One of my fairy-like friends

Mingyan tried to circulate the Wind Spirit Scripture, but to no avail. The energy within was too chaotic, and the presence of miasma obscured the perception of the Wind Spirit Scripture.

He looked at Ning Feixuan, and sure enough, Ning Feixuan could sense many things that normal people couldn't. Was this one of the miraculous effects of the Western Spirit Body?

Mingyan looked down at the dragon tendon, which was still emitting a faint light, and gently stroked it. He could feel its intense power. The power of the dragon tendon was awakening. Why... was it because it sensed the presence of a ferocious beast?

Legend has it that both the dragon and phoenix are auspicious beasts. If this is true, then the dragon and phoenix are naturally antagonistic to these bloodthirsty creatures...

So, is it urging me to kill it in this way?

Mingyan stopped using the Wind Spirit Scripture to conceal his and Ning Feixuan's whereabouts and instead used the Wind Spirit Scripture to drive away the surrounding miasma.

Upon seeing this, Ning Feixuan knew that Ming Yan had made preparations. The miniature palace no longer cast a dim light; instead, it hung above Ning Feixuan's head, appearing even more majestic.

"Thump...click...click...thump...click..."

A dull thud and the crisp sound of bones breaking rang out, and soon a huge, ferocious beast covered in scales appeared before the two.

Its body was covered in black scales, and its limbs were thick and powerful. When it landed on the mountain of bones, it crushed them to pieces. Its claws were long and sharp, gleaming with a cold, eerie light. Its head was like a cold, sinister snake with vertical eyes, staring intently at Ming Yan and Ning Feixuan. It flicked out a black tongue, with bits of flesh hanging from its mouth.

It is extremely large, at least eight or nine zhang long and more than one zhang tall. If this giant lizard appeared in front of an ordinary person, it would probably scare them out of their wits.

"It really is a giant lizard. Mingyan, be careful. It is no longer an ordinary beast at the full level of the Divine Palace. It has already begun to possess spiritual energy, making it far more powerful than an ordinary beast at the full level of the Divine Palace." Ning Feixuan's eyes were icy cold, her clothes fluttered without wind, and the miniature palace that had been floating above her head fell down and hovered in her hand.

Mingyan raised the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow, aimed it at the giant lizard, and used spiritual energy to form an arrow. He drew it back fully, making it resemble a crescent moon, and then suddenly released it. The spiritual energy arrow shot out with lightning speed.

When Ming Yan first obtained the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow, he was only in Yinling. At that time, he charged up the bow to its full power and used spiritual energy to create an arrow. One arrow was enough to flatten a mountain!

Now, Mingyan has reached the Qi Sea Realm and will only become stronger.

"Hiss..." The giant lizard was enormous, but its movements were anything but slow. Its tail swept across the spirit arrow, which struck the tail with a metallic clang. The lizard then retracted its tail, leaving a small wound. The lizard stared intently at Ming Yan with its vertical eyes, letting out an angry hiss, seemingly surprised that Ming Yan could actually hurt it!

"It was only enough to hurt it... This giant lizard's scales are too tough." Ming Yan was also somewhat surprised. He had shot the arrow directly at the giant lizard's eyes, but he hadn't expected it to move so quickly.

“It’s no longer an ordinary ferocious beast; it has already stepped halfway into the spirit beast stage…” Ning Feixuan had barely finished speaking when she and Ming Yan immediately dodged to the side. Then, the giant lizard’s tail landed on the spot where the two had just been standing.

With a loud "boom," the bone mountain there shattered into dust, causing the entire cave to tremble. Ming Yan stepped into the miasma and quickly felt that the flow of spiritual energy was obstructed. He frowned and rapidly circulated the "Wind Spirit Scripture" to clear the miasma around him.

“Its physical body has most likely reached the Taiyi level. With the strength of the two of us, it will be very troublesome to deal with a ferocious beast that has only half a step into the Taiyi level.” Ning Feixuan transmitted her voice to Ming Yan, “The best way is to return to Yaochi first.”

“But if we leave, this thing will be alerted and might attack other people.” Mingyan dodged, and the giant lizard swept its tail again. It was so fast that it struck a boulder, which shattered into dust.

“That’s true…” Ning Feixuan knew this too. “Although it’s somewhat risky, we really should deal with it…”

Ning Feixuan raised her hand, and the miniature palace in her hand enlarged before being crushed towards the giant lizard.

The giant lizard sensed the pressure and lashed its tail across the palace, which had been magnified dozens of times in size.

The palace remained motionless, but Ning Feixuan's face paled slightly. Then, the lotus flower between her brows bloomed without reservation, and the palace, which had stopped enlarging, expanded again, almost filling the cave. The giant lizard hissed, stood up, and waved its claws, about to strike. In the blink of an eye, a spiritual arrow appeared before its eyeball, piercing through it and piercing its pupil. The giant lizard hissed in pain, collapsed, and rolled among the bones, causing the entire cave to tremble.

Ning Feixuan's palace also collapsed, pinning the giant lizard beneath it.

"Your ability to find the right moment is just too good..." Ning Feixuan's forehead was covered in a light sweat. She noticed that Ming Yan was also looking at her with a strange expression. Her face flushed slightly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Although Ming Yan was not as sensitive to spiritual energy as Ning Feixuan, he also possessed the "Wind Spirit Scripture," giving him a deeper understanding of auras than ordinary people.

When Ning Feixuan first used the palace, she had already used all her strength, but later the palace suddenly expanded, and Mingyan sensed that the spiritual energy Ning Feixuan was using had suddenly increased several times...

Every cultivator has a limit to the amount of spiritual energy they can use. Ning Feixuan's normal limit is even higher than his, and she just amplified it several times over, making it far beyond his reach, unless he uses the "?" secret technique...

Is it because of the Western spirit body?

Mingyan shook his head. "It's nothing... I used to be a hunter, and a hunter's job is to find the most suitable opportunity..."

Ning Feixuan nodded, her brows furrowed as she looked at the palace. "It's not dead. Its body is definitely not that fragile... It's going to be... Mingyan?!"

Suddenly, a lizard, roughly the same size as Ming Yan, appeared in front of him. Its tail, like a dagger, stabbed towards Ming Yan's throat. It was so fast that even Ning Feixuan, who instinctively stepped on the Star Gap and doubled her spiritual energy output, didn't have time to push Ming Yan away.

Chapter Five: Seamless Cooperation

But Mingyan is a hunter. How could he be distracted while hunting?

Although he was talking to Ning Feixuan, it didn't mean he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings!

Mingyan's blood surged, and he grabbed the giant lizard's tail with his bare hands. The powerful physique and immense strength of the Human King Body slowed down the lizard's tail, allowing Mingyan to turn to the side. The needle-like tip of the tail grazed Mingyan's neck, and a faint trace of blood seeped from his neck.

At this moment, Ning Feixuan arrived, peach blossoms swirling around her arms, each petal carrying a chilling intent. The delicate petals seemed to transform into the sharpest blades of time, binding the giant lizard and producing a piercing scraping sound.

The monitor lizard's scales were so hard that only a few peach petals pierced through them, embedding themselves deep within its flesh before exploding.

The giant lizard let out a painful hiss, forcefully pulled back its tail, and then disappeared before the two of them.

“It can already use its magic to a certain extent... If we had arrived any later, it might have already reached the Taiyi realm! If that were the case, we wouldn’t need to think about it; we could just turn around and leave. But we should still be able to deal with it now.” Ning Feixuan turned her head to look at Ming Yan and saw that he only had a scratch on his neck, so she felt relieved.

Mingyan touched the wound on his neck and looked around. "The miasma is churning. It may be able to use the miasma to conceal its whereabouts."

Although the miasma was not invisible and odorless, it filled the cave. Ming Yan could sense the churning miasma by circulating the Wind Spirit Scripture, but the miasma itself was somewhat chaotic, and he could not sense the exact location of the giant lizard.

Ning Feixuan's lotus flower between her eyebrows was vibrant and beautiful, and all the female cultivators in Yaochi had lotus flowers between their eyebrows; the only difference was the degree of beauty and size.

For example, the lotus flower between Wang Qingchu's eyebrows was the most vibrant lotus flower Mingyan had ever seen, extremely beautiful and breathtaking.

Secondly, there is the lotus flower between the eyebrows of the current Queen Mother of the West, Ning Mengru.

Next were the lotus flowers between the brows of the other Yaochi elders. Ning Feixuan's lotus flower was slightly inferior to theirs, but her appearance was too outstanding. The lotus flower was just an embellishment, and she didn't really need it.

With a flick of her wrist, Ning Feixuan conjured up a shower of peach blossoms once more, filling the space and spreading them evenly across every corner.

Ming Yan understood Ning Feixuan's meaning and carefully observed the surrounding situation. Soon, he noticed that the peach blossoms in a certain area had been disturbed. Without any hesitation, Ming Yan raised the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow in his hand and used the combat technique from the "Moon Shadow Scripture" for the first time. Spiritual energy transformed into an arrow, which, with a faint blue color, was released from the bowstring.

After the spirit arrow was fired, it completely disappeared until a painful hiss came from afar again. The giant lizard then revealed itself, with a bloody wound on its tail, the flesh turned inside out, and dark blue blood gushing out.

The spirit arrow disappeared naturally after hitting its target. The giant lizard looked at Ming Yan with venomous eyes, as if it wanted to tear him to pieces.

But the second arrow followed immediately!

The giant lizard tried to dodge, but found itself moving too slowly. When it looked up, it discovered that the palace in the woman's hand had reappeared above it, its eerie blue light hanging down heavily, slowing it down. Peach blossoms were falling all around, beautiful yet containing a surging killing intent.

The second arrow, imbued with the essence of the moon, struck the previous wound once more. The giant lizard hissed in pain, and its entire tail broke off and fell to the ground.

Mingyan unleashed his extraordinary phenomenon: a bright moon hung in the sky, and the power of Yin permeated the air, immobilizing the giant lizard. Now was the perfect opportunity. Mingyan activated the "?" secret technique, transforming spiritual energy into an arrow once more. He fully charged the arrow, and the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow in his hand shattered into a crescent moon, enveloping the arrow with the essence of moonlight. With a devastating force, it hurtled forward!

The power of this arrow far exceeded that of the previous ones. Ning Feixuan, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but turn her head. She was somewhat shocked. Standing so close, she could clearly feel that Ming Yan's strength had increased several times in an instant, and that he was slightly different from her.

The arrow was too fast. The giant lizard tried to dodge, but it was too late. It was hit in its other eye, and the violent arrow of spiritual energy pierced through its body, shattering its skull.

The monitor lizard's body slowly collapsed, completely dead.

Mingyan listlessly put down the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow. To ensure a fatal blow, he used the "?" secret technique, which proved extremely effective. The spiritual energy arrow, which had previously only left wounds, pierced right through its brain.

"...You really have impressed me." Ning Feixuan examined the lizard and confirmed that it had lost its life before approaching Ming Yan.

Mingyan smiled, pursing his lips. It was actually his first time using the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow in actual combat, and it was even more effective than he had imagined. Now he felt like he had too many combat techniques and didn't know which one to use.

Mingyan thought about it and realized that it could actually be used in combination with several systems... He could study it carefully when he got back.

"It's weaker than I expected." Ming Yan took a deep breath and put away the Tongyou Dragon Tendon Bow. He was exhausted, having lost most of his strength.

He had expected the battle to go on for a long time, but he didn't expect it to be over so quickly.

Although it has developed a certain degree of intelligence, it clearly still retains the instincts of a ferocious beast, so it is still too weak in combat and cannot fully utilize its physical body that has already entered the Taiyi realm.

It was like wearing the thickest armor and taking the most brutal beating... but it was a bit too brutal, so severe that it couldn't withstand it.

However, neither he nor Ning Feixuan were ordinary people... The aura Ning Feixuan had projected before made Mingyan feel that she might even be able to put up a fight against Gu Hanshuang...

But that's not necessarily true. Which of these geniuses doesn't possess some incredibly powerful secret techniques?

"...I feel like you're just too strong? It had so many moves it didn't even get a chance to use before it was taken down." Ning Feixuan chuckled. "I don't think I could have withstood that arrow at all."

“We cooperated well,” Mingyan said with a smile.

“I just did some insignificant things on the sidelines.” Ning Feixuan shook her head. “Now that we’ve dealt with it, we should leave… It’s a pity that even if we kill it, the lives of these dead creatures can never be brought back.”

"At least no one else will die at its hands."

“That’s true…” Ning Feixuan nodded. “Let’s go. When I entered the cave earlier, I sensed something unusual on the other path at the fork in the road. Let’s go take a look.”

The two arrived near the fork in the road. Mingyan's strength was slowly recovering. Ning Feixuan noticed that Mingyan's pace was a little slow, but she didn't mention it. She also slowed down her pace.

"Is Ning Zetian very strong?" Ming Yan asked.

“At least, I’m no match for him right now.” Ning Feixuan paused, then replied, “I won’t act rashly until I’m absolutely certain. I need to take revenge myself. If I end up not only failing to get revenge but also dying at his hands, I will have no face to see them.”

"How does it compare to Gu Hanshuang?"

“I don’t know about that.” Ning Feixuan shook her head. “But my master said that Gu Hanshuang’s strength is not just what we have seen. Her strength is far more terrifying than we have seen.”

What they see now is Gu Hanshuang at the top of the Divine Palace, and that's not all! Just how strong is Gu Hanshuang?

"Moreover, that Jade Peony is no simple character either. These two should avoid becoming enemies if possible," Ning Feixuan said. "When you went to Lijian Peak before, you should have heard the legend, right? Lijian Peak was once an imperial weapon. The weapon of that ancient emperor was a sword... and he also had the surname Gu."

Mingyan nodded.

"Gu Hanshuang is very likely the Great Emperor's biological daughter... If that's true, she was probably sealed away until now by some means. Although it's unknown why she chose to awaken in this life with a Great Emperor on the throne, her bloodline is terrifying. If it weren't for Empress Qingzi's reign, the phenomenon of two emperors from one family has happened before," Ning Feixuan said. "She can be considered a true young Great Emperor, and one of the most outstanding among them. If that's the case, then the Jade Peony, who has a rather complicated relationship with her, must possess true strength..."

“These two have raised the younger generation to a level that was not originally theirs,” Ning Feixuan said. “I guess Ning Zetian is no match for them, but he is also not someone I can easily deal with now.”

Chapter Six: The Ancient Mirror of Mandarin Ducks

Mingyan wanted to say that he could help whenever needed, but after thinking about it, he realized that Ning Feixuan seemed to want to take revenge herself, and his relationship with Ning Feixuan was far from being as close as Feiyan's. So Mingyan didn't say anything.

Ning Feixuan stopped and sensed it again. "There is indeed a very rich spiritual energy here..."

She thought for a moment, then strode inside with Mingyan.

The cave gets smaller and smaller as you go in, which explains why the giant lizard didn't live here. It was originally huge, and before it reached the half-step Taiyi realm, it couldn't shrink its size and couldn't get in. Obviously, it didn't have the idea of ​​destroying the cave and forcibly entering, so this cave was preserved intact.

"Has anyone lived here?" Mingyan found some old cups on the ground, which looked like they were used for drinking.

"It seems we might be able to find something here." Ning Feixuan smiled and said, "There are some things left behind by a senior here."

Mingyan had regained some of his strength and nodded.

The two continued deeper into the cave and soon left, arriving at a secluded paradise.

This is a valley surrounded by mountains, where peach trees are planted. As the peach blossoms fall, they adorn the valley with exceptional beauty. A clear stream flows through the valley, and beside the stream stands an exquisite mansion, hidden among the peach blossoms. There are also some fields around, but they have long been abandoned and overgrown with weeds.

The spiritual energy in this space is so rich that it is almost comparable to the Jade Pool Holy Land.

"Right next to us is a blood-soaked land filled with miasma, but this place is like a paradise on earth," Mingyan sighed. "There seems to be some kind of restriction inside; those outside can't sense its presence. How did you sense it?"

“You should know that I am a Western Spirit Body, right?” Ning Feixuan walked to the peach tree, raised her hand, and a few peach blossoms fell and landed on Ning Feixuan’s jade hand. She said softly, “The Western Queen Mother who created Yaochi also has this kind of constitution. Western Spirit Bodies are extremely sensitive to spiritual energy. You should have noticed before that I can use spiritual energy several times more than before.”

Mingyan nodded. "A very impressive physique."