Who Really Came Out Ahead

After finding the cave's location, Chen Xiao had more or less accomplished his most important goal in coming to Green Mountain Town.

However, because there were too many things inside the Stone Chamber, and because Magical Beasts kept harassing him along the way, Chen Xiao could only make one round trip a day.

As a result, he temporarily could not leave. If he did not empty out that Stone Chamber, it felt as if ants were crawling all over him.

He had considered returning to Wu Tan City first, going to Mitre Auction House to auction off a Storage Ring, then coming back and taking everything away in one trip.

The problem was that Storage Rings were rare items in Wu Tan City. They were not something one could buy every day, and even during the auction sessions at the beginning and middle of the month, they sometimes did not appear at all.

So rather than go back and try his luck, it was better to be more practical and make a few more trips to the Magical Beast Mountain Range. That would actually save more time.

It was worth mentioning that over the next few days, Chen Xiao made several trips to Black Flame City, the city closest to Green Mountain Town, and exchanged those bags of gold coins for a Four-striped Platinum Card.

The Four-striped Platinum Card was a gold card used across the continent, the highest-grade card that anyone below the Dou Ling level could apply for. The threshold was a deposit of over one hundred thousand gold coins.

As for the higher-level Five-striped Purple-Gold Card, one needed the strength of a Dou Ling to be qualified to apply for it.

Of course, if you had a transcendent power backing you, that was another matter.

After all, rules existed to be broken!

(The Purple-Gold Card was explicitly mentioned in the original work, not made up.)

Within the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

With one slash, Chen Xiao cleaved the attacking Azure Wood Wolf in two. After checking it and confirming there was no Monster Core, he immediately lost all interest.

In the past, after killing a Magical Beast, he would bring the most valuable parts back to Green Mountain Town to sell. Now, though, there was no need for that at all.

His bundle had limited space. He had to save it for more gold coins.

Wiping away the blood spattered on his body, Chen Xiao jumped into the small river beside him. Under the blank, adorable stare of the beavers in the water, he cleaned himself up, then left in great comfort.

As long as no second-rank Magical Beasts appeared, Chen Xiao, a Nine Star Dou Zhe, had effectively become the little tyrant of this outer region.

"The results of this training were very average, but it was only something I was doing along the way anyway. There will be plenty of chances in the future."

With that thought in mind, Chen Xiao crossed the small basin in Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion's herb-gathering area, then passed through a stretch of forest and arrived at the cliff where the cave was located.

Entering the Stone Chamber with practiced ease, Chen Xiao was not in a hurry to grab the money and leave, thanks to it still being relatively early today.

He sat cross-legged on the ground and circulated the Ice Emperor Scripture to adjust his condition to its peak. Then Chen Xiao reached into his robes and took out the Black Scroll he carried with him.

This scroll was none other than that Profound High-Rank Flight Dou Skill, Eagle Wings!

Objects also had differences in weight and importance. Chen Xiao did not feel at ease leaving all his important things hidden at the inn, so he had always kept these Eagle Wings, the Purifying Lotus Demon Fire Remnant Map, and his Gold Coin Card on him.

Though it was a little troublesome, at least it gave him peace of mind.

Holding the scroll in both hands, Chen Xiao's eyes burned with heat. If he had not been busy moving the things from the Stone Chamber these past few days, he would long since have been itching to cultivate this Dou Skill.

Soaring through the sky was a fantasy most people had once had, regardless of the world.

Untying the thin cord carefully bound around the scroll, Chen Xiao slowly spread it open.

In an instant, a pair of pitch-black eagle wings, so dark they seemed faintly chilling, entered his sight.

Because this pair of eagle wings had been drawn on the scroll, their shape was not large. However, when Chen Xiao reached out and touched them, he could actually feel a faint heat. It was extremely strange.

The eagle wings were entirely black, with a few purple cloud patterns glimmering across them. They looked as though they had been forged from black steel and possessed a special metallic texture.

Moving his gaze away from this wondrous pair of wings, Chen Xiao noticed a line of small characters to the side.

"Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle, a fifth-rank flying Magical Beast. It is said to possess a thin bloodline of the ancient phoenix. Its flying speed ranks among the best of all flying Magical Beasts. It is cunning and brutal by nature, extremely difficult to capture, and only survives in the Cloudy Mist Land region toward the south of the continent."

"This Dou Skill is named Eagle Wings, and is also known as Purple Cloud Wings. Several friends and I spent three years before finally managing to capture a Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle. Using a secret method, we took its wings, and only then formed this Flight Dou Skill that others may cultivate. This Dou Skill was drawn by me with Dou Qi before my death, and can only allow one person to cultivate it. Remember this well!"

A fifth-rank Magical Beast was comparable to a human Dou Wang expert!

Only by taking its wings through a secret method had this Dou Skill come into being. Chen Xiao immediately understood.

No wonder these wings looked so profound and wondrous.

"I remember that within these wings, there's still the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle's unconscious soul—or perhaps calling it instinct would be more accurate. I'll have to guard against it while cultivating."

Taking a deep breath, Chen Xiao looked at the cultivation method described in detail on the scroll. Only after seeing the clear explanation that even if cultivation failed, there would be no danger to his life, and at most he would fall unconscious, did Chen Xiao finally relax completely.

The nearby Magical Beasts had already been cleared out over the past few days, so they rarely appeared anymore. Otherwise, Chen Xiao would not have gone to the other side of the herb-gathering area to find Magical Beasts to play with.

As for humans, they even more rarely set foot here. Otherwise, Xiao Yi Xian would not only discover the cave several years later.

Based on all of this, even if Chen Xiao failed in his cultivation, suffered a backlash, and fainted for three days and three nights, there would not be too much danger.

"The stronger one's Soul Power is, the easier it is to cultivate this Dou Skill. My soul strength shouldn't be too poor."

Chen Xiao had never tested his Soul Power, and Wu Tan City did not have the conditions to test Soul Power either.

However, from certain small details, it was still possible to see hints of whether a person's Soul Power was strong or weak.

For example, memory.

After awakening the memories of his previous life, Chen Xiao could clearly feel that his memory had become somewhat stronger.

The most direct proof was the Seven-Colored Poison Manual from a few days ago.

At first, Chen Xiao had only skimmed through it, but after returning to Green Mountain Town, he had been able to write out many medicinal formulas from memory with ease.

From that, it seemed he more or less had an advantage when it came to Soul Power.

Having made up his mind, he glanced at the entrance of the stone chamber.

After a brief moment of thought, he still pushed the bluestone platform over to block it.

Once everything was ready, he no longer hesitated. He slowly reached out, pressed his palm against the scroll, lightly touched the soft, pitch-black wings, and closed his eyes.

Not long after his palm touched the wings, the savage eagle soul within them suddenly let out a sharp cry that made the soul tremble. The cry passed through the scroll and finally traveled along Chen Xiao's arm, drilling viciously into his mind like an auger.

Chen Xiao's seated body abruptly trembled, but he soon steadied himself, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

This soul impact was indeed not as terrifying as he had imagined.

Or, to be more precise, the strength of his soul...

Was not weak!

Chen Xiao quickly cast aside all stray thoughts and guarded his mind, letting that violent will wreak havoc in his head while he remained as unmoving as a mountain, keeping his consciousness clear.

Let it be strong if it was strong; the breeze still brushed the hill.

Let it run wild if it ran wild; the bright moon still shone over the great river!

This contest of souls lasted for more than ten minutes. The violent will of the Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle seemed to realize it could not affect Chen Xiao and finally let out an unwilling wail before vanishing completely.

Calm returned to his mind, and Chen Xiao slowly opened his tightly shut eyes.

In terms of strength, he was naturally still far inferior to a fifth-rank Black Flame Purple Cloud Eagle, but the other party had been dead for who knew how many years. Its soul had long since become an empty shell, leaving only that violent primitive instinct behind.

Thanks to that, Chen Xiao had not felt much pressure from beginning to end.

"Now, I can be considered qualified to cultivate it properly."

With a grin, Chen Xiao placed both hands on the eagle wings again.

This time, all was calm as water, and he suffered no further attacks.

The Dou Qi within Chen Xiao's body gathered, ready to move, then slowly began circulating through his body along the route detailed on the scroll.

A moment later, the cool Dou Qi flowed to his arms and gradually slipped into his palms.

The instant the Dou Qi appeared in his palms, the eagle wings on the Black Scroll suddenly shone with intense light. The purple and black colors grew denser and denser, until finally they turned into two thin rays of purple-black light that shot like lightning along Chen Xiao's arms and into his body.

At that moment, Chen Xiao could clearly sense that when the two purple-black rays reached the meridians at his spine, they seemed to find a place to settle and abruptly stopped.

Immediately after, they actually tore two extremely fine branch meridians out of his existing ones by force!

At the same time, an agonizing pain like his flesh was being ripped apart alive came with it, making Chen Xiao's face turn deathly pale as cold sweat poured down him.

Only after a full quarter of an hour did the pain gradually ease.

Chen Xiao took off his clothes and, after a brief sensing, discovered that two long, narrow wounds had appeared on his back as if slashed by a sharp little knife, along with a pair of palm-sized black eagle-wing tattoos!

"If this were back in the old days, my dad would've beaten me half to death..."

Muttering to himself, Chen Xiao got up, moved away the bluestone platform blocking the entrance, and returned to the cliff.

A Flight Dou Skill was completely different from an ordinary Dou Skill. At this point, Chen Xiao had already fully cultivated it successfully.

All he lacked was practice in using it skillfully, to the point where it obeyed him as naturally as his own limbs.

With a trace of anticipation, Chen Xiao willed it, and the Dou Qi in his body circulated. Upon receiving the flow of Dou Qi, the pitch-black tattoos immediately released a faint purple glow. Then they abruptly unfolded, turning into a pair of almost tangible wings!

Chen Xiao glanced behind him and controlled them to start flapping. In an instant, an invisible, intangible buoyancy appeared beneath him, lifting his body slowly off the ground.

Flap—flap—

As the wings beat faster, Chen Xiao rose higher and higher from the ground.

Only when he had climbed to around two zhang did Chen Xiao feel his body becoming a little weightless, making it hard to keep steady.

He hovered unsteadily in midair and gazed into the distance, overlooking the earth from a bird's perspective for the first time.

"The breeze is gentle, the sea of forest ripples... If you don't stand high, you'll never feel how wonderful this is!"

Even the small Magical Beast Mountain Range was like this. Then what sort of magnificent wonders and beautiful sights did the broader world hold—the endless snowy plains in the north of the continent, the boundless seas to the east, the lands to the south, and the Central Plains where hidden dragons and crouching tigers gathered?

After indulging in longing for a while, Chen Xiao collected his thoughts and practiced for another half an hour, not stopping until more than half of the Dou Qi in his body had been consumed, and even then he was still reluctant.

At the same time, the two long, thin cuts on his back had also widened slightly.

He did not linger any longer. After checking the sky, Chen Xiao entered the cave, wrapped up a full bundle of gold coins, and returned to Green Mountain Town.

Ten Thousand Medicines Pavilion.

When the girl standing on the wooden crate saw that familiar, delicate face, her heart did not stir in the slightest.

Once, twice, three times, four times...

She was already used to it.

Chen Xiao did not say much either. Very straightforwardly, he took off one side of his upper garment, revealing the two thin cuts on his back.

"The wounds are a little deep, but they're not serious. Apply some medicinal powder, and they'll heal in two or three days. A fragile body gets injured easily, but its recovery is also extremely strong."

Chen Xiao nodded slightly, put on his shirt, turned around, took the packet of medicine, and nodded in thanks.

Then, as before, he picked up a brush and paper and paid by writing out a formula from memory.

Seeing this, the girl whose face seemed to have only ever held those few expressions unlocked yet another look, a flash of secret delight passing through her eyes and brows.

"This is worth way more than two gold coins. Hehe, I made a profit today."

The girl thought this to herself.

Chen Xiao set down the brush and paper, a smile appearing on his face as he silently muttered inwardly.

"Saved another two gold coins..."