Martial God Book 2 - Fame Spreads - Chapter 15.1 - Long-Armed Raccoon

From this chapter, the size of the chapters have doubled- 3000 to 6000 characters on avg. So I will be releasing chapters in two parts until the normal size returns.
The disappointment in He Yiming’s eyes didn’t contain a trace of pretense, nor did he try to gloss it over in the slightest.
As Xie Grace saw He Yiming’s expression, he suddenly thought of a certain matter. However, as he carefully analyzed He Yiming’s age, he immediately discarded it.
Even he wouldn’t dare believe that He Yiming’s Internal Energy had already attained the tenth layer.
He faced upwards and chuckled, “Brother He, don’t tell me even these two long-armed raccoons can’t appease you?”
He Yiming shrugged. He indeed didn’t feel too excited. However, he also knew that being able to locate two long-armed racoons was already extraordinary. As for a five-hundred-year-old beast, the possibility of finding such a beast was almost zero. One could say that such a beast could only be met, not sought.
“Mr. Xie, since your family has already located these two spiritual beasts, why not go hunt them?” He Yiming sincerely asked.
If He family could hunt a hundred-year-old gold-crowned python relying on their strength, hunting two spirits beast with two hundred years of age couldn’t even be considered as an accomplishment for Xie family who possessed several times more strength.
Xie Grace faintly started. Only after he saw He Yiming’s water-like clear eyes, did he confirm that the latter had not been mocking him just now.
He bitterly laughed before saying, “Brother He, you have surely never seen a spirit beast before.”
He Yiming faintly raised his eyes, “How can you tell?”
“If you had, you wouldn’t be saying such words,” Xie Grace bitterly smiled, “Not only spirit beasts are extremely powerful, their movements are extremely nimble. These two raccoons further have extremely hard skin and tough bones. Even a tenth layer expert shouldn’t be thinking of inflicting a injury on its body.”
He Yiming recalled that when He family had hunted the gold-crowned python, they had not engaged in a direct confrontation with it and had rather poisoned its prey. Then they had intercepted it and had still almost lost.
A single spirit beast was so troublesome by itself, what about two?
He eventually grasped the counterpart’s line of thinking. Even such a big family might not necessarily be able to easily deal with spiritual beasts.
Seeing the thoughtful expression on He Yiming’s face, Xie Grace further said, “Except for a powerful cultivator who had attained the Xiantian realm, no one can claim to hunt spirit beast with complete certainty. If you come across a spirit beast, whether you hunt the beast or it hunts you, nobody knows.”
He Yiming’s brows faintly creased, “A powerful cultivator of Xiantian realm….does your noble clan have the assistance of such a person?”
Xie Grace’s smile eventually stiffened a bit. He forced out a laugh said, “A powerful Xiantian cultivator… how can you find such a person so easily?”
He Yiming immediately understood that Xie family didn’t have a Xiantian cultivator watching over them.
“Then, what do you have in mind?” He Yiming curiously asked, “Don’t tell me you will continue to delay it like this?”
When he spoke these words, complexions of Xie Mingjin and the attendants worsened. However, Xie Grace still revealed a smile and helplessly said, “Our Xie family has three peak level experts who have attained the tenth layer’s peak. However, we still have no certainty in taking on two long-armed raccoons. However, if we can obtain help from another tenth layer expert’s assistance, we might be able to try our hand.”
He Yiming blinked his eyes, admiring the former inwardly. This person had already seen through his depths. However, he still couldn’t guess how the former had accomplished this feat when none among his grandfather, Xu Yinjie, Lin Taoli and so on….had been able to discern that his Internal Energy was the tenth layer.
Xie Grace suddenly cupped his hands slightly and said, “Brother He, although our Xie family is not the number one family of the Fire Crow country, we are still one of the four big influential families. Currently, our family’s leader is my elder brother Xie Nuanhang.
He Yiming immediately guessed former’s intentions, ‘So he is also trying to recruit me like Lin Taoli…”
Faintly waving his hand, He Yiming puzzledly said, “Mr. Xie, I truly don’t understand, with your identity, why are you so courteous to this youngster. It surely couldn’t be because I treated you with bear meat, right?”
Inwardly, he added, ‘I truly can’t tell who treated whom, though.’
This was the question Xie Mingjin and the rest had been asking inwardly all along. Why a person like Xie Grace, who counted as one of the three top experts of Xie family, would attach so much importance to a random, strange youngster.
Xie Grace’s face gravened, “Since brother He has asked, this Xie will speak in clear words.”
He pointed at the fox bear on the ground, “This ought to be brother He’s masterpiece.”
He Yiming faintly nodded. The answer to this question was evident, concealing it would be useless.
“I saw the fox bear’s corpse. It was a single strike, and the cut was smooth and round. Clearly, the head was cut off in one strike without even a possibility of struggle,” Xie Grace took in a deep breath before continuing, “Although a fox bear is not too troublesome of a beast, its movements are exceedingly quick. To cut off its neck in one strike, and do it so cleanly, I’m afraid even I might not be able to do it this cleanly. Moreover, I can see this massive blade here. To use such a blade so swiftly, brother He must have already grasped the essence of the way of blade. Am I right?”
He Yiming faintly smiled. He might not necessarily have comprehended the true essence of the way. However, he’d assimilated [Splitting Mountain Thirty-Six Forms] into the way of blade. One could see a hint of the seventh form in his blade strikes. So saying that he’d already grasped the true essence should barely be plausible.
Xie Grace continued, “Apart from blade techniques, I couldn’t see through your Internal Energy cultivation either. If I can’t see through, then your Internal Energy cultivation should have at least attained the eighth layer, or….” He momentarily paused, “Ninth layer?”
This time, the complexions Xie Mingjin and the rest eventually transformed. They simultaneously shifted their incredulous gazes onto He Yiming’s body.
This person actually possesses eight layer, or ninth layer Internal Energy? Has the lord made some mistake?
He Yiming admiringly smiled and said, “Even if it’s eight layer or ninth layer, what does it matter? Xie family has three tenth layer experts.”
Xie Grace astoundedly smiled and said, “To me, brother He’s most prominent feature is not your current cultivation.” His face suddenly turned dignified, “If I haven’t seen wrongly, little brother’s age must be currently below eighteen years. If you possess such strength before the age of eighteen, your future prospects are simply boundless. Therefore, this Xie had acted so presumptuously. Please pardon me.”
Xie Mingjin and the rest eventually understood why the old man had offered such respect to the counterpart. If this youngster truly possessed such a strength and had an age below eighteen years, not to mention softening their tone a bit, even if they had to marry off a girl from the family in order to attract him, it would be all worth it.
He bitterly smiled. He didn’t expect that even this much of display would lead to such trouble, and people would try to recruit him from so far away.
He shook his head and was about to decline when he heard, “Little brother, our Xie clan carries a legacy of thousands of years, and our connections are also quite deep. I know your objective behind hunting spiritual beasts.”
He Yiming faintly started before involuntarily tensing up.
Xie Grace promptly waved his hand and said, “Brother He, don’t misunderstand. The information about spiritual beasts’ inner pellet being converted into golden pellets is known even to influential families with legacies of a few hundred years. Frankly, our Xie family has inherited a few golden pellets. If brother joins Xie family, after a few years, our family would definitely not be stingy in offering a golden pellet to you.”
He Yiming’s brows slightly jumped but he didn’t reply. Making such a promise to a person he’d just seen….this indeed felt a bit too unexpected.
At the same time, He Yiming also felt quite astonished. He naturally understood the worth of a golden pellet. He felt somewhat touched by the counterpart’s sincerity, “Mr. Xie, I am a cultivator. All I have learned is the teachings of my family. As such, I can only turn down your kindness.”
Xie Grace didn’t seem to have become angry. On the contrary, he laughed, “Brother He, as far as I know, Tian Luo country’s five influential families don’t include He family, and it doesn’t have a reputed expert with surname He either. Although my Xie family is humble, we have some fame in the northwest. If I were to meet your elders, I believe they will also comply with my request.”
He Yiming had truly started to admire this man somewhat. Within this short time period, this man had already guessed so many things. Not all the men possessed such ability. Furthermore, with his identity of a tenth layer expert, he presented himself with such humility, one couldn’t help but admire him.
If it had been an ordinary youngster, he would have already been moved by him, and a youngster from a small family would have already joined the big, influential family to acquire more opportunities.
A pity, He Yiming’s situation was rather unique. How could he put someone in his eyes if not a Xiantian expert?
He faintly cupped his hands and was about to politely decline when his ears suddenly twitched. His expression had not transformed before his vision, like two knives, turned to his right.
He Yiming’s actions aroused everybody’s attention, and all shifted their vision to that direction.
With a burst, leaves of trees trembled before a completely black, two meters long, human-like hand slowly came out.
One look at this arm, the complexions of Xie Grace and the rest transformed, and Xie Mingjin further blurted, “Long-armed racoon!”