After searching in several directions without finding any clues, Li Dalong began to grow anxious. He also felt that this place was becoming increasingly eerie. In an ordinary place, his current cultivation would have allowed him to search much faster, but here he had to proceed cautiously. Although the mist was gone, the range of his divine sense was still severely suppressed, reaching less than a third of its usual distance.
Once he had searched everywhere else, only the area along the rock wall to his right remained. Li Dalong began searching in that direction.
After traveling about 180 li, he spotted a deep mark left by a flying sword on the rock wall. Excitement surged through him. At last, Li Dalong had found something.
With a clue, things would be much easier. Li Dalong picked up his search pace and flew swiftly onward. About another 100 li ahead, he discovered another mark carved by a flying sword.
As long as Zhou Xue was all right. After finding another flying sword mark, Li Dalong could be certain that she was still alive. He accelerated again and flew onward.
He felt relieved, yet impatient. Only when he actually saw Zhou Xue could he put his heart at ease.
After flying another 200 li or more, he suddenly sensed fluctuations from explosions of spiritual power through his divine sense. Someone was fighting. Not good! Xue’er might be in danger! Judging by the intensity of those explosions, the battle was fierce.
Having pinpointed the location, Li Dalong flew toward the explosions of spiritual power without a thought for anything else, his heart filled with anxiety and worry. He knew he could only feel at ease when he was personally protecting Zhou Xue.
After flying some distance, Li Dalong finally reached the battlefield. The scene was a wreck. Deep craters covered the ground, and the surrounding trees had been shredded by sword qi and flashes of blade light.
Li Dalong's gaze fixed on the two figures locked in combat. A young woman dressed in white robes was fighting a bizarre creature. Its head was terrifying, with a pair of enormous red eyes gleaming with evil and cunning.
When it opened its mouth, it revealed a row of sharp fangs, each one laden with deadly poison. Its head looked somewhat like an enlarged snake's head.
Its body was somewhat monkeylike, covered in brown fur, but its limbs were longer than its torso. Long claws extended from its paws, glinting with a dark, chilling sheen.
The girl battling this bizarre creature was none other than Zhou Xue. She held a flying sword, its light flashing as she darted left and right to evade the monster's attacks.
When her flying sword struck back, even the occasional blow that landed on the bizarre creature could not effectively pierce its defenses.
Li Dalong was frantic. He knew Zhou Xue was in danger. Without hesitation, he charged into the battlefield, first condensing his divine sense into a sword and slashing it into the creature's sea of consciousness. Forming a sword formula with his fingers, he sent a streak of coldly gleaming sword light slashing toward it.
At the same time, he accelerated in an instant. With lightning speed, he wrapped Zhou Xue in spiritual power and pulled her to his side.
When Li Dalong unleashed his divine sense sword at the bizarre creature, it suddenly sensed an immense threat bearing down on it. Its attacks grew even more savage and ferocious. It swung its massive blade-like claws, trying to seize Zhou Xue.
But it was all futile. First, Li Dalong's divine sense sword shredded the creature's sea of consciousness, drawing a miserable shriek from its mouth. Then his sword light split it in half as easily as slicing tofu.
Only then did the stone weighing on Li Dalong's heart finally drop away. Zhou Xue was safe at last.
"Senior Uncle! You finally came to save Xue’er! Waaah..." While searching for an exit, Zhou Xue had encountered this bizarre creature. It had pursued her relentlessly until she fled here. She had thought she would die here today, never expecting her senior uncle to come and save her.
The terror and distress she had endured along the way made her burst into tears.
"It's all right, Xue’er. Don't be afraid. Your senior uncle is here." Li Dalong patted Zhou Xue on the head and spoke gently to her.
"Waaah, Senior Uncle, I thought I would never see Father, Mother, or you again." By now, Zhou Xue had begun to calm down, though she was still sobbing as she spoke to Li Dalong.
Seeing that Zhou Xue had calmed down, Li Dalong began examining her body. Sure enough, her injuries had not yet healed, and fighting the bizarre creature had aggravated them.
Li Dalong took a Supreme-Grade Healing Pill from his System Space and handed it to Zhou Xue, having her swallow it first. Then he guided his spiritual power into her meridians, beginning to regulate her disordered spiritual power and damaged meridians while directing the Healing Pill's medicinal power to repair her injured body.
Along the way, he used the pill's medicinal power and his own spiritual power to clear and widen some narrow or blocked passages within Zhou Xue's body.
This would allow Zhou Xue's spiritual power to circulate more freely in the future. She would convert Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy more efficiently, release spiritual power faster, and unleash greater explosive force. In short, the benefits were many.
Soon, with Li Dalong's help, Zhou Xue had fully absorbed the Supreme-Grade Healing Pill's medicinal power and began refining and assimilating it herself. Seeing that her injuries were under control and most of her damaged meridians and organs had been repaired, Li Dalong withdrew his spiritual power, leaving her to refine the medicinal power and absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy to heal herself.
Only then did Li Dalong have time to examine the bizarre creature he had just killed. Despite everything he knew and had seen, he had never encountered anything like it before, nor had he ever heard of anything so strange in the Cultivation World.
It had something like a snake's head and a monkey's body, with fur resembling a monkey's as well. Yet its limbs were longer than a monkey's, and its claws in particular resembled a crab's enormous pincers.
Moreover, its attack speed, offensive power, and bodily defenses were all formidable. Even Xue’er's all-out attacks with her Nascent Soul Realm cultivation had failed to inflict serious damage on it earlier. That alone made it clear how powerful this monster was.
Since I'm here, I might as well learn more about this place. After all, the Cultivation World has never had any information about the interior of Misty Canyon. This is a good chance to gather some.
The spiritual energy here is much denser than in the Righteous Qi Sect. If we could claim this place, the sect's prospects would be boundless!
Even if we can't claim it, developing it into a training ground for the Righteous Qi Sect's disciples would be excellent.
Ding! Would you like to begin check-in?
Just as Li Dalong was considering how to make use of Misty Canyon, the system's notification suddenly sounded in his mind.
"Check in."
Li Dalong responded instinctively.
Check-in successful. Congratulations, host. You have obtained the True Dragon Combat Art.
"Divine Dragon Combat Art! The name alone tells me it's a powerful technique."
"System, please introduce the Divine Dragon Combat Art to me."
The Divine Dragon Combat Art is an extremely mysterious and powerful martial art or combat technique, featuring unique moves and formidable offensive power.
Before you continue