"Tian Ge, you're finally here! Also—it's not that I'm slow, it's just that these three old fellows are really strange, and three against one isn't fair play at all."
Xiao Yan looked up at Xiao Jietian hovering in the sky and scratched the back of his head with his signature awkward grin.
Just then, the lion-headed elder condensed a blood-red glow in his palm and launched a vicious sneak attack while Xiao Yan was distracted.
*Bang!*
But before the strike could land, the elder's body suddenly and eerily exploded into a fine mist of blood.
"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're talking?"
The remaining two Mulan elders felt an icy chill crawl down their spines. They hadn't even seen how their companion died—only that he had inexplicably burst apart right before their eyes.
"Eight Extremities Collapse!"
Xiao Yan combined the technique with the explosive speed of Three Thousand Lightning Movement. In an instant he appeared before the tiger-headed elder and unleashed his most proficient Dou Technique.
The elder's body was pierced clean through.
In the next breath, Xiao Yan flashed before the bear-headed elder and repeated the same devastating move.
With that, the three elders who had dominated the Mulan Empire for decades were reduced to lifeless corpses.
"Son-in-law, save me!"
Yun Shan's once-neat hair was now a complete mess from the beating. His robes were torn and tattered by poisonous mist, his entire appearance utterly disheveled—he looked nothing like the dignified Cloud Sky Emperor anymore.
Hearing Yun Shan's shameless address, Xie Bi Yan's eyelids twitched violently. He stared warily at Xiao Jietian and subtly began to retreat.
Though the young man appeared ordinary—no aura, no pressure, like any mortal—he had just effortlessly killed someone using the Savage Three Beasts Art's concentrated power variant, something even Xie Bi Yan himself couldn't replicate so cleanly.
There was only one possible explanation: this person's cultivation far surpassed his own. Had he ever seen an "ordinary person" who could walk on air?
"Young friend… if you spare my life, this old man will retreat immediately and never set foot in the Jia Ma Empire again."
Xie Bi Yan forced a stiff, placating smile.
"Noisy. Wouldn't solving the problem at its source be much cleaner if you just died?"
Xiao Jietian extended two fingers and drew them downward.
An arm-thick bolt of heavenly lightning tore down from the clear sky and struck Xie Bi Yan squarely.
*Crack!*
Xie Bi Yan's body was instantly charred black. Of course, Xiao Jietian had deliberately used less than thirty percent of his power—otherwise the old man would have been reduced to ashes in a single strike.
Immediately after, another bolt descended, then another—continuously tormenting him.
"Boy, you're courting death!"
After enduring three lightning strikes, Xie Bi Yan was already half-crippled. Realizing escape was impossible, he roared in fury.
Blood blisters erupted all over his body, each one churning with viscous crimson liquid. The sight was grotesque and terrifying.
Xiao Jietian looked at him and smiled faintly.
This was exactly why he hadn't killed him outright—he wanted to push the old man to his absolute limit.
"He's going to self-destruct!" Yun Shan and the accompanying Magical Beast hurriedly retreated.
Xie Bi Yan opened his mouth wide.
A jet-black beam of light—swift as lightning—shot out from his throat!
"Tian Ge, dodge quickly!" Xiao Yan shouted in alarm. Activating Three Thousand Lightning Movement to its limit, he rushed toward the black light in a desperate attempt to intercept it.
Xiao Jietian simply raised both hands.
His left hand froze Xiao Yan mid-flight, holding him suspended in place.
His right hand casually caught the incoming black light between thumb and forefinger.
"Alright, don't make such a fuss. At this speed, in front of me, it's slower than a crawling turtle."
Xiao Jietian toyed with the black light, making it bob up and down in his palm. He sensed the dense, pure energy within it and thought to himself:
*If I give this to Xian'er to refine, it should increase her strength a bit. No choice—with so many women, resources are always in short supply. I have to manage carefully.*
Xiao Yan scratched his head awkwardly upon hearing this. In his earlier panic, he had momentarily forgotten his teacher Yao Chen's warning: Xiao Jietian was already a Dou Zun.
"Tian Ge… it's good that you're alright."
"Old geezer, I thought this grand display would be something impressive, but it's just *this*? Giving you a chance was too generous, wasn't it?"
*Just this? Too useless?*
Xie Bi Yan heard the naked mockery and instantly glared with rage. Then—eyes still wide with fury—he toppled backward and died on the spot.
"Huh. Died of anger?" Xiao Jietian extended a finger and shot out a ray of light that pierced straight through the old man's glabella.
With that final wound, Xie Bi Yan stared at Xiao Jietian in utter disbelief before truly expiring. That last look seemed to ask: *You're still going to finish me off?!*
Xiao Jietian's body suddenly erupted with power.
In an instant, the world around them lost all color—everything turned monochrome, black and white.
Immediately afterward, the leaders of the Three Great Empires—along with anyone at the level of Da Dou Shi or higher—exploded simultaneously into clouds of blood mist.
"Alright. The rest is up to you. Xiao Yan Zi—his corpse is yours. Oh, and this—you'll find it useful."
Xiao Jietian waved his hand. Four storage rings flew into his palm. He casually tossed the jade bottle containing the sealed Iron Protector to Xiao Yan. (As for Protector Tie, who had been captured much earlier, he had long since been reincarnated elsewhere.)
After collecting the spoils, Xiao Jietian's figure flickered like a ghost and headed straight toward the "amusement park" where Zi Yan and Xiao Huiying were playing.
"What kind of move was that just now? It was so terrifying—I felt like I was suffocating, and I even saw the Grim Reaper waving at me."
Yun Shan came to Xiao Yan's side, still breathing heavily. In just a few short years, Xiao Jietian's strength had grown to such a horrifying degree. He secretly rejoiced:
*Fortunately, I have a good disciple who can connect me to Xiao Jietian.*
Otherwise, he might have become one of those blood-mist fireworks himself.
"That's one of Tian Ge's Dou Techniques—'World Loses Color.' It's indeed terrifying. Of course, the prerequisite is that your strength must be strong enough to break free from it. Otherwise… you can only wait for death."
Xiao Yan had experienced this technique many times before. He often asked Xiao Jietian to use various Dou Techniques to temper himself.
"A very fitting name," Yun Shan nodded in agreement.
Xiao Yan walked up to Xie Bi Yan's corpse and stored it away without ceremony. The body would be perfect material for refining a Heavenly Demon Puppet.
"You little rascal… don't tell me you have some special fetish?" Yun Shan sidled up beside him and teased.
"Get lost! I'm not as old and improper as you!" Xiao Yan laughed and cursed back.
During this campaign, the two had fought side by side and deepened their bond—though most of the effort had come from Yun Shan deliberately trying to befriend him.
…
When Xiao Jietian arrived at the spot where Zi Yan and Xiao Huiying were "playing," the two lolis were currently squatting on the ground, chins in hands, staring at the completely pulverized corpse of the Four-Winged Heavenly Demon Scorpion.
"Hui Ying, do you think this scorpion tastes good?" Zi Yan asked, a thin trail of drool escaping the corner of her mouth.
"I don't think so." Xiao Huiying shook her head seriously.
"Why not?" Zi Yan tilted her small head curiously.
"Look—its blood is green. Even if you cook it, it would look really disgusting. Could you eat that?"
Xiao Huiying pointed at the viscous green fluid still oozing from the scorpion's mangled body.
"Uh… yeah, it does look kinda gross."
Zi Yan stared at the green blood and suddenly felt a wave of nausea. Even the pill she had been happily chewing lost its flavor. She quietly leaned closer to Xiao Huiying and whispered:
"I'm telling you—I once saw Sister Fei Yan secretly drinking something in Xiao Jietian's sleeping quarters. Xiao Jietian gave it to her, but Sister Fei Yan didn't seem to like the taste very much. Yet she still looked like she was savoring it… so maybe it's something really good."
"What was it?" Xiao Huiying asked curiously, eyes sparkling.
Zi Yan shook her purple twin ponytails. "I don't know. Next time I'll take you to see, and then we'll ask Xiao Jietian for some too."
Just then, a familiar voice sounded from behind them:
"What are you two talking about?"