12 Seven Colored Begonia Flower

Deep within the Tamling jungle, located approximately 500 kilometres from Glimmertown and surrounded by towering trees and dense foliage, stood a magnificent Seven-Colored Begonia Flower. Its shimmering petals cast a rainbow of colours across the jungle floor in the dappled sunlight. However, this beauty was not easily accessible as it was guarded by a fierce tier 5 beast - the Ivory Antelope.

The Ivory Antelope was a formidable creature with thick, muscular legs and long, sharp horns. Its ivory coat gleamed in the sunlight, making it difficult to spot among the trees. For weeks, four mercenaries in the Golden Core Realms had been tracking the Seven Colored Begonia Flower. However, every time they came close, the Ivory Antelope drove them away with a fierce charge.

The mercenaries had set up camp on the edge of the jungle, carefully observing the Ivory Antelope's movements and waiting for the perfect moment to make their move. They knew that they had to be patient, as one wrong move could mean certain death.

Days passed, and the mercenaries grew increasingly restless. They had run low on supplies, and the jungle was starting to take its toll on them. However, they refused to give up on their mission.

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As three moons hung in the sky, casting a shimmering light that was unable to penetrate the thick jungle, Hun Lian made his way into the Tamling jungle under the cover of darkness. His heightened senses and deviant eyes, which turned red from his natural black, allowed him to see perfectly well in the darkness of the night.

Stopping his footsteps, Hun Lian inspected the area and noticed that many beasts residing in the forest had left the core part and were making their home on the outskirts of the Tamling Jungle. The night was the time for some predators to come out, and Hun Lian climbed a tree to avoid any unnecessary battles.

Silently jumping from one tree branch to another, he made his way towards the heart of the jungle with the help of maps he had already memorized in his head. He had instructed his horse to wait for him outside the forest.

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"Come on Kira! Let's just go ahead and kill the Ivory Antelope. We are 4 against 1 in the same realm, we can beat him." One of the Mercenary who was tall and had a bronze skin said to a woman who was also tall and pretty.

"No, Brother Ma Hongjun. That Ivory Antelope is at the peak of tier 5 and we are all at Stage 5 of the golden core realm.

Just one Prismatic ray from his antlers can mortally wound us. We have to bea careful."

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Hun Lian crept silently through the dense jungle, his senses alert for any signs of danger. As he moved deeper into the jungle, he caught a faint scent of smoke on the breeze. His instincts told him that it was the smell of a campfire, and he became curious. He decided to investigate further, moving carefully and slowly towards the source of the smoke.

As he drew closer, he could see the faint glow of flames flickering through the trees. He crouched down low and crept closer, his eyes fixed on the scene before him.

A group of people were gathered around the fire, their faces illuminated by the dancing flames. Hun Lian could hear the sound of their voices, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.

He edged closer, trying to get a better view without being seen. He could see that the group was made up of men and women, all dressed in rough clothing and carrying weapons.

Hun Lian suppressed his breadth and spiritual strength, and with the help of the Mystical bone and his unnatural Spiritual strength, he knew that no one under Golden Core Realm could detect him if he didn't want to.

From their talks, Hun Lian concluded that they were all here for the Seven Colored Begonia Flower but were not able to get close due to the peak Tier 5 beast guarding it.

This was a problem. Now there was no way that he could steal something from a Peak tier 5 beast even if he could mask his spell.

And even if he was able to somehow steal the Seven Colored Begonia Flower, these mercenaries would not let him get away with it.

Hun Lian was self-aware and knew that he could not take them head-on, so he waited for the perfect opportunity. He backed away into the blanket of darkness and formulated a plan.

He surveyed the terrain with a critical eye, searching for the best way to lure the beast away from the flower. The creature was said to be one of the most powerful in the region, with razor-sharp antlers and a hide as tough as steel. He studied the camp of mercenaries, noting the traps they had set up around their perimeter. They set these traps for beasts that could attack them when they were resting, but Hun Lian grinned to himself when he saw that. This would be easier than he had anticipated.

'I love it...Being a Child of Heaven is the best!'

With a flick of his wrist, Hun Lian took out some gold coins in his hands. He didn't dare go anywhere near the tier 5 beast and just carefully approached the core part of the forest and stopped when he could see the rainbow-coloured light coming from far away. Hun Lian then pinched a gold coin between his thumb and index finger and hurled it towards the tree where he could detect tier 5 radiation coming from.

The Ivory Antelope was resting behind a tree, near the multi-coloured flower he had been nurturing for years for his ascension. By ingesting a fully bloomed Seven-Colored Begonia Flower, they could evolve to a tier 6 Spectral Antelope. The beast was annoyed by some humans trying to steal the flower from him, but he thought that he had successfully scared them away.

Killing a Golden Core realm cultivator was difficult for him, and there were four of them at the same time. The Seven Colored Begonia Flower was going to fully mature by tomorrow, and if those cultivators dared to come again, then he was sure he could kill them then.

As the beast was waiting for the sun to rise, he suddenly detected a projectile coming towards him, and instantly the tree he was resting behind fell with a boom and fell near his treasured flower, almost destroying it. Before the beast could even get angry, another gold projectile came flying and destroyed a leaf of the flower. Now the Ivory Antelope was truly angered.

Now, the Ivory Antelope was truly angered. The flower's petals were beneficial to humans, but for him, he needed to eat all its 12 leaves too to evolve.

The effect was almost immediate. Hun Lian could hear the creature stirring, its nostrils flaring as its eyes turned red in anger, and with abnormal speed, it dashed in the direction from which the gold projectiles came. Hun Lian was already running away, his eyes fixed on the mercenary camp indicated by the light coming from the campfire in the otherwise dark jungle. He knew that the beast would follow him and would find the four mercenaries still in his jungle.

Sure enough, as he stopped and hid on a tree, completely suppressing his cultivation and spiritual strength, he soon saw the beast emerge from the darkness, a massive, hulking form with eyes that glinted in the darkness. It moved with a grace that belied its size, its muscles rippling beneath its tough but smooth hide.

The mercenaries had also detected the beast coming towards them, and they were flabbergasted.

"What!? Why is it attacking us now?"

"You really have to ask? I'm sure it waited for us to drop our guard. Quick, get into the formation and be ready. We are four, and it is one. We just need to be wary of its antlers and its Prismatic Ray."

"It won't be easy, Kira! It is at the peak of tier 5!"

"I know it won't be easy, but we have no choice-"

Before the woman of the group could finish her sentence, the Ivory Antelope got caught in a trap set up by them, angering it even more.

"Quick! This is our chance!"

All four mercenaries immediately attacked the beast with their strongest martial techniques, and the entire vicinity turned into blazing embers.

Hun Lian immediately backed away.

This was a dangerous thing to do but he was banking on him hiding from the beast and it worked.

Since he knew that no one under the Golden Core Realm could detect him if he didn't want them to, that included a tier 5 beast which was equivalent to them.

Without making any sound, Hun Lian slowly and slowly crept towards the flower as the sounds of explosions kept coming from behind him.

A battle of this level was not something he could handle, and if he gets entangled in the crossfire, then he would die for sure.

As Hun Lian infiltrated the core part of the jungle, he saw the magnificent light coming from behind the trees, alternating in all the colours of a rainbow.

His steps didn't stop in the slightest and soon saw the 1-meter high, colourful and translucent flower.

The Ivory Antelope was casting a bright laser from its antlers when suddenly his eyes showed panic and it immediately turned around and rushed towards his home.

The mercenaries were startled by the immediate retreat of the beast and thought that they were about to kill him, and with frantic eyes, they chased the beast.

The tier 5 beast arrived at its usual resting place and let out a mighty roar that shook the heavens. As four mercenaries appeared behind the Ivory Antelope, they quickly realized that the Seven Colore Begonia Flower was missing and turned to face the beast, which was consumed with anger.

"Shit!" the mercenaries exclaimed as they realised that the beast has completely lost itself to anger and all 4 of them fled in 4 different directions, urging their golden qi to propel them forward as quickly as possible.

Using its powerful spiritual strength, the beast scanned the forest for any trace of its missing flower but found nothing. In a rage that knew no bounds, it chose one of the four fleeing mercenaries at random and chased after them relentlessly.

Meanwhile, Hun Lian hid underground near the spot where the flower had been taken, fearing that the beast might randomly stumble upon him in its frenzied search. Suppressing his breath, Hun Lian remained hidden, confident that the beast would not discover him hiding beneath its own feet, and after waiting for an hour, he carefully released his Spiritual Ssenth, surveying his surroundings before coming out.

Hun Lian saw the decimated trees and a raging fire which was consuming the Tamling forest before fleeing the forest through a predetermined path he made from his memory of the maps.

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3 Days later, A giant horse with three horns was running with the wind and soon entered the Gimmertown.

Hun Lian was sitting on the beast and stopped in front of Mitsy's Map Shop.

It was as usual bustling with activity and people were exiting the shop with maps in backpacks, off to their adventures.

"Welcome to Mitsy's Map Shop!"

A cute voice greeted him as he entered the shop and he saw Mitsy helping a customer with a map.

"Mitsy, is your elder sister here?"

Mitsy looked up to Hun Lian and smiled before replying

"Big Brother. Sister Xieren is in the Auction House! If you want to see her, you can go there!"

Hun Lian nodded and turned around, leaving the Map Shop and advancing towards the Auction house.

Since he was wearing the Blue uniform of the Perpetuity Sect with the Outer Court's crest, he was let in the Auction house by the guards without any drama.

As he stepped through the threshold of the auction house, the first thing that struck him was the din of voices that filled the air. The room was packed to the brim with people. The smell of incense mixed with the musty odour of old textiles, was surprisingly pleasant.

The seating arrangements were divided into two sections. The first section was for commoners, and consisted of simple wooden chairs and benches. The second section, reserved for the wealthy and elite, was a more luxurious affair. It had plush chairs and sofas, with private booths for the most important patrons on the first floor.

The auctioneer was standing on a raised platform at the front of the room, her voice booming as she called out the current bid for a Rank 2 Pill that was being held up for all to see. Only a few people around were able to shout out numbers, as it was too expensive for common cultivators trying to get in on the action.

"400 Qi Crystals!"

"410 Qi Crystals! Zinmin, This pill is mine!"

Hun Lian detected a few Sect mates who were from the outer court but he could not find anyone from the Inner Court or the Core Court.

He sat through the auction, finding many things which he wanted to bid for, but most of the things were only obtainable through Qi Crystals.

"This Rank-3 Cleansing Meridina Pill is sold for 1900 Low-Grade Qi Crystals to the gentleman on table no. 24"

The lovely voice of Mo Xieren was soothing to the ears and most people here were present solely to see Mo Xieren.

She was the star of the Glimmertown and everyone wanted the mature and curvy Mo Xieren to be their girlfriend.

Hun Lian noted all the wealthy people who were bidding with Qi Crystals and was surprised to see Cui Zan, the woman in the Disciplinary Committee of the Outer Court sitting there.

Soon, The auction ended and as Mo Xieren was about to go back into the Auction House through the door near the Auction Platform, her eyes caught Hun Lian nonchalantly sitting on a chair, staring at her with a resting face.

"Ah- Sir Hun! You- You arrived so….early?"

Mo Xieren immediately became anxious as she wondered about the possibility of Hun Lian failing to acquire the Seven Colored Begonia Flower.

She hurriedly invited him to the back hall and entered an empty room reserved for inspections of the Auction Items.

"Sir Hun...Did you find the flower?"

There was an expectation in her eyes as she tried to hide her nervousness.

She thought that it would take at least a month for Hun Lian to acquire that flower, after all, an earthly treasure like that would be surrounded by dangers, no?

Hun Lian smiled at her and casually replied

"Sister Mo Xieren is Elder. She can call me Brother Hun."

No joke. If in future, when her origin is revealed to her and she goes back to her tyrant of a family, and they find her addressing a junior with such honorifics, then their entire spy network would be behind Hun Lian.

Mo Xieren slightly blushed at Hun Lian's words, but before she could think of a retort, the entire room was filled with a rainbow light.

"It was really difficult, and I almost died. But how could I fail when Sister Xieren was waiting for me."

Speechless. That's was Mo Xieren was as she saw the magnificent Seven COlored Begonia in Hun Lian's hands.

His next words embarrassed her further and Hun Lian directly addressed her by her Second name, instead of her family name.

"Well, Sister Xieren. What are you waiting for? Quickly find a jade box and store it."

Hun Lian's words brought Mo Xieren out of her stupor and she glanced at the handsome face of Hun Lian.

The thought that Hun Lian might double-cross her never came to her mind and it felt very natural to her when he called her Sister Xieren.

If anybody else would take that liberty to call her by her name, then they would be made aware of her wrath.

She quickly found a big enough Jade box and shakily stored the treasure in it and a tear escaped her eye as she looked at Hun Lian again. She could finally upgrade her talent and cultivation, and hopefully breakthrough.

Hun Lian reached and wiped her tears with his hand, which made Mo Xieren jerk back in shame.

"Brother Hun-,....Please take this. I prepared this as your reward."

Mo Xieren put the Jade box containing the Seven COlored Begonia flower in her spatial ring and took out a blue book and handed it to Hun Lian.

"This is an Entry-grade Earth-level movement technique. I haven't opened it and don't know the name but since it is an Earth-Grade technique, it should be very powerful.

Also since a Movement technique is rarer than a martial technique, I wonder if this, along with three thousand Low-Grade Qi Crystals would be a satisfactory exchange."

There was a smirk on Hun Lian's face which scared Mo Xieren. She knew that these things were not comparable to the treasure he had given her and hence she was going to use a month's time to find a perfect reward for Hun Lian, but since he came early, she could only give him this.

Hun Lian, contrary to her expectation, accepted her trade and stored everything in his spatial ring.

"Sister Mo Xieren owes me a favour in the future"

He left these words with a firm voice and exited the room.

Hun Lian anyway didn't want the Flower for himself as he had plans to raise his talent another way and Mo Xieren's friendship was more valuable than a flower in the future.

As soon as he walked out, Hun Lian came across Cai Zun.

"Hey, You are Hun Lian, right?"

Cai Zun was inspecting and collecting the things she had bid for. Hun Lian knew that she had bid for some expensive herbs and pills which were famous for their healing properties, and he thought about Han Yan's interaction with her from that day.

There was definitely someone in her family who required healing and Hun Lian was going to find out whom.

"Hello Sister Zun, It's nice to meet you."

Cai Zun replied with some pleasantries and exited the Auction house, avoiding every indirect question from Hun Lian about the herbs and pills she had bid for.

Hun Lian knew that she was somewhat immune to the aura of Child of Luck as she was one of the main heroines and she was also distracted with the Tournament in the upcoming months for a chance to get promoted to the Inner Court.