As soon as he finished speaking, the Zi Wu Qi Xing Sword on Xiao Tian's back suddenly trembled. He grabbed it, and surging Dou Qi burst forth. With a low shout, he swung it down with all his might!
"Mountain Collapse Earth Split Slash!!"
In an instant, a dazzling red sword beam shot from the blade, slashing straight toward the Rock Snakes charging at them!
Rumble...
The slash shook the heavens. Gale-force winds swept in every direction, and powerful shock waves rolled outward. Wherever they passed, rocks flew and dust billowed. The second-tier magical beasts charging toward them—the Rock Snakes—were instantly reduced to a skyful of blood mist!
That wasn't all. The powerful shock waves swept in every direction, sending countless rocks tumbling down the surrounding walls. They had forcibly carved out a passage more than a zhang wide, leaving Xiao Yi Xian staring in stunned disbelief!
"You're actually pretty dependable when it counts!" After a brief moment of dazed silence, Xiao Yi Xian lifted her head, blinked her bright, dewy eyes, and looked at Xiao Tian with surprise and praise.
Xiao Tian smiled faintly without answering, then continued carrying Xiao Yi Xian as he sped forward.
If his guess was right, the stone door not far ahead led to the most mysterious part of the cave.
Sure enough, after they passed through the deep, dark passage, they found there was nowhere else to go. A three-zhang-tall ochre stone door stood before them.
The door was made of neither metal nor wood, and its surface was covered in intricate, complex patterns. It exuded an ancient, weathered aura.
"Put me down already!!"
Just then, Xiao Yi Xian noticed that Xiao Tian was still holding her tightly around the waist. Her pretty face flushed as she scolded him.
"Oh." Xiao Tian gave an awkward smile and hurriedly let go.
"This stone door looks unusual. And judging by its thickness, I'm afraid only an expert at the peak of the Da Dou Shi realm or above could open it!" Xiao Yi Xian examined it closely, then furrowed her brows.
"Move aside. I'll use Eight Extremes Collapse to smash it open!" Xiao Tian waved a hand dismissively.
Xiao Yi Xian rolled her eyes and chided him. "You always want to use brute force. The door is covered in runes, and there's a faint glow on it. It's obviously fitted with a mechanism. We just need to find the trigger, and we can open it easily!"
With that, Xiao Yi Xian crouched down slightly and carefully inspected every corner of the door.
"Click—!"
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she gently pressed a raised spot with her jade-white finger.
At once, the stone door, which hadn't budged before, slowly slid open, revealing a brightly lit passage beyond.
"All done. Let's go in!" Xiao Yi Xian stood up, smiled, and lifted her snow-white chin toward Xiao Tian.
The two immediately stepped through the door. The view before them opened up into a spacious chamber.
At the far end stood a massive stone platform. Three ancient wooden boxes rested atop it, along with a great many gold coins, treasures, and other valuables.
There was also a stone chair in front of the platform. A skeleton sat upon it, dressed in splendid clothing that had long since rotted away, leaving only a few scraps hanging from its bones.
After looking around, Xiao Tian and Xiao Yi Xian walked forward.
"Oh, there are so many high-grade medicinal herbs here!"
Just then, Xiao Yi Xian looked excitedly toward a corner.
There, a semicircle of fertile soil surrounded a patch of emerald-green medicinal plants. In the middle of it, more than a dozen rare herbs were in bloom.
Overcome with excitement, Xiao Yi Xian immediately went over, took out a small shovel, and carefully dug up the precious herbs.
Xiao Tian glanced over, but he wasn't interested. He walked straight to the stone platform, his gaze settling on the three wooden boxes.
After a moment's hesitation, Xiao Tian picked up the first box and opened it.
Creak!
As the lid opened, an ancient scroll covered in colorful designs came into view. Four small characters were written at the top: Seven-Colored Poison Scripture!
Xiao Tian glanced over it and, finding it uninteresting, set the Seven-Colored Poison Scripture aside and opened the second box.
A scroll appeared before him once more, but the characters on it left Xiao Tian astonished.
"High Xuan-tier flying Dou Technique—Purple Cloud Wings. It's a flying Dou Technique! It's practically made for me!" The corner of Xiao Tian's mouth curled into a smile. With a flick of his finger, the scroll disappeared into his Storage Ring.
On the Dou Qi Continent, generally only Dou Wang experts could form wings from Dou Qi, allowing them to fly through the sky for extended periods. The rarity of flying Dou Techniques was obvious, and their value was beyond measure!
For Xiao Tian, this high-grade Mysterious Tier flying Dou Technique was like adding wings to a tiger!
With this flying Dou Technique, he could fly freely even at the Dou Qi stage!
By now, Xiao Tian had fully unfurled the scroll containing the high-grade Mysterious Tier flying Dou Technique.
At once, an image of two pitch-black, fearsome eagle wings appeared before his eyes. Their feathers were black as ink, but a closer look revealed purple cloud patterns running across them. They looked magnificent and sacred, lifelike as if they were real, and even seemed to radiate an imposing pressure.
Looking at the flying Dou Technique, Xiao Tian felt delighted. He knew full well that if he mastered it, he would be able to fight with twice the effectiveness.
After a brief surge of excitement, Xiao Tian's gaze shifted to a line of small characters on the left.
"This flying Dou Technique is called Purple Cloud Wings. It was made from the wings of a fifth-tier flying magical beast, the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle, which this old man and a friend once captured together. Since I drew it with my Dou Qi shortly before my death, only one person can cultivate it. Remember this well!"
Seeing that, Xiao Tian's face brightened with joy once more. The Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle was a fifth-tier flying magical beast, said to possess the bloodline of an ancient phoenix. It was incredibly fast in flight!
Once he mastered this flying Dou Technique, he would be able to fly without being constrained by the limits of his level.
However, the scroll also stated that anyone wishing to cultivate this flying Dou Technique first had to withstand the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's soul attack.
Xiao Tian smiled faintly at the warning and, without hesitation, placed his palm at the center of the scroll, allowing the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's soul attack to strike him.
With his soul strength at Mortal Realm Great Perfection, he had no reason to fear a fragment of the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's soul.
So, in just a moment, Xiao Tian had qualified to cultivate the flying Dou Technique. The eagle wings on the scroll immediately turned purple and black, then transformed into two tiny beams of light that drilled into Xiao Tian's body.
Almost in an instant, Xiao Tian sensed an incredible change within himself. The two beams of light raced through his body and reached his spine in the blink of an eye, forcibly extending two tiny new meridians!
"That's it?"
He examined the two new meridians that had suddenly appeared inside him, somewhat surprised, and was just about to try using them.
But at that moment, a sinister laugh came from the cave entrance:
"Heh heh, Xiao Yi Xian, thanks to you leading the way, we never would have known there were treasures hidden at the bottom of this cliff!"
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