Travel Along the Way

"Come on, Zi Yan." Xiao Yan looked at the purple-haired young girl with the childlike face standing opposite him.

Zi Yan giggled at the eager Xiao Yan. "Remember to pay me after we're done."

With that, she threw a punch straight at Xiao Yan, carrying terrifying brute force. Even the naked eye could barely catch Zi Yan's fist shadow. The air before her was compressed by that dreadful punch into an air cannon that shot toward Xiao Yan. Even a peak Dou King would have to treat this blow cautiously. Thunder rumbled from Xiao Yan's body, and his figure became somewhat illusory. The Xiao Yan struck by the air cannon slowly faded away—it was an afterimage created by Three Thousand Lightning Movement.

Zi Yan laughed at the dodging Xiao Yan. "Watch me beat your pants right off today!"

Xun'er could not help laughing when she heard that.

Punch after punch struck out with terrifying force. The three of them stood atop the back of a fifth-tier magical beast, a Flood Armor Vulture, so the space was naturally far from spacious. Yet the thunderous sounds around Xiao Yan grew louder, and afterimages crackling with lightning appeared one after another before being shattered. Xiao Yan's movement speed was astonishing, but he had suppressed his Dou Qi to the peak Dou Spirit level. As time passed and his Dou Qi supply became insufficient, his speed gradually slowed.

Seeing this, Zi Yan became even more playful, and her punching speed suddenly increased. Each punch was merely an ordinary swing, but combined with her terrifying brute strength, it was almost comparable to a Dou Technique unleashed by a peak Dou King. The Inner Academy's King of Brute Force truly lived up to her name.

Xiao Yan's clothes were gradually shredded by the force of her blows. Of course, despite Zi Yan's fierce words, she still gave him some face and only targeted his upper body.

When the last scrap of clothing on his upper body was torn away, Xiao Yan's fist trembled as he directly met the air cannon and shattered it with a single punch.

Xiao Yan stood bare-chested, his muscles evenly defined. A terrifying strength no weaker than Zi Yan's lay contained within that body.

Xiao Yan looked toward the beautiful young woman standing nearby and asked, "How was that, Xun'er?"

"Four hundred and sixty-three punches. Brother Xiao Yan's control over his Dou Qi has improved again." Xun'er answered with a sweet smile.

Xiao Yan lightly tapped his storage ring, and several pills appeared in his hand before he tossed them to Zi Yan.

He had met this little girl in the Inner Academy. From the moment he first saw her terrifying strength, Xiao Yan had taken a liking to this gold-medal sparring partner. He later learned that she came from a terrifying magical beast lineage and needed to devour the energy within medicinal herbs in order to advance to the sixth tier. Yet raw medicinal herbs tasted awful, so Xiao Yan proposed that he provide tasty pills in exchange for Zi Yan accompanying him in training.

For the past three months, he had trained with her every day, gradually gaining control over his rapidly increased abilities. Lightning Flash of Three Thousand Lightning Movement was also nearing major mastery.

A month ago, the entire Xiao Clan had relocated to the Black-Corner Region. Xiao Yan had told Xiao Zhan, Xiao Ding, and Xiao Li about the family's current predicament, and they had all expressed their support for his decision. With his family's worries settled, Yao Lao decided that Xiao Yan should first leave Jianan. On one hand, he had yet to fully digest his rapidly increased strength; at this point, whether it was the Sea Heart Flame or the Fallen Heart Flame, both would do Xiao Yan more harm than good. On the other hand, the Fallen Heart Flame was of extraordinary importance to the Inner Academy. Yao Lao had said that retrieving it after some time would present no difficulty at all.

Xiao Xun'er also said she wanted Xiao Yan to take her away quickly. Once members of her clan arrived, she would have to return home. Thus, the two of them simply went to bid farewell to Elder Su Qian. Unexpectedly, seeing how close Xiao Yan and Zi Yan were, Elder Su Qian allowed him to take this little girl along as well.

Unable to stop worrying about Qing Lin, Xiao Yan took the two of them toward the Heavenly Snake Mansion. Along the way, Xiao Yan continued tempering himself.

Feeling his control over his body gradually approach perfection, Xiao Yan nodded in satisfaction. A true expert had to advance steadily, step by step. Greedily pursuing realms would only block one's own path forward.

Xiao Yan looked at Zi Yan and asked, "Did you find it?"

Zi Yan put her hands on her hips. "You still don't trust me? What we find today will definitely be good—the smell is very strong!" As she spoke, she patted the head of the Gale Vulture beneath them and urged, "Stupid bird, hurry up, or you won't get dinner!"

Zi Yan's lineage was extraordinarily terrifying and possessed powerful suppression over magical beasts. After the three of them captured this Flood Armor Vulture, which was comparable to a Dou King, it had never dared make any unusual moves.

The Flood Armor Vulture was extremely fast. Under Zi Yan's urging, it had already penetrated deep into the heart of this Magical Beast Mountain Range in half an hour.

"Stop, it's here. The one guarding the medicinal herb should be a big guy!" Zi Yan warned Xiao Yan.

"Roar!" A deafening roar rang out.

Xiao Yan smiled and leaped from the Flood Armor Vulture's back, looking down at the silver giant bear below, which stood five zhang tall.

"Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear. Judging by its aura, it should be close to breaking through to the seventh tier. The second stage of training today has some real weight to it." Yao Lao's voice sounded.

Using the momentum of his descent, Xiao Yan gathered Dou Qi into his right fist. His arm trembled as he gave a low shout, "Eight Extremities Collapse!"

The mountain-like Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear was knocked to the ground by a single punch, and cracks even spread across the earth. Having suffered a loss in the first exchange, the Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear rose to its feet. Silver light burst from its massive bear claws, and countless silver claw marks sealed off the surrounding space. Xiao Yan unleashed Three Thousand Lightning Movement to its fullest, weaving through the attacks. Fists, palms, elbows, legs, and head strikes rained down upon the Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear like a violent storm. As the king of magical beasts in this region, it had never imagined that it would be beaten back step by step by a mere human.

After a terrifying roar, blood burst from the Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear's right paw, and a claw mark three zhang long shot toward Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan actually felt that he could not evade it.

"It has grasped part of spatial power? Fine, then we'll meet force with force!"

Xiao Yan formed hand seals with both hands, and a handprint twice the size of the claw mark suddenly appeared. Even the surrounding space trembled because of it.

Mountain Opening Seal!

The claw mark and handprint collided, unleashing a terrifying clash of energy.

Even the Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear felt some fear as it watched the energy fluctuations. This human was far too terrifying.

But the instant that thought appeared, an even more ancient yet more dangerous seal emerged from the center of the energy collision. After that, the Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear knew nothing more.

The Flood Armor Vulture landed from the sky. Zi Yan jumped down and smashed apart the mountainside with one punch. Two pure white fruits hung within the rock wall, releasing a wondrous fragrance. There was no flesh inside the fruits, only pure white liquid. Xiao Yan walked over and smiled. "Not bad luck. White Fragrant Berries needed for a seventh-tier pill."

He carefully harvested them and placed them into a jade box. He already had more than thirty portions of such precious ingredients. Relying on Zi Yan's senses and the Flood Armor Vulture's speed, he had been gathering high-grade medicinal herbs everywhere. His days had been quite fulfilling lately.

Xiao Yan cut off all four bear paws and handed them to Zi Yan. "Go wash these. We're eating bear paws tonight."

Zi Yan frowned. "Why do I have to wash them today? Are you abusing a child?"

Xiao Yan counted on his fingers. "I killed the bear, Xun'er will cook later, so isn't it only natural for you to wash them?"

Zi Yan gave a light snort and reluctantly carried the bear paws, each larger than she was, toward the river. But when she heard Xiao Yan say that he would add five more pills tomorrow, she immediately took off at top speed.

Xun'er looked at Xiao Yan. "Brother Xiao Yan, why are you teasing Zi Yan again?"

"This little brat said she was going to beat my pants off. Shouldn't she be punished?"

That evening, in the Dark Silver Terrorclaw Bear's territory, Xun'er roasted strings of bear paw meat over the campfire. The tempting aroma and sizzling sounds constantly teased their taste buds. One person and one bird stared wide-eyed at the roasting meat. The bird was the Flood Armor Vulture, and the person was naturally Zi Yan.

"Xun'er, your cooking is really good. Some lucky person is going to be blessed," Zi Yan said.

Xun'er looked at Zi Yan. "Fine, fine. You'll get the first piece later."

Her intentions exposed, Zi Yan stuck out her tongue.

Suddenly, an unpleasant voice rang out. "Who took this young master's White Fragrant Berries? Get out here!"