A bck figure fshed across the ndscape iill desert night. A few seds after the bck figure had passed at extreme speed, a sharp soni suddenly rang out.

  There was no doubt that Xiao Yan's speed had already surpassed the speed of sound.

  Just as his figure disappeared, another bck figure followed close behind. This figure glided through the air with the grace of a floating willow leaf, bining speed and elegance seamlessly.

  Yun Yun was worthy of being ae wind attribute Dou Emperor. She was gradually closing the distaween herself and Xiao Yann, even without exerting her full strength.

  'Shit! Yun Yun, you didn't put in this much effort when fighting the Amethyst Winged Lion King. Why are you pursuing me so relentlessly now?' Xiao Yan ranted inwardly.

  Suddenly, Yun Yun's clear voice transmitted into his mind: "Sir, the Heavenly Fme does not belong to you. If you persist in this folly, don't bme me for taking a."

  Xiao Yan turned his head to look bad saw that Yun Yun was already grippihin sword. He hadn't fotten that it was this very sword that had sliced open the Amethyst Winged Lion King's belly, leaving a wound deep enough to see bone!

  With a buzz, a wind vortex densed around the thin sword in Yun Yun's hand as she locked onto Xiao Yan not far areparing to un attack.

  Xiao Yan's scalp went numb uhe pressure of being locked onto. He couldn't increase his speed any further. In a rush, he took something out of his ste ring and threw it behind him.

  Yun Yun's brow furrowed slightly as she saw the object flying toward her. With a flick of her finger, a gentle breeze rolled up the ining object.

  ! ! ! ?

  "This is!" Yun Yun's mind jolted the moment she saw what it was. It was a scroll, and the words 'Exploding Steps' were written on it!

  The 'Exploding Steps' agility-type Dou Teique wasn't sidered too precious, it was only a copied version from the Misty Cloud Seot the only one ience. However, Yun Yun uood many things from it.

  'Yao Yan?! It's him!'

  Yun Yuainly hadn't fotten seeing Xiao Yan being captured by Yue Mei a day ago. She had thought Xiao Yan was caught by d had already escaped.

  But now, it seemed that Xiao Yan wasn't captured at all. He had iionally allowed himself to be caught, pnning to infiltrate the Mei Sribe. This third party was clearly Xiao Yan!

  Xiao Yan was at his wit's end. His meridians could barely withstand the power of the Core-Fire Lotus Seed any longer. He o stop and circute the Fme Mantra to transform it into Dou Qi as soon as possible.

  He could only rely on es now, hoping that Yun Yun would let him go for the sake of their acquaintance.

  Yun Yun's expression ged. After p for a moment, she put away her thin sword and ceased her pursuit, watg Xiao Yan disappear into the horizon.

  A gust of wind blew over, flipping up the hood of the bck robe, exposing that exquisite, calm, fair face that stood out stunningly amid the raging sandstorm.

  'He has truly beuch stronger, actually managing to escape from Gu He's hands.' Recalling how Gu He had been thwarted by Xiao Yan, Yun Yun couldn't help but smile for some reason.

  Sensing that Yun Yun was no longer chasing him, Xiao Yan could no longer hold on and directly crashed into the yellow sand. He hurriedly sat ous ptform and rapidly circuted the Fme Mantra.

  The terrifying energy from the Core-Fire Lotus Seed had already severely burhe meridians within his body. If he had been a little slower, it might have spread to his ans.

  Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes after half an hour of cirg the Fme Mantra. He discarded a portion of the remaining Core-Fire Lotus Seed energy to Mao Wu, while the Fme Mantra transformed the other portion into Dou Qi.

  He bent down to pick up the Exploding Steps scroll from the ground. Yun Yun had arrived while he was cirg his Qi Method, but she hadn't takeus ptform. She had only left the scroll before departing.

  'As, I've judged a noble heart with my owy mind.' Xiao Yan slowly opehe lotus ptform, inside whiot only hid the Green Lotus Core Fme but also Mao Wu.

  If anyone had taken his lotus ptform, Mao Wu would have detohe Essence Fme of the Green Lotus Core Fme the moment it ened.

  This was Xiao Yan's backup pn. Even if Gu He had gotteus ptform, it would have been useless, and he might even have been killed by his trap. Of course, this would have destroyed the lotus ptform, and even Mao Wu would have suffered some damage.

  Xiao Yan dusted himself off and muttered softly, "I'll find a way to return this favor to you iure."

  With that said, Xiao Yan wasted no more words. Holding the Green Colored Lotus Ptform in his hand, he turned around, his wings fluttering slightly as he quickly soared into the sky and fleithout looking back.

  He o find a safe pce to refihe Green Lotus Core Fme.

  Standing dazedly on the sand dune, Yun Yun bnkly gazed at Xiao Yan's reg figure until it became a mere dot in the distance. After a long while, she shook her head with a bitter smile and said, "Who needs your favor."

  …

  After resting for a period in the middle, Xiao Yan flew for over half a day before finally reag the outskirts of the Tager Desert. He now needed aremely secluded enviro where he wouldn't be disturbed.

  Lush greenery once again appeared in Xiao Yan's vision. With a slight flutter of his wings, his figure turned into a streak of bck light, shooting straight toward a majestic mountain range in the distance, and diving into a cave.

  At this point, even his Soul Robe was covered in a yer of fine yellow sand, and his hair was filled with grit.

  Xiao Yan slowly put dowus ptform to the side and sat cross-legged. He began cirg the Fme Mantra to recover his Dou Qi and the Spirit Heart Gathering Soul Teique to restore his Spiritual Strength.

  He cultivated for a full two hours until his Dou Qi and Spiritual Strength were pletely restored.

  'This won't do. When I reach the imperial capital, I must exge for a proper Soul Skill from the Hall of Souls no matter what. This Soul Impact will kill me sooner or ter.' Xiao Yan truly felt lingering fear.

  Soul Impact was indeed very useful. Even Queen Medusa had been caught off guard by it. Moreover, the vast majority of people on the Dou Qi ti had extremely iritual Strength.

  Except when fighting against alchemists, his Spiritual Strength basically crushed his oppos by a whole major level.

  However, no matter how weak the oppo's Spiritual Strength was, using Soul Impact still caused some backsh that resulted in damage to his own Spiritual Strength.

  Xiao Yan had made up his mind. He had to exge a Tian Css Soul Skill for Yao Ao's soul body.

  If utilized well, Soul Skills could be fatal when catg someone off guard.

  Turning his head to the side, Xiao Yan gazed at the beautiful Green Colored Lotus Ptform on the ground, his lips tightly pursed.

  What surprised Xiao Yan was that, if ting Mao Wu, this was actually the third Heavenly Fme!

  He had only been out of Jia Nan Academy for half a year, yet he had already obtaihree kinds of Heavenly Fmes!

  However, the Seed Fme of the Nihility Dev Fme and the Ten Thousa Fme were both due to the Hall of Souls. Only the Green Lotus Core Fme before him was obtaihrough his own luck, effort, and strategy.

  'My Fme Mantra has barely reached the High Xuan Css. I wonder if refining the 19th ranked Green Lotus Core Fme evolve the Fme Mantra to the Di Css!'

  Xiao Yan had not the slightest doubt about the energy tained within a Heavenly Fme. Although the evolutioween Qi Method ranks required a terrifying amount of energy dozens of times greater, he believed that the Green Lotus Core Fme definitely possessed this capability!

  'Before refining the Green Lotus Core Fme, I should deal with this snake first.'

  Xiao Yan opehe lotus ptform. By now, the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python had long since awakened. It was seeending its forked too lick the Green Lotus Core Fme in the ter as if eating ice cream.

  Looking at Mao Wu lying ous ptform like a little bck cat taking a nap, and the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python raising its body to lick the fme, Xiao Yan thought, 'Great, it looks like I've bee a beast tamer.'