"Senior brother?"
Li Yuan and the others were bewildered, while Li Hong opened her mouth, too shocked to speak.
That stunningly beautiful girl had called Wang Yan... senior brother?
Wait, hold on!
Lately, Li Yuan and the others had heard so much about the peerless sword cultivator who had slain Linyue City's lord that their ears were practically growing calluses.
They had thought someone like that was far beyond their reach.
Yet who would have thought...
"Brother Yan, that peerless sword cultivator who killed Linyue City's lord is... your master?" Li Hong asked the question on everyone's mind.
Wang Yan nodded.
When the flying boat rose into the air and sped toward the entrance to the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm, the Li Household members on deck felt as though they were dreaming. Everything before their eyes seemed so unreal.
To think that... they would one day ride a king-grade flying boat. In the past, they would never even have dared imagine it.
Li Hong looked at Wang Yan with a hint of reproach.
"Brother Yan, you really had me fooled. When you came back a year ago, didn't you say you'd only taken a peak master at the Tribulation Realm seventh layer from the Azure Yang Sword Sect as your master? What's going on here?" Li Hong pointed toward a room at the highest point of the flying boat, where Lin Xuan was in seclusion.
"Uh..."
Wang Yan scratched his head, unsure how to explain.
Master really was only at the Tribulation Realm seventh layer a year ago.
Li Yuan's gaze held a trace of complicated feeling as he looked at Wang Yan.
Previously, in his eyes, Wang Yan had fallen far short of Young Master Yang Song from the city lord's estate, and not by just a little.
But now...
Wang Yan was inferior to Yang Song?
Wang Yan was reaching above his station with his daughter?
Who was inferior to whom?
Who was reaching above their station with whom?
Clearly, the answer was already plain.
At sunset.
As the setting sun slowly sank, the sky was dyed a brilliant orange-yellow.
Wang Fu gazed at the twilight before him and sighed softly.
Night was coming again, and that also meant danger was approaching.
After discussing forming a team with several adventurer groups, they had headed straight out of Linyue City and entered this perilous land.
The Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range was a paradise for Demon Beasts. In its inner reaches, even King Realm experts risked falling.
At first, things had been manageable in the outer reaches of the Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range. Though they encountered plenty of Demon Beasts along the way, most were below the Tribulation Realm. Including him, their party of over twenty had more than ten Heavenly Profound Realm cultivators. Working together, they could even hold their own for a while against a Demon Beast at the ninth level of the Heavenly Profound Realm.
As long as they did not encounter a Tribulation Realm Demon Beast.
But ever since entering the inner reaches of the Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range, Wang Fu and the others had discovered... practically every Demon Beast was at the Tribulation Realm or above.
Their makeshift party of over twenty could barely take a single step forward.
At night in particular, they did not even dare light a fire. If they attracted the attention of so much as one Demon Beast, their entire party would be wiped out.
Such caution made this party of twenty-odd travel exceedingly slowly, yet they had no choice.
Demon Beasts at the Tribulation Realm and above were everywhere. Unless they skirted around them, their entire party would be annihilated.
And this was only their second day in the Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range. The entrance to the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm was still very far away.
At that moment, uncertainty showed in everyone's eyes.
Could they really reach the mystic realm's entrance alive?
"Brother Wang Fu, don't think so much. We'll definitely make it safely to the Heaven-Burning Mystic Realm. Here, have a drink."
A burly man walked over to Wang Fu, patted his shoulder, and offered him a cup of liquor. He took things rather more easily than Wang Fu did.
The man was named Qin Gang, and he was the leader of the Blazing Tiger Adventurer Group, one of the three adventurer groups traveling with them. His cultivation had reached the eighth level of the Heavenly Profound Realm, making him the strongest member of this makeshift party of twenty-odd.
Having ventured into the Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range for years, he was highly experienced. It was thanks to him that Wang Fu and the others had avoided so many dangers.
He got along well with Wang Fu and had looked after him a great deal along the way. Whenever they rested, he liked to seek Wang Fu out for a drink, and here he was again.
Wang Fu took the cup and was just about to drink with him when a piercing cry suddenly put everyone on edge.
Looking up toward the rosy clouds in the west, they saw an enormous, snow-white bird swooping toward them at speed. Its pitch-black eyes were fixed on Wang Fu, Qin Gang, and the others in the woods below.
"A Cloud Shuttle Bird! A Tribulation Realm Demon Beast!"
As adventurers who had spent years in the Moon-Reflecting Mountain Range, Qin Gang and the other adventurer group members recognized the giant bird at a glance.
Beyond terror, their eyes held even more despair.
It was precisely because they recognized it that they despaired.
The Cloud Shuttle Bird was a middle-stage Tribulation Realm Demon Beast, known as an adventurer's nightmare for its incredible flying speed.
Once it set its sights on someone, even escape was a luxury beyond reach!
Even late-stage Tribulation Realm human cultivators found it a headache. With its absolute speed and the advantage of flight, it could wear some late-stage Tribulation Realm human cultivators down to death!
Cloud Shuttle Birds were not pack creatures, and their numbers were small. Normally, they were very difficult to encounter, unless one's luck was truly terrible.
As was the case for Wang Fu, Qin Gang, and the others.
Qin Gang had never imagined that, right after he reassured Wang Fu, the very next moment would...
"Hum-!"
Yet just as Wang Fu, Qin Gang, and the others were filled with despair, a blood-jade longsword streaked in from the east like a meteor. Before their widened eyes, it struck the Cloud Shuttle Bird squarely.
Unable to resist in the slightest, the Cloud Shuttle Bird was knocked out of the sky by that utterly terrifying strike and pinned dead to the earth. An immense wave of sword pressure then spread outward in an arc in every direction.
Everywhere it passed, countless Demon Beasts fled madly, as though confronted by some great terror.
What an overpowering sword strike!
While Wang Fu, Qin Gang, and the others were still deeply shaken, unsure what had happened, a large flying boat wreathed in spiritual light sailed in from the east. It grew from small to large before finally stopping above the woods!
On the flying boat, a white-robed young man stood with his hands behind his back. As his expression shifted, the longsword that had pinned the Cloud Shuttle Bird to death glimmered faintly, and he withdrew it into his ring.
He had pinned a Cloud Shuttle Bird dead with a single strike!
It had not even had room to resist. What kind of strength was this?
The Tribulation Realm could never accomplish this, not even the Tribulation Realm ninth level!
With its speed, even against a Tribulation Realm ninth-level expert, the Cloud Shuttle Bird could escape if it was no match.
Only the King Realm!
This white-robed young man was definitely in the King Realm!
"Th-thank you for lending a hand, Senior..."
Qin Gang was the first to recover. He immediately cupped his fists, intending to thank the man for saving their lives, but before he could finish, an honest-looking youth behind the white-robed sword cultivator interrupted him.
"Dad!"
That cry of "Dad" stunned everyone below, Qin Gang included.
Wang Fu, too, was brought back to reality by that excited cry. His gaze turned toward the youth beside the white-robed sword cultivator.
"Yan'er?"