This trip into the Fitelie Empire was the perfect opportunity to visit the expert living in seclusion in the Death Mountain Range.
According to the information Luo Ao had gathered, this expert very likely cultivated the edicts of destruction as well. Getting acquainted and sparring with each other would certainly be of great benefit to their future cultivation.
Of the Four Edicts, fate, death, and life all had their own cultivation methods passed down.
These were Fate Law, Necromancy, and Life Magic.
The edicts of destruction, however, had no cultivation methods passed down at all. One could only slowly feel one's way forward alone. Although Luo Ao's Darren Empire had many Saint-level experts, he truly had never heard of anyone cultivating the Path of Destruction.
And although Luo Ao had comprehended this "Path of Destruction," his understanding was still only skin-deep. If he could compare insights with this expert who also cultivated the Path of Destruction, he might make unexpected progress.
"So this is the Death Mountain Range. It really does feel sinister." Luo Ao smiled.
Compared to the mountain ranges he had seen before, the Death Mountain Range was far more imposing, and much taller as well.
"I only know this person lives in seclusion in the Death Mountain Range, not his exact location." The Death Mountain Range was a famously dangerous region in the Fitelie Empire, stretching a full seven or eight thousand li across.
"Going in and slowly searching on my own would be far too troublesome." Luo Ao could not help frowning.
He descended to the ground and entered a nearby city, Ledun City.
Ledun City lay right at the foot of the Death Mountain Range.
Luo Ao asked the locals and soon found the strongest expert here. The man was an Eighth-level Warrior who often led others into the Death Mountain Range to hunt magical beasts and was extremely well known locally.
At first, Luo Ao did not reveal his Saint-level strength. Hearing his question, the Eighth-level Warrior scoffed. "A Saint-level expert? Young man, the Death Mountain Range isn't somewhere you can just barge into! If you're looking for a Saint-level expert to take you as a disciple, watch out that a powerful magical beast doesn't eat you first!"
Luo Ao could not help rubbing his nose at this. He was only twenty now, so he really was still a young man, wasn't he? But he was not going there to become anyone's disciple. At most, they would exchange insights.
Although he had earned something of a reputation in the Darren Empire, the two empires were so far apart. Who in the Fitelie Empire would recognize him?
"Young man, stop listening to those bards' storybook tales all the time. Not everyone is Audris."
The Audris this Eighth-level Warrior mentioned was one of the fortunate few among the countless people seeking to become disciples of Saint-level experts who had succeeded. The bards had now turned his exploits into stories to sing.
"The Death Mountain Range isn't that easy to enter. How could a Saint-level expert be so easy to meet?" This expert named Boji clearly looked like a burly warrior with a ferocious bearing, yet unexpectedly, he was a complete chatterbox.
"Mr. Boji, I'm not afraid of the dangers in the Death Mountain Range. I just want to know whether you know that Saint-level expert's location." Luo Ao truly could not stand the man anymore, and asked again with a faint smile.
"You really aren't afraid of dying." Boji laughed. "But Saint-level experts are hard to track down. I've never met this lord either."
Luo Ao could not help frowning at that. It seemed finding this person would be quite troublesome.
"Still, there's one place you could take a look at: Black Dragon Gorge. Rumor has it that this lord's mount is a Saint-level black dragon. If you want to find this lord, finding the black dragon first should probably do it. But do you dare go? That's a Saint-level black dragon!"
"Black Dragon Gorge?" Luo Ao's eyes lit up. He already had an idea.
Although he did not know where this so-called Black Dragon Gorge was, he only needed to go into the mountains and find any Saint-level magical beast to ask.
Having learned this important piece of information, Luo Ao thanked Boji, turned to leave, then flew straight toward the Death Mountain Range.
After several twists and turns, Luo Ao finally found the so-called Black Dragon Gorge.
From far away, he saw the colossal creature in the sky, a giant black dragon fully a hundred meters long.
The black dragon circled sinuously in midair, its eyes like enormous wagon wheels. Every black scale on its massive body gleamed with a chilling, cold light, and its huge membranous wings, spanning a full hundred meters together, beat gently but powerfully.
A magical beast, a black dragon! And this was a Saint-level black dragon at that.
Atop the head of the black dragon circling in midair stood a proud swordsman dressed in black robes. Fierce winds howled over the gorge, making his robes snap and flutter, yet he stood as straight as a javelin, steady as a boulder in the gale.
His gaze was fixed on the three experts standing in the air before him. The one he feared most was an old man in green robes. The tiger-headed man's aura was also astonishing and could not be underestimated. The last was a beautiful woman dressed in blue robes.
At this moment, the black-robed swordsman standing atop the black dragon was confronting these three uninvited guests. Though outnumbered, he showed no fear.
"It looks like I came at the wrong time." Luo Ao landed on a fruit tree in the forest below and surveyed the scene in the sky, remaining out of sight for now.
In the sky, the green-robed old man spoke first.
"Gelike, hand that thing over. There are three of us here today. If you don't want to fall, you'd best get on with it."
After the green-robed old man's sinister words fell, the tiger-headed man and the beautiful young woman also blocked Gelike's escape routes.
"Enough nonsense. If you want to take something from me, ask the sword in my hand first!" Gelike stood tall, his heroic spirit soaring into the clouds. There was no fear on his face; instead, he looked at the three eagerly.
"This madman..." The tiger-headed man lowered his head and cursed. Since Gelike had managed to obtain that thing, his strength was naturally no small matter. Otherwise, the three of them would not have come together.
"Let's attack. None of us should get careless." Although the beautiful woman's aura did not seem powerful, her strength was not weak either.
"Gelike, you brought this on yourself!" The green-robed old man attacked immediately. The moment he struck, he actually summoned a strange emerald vine several hundred meters long out of thin air. Its roots and tendrils twisted and tangled, yet the whole moved as nimbly as a giant serpent. Moreover, as time passed, the sky-reaching vine summoned by the green-robed old man continued to grow.
In just a few breaths, it had become a terrifying sight that blotted out the sky and sun. Even the enormous black dragon, several hundred meters long, became a tiny speck before this sky-reaching vine.
"A practitioner of the life law?" Standing in the treetop, Luo Ao was rather curious. This was his first time seeing a practitioner of the life law, and it truly was wondrous.
"Go!" Under the green-robed old man's control, the sky-reaching vine split into numerous stems and roots, like a terrifying monstrous serpent with over a hundred heads, and coiled toward the black-robed swordsman riding the black dragon.
The sight was actually quite awe-inspiring. That sky-reaching vine was a full five or six thousand meters long, reducing even the enormous black dragon to a tiny speck. Moreover, those strange vines did not look like ordinary plants and were bound to be extremely tough. Luo Ao felt that if he faced the green-robed old man, one wrong move could put his life in danger.
Sure enough, the gap between Saint-level experts could be enormous. This green-robed old man's attainments in the life law were clearly far above his own in the edicts of destruction. How would this black-robed swordsman, brimming with heroic spirit, respond?
"Gelike, die!" At the same time, the tiger-headed man moved as well. His weapon was a brown greatsword, and once he burst into motion, his speed was quite impressive. In fact, his attack power was the strongest of the three.
"These vines are a bit troublesome." Watching the massive vines spreading toward him, Gelike closed his eyes, then abruptly swung his longsword.
That sword move! Hidden in the treetop, Luo Ao could not help widening his eyes.