As dawn pierced the Misty Cloud Sect's white jade archway, Yun Yun was already standing before the mountain gates, straightening her robes.
Her plain white sect master's robes fluttered gently in the morning breeze, the blue-green cloud patterns embroidered at the collar seeming to flow with a life of their own. She gazed toward the eastern horizon, her brows faintly furrowed, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the sect master's jade pendant at her waist.
"Teacher, do you really have to go yourself?" Nalan Yanran's voice came from behind her, the girl's eyes filled with worry.
Yun Yun turned and brushed a stray lock of hair away from her disciple's temple. "Yanran, the three-year agreement is almost upon us. Though Xiao Yan once fell to rock bottom, he's already beginning to show his edge. Purple spirit crystal can help you break through your Dou Ling bottleneck. I must make this trip to the Magical Beast Mountain Range."
The purple spirit crystal she spoke of was a precious treasure born alongside the sixth-rank magical beast, the Amethyst Winged Lion King. It contained pure lightning and wind energy and was the main ingredient specified by Pill King Gu He.
Only the Wind-Thunder Barrier-Breaking Pill, refined using purple spirit crystal, could raise Nalan Yanran's strength in such a short time and ensure that nothing went wrong with the three-year agreement.
"But the Amethyst Winged Lion King rules the eastern mountains..."
Nalan Yanran bit her lip. The terror of a sixth-rank magical beast was enough to make any Dou Wang expert wary.
Yun Yun chuckled and took her disciple's hand. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."
She swung onto the Snow Lion, her white figure becoming a streak of light as she raced toward the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Three days later, in Thunderclap Canyon in the eastern Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Purple lightning exploded between the cliff walls, illuminating the silhouette of a colossal beast. Diamond-shaped amethyst scales covered the Amethyst Winged Lion King's entire body, and his spread wings spanned a full eighty feet. His mane resembled burning purple flames, and every breath sent electric light rippling through the air.
"Human, you dare trespass on my territory?"
The Lion King's roar shook loose a shower of stones from the cliffs, his purple slit pupils fixed on the white-robed woman before him.
Yun Yun hovered in midair, blue-green Dou Qi forming a protective barrier around her:
"Your Majesty, I'm willing to exchange ten stalks of demon companion grass for purple spirit crystal. I mean you no harm."
She held a jade box in her hands. The demon companion grass inside radiated a rich aura of vitality; it was the Lion King's favorite food.
The Amethyst Winged Lion King sneered, smashing a nearby boulder with his enormous paw. "You think a little demon companion grass can buy my Origin Crystal? Today, you'll taste the power of the Amethyst Seal!"
Before his words had faded, the Lion King beat his wings fiercely, sending countless purple crystal spikes shooting toward Yun Yun like a torrential downpour. Lightning coiled around every spike, and the air shrieked as they tore through it.
"Wind Barrier!" Yun Yun formed seals with both hands, turning her blue-green Dou Qi into a spinning wall of wind that blocked most of the crystal spikes. A few still pierced her defenses, grazing her shoulder and trailing beads of blood.
"As expected of the Misty Cloud Sect Master. Not bad."
The Lion King licked the blood from his claws, then abruptly vanished from where he stood.
Yun Yun's pupils contracted sharply. Years of battle instinct made her twist aside in an instant. A purple afterimage swept past almost flush against her waist, crashing into the cliff and leaving a crater over ten feet deep.
So fast!
Alarm gripped her heart. A blue-green longsword appeared in her hand out of thin air. "Wind Song, Thousand Blades!"
Countless streams of blue-green sword energy blossomed like a lotus, engulfing the Lion King. The crisp sounds of sword energy slicing through scales rang out one after another, but the Amethyst Winged Lion King's regenerative power far exceeded her expectations. Nourished by lightning, his wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Time to end this!"
The Lion King roared and reared upright. The amethyst on his chest suddenly lit up, and a diamond-shaped pattern of purple light flew out as though alive, transforming into an intricate sealing formation in midair.
No! The Amethyst Seal!
Yun Yun's expression changed drastically. This was the Amethyst Winged Lion King's most uncanny innate ability, capable of forcibly sealing an opponent's Dou Qi pathways. She burned her Dou Qi with every ounce of strength she had, her longsword becoming a streak of blue-green light as she slashed at the glowing pattern, but it passed straight through her attack.
The instant the purple sealing formation landed on Yun Yun, she felt as though every meridian in her body had frozen. Her Dou Wang-level Dou Qi dissipated like an ebbing tide, and a tearing pain erupted in her dantian. Worse still, the corrosive energy carried by the seal was spreading through her blood, snapping her meridians inch by inch wherever it passed.
"Pfft-" Yun Yun spat out a mouthful of blood and fell like a kite with its string cut toward the river at the bottom of the canyon. In the final instant before she lost consciousness, she saw the Amethyst Winged Lion King pick up the fallen demon companion grass in his jaws, his purple slit pupils brimming with mockery.
The river water was cold enough to bite into her bones, sweeping Yun Yun's body downstream. The rushing current tore her plain white robes into tatters. The dagger at her waist had long since disappeared, and only the sect master's jade pendant remained tightly clutched in her palm, striking the rocks with clear chimes as the current carried her along.
After drifting for an unknown length of time, Yun Yun's body caught on a dead log protruding from the water. She lay draped over it, her long hair floating loose in the river, mud and sand clinging to her pale face, her lips purple with cold. The purple seal markings flickered faintly at her neck, and every flicker sent violent tremors through her body.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yan was on a riverbank downstream, preparing a Fourth-Rank Greenwater Python he had just killed. Mysterious yellow flame danced in his palm, searing the python's skin with a sizzling hiss. The sound of fat dripping into the fire rang especially clearly through the silent mountain forest.
"Hmm?"
He suddenly looked upstream, his Dou Qi senses catching a faint trace of life. The aura was peculiar: it carried the fluctuations of human Dou Qi, yet was mixed with some kind of cold, sinister energy, and it was rapidly weakening.
Xiao Yan extinguished the campfire and followed the trail with the Black Iron Heavy Sword in hand. The farther upstream he went, the heavier the moisture in the air became, and he could faintly hear water striking rocks. Rounding a bend in the river, he saw the dead log and the white figure sprawled over it.
"A woman?"
He approached with a frown. When he made out the face hidden beneath her long hair, his pupils suddenly contracted.
Despite the mud and sand, despite her paper-white pallor, Xiao Yan recognized her at once-the Misty Cloud Sect Master, Yun Yun. The woman who, though absent from the ceremony where the engagement had been broken off, had always stood behind Nalan Yanran.
He reached out to check Yun Yun's breathing. It was so faint he could barely detect it. When his fingertips touched her skin, he felt a startling chill, along with an eerie, tingling numbness-the work of the purple seal's energy.
"This is... the Amethyst Seal?"
Xiao Yan had read about it in the Soul Hall's ancient texts. It was the Amethyst Winged Lion King's innate ability. "How did she end up beaten this badly?"
Seemingly sensing his touch, Yun Yun's eyelashes trembled with difficulty, and an indistinct moan escaped her lips. "Water... water..."
Xiao Yan hesitated briefly, then picked her up.
The body in his arms was astonishingly light. Her soaked robes clung tightly to her, outlining curves that were slender yet held a sense of strength. He could clearly feel the turmoil of the Dou Qi inside her and the purple seal slowly devouring her vitality.
"All right, then."
Xiao Yan sighed. Though he harbored resentment toward the Misty Cloud Sect, he could not simply watch someone die without helping. He took off his outer robe, wrapped it around Yun Yun, and carried her into a dry cave beside the riverbank.
After he lit a campfire, Yun Yun's features gradually became clearer in its glow. The purple seal markings at her neck flickered faintly with her breathing, like an eerie snake. Xiao Yan tried gathering mysterious yellow flame at his fingertip and gently touching it to the markings.
Hiss-
The instant the golden flame touched the purple seal, it made a sound like something frying in oil. Yun Yun convulsed violently, a muffled groan of pain escaping her lips, but the glow of the purple markings visibly dimmed.
It really works.
A thought stirred in Xiao Yan's mind. The purifying power of mysterious yellow flame was perfectly suited to countering this sinister seal. He controlled the flame's intensity, burning away the seal's energy little by little. Sweat soon covered his forehead-fighting the seal without harming Yun Yun's meridians demanded extremely precise control of his Dou Qi.
An hour later, the purple seal markings had finally faded until they were almost invisible. Yun Yun's breathing gradually steadied, and a trace of color returned to her face. Xiao Yan let out a relieved breath, took the last healing pill from his Storage Bag, and carefully fed it to her.
With everything done, he leaned against the cave wall and closed his eyes to rest, failing to notice Yun Yun's eyelashes tremble again. The campfire crackled, illuminating the two figures inside the cave, one unconscious and the other sitting in silent meditation. Deep within the danger-ridden Magical Beast Mountain Range, they formed a strange tableau.
As the night deepened, Yun Yun finally opened her eyes slowly. Flickering firelight and the rocky cave ceiling greeted her, while a faint scent of wood ash and a peculiar flame aura lingered at her nose. She moved her fingers and found that, although her Dou Qi was still sluggish, the tearing pain had disappeared.
"Were you the one who saved me?"
She turned toward the figure at the cave entrance. The young man had his back to her and was idly handling a Black Iron Heavy Sword, moonlight tracing his tall, straight silhouette.
Xiao Yan turned around, the shadow beneath the brim of his bamboo hat hiding half his face. "Now that you're awake, you can take care of the rest yourself. The Misty Cloud Sect is still three days away from here."
Yun Yun looked at the heavy sword in his hand, then recalled the aura of that purifying flame. Understanding suddenly dawned on her. "You're... Xiao Yan?"
The young man's movements paused slightly. He neither confirmed nor denied it, merely rising and walking toward the cave entrance. "The Amethyst Winged Lion King's territory is... You'd better leave as soon as possible."
Watching Xiao Yan's back as he was about to disappear into the night, Yun Yun suddenly called out, "Wait! Thank you."
Xiao Yan's steps paused briefly before he vanished into the dense forest. Yun Yun gazed in the direction he had gone, her fingers gently touching her chest-at some point, a warm Poison-Cleansing Pill had appeared there, its medicinal fragrance mingled with a faint aura of golden flame.
Outside the cave, Xiao Yan leaned against an ancient tree, feeling his depleted Dou Qi slowly recover. He looked toward Thunderclap Canyon, his brows faintly furrowed. "The Amethyst Winged Lion King... Perhaps this is an opportunity, too."
Mysterious yellow flame quietly lit up in his palm, illuminating the glimmer in his eyes.
What had originally been a journey to the Magical Beast Mountain Range for training alone seemed to have grown more complicated because of this unexpected encounter.
Far away in the Misty Cloud Sect, Nalan Yanran could never have imagined that, for the sake of her three-year agreement, her teacher had endured such a harrowing brush with life and death in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
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