Mist Mountains

"It's over."

Black Emperor grinned. Power erupted from within him, and the runes gathering on his dog paw shone brilliantly, like a blazing sun.

Under that dazzling radiance, the golden barrier steadily melted away.

The middle-aged man's expression changed in alarm. The unassuming black dog before him was actually a terrifying Fierce Beast. But by the time he realized it, it was already too late.

"Pfft."

Black Emperor brought his dog paw down, killing the middle-aged man outright. He turned his gaze to the gorgeous young man, who was scared stiff, and grinned. "Who were you going to kill?"

"I..."

The gorgeous young man's legs trembled. His face was full of terror, his lips quivering uncontrollably. "M-my lord, I failed to recognize Mount Tai. Please spare me! I'm a disciple of the Rain Clan."

"The Rain Clan?"

Black Emperor paused, remembering something. "That's the family the Double-Pupil's mother came from?"

The Double-Pupil was currently the most dazzling prodigy in the Desolate Region. The Double Pupil had been renowned since ancient times for never knowing defeat. Even though the current Double-Pupil had yet to mature, he was still enough to inspire awe in countless living beings.

"Yes."

The gorgeous young man hurriedly nodded. His terror disappeared; since the other party knew his cousin Shi Yi, he certainly wouldn't kill him.

"Pfft."

But before he could feel relieved, a black claw came down and smashed his head to pieces.

"The Rain Clan. Perfect. After offending them, they'll surely send experts here. Then I can take advantage of the chaos and escape."

A sinister smile spread across Black Emperor's face. I'm really too talented. How can I be this talented? Heh heh...

"Stupid dog, what are you grinning about?"

Su Ye reached out and slapped Black Emperor right on his big dog head, making him stagger. "Don't laugh 'heh heh' like that. People who usually laugh that way don't live long. And I only told you to get my things back. Who told you to kill people?"

How could he not know what that stupid dog was thinking? He simply hadn't expected the gorgeous young man to be a disciple of the Rain Clan.

He didn't have a good opinion of the Rain Clan. They were far too greedy and crazed—utterly devoid of humanity. The clan had originally had a glorious future ahead of it. After all, Shi Yi's mother had been born into the Rain Clan, and once Shi Yi grew up, they would surely rise along with him. But they had greedily tried to take Shi Hao's Supreme Bone, turning the brothers against each other. In the end, they had brought about their own clan's destruction.

They had truly brought it on themselves.

"They wanted to kill us. Were we supposed to just stand here and let them?"

Black Emperor protested. As a wild Fierce Beast, he was full of untamed ferocity. How could he tolerate anyone violating his dignity? He continued, "Besides, this guy was always threatening to kill people. If we'd let him go, who knows how many more people would have died at his hands? We have to root out evil completely. By killing him, I indirectly saved countless lives."

"Was that rooting out evil completely, or killing with a borrowed knife?"

Su Ye said with a smile.

Black Emperor's body trembled at his words. The other party had seen right through him. What was he supposed to do now? Was Su Ye going to kill him?

Su Ye continued, "All right, he's dead, so he's dead. If they really come looking... Anyway, I wasn't the one who killed him. Every grievance has its debtor. If I hand you over, it shouldn't have anything to do with me."

"Huh?"

Black Emperor's mouth fell open, his expression stunned. He felt as if he'd made a terrible mistake. He hurriedly said, "Boss, I'm your underling! You can't treat me like this! You have to help me. If they really kill me, they'll be slapping you in the face. Even when you beat a dog, you have to consider its master's feelings..."

Mist Mountains.

Although it was called a mountain range, it wasn't actually a mountain range at all. It was a vast region, shrouded in mist all year round.

Beyond that, when they looked up, they saw mountain peaks standing amid a sea of clouds. Each one was like a pillar holding up the heavens.

"Those mountains... They don't seem to be in this world?"

Su Ye gazed at the mountains in the distant sea of clouds. They seemed to be only a few hundred miles away, but he could tell they were illusory—like the sun and moon in the sky. They looked close, but in truth, they were impossibly far away.

"Those are phantoms, illusions like flowers reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water."

A figure approached and spoke. "There were once powerful figures who tried to climb those mountains hidden in the clouds, but they passed straight through them."

"They're fake?"

Black Emperor turned his dog head toward the speaker. The man looked extraordinary, dressed in magnificent robes and carrying himself with striking presence. A sharp, domineering aura showed between his brows.

"It's not quite right to call them fake."

The young man in the fine robes shook his head and looked toward the Immortal Mountain standing amid the sea of clouds. "They involve space. What we're seeing now is only a spatial projection, not the real thing. It's like the moon in the water: the moon reflected in the water is fake, but the moon itself is real."

"A reflection. An image cast upon something."

Su Ye understood. He looked at the young man in fine robes and said, "Thank you."

Although they had learned a little about the Mist Mountains in Heaven-Sealing City, they hadn't learned everything. Many of the secrets inside were held by powerful factions and weren't casually revealed.

"It's nothing. This isn't some great secret. If you're going into the Mist Mountains, be careful. There are many illusions and spatial rifts inside. The spatial rifts are especially dangerous. As far as I know, ordinary cultivators who get swept into one rarely make it back out.

"Of course, those aren't the most dangerous things. The most dangerous are the bizarre Evil Spirits. You're weak, so don't go too deep. Just wander around the outskirts."

The young man in fine robes spoke, then left at once, quite casually. To him, this was only a brief interruption, and he hadn't given it much thought.

The dangers inside the Mist Mountains came from three main sources. The first was the Fierce Beasts living there. They were unlike the Fierce Beasts outside. Since the Mist Mountains had once been an Ancient Battlefield, the region was saturated with baleful energy, and the Fierce Beasts living there all had something wrong with their minds.

The second was the spatial rifts. Because this had once been an Ancient Battlefield where the ancient gods had fought, leaving the heavens broken and the earth shattered, the Treasure Arts and Divine Abilities released by the gods had still not fully faded, despite the passage of countless ages. As a result, the space here had never completely healed.

The third was the bizarre Evil Spirits. They weren't living beings, but strange entities formed when the ancient gods died in agony and their obsessions refused to fade.

In simple terms, they were ghosts.

"Danger and opportunity go hand in hand. Danger is a good thing. Only then will good stuff be left behind. Otherwise, people would have cleaned this place out long ago."

Black Emperor said, gazing passionately at the Mist World before them. He felt that he would undergo a successful transformation here and escape his current state. Then... "Heh heh." He coughed and said, "Let's go in, too."

"Let's go."

Su Ye naturally had no reservations either.

Danger?

This world was full of danger. Even if you stayed quietly at home, someone might come knocking to kill you. It seemed that only the dead were free of danger.

A man and a dog walked into the mist, and their figures soon disappeared within it.