Black-Corner Region

"The Black-Corner Region, still as chaotic as ever!"

Yun Zimo watched the few burly men nearby who had "turned and fled" at the sight of him, once again lamenting the "simple folk customs" of the Black-Corner Region.

"The Xia Lan have been surrounded by the Black Skull Tomb, most of them dead or wounded, I reckon..."

Yun Zimo, who had been planning to leave the area, froze abruptly at these words.

Xia Lan?

Was that not the title he had bestowed upon the man he saved in the Black-Corner Region?

"You just mentioned Xia Lan?"

Yun Zimo blocked the man's path, speaking with a rather polite tone.

"What are you doing? Old thing, your grandfather here... I..."

Before the man could finish his sentence, the person beside him turned pale with terror and dropped to his knees with a thud. "M-my lord, spare us!"

Yun Zimo, with Dou Qi surging around his body, looked on with an indifferent gaze. The Black-Corner Region was lawless; those who survived here were desperate men who licked blood off the edge of a blade. Here, the principle that strength reigned supreme was displayed in its most vivid form.

"My lord! The Xia Lan are a small faction that only developed in the last few years. I don't know why they provoked the Black Skull Tomb, but they've been hunted for over half a year. Yet, those Xia Lan are like the undying Chongming Bird; every time a group is wiped out, another appears. They've caused the Black Skull Tomb no small amount of losses, and now they are locked in a fight to the death!"

Yun Zimo waved his hand, and the man and his companion bowed as if granted amnesty before fleeing frantically, terrified that this Dou King might suddenly change his mind.

"Northeast, Black Skull Tomb!"

Yun Zimo stepped through the air, moving rapidly toward the northeast. With a wave of his hand, a cloud of mist as tall as a man appeared before him. After dashing through it, his appearance changed drastically.

Wearing a bamboo hat and a mask, dressed in black martial attire with a long sword at his waist, the Xia Lan cloak snapped in the wind...

"Brothers, hold on a little longer! Reinforcements, reinforcements are almost here!"

The youth in green, covered in blood, knelt on one knee. Even as he spat out blood, he still shouted to the others.

"Ren Xia! Give up the resistance! For a Dou Ling to hold out against us for this long is already impressive. You cannot escape. We have been preparing for this encirclement for nearly half a year, hahahaha!"

Looking at the two Dou Kings in the sky with their mocking expressions, Ren Xia's face darkened. Could it be that there was a traitor among the Xia Lan?

"Fight for the sake of chivalry, nine deaths without regret!"

Ren Xia let out a loud roar, and the aura around his body began to surge violently!

"Fight to the death!"

Ren Xia's voice seemed to inspire those within the encirclement, and they shouted in unison, charging out with him.

"Stubborn fools!"

The bald Dou King's smile turned cold as he clenched his hand into a fist and smashed it into the ground.

"Earth-tier low-grade Dou Technique—Mountain-Shaking Fist!"

Dark yellow Dou Qi condensed on his fist, and cracks spread across the earth beneath his feet. The ground collapsed over a large area, and many Xia Lan, whose strength was still low, lost their footing and fell into the massive pit.

"Go down!"

The lewd-faced wind-attribute Dou King spoke in a shrill voice. With black-green Dou Qi coating his body, he moved with incredible speed, striking the heavily wounded Ren Xia into the deep pit with a single palm.

"Ren Xia, one last chance! Surrender and live!"

"Surrender your grandmother! The Commander will avenge us!"

Ren Xia cursed loudly and then burst into laughter.

"Stubborn to the end, what kind of bullshit Commander..."

The bald man raised a hand, and a circle of Ghost-Faced Men holding heavy crossbows appeared around the pit, their bolts glinting with a cold, lethal light.

"Commander, Xia... I have failed your trust..."

Ren Xia smiled bitterly to himself as his Dou Qi suddenly began to turn violent, and faint, illusory wings of Dou Qi began to condense on his back.

A curtain of firelight expanded, blocking the majority of the crossbow bolts. Ren Xia's figure shot into the sky, his Dou Qi wild and sharp as his body began to swell rapidly.

"Not good! He's going to self-destruct!"

The wind-attribute Dou King shouted after instantly fleeing more than ten meters away, his figure not stopping for even a second as he retreated at top speed.

The self-destruction of a peak Dou Ling was something even they, as Dou Kings, dared not withstand at the center of the blast.

"Whoosh!"

A black figure streaked past the frantically retreating crowd, appearing in mid-air in the blink of an eye. With a single finger, he tapped Ren Xia's chest, then rapidly tapped several major acupoints to seal his circulation. Ren Xia's body instantly deflated like a punctured balloon, though he spat out a mouthful of blood due to the churning energy within him, and several bloody holes burst open on his back.

"Com... Commander!"

At the final moment before Ren Xia lost consciousness, he seemed to see the mask he had missed a thousand times over...

After handing Ren Xia over to those at the bottom of the pit, Yun Zimo leaped to the edge of the crater. Seeing the Ghost-Faced Men of the Black Skull Tomb cautiously approaching, the corners of his mouth curled up beneath his mask.

He flashed forward, appearing before the bald Dou King who was standing in a defensive stance. Leaping into the air, he slammed a heavy fist into the earth-yellow shield of light.

Yun Zimo stood with his body tilted, the hem of his black robe fluttering slightly, while the bald Dou King's Dou armor shattered. The man was sent flying backward like a cannonball for hundreds of meters, carving a deep trench into the earth.

"Dou... cough, how is this possible!"

The bald man struggled to climb to his feet, but Yun Zimo was already before him. He slammed a fist into the man's right eye. Even though a Dou King's body was reinforced to a certain degree, Yun Zimo's punch caused the corner of his eye to burst, leaving his vision a sea of red as he collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony.

"Kill those Xia Lan!"

The wind-attribute Dou King who had finally regained his senses shrieked, yet instead of pursuing Yun Zimo, he unfurled his Dou Wings and shot into the sky, fleeing toward the distance.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Yun Zimo moved like a gentle breeze, weaving through the Ghost-Faced Men. After a mere breath, he soared into the sky, his blood-dripping sword held firmly in his hand.

The bald Dou King's eyes were filled with overlapping phantoms, and the bodies struggling and writhing on the ground below looked like wailing, vengeful ghosts.

"Damn it, I'll fight you to the death!"

Hearing the sound of air being torn apart drawing closer behind him, the wind-attribute Dou King produced two sharp spikes and suddenly spun around, parrying the sword in Yun Zimo's hand.

"Ah!"

The spikes were knocked from his grip. The wind-attribute Dou King was horrified to discover that this man seemed to possess infinite strength. Seeing the longsword thrusting straight for his chest, he raised his arm to deflect the blade, letting it graze his chest before he immediately accelerated to flee.

"Wind Whisper Arrow!"

Seeing that the erratic, fleeing Dou King was already far away, Yun Zimo did not pursue further. He clenched his left hand slightly, and a sky-blue longbow manifested in his palm.

Three spiraling wind-attribute arrows tore through the void, reaching the wind-attribute Dou King in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it, what kind of freak is this?!"

He forced his body to twist, allowing the arrows aimed at his heart and head to pierce his shoulder and left chest instead. As for the third arrow, he had no choice but to let it pin his thigh.

"No!"

A blade-like spiral hurricane erupted. The wind-attribute Dou King was terrified, but the hurricane had already shredded his left side. The intense pain nearly caused him to lose control of his Dou Wings.

"Can you escape?"

A calm, cold voice rang in the wind-attribute Dou King's ear. A flash of sword light crossed his vision, and in the final moment before being swallowed by darkness, a dark red ghost mask became the only image in his eyes...

"Ah!"

Returning to the ground, Yun Zimo looked at the bald Dou King, who was still fighting the air, and glanced at the messy ground that looked as if it had been plowed by him.

He shook his head and snapped his fingers. The wind and cloud Dou Qi remaining in the bald man's brain instantly detonated. The bald Dou King's body shuddered, and then he collapsed to the ground, bleeding from his seven orifices.

"Welcome back, Commander!"

Deep in the mountains of the Black-Corner Region, in front of a cliff, stood a series of newly constructed buildings with a plaque hanging above the entrance.

"Jiuling Palace..."

In front of Jiuling Palace, Yun Zimo looked at the plaque and read it aloud softly.

Beside him, Ren Xia, covered in bandages, shouted loudly before bowing respectfully.

He then led the remaining Xia Lan to welcome Yun Zimo to the main seat in the palace, standing by Yun Zimo's side with none of the ruthless, suicidal determination he had shown earlier.

"I never imagined you would develop 'Xia Lan' into an organization!"

Yun Zimo's voice was low, yet it was filled with surprise and appreciation.

Ren Xia gave a shy smile and began to recount the history of his development of the Xia Lan.

Back when Yun Zimo had caused a scene in the Black-Corner Region and killed the Blood Butcher, the only surviving heir of the family wiped out by the Blood Butcher had knelt outside his lodging for three full days.

"I do not take disciples; you should leave."

Even though the heir tried to curry favor in every way—kneeling at the door or serving him hand and foot—Yun Zimo had no intention of taking him on as a disciple.

Yet, for some reason, the boy had insisted on serving by Yun Zimo's side for an entire month, performing the duties of a disciple with all his heart.

Perhaps it was out of being moved? Or perhaps it was the naive ideals the heir had accidentally revealed in his mutterings. Although Yun Zimo did not accept him as a disciple, he did teach him a few things.

"A hero (Xia) acts with justice. I bestow upon you the title of Xia Lan, hoping you will always remember the name of chivalry, with a heart like the clouds and mist, unswayed by worldly greed..."

At that time, Yun Zimo, still full of fantasies about the world and overflowing with youthful idealism, had bestowed the title of Xia Lan upon Ren Xia. On a whim, he had told him about his own modified version of Xia Lan, never expecting that Ren Xia would take it to heart.

After Yun Zimo left the Black-Corner Region, Ren Xia, fueled by that sliver of hope for the future, constantly searched for like-minded people. Eventually, they founded the Xia Lan together and honored Yun Zimo as the Commander of the Xia Lan...

"How will I find you in the future!"

Back then, Ren Xia had watched Yun Zimo's receding figure and couldn't help but shout, but Yun Zimo had merely waved his hand, his figure gradually disappearing from Ren Xia's sight...

Yun Zimo sighed softly. He never thought that a single whim of his would change the course of another person's life.

"It was you who brought us ideals and hope, making us understand that in this man-eating world, there are still people pursuing the future together. If not for you, perhaps we would have already sunk and vanished into this world..."

Ren Xia and the few Dou Ling subordinates below looked like devout believers, which always gave Yun Zimo the illusion that he was a high priest...

"Commander! The Black Skull Tomb Master has brought people to attack!"

A few days later, in Jiuling Palace, a Dou Grandmaster dressed in ink-black robes with a circle drawn on his forehead hurried in to report!

Upon hearing this news, Yun Zimo nodded slightly, as expected. Beside him, Ren Xia and the other high-ranking members remained calm, though flames gradually ignited in their eyes.

"So, they have finally come?"

After killing two Dou Kings from the Black Skull Tomb, Yun Zimo had been waiting for their retaliation for the past few days, but there had been no movement.

Now that they dared to come, they must have finished their investigation and discovered that he was the only Dou King present, leading them to arrive with inflated confidence to seek revenge!

"Ren Xia! Get your ass out here!"

"Do you dare kill our men but not show your face to me?"

"That helper of yours..."

"..."

Hearing the Ghost-Faced Man from the Black Skull Tomb hurling insults outside the mountain gate, Ren Xia and the other high-ranking members could hardly restrain themselves from rushing out, but Yun Zimo remained silent with his eyes closed, leaving them to pace back and forth in agitation.

It was not until a certain moment that Yun Zimo slowly opened his eyes, exhaled a soft breath, and smiled at the restless group below him.

"Let's go. Let's head out and see what kind of tricks this Black Skull Tomb, which spends its days keeping company with the dead, actually has up its sleeve..."