The lush-green color radiating from the vast mountain forest was just like a green sea where one could not see its borders.

A black-robed, young man was standing on a huge rock at the peak of a mountain within a certain part of this deep mountain range. His expression was solemn, as his right hand formed a strange seal and he immediately cried out loud, “Open Mountain Seal!”

A powerful glow immediately surged from the young man’s palm as the cry sounded. Following the appearance of the glow, his palm was suddenly pushed forward. However, the intense glow on his palm was like an epiphyllum just as his palm moved and instantly disappeared. The palm that was swung merely carried a slight wind. A ‘puff’ was emitted and a tiny pit was blasted into the ground.

Xiao Yan helplessly shook his head as he studied the pit in the ground. He sat on the huge rock as he repeatedly exhaled coarse breath. The energy needed to drive this ‘Open Mountain Seal’ was really too strong, resulting in him being unable to repeatedly use it.

“This damn ‘Open Mountain Seal’ is actually this difficult to practice. Moreover, this is only the first seal. I really don’t know just how terrifying the remaining four seals will be.” Xiao Yan feebly leaned on a cool rock and muttered to himself with a bitter smile.

It had been nearly five days since he had opened up the three Qi Paths. During these five days, Xiao Yan did not gain much progress in his practice of the ‘Open Mountain Palm’. The difficulty of practicing this thing had far exceeded his imagination. In order to unleash the normal strength of the ‘Open Mountain Seal’, one must complete the circulation of the Dou Qi within one’s body as well as make the formation of the hand seal at the same time. Otherwise, something like what happened a moment ago would happen. The energy would swiftly disappear after it had just appeared due to the inappropriate coordination. Finally, it would result in their strength falling to an appalling level.

This kind of coordination usually required time to polish. It would be somewhat impossible if one wanted to swiftly succeed within a short period of time. Of course, this slow progress of his might also be related to this being the first time he had practiced such a hand seal Dou Technique.

Xiao Yan was also clearly aware of all of this. At the very least, he was much better than when he used it for the first time after five days of training. However, he was used to quick progress. Such a slow speed was something that he had some difficulty accepting.

“Ugh... it is indeed worthy of being a high class Dou Technique. Looks like I can only take things slowly.” Xiao Yan sighed and withdrew the anxiety within his heart. He sat cross-legged and calmed his mind. He his training mode to begin recovering his exhausted Dou Qi.

Currently, Xiao Yan’s strength had already reached the peak of the Dou Wang class. His absorption of the natural energy was naturally far from what his past self could compare with. Moreover, due to him refining the ‘Fallen Heart Flame’, the ‘Flame Mantra’ had also evolved to the Di Class Low Level. Of course, this was Xiao Yan’s guess from the refining speed of the natural energy by the ‘Flame Mantra’. He was actually unable to guarantee that it had really broken through to the Di class. However, one thing that he was certain about was that the current ‘Flame Mantra’ was not merely just a little stronger than before. Regardless of how much natural energy poured into his body, the ‘Flame Mantra’ was able to orderly refine all of it. Finally it transformed into pure Dou Qi that merged into his body.

The strength of the Dou Qi currently within Xiao Yan’s body could not be compared with another person in the Dou Wang Class. Besides the repeated absorption of natural energy, the permanent raging heart flame also existed in his body. It repeatedly refined the Dou Qi, causing it to possess a greater liveliness and explosive strength.

From a certain point of view, Xiao Yan could even contend with some elite Dou Huangs by just relying on the ‘Flame Mantra’ and the Heart Flame. Of course, if he met a Dou Huang who was a little stronger, he would need to use Dou Techniques to fight with such an opponent. For those peak elite Dou Huangs, he would have to go all out. If it were someone even stronger, like Han Feng who had half a foot in the Dou Zong class, he would need to make every effort in order to obtain a large chance of victory.

However, Xiao Yan was dissatisfied with this kind of battle result. This was because he knew that he must defeat the person who truly controlled the Misty Cloud Sect when he returns to the Jia Ma Empire this time around, Yun Shan!

Two years ago, Yun Shan had already stepped into the ultimately strong Dou Zong class. Now that two years had passed, it was only natural that his strength would be even stronger. Xiao Yan clearly understood in his heart that even if he used the large scale ‘Angry Buddha Lotus Flame’ when fighting with an opponent of such strength, it was likely that his chances of victory would not be very high. Therefore... the current him needed a powerful fighting strength that could allow him to contend with a true elite Dou Zong. The ‘Open Mountain Seal’ was his only hope!

Therefore, no matter what happened, Xiao Yan had to completely master the ‘Open Mountain Seal’ of the ‘God Seal Technique’ before he returned to the Jia Ma Empire. Otherwise, the risk would be too great. Back then, he was forced away like a dog that had lost its home as he was chased out of the Jia Ma Empire. This could happen once, but it would never happen twice!

Xiao Yan suddenly opened his eyes as this thought flashed through his heart. A coldness rushed over his dark-black pupils. Yun Shan, just you wait. I, Xiao Yan, said that I will return, and I will definitely return to avenge this blood feud!

Hatred flowed within Xiao Yan’s heart as he suddenly stood up. The hand seal in his hand was swiftly formed, and the Dou Qi in his body was swiftly circulated at this moment.

“Open Mountain Seal. I don’t believe I cannot master you!”

The young man’s tense face stared at the hot sun on the mountain peak as his hands danced tirelessly. Strange hand seals were flipped under the sunlight, leaving behind an unceasing number of afterimages. The coordination of powerful Dou Qi and his hand seal gradually became better as his hands formed countless numbers of seals...

........

Black-Corner Region. Feng City.

Being the city in the ‘Black-Corner Region’ closest to the Inner Academy caused no other faction to dare step into it after Han Feng died. Hence, it gave Xiao Li the opportunity to grab it. After using bloody means to remove some resisting factions within the city, he completely controlled this city.

During this half a month, Xiao Li had occupied Feng City. The ‘Xiao Gate’ which Xiao Li established also gained some fame within the ‘Black-Corner Region’. However, the other factions mostly adopted an attitude of watching from the sidelines with cold eyes. They waited for the Jia Nan Academy to retaliate against this extremely bold faction, who they had never heard of before.

According to their expectation, the current Jia Nan Academy would definitely not allow any other factions from the ‘Black-Corner Region’ to control this city that was closest to the Inner Academy. However, what caused them to be surprised was that there was still no activity from the Inner Academy after nearly two months. This caused some of those significantly large factions from the ‘Black-Corner Region’ who coveted Feng City to enter an uproar.

After two years of development by Han Feng, Feng City was a large city that was one of the top ones within the ‘Black-Corner Region’. A couple of enormous auctions were conducted in this place during these two years. Although the popularity of Feng City had fallen to a low due to the death of Han Feng and the dissolution of the ‘Black Alliance’, it was still not something that one could underestimate from its size and population. This kind of desirable object was naturally something that possessed a great allure to those factions from the ‘Black-Corner Region’.

In the past, no one dared to step into this city because they were afraid that the Inner Academy would interfere. However, now that they realized that this ‘Xiao Gate’ remained untouched, it seemed that the Inner Academy had lowered their guard and did not want to pay too much attention to the ‘Black-Corner Region’. This had caused some factions to ready themselves to create trouble. From the way they saw it, how could a city with such rich profits be occupied by an unknown small faction?

Therefore, there was finally a medium-sized faction who could not resist taking action after the ‘Xiao Gate’ had occupied Feng City for around twenty days. This faction had around a hundred people. The strongest among them was a four star Dou Wang. However, there was no news about this faction after it brought a large number of people and swaggered into Feng City. Some of the spies only became aware of the situation after making some inquiries. Nearly half of these people were killed by the ‘Xiao Gate’. The remainder had all surrendered...

There was immediately some commotion within the ‘Black-Corner Region’ the moment this news spread. According to the rules of the ‘Black-Corner Region’ as long as a faction possessed an expert Dou Wang, it was considered a second-tier faction. If it possessed a Dou Huang, it would be considered a true first-tier faction. For those even stronger, they would possess an extraordinary position just like the ‘Black Alliance’ in which no one would dare offend. Of course, this was with the exception of a similarly large being like the Jia Nan Academy.

Being able to kill over half a second tier faction, as well as get the other half to surrender meant that the strength of this ‘Xiao Gate’ was likely one that possessed the qualification to nearly enter the category of a first-tier faction. This kind of strength was enough to cause some of the factions looking at it maliciously to weaken their hostility.

Of course, with the allure of such a large egg like the Feng City, it was natural that one would not be able to enjoy an everlasting peace. Hence, the peace had only lasted for half a month before Xiao Li obtained news that three first-tier factions within the ‘Black-Corner Region’ had joined hands to attack Feng City and take the managing rights from ‘Xiao Gate’.

Three first-tier factions joining hands. This line-up might not be comparable to the ‘Black Alliance’ back then, but it could not be underestimated. Faced with this kind of powerful attack which possessed at least three elite Dou Huangs, it was naturally impossible for Xiao Li’s own strength to block it.

Hence, a message pigeon quietly flew out from Feng City the moment the enormous amount of troops from the three large factions started to head for Feng City. Finally, it headed for the deep mountains within the Inner Academy. It swiftly flew over...