"What of a Dou Emperor? Since ancient times, who has lived without dying? Even a Dou Zong will one day reach the end of their lifespan!" the leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang said cheerfully.
"Master, did you... did you do this in order to help me subdue the Exotic Water and obtain its source..." Hun Han's eyes were filled with reluctance, and his heart was deeply moved.
"Not entirely. In my early years, I obtained a Water Attribute Blood Lotus Pill and attempted to devour that Exotic Water. The result was failure. Fortunately, I had quite a few tricks up my sleeve and forcibly spat it back out. From then on, an incurable cold affliction remained within my body. I only survived until today by suppressing it with my Dou Emperor cultivation! During my battle with it earlier, the old ailment I had kept suppressed completely erupted!" the leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang recalled.
"Master!" Hun Han was utterly moved.
"Don't be sad. Even if I had never met you, I would not have lived for another month. Heaven brought me here, and before my death, I was able to take such an outstanding disciple as you. It has treated me well enough!" The leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang looked at Hun Han with gratification.
"Master!" Hun Han lowered his head, already unable to speak.
"Oh, right. You still don't know my name, do you? In this world, my name is Yun Jian!"
"Lewd... cheap?" Hun Han raised his head in stunned confusion and stared speechlessly at the leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang.
"What nonsense is filling that head of yours?" The leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang raised his hand, intending to rap Hun Han on the head. Yet his aged hand, covered in ice crystals, could barely even rise. He corrected him, "Not those words! Yun as in white clouds, Jian as in a treasured sword!"
"Yun Jian," Hun Han murmured, wanting to etch the name into his heart.
"Yes. I was once a disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect, but I fell in love with a poison woman from the Chu Yun Empire. That relationship was destined to be unacceptable to the world. My master confined me and drove her away, leading to her tragic death in the Gamma Empire. In a fit of rage, I left the Misty Cloud Sect and swore to establish an entirely new gang. A free gang, one without worldly prejudice. Yet things did not go as I wished. Fortunately, before dying, I still found two disciples who satisfied me. I am telling you this only to say that if you ever encounter trouble, go to the Misty Cloud Sect and find my junior brother, Yun Shan." The leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang—Yun Jian—struggled to pull a jade token from his robes.
Hun Han hurriedly accepted it. On one side of the jade token was a mountain shrouded in clouds and mist. On the other was a single large character: Sword.
The leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang was Yun Shan's senior brother. Yun Shan was the previous sect master of the Misty Cloud Sect and Yun Yun's master. Nalan Yanran was Yun Yun's disciple. Then did that not make Hun Han...
"Do you have any other questions?" Yun Jian suddenly asked.
"Master, after you leave, does that mean I'll be the leader of the Exploding Heaven Gang?" Hun Han asked.
"Yes." Yun Jian nodded faintly.
"Then... can I change its name? I don't really like this name!" Hun Han asked quietly.
"You can." Yun Jian nodded magnanimously.
"Master, where is Zi Yan?"
"She went out. She said the food I made was terrible, so she went to find something to eat herself!"
"Oh!" Hun Han responded.
"If you have anything else to ask, go ahead and ask!" Yun Jian looked at Hun Han, who seemed to want to speak but hesitated.
"Master, are you a transmigrator?"
"A transmigrator?"
"Yes, someone who originally wasn't from this world, but came here from another world!" Hun Han explained in detail. If the other man had not been about to die, he would never have dared ask such a question.
"What did you say?" A sudden gleam burst from Yun Jian's eyes as he asked, "Are you saying you originally weren't from this world either?"
"Yes." Hun Han could now be certain that Yun Jian was also a transmigrator.
"How did you figure it out?" Yun Jian asked curiously. He had never told anyone this secret.
"That poem you recited. 'Ten years, life and death, vast and boundless. Without dwelling on it, it is still hard to forget. A lonely grave a thousand miles away, with nowhere to speak of sorrow. Even should we meet, we would not recognize each other, my face covered in dust, my temples frosted like snow.' That poem was written by Su Shi, one of the Eight Great Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties," Hun Han answered.
"Uh!"
Yun Jian gazed at Hun Han, his eyes full of gratification. He had never expected to encounter someone from his hometown before his death. With his breath as thin as a thread, he could not hold on much longer. He instructed, "Leave now, and let me finish my final journey alone. Once you are outside, destroy the teleportation array. From now on, let this place serve as my tomb!"
"Yes, Master!"
Hun Han respectfully kowtowed three times to Yun Jian. Then he stepped onto the teleportation array and placed a fourth-tier Magic Core into the depression of the stone platform at its center. As a blinding light flashed, Hun Han's body appeared outside.
"Master, may you rest in peace!"
Hun Han swung his fist at the teleportation array. With a bang, the teleportation array built from white marble shattered into pieces, ground into powder by the force of his punch. A strand of spatial power transformed into a fierce gale, echoing back and forth through the hall.
"Three days!"
Hun Han stood before the abandoned gate and looked down toward the foot of the mountain. Zi Yan was still nowhere to be seen. "Forget it. I won't wait any longer. With Zi Yan's strength, ordinary people can't do anything to her. It's time to head to the next sign-in location!"
Besides, according to the course of the story, Zi Yan had been brought to the Inner Academy by Great Elder Su Qian of Jia Nan Academy. Three days had now passed. Hun Han had searched all of Twilight City without finding any trace of Zi Yan. She was probably somewhere stuffing herself with delicious food at this very moment!
With that thought, Hun Han walked over to a massive boulder and reached out. A child of merely six or seven actually lifted the ten-ton rock off the ground in his arms.
After placing the boulder before the gate, Hun Han extended his index finger again. With nothing but his flesh and blood, he carved a striking line of large characters into the stone: Master has died. Senior brother has gone to Qingshan Town in the Gamma Empire. He will return in three months. Do not worry!
Hun Han looked at the words on the boulder and nodded in satisfaction. Even if Zi Yan returned, she would know where he had gone.
At that moment, Hun Han's back shifted slightly, and silver light bloomed forth. A pair of enormous silver wings appeared behind him, spread wide to over two meters. As the giant wings fluttered, the power of wind and lightning faintly emerged.
Hun Han stamped his foot, cracking the ground inch by inch as his body soared into the sky. Flapping his wings, he circled the ruins of the ancient hall three times. Then, hovering in midair, he picked a direction and shot away.
During these three days, Hun Han had not been idle. He had already mastered the Lightning Bat Sky Wings.
On the Dou Qi Continent, Dou Qi Manifestation Wings were an ability possessed only by Dou Wang experts. Yet Hun Han had already broken free of that limitation ahead of time.
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