Languid clouds lazily hung in the endless blue sky. Only the occasional blowing wind caused a slight shift. Sunlight scattered down from the cloud layer and landed on those mountains and hills, giving them an extra warmth.

The sound of waves of blowing wild wind suddenly appeared in the silent sky. Immediately, some small, black dots appeared at the edge of the sky. A moment later, the black dots drifted over with the wind before transforming into ten plus flying Magical Beast that emitted a ferocious aura. They carried a low roar as they whizzed by...

A black-robed, young man was seated cross-legged on the enormous head of the leading flying Magical Beast. A faint jade-green Dou Qi surfaced on his body, blocking the wild wind that was blowing toward him front the front. He himself was able to enter into his training mode without any disturbance.

The black-robed, young man’s training continued for a long time before his eyes moved slightly. He immediately opened them and his gaze swept over the extremely small ground below him. He turned his head and inquired from the people behind him, “Where are we now?”

Hearing Xiao Yan’s words, Xiao Li, who had been chatting and laughing with Lin Yan and the others, turned his head around. He swiftly took out a map from his storage ring and smiled as he said, “We are in a small country called Wan Yan. This place is already very far from the ‘Black-Corner Region’. According to our speed, we should be able to reach the borders of the Jia Ma Empire in another month’s time.”

“There is still another month huh...” Xiao Yan muttered. His gaze immediately turned to Lin Yan and the others. During this one month of traveling, they had spent most of their time on the Tiger Eagle Beast despite them occasionally descending to rest. This kind of dull traveling was not something that an ordinary person could endure. Fortunately, however, most of the people on this trip were strong. They could still rely on training to spend their time if they were really bored.

“Ugh, if this trip were to continue for another few months, it is likely that I will definitely become crazy.” Lin Yan spoke with a helpless face when he saw Xiao Yan’s gaze looking over.

Xiao Yan smiled. His gaze swept in all directions and immediately said, “Where is Zi Yan? Don’t tell me that she cannot endure it any longer and ran away by herself?”

“Ah. That little girl cannot sit still. She has already run toward the front. However, Medusa is following her.” Xiao Li nodded her head, moved closer to Xiao Yan and clicked his tongue in amazement as he spoke, “It is really unexpected that the icy-cold woman actually treats Zi Yan quite well. She actually volunteered to follow and protect her.”

“Let them do as they like. Zi Yan should not get into any trouble with Cai Lin around.” Xiao Yan smiled. His gaze swept over the ten plus Tiger Eagle Beast behind him and said, “No accidents have happened right?”

“Yes, everything is proceeding smoothly. However, with such a large group of people flying through the sky, we will unavoidably cause some commotion when we fly over some areas where some factions are located. If they possess a strong person, they will come up and investigate. Moreover, some of those fellows even invited us to go down and gather with them when they saw that this group of ours is so strong.” Xiao Li laughed as he replied.

“Try to avoid getting into a conflict with these factions. We are only passing by and will not intervene no matter what problem we meet. Just reject those people who have extended an invitation to us.” Xiao Yan nodded slightly and spoke after musing for a moment. This journey from the ‘Black-Corner Region’ to the Jia Ma Empire was thousands of kilometers in distance. There were all sorts of different factions filling the distance between them. If they were to get involved in some trouble, it was likely that their journey would be greatly delayed. This was something that Xiao Yan, who was in a hurry to the Jia Ma Empire, did not wish to see.

“Ke ke, I am naturally aware of this. Moreover, I have also informed Old Yin Gu and the others to treat those experts, who have come to observe, with respect before sending them off.” Xiao Li laughed and said.

Xiao Yan nodded. He stood up and his gaze looked at the distant northern sky. A moment later, he exhaled a breath and said, “I wonder just how big brother and the others are...”

Xiao Li also became momentarily silent when he heard this. He immediately patted Xiao Yan’s shoulder and comforted, “Relax, although big brother is weaker than us, he has many thoughts and a never-ending number of ideas. It is not so easy for the Misty Cloud Sect to capture him.”

Xiao Yan nodded slightly and sighed, “Hopefully.”

“That’s right, do you have the feeling of advancing to a Dou Huang during your training in this period of time.” Xiao Li laughed and changed the topic when he sensed the pressuring atmosphere.

“How can it be so easy...” Xiao Yan shook his head with a bitter smile. He had been extremely hardworking in training for nearly a month. Unfortunately, that feeling of touching the Dou Huang barrier still did not appear. This caused him to feel somewhat helpless. Attempting to advance from a Dou Wang to a Dou Huang was indeed not an easy task.

“Can’t you use medicinal pills to raise your strength? I seem to recall that an expert Dou Wang is able to consume one ‘Dou Spirit Pill’ to raise his strength by one star, right? Given your current strength, won’t you coincidentally be able to breakthrough if you consume one pill?” Xiao Li fondled his chin and reasoned out.

“The ‘Dou Spirit Pill’ will enable the Dou Wang who consumes it to raise his strength by one star. However, it does not have much use to me. Moreover, that medicinal pill is unable to let a peak Dou Wang expert to breakthrough the barrier. Otherwise, if everyone who reached the peak of the Dou Wang class were to consume a ‘Dou Spirit Pill’, won’t it enable those people to easily breakthrough to the Dou Huang class?” Xiao Yan shook his head and replied helplessly. This method was something he had thought of long ago. However, even Yao Lao had said that the effect of the ‘Dou Spirit Pill’ was no longer that great with his current strength. He couldn’t rely on it to breakthrough to the Dou Huang class.

“If it is not possible to use the ‘Dou Spirit Pill’, what about other medicinal pills?”

“It is likely that I cannot rely on any external force for my breakthrough this time around...” Xiao Yan shook his head. Although being underground for two years had enabled his strength to soar greatly, it had also left behind some hazards. Now, he was trying his best to remove these hazards. If he were to use any external force to cause his strength to soar at this moment, it was likely that he would be able to obtain quite a strong force within a short period of time. However, it might well become a barrier for him to enter an even higher level in the future. This kind of thing was little different than overdrafting his strength and it was something Xiao Yan did not wish to do.

“In that case, you can only take things slowly. One cannot hurry with this kind of thing...” Xiao Li could only helplessly shake his head when his suggestion was rejected. He was unable to be of much help with regards to such matters.

Xiao Yan smiled and nodded. He was indeed a little impatient during this period of time.

“Chi!”

The sudden sound of rushing wind appeared in front of them just as Xiao Yan and Xiao Li were conversing. Two figures quickly rushed over. Finally, they boarded this Tiger Eagle Beast Xiao Yan’s group was on. Xiao Yan and the others looked over. The figures were actually Zi Yan and Medusa.

Xiao Yan sniffed with his nose as he looked at the happy smiling face of Zi Yan. He managed to smell a wisp of extremely weak medicinal fragrance in the air. Immediately, he could not help but ask in surprised, “The both of you had gone to get medicinal ingredients?”

“Hee hee, your nose is really sensitive.” Zi Yan laughed out loud when Xiao Yan had pointed out her motive immediately. She flipped her hand and a couple of exquisitely-shaped jade boxes appeared on it. The little girl handed them over to Xiao Yan in a fawning manner as she said with a laugh, “You can keep some of these medicinal ingredients to help Cai Lin jie-jie refine medicinal pills in the future. However, you must help me refine Yaowan with the rest. You cannot keep all of them!”

TL: jie-jie - older sister

Xiao Yan was somewhat stunned when he received the jade boxes. He opened them one at a time and the surprise in his eyes immediately became denser. He muttered, “This is... Jade Dragon Saliva? Extreme Cold Ganoderma? These medicinal ingredients... where did you get them from?”

It was little wonder that Xiao Yan was shocked. These few medicinal ingredients were mostly those that were required to refine the ‘Soul Recovery Pill’. Xiao Yan had mentioned this medicinal pill to Medusa back then. It was unexpected that a couple of those medicinal ingredients that were difficult to find even in the ‘Black-Corner Region’ would actually be found in one go by this little girl Zi Yan.

“Zi Yan naturally has a special ability to sense these spiritual medicine. It is naturally an easy task to look for them.” Medusa rubbed Zi Yan’s little head and spoke indifferently to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan curled his mouth. He had forgotten that Zi Yan had such a special ability. He must bring this little girl along if he wanted to search for medicinal ingredients in the future...

“However, these medicinal ingredients... do not appear like they have just left the ground? These medicinal ingredients aren’t those that you have went to look for and unearth right?” Xiao Yan played with the jade boxes. He appeared to have discovered something as he asked with a frown.

“Hee hee...” Zi Yan laughed when she heard this. She immediately spoke softly, “These are things stored by some factions along the way. Cai Lin jie-jie said that it is a waste for them to keep these. Hence, we secretly took them out...”

Xiao Yan was stunned as he looked at Zi Yan who was smiling awkwardly. His expression gradually turned green as he looked at Medusa angrily, “You actually brought her to steal medicinal ingredients?”

“I will settle it if any problem were to occur. There is nothing you need to worry about. Moreover, these medicinal ingredients are all those that are needed for you to help me refine the ‘Soul Recovery Pill’. I don’t wish to wait until our agreement is over only for you to tell me that you have not found all the medicinal ingredients.” Medusa curled her lips and spoke indifferently.

The corner of Xiao Yan’s eyes twitched. He did not expect that these two individuals, one big and one small, could really cause trouble. It was fortunate that they were not discovered when they stole these medicinal ingredients. Otherwise, they could forget about smoothly resting for their journey.

“Get them to increase our speed!” Xiao Yan’s expression was green as he turned around and spoke solemnly to Xiao Li.

“Yes.” Xiao Li let out a bitter laugh. The Dou Qi wings on his back were flapped as he rushed to the other flying Magical Beast.

“The two of you are not allowed to leave without my permission in the future!” Xiao Yan once again turned toward Zi Yan and Medusa and spoke furiously after seeing Xiao Li leave.

Zi Yan secretly extended her tongue when she saw Xiao Yan’s somewhat green face. Queen Medusa by the side had vertical eyebrows but eventually swallowed the words in her mouth when she saw the furious gaze of Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan only quietly sighed in relief after he had suppressed these two fellows who gaze one a headache. He lowered his head, eyed the jade boxes in his hand and helplessly shook his head. All he could do was to store them in his storage ring.

The speed at which Xiao Yan’s group traveled clearly became much faster after this matter was over. This kind of speed continued for a couple of days. Only after they were far from the area where Zi Yan and Medusa created trouble did Xiao Yan completely relax. After which, he once again reduced the speed.

Time swiftly flowed like sand between one’s fingers during the dull flight...

As time flowed by, the distance between Xiao Yan’s large troops and the border of the Jia Ma Empire also became increasingly closer...