Departure

On a huge open-air stone platform within the Divine Temple, a gentle breeze left one slightly tipsy.

"Are you leaving, little fellow?" Medusa walked over with her delicate brows slightly furrowed, her arms wrapped around her jade-like shoulders. Her eyes were filled with reluctance and longing for Xiao Yan.

"Yes, it's time to leave. Someone is waiting for me in the Jia Ma Empire." Xiao Yan smiled faintly.

"Sorry. I am the Snake-People Tribe's Clan Leader, so I cannot leave for now." Medusa tucked back the hair tousled by the breeze.

"It's fine. Come find me once you've settled everything on the Snake-People Tribe's side. Don't forget, our special Sensing Realm is still there." Xiao Yan pointed at the positions of his and Medusa's hearts.

"I'm leaving. Don't miss me too much." Xiao Yan stepped forward and pulled her lovely body into his arms, rising onto his toes as he prepared to kiss Medusa's smooth forehead.

Unexpectedly, a seductive smile suddenly appeared on Medusa's exquisite face. She pulled Xiao Yan into her embrace and held him tight, lowering her head slightly. Under Xiao Yan's bewildered gaze, her tempting red lips pressed directly against his, and she leaned into him.

"I won't."

After a long while, Medusa released the still-dazed Xiao Yan and wiped the silvery thread hanging from the corner of her lips.

"Um, Cai Lin, I'll be going now." Still utterly bewildered, Xiao Yan hurriedly spread his Purple Cloud Wings and shot into the sky.

A moment later, Xiao Yan suddenly flapped his Purple Cloud Wings and flew back.

"Um, Cai Lin, which direction was Stone Desert City again?"

Medusa pointed east with an odd expression. Xiao Yan then streaked away into the distance in an even more embarrassed rush than when he had first set off.

"Hah, I've finally returned to Stone Desert City." Xiao Yan withdrew his Dou Qi Wings and landed on the ground, looking at the three large characters on the distant city wall with emotion.

"Let's go into the city."

"Brother Xiao Yan!" The moment Xiao Yan returned to the backyard of the "Ancient Map," Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin, having heard the news, rushed over and clung tightly to him.

"Master, if you hadn't returned soon, I was planning to venture deep into the Tagor Desert to look for you," Hai Bo Dong said.

"You cultivate ice-attributed Dou Qi. Aren't you afraid Medusa will seal you again if you go to the Snake-People Tribe's territory?" Xiao Yan teased.

"Er..."

Embarrassed, Hai Bo Dong changed the subject. "Master, when are we leaving Stone Desert City?"

"In the next couple of days." Xiao Yan stroked Qing Lin's face, which had already turned red with shyness.

"Spend these next two days wrapping things up here in Stone Desert City. We'll leave in three days." Xiao Yan picked up the two little girls and prepared to head out.

"Yes, Master." Hearing that they would soon be returning to the Imperial Capital, Hai Bo Dong could not help growing excited as well.

Three days later.

Whoosh!

On a wide plaza in the northeastern corner of Stone Desert City, a massive Thick-Winged Bird slowly spread its wings and soared into the sky, stirring up a powerful gust.

Xiao Yan stood with his hands behind his back at the edge of the Thick-Winged Bird's back, his motionless figure clearly showing his formidable Dou Qi cultivation. Hai Bo Dong stood respectfully at his side without saying a word. Inside a small wooden house at the center of the bird's back, Xiao Yi Xian and Qing Lin cautiously watched the spectacular sight in the sky.

"The journey through the Tagor Desert has finally come to an end. I've obtained the first Heavenly Flame of origin, the Green Lotus Core Flame. This trip was worthwhile indeed."

Xiao Yan looked down at Stone Desert City as it grew smaller and smaller beneath him and sighed.

"And a beautiful snake woman," Yao Lao's voice suddenly drifted out from the Storage Ring.

"..."

Beside him, Hai Bo Dong stared at the bird's back beneath his feet, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, and thinking nothing.

After flying continuously for three days, Xiao Yan's group of four finally arrived at Black Rock City.

At the transfer plaza for aerial routes in Black Rock City.

Xiao Yan casually tossed a jade bottle to Hai Bo Dong. "Here. These are the Spirit Recovery Purple Pill and Imperial Extreme Pill I prepared for you. They're both inside. With these, you'll definitely be able to challenge the Dou Zong realm within two or three years."

"Thanks." Hai Bo Dong caught the jade bottle and finally offered his sincere thanks.

"This is the fragmentary map that records the location of a Heavenly Flame."

As if recalling something, Hai Bo Dong took a palm-sized fragmentary map from his clothes and handed it to Xiao Yan.

"Mm." Without even looking at it, Xiao Yan casually tossed the fragmentary map into his Storage Ring.

"What? If I hadn't given you the Spirit Recovery Purple Pill and Imperial Extreme Pill today, were you not planning to give me this fragmentary map?" Xiao Yan teased Hai Bo Dong.

"Er..."

"After I return, I'll notify the Miteer Clan to cooperate with the Xiao Clan's expansion within the Empire," Hai Bo Dong said, once again resorting to his topic-changing technique.

"Mm, that's thoughtful of you." Xiao Yan nodded.

After bidding Hai Bo Dong farewell, Xiao Yan took the two little girls and headed toward Wutan City, while Hai Bo Dong impatiently set off for the Imperial Capital he had not seen in many years.

When Xiao Yan returned to the Xiao Clan covered in dust from his journey, the clan was holding its internal grand competition.

On a stone platform in the Xiao Clan's Martial Arts Arena, two Xiao Clan members around ten years old were fighting back and forth, earning enthusiastic applause from the spectators below from time to time.

After dominating Wutan City and acquiring a large amount of resources, the Xiao Clan had indeed grown considerably. The two youths currently fighting on the platform had both reached the ninth stage of Dou Power. The Xiao Clan guards stationed around the arena were all Da Dou Shi.

The three elders seated at the head of the gathering, nodding from time to time as they watched, had all reached the high-level Dou Ling realm. As for Xiao Zhan, his aura was now deep and unfathomable.

Xiao Yan watched from above the Martial Arts Arena for a long while and saw only his eldest and second brothers, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, among the spectators. He did not sense Xiao Xun'er's presence.

"That little girl must have found somewhere quiet to hide and read again because she was afraid of the noise." Xiao Yan smiled helplessly.

Seeing that one round of the clan competition had ended and the next was about to begin, Xiao Yan knew it was time to descend. He immediately held the two little girls tightly in his arms and slowly descended with a flap of his Purple Cloud Wings.

"Father." Xiao Yan glided down beside Xiao Zhan on his energy wings.

"Who goes there?" Xiao Zhan, who had been calmly seated while watching the match, suddenly felt his heart tighten. He fully unleashed his aura, pressing it toward the mysterious person who had abruptly appeared before him.

"It's Yan'er." Realizing the misunderstanding, Xiao Zhan quickly withdrew his fierce aura and smiled foolishly.

"This aura... a Dou Wang? It seemed Father hadn't been idle during the time I was away. The Nirvana Pill Teacher left behind has come in handy." Sensing his father's fierce aura, Xiao Yan was overjoyed.

Xiao Zhan looked at his third son, the son who had never caused him worry since childhood, the son who had gone out to train with his teacher at the age of three. After a year and a half apart, he had finally returned.

"Yan'er." Xiao Zhan stepped forward and pulled Xiao Yan tightly into his embrace.

"Dou Qi Transformation Wings? A Dou Wang? How could you have advanced so quickly?" Only then did Xiao Zhan notice the Purple Cloud Wings Xiao Yan had just withdrawn.