Only after the system had explained everything did Xiao Han understand that this world-travel module wasn't free. Once he arrived in a new world, he had to complete a World Mission first.
After he completed the World Mission, the system would randomly reward him with several valuable items from the current instance world. It could also randomly increase either his Dou Qi cultivation or the rank of one of his skills.
What's more, Xiao Han could use every power system in a mission world, regardless of its restrictions on professions.
For example, if Xiao Han traveled to Kamar-Taj, the fact that True Magic worked nothing like Dou Qi wouldn't stop him from learning magic. If he traveled to a world of immortal cultivation, he could also ignore the differences between Dou Qi and Zhenyuan and force himself to learn that world's immortal arts.
Anything Xiao Han learned would automatically be converted into a Dou Technique. After returning to the Douqi Continent, his main world, he could even teach what he'd learned to the people around him.
With benefits this good, Xiao Han was naturally quite satisfied.
But this cave wasn't a place to linger, and Xiao Han hadn't even looked at the list of worlds he could travel to. He'd better get out of here first.
Just as he was about to leave, Xiao Han felt a mischievous urge come over him.
He turned around, drew his sword, and carved a few large characters into the cave wall.
"Kai Dad was here."
After thinking for a moment, Xiao Han carved a few more characters.
"Anyone who comes after me is my little bitch."
Looking at his crooked handwriting, Xiao Han chuckled and walked out of the cave.
He wondered what Xiao Yi Xian would look like when she came to gather herbs, found the cave entrance, and discovered that someone had gotten to the treasure she'd hoped to find first.
Would she be angry, disappointed, or miserable as if she'd gotten her period?
Just thinking about it amused him.
Xiao Yi Xian: ???
He looked up at the cliff hundreds of meters above him. Since the rope had burned through, there were only two ways to climb back up.
The first was to venture deeper into the Magical Beast Mountain Range and find another way out. But there were plenty of powerful Third- and Fourth-Order Magical Beasts there. With Xiao Han's cultivation as a Dou Zhe, going in would be tantamount to walking to his death.
Even Xiao Yan, who had Old Man Yao protecting him in the original story, hadn't dared to venture too deep into the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
The second was to cultivate the Purple Cloud Wings and use their flight to cross the steep cliff above, returning to the cliff he'd jumped from.
Xiao Han wasn't stupid. Without anyone to protect him, it would be difficult to get out of the Magical Beast Mountain Range alone. He didn't need to think twice about which option to choose.
So, as soon as he left the cave, he sat cross-legged on the ground and took the Flying Dou Technique he'd gone to so much trouble to obtain—the Eagle Wings—out of his Storage Ring.
He untied the scroll and spread it open. Two pitch-black eagle wings, ominous enough to make one shiver, appeared before Xiao Han.
Since the wings had been drawn on the scroll, they weren't very large. Yet they seemed to radiate a faint warmth. From their unusual appearance, it was clear they weren't just an ordinary picture.
The wings were a deep black, with faint purple cloud patterns. On closer inspection, they looked like black steel, their feathers gleaming with a peculiar metallic sheen and radiating a faint warmth.
Xiao Han gently blew on them. His expression shifted in surprise as the breeze stirred the feathers as if they were real wings. It was astonishing.
Interesting!
Xiao Han was instantly curious about this Flying Dou Technique.
"The Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle is a Fifth-Rank flying Magical Beast. It is said to possess a trace of the Ancient Phoenix's bloodline. Its flight speed is among the fastest of all flying Magical Beasts. It is cunning and savage by nature, extremely difficult to capture, and lives only in the Cloud Land Zone in the southern part of the continent."
"This Dou Technique is named Eagle Wings, though it is also called Purple Cloud Wings. It took me and several friends three years to capture a Flame Purple Cloud Eagle. Only then did we use a secret method to take its wings and create this Flying Dou Technique for others to cultivate. I drew this Dou Technique with Dou Qi in my final days. It can be cultivated by only one person. Remember this!"
Xiao Han read the inscription aloud as well.
"It can only be cultivated by one person? Looks like this is a one-use item."
Xiao Han stroked his smooth chin. "The Purple Cloud Wings are less like a Dou Technique and more like a Magic Treasure from an immortal-cultivation world, made from a part of a slain demon beast."
"Though the Purple Cloud Wings have a method for circulating energy through the meridians, at their core, they're still a flying Magic Treasure."
As Xiao Han probed the Eagle Wings with his Soul Power, he clearly sensed a violent, savage soul hidden within them.
Based on Old Man Yao's explanation in the original story, this was probably the result of the secret method used to create Flying Dou Techniques in the past. They separated a flying Magical Beast's soul from its wings, then fused them together.
Though the Beast had lost its sense of self, its instincts remained. Only by defeating the Purple Cloud Eagle's savage soul when touching the Purple Cloud Wings could one truly subdue the Flying Dou Technique.
Xiao Han fell silent in thought. After a long while, he opened his eyes and sent his Soul Power crashing into the Purple Cloud Wings scroll.
If Xiao Yan could withstand the Purple Cloud Eagle's attack, then there was no reason someone with stronger Soul Power like Xiao Han couldn't do the same!
As his Soul Power entered his sea of consciousness, the first thing Xiao Han saw was a purple ferocious bird so enormous it blotted out the sky. Its wings stretched a hundred yards across, and it let out a shrill cry that seemed to make his soul tremble.
The terrifying sound waves hit like a power drill, pounding relentlessly at his mind like Fat Tiger singing.
His head throbbed, but Xiao Han gritted his teeth and refused to give the Purple Cloud Eagle a chance.
Seeing its attack had failed, the Purple Cloud Eagle poured all the savage emotions it had accumulated over the years into its next assault, trying to turn Xiao Han into a mindless killing puppet.
Xiao Han merely sneered and beckoned to the purple bird.
"You—come at me!"
Xiao Han had meant to face the soul attack himself and use it to temper his Soul Power. He hadn't expected that an intruder in his body would anger its tenant so much!
The instant the Purple Cloud Eagle's Sha Eagle burst into Xiao Han's soul world, the Demon Armor at his Dantian seemed to sense something and erupted into action!
Perhaps it was his imagination, but Xiao Han seemed to feel an emotion brimming with murderous intent brewing inside his Dantian.
"How... dare... you... attack... mine..."
Roar!!!!!!!
Even Xiao Han, who spent every day with the Demon Armor, couldn't have imagined that such a terrifying roar—like that of a Peerless Ferocious Beast—could erupt from the armor itself.
Boom!!!
Rumble!!!
Blue flames swept across Xiao Han's boundless soul world. He shivered instinctively.
When he looked up, he saw a towering giant in azure armor, reaching to the sky and accompanied by Demonic Flame, forcing its way into Xiao Han's soul world.
The Purple Cloud Eagle's soul was acting purely on instinct, without any conscious thought. Yet when it saw the towering Demon Armor behind Xiao Han, it instinctively recoiled in fear, screaming and begging for mercy.
The Demon Armor said nothing in response to the groveling Purple Cloud Eagle's soul. But judging by the murderous intent erupting from it, it seemed eager to grind the little purple bird to dust.
Boom!!!
The Demon Armor pointed a finger. A world-ending blow descended from the heavens, flattening the soul world for hundreds of thousands of miles around the Purple Cloud Eagle and vaporizing its soul in an instant.
As the Purple Cloud Eagle's soul was blasted to pieces, a pair of purple-black wings the size of Xiao Han's palms appeared as a tattoo on his back. That meant he'd completely mastered the Purple Cloud Wings and would never have to fear their backlash again!
Xiao Han silently turned around and stared in shock at the towering Demon Armor.
Thankfully, this was only the soul world. If this had happened in reality, wouldn't the Demon Armor be even more terrifying than a Dou Di?!
But what Xiao Han hadn't expected was that the towering Demon Armor would step back, then slowly kneel before him, bracing itself on its hands and lowering its head until it was close to Xiao Han, who looked no bigger than a speck of dust. It gazed at him without a word.
He swallowed nervously. Through the Demon Armor's helmet, Xiao Han thought he could see two pairs of ghostly blue eyes.
"Thank you."
For some reason, Xiao Han thanked it without thinking.
But in the next moment, the Demon Armor suddenly spoke, and Xiao Han's scalp went numb. His mind nearly exploded.
"No need... to thank me... because... you're... mine..."
A hoarse, halting voice came from the Demon Armor. Xiao Han couldn't tell if it was male or female, and his butt clenched in fright.
He knew the Demon Armor had a little intelligence, but he hadn't expected it could actually speak.
"You can talk?"
Xiao Han took a deep breath and backed away a few steps without making it obvious.
Perhaps the Demon Armor noticed his small movement, because it actually "smiled."
Though all Xiao Han faced was a cold helmet, he could almost see the Demon Armor grinning. The eerie sight frightened him.
"Why do you... resist... my power...? Ever since... the day you got my power... you've always... unconsciously... resisted..."
"Huh? When did I do that? I've never resisted you."
Xiao Han looked utterly bewildered.
"You... do... resist..."
The Demon Armor's emotions took on a hint of anger at Xiao Han's denial.
"I don't."
Xiao Han felt a little aggrieved.
"You clearly... do... You've never... fully summoned me..."
Though it had been angry at first, the Demon Armor's voice grew plaintive after a moment.
"I... have always... been protecting you..."
The sudden change left Xiao Han stunned. Then he felt the Demon Armor's gaze of bitter reproach pressing down on him.
"Enough already. Why are you acting like a jilted wife?" Xiao Han said, bracing himself.
With the Demon Armor staring at him so pitifully, Xiao Han felt thoroughly uncomfortable.
"Phew—now that the danger's over, can you go back to my Dantian?" Xiao Han sighed, looking at the Demon Armor as he helplessly spread his hands.
"I just... finished cleaning up... your mess... and now you're telling me to leave... That's... that's too much..."
As it spoke, the Demon Armor's emotions gave Xiao Han a sense of aggrieved indignation.
"Bullshit! I could've subdued the Purple Cloud Eagle myself. You just decided to jump in on your own.
All right, all right. I don't need you right now, so hurry back. Come out again when I call you."
At that moment, Xiao Han looked just like a heartless playboy. He really could have withstood the Purple Cloud Eagle's attack, but if it had fought back with everything it had, he would've been injured by that last attack.
"...Get lost!"
The Demon Armor gave Xiao Han a long look, then raised its middle finger at him, its gaze utterly innocent.
After their friendly farewell, Xiao Han returned from the soul world to reality.
He instinctively touched his lower abdomen. The Demon Armor was motionless there. If it weren't constantly absorbing and converting Xiao Han's Dou Qi, it would've looked like a lifeless object.
The towering giant that had just displayed its power in the soul world seemed to have nothing to do with it at all.
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