"That's right. Searching for them like this is too slow. It's better to let them come to us. However, after we kill another wave, we must leave immediately. It will be disadvantageous if that old fellow arrives."
Nalan Yanran nodded in agreement. "Alright. But let's collect the spoils first."
The two quickly stripped the storage rings from the corpses, then flashed away and disappeared into the depths of the forest. The entire area fell silent once more, with only a few bodies lying quietly on the ground.
A few minutes later, several figures descended from the sky. Leading them was a white-haired old man with a ruddy complexion who didn't look old at all.
He stared at the corpses before him, especially the middle-aged Dou Zong, his forehead veins bulging like a powder keg about to explode. "Search everywhere! I will tear them into a thousand pieces!"
Every Dou Zong required vast resources to cultivate. This was already the second one he had lost, and his heart felt like it was bleeding.
"Yes, Pavilion Master!" the people behind him responded quickly.
"Ah!!!"
A shrill, blood-curdling scream suddenly rang out.
Hearing it, the old man's body crackled with thunder as he instantly vanished from the spot, rushing toward the source of the scream. When he arrived, however, he found only scorched ground and a pile of ashes.
He walked up to the ashes and carefully sensed them. Realizing they belonged to one of his Wind and Thunder Pavilion's Dou Zongs, his face turned as dark as water.
Suddenly, a faint light flashed beneath the ashes. The Wind and Thunder Southern Pavilion Master waved his hand, scattering the ashes, and a specially crafted jade bottle appeared. Inside it, an exquisite two-colored Fire Lotus slowly rotated.
Boom!!!
Under the gaze of the Wind and Thunder Pavilion Master, the Fire Lotus exploded instantly.
Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran, who had already traveled far away, heard the explosion and turned to look back. Xiao Yan grinned. "Seems like someone triggered the Fire Lotus. I wonder if it killed anyone. If it took out a Dou Zong, we've really hit the jackpot."
Nalan Yanran covered her mouth and smiled. "That's probably impossible. A Dou Zong isn't so easily killed by an explosion, and yours isn't a true Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus."
"That's true, but it can still teach them a good lesson. Haha!" Xiao Yan laughed heartily, then wrapped his arm around Nalan Yanran's waist and continued into the distance.
At that moment, the elders of the Wind and Thunder Southern Pavilion also arrived at the explosion site. Once the smoke cleared, the scene inside was revealed.
The Wind and Thunder Southern Pavilion Master's once magnificent robe was now charred black with burn marks all over. Even his usually neat hair had been blasted into a messy bird's nest and was still smoking.
Seeing their Pavilion Master in such a state, the elders quickly lowered their heads. Their facial muscles twitched uncontrollably as they tried to suppress their laughter.
If the Wind and Thunder Southern Pavilion Master walked down the street looking like this, he would definitely receive a lot of gold coin tips.
"Search… search the entire mountain range for those two beasts!!! I want them to wish they were dead but be unable to die!!!"
The Wind and Thunder Southern Pavilion Master had never suffered such humiliation. He couldn't help but roar in fury.
…
Northern Region of Central State.
A hundred miles southwest of Maple City, on Ziyang Mountain, a fierce battle was currently underway.
Two figures—one red, one green—stood in the void. They were Medusa and Qing Lin, leading the Boundless Heaven Hall's army to expand its territory.
At this moment, the Boundless Heaven Hall was unilaterally slaughtering the Ziyang Sect, which had refused to surrender and chosen to resist stubbornly.
The Ziyang Sect was a hidden force in the Central Plains. Its Sect Master was a seven-star Dou Zong expert.
However, this seven-star Dou Zong had already been swallowed by White Fang and would soon turn into a pile of excrement.
Before dying, though, he had crushed a jade token.
"Who has awakened me?!"
The moment the jade token shattered, an ancient voice echoed from afar. Immediately afterward, a hunched old man with white hair stepped out from a spatial rift and stood atop the highest Sect Master's Hall, radiating the powerful aura of a Dou Zun.
"This is great! It's the Old Ancestor! I didn't expect the Old Ancestor to still be here. We are saved!!!"
Many of the older elders of the Ziyang Sect showed ecstatic expressions when they saw the old man.
The old man who had emerged surveyed the dilapidated sect, where corpses of disciples in Ziyang Sect attire lay everywhere. His face instantly darkened.
"Old Ancestor, you must avenge the Sect Master and the sect! These people brought their army directly to our gates, demanding our surrender and allegiance. When we refused, they attacked immediately. Now the Sect Master has tragically died in the mouth of that beast. You must uphold justice for us!"
An old man in a purple robe knelt on the ground, crying and shouting to the ancestor.
The old man looked at Jin Mo and White Fang. "This venerable one is Ziyang Venerable. How dare mere Dou Zongs invade my Ziyang Sect? Stay here and be buried with my Ziyang Sect disciples! As for you, beast—you shall become my sect-guarding beast!!!"
His aura surged as Dou Qi circulated wildly around him like a river flowing in reverse.
Suddenly, the sky darkened, as if the sun had been obscured.
Ziyang Venerable seemed to sense a terrifying pressure. He abruptly looked up, his pupils contracting sharply. A giant hand that covered the sky and sun had appeared above.
The palm was enormous, each finger as thick as a mountain, seemingly capable of covering the entire world. It carried a heart-palpitating pressure.
Ziyang Venerable trembled all over as he realized the hand was descending toward him. He pushed his Dou Qi wildly, trying to resist the terrifying suppression, but his cultivation was like a drop of water in the ocean before this massive hand—completely unable to stir any waves.
"Damn it… what level of power is this?!" Ziyang Venerable's face paled in shock, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror. He had thought he could show off this time.
Boom—!!!
The giant hand crossed layers of space and descended directly toward Ziyang Venerable's location. He found that he couldn't mobilize his Dou Qi at all and could only watch helplessly as the massive hand slapped down.
"No!!! I don't want to die yet! Don't—Ah!!!"
Ziyang Venerable let out a heart-wrenching scream. His physical body disintegrated inch by inch under the crushing force. The sound of shattering bones rang out clearly. Under the might of the giant hand, he turned into countless specks of light and dissipated between heaven and earth.
The large hand did not stop. It continued descending toward the Sect Master's Hall.
Boom!!!
The Sect Master's Hall and the entire main peak of Ziyang Mountain vanished under the giant hand, leaving behind only a massive palm-shaped crater.