Only after running more than a hundred li in one go did Xiao Yan finally feel at ease.
He had already used his soul power to conceal every trace of the Storage Ring's aura.
Presumably, that mysterious woman would no longer be able to track him.
Rubbing his hands together, Xiao Yan chuckled.
Time to inspect the spoils.
He extended his soul into the Storage Ring he had just acquired.
A single glance made Xiao Yan's breath catch!
Never mind how spacious it was-the real treasure was the mountains of gold coins, pills, and scrolls inside!
The pile of pills on the left had everything: Qi Recovery Pills, Healing Pills, Qi Gathering Powder!
Even the lowest-grade ones were third-tier!
Several bottles even contained sixth-tier pills!
On the right were neatly arranged scrolls of Cultivation Methods and Combat Skills. A cursory glance revealed Extreme Wind, Green Lotus Sword Art, Illusory Wind Movement Technique...
Every last one was at least Xuan-class!
And in the very center, countless gold coins were piled into what was practically a small mountain!
"Hiss..."
Xiao Yan sucked in a sharp breath!
This woman's wealth was definitely far greater than that of all three major families of Wutan City combined!
"We're rich! We really struck it rich this time!
Master, from now on, I'm going to let Xiao Yi Xian eat her poisons until she's stuffed! She's not allowed to stop until she's had six meals a day!"
Wild with joy, Xiao Yan began sorting the Storage Ring's contents without the slightest hesitation, transferring everything into his own Storage Ring.
Once he finished, he tucked the empty Storage Ring into his robes.
After seeing the wealth inside the ring, Yao Lao clicked his tongue in wonder as well.
"This young woman probably isn't an ordinary Dou Emperor. An ordinary Dou Emperor wouldn't have such substantial resources.
With so many cultivation methods in her ring, she might well be the master of a sect!"
Xiao Yan laughed. "The only major sect in the Jia Ma Empire is the Misty Cloud Sect. Surely we didn't just rob the Misty Cloud Sect Master?"
Yao Lao laughed too. "It's not impossible."
Xiao Yan waved a hand dismissively.
"Who cares? I didn't leave any traces. What, is she going to find me?"
Having counted his spoils to his heart's content, Xiao Yan found another cave to call home over the next few days and continued his training.
On this particular day, he set his sights on an Ironclad Rhino whose strength had reached the peak of the third order.
It was the strongest magical beast he could currently fight.
Xiao Yan unleashed his strength as a Seven-Star Great Dou Master and began battling the Ironclad Rhino without holding anything back.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, the Ironclad Rhino's massive body collapsed, but Xiao Yan had paid a considerable price as well.
His clothes were torn to shreds, his face was pale, and almost all the Dou Qi in his body had been exhausted. He was an arrow at the end of its flight.
At that moment, even a random first-order magical beast could have killed Xiao Yan!
Yet Xiao Yan was not worried in the least.
"Master, keep an eye on the surroundings for me. I'm getting ready to retreat."
Panting heavily, Xiao Yan called on Yao Lao to protect him as he withdrew.
Suddenly, Yao Lao's grave voice rang out.
"Someone is approaching rapidly. Their strength is around the Dou Ling level!"
Xiao Yan's expression grew serious as well.
With his Dou Qi exhausted and his entire body weak, he could no longer run. All he could do was sit up, put on a mask and a black robe, then seize every moment to regulate his breathing and recover.
"Let's see whether they mean well or ill first.
If they mean well, you don't need to come out, Master. If they mean ill, possess me and finish them off."
"Mm," Yao Lao replied.
Neither of them panicked. This was a plan they had prepared long ago.
The mysterious presence soon drew near.
At last, Xiao Yan could make out the newcomer's face.
But once he saw it clearly, he was stunned!
How did this woman find me?
A moment later, however, Xiao Yan suppressed his surprise.
He had not forgotten that they had never actually met face-to-face. She could not possibly recognize him.
To his surprise, the woman flushed the moment she saw him and said, "Sir, please return my ring!"
Xiao Yan's heart skipped a beat, but his tone remained bewildered and innocent:
"Miss, have you... mistaken me for someone else?"
"Sir, although I cannot sense the ring's aura, I am a wind-attribute Dou... Dou Ling. I am particularly sensitive to scents.
The cave where you hid, the black robe you left behind, and your body now all carry the same scent.
Please stop trying to deny it."
The woman was none other than Yun Yun.
At that moment, Yun Yun's heart held nothing but endless regret!
She had trusted her own strength a little too much!
And she had overlooked her weakness: her lack of actual combat experience.
As a result, she had recklessly come alone to challenge the Amethyst Winged Lion King, never expecting it to be so powerful!
Not only had it taken advantage of her poor response to inflict serious injuries, but it had also used a Sealing Technique to seal her strength at barely the Dou Ling level!
When Yun Yun woke up and examined her body, she knew someone had saved her.
And that person was most likely a man.
After all, he had removed her inner armor to apply medicine, but had failed to put it back on properly afterward.
Had her rescuer been a woman, she would certainly have known how to help Yun Yun wear it more comfortably. That was something every woman knew how to do.
Only a rough, clumsy man would think that simply getting it on was good enough!
This filled Yun Yun with shame and indignation!
Her pure body had probably already been seen by him!
Yet she could not even blame him!
After all, he had done it to save her!
Treating her wounds was one thing!
But he had actually stolen her ring!
That was something she absolutely could not accept!
It contained half the Misty Cloud Sect's accumulated reserves!
Fortunately, even a hundred careful precautions could leave one gap. Though he had concealed the ring's aura, he had forgotten to conceal his scent.
As a wind-attribute Dou Emperor, she was exceptionally sensitive to scents.
That was how she had followed his scent all the way here and found him.
After seeing Xiao Yan, Yun Yun felt secretly relieved despite her shame and indignation.
His cultivation was only at the Da Dou Shi level, and he was seriously injured. Recovering her ring should not be difficult.
Once that relief passed, Yun Yun saw that Xiao Yan was still trying to play dumb and realized that words alone would probably not resolve this.
Her body shuddered, and a wave of Dou Ling-level pressure surged toward him!
Xiao Yan immediately felt as though a mountain had settled onto his body. His legs went weak, and he nearly crumpled to the ground.
He could not help reflecting inwardly.
For all my countless calculations, I never accounted for her having a tracking method like this!
After spending so long in the cultivation world, he had been especially careful to guard against spiritual sense marks and all manner of secret tracking marks, only to forget the most primitive kind of mark-a scent!
Xiao Yan sighed.
Ah, I still need more experience! See? There's another lesson learned!
These two worlds are different, after all. Experience from one can't be applied wholesale to the other!
After sighing, Xiao Yan spoke with Yao Lao in his sea of consciousness:
"Master, what do we do in a situation like this? Would you say she means well or ill?"
Yao Lao hesitated for a moment before replying, "Though she doesn't mean well, this certainly doesn't count as ill intent either. In my opinion, if you don't want to return her things, you should just run."
Xiao Yan nodded.
Then let's run.
With Yao Lao there, he was not worried about his safety.
But first, he could not simply turn tail and run.
If he tried that, he certainly would not escape.
After some thought, Xiao Yan stalled for time while keeping his hands behind his back, secretly taking a handful of broken magic cores from his ring and scattering them on the ground.
This was a method he used to lure magical beasts in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Once magical beasts smelled the broken magic cores, they would gather of their own accord.
He needed to muddy the waters before he could seize a chance to escape!
Less than a minute after he scattered the magic cores, a beast's roar filled with primal lust and savage fury suddenly erupted from deep within the forest!
Xiao Yan was a little surprised. Why did one come so quickly this time?
Immediately afterward, the ground shook violently, and a giant ape over three zhang tall, covered in long black fur and sporting blood-red eyes, burst out of the forest!
It was actually a Demonic Lust Ape!
An early fourth-order magical beast!
Xiao Yan immediately understood.
This magical beast was lustful by nature and had an almost insane obsession with female creatures!
It had probably been following this woman the entire way. His magic core fragments had merely added flowers to the brocade.
The instant the Demonic Lust Ape appeared, those blood-red eyes locked onto the only woman present.
After letting out an excited roar, the Demonic Lust Ape's massive body shot straight toward the woman like a cannonball!
Yun Yun's expression changed at once!
Her injuries had yet to heal, and forcibly circulating her Dou Qi to pursue Xiao Yan had already pushed her to her limit!
Though she still possessed the imposing aura of a Dou Ling, it was nothing more than an empty facade.
Against this fourth-order magical beast, renowned for its strength and powerful physique, she stood absolutely no chance of winning!
Before you continue