Xiao Yan held Nalan Yanran's hand. They had barely taken three steps beyond the Misty Cloud Sect's mountain gate, and the faint coolness of her palm still lingered at his fingertips as his thumb brushed over the slight sweat brought on by her nervousness. Suddenly, a voice carrying mockery and crushing pressure sounded behind them. It was not loud, yet it exploded beside everyone's ears like a thunderclap, making their eardrums ache. Even the bluestone ground beneath their feet trembled faintly, and the water vapor seeping from its cracks was instantly evaporated by the pressure. "Do you think you can leave?"
Everyone whirled around. The clouds and mist atop the Misty Cloud Sect's mountain peak had been torn apart by an overwhelmingly powerful aura, scattering like cotton split open by a sharp blade and revealing the blue sky beyond. A figure stood in the air, pale green Dou Qi that resonated with heaven and earth swirling around him. His aura was several times stronger than Yun Ling's earlier one, like a god looking down upon all living things. The spiritual energy across the mountaintop churned violently under his influence, forming a Spirit Energy Vortex visible to the naked eye—it was Yun Shan, the former Sect Master of the Misty Cloud Sect, who had just broken through to Dou Zong!
His beard and hair flared outward despite the absence of wind, every strand wreathed in faint green Dou Qi and dancing as though alive, gleaming with a lustrous sheen beneath the sunlight. The pale green Dou Qi around him condensed into tangible clouds, gathering beneath his feet into a rotating Qi Vortex. Each revolution drew the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into visible streams that surged into his body like Swimming Dragons, making his aura ever more majestic. His eyes