After the Dragon Gate

"Whoosh!"

Chen Xuan darted along the mountain path, rushing into the ancient forest where towering trees grew, in hot pursuit of an Over Mountain Treasure Fish.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Chen Xuan activated the Little White Ape Trick, using immense strength to grab a fist-sized mountain rock. He hurled it like a cannonball at the Treasure Fish ahead.

"Ang!"

The Treasure Fish was struck by the rock. A circle of silver ripples vibrated across its body, and several scales cracked. It let out a cry of pain, flew a great distance, then shot up like a silver-white lightning bolt, angrily smashing the rock to pieces with its head. It continued to swim madly towards the depths of the Southern Wilderness.

A power in the depths of the Southern Wilderness was summoning it, making it advance there regardless of anything else.

"Its body is that hard?"

Chen Xuan was stunned. His full-force strike had only scraped the Treasure Fish's scales?

Even Qi Refiners wouldn't dare to directly withstand a rock he threw with full force. That was the explosive power of over ten thousand jin of strength. Their bodies would be directly pierced with a bloody hole, but the Over Mountain Treasure Fish had actually withstood it?

"Ow!"

A passing wild wolf spotted the Treasure Fish and immediately pounced with joy. With a bang, the wolf's mouth exploded, full of blood, and all its sharp teeth were blown out.

The wolf covered its bloody mouth, howling and rolling on the ground. The hunt had failed!

"Did the people from Green Deer Mountain really catch a Treasure Fish?"

Seeing this scene, Chen Xuan's eyes widened. He was now extremely doubtful about this matter. He believed that with the strength of Senior Brother Chu and the other four, they simply didn't have the ability to catch the Treasure Fish.

"It still has to be me!"

Repeated snipes delayed the fish's Dragon Gate leap. Chen Xuan finally caught up to the Treasure Fish gliding along the ground. With a simple and direct hungry tiger pounce, he grabbed the Treasure Fish with both hands.

"Ang!"

The Treasure Fish let out a clear dragon roar. Its body was slippery and impossible to grip. Moreover, it was extremely strong. With a powerful divine dragon tail swing, it slipped out from between Chen Xuan's hands.

Chen Xuan continued to follow. This time, he had experience. He quickly seized the opportunity, hooked his fingers into the fish's gills, and violently lifted the Treasure Fish, swinging it like a club towards a nearby large tree.

"Clang clang clang!"

He smashed it more than ten times. Wood chips flew everywhere, fish scales splattered, and a tree as thick as a man's waist was directly broken, crashing down with a rumble. The Treasure Fish was smashed dizzy and fainted straight in Chen Xuan's hands.

"Ow..."

In the distance, the wild wolf was dumbfounded. It scrambled up with a whoosh, tucked its tail between its legs, and fled, rolling and crawling. This person was too brutal. It was afraid it would be treated the same way. This wasn't hunting; it was brutal slaughter.

"Finally caught the Treasure Fish... It took more effort than fighting."

Chen Xuan was covered in sweat. He lifted the Over Mountain Treasure Fish, which was over a foot long, to examine it.

The Treasure Fish was covered in injuries. A soft silver light and a refreshing fragrance emanated from the flesh beneath the damaged scales. There was no fishy smell at all. Just taking a sniff up close made one feel refreshed and invigorated, almost as if floating.

This was a great medicinal treasure of flesh and blood, comparable to a Terrestrial Treasure Tree!

Deep within the mountains of the Southern Wilderness.

At the summit of a mountain over a thousand zhang high, in a pool of water, the "Dragon Gate" was currently wide open, waiting for the Treasure Fish to leap through the Dragon Gate.

Suddenly.

The "Dragon Gate" slowly closed. A white old turtle, over half a person's height, walked out from the bottom of the pool.

The old white turtle did not crawl on all fours but walked upright like a human. Its glowing white shell resembled a circulating Tai Chi Bagua pattern. Its skin, full of wrinkles like tree bark, and its neck, head, and limbs were like they were molded from clay...

It stretched its long neck, feeling puzzled, not understanding why its food had suddenly stopped.

The so-called "Dragon Gate" was precisely the mouth of the old white turtle.

The Over Mountain Treasure Fish from Small Stone Lake, after enduring countless hardships and overcoming thousands of mountains and dangers along the way, would finally leap into the "Dragon Gate" and "ascend" to become the old white turtle's food...

"Recently, the mountains have been too chaotic. People don't follow the rules... They've even started snatching the old man's food."

The old white turtle's eyes were deep. With its hands behind its back, like an old man on the verge of death, it gazed at the distant night sky.

The entire mountain was silent. All the fierce beasts, insects, birds, and ghosts were in hiding, trembling, not daring to make the slightest sound at this time.

"You are my food, behave yourself!"

In the forest, Chen Xuan scolded, holding down the Treasure Fish and smashing its head fiercely with a mountain rock. Only after confirming that it wasn't just briefly unconscious but completely lifeless did he feel relieved. He strung the Treasure Fish with a tree vine and hung it on his waist.

After doing all this, he took a deep breath and looked back at the path he had taken, his brows tightly furrowed.

"That person on the road, from Green Deer Mountain... Shen Lingfeng?"

"That person chasing the fish... Chen Xuan!"

On the mountain path, Shen Lingfeng muttered to himself, staring at the forest where the person and the fish had disappeared, his heart pounding with fear.

His eyes were sharp. In that fleeting glance just now, he could tell that the surging qi and blood of the fish-chaser when running was definitely no less than six thousand jin. Moreover, his chasing speed was even a few points faster than when he had undergone Ascension.

Shen Lingfeng was shocked. He was one of the rare geniuses, his vital energy crushing his peers during his first Ascension... Now, he was being steadily surpassed by this person.

An unknown genius with extraordinary talent was chasing the Over Mountain Treasure Fish from Small Stone Lake...

Other than Chen Xuan, he couldn't think of anyone else it could be.

I've already fled, why am I still encountering Chen Xuan on a narrow path?

Shen Lingfeng was inexplicably terrified. He thought to himself, Is the Yellow Millet Dream really that effective? Does this Chen Xuan really want my life... Wang Chan dragging me into this, that damn jinx!

A chill ran down his spine. He rubbed the mane of the green deer, feeling a terrifying sense of being anchored by fate, unable to escape.

"You... are going too far."

Shen Lingfeng gritted his teeth. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He clenched his fists, his chest gradually filling with rage, and he cursed at the air.

"Chen Xuan, I admit you have extraordinary talent, but am I not a genius one in ten thousand? You've only been a Qi Refiner for a mere half a month!"

"..."

"Ha, a fledgling Qi Refiner of half a month, you motherfucker, you killed four Qi Refiners from my Green Deer Mountain..."

"..."

"Forget it, meeting a monster like you means I've had eight lifetimes of bad luck."

Shen Lingfeng suddenly jumped off the green deer, quickly took off the green robe representing Green Deer Mountain, covered the deer's head with it to block its vision, and stabbed a knife into its rump.

"Useless thing, run!"

Shen Lingfeng shouted sternly, then punched his topknot loose, covering his face. With disheveled hair, he jumped off the mountain path and disappeared in another direction.

He still had to run.

"The six people from Green Deer Mountain have split up."

Chen Xuan walked out of the mountain forest, gazing at the darkness at the end of the mountain path. He thought to himself, There won't be a better opportunity than this.

He was silent for a moment, then immediately pursued in the direction of the mountain path. Tonight was the best time to act.

So what if Shen Lingfeng had undergone a second Ascension and had over ten thousand catties of strength? He was alone.

As long as you're not invulnerable and unkillable, I'll have to size you up.

Chen Xuan rubbed the golden-green jade hairpin he had brought from the underground palace in Peach Town with his fingertips. The unparalleled sharpness from the tip brought him peace of mind.

A moment later, a green elk with its head covered by clothing and blood flowing from its rump appeared in his sight.

"What's going on?"

Chen Xuan was stunned, staring at the green deer lowering its head to graze by the roadside. He was puzzled. "Where's Shen Lingfeng?"

The green deer had an injury on its rump, indicating it was deliberately attracting pursuit. Was Shen Lingfeng being chased?

But as a Green Deer Mountain cultivator who had undergone a second Ascension, someone others avoided, why had he been reduced to being chased?

Wait... could the pursuer be me?

Chen Xuan was startled. He remembered the fleeting glance when they met earlier; the other person's eyes seemed to suddenly shrink, a very strong reaction.

He recognized himself and guessed that he would pursue, so he took this series of actions to try and avoid him.

There's no reason... I have no connection with Shen Lingfeng at all. He shouldn't even know of my existence.

Chen Xuan's head was spinning. He muttered, "Besides, why would Shen Lingfeng, a second Ascension expert, avoid me? Logically, I should be the one avoiding him."

"What kind of disgusting conspiracy are you people playing behind the scenes!"

Chen Xuan couldn't figure it out, completely couldn't figure it out. He felt his brain wasn't enough. The more he thought, the more his head hurt. He rubbed his head hard.

It was as if a meticulously woven giant net had descended, sticky, gray, making it impossible to break free, even breathing felt difficult.

"Wang Chan... you're going too far."

A moment later, Chen Xuan raised his head, his eyes bloodshot. Then he turned around and headed directly towards the Green Deer Mountain resting place called Ox Horn Mountain.

Shen Lingfeng had escaped.

At most, there were only five Qi Refiners who had undergone a first Ascension left on the other side...

He would go and smash Wang Chan's head now to see what kind of Yellow Millet Dream was in his brain!