Chance Encounter

In the morning light, Chen Xuan sprinted south toward the depths of the Southern Wilderness.

The battle had certainly been exhilarating, but some of the Ascetic Monks from Hanging Temple who had been scouring the mountains and seas were retreating from the Southern Wilderness Mountains. If he did not leave now, escaping would truly become difficult.

When he had donned the feathered clothing in the latter half of the night, he had once visited the Southern Wilderness through Mystic Cat Goddess and learned that Yan Yushu had broken through Hanging Temple's encirclement and vanished without a trace.

Mystic Cat Goddess had complained inwardly that a corpse of an Ascetic Monk with an extremely high degree of Feather Transformation had completely vanished after the battle.

Chen Xuan guessed that Yan Yushu had dragged it into Six Desires Heaven and eaten it. But she was truly reckless. She had no idea what side effects would come afterward. Once they accumulated, how would she deal with them in the future?

"I know where she's hiding."

Chen Xuan knew exactly where Yan Yushu had gone, because she was right within his field of vision. At this moment, besides the white light-point coordinates representing Mystic Cat Goddess, there was another black light-point coordinate.

Yan Yushu—the positional coordinates of Six Desires Heaven.

"If I follow the black coordinates all the way forward, I can find her."

Thinking this, Chen Xuan raised his head and waved toward the distant horizon. At once, a tiny bluish-black speck, no bigger than a grain of rice, came flying toward him at incredible speed.

Bronze Horse!

During the battle just now, Bronze Horse had shown great loyalty. She had circled above the camp the whole time and had tried several times to charge into the camp and carry Chen Xuan away.

"Neigh!"

The bronze horse landed and circled Chen Xuan once. Then she came over, nudged his waist with her head, and indicated that he should mount her back and flee at once.

"Brother Horse, I can't leave this area for the time being."

Chen Xuan shook his head and refused. He told Bronze Horse that he would be entering the Southern Wilderness shortly and would not be coming back out for some time.

Beyond the Southern Wilderness lay Red Crow City's territory. The great cultivators of Green Deer Mountain could come and go freely, and Chen Xuan felt an indistinct unease.

Moreover, according to the Qi Refiners in the camp, Green Deer Mountain's regular army and the Qi Refiner Aristocratic Clans of Red Crow City would soon arrive in the Southern Wilderness.

"Brother Horse, come on, open your mouth." Chen Xuan suddenly smiled.

"Neigh!" Bronze Horse did not understand, but she obediently opened her crooked mouth.

"Don't be shy. Have some!"

Chen Xuan took the golden tea cake of Buddha-Heart Tea Tree from his robes. It weighed about half a jin. He broke off a small piece of tea leaf and generously tossed it into Bronze Horse's mouth.

"Neigh!"

Bronze Horse chewed twice. A golden glow seeped from between her teeth, and her eyes immediately lit up. She knew she had eaten something extraordinary. Deeply moved, she gazed at Chen Xuan with tender affection, her eyes practically brimming with tears.

"It's only right, it's only right."

Chen Xuan stared at Bronze Horse's crooked mouth and lopsided face, then instinctively looked away.

Neither horse nor horse, neither ghost nor ghost, with barely a few teeth left—she was far too ugly...

Chen Xuan had been the one to knock her crooked before. Now that they had grown familiar, he did not want to see her disgracing herself everywhere and being mocked by her kind. Thus, he had given her a precious medicine, hoping she could restore her normal appearance.

Soon, the trees grew dense around them, and they were about to enter the true Southern Wilderness Mountains.

"Neigh!"

Bronze Horse stopped. She was about to bid Chen Xuan farewell when her cry abruptly cut off.

That was because she had seen a woman in a snow-white long dress walking out of the mountains in the distance. A long sword hung at her waist, and her figure was extraordinarily voluptuous.

The White-Robed Woman was leading an incomparably magnificent Black Horse. As the Black Horse walked, it kept raising its head to look this way, seemingly extremely excited.

"Huh? It's them..."

Chen Xuan's heart gave a jump. When he had left Willow Town back then, he had seen a woman and a horse traveling through the snowy night from afar.

Although he had never seen the woman's face with his own eyes, the outline of her figure had been exceptionally striking. She had looked breathtakingly beautiful beneath the moon in the snow, leaving a deep impression on him. There was no way he could have remembered wrong.

"Whoosh!"

A corner of the White-Robed Woman's gauze veil fluttered in the mountain wind. Chen Xuan saw part of her oval face: delicate skin untouched by dust, and lips a tender peach-blossom red. The White-Robed Woman led the Black Horse toward the outside of the mountains.

"What a coincidence. We meet again?"

Chen Xuan frowned slightly.

Something was wrong...

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! I spotted this Chen Xuan from far away."

On the mountain road, a golden-black metallic sheen flowed across Black Horse's body. Unable to contain its impatience, it urged the White-Robed Woman loudly to hurry up and have an accidental encounter with Chen Xuan.

"I told you he was bound to make something of himself. Look, it's only been a little over half a month since we last met, and he's already undergone Second Ascension... You're fated to be with him."

The White-Robed Woman's willow brows rose sharply as she glared at Black Horse.

"What fate do I have with him? Stop talking nonsense. It isn't as if I'm trying to take him as a disciple."

"Your master's disciple would be your junior brother, of course you share the fate of cultivating together for a thousand years. I think Chen Xuan is a fine seedling. If you don't take him, you'll definitely regret it someday."

Black Horse spoke with absolute certainty. Then its eyes gleamed as it said, "With Chen Xuan's robust physique, it's obvious at a glance that he cultivated Metal Virtue White Qi. Give him a little tug and see what opportunities he's encountered recently and what great deeds he's accomplished. Perhaps that will change your mind."

The White-Robed Woman hesitated. "We're neither relatives nor acquaintances. Tugging on his White Qi... Isn't that improper?"

Black Horse reared its head in shock, widened its horse eyes, and then looked at her with utter disdain.

"Hiss!"

A sudden chill ran through Chen Xuan's heart, and he felt an inexplicable sense of terror, as if a pair of icy eyes were looking down on him from above and scrutinizing him.

An illusion?

No, something was wrong. There was a problem with his White Qi!

Chen Xuan did not know what was happening, but he realized that something strange must be occurring at this very moment.

"Swish!"

He reacted with astonishing speed and immediately commanded the White Qi. In an instant, its color changed from white to red. A blazing, hollow stream of Red Qi surged through his internal organs, scattering the strange sensation of being watched.

"Brother Horse, I'm leaving first."

Uneasy, Chen Xuan immediately bid farewell to Bronze Horse, changed his route, and entered the great wilderness.

"Huh? It didn't work."

The White-Robed Woman was astonished. "The Qi inside him is Fire Virtue Red Qi now. I can't tug on it."

"What? Who told him to cultivate dual Qi? A good talent isn't meant to be squandered like that. He's practically ruining his own future!"

Black Horse was startled when it heard this. A trace of anger flashed in its eyes as it said regretfully:

"Chen Xuan's aptitude is merely so-so. He has a Root Bone of eight thousand jin, but he's neither Heaven's Chosen nor an immortal seed. On top of that, he's now cultivating dual Qi. He can't become your junior brother anymore. What a pity... I really thought highly of him."

Truly high-ranking sects and great clans almost never accepted disciples who cultivated dual Qi.

Because it was filled with instability. Those in higher positions could not draw out kindred Immortal Qi, making it difficult to control those below through the upper reaches. Such disciples easily became "rebellious bones"...

In the distance, Chen Xuan's figure completely vanished into the boundless sea of trees.

Black Horse slowly withdrew its gaze and murmured:

"The Yellow Millet Dream was intercepted halfway, and Six Desires Heaven will also have a destination... Alas, all the good seedlings along the way belong to other families."

The White-Robed Woman lightly rested her slender hand on her sword hilt. Heroic and spirited, she said, "We Sword Officials do not forcefully seek Heaven's Chosen. Master already has a better candidate for a disciple... He is about to enter Peach Blossom Garden. We only need to wait here for him to show himself."

"We can only do that."

Black Horse nodded, then suddenly sneered. "Green Deer Mountain, Hanging Temple, and those sects actually dare covet Heaven's Chosen? Sooner or later, they'll lose everything and be played until not even their bones remain... Those who place their pieces first will be the last to have a chance to sit at the table."

The Yellow Millet Dream.

If Green Deer Mountain could truly take Wang Chan, then when Shen Lingfeng and the others of Willow Town discovered the Yellow Millet Dream, they should have turned around and returned to the mountain immediately... Why on earth did they enter the Southern Wilderness? They had conveniently blocked Qing Yazi, who had rushed over after making inquiries, outside the mountains...

The woman and horse had wanted to go watch the excitement, but delays on the road had made them half a day late.

Six Desires Heaven.

If Hanging Temple could truly capture Yan Yushu, it would never have allowed her to leave its sphere of influence and cross several cities... With so many great cultivators stationed in its own territory, how could it fail to catch a minor cultivator at the Feather Transformation level? Merely thinking about the reason was enough to make one shudder.

Last night, Yan Yushu had been devoured by Six Desires Heaven. That had been the perfect opportunity to capture her.

Yet not only had she remained unaffected, she had instead recovered completely and even risen another level, escaping the encirclement just like that...

Who else had been making covert moves behind the scenes?

Black Horse pointed a hoof toward the sky and laughed. "People like Chen Xuan are still the best. A little talent and some prospects, just enough to be appropriate without attracting too much attention. The gaze up above won't care about him at all."

"How do you know that isn't a kind of regret? He'll never have the chance to come into contact with these things throughout his ordinary life."

The White-Robed Woman led the horse forward, ethereal and otherworldly, and continued, "In this era, the heroes of the world are as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river, all fighting to make it across... Chen Xuan doesn't even have the qualifications to know where that river is."

Time flowed like water, and several days passed in a flash.

In the mountains, Chen Xuan lived on wind and dew, studying the Yellow Millet True Scripture in his mind every day.

"The true scripture is far too profound. Its difficulty is more than ten million times greater than sleight of hand."

Even with Chen Xuan's heaven-defying comprehension, it still took him most of half a day to barely understand the first chapter of the Yellow Millet Dream.

But he did not rush to learn it. He was extremely cautious, spending several days carefully pondering it, striving to ensure that not a single mistake would occur when he cultivated.

Late at night.

Chen Xuan sat cross-legged in the forest near Small Stone Lake. While pondering the scripture in his mind, he kept watch over the rippling, glittering surface of the lake.

"Splash!"

Suddenly, a silver-white radiance rose from the surface of the lake and leaped toward the forest.

In the Southern Wilderness Mountains, Terrestrial Treasure Trees and flesh-and-blood precious medicines were all things with owners, each watched over by ghosts and monsters.

But the Over Mountain Treasure Fish of Small Stone Lake seemed to have been overlooked.

The last time Chen Xuan had caught one, nothing unexpected had happened. For the past several days, he had been active nearby, patiently waiting through night after night. Tonight, he had finally waited for a treasure fish to leap over the Dragon Gate!

"There's a fish! There's a fish!"

"We've finally waited for it!"

Suddenly, several cries of alarm erupted around the lakeshore in succession. Several Qi Refiner figures wreathed in radiance rushed out, chasing after the Over Mountain Treasure Fish.

Chen Xuan was not the only one. More people had been lying in wait here, hoping to catch their prey unawares!