Chapter 186: Xian'er, I Regret It
Early morning.
In the wilderness of the Black Horn Territory, a caravan busily sorted its cargo.
After a night of rest, the caravan members, exhausted from the previous day's journey, appeared in high spirits.
"Everyone, be careful! Tie up the cargo securely!" a hook-nosed old man, leading the group, shouted repeatedly from nearby.
"Damn you, scalp! I'm a guard, not a servant!" a young man, who resembled a guard, muttered in dissatisfaction.
"Shut up! Have you forgotten who they are? We can't afford to offend them!"
The middle-aged man nearby glanced at the hook-nosed old man and the muscular man behind him. Seeing they hadn't noticed, he breathed a sigh of relief, patted the young man on the shoulder, and said earnestly, "Don't talk nonsense. After this trip, we won't accept any more commissions from him!"
"Hmm!" The young man, understanding the middle-aged man's good intentions, pursed his lips, then fell silent.
"Look! Someone's there!" a voice from the caravan shouted.
The sudden sound startled the guards, causing them to quickly draw their weapons and look in the direction of the sound.
A dark figure suddenly appeared in the sky, a faint golden glow visible in the morning sun's rays on its shoulders.
Everyone was horrified, their eyes filled with fear. Anyone who could appear in the air had to be at least a Dou Wang warrior.
This was the Black Horn Territory, where killing was unnecessary. Such a powerful being would be easier to deal with than a chicken.
Before anyone could react, the figure in the sky plummeted like a bird with a broken wing. "Bang!" The black figure slammed to the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.
The caravan members looked at each other, then swallowed, no one daring to step forward to investigate.
"Cough, cough." A cough echoed through the barely dispersing dust, causing everyone to step back.
"My Lord! Are you alright?" The little golden dragon looked at Xiao Bai, whose face was as pale as snow, a trace of worry in its eyes.
"I'm fine!" Xiao Bai waved his hand. As soon as he finished speaking, a faint blush appeared on his face.
"Puff!"
A mouthful of blood, faintly shimmering with multicolored light, spat out. It landed on the ground, and arcs of lightning emerged, instantly withering and charring the grass and trees.
"You call that nothing?" The little golden dragon was furious and couldn't help but grumble. "Damn it! When I grow up, I'll grind you to dust!"
"I'm really fine! I'm much better now. I just need some time to recuperate!" Xiao Bai said softly, breathlessly.
"By the way, where are we now?"
The little golden dragon finally felt relieved when he saw a hint of redness return to his pale cheeks. He looked around, bewildered, and helplessly spread his paws. "I don't know!"
He then looked at a group of people nearby and called out to the hook-nosed old man who seemed to be their leader, "Hey, old man, where are we?"
The caravan finally got a clear look at the fallen man. He was dressed in a tattered black robe, his black hair was disheveled, and his face was pale. He looked seriously injured.
Most surprising of all, the golden creature on his shoulder was familiar yet strange, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
A dragon! The legendary dragon!
Not some magical beast with dragon bloodline!
Everyone stared at the golden light with wide eyes, never having imagined they'd see a living dragon one day!
"Hey! I'm asking you a question! Are you stupid?"
Seeing the group staring intently at him, the little golden dragon couldn't help but recall the ugly lizards in the magma beneath the ground staring at him. He waved his claw impatiently.
"Replying to you, Master Dragon, this is the Black Horn Region!" The hook-nosed man, jolted back to reality by the little golden dragon's fierce glare, stammered hurriedly.
"Still in the Black Horn Region?" Xiao Bai breathed a sigh of relief. He had been worried that this spatial shift would move him to another region, which would be troublesome.
"Don't worry, we mean no harm!" Xiao Bai reassured the hook-nosed old man gently, then said, "Please tell me, where is this Black Horn Region?"
"My Lord, this is the territory of Black Seal City, about a hundred miles away!" the old man replied respectfully, bowing.
"Black Seal City?" Xiao Bai's eyes flickered with nostalgia.
The group stationed here seems to be a faction called the Eight Gates. Their leader seems to be Yuan Yi, with a Dou Huang level, though his exact Dou Huang level is a bit hazy, and I can't quite recall.
"Judging from the looks of you, you're probably heading to Black Seal City, right?" Xiao Bai asked calmly, observing the group ready to depart.
"Your Excellency is wise. My caravan's destination is Black Seal City!"
"Very well, how about giving me a ride?"
"You don't want to?" Xiao Bai frowned at the hesitant old man, shaking his head. "If you don't want to…"
"Yes, yes!" The old man, before Xiao Bai could finish, nodded hurriedly, like a chick pecking at rice, his face filled with ingratiating smiles. "It's a great honor for us, Your Excellency, to travel with our caravan. How could we not want to?"
"…!" Xiao Bai said.
He had originally meant to let it go, but seeing the old man's ingratiating expression, it seemed as if he was afraid he'd destroy them if he got upset.
"Thank you!" Xiao Bai nodded, walked straight to a wagon, and sat cross-legged.
"Sir, how can I let you sit here outside? Please get in the carriage in front?" The old man saw his actions and hurried forward to persuade him.
"No problem!" Xiao Bai opened his eyes slightly and said calmly, "Go and do your thing. Don't worry about me. Just don't let anyone disturb me!"
"This…" The old man hesitated for a moment. Xiao Bai's deep and calm eyes felt the pressure. He gritted his teeth and bowed, saying, "Then I will go and do my thing. If you need anything, just let me know!"
"Okay!" Xiao Bai nodded and slowly closed his eyes.
Seeing this, the old man retreated.
After they walked away, the burly man who had been following him spoke softly: "Boss Huang, um…"
"I don't agree with what you said!" The old man seemed to know what the man was going to say. He waved his hand and interrupted him loudly. His eyes glanced obscurely at the black-clothed figure on the truck and whispered: "Everything will be decided by the higher-ups after we return to the city!"
On the other side, Xiao Bai seemed not to notice the actions of the hook-nosed old man.
"My Lord, that old man seems to have some plans?" Little Golden Dragon whispered into Xiao Bai's sleeve.
"You showed yourself in front of them, and I'm seriously injured right now, so it's not surprising that he has some ulterior motives!" Xiao Bai said noncommittally, "But no matter what the plan, it ultimately comes down to strength. Let's see who he means by going back to make the decision!"
"Master, you should be more careful!" Little Golden Dragon said with a hint of complaint, "We almost capsized just now!"
"Those ugly lizards, they really do. After beating the little ones, they come for the older ones. After beating the older ones, they come for even older ones!"
"I really don't know. If we had been strong enough before and defeated the older one, would an even older one have come?"
Xiao Bai was speechless upon hearing this. Who knew this trip underground would be so dangerous?
But this guy was right. If they defeated that lizard man who looked like a Dou Zun, the next one might be a Semi-Saint.
"We don't have the young master's jade slip this time. If we encounter another big one…" The little golden dragon thought of the previous scene. If the old lizard hadn't used the power of space for some reason, it and Xiao Bai would have been buried in the underground magma.
"Don't worry, do you think Dou Zun are just cabbages? You can find them anywhere?" Xiao Bai looked at the timid little golden dragon and said sullenly, "Let's go to Black Seal City to rest up. Once I've recovered, we'll set off back to the Jia Ma Empire!"
"Not going back to Canaan Academy? I'm afraid the young master has already known you used the jade slip!" The little golden dragon asked doubtfully upon hearing Xiao Bai's plan.
"Not going back!" Xiao Bai shook his head, two smiling faces seemingly floating before his eyes. He whispered, "When we get to Black Seal City, send them a letter to let them know you're safe!"
Even as Xiao Bai was thinking about the two women, someone else was having a headache about them.
At the bottom of the Tianfen Refining Qi Tower, Su Qian looked helplessly at the anxious Xun'er and Little Medical Fairy before him.
He and Elder Qianbai were sealing the lower level space when the two girls suddenly ran over and said they needed to see him urgently.
He instantly guessed what it was and let them in.
"Great Elder, please open the entrance. I want to go in and find him!" Xun'er's voice trembled slightly, but her tone was firm.
"Alas," Su Qian sighed softly and shook his head. "I can't let you go down!"
"Why?" Little Medical Fairy said hurriedly. "Little Xiaobai was just in danger. We need to go find him!"
"We've already looked for him!" Su Qian's cloudy eyes shone with a hint of sadness as he said regretfully, "I sensed an aura that I thought was that of a Dou Zun, and I…"
"Wait. You mean the aura of a Dou Zun?!" Xun'er's eyes instantly reddened, and she clenched her fists, interrupting Su Qian in disbelief.
"Yes!" Su Qian was well aware of that kind of pressure; he had felt it before from the dean who had ascended to the Dou Zun level.
He hadn't expected such a powerful being to exist beneath the earth besides the Fallen Heart Flame.
After a moment's pause, he quickly dismissed the other elders and notified the two elders, Qianbai and Er, who were guarding the library, to come.
Thinking Xiao Bai was still down there, he fearfully went down with the two elders to check if the boy was around.
Sadly, no one was in sight. After some discussion, they decided to seal the Tianfen Refining Qi Tower.
Xun'er, upon seeing him nod, felt as if struck by lightning. The color drained from her cheeks, and she looked terrified.
"Xiao Bai, Brother!" she murmured in a voice filled with endless sorrow and longing. Suddenly, an unnatural crimson flushed across her jade-like face.
"Puff!"
"Xun'er!"
The equally distressed Little Medical Fairy, watching Xun'er suddenly vomit blood and collapse, hurriedly grabbed her.
Seeing her expression at this moment, she was usually calm and composed, and she was terrified in her heart, and said in a trembling voice: "Could it be that Xiaobai…?"
"Xian'er, I regret it!" Xun'er looked at Little Medical Fairy with empty eyes and muttered to herself: "I shouldn't have just given him the Dou Zun Space Jade Slip, I should have given him his father's jade slip, even if it will expose the existence of Brother Xiao Bai, but compared to his life, what does it matter?"
"Don't you think so?"
It seemed as if she was asking Little Medical Fairy, but also as if she was asking herself.
Little Medical Fairy clutched Xun'er's clothes tightly, her eyes nearly blacking out as if the sky were falling. Tears glistened in her eyes, and her voice rasped and choked with sobs. "Xun'er, don't scare me."
"Don't cry…don't cry!" Xun'er's face took on a strange expression, a half-smile, but her beautiful eyes were filled with a dead silence and icy coldness, and her voice was like a cold wind from the underworld: "A mere Dou Zun, his life is not worth a hair of my brother Xiao Bai!"
"No matter who did this, I will make him regret coming into this world!"
Nearby, Su Qian had seen the two girls vomiting blood and crying, and was just contemplating what to do when he heard Xun'er's words, and was horrified.
From the girl's tone, she seemed to disregard even Dou Zun masters. What could be the reason?
"Open the seal, I want to get down!" Xun'er stood up, her face stern.
"This…" Before, he would have refused. If a Dou Zun master were to be attracted, Canaan Academy would be unable to withstand it. But now, Su Qian felt a dilemma.
"Girl, I just heard you mention that you gave that kid a Dou Zun-level space jade slip. You rushed here because you sensed it was being used, right?" Qianmu, one of the two elders, Qianbai, had been silent until then.
"That's right!" Canaan Academy treated her brother Xiao Bai well, so Xun'er suppressed her impatience and nodded slightly.
"Looks like you don't have to worry. Xiao Bai is probably fine!" Qianmu smiled faintly under the gaze of everyone.
"Why?" The dead silence in Xun'er's eyes faded slightly, a glimmer of hope glimmering.
After all, a low-level cultivator using a Dou Zun-crafted space jade slip would have almost zero chance of escaping from a true Dou Zun.
Only a Dou Zun-crafted space jade slip, crafted by a Dou Zun who had reached the Ninth Transformation stage, would be oblivious to this possibility in the presence of a low-level Dou Zun.
A powerful cultivator at that level would theoretically have transcended the realm of ordinary Dou Zun, and their understanding of space would naturally be even deeper.
Little Medical Fairy bit her red lips, pricked up her small ears, and stared at Qianmu with a pair of eyes, her heart filled with nervousness.
She didn't want to know why, she just wanted to hear that Xiaobai was alive. This was her greatest wish at the moment.
"I have a rough guess as to what's behind this magma. If Xiaobai didn't have the jade slip you gave him, he would be in real danger this time!"
"But with the jade slip you gave him, he should be able to escape!"
"Please give me your advice, senior!" Xun'er felt a huge surprise in her heart and bowed.
"When the dean was here, I once heard him mention that there was a kind of demonic beast underground that looked like a lizard and lived in the magma."
"There are a lot of these fire lizards down there. The dean said that he had encountered one at the Dou Zun level. At that time, I asked the dean with great concern whether it would pose a threat to Canaan Academy."
"But the dean said they only live deep in the magma and rarely venture upstream, so there's no need to worry. Because of this, almost no one at Canaan Academy knows about these fire lizards."
"So, this time, it was also the work of a Dou Zun among the fire lizards?" Xun'er asked with icy eyes.
"Indeed! This group of fire lizards, while powerful, has a weakness: even if they reach Dou Zun cultivation, they can't wield the power of space as freely as other species!"
"Really?" Xun'er and Little Medical Fairy's eyes lit up instantly.
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(End of Chapter)