Arrival at the Xiao Clan

[Ding! Congratulations, host! Your name as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven has shaken the Black-Corner Region, making you one of its ten strongest experts.]

[Reward obtained: Body-Crushing Incantation]

[By reciting the incantation, you can immobilize a target. The further their cultivation is below the host's, the longer they remain immobilized.]

In the blink of an eye, more than two months had passed.

"Sun Qi, how much longer until we reach our destination?"

Zi Yan looked at Sun Qi as though life had lost all meaning. By now, she asked this question practically every day.

Sun Qi turned back to her. "Soon, soon. Once we cross the next two mountain ranges, we'll be there."

Fortunately, Sun Qi had the Somersault Cloud, so Zi Yan didn't have to fly the whole way.

She lay on Sun Qi's back, staring ahead with a blank, innocent look.

"I thought I'd finally get to go out and have some fun, but all we've done is travel."

Hearing Zi Yan complain, Sun Qi tapped the tip of her nose. "Before we set off, I asked if you wanted to stay at the academy, but you insisted on coming with me. Regretting it now?"

When Sun Qi had set out, he hadn't intended to bring her along. But Su Qian had gone into seclusion, and the students and elders at the academy avoided Zi Yan like the plague, terrified of having a sack thrown over their heads at night.

She found the academy too dull, so she pestered Sun Qi and insisted on going with him.

Unable to dissuade her, Sun Qi had simply brought her along.

"By the way, Sun Qi, have you ever been to the Beast Region?"

Sun Qi shook his head. "I've only reached the Dou Wang realm. It'll be a long time before I can go to the Beast Region."

Hearing that Sun Qi had never been there, Zi Yan tilted her head and looked at him, her purple eyes like purple grapes.

"If you've never been there, how did you know I'm an Ancient Void Dragon? Just because of my innate divine ability?"

Sun Qi couldn't very well say that the system had shown him a novel called Battle Through the Heavens.

So he simply nodded and said yes.

Zi Yan didn't have much of an opinion about being an Ancient Void Dragon. She had never seen her parents since she was little.

She hadn't known she had a clan, either. Having grown used to living wild in the mountains, she had no thought of going home. Besides, she already had Sun Qi.

It didn't matter whether she went home or not.

"Just hearing the name Ancient Void Dragon, you can tell it's a big clan. They must have strict rules, just like your human clans."

"I don't want to go back. Who knows, they might restrict my freedom. I'd rather stay with you."

Hearing Zi Yan's words, Sun Qi merely smiled and didn't try to dissuade her.

Wutan City, Jia Ma Empire.

Yao Chen watched Xiao Yan cultivating diligently, and that small golden figure came unbidden to his mind.

"Sigh, little fellow, I wonder how you've been since I left..."

As he worried about how Sun Qi was doing, little did he know that Sun Qi was currently carrying Han Feng's soul toward Wutan City.

Just then, Xiao Yan slowly gathered the Dou Qi within his body.

"Old man, you really aren't half bad. I'm cultivating much faster than before!"

Xiao Yan's voice interrupted Yao Chen's thoughts. Hearing his words, Yao Chen gave him a sharp rap on the head.

"Have some respect! Call me teacher!"

Xiao Yan rubbed his aching head. "Yes, yes, teacher!"

Hearing him call him teacher after so long, Yao Chen grew even more worried about the little monkey who had spent all day at his side, asking questions about everything.

Yao Chen casually tossed Xiao Yan two bottles of freshly refined Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid. "Take these to the Mittel Auction House and exchange them for some gold coins."

Xiao Yan looked at the little porcelain bottles in his hands, curiously pulled the wooden stopper from one, and held it under his nose for a sniff.

A fresh herbal fragrance wafted into his nostrils and reached his mind, instantly making him feel twice as spirited!

"Whoa, good stuff! This has to be worth a lot!"

With that, Xiao Yan put the porcelain bottles in his Storage Ring and left the Xiao Clan with them. After changing into a black robe, he headed for the Mittel Auction House.

Not long after the man and the ghost left, two figures, one gold and one purple, appeared at the Xiao Clan's gates.

"Is this the place?" Zi Yan curiously surveyed the small clan in this frontier city, her eyes full of curiosity.

As Zi Yan examined the Xiao Clan's gates, golden light flowed through Sun Qi's eyes, and his gaze slowly turned toward a dark corner to the west.

"You don't need to follow us any longer."

With that, Sun Qi paid the figure in the darkness no further attention and walked straight through the Xiao Clan's gates.

Hearing Sun Qi suddenly say something so baffling, Zi Yan hurried after him. "Sun Qi, what were you talking about just now?"

In the darkness, Ling Ying stared at Sun Qi's retreating figure in disbelief.

What's going on? Could my concealment have stopped working?

Ling Ying was utterly puzzled. He had noticed Sun Qi's arrival the moment he entered Wutan City.

Two Dou Wang experts had suddenly appeared in a small frontier city like this; they had to have some ulterior purpose. So he had followed the two of them at once.

He had thought he was well hidden, only to discover that the other man had been pretending all along!

He saw through my disguise so easily. His cultivation is probably more than it appears!

The only thing Ling Ying could be sure of now was that the man had seen through him and had just warned him not to keep following.

As soon as Sun Qi entered the Xiao Clan, he swept the entire place with his soul power.

But he found no trace of Yao Chen's presence.

What's going on? Has teacher already gone out?

Just then, the Xiao Clan guards saw two strangers suddenly barge in and closed in around them with their weapons.

"Who are you? Why have you barged into the Xiao Clan?"

Seeing that a group of mere Dou Zhe dared point their weapons at her, Zi Yan was about to strike.

But Sun Qi held her back with one hand. "Tell the Xiao Clan head to come out. I want to see him."

Hearing that the golden-haired young man wanted to see the clan head, the guards assumed he had come looking for trouble.

"How dare you! Our clan head isn't someone you can... Ah!"

Before the guard could finish, an immensely powerful pressure bore down on the guards, crushing them to the ground.

A booming voice then rang throughout the Xiao Clan. "Xiao Clan head, if you don't come out now, your Xiao Clan is about to become a house of death!"

Sun Qi wasn't familiar with the Xiao Clan. He had only come to find his teacher, so he wouldn't be as polite as he had been at Jia Nan Academy.

Besides, a strong expert should carry himself like one.

When Sun Qi's voice rang throughout the Xiao Clan, the elders were all startled and hurried to gather in the front courtyard.

Meanwhile, Ling Ying, who had remained hidden in the shadows, carefully felt the presence Sun Qi was giving off.

That's right, he really is only a Dou Wang. So how did he see through me?

Ling Ying grew even more alarmed. Since he couldn't gauge Sun Qi's background, he naturally couldn't act rashly.

Fortunately, from the looks of it, Sun Qi seemed to have come for the Xiao Clan.

But Ling Ying didn't know whether he had come for the Xiao Clan's Ancient Jade. If he had, Ling Ying would probably have no choice but to intervene.