Heading to Hurricane Valley, Zhang San the Outlaw

A week later.

Xu Qianqian had already left Notting City.

The slowly moving carriage traveled along a remote mountain road outside Notting City, and several days passed like this.

Suddenly, the moving carriage came to a stop.

Seated inside the carriage, Xu Qianqian's eyelids fluttered slightly as she silently sighed, So he finally couldn't hold back.

Still, this place was deserted—a fine spot for murder.

"Miss, it's time for you to get out," a somewhat flippant voice called from outside the carriage.

"Is that so? Then thank you for your hard work, Mr. Zhang San." Xu Qianqian stepped down from the carriage and looked around.

Dust and sand swirled across the rugged mountain road, while the bushes on either side swayed gently.

Douluo Continent had not yet been developed much, and much of its terrain remained in a primitive state.

These forests and mountains had generally been cleared out by Spirit Hall. There were no high-level spirit beasts, at most ordinary wild animals and spirit beasts that had only just crossed the ten-year threshold.

"There's no village ahead and no inn behind." Xu Qianqian revealed a puzzled expression as she looked at the young man several meters away, his face wearing a sinister smile. "Mr. Zhang San, shouldn't you explain yourself?"

"I gave you five hundred gold coins, and Hurricane Valley, where I wanted to go, doesn't seem to be here."

"Hahahahaha!" Hearing her naïve words, Zhang San burst into laughter.

"Miss, I, Zhang San, have another resounding title—Zhang San the Outlaw."

"You want to make a move against me?" Xu Qianqian's expression changed drastically. "Don't do anything rash. My adoptive father is Xiao Yuanshan."

"This isn't Notting City. The sky is high and the birds fly free—what can City Lord Xiao do to me?"

As he spoke, he put on a strange grin and sized Xu Qianqian up. "Little girl, you're quite pretty."

"Before I kill you, how about I let you have some fun? I imagine the daughter of the City Lord's Manor has never experienced anything so wonderful before!"

"You lecher!" Xu Qianqian glared, her eyes wide. "You promised to take me to Hurricane Valley to pick windmill chrysanthemums as a birthday gift for my adoptive father, you..."

"Hahahahaha! You believed every word I said. Blame yourself for not bringing guards and secretly making a deal with me. Do you think my title of Outlaw is just for show?"

"Enough. Hurry up and take off your clothes!" Zhang San's face was filled with wickedness.

Xu Qianqian: "..."

Well, damn. So this was Douluo Continent?

There was no one around, sure, but they were right on the road! Was he really this wild?

Seeing that Xu Qianqian remained motionless, Zhang San grew impatient. "Looks like you're unwilling. Then I can only..."

The two were only four or five meters apart.

An eighteenth-level soul master had no trouble dealing with a little girl with no soul power.

Zhang San raised his hand and grabbed at Xu Qianqian.

"What a pity!" The instant Zhang San saw the smile curling at Xu Qianqian's lips, every hair on his body stood on end.

An overwhelming pressure descended like Mount Tai bearing down on him. He was even a step too slow to release his martial soul.

Move!

Scht—

The sound of a sharp weapon tearing through flesh.

Zhang San tasted the scarlet tang of blood in his mouth. Instinctively, he clutched his neck with both hands as muddy, bloody fluid spurted through the gaps between his fingers.

His eyes were full of disbelief.

"You... you..."

Blood dripped from the tip of the dagger. Xu Qianqian watched quietly, then turned toward Zhang San, whose eyes bulged from their sockets, and spoke in an even tone.

"I know what you want to say. That's right... I sought you out on purpose."

"After all, I don't want anyone to know where I came to—not even my adoptive father."

"That's why I specifically found you, Zhang San the Outlaw."

"Why would a little girl who isn't a soul master give you a large sum of money to escort her here without even bringing guards?"

"There was only one purpose: to hope someone would rob her of money—or rob her of something else!"

"Either one would do. I was running a sting operation, after all."

As soon as Xu Qianqian finished speaking, Zhang San spat out a mouthful of blood, rolled his eyes back, and collapsed unconscious.

They called it fainting, but given how fast the blood was spurting from his artery, he was basically never waking up again.

Xu Qianqian walked over to the carriage, took out a can of oil, and splashed it over him from a distance.

Then she lit it...

The fire sizzled for who knew how long before it finally burned the man away.

Xu Qianqian let out a sigh of relief, then turned to glance at the carriage.

"Neigh—" The horse pulling the cart instinctively backed up several steps.

Xu Qianqian: "..."

I'm not that scary, am I?!

To avoid any accidents, Xu Qianqian figured the horse seemed to understand people well enough.

Without further hesitation, Xu Qianqian killed the horse too and staged the scene to look like it had been robbed by bandits.

After finishing everything, Xu Qianqian clapped her hands.

"Done. Now no one will discover that I ever came through here."

Xu Qianqian had brought enough dry rations to last her until Hurricane Valley.

As for what happened after she got there...

It was success or death.

Relying on her powerful senses, Xu Qianqian avoided several vicious beasts.

Before long, she arrived at the cliffs of Hurricane Valley.

Hurricane Valley had an exceptionally unique terrain. Several valleys connected together, forming an oval region.

Because of the terrain, the winds blowing in would settle within the valleys and linger for a long time without dispersing.

Over countless years, they had formed the strange natural spectacle before her.

"What a strong wind!" Xu Qianqian summoned her martial soul and, relying on its unique nature, stood atop the towering cliff.

Xu Qianqian waved her hand, and a small hurricane instantly formed ahead of her before swiftly plunging into the valley.

"It seems my martial soul is closely connected to the wind."

Her domain was Thousand Winds, Myriad Clouds, and even her sensory abilities were intimately tied to the wind's intensity.

After years of exploration, Xu Qianqian had—

more or less confirmed that her martial soul might be tempered in places of powerful wind, perhaps even giving her a chance to gain soul power.

"Chronicle of Time, a thousand winds and time."

Xu Qianqian thought of a game she had played in her previous life. It might not be the same, but she had no better method.

She had to obtain soul power as soon as possible. If she waited another few years for her body to fully mature, cultivation would become extraordinarily difficult.

"Wind is formless; clouds give it shape."

Standing on the cliff, she looked down below.

The roar of nature's fury thundered in her ears. Mountain winds howled past, stirring up fierce storms throughout the valley.

The air was thick with dampness as the wind spiraled and circled through the valley.

Even a massive boulder falling into it would be swallowed whole in the blink of an eye.

At the eye of the wind, where the violent gales gathered, the sky appeared exceedingly dark.

The clouds had been shredded by the wind, the sunlight blocked out, and an oppressive atmosphere rushed toward her.

"The world's vital energy is so violent. No wonder this place is so sparsely visited."

"Even thick-skinned soul beasts probably wouldn't want to stay somewhere like this for long." Xu Qianqian sighed.

She would jump from here and use the storms of Hurricane Valley to break through her limits.

"If I fail..."

There probably would not even be scraps left of her.

Xu Qianqian did not hesitate for long before leaping from the highest cliff.

Using the unique nature of her martial soul, she hovered in the air and flew toward the most violent part of the eye of the storm.

A stone shot straight at her, piercing through Xu Qianqian's arm. The tremendous impact left a round, bloody hole in it.

"Domain · Thousand Winds, Myriad Clouds."

"Open!"

Empowered by the wind, Xu Qianqian's domain expanded to a thousand meters in the blink of an eye and became exceptionally resilient.

The hurricane flung shattered stones in every direction, but under the influence of her domain, they veered away from Xu Qianqian.

After an unknown amount of time, Xu Qianqian reached the bottom of Hurricane Valley, the area where the raging winds were most severe.

She closed her eyes and sat cross-legged. The Book of Time martial soul floated motionlessly before her, while Xu Qianqian entered meditation.