Hiding Place

"Flying Dou Technique?!!" Xiao Ming's pupils contracted.

Flying Dou Techniques were the rarest among all types of Dou Skills.

A Flying Dou Technique was a rather peculiar Secret Technique. It allowed the practitioner to extend two tiny branch veins from the channels in their back. Once those two branch veins were formed, even if the practitioner had not reached the Dou Wang level, they could condense a pair of wings and fly through the air.

Flight was a temptation enough to make countless people's hearts race. In pursuit of that temptation, many powerful experts charged tirelessly toward the unattainable Dou Wang realm. Under such circumstances, the shortcut offered by Flying Dou Techniques was naturally extremely valuable.

Moreover, the methods for creating many Flying Dou Techniques had already been lost, further increasing their rarity.

Across so many Life Simulator runs, Xiao Ming had only seen the term Flying Dou Technique in Jia Nan Academy's Library Pavilion.

One could imagine just how rare Flying Dou Techniques were.

After confirming that the item in his hand was a Flying Dou Technique, Xiao Ming's breathing quickened ever so slightly.

Soaring through the skies was everyone's dream, and Xiao Ming was naturally very interested in flying freely. Flight was the best safeguard when it came to escaping for one's life.

He was only a Da Dou Shi now. Who knew how long it would take before he could reach the Dou Wang realm through his own efforts and soar through the heavens?

Now that he had a Flying Dou Technique in hand, he could at least satisfy his urge to fly.

Xiao Ming immediately felt the impulse to cultivate this Dou Skill. Flying Dou Techniques were usually much faster to master than other Dou Skills, which would give him another means of preserving his life in the Secret Realm.

However, after looking at the Dou Skill's grade, Xiao Ming hesitated somewhat.

"This Flying Dou Technique is only Yellow Tier High Grade. Isn't that a little too low?"

The current Xiao Ming was no longer the Xiao Ming from when he had been four years old, before he had the Simulator.

Back then, just to cultivate Dou Qi, he had pestered the maids for days to learn the most basic cultivation method. After succeeding, he had been happy for half the day.

Now, Xiao Ming's standards had been spoiled. None of the Dou Skills he cultivated were below Profound Tier High Grade; he even had Earth Tier Middle Grade Dou Skills.

He had no interest in sparing even a second glance at Yellow Tier Dou Skills. They could only gather dust in his Na Ring.

If not for the fact that he planned to return to the Xiao Family someday and toss those things into the family's Library Pavilion—

Yellow Tier Dou Skills would not even be qualified to stay in his Na Ring.

So Xiao Ming found this Flying Dou Technique somewhat beneath him.

Some people might say that having a Flying Dou Technique was better than having none.

Wasn't it pretentious to complain about this and that?

Well, Xiao Ming was not being pretentious.

Having a Flying Dou Technique was indeed better than having none.

But if the Flying Dou Technique's grade was too low, its speed might not be very fast, and it would consume more Dou Qi than higher-grade ones.

As his strength increased in the future, the boost it provided would only grow smaller.

Xiao Ming had originally planned to enter the Inner Academy after this expedition, cultivate there until his level was higher, and only then come back out.

Well, more specifically, probably after graduating from the Inner Academy.

It could be said that this period would be relatively safe. By then, Xiao Ming felt that he should have the strength of a Dou Wang.

In other words, there would be very little time when he actually needed a Flying Dou Technique.

Perhaps only these next few days were urgently in need of one.

Wouldn't it be a bit wasteful to use such a valuable Dou Skill just for these few days?

Most importantly, if it were not for these few days, Jia Nan Academy's Library Pavilion had a Mysterious Rank Middle Grade Flying Dou Technique as well: Flying Cloud Wings.

If he was going to use one, it should be that one.

Although there was no guarantee he could find that Dou Skill, what if he did?

Thus, Xiao Ming hesitated.

After pondering for a moment, Xiao Ming still put the Dou Skill into his Na Ring and said softly,

"Forget it. Let's look around some more. A Yellow Tier High Grade Flying Dou Technique could appear here and remain unused, so perhaps the other pavilions might have Mysterious Rank Flying Dou Techniques as well."

The second floor had already been searched, and Xiao Ming no longer had any desire to continue searching it.

At that moment, he turned his gaze toward the passage leading to the final floor.

Just as he was about to move, noisy curses came from downstairs.

"Damn it, why is this pavilion's door open?"

"Something's wrong. There's another newly made hole in the plaza outside."

"Could someone have gotten here before us?"

"Fuck, everything here has been taken away. Only some scraps of junk are left. Someone definitely came through here!"

Hearing those curses, Xiao Ming's expression changed slightly.

"These people got in so quickly?!!"

Xiao Ming knew how brutal the fight over the Secret Realm entrance had been.

Although he had been among the first group in the crowd to enter the Secret Realm Passage, the continuous screams and clashes of weapons behind him before he entered had already shown how difficult it was to get into the Secret Realm.

He had even felt that if he had been a step slower, he might have been held back outside the Secret Realm.

For these people to arrive at the pavilion only a dozen minutes after him, they were clearly quite powerful. There might even be Dou Ling among them.

"With how violent these people are, if they see me, they might all attack together. That would be troublesome."

With that thought, Xiao Ming gave up on continuing to explore the third floor alone.

He had come out to gain experience. He was not afraid of fighting, but he would pass on a battle with such a huge disparity in strength.

He had not lived long enough yet.

Tap, tap, tap!

The footsteps downstairs grew clearer and clearer. Xiao Ming could even hear people climbing the stairs.

It seemed that although they knew someone had already gotten here first, they still had no intention of giving up on searching.

Xiao Ming knew there was no time to waste. If he did not hide now, he would be discovered.

A casual sweep of his eyes landed on the tightly shut window in the stairwell. His eyes lit up, and Xiao Ming silently vanished from where he stood.

Just over ten seconds after Xiao Ming disappeared, several figures with powerful Auras appeared at the entrance to the second-floor corridor.

One of them, a man in red robes, looked confusedly at the spot where Xiao Ming had just been standing.

"Strange. There should have been someone up here."

"Could you have sensed it wrong?"

A muscular man standing beside him asked suspiciously.

After all, his strength was nearly equal to that of the red-robed man, yet he had not sensed the Aura the other man spoke of.

It was difficult not to doubt him.

"No. The Cultivation Method I practice is extremely sensitive to blood vitality. Just now, I vaguely sensed blood vitality comparable to that of a Tier 2 Magical Beast. I don't know why I can't sense it now."

"A Tier 2 Magical Beast?"

Hearing that, the burly man's mouth could not help twitching.

Unless someone had specifically tempered their body with medicine, whose physical body could reach that level?

Not even that person's physical body could do it, right?

The burly man covertly glanced at the green-clothed middle-aged man at the front, a trace of apprehension flashing through his eyes.

The others looked at the Green-clothed Man with the same wariness.

It was no wonder they feared him so much. Among this group, the Green-clothed Man was the strongest, at the Dou Ling level.

The others were only Eight-Star or Nine-Star Da Dou Shi, or even Five-Star and Six-Star Da Dou Shi.

How could they not fear him? If these Da Dou Shi had not formed a tacit understanding and secretly resisted this Dou Ling together—

They would not even be qualified to stand here.

The Green-clothed Man ignored the covert gazes around him.

Naturally, he knew they intended to band together against him.

But what use was an alliance hastily thrown together downstairs? Once they saw treasure, he would not even need to act before the alliance crumbled on its own.

At that point, how could these Da Dou Shi compete with him?

So he was not worried in the slightest.

However, when he glanced at the discarded medicinal pills on the ground and the rooms that had been opened along the corridor, the Green-clothed Man's expression turned extremely unpleasant.

"Whether Blood Cloud is right or not, this place has definitely been visited."