Three years have passed since the journey to Five-Finger Mountain.
Three years isn't a long time; it's entirely possible not to break through a Minor Realm. But it's also not short. Xiao Yan has passed through over a dozen kingdoms, crossed hundreds of mountains, and spread countless books, skills, and cultivation techniques. At the same time, he has pushed the borders of Great Li outwards by an immeasurable amount.
Imparting Scriptures isn't just about distributing materials; the important thing isn't the scriptures themselves, but the concept – the idea of not relying on others, but striving for self-improvement.
It doesn't matter if I'm not stronger than others. As long as I'm willing to learn and put in the effort, I will always be stronger than the me of yesterday. And one day, the me of today and the me of the future will be a World of Difference!
To achieve all this, Xiao Yan alone naturally couldn't do it within two years. But behind him were tens of thousands of Heaven's Chosen who had emerged from the academies spread throughout Great Li over the past Hundred Years.
All Xiao Yan had to do was till the ground once, persuade and recruit some, suppress others, and let the onlookers see the results. Others would take over the rest. And so, the journey was uneventful.
"This job really isn't difficult, it's just too boring. I wonder when it will ever end..."
Amidst the continuous Mountain Range, only occasional beast roars could be heard. Xiao Yan didn't even have anyone to talk to and felt quite emotional.
As for Hun Tiandi, he appeared briefly each time, asked a few questions, and regardless of whether he got an answer, he would disappear from Xiao Yan's sight again. It was impossible to actively seek him out.
Despite this, he didn't hold Xiao Yan back, and that was exactly what Xiao Yan hoped for.
Speak of the devil, Hun Tiandi suddenly appeared beside Xiao Yan, pointing a finger:
"There's an Energy Fluctuation over there, let's go take a look."
Hearing that seemingly unquestionable tone, Xiao Yan felt helpless. He seemed to have misunderstood who the Protagonist was. But with his Strength being inferior, he had no choice but to go check it out, though he kept muttering to himself:
"Could it be that I'm really Tang Sanzang? How is it that even in the dense forests, trouble finds me?"
This wasn't the first time this had happened. In the past two years, he had encountered countless battles of all kinds. And it was precisely because he saw some direct changes before he arrived and after he left that he was able to enjoy this.
He just didn't know what bizarre reason it was this time.
Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed slightly, straining his vision in the direction Hun Tiandi pointed, but he saw nothing. However, he still trusted Hun Tiandi's Strength and could only set off.
To Hun Tiandi, it was just a short distance ahead, but for Xiao Yan, it took a full hour of traveling to reach a Mountain Gorge filled with Miasma.
At this point, the scene was no longer a tangled fight but a chase. The side with the advantage was clearly afraid of a desperate counterattack; although they pursued closely, they didn't press too hard, clearly intending to drag it out and wear the other party down.
However, when Xiao Yan saw that figure with a pale face and a White Shirt stained with blood, anger flared up instantly. Without time to think, he attacked in a fit of rage.
Perhaps not expecting outsiders in the mountains, both sides were surprised. But seeing Xiao Yan attack him, Ice Venerate clearly didn't want his plans ruined. He took Xiao Yan's blow and said coldly:
"Who dares interfere in the affairs of my Ice River Valley? Do not court disaster, leave quickly."
"Ice River Valley? Never heard of it, but there's no need to know."
Xiao Yan sneered. Not to mention his original mission of opening the Route and Imparting Scriptures for Great Li, just because of the person behind him, he wouldn't back down.
"Xiao Yan? Hurry and go, he's a Dou Venerate."
At this moment, the woman behind him's gaze turned from surprise to joy, but ultimately settled into anxiety. She hoped the Dou Venerate would let Xiao Yan leave.
Xiao Yan felt a little sad. Just like before, she always thought of others first, not herself.
Xiao Yan took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and suddenly remembered his carefree youthful days, mimicking the gesture of controlling something small with two fingers:
"A mere Dou Venerate, I'll take him down."
Then he turned to look at Ice Venerate and said:
"This Seat comes from the Eastern Earth of Great Li, and wishes to travel west to Impart Scriptures and Spread the Dao. I ask for the Venerate's convenience."
The unspoken meaning was, if you let me go, and my friend doesn't pursue this matter in the future, then this will be over.
But how could Ice Venerate agree so easily? Even though he knew Great Li was not to be trifled with, the Emperor was far away, and the person in front of him was just a young man. To take his Strength further with the Body of Misfortune and Poison, he decided to take a gamble. He said nothing more and attacked fiercely.
Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes. This person was very strange. By now, this journey wasn't exactly known to everyone, but major and minor forces were afraid of being Settled Accounts with if they weren't careful, so they were more or less aware of it. For other Dou Venerates, his previous words would have been like a Clearance Pass.
Of course, he wasn't afraid either. He wasn't arrogant; if he dared to call a Dou Venerate a mere "蛐蛐," it was because he was confident. Instantly, a dark green Flame rose around his body, and its appearance directly cleared the Cold Qi emanating from Ice Venerate.
Then, Xiao Yan no longer held back. Lightning flashed beneath his feet, and he gathered Momentum for a kick aimed directly at Ice Venerate's face.
This seemingly simple kick changed the expression on Ice Venerate's alluring yet cold face. A sense of crisis arose from the bottom of his heart. His body moved, and he retreated rapidly to avoid it.
As he retreated, the Space around him was filled with roaring Lightning and the sound of Wind and Thunder, causing him to feel a sense of stagnation. In this state, that kick got closer and closer to him.
Ice Venerate was a Dou Venerate after all, with such Strength, he naturally wouldn't just keep dodging. Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, his retreating figure defied common sense and stopped instantly. Snowflakes spun between his brows, and black and white colors merged, as if they were about to come alive.
It did come alive, transforming into a black dragon. It opened its bloody maw and bit towards Xiao Yan, intending to swallow him whole.
Facing the man-eating black dragon, the Flame around Xiao Yan's body surged again, and then he accelerated once more, actively entering the dragon's mouth. Even a lower-ranked Heavenly Flame could somewhat restrain ice and poison, let alone his Heavenly Flame, which was a fusion of the Green Lotus Core Flame that had its Creation power drawn out, the intelligent Fallen Heart Flame, and the Nine Nether Wind Flame that had circled in the Snake People's Ancestral Land for countless Years...
Thus, seeing Xiao Yan's suicidal behavior, Ice Venerate sneered at his arrogance in his heart, and at the same time quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He could feel that Xiao Yan indeed had the potential to cause his demise.
*Boom!*
A vast and mighty Quantity of Energy erupted from where the two exchanged Blows. The Void became extremely fragile, and dark, dull black cracks continuously appeared. Everyone else could only retreat repeatedly.
And within the Energy Storm, a crystalline dark green Fire Lotus was mixed in, drifting towards Ice Venerate's location.
Under the life-and-death crisis, the Ice Venerate, who had just relaxed, instantly turned pale. He reacted immediately, layers of strange black ice wrapping around him. In just an instant, he had stacked the thickest armor of his life, but he was still stacking. They couldn't give him a sense of security.
However, Xiao Yan wouldn't give him any more Time. The Fire Lotus got close and exploded with a bang. The center of the explosion was as if someone had used purification; everything dissolved, including Energy and people.
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