Twin Children, Qing Yu

Fierce Hurricane Gorge spans ten thousand miles. The entire canyon is a scene of devastation, scarred by the relentless scouring of hurricanes that never dissipate.

A boulder weighing tens of thousands of pounds is lifted by a passing gale, rising slowly into the air. As it ascends, the terrifying winds slice and dismantle the stone, until the massive rock is reduced to dust, scattering across the canyon.

At the entrance of the gorge, two figures—one large, one small—appear. The terrifying hurricanes vanish into thin air as they approach within tens of meters of the pair, leaving them completely unaffected.

Long Jiuyyao stares, dumbstruck, at the boulder being pulverized into dust. He is deeply shocked; even a low-level Nirvana Realm expert could not shatter a boulder of such weight into dust in an instant.

Yet, any random hurricane in this gorge can achieve this with ease. Such terrifying destructive power is truly worthy of being one of the Three Great Perilous Lands.

"Jiuyyao, even a two or three Yuan Nirvana Realm expert could not so easily shatter that Wind Split Rock, which weighs tens of thousands of pounds. The destructive power of these fierce hurricanes is comparable to the full-force strike of a six-yuan Nirvana Realm expert," Yuan Gan explains.

The Nirvana Realm is divided into nine yuan, spanning three stages: one to three yuan is low-level, four to six yuan is mid-level, and seven to nine yuan is high-level.

The two step into the gorge. Having only been outside before, they now feel that the power of the fierce hurricanes is far more terrifying than it appeared. However, under Yuan Gan's protection, the fearsome winds feel as cool and gentle as a breeze, lacking any of the destructive momentum that just obliterated the Wind Split Rock.

They walk through the canyon at a leisurely pace. Within the gorge, the area where wind elements are most concentrated is the summit, but it is also the most dangerous, as the fierce hurricanes there are all comparable to the full-force strike of a nine-yuan Nirvana Realm expert.

However, for Yuan Gan, who already stands at the pinnacle of the continent, such things are not even worth mentioning.

At this moment, Long Jiuyyao is alone; Yuan Gan has already reached the summit of the gorge.

Long Jiuyyao's body is covered in blue and red welts caused by the fierce hurricanes within the canyon. While there is no threat to his life, the pain is very real.

Although the destructive power of the fierce hurricanes is astonishing, it also possesses a potent body-tempering effect. Yuan Gan directs all the surrounding hurricanes toward Long Jiuyyao—naturally, these are the weakened versions, otherwise, they would be far beyond what Long Jiuyyao could currently withstand.

Long Jiuyyao's skin is broken in places, marked by bloody lacerations, while his Ancient Dragon Bone radiates a dark gold luster, reinforcing his muscles and bones against the onslaught of the wind.

Among the Four Hegemons of the Demon Domain, the Dragon Clan is renowned for its formidable physical bodies. Those possessing high-grade dragon bones are even more resilient. Yet, by leveraging the power of heaven and earth to temper the physique, one can become even stronger than peers of the same level.

In Yuan Gan's words, one must endure the bitterest of hardships to become the best of the best.

Long Jiuyyao moves forward slowly, step by step toward the summit. As he progresses, the power of the hurricanes gradually intensifies, and in turn, Long Jiuyyao's physique strengthens bit by bit.

Long Jiuyyao does not resent Yuan Gan for his actions; on the contrary, he finds joy in the process. Despite the pain, he can feel his own body growing stronger.

At the summit, Yuan Gan watches Long Jiuyyao struggling forward in the distance, his eyes filled with satisfaction. Of course, he has not forgotten the purpose of his visit.

He forms hand seals, and a thousand-foot Golden-Eyed Giant Dragon coils around the peak, inhaling like a whale. The wind elements within a thousand-meter radius of the summit are sucked dry.

The thousand-foot dragon turns formless and colorless, eventually condensing into a wind-element energy sphere several meters wide. Yuan Gan retrieves the Gale Ancestral Rune he took from Long Jiuyyao and merges it into the sphere.

The moment the Gale Ancestral Rune is integrated, the energy sphere shrinks slightly before returning to its original state. At its center, the Gale Ancestral Rune slowly begins to devour the wind elements of the Fierce Hurricane Gorge.

Seeing this, Yuan Gan curls his fingers, and the entire canyon trembles. Long Jiuyyao, who is in the midst of tempering his body, stumbles, nearly losing his footing.

"It has begun!" Long Jiuyyao stops and looks toward the summit.

Countless wind elements slowly merge into the invisible energy sphere, continuously providing nutrients for the growth of the Gale Ancestral Rune.

After completing this step, Yuan Gan produces from thin air a primitive jade tablet, triangular in shape and colored in shades of green, red, and blue.

As Yuan Gan injects his Yuan Power into it, the three colors on the tablet erupt with blinding light, and a barrier a hundred feet wide stands before him.

The Rainbow Brilliance Ancient Tablet is ranked fifty-second on the Ancient Divine Object Ranking. It possesses the ability to seal and isolate everything, capable of blocking even three full-force attacks from a Cycle Realm expert who has touched the aura of reincarnation without breaking.

It serves as the first line of defense to protect the Gale Ancestral Rune. The barrier conceals itself, and the aura of the Gale Ancestral Rune is likewise masked, returning the summit to the state it was in when they first arrived.

Yuan Gan exhales a breath of stale air and returns to Long Jiuyyao's side. "Jiuyyao, I have secured the Gale Ancestral Rune. You shall remain here to temper your body."

Long Jiuyyao does not refuse or speak further; he simply nods, watches Yuan Gan depart, and then turns to walk into the heart of the hurricane cluster to continue his tempering.

There are no shortcuts to tempering the body; one must simply endure, constantly resisting with flesh and blood.

In the Yin Dragon Mountain Range, on an island in the center of an endless lake, a blue-haired girl kicks at the pebbles around her, her face full of displeasure, her mind filled with the image of that detestable Long Jiuyyao.

An old man in grey robes appears silently beside the girl. "Blue Girl, who has upset you? Tell me so that this father can have a laugh."

"Father! You enjoy watching your daughter make a fool of herself far too much," Lan Xinhuang stomps her foot.

Of course, Lan Xinhuang does not reveal the truth; after all, how could she bring herself to speak of such embarrassing matters?

Lan Xinhuang immediately heads to the bamboo forest, sits on a rock, and places her fingers to her lips, emitting a crisp whistle.

The moment she finishes, a shadow streaks through the bamboo forest, leaps onto the rock, and coils around her shoulder.

The shadow stops; it is a centipede similar in appearance to Zi Lin, yet different. Its size is slightly inferior, but its body is brilliant gold like the rising sun. It has six eyes, and its legs are silver, slightly slender, with a touch of crimson at the tips, possessing the strength to snap metal.

Most uniquely, it possesses a pair of cyan phoenix wings and a pair of silver mandibles that gleam with sharpness. Its name is the Golden Back Phoenix Wing Centipede.

Old Bai never actually explained it clearly, but the Ancient Spirit Worm, the Black Back Nine Head Centipede, is born of mutual generation and restraint. They are born as twins, divided into yin and yang, one male and one female.

Because their feeding methods differ, their evolutionary paths also diverge, which is the reason it differs from Zi Lin.

"Qing Yu, I met a hateful person on my travels this time," Lan Xinhuang says, stroking its cyan phoenix wings.

"Hiss, hiss!" Qing Yu nods and hisses in response.

"Hm? Why hasn't Black Back come?" Lan Xinhuang looks around, failing to find the familiar figure she expects.

She leaps off the rock and, with Qing Yu, passes through the bamboo forest. Two caves, one large and one small, appear before her. After a moment of hesitation, she walks straight into the larger one.

Inside, there is no foul stench as one might expect; instead, there is a rich, fragrant scent. The nest retains the aura of the devoured spiritual treasures of heaven and earth, a natural fragrance.

Spirit worms that devour spiritual treasures are not like those demonic beasts that consume flesh and blood, so there is naturally no scent of rotting meat.

Looking at the empty nest, Lan Xinhuang knows that the Black Back Nine Head Centipede, now known as Zi Lin, has long since departed.

Little Black Back and Qing Yu had been together, inseparable, ever since they were young; she felt the same way, and now that he was gone, there was surely a sense of reluctance in her heart.

"That's not right. No one ever comes here under normal circumstances, so how could Black Back have left?"

Lan Xinhuang steadied her mind and left the cave where Black Back lived, heading toward the Bamboo House, determined to ask Old Dad what was going on.

The cave was not far from the Bamboo House, and she spotted Old Bai in the Stone Pavilion at a single glance.

"Dad, where did Black Back go?" Lan Xinhuang asked, getting straight to the point.

"He was taken away by someone who even gave him a nice-sounding name: Zi Lin," Old Bai explained.

"Zi Lin... it is a nice name." Lan Xinhuang shook her head. "No, that's not it! Who took him, and why didn't you stop them?"

"Girl, even if I wanted to stop them, I couldn't. By the time I discovered it, Zi Lin had already begun to evolve." Old Bai gestured for her to sit down and talk.

Lan Xinhuang understood; it was just like her own experience in the past, where she had inadvertently helped Qing Yu evolve and had been inseparable from him ever since.

"Then do you know what his name is?" Lan Xinhuang asked.

"Long Jiuyao, the adopted son of the Dragon Clan Chief, Yuan Gan," Old Bai said calmly.

"What!" Lan Xinhuang was startled, spitting out the tea she had just sipped. Upon hearing that name, the anger in her heart erupted like a volcanic explosion.

"Crack!"

She crushed the teacup in her hand.

Old Bai was an Old Monster who had lived for who knew how many years. Seeing that Lan Xinhuang's usual poise was so different from the fury she displayed upon hearing the name Long Jiuyao—and recalling her unhappiness when she first returned—he realized that the Blue Girl and Long Jiuyao had a history of conflict.

Very well. You barely left my territory before bullying my precious daughter? This matter is far from over.

Far away at the Fierce Hurricane Gorge, Long Jiuyao, who was busy tempering his body, had no idea that he had already been marked by the protective Old Bai, and this would soon become his undoing.