An otherworldly young prodigy seemed to have been cast entirely from silver. Dazzling radiance enveloped his body, brilliant and blinding. Even his eyes were silver, glittering with an intimidating, undisguised sharpness. His long silver hair cascaded down like a river of stars pouring from the heavens.
He was a member of the Spiritual Silver Race, an exceptionally powerful race among the otherworldly peoples, also known as the Spirit Race. He gazed toward Xiao Tian and the others from afar but did not dare approach. Against a single powerful Human Race youth, he was confident he could suppress him with ease. But there was another one. If the two joined forces, even if he ultimately subdued them, he would be left covered in dust and dirt, making himself a laughingstock.
Why not join forces with that Nine-Headed Lion? Hadn't the Nine-Headed Lion taken a fancy to the Bear Child?
Then I'll take the other prodigy from the Heaven Mending Pavilion as my servant.
Elsewhere!
Xiao Tian's Sixth Calabash Brother's Body had also entered the Hundred Broken Mountains with his seven little followers from the Deer-Chasing Academy. They belonged to one of the earlier groups to enter and were teleported straight into a peach grove. Xiao Tian's expression changed. "Let's go. We're leaving. Nobody speak or resist."
The next instant, Xiao Tian reached out and swept all seven senior brothers into his hand. Their bodies shrank until each was the size of a soybean.
Fortunately, thanks to the connection between their minds, Sixth Calabash Brother could also use Da Wa's innate divine ability. He could not wield it as freely as the Da Wa body, but this much was still possible.
And because their minds were connected, the Sixth Calabash Brother's Body had now opened his eleventh Heavenly Grotto as well. Sixth Calabash Brother also possessed abilities such as the heavenly eye.
The next instant, the Sixth Calabash Brother's Body turned into a faint shadow and vanished, swiftly leaving the peach grove. If his guess was right, this was one of the most dangerous regions in the Hundred Broken Mountains—the monkeys' territory. A terrifying Divine Monkey King lived here, with cultivation at the array formation realm.
After Xiao Tian left, a troop of monkeys appeared where they had just been standing, utterly puzzled. They had clearly sensed unfamiliar presences intruding, yet when they hurried over, there was nothing.
Xiao Tian led the people from the Deer-Chasing Academy away, traveling thousands of miles to put distance between them and the Divine Monkey King's territory. He saw few precious medicinal treasures along the way; the monkeys had picked them all to brew wine. It was not yet time to go after the Monkey Wine, lest the Divine Monkey King go berserk ahead of time and interfere with his hunting.
They left the Divine Monkey King's territory far behind, traveling for an entire day and covering more than ten thousand miles.
Xiao Tian released his junior brothers and sisters from the Deer-Chasing Academy, then casually skinned a Five-Colored Deer and a Red Zheng he had hunted on the way, removing their internal organs.
The Zheng was a strange beast from Chinese mythology: on Mount Zhang'e lived a beast shaped like a red leopard, with five tails and one horn. Its cry sounded like stones striking together, and its name was Zheng.
-From "The Classic of Mountains and Seas: Classic of the Western Mountains."
These were two primordial remnants he had casually caught along the way. Xiao Tian had arrived too late; more than twenty Human Race geniuses had already been killed by the pair.
Now, however, Xiao Tian had avenged them. To finish quickly and keep moving, he had killed both primordial remnants in an instant. He had also picked six spirit herbs along the way. The Hundred Broken Mountains truly was a wonderful place-it felt as though treasures lay everywhere.
"Senior brother, what are those?"
Jiang Ming, a disciple of the Deer-Chasing Academy's supreme grand elder, approached and asked in surprise.
"I slaughtered them along the way while we were fleeing. The area we were teleported into was extremely dangerous-a death zone. It was marked on the map the dean gave us. I had no choice but to take you all and run. We covered ten thousand miles, running from morning until evening."
Xiao Tian explained.
"Thank you for saving our lives, senior brother."
Jiang Ming immediately thanked him solemnly.
He did not doubt him. Xiao Tian had no reason to deceive them.
The other Deer-Chasing Academy disciples also voiced their thanks. They had been terribly unlucky to be teleported straight into a death zone. Without Xiao Tian, none of them felt confident they could have survived.
The only drawback to separating the Calabash Brothers' bodies was probably that they could not share energy. Thus, for the Sixth Calabash Brother's Body to grow stronger, he needed to hunt. Whether Flesh-and-Blood Treasure Medicine or naturally grown spirit herbs, he needed increasingly better ones.
Soon, with two junior sisters from the Deer-Chasing Academy helping him, Xiao Tian finished preparing the food. One knew the Fire Cloud Sparrow Treasure Art, while the other knew the Fire Crow Treasure Art. Both were primordial remnant Treasure Arts of the fire element, making them suitable for tending the fire.
Another senior brother, who knew the Black Tortoise Treasure Art, was responsible for supplying water and washing things.
Xiao Tian was also doing this to let them feel involved.
Of course, without a pot, they could only roast the meat.
As for cooking, it was naturally simple cooking. He had brought only a little salt, so nobody would suspect the connection between his two bodies.
As for the hides, teeth, and such, Xiao Tian activated the Treasure Gourd Seal. A treasure gourd appeared above his head, gleaming with azure light and patterned with purple markings. It swallowed everything and refined it into a wisp of essence.
"Oh, it's ready to eat. Better to arrive at the right moment than to arrive early."
Just then, a youth with a Five-Colored Spirit Sparrow on his shoulder approached swiftly, surrounded by more than a dozen youths in brocade robes and armor. One of them spoke.
"A chance meeting is a bond of fate. Do you have any wine?"
By the time Xiao Tian sensed someone approaching, it was already too late. He could hardly just leave, either.
"Heh, aren't you getting ahead of yourselves? You've read too many storybooks and travel tales. This is the Hundred Broken Mountains Range, where the weak are meat for the strong. Since we're of the same race, and you've gone to the trouble of roasting this delicious food, we won't kill you. Leave immediately."
A silver-robed youth stepped forward and said with a sneer.
"That's right. Leave now, before we change our minds."
A youth in bronze armor spoke coldly.
"Hahaha! Since you haven't taken things to the bitter end, I'll say the same to you. Hand over that Five-Colored Spirit Sparrow immediately, then get out of my sight. Otherwise, die."
Xiao Tian stood up, laughing as he shook his head.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp!"
The brilliantly colored sparrow had long since developed intelligence and could understand human speech. This was not Xiao Tian's first encounter with the vicious bird, which devoured people at the slightest provocation. Half a month earlier, if Xiao Tian's Da Wa body had not happened past and stopped the Fierce Bird, it would have swallowed more than twenty people in one gulp.
The next instant, the Five-Colored Spirit Sparrow took flight and opened its beak wide. Mysterious five-colored runes swirled, forming a terrifying vortex that swept toward Xiao Tian.
Xiao Tian leaped lightly, ignoring the Five-Colored Spirit Sparrow's attack. In an instant, he appeared before the bird, seized its head, and squeezed gently. The Five-Colored Spirit Sparrow died on the spot.
"Stop!"
At the same time, the white-robed youth leading the group panicked and shouted. Five-colored treasure light flowed around him as he unleashed a Treasure Art of the Five-Colored Peacock Race, another primordial remnant Treasure Art. It formed a Five-Colored Divine Light Sword that shot straight toward Xiao Tian's head.
"Trash that isn't even a primordial remnant."
Xiao Tian spoke indifferently. Silvery-white divine light flowed like water over his hand. He extended two fingers and caught the Five-Colored Divine Light Sword between them. With a slight tremor, the Five-Colored Divine Light Arrow shattered into dust.
Immediately afterward, Xiao Tian let out a long cry, unleashing the Pulao Treasure Art. A sound like a dragon's roar and a frog's croak rang out.
Behind him appeared a lifelike monster with a dragon's head and a frog's body, covered in silver dragon scales, its four limbs ending in dragon claws. It opened its mouth slightly, and the sound resounded like mighty bronze bells, deafening enough to pierce metal and split stone.
When the sound faded, all the dozen or so Human Race youths who had just arrived were bleeding from their seven orifices. Their internal organs, and even their brains, had been shaken into fragments.
A gust of wind blew past, and their bodies crumbled to dust as though weathered by the erosion of countless ages.
Clatter!
Their treasure artifacts fell to the ground. Xiao Tian activated the Heaven Mending Pavilion Sacrificial Spirit Treasure Art, manifesting a treasure gourd that refined the Five-Colored Spirit Sparrow's corpse into essence.
Then he gathered the treasure artifacts and tossed them into the Heavenly Grotto between his brows. Once he met up with the Da Wa body, he would have Seventh Brother's purple treasure gourd refine them.
Or he could give them to his clan. These were all treasure artifacts and could bolster the foundations of the Xiao Clan's younger members.
The reason Xiao Tian had chosen the Deer-Chasing Academy was that he did not want to bring disaster upon the Xiao Clan while he was still weak.
First, his parents, grandfather, grandmother, and other relatives were all in the Xiao Clan.
Second, he really had used a great deal of the Xiao Clan's cultivation resources, some of which clan members had risked their lives to obtain.
That being so, he could not join the Heaven Mending Pavilion under the name Xiao Tian. It would bring calamity upon the Xiao Clan.
He had also borrowed quite a few spirit herbs from the Deer-Chasing Academy when opening his eleventh Heavenly Grotto. Repaying what one borrowed was a virtue. This time, he would gather as many spirit herbs as possible to bring back.
"All right, let's eat. Once we've eaten and drunk our fill, we'll hurry off to search for opportunities."
Xiao Tian said.
Elsewhere!
The Spiritual Silver Race genius had encountered a Golden Horn Race genius. The two hit it off immediately and planned to join forces to hunt the Heaven Mending Pavilion's Human Race geniuses and take them as servants.
The Golden Horn Race genius in particular was immensely powerful. When he entered, he had actually been accompanied by four maidservants and twelve guards, all Human Race geniuses who had opened at least five Heavenly Grottos. Now, however, they had become his servants.
The two powerful youths from ancient otherworldly races came together.
Meanwhile, Xiao Tian had just found an opportunity to send out his Seventh Brother's Clone. One more of him meant one more chance to gather good things.
As a result, the Seventh Brother's Clone had traveled only a little over three hundred miles before a group surrounded him. The two leaders were humanoid. One had fine silver scales covering his body, though his face was unscaled and exceptionally handsome, with peach-blossom eyes and long silver hair.
Xiao Tian had seen the other on the street before: the otherworldly young genius with a golden horn, purple hair, and vampire fangs who had declared that he would take Shi Hao as his servant.
"You dare venture into the Hundred Broken Mountains alone. It seems you're a Human Race genius too. I'll give you a chance: become my servant."
The golden-horned youth looked at Xiao Tian's Seventh Brother's Clone and spoke with satisfaction.
The Seventh Brother's Clone had taken on Xiao Tian's face from his previous life. His looks were above average, and he stood 1.75 meters tall. Overall, he was unremarkable, just an ordinary person in a crowd.
"I'll give you two a chance as well. Become my servants."
Xiao Tian said with a gentle smile.
"Excellent. I like unruly subordinates best."
The golden-horned otherworldly youth said.
"Jin Jue, you already have so many followers. How about leaving this one to me?"
Just then, the Spiritual Silver Race youth stepped forward and spoke.
He belonged to an ancient otherworldly race and carried royal blood, making him exceedingly noble. Moreover, he had already opened eight Heavenly Grottos and considered himself no weaker than anyone.
"Very well. This Human Race member is too ugly anyway. He doesn't quite meet my standards for a servant."
The Golden Horn Race youth remained composed, casting a sidelong glance at Xiao Tian as he spoke.
Xiao Tian: "..."
(End of chapter)
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