The blazing sun scorched Qingshan Town's mottled flagstone roads.
Xiao Yan, clad in a black robe, stepped into Qingshan Town.
Heat waves rolled through the air. Gazing at the endless Monster Beast Mountain Range in the distance, he narrowed his eyes.
"Such a vast place. Those cliffside caves won't be easy to find."
He would do his best. At this stage, a Flying Fighting Skill would undoubtedly be of immense help to him.
He had barely taken two steps when a piercing, savage laugh rang out from the roadside.
"Old man, this basket of Snake Saliva Grass will count as your half-month tribute!"
"You should be thanking this Young Master properly!"
The sound of iron-plated combat boots crushing herbs stabbed painfully into the ears.
Mu Li grabbed the white-haired herb farmer by the collar, the Wolf Head Command Token at his waist digging into the old man's bony ribs.
The surrounding pedestrians quickly moved aside, afraid of provoking the Young Master of the Wolf Head Mercenary Group.
Xiao Yan withdrew his gaze. He was not someone who liked meddling in other people's affairs.
He walked past as if nothing had happened.
"Hey! Kid, you look unfamiliar!"
Xiao Yan halted.
Mu Li released the old man and heavily stomped his combat boot onto the flagstones.
"You saw the Wolf Head Mercenary Group's insignia and still haven't come over to pay your respects?!"
The shrill shout rang out. Xiao Yan stood where he was, saying nothing.
Mu Li casually waved a hand, and twelve mercenaries around him instantly formed an encirclement.
"Looks like he's deaf."
Battle aura surged in Mu Li's palm as a Triangular Thorn spun around his fingertips.
"This grandpa just lost several thousand gold coins gambling, and I'm in a bad mood right now!"
"Since you don't know any better, I'll teach you the rules of Qingshan Town..."
Before he could finish, Xiao Yan sighed.
"So protagonist aura really is a thing."
"But I don't have time to waste with you."
The black robe swept down like a night owl, and the gale raised by the Heavy Black Ruler sent three mercenaries flying.
"Hiss!"
As the ruler's edge brushed past Mu Li's right arm, a burnt stench rose in the air.
The severed surface of his arm was smooth as a mirror. The blood vessels sealed by intense heat glimmered with an eerie amber hue beneath the sunlight.
"Try controlling your temper in your next life."
Xiao Yan used the tip of his ruler to pick up the basket of crushed herbs.
Flames shot from between his fingers, burning the Snake Saliva Grass into ash and scattering it over Mu Li's twisted face.
Another sweep of the ruler cut through the air, passing through the Mu Li who had already been rendered speechless by pain.
The next moment, his head flew into the air.
The entire street abruptly fell silent. The rolling pin in the hands of the woman selling flatbread beside the road dropped onto the kneading board.
Scalding flatbread rolled through the dust.
The mercenaries around them were frozen in shock, not daring to move.
Without looking at the fallen head, Xiao Yan strode toward the Monster Beast Mountain Range.
No one dared stop him, nor did anyone dare make a sound.
Three days later:
Morning mist in the Monster Beast Mountain Range dampened his clothes as Xiao Yan crouched on a horizontal branch of Century Ironwood.
He accurately flicked a fruit pit into the eye socket of a Magic Ape thirty zhang away.
A long streak of blood sprayed from its eye socket, and the Magic Ape's three-zhang-tall body toppled backward toward the sky.
Xiao Yan sighed.
Over the past few days, he had already grown sick of killing Magical Beasts.
Yet he still had not found a way to increase the fusion rate of the panel, though it was enough for now.
But who wouldn't want to grow stronger faster?
While he was lost in thought, an earth-shaking boom suddenly came from the southeast.
Startling a sky full of blood crows into flight, he spat out the fruit pit and frowned.
"A Peak Third-order Jade Scale Python?"
"Why would this beast appear in the outer region?"
As if recalling something, Xiao Yan's eyes lit up, and his entire body vanished from the spot as an afterimage.
At the edge of a cliff:
A delicate girl in a white dress stood there, her dress stained with blood. Purple mist seeped from the Jade Box in her arms.
Despair filled her eyes. The gap between her and a Third-order Magical Beast was simply too great.
She could not even escape.
A dim light flickered from the Jade Scale Python's forehead, and wherever its tail swept, the cliff walls collapsed.
The girl staggered backward, her embroidered shoes already hanging over the edge of a bottomless abyss.
"Save—!"
Xiao Yi Xian's cry for help was cut off by the stench-laden wind as the Jade Scale Python's vertical pupils flickered.
Its enormous tail swept toward her with the force of a thousand catties!
The sound of wind tearing through the air rang out, and Xiao Yi Xian abruptly shut her eyes.
"Boom!"
A deafening impact sounded, yet she felt no pain.
She opened her eyes in confusion and saw the straight, imposing back of a young man.
Xiao Yan swept the Heavy Black Ruler sideways to block the snake tail, then shot toward the giant python like an arrow.
The Jade Scale Python's vertical pupils suddenly contracted, and its huge tail swept again with the force of wind and thunder.
Instant Step activated, and Xiao Yan became an afterimage.
Like a ghost, he raced upward along the snake's body as the Heavy Black Ruler came crashing down!
Surging flames wrapped around the ruler, and the entire giant python was severed in two by a single strike!
A Kirin Phantom rose behind him as the ten-zhang-long snake body convulsed violently.
"Hiss! Hiss!"
It let out agonized cries.
The flames swelled like bone-clinging maggots, burning around its body and turning it into charred remains in the blink of an eye!
Its magic core rolled away, trailing green smoke.
Xiao Yan turned and walked toward Xiao Yi Xian, seeing the shock and wariness in her expression.
Xiao Yan could not help but chuckle.
"Miss, I'm your lifesaver."
"Don't move."
As soon as the words fell, he vanished from where he stood.
He appeared beside the girl and gently clasped her wrist.
"You—"
Xiao Yi Xian looked at him in alarm, having only managed to utter one word.
A Second-grade Rejuvenation Pill slid into her mouth.
Then she saw the young man turn and raise his hand. She instinctively closed her eyes.
But then the pressure on her shoulder loosened, and Xiao Yan had already released her.
"Tsk, tsk. Your injuries aren't light."
"Luckily, you ran into a kind-hearted alchemist like me."
As he spoke, he deliberately put on a troubled expression.
"But how should I calculate my consultation fee?"
Xiao Yi Xian came back to her senses, and a faint flush appeared on her fair cheeks.
She cupped her hands toward Xiao Yan in salute.
"Thank you for helping me, Young Master. I am an alchemist from the Myriad Medicine Hall in Qingshan Town."
"You may call me Xiao Yi Xian. I will certainly repay this life-saving grace generously."
"Once I return to Qingshan Town, I will surely do everything in my power to repay you, Young Master."
Seeing her solemn expression, a trace of amusement appeared in Xiao Yan's eyes.
"There's no need for payment for now, but..."
"There happens to be a good place in the cliffs. You're seriously injured. Would you be willing to come with me?"
"You can treat your injuries there as well."
His perception spread out like ripples. With his current cultivation of Great Dou Master Eight Stars—
he easily discovered a concealed cave on the cliff face.
Xiao Yi Xian hesitated slightly.
But she was badly injured and could not even walk steadily.
Leaving the Monster Beast Mountain Range was even more impossible. Besides, the young man before her had saved her.
There was nothing to worry about, then.
She nodded gently.
"I am seriously injured right now. It would be best if I could travel with you, Young Master."
Her clear voice reached his ears, and Xiao Yan's lips curved slightly.
Before Xiao Yi Xian could react, he directly wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her up.
Before she could process what was happening, he leaped off the cliff in a single step.
Instant Step carried him weaving and darting along the cliff wall.
Crimson Flame ignited at Xiao Yan's fingertips, burning away the poisonous vines around the cave entrance for three feet.
What came into view was a Second-order snake-type Magical Beast coiled at the entrance.
It did not even have time to react. It had only just lifted its eyelids—
when it saw the Heavy Black Ruler, wrapped in Crimson Flame, crash down. The Second-order Magical Beast was split in two before it could even cry out.
Magical Beast:...
Xiao Yan leaped inside with her.
A flicker of fire lit up in the darkness as Xiao Yan gently set Xiao Yi Xian down.
Only then did she open her eyes, feeling the warm touch around her waist withdraw.
She turned to look at Xiao Yan. Without saying anything, she stared straight at him.
Xiao Yan could not help feeling a little awkward and rubbed his nose.
"Xiao Yi Xian, that was a special situation."
"If I hadn't done that, this cliffside cave entrance would have been too dangerous for you."
Only after Xiao Yan spoke did Xiao Yi Xian shift her gaze back to him.
"Mm."
Her voice was soft, yet he could hear a trace of shyness in it.
Neither of them spoke again as they walked deeper inside.
Water droplets falling from the stalactites glimmered dimly in the firelight.
Until they reached the depths of the cave.
A skeleton sat cross-legged in the center, with three stone platforms arranged before it.
Three wooden boxes revealed their true forms beneath the dust.
Xiao Yan stepped forward and opened them one by one.
In the wooden box on the left, a scroll surfaced with purple cloud patterns.
An ancient book appeared in the middle.
The Jade Box on the right contained a Dragon Beard Ice Fire Fruit, a rare Third-order medicinal ingredient.
"A Flying Fighting Skill?"
Xiao Yan unfurled the scroll, and the words Purple Cloud Wings entered his sight.
A sudden tremor rose in his heart, and Old Yao's voice came from the ring as well.
"Kid..."
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