’s first time out of the peak after joining it for a month. He took out the spirit crane that Elder Liu gave him and observed it. He had seen something like this before once. Back in Yan Country’s capital when Su Zimo was chasing after the one-armed cultivator from Joyful Clan, the latter had sent a similar paper crane to inform his sect about it. There were mysterious patterns drawn on the paper crane and it would be activated by injecting spirit qi. Su Zimo had a hunch that this paper crane was in reality a type of talisman. Keeping it, he suddenly frowned as something jolted through his heart. Someone was following him! Su Zimo scoffed internally. For someone to follow him right after leaving the sect? There was no need to think further – the stalker was definitely from their sect. “Could little fatty be right? Feng Haoyu is really trying to cause trouble for me outside?” With an unchanged expression, Su Zimo sped towards the direction of Great Rock Forest without any reaction. Before long, he arrived at the border of Great Rock Forest. Along the way, Su Zimo had gathered vaguely that there were five people in total behind him. The strongest of them was already at Level 9 Qi Condensation! “If these guys are truly sent by Feng Haoyu, he really thinks highly of me.” Su Zimo laughed and without hesitation, dove right into the forest. Entering the forest was akin to entering Su Zimo’s territory. Here, no one was his match. Su Zimo cast away his flying sword and sprinted on his feet, zipping left and right. Before long, he lost the people trailing him and arrived at a secluded spot where he abandoned his green robes and bared his upper body. A series of cracking sounds came forth from within Su Zimo as his tendons and bones screamed together while his body expanded. In the blink of an eye, he had grown to over two meters tall with his flesh swelled and muscles bound together. His body had inflated entirely! Su Zimo’s facial muscles contorted and joined together bizarrely. After a split second, his features had changed as he transformed into a fierce, burly man with a naked upper body! With the first three sections of The Mystic Classic of the Twelve Demon Kings of the Great Wilderness completed, Su Zimo could change his appearance from head to toe such that even those close to him would not be able to recognize him! Lowering his head, Su Zimo laughed and with a swift dash, disappeared from where he was. ... “Senior Brother Zhou, where did that Su Zimo run off to? How did we suddenly lose track of him?” “That’s why I said we should have made a move earlier on! How are we going to find him now that he slipped into Great Rock Forest?” “Shut up!” Zhou Wei’s face was grim as he hollered, “We were so close to the sect just now. What if a disciple heading out spots us making a move at him? We’ll be punished when we head back if that happens!” Zhou Wei was a trial disciple of Spirit Peak. At Level 9 Qi Condensation, he was quite a somebody within it too. Then came someone like Feng Haoyu with a variant spirit root and a heavenly defying endowment, defeating him with a mere Level 7 Qi Condensation. Zhou Wei had submitted completely in the face of Feng Haoyu’s strength. Even though he conducted this operation on his own accord, it was with Feng Haoyu’s silent consent. Apart from Zhou Wei at Level 9 Qi Condensation, there were four others at Level 7 and 8 – these people were enough to teach Su Zimo a harsh lesson! “Look again carefully. That Su Zimo is only at Level 5 Qi Condensation. How far can he run? He’s definitely at the perimeter of Great Rock Forest,” Zhou Wei analyzed calmly. A Spirit Peak disciple asked, “What if he already ran inside Great Rock Forest?” “That’s for the best. If that lad gets shredded apart by the spirit beasts, he only has himself to blame,” Zhou Wei replied with a cold snicker. Another Spirit Peak disciple asked, “How should we deal with Su Zimo if we find him?” A cold look flashed through Zhou Wei’s eyes as he spoke darkly, “We’re forbidden to murder or cripple any fellow disciples of their martial arts. However, we can injure him severely by breaking his bones and tendons! If he can’t get out of bed for the whole year, he naturally won’t be able to take part in the year end face-off for Weapon Peak!”