"Teacher!"
Sensing how fast the black-robed figure was flying behind him, Xiao Yan called out urgently in his mind.
That black-robed figure was a Dou Huang expert. Xiao Yan could not match her flight speed.
"I know. Let me control your body for the rest of the flight."
With a helpless sigh, Medicine Elder wrapped Xiao Yan's body in powerful soul energy. The Purple Cloud Wings on his back widened and lengthened.
Xiao Yan abruptly sped up, widening the gap between himself and the black-robed figure once more.
"Why not hide in the Portable Space?"
"You had to take a wisp of Green Lotus Core Flame and flee right under Gu He's nose. Of course he'd chase you. Why put yourself through this?"
Medicine Elder asked, puzzled.
"If I hid in the space, I'd be safe, but the Snake-People Tribe at the temple would clash with Gu He and the others when they stayed behind to search for the Heavenly Flames. The tribe would suffer terrible losses."
"By showing myself and drawing Gu He's group away, I can spare the tribe some casualties."
Freed from controlling his flight, Xiao Yan felt much more at ease. He smiled as he answered Medicine Elder.
"There isn't even the first stroke of a romance between you and Medusa, yet you're already thinking of her people?"
Medicine Elder was nearly speechless.
"Heh. Love the house, love the crow. If I can protect even a few of the Snake-People Tribe, I will."
Xiao Yan chuckled.
At that moment, Xiao Cai, asleep beneath Xiao Yan's sleeve, suddenly opened her snake eyes. A glimmer flashed through them before she closed them again, smacked her lips a few times, and fell back asleep.
Medicine Elder said nothing more. The black-robed figure was pursuing them closely, and he had to devote all his attention to controlling Xiao Yan's flight.
Since advancing to Da Dou Shi, Xiao Yan had activated the Woeful Poison Body and absorbed some of the Green Lotus Core Flame that very day. He was now a Two-Star Grand Dou Master.
With Medicine Elder possessing Xiao Yan's body, he could wield the strength of a Two-Star Dou Emperor.
Judging by her aura, the black-robed figure behind them was stronger than a Two-Star Dou Emperor. Her wind-attributed Dou Qi gave her an even greater advantage in speed.
Medicine Elder could not afford to take her lightly.
Two dark figures streaked across the sky above the desert, one fleeing and the other pursuing. The powerful currents stirred by their flight carved a broad trail through the sand.
But with nothing to block the wind in the desert, sand blew far and wide. The broad trail was soon buried and became indistinguishable from the ground around it.
That was why it was so easy to lose one's way in the desert: the terrain looked the same everywhere.
The black-robed woman watched the figure flying ahead, her fine brows drawing together. His speed suddenly increased, yet not a trace of Dou Qi escapes him as he flies. How strange.
When did a powerhouse like this appear in the Tagor Desert? I can't drag this out. The desert weather changes quickly; if a sandstorm rises, I could easily lose him.
As she thought, the black-robed woman picked up speed again. I can attack from five hundred meters. Just a little closer. Faster.
She stepped against empty air, sending a ripple spreading outward. Her figure flickered strangely and vanished.
When she appeared again, she had crossed more than a hundred meters.
A pair of snow-white hands emerged from her black robe and rapidly formed strange seals. Her cool voice rang out:
"Wind Spiral Wall!"
The air dozens of meters ahead of Xiao Yan suddenly warped, and a solid wall formed entirely of raging wind sprang into being.
Countless wind blades spun madly within it. A branch as thick as a child's arm flew in from somewhere and was sucked into the wall, where the whirling blades instantly shredded it into countless fragments.
Sensing the danger, Medicine Elder brought Xiao Yan's body to a halt just a few meters from the wind wall.
Behind him, the black-robed woman caught up.
"Hand over the Heavenly Flames."
The black-robed figure's cool voice was a woman's.
Xiao Yan glanced across the vast desert but saw no sign of Gu He or the others.
He had swallowed the Green Lotus Core Flame long ago.
They were now far from the Medusa Temple, and he could seize an opportunity to hide in the space at any time.
Besides, Medicine Elder could now wield the strength of a Two-Star Dou Emperor. With the Bone Spirit Cold Flame as well, leaving safely despite the Dou Emperor before them would not be difficult.
"Heh, woman, do you want this white Heavenly Flame or this green one?"
Hovering in the sky with his wings beating, Xiao Yan opened both palms. The Green Lotus Core Flame rose from his left hand, while the Bone Spirit Cold Flame burned in his right. He looked at the black-robed woman with a teasing smile, playing the river god as he spoke.
At the sight of the two Heavenly Flames the black-clad man had suddenly summoned, the cool eyes beneath the woman's hood narrowed with deep wariness.
"Since you already possess a Heavenly Flame, why not hand over the one you obtained from the Medusa Temple?"
"In exchange, I can give you two Sixth-Grade Dou Spirit Pills and one Seventh-Grade Transformation Pill."
A single Sixth-Grade Dou Spirit Pill could immediately raise a Dou Wang expert's strength by one star. Its value was enough to drive any Dou Wang wild with desire.
The Seventh-Grade Transformation Pill could let a sixth-rank magical beast take human form. With a human body, it would gain humanity's talent for cultivating Dou Qi while retaining a magical beast's long lifespan. No sixth-rank magical beast could resist such a temptation.
Xiao Yan shook his head at the black-robed woman's offer.
"Sorry, but this Heavenly Flame is important to me. If you want it, take it from my corpse."
With a cold shout, he put away the Green Lotus Core Flame, and the black Profound Heavy Ruler appeared in his hand.
Fire in his right hand and the Profound Heavy Ruler in his left, Xiao Yan pointed the ruler at the black-robed woman, looking ready for a fight.
The moment he gripped the Profound Heavy Ruler, the black-robed woman trembled slightly. Her chest rose and fell sharply beneath her robe.
After a moment of silence, she spoke, her voice faintly trembling.
"Go. Pretend I never caught up to you."
"Uh..."
Xiao Yan froze for a moment, then asked in surprise:
"It's a Heavenly Flame. You don't want it anymore?"
Seeing Xiao Yan clown around, the woman beneath the robe felt both angry and amused. Did he insist on forcing her to fight him?
"Get lost. Hurry up and take your Heavenly Flame out of my sight," she snapped, her voice trembling with emotion.
The black-robed woman's strange behavior gave Xiao Yan an odd feeling.
It seemed she knew him—and knew him well.
Just then, the black-robed woman looked toward the sky behind her, then turned to fly away.
"Gu He is coming. Leave, quickly. If they see me let you go, I'll have trouble explaining myself."
"Yun Zhi, is that you?"
Xiao Yan called out suddenly.
At the sound of his voice, the black-robed woman stopped abruptly in midair.
Xiao Yan was overjoyed. That confirmed it. The black-robed woman was Yun Zhi—Yun Yun, with whom he had practiced Dual Cultivation once in the Magic Beast Mountain Range.
"Yun Zhi, I, Han Li, have formed my Nascent Soul now. I don't have to explain myself to anyone."
Xiao Yan laughed aloud, delight spreading across his face.
From Yun Yun's reaction, he could tell she had feelings for him, and that made him very happy.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Get lost."
Yun Yun's figure flickered as she flew toward Gu He in the distance.
"Let's go."
Medicine Elder could not bear Xiao Yan's cheeky expression any longer. He took control of Xiao Yan's body and flew swiftly away.
Night fell beneath a silver moon hanging high in the sky.
A bitter wind swept through the desert. Xiao Yan strode across the sand with the Profound Heavy Ruler on his shoulder, humming a tune Medicine Elder had never heard.
Ever since parting with Yun Yun that day, Xiao Yan had been in a fine mood.
"Hm? What's this?"
Something pale yellow caught Xiao Yan's eye: a plant.
It grew at the foot of a dune and had a peculiar shape, like a long snake coiled up. Its top resembled a snake's head, with a fist-sized swelling upon it.
A strange fragrance wafted from the swelling.
"Sand Mandrake!"
To think he had found the Sand Mandrake Ice Emperor Hai Bodong needed right here.
Xiao Yan grinned from ear to ear. His luck today was incredible.
If anyone sold lottery tickets on the Battle Qi Continent, he would have gone and bought one.
Before you continue