One of my fairy-like friends

She still had some resistance to him. Mingyan could sense that when Ning Feixuan was in front of him, she always consciously or unconsciously restrained herself, appearing dull and aloof.

Perhaps he needs to find a way to open Ning Feixuan's tightly closed heart...

Chapter One: Tracking

The Jade Pool is planted with a great many trees, some of which are hundreds or thousands of years old, and some were even planted tens of thousands of years ago.

Trees don't normally live this long, but in the Jade Pool there is a Fairy Peach Tree, an immortal elixir. These trees, bathed in its light, have had their lifespans extended.

Mingyan walked along the path by Yaochi, listening to the melodious sound of the babbling brook beside him, his gaze wandering around.

There are still many places in Yaochi that he has not yet visited.

For example, the peach orchard where the immortal peach tree takes root, the Heavenly Pool of the Jade Pool Holy Land, and the summit of Jade Mountain.

Mingyan stopped and looked up. There stood a statue in front of him. It was not huge, about twice the size of an average person, but he could feel its powerful aura.

"The 1040th Queen Mother of the West of Yaochi, Wang Qingchu."

One thousand and forty generations! Ming Yan was astonished; the history of Yaochi was simply too long.

The Queen Mother of the West is usually a cultivator at the Human Realm. In the era without Great Emperors or the suppression of the Great Dao, there were also Queen Mothers of the West at the Saint and Great Saint levels. Sometimes, even Queen Mothers of the West at the Human King level could be born. Therefore, a Queen Mother of the West would basically rule Yaochi for at least two thousand years.

If we follow the calculation of two thousand years per generation, then with 1,040 generations, Yaochi has existed for at least two million years. No, wait... my sister is the Queen Mother of the West from hundreds of thousands of years ago. Plus, two thousand years is basically the minimum, so Yaochi's actual history might be even longer.

This suggests that Yaochi may have been created before the first Dark Turmoil...

Too many people will die in the darkness and turmoil, and too many holy lands and noble families will be wiped out. Yaochi has survived from the first time to the present day, which must be due to its great fortune.

Mingyan remembered hearing before that the Immortal Peach Tree had once accompanied the Queen Mother of the West. So, the Immortal Peach Tree must be at least two million years old.

To this day, the Immortal Peach Tree still stands in the Jade Pool, and has not withered or died.

Is this the elixir of immortality?

Mingyan looked up at the statue of Wang Qingchu. She was dressed in light armor, holding a treasure bottle in her left hand and a sharp sword in her right, pointing the sword forward. Her eyes were firm and she looked heroic.

"This statue was carved by the people of the Northern Continent to commemorate the war to reclaim the Northern Continent. At that time, the ancestor Wang Qingchu stood on the front line, pointing his sword at the Northern Continent. He held the Eight Treasures Glazed Bottle, the supreme imperial artifact of Yaochi, in his left hand and the Imperial Sword of the Qiankun Dynasty of the Southern Continent in his right hand. He led other heroes to launch the last war of reconquest on Yaoguang Star, and killed the emperor-level beings among the invaders from the outer realms with his sword, and reclaimed the homeland that belonged to the people of the Northern Continent."

A calm voice came from behind Ming Yan, “Besides Yaochi, there are statues of the ancestor Wang Qingchu all over Yaoguang Star. She is a hero to everyone.”

Mingyan turned around and found Ning Feixuan standing behind him, looking up at Wang Qingchu's statue, slightly lost in thought.

She was dressed in a white brocade robe, and through the overlapping neckline, a glimpse of her delicate, fair collarbone could be seen. Further down, the robe was pushed up high, and a belt was wrapped around her waist, fully displaying the slenderness of her waist. Ning Feixuan was already an adult, and her graceful figure could not be concealed at all.

Her hair was tied up, adorned with exquisite hair accessories, as beautiful as peach blossoms. Unlike her previous ethereal elegance, her current attire lacked some of that otherworldly charm and instead exuded a more approachable charm.

“Fairy Ning.” Ming Yan nodded in acknowledgment, and Ning Feixuan then withdrew her gaze and returned the greeting with dignified elegance. “My master has ordered me to travel with Brother Ming to slay the ferocious beast that is ravaging the region. Let’s not delay any longer and set off immediately.”

Mingyan nodded, and the two hurried toward the gate of Yaochi.

Ning Feixuan lightly touched the ground with her feet, her posture elegant, yet her speed extremely fast. In the blink of an eye, she was already far away. Ming Yan originally wanted to chat with Ning Feixuan more, so he deliberately slowed down his pace, but he did not expect to be left behind by Ning Feixuan almost instantly.

This fairy Ning seemed unwilling to spend even a moment longer with him.

Mingyan sighed inwardly. Did they really despise him that much? He was heartbroken.

Mingyan quickened his pace and caught up with Ning Feixuan. The two left the Yaochi Holy Land together.

------------------

Like the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Holy Land, there are some blessed lands around the Yaochi Holy Land, which are under the protection of Yaochi.

Blessed lands are a lower level of leisure places than holy lands and aristocratic families. Their upper and lower limits are quite subtle. Some blessed lands have cultivators at the Xuanji Realm in charge, while others don't even have a Divine Palace, with only a Qi Sea at the top.

The blessed land that Mingyan and Ning Feixuan were going to was the kind of place that even the Divine Palace level didn't exist, which is why they were attacked by a ferocious beast with a full Divine Palace level, and they had no ability to fight back.

The Divine Gate of a ferocious beast at its maximum level is different from that of a cultivator. Even a ferocious beast at its maximum level cannot take to the air; it only has its physical body that has reached this level, but it has no Dao or Dharma.

Therefore, in most cases, when cultivators and ferocious beasts are of the same level, ferocious beasts are generally no match for cultivators.

This is different from the demon race. Although the demon race is also a kind of beast in its physical form, beasts have intelligence and can use the Dao and the Law. So do spirit beasts.

Mingyan frowned as he looked at the ruins before him. He looked around but did not see anyone else.

Ning Feixuan stepped into the ruins, her eyes scanning the surroundings. "I can't sense anyone else with my divine sense, and the ferocious beast shouldn't be here either. Perhaps we should go find those who escaped and ask them what happened."

Mingyan shook his head. "No need. I used to be a hunter. I can track down that ferocious beast."

Mingyan walked into the ruins. There should have been many exquisite buildings here, but they had obviously been almost completely destroyed by that ferocious beast with full-level Divine Palace.

Moreover, a faint smell of blood could be smelled from beneath the ruins, but unfortunately, a sweep of divine sense revealed no living people.

Mingyan looked around and found some traces.

There were some bloody footprints on the ground, clearly human. He started tracing the footprints from their source. The bloody footprints came from under the rubble, and he reached out to clear away the stones in the rubble.

During the cleaning process, Mingyan discovered some scratches on the stone. The scratches were very wide, about the size of his palm.

What kind of ferocious beast is this?

Mingyan cleared away the stones and found some fleshy-like material. He frowned, but finally discovered some footprints that were clearly not human.

The footprints were enormous, almost as long as Mingyan could stretch out his arms... There were also several holes in the ground, possibly made by claws, which showed how sharp and hard its claws were.

Mingyan also noticed some drag marks around the footprints and some traces on the ground that looked like some dried liquid, but it was clearly not blood.

"Did you find anything?" Ning Feixuan asked after circling around and not finding any corpses.

"Do you recognize this footprint? I've never seen it before," Mingyan asked, pointing to the footprint on the ground.

Ning Feixuan examined it carefully and frowned. "It looks a bit like the footprints of a lizard from this area, but they usually don't grow this big. Judging from the footprints, if it really is a lizard, it would be at least eight or nine zhang wide..."

Eight or nine zhang (approximately 33-60 meters) – that's enough to call it a giant beast.

Mingyan stood up, frowning. "Who spread the news that the Divine Palace is now fully occupied?"

“There was a previous incident of a ferocious beast attacking people on the Shenque steps nearby,” Ning Feixuan explained. “So we suspect it was that beast.”

"Has this happened before?" Mingyan asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Yes, other blessed lands and grotto-heavens had witnessed it firsthand and chased it away, saying it was a giant snake.” Ning Feixuan nodded.

“These marks couldn’t have been left by a snake, unless the snake had grown limbs and claws.” Ming Yan shook his head and stood up. “It’s very likely not that giant snake, but some other ferocious beast, and at least one above the Qi Sea level.”

“Let’s investigate first. If we find that we can’t handle it, we’ll return to Yaochi Holy Land,” Ning Feixuan said. “If possible, it would be better to deal with it directly. These ferocious beasts may attack other blessed lands a second time after they have had the experience of attacking people once.”

"Let's take a look around first," Mingyan nodded.

Chapter Two: Just Friends

Mingyan walked outside the blessed land and saw a forest.

Many trees in the woods were crooked and twisted. When Mingyan got closer, he found that these trees must have been pushed and shoved, and many of them were broken.

He frowned. Did the ferocious beast come from the forest, or was it heading into the forest?

Mingyan called Ning Feixuan over, intending to start the investigation from here.

Ning Feixuan said, "There are some ferocious beasts in this area that surpass even the Divine Palace. They have all developed intelligence. If you want to go in, you need to be extra careful."

Mingyan nodded. "Leave immediately if anything goes wrong."

After agreeing on their terms, the two entered the forest.

There were many traces in the woods. Mingyan found obvious drag marks on the ground and some animal droppings in some places.

Because they lacked the laws and principles of Tao, these ferocious beasts still needed to eat and excrete, thus leaving Mingyan with clues to pursue them.

Therefore, it is evident that this enormous ferocious beast has not yet broken through to the Taiyi level.

When a ferocious beast breaks through to the Taiyi level, it will develop intelligence and master the Dao and the Law.

After traveling through the forest for a day, Mingyan made a new discovery.

“This feces is very fresh, most likely from the last two days, which means that the giant beast that is suspected to be a monitor lizard has been here for the last two days,” Mingyan said. “Its nest should be nearby.”

"..." The scene of Mingyan standing in front of the feces and analyzing it with a serious expression was a little strange, but the serious look on Mingyan's face made Ning Feixuan sigh in her heart.

Mingyan never uttered a single idle word, and there was no casual conversation between the two. Perhaps he sensed her deep-seated resistance, so Mingyan was also controlling himself.

But, even though we agreed to be friends, is it really okay for me to keep a distant relationship with him like before?

Ning Feixuan could sense that there was probably some connection between Mingyan and Yaochi. Her master had asked her about Mingyan many times, showing great interest in him.

As the Holy Maiden of Yaochi, it's probably wishful thinking for her to want to keep her distance from Mingyan.

Perhaps, instead of going against the tide and forcibly keeping her distance from Mingyan, it would be better to solidify their friendship completely. They could be friends, but only friends.

"Are you sure?" Ning Feixuan asked softly.

"With the two of us together, I'm confident we can handle even a fully-leveled Divine Realm beast," Ming Yan said with a smile. He hadn't actually fought a real battle since he reached the Qi Sea realm.

"..." Ning Feixuan looked into the distance, her black hair blowing in the wind. She hesitated for a moment and then said, "What do you think of Feiyan?"

"Feiyan? It's hard to say... Hmm, she's a very good friend." Mingyan smiled. "But why bring her up all of a sudden?"

"I just think you two are a good match." Ning Feixuan turned her head to look at Ming Yan, her eyes clear.

"Really?" Ming Yan was somewhat surprised. To be honest, hearing such words from Ning Feixuan was a little heartbreaking. Did she really not have those feelings for him? But there was no rush. It wasn't time yet. He'd wait until Ning Feixuan had avenged herself...

"Don't you think it's bad?" Ning Feixuan asked.

“It’s not that it’s bad, Fei Yan is a very outstanding person.” Ming Yan shook his head, “but I don’t have those kinds of feelings for her.”

If the two of them could get together, that would be good... Ning Feixuan looked away, "Have you been back to Sun and Moon Village?"

“I went back before and visited the villagers.” Ming Yan led the way, and Ning Feixuan quickly caught up with him. He continued, “There’s nobody left in the village; it’s deserted.”

Do you still think about them?

“Yes, occasionally.” Mingyan nodded. “Although I’m a bit of a loner in the village and not many people are willing to befriend me, I still occasionally recall some scenes from the past.”

"In a daze, I felt as if I was still living there." Mingyan lowered his head.

“I sometimes experience this too. Has Feiyan told you about my background?” Ning Feixuan said softly, observing her surroundings with her divine sense.

"...Your parents..."

“Yes, my parents left me when I was young. They were killed by Ning Zetian. Of course, he has never admitted it.” Ning Feixuan nodded. “However, I saw it with my own eyes, so I don’t need him to admit it.”

"You saw it with your own eyes?" Ming Yan opened his mouth.

“My mother was once a cultivation genius, but unfortunately she encountered some things that caused her cultivation to drop, and she became a mortal,” Ning Feixuan said. “She met my father later, and the two got married.”