淫欲的代价

As soon as He Yuan arrived at the Converging peak, he rushed over to elder Mo\'s courtyard. There was less than a year left before the eighteen year old disciples would be required to go over to the Spirit beast peak and contract a beast.

Even if Mo Sheng had missed this event in the storyline, He Yuan couldn\'t afford to miss it. He needed to make sure that Mo Jiu did not get the opportunity to absorb the ten thousand year old beast core.

"Master!" He Yuan called out when he found elder Mo feeding the fish in his pond, by his side was a large golden fanged tiger. It was elder Mo\'s spirit beast and one of the rarest spirit beasts out there.

It had very long golden fangs and sleek black fur with golden bat wings protruding from its back. They were only ten of such beasts in the entire cultivation realm as it was very difficult for golden fangs to produce offsprings.

Elder Mo, himself, was a genius in his own right. The difference between him and Mo Jiu was that elder Mo actually encountered heavy setbacks at every turn and was very hardworking in his pursuit of the dao.

"Silly kid." Elder Mo answered as he dusted fish food from his palms. Da Hei, the golden fanged tiger, slowly rose and walked over to circle around He Yuan.

He Yuan scratched his nose and stood still as the ferocious beast observed him closely. Both of elder Mo\'s disciples were very close to Da Hei right from when they were kids. Even if it was very hard for the inhabitants of a realm to detect the switch in souls in a leaser\'s body, it was possible for beings who were extremely attuned to the leaser to detect a slight shift.

They wouldn\'t be able to pinpoint the problem though because the leaser\'s soul thread worked as a perfect cover. After circling He Yuan for a while, Da Hei tugged at his robes before majestically strutting back to elder Mo.

Elder Mo looked amused as he patted Da Hei\'s sleek black fur. "What is the issue?" He directed at He Yuan.

He Yuan cleared his throat slightly. "I need a permission token to go into the Back mountain."

Elder Mo\'s eyes narrowed at that. "Is this the reason you decided to accept all the stuff I got for you? So you would fool me into thinking that you\'re so longer punishing yourself and receive the token from me?"

He Yuan sighed. He understood elder Mo\'s fears perfectly. The Back mountain was basically a spiritual training ground. A pulsing spiritual vein had been formed thousands of years ago in the Back mountain leading the entire place to have an extreme weather.

One second it was freezing and the next, it was as hot as an active volcano. There were also constant lightening strikes and geysers which erupted with hot lava at short intervals making that place as dangerous as could be. It also made it the perfect place to temper the bodies of cultivators.

Actually, He Yuan did not plan on going into the Back mountain. With his sealed cultivation, that was basically suicide and he wouldn\'t be so foolish as to think he could somehow get a burst of luck and survive.

He only planned to cultivate on the outskirts of the Back mountain. The qi at the Back mountain was the densest in the entire sect and the raging atmosphere within had formed a friction effect on the outskirts.

The spiritual energy there was a tiny bit above what this body could withstand but it was not too much that it would result in death. It was perfect.

If he wanted to enter the Spirit beast peak next year and come out alive, he needed to be strong enough to defend himself and run away in case of any mishap. Fighting was out of the question with his sealed cultivation.

The reason why elder Mo was hesitant was due to Mo Sheng\'s character. The old man was scared that, like always, Mo Sheng would push himself and try to enter the Back mountain itself. That was why Mo Sheng had never received the permission token no matter how hard he pleaded.

He Yuan sighed. "Master, I was really sincere. I\'ve realized how pointless my self punishment was and I wouldn\'t overestimate my capabilities. I\'m very self aware.

-If you\'re still worried, you can send Da Hei to accompany me and keep me in check. We both know fully well that there is no way I can overpower Da Hei."

Elder Mo eyed He Yuan skeptically. His disciple seemed to be... Sincere? "You\'re really telling the truth?"

He Yuan nodded firmly. "Of course! Would I ever lie to you?"

Elder Mo scoffed. "That one time you told me that you were only going to watch as the other disciples fought off that evil cultivator. You\'d gone ahead and involved yourself! The other time..."

The list was quite long. Elder Mo always praised Mo Sheng for his restraint but that was only when it came to keeping himself pure. Other times... Sigh.

He Yuan scratched his nose. Damn Mo Sheng! Why was the leaser always overestimating his capabilities? He sighed again and placed a cupped fist on his chest. "I\'m really telling the truth this time. I received enlightenment and realized that I had been going about my quest for cultivation the wrong way."

It was a load of bullshit but the sparkle that entered elder Mo\'s eyes was worth it. Cultivators did not joke with enlightenment. He Yuan whispered a quick sorry to the dao of heavens or whatever was responsible for giving enlightenment. He didn\'t want his lie to come back later and bite him in the butt.

The old man rushed forwards and placed a palm on He Yuan\'s chest. "Are you saying the truth? You received enlightenment?" He frowned slightly. There was no difference in his disciple\'s core but since his disciple was working so hard, he didn\'t want to let him down.

"Good. Good," He said. "Just keep working hard and a breakthrough would not be far off. Maybe then a crack that could be exploited would form in the seal."

He Yuan nodded with as much excitement as he could muster. He felt bad for deceiving the elder but there was no other option. "So~" He began. "Can I have the permission slip now?"

Elder Mo frowned. He was still a bit reluctant. His two disciples were very dear to him. He didn\'t want anything bad to happen to either of them. He finally sighed when he took in He Yuan\'s eagerness. His disciple was trying so hard to improve.

In fact, other masters would encourage such behaviour. Why was it so hard for him? "Fine. But you must take Da Hei with you and I would perform periodic checks. If you cross the line -even just a tiny bit- then I would bring you back and lock you up in your courtyard!"

He Yuan nodded firmly and extended his hands to grab the slip that elder Mo took out from a pouch at his waist. He had to expend a bit more force when he realized the old man was holding on to it tightly. "Master~"

"Humph!" Elder Mo snorted and looked the other way as he finally let go and He Yuan resisted the urge to break down in laughter. The elder Mo in front of his two disciples was much different from the old monster that the cultivators outside saw.

It was no wonder the man had developed a heart demon when one of his disciples had died so unfairly.

As soon as He Yuan hooked the permission token on his waistband, Mo Jiu walked into the courtyard. Da Hei stood up immediately and rushed over to circle the man excitedly.

He Yuan rolled his eyes at the discriminator. Such disparity in treatment.

"Silly kid!" Elder Mo called out as Mo Jiu walked closer, cupped his fists before him and bowed.

"Master." And then he turned to He Yuan. "Daxiong."

He Yuan grit his teeth. Mo Jiu was a premium pretender. He only referred to Mo Sheng as daxiong whenever they were in front of elder Mo or whenever he wanted to mock him.

He Yuan nodded at Mo Jiu before cupping his fists at elder Mo. "Master." And then he turned to leave.

Elder Mo watched He Yuan go and then he sighed. "The both of you always make me worry."

Mo Jiu raised a brow. "I make you worry? There\'s nothing to worry about, I can protect myself."

Elder Mo smacked him upside his head. "Silly kid. I\'m more worried about you. You need to learn to practice restraint or else one of these days, your kidney would fail. What would I do then hm?"

He Yuan heard elder Mo\'s ending words and hummed. It was true. Wiser words had never been spoken. Anyways, he rushed back to his courtyard to prepare himself. He had hunger relieving pills so he didn\'t have to worry about food.

Next, He Yuan got on the lotus artifact and rode over to the Cloud peak. He needed to browse through the library. As a talentless cultivator, he was only allowed on the first level but that was okay.

He only needed to know more about the Back mountain. Which was a knowledge free for all. Unknowingly, spent the rest of the day learning new knowledge about anything he could find.

By the next day, He Yuan was fully ready. He cross checked his interspatial ring and when he was sure he had everything needed for this mission, he walked out of Mo Sheng\'s courtyard.

Elder Mo was already waiting outside. "Ready?" The old man said to his disciple.

For some reason, He Yuan thought of 888. This had a slight resemblance to the beginning of every task realm. He shook his head with a small smile. "Ready."

And then the both of them hopped on elder Mo\'s crane and rode towards the Back mountain.