The elders exited the lobby of Peace Manor, standing by the door. One of them suddenly said, “The Mountain Range of Death is shrouded in a malicious aura that makes anyone near it turn back after just a glance… Sh*t, I think I’ve gone nuts, I was actually persuaded by her words.”
The other elders didn’t express any mockery or disdain at his words, but they turned to each other, reading the shock in each other’s eyes. There was also a hint of ‘as expected’ in their faces.
Coming back to it, they could scarcely believe it themselves. Forget about how such an old group of people being shocked by Gu Xiqiao, the problem was that they had even believed an unreasonable thing that the other had said. Not only did they believe, they also felt that what she said had been right.
They were still in a dazed state and disbelief, when a faint, blue flame suddenly appeared in front of them.
The scorching heat in the air hit their faces, and they had a distance between them before this, and had not been able to feel the true terror of the flame. Now the flame was right in front of them, and they could feel the energy surging within the flames, which was frightening. They didn’t doubt that the ferocious energy within these flames would be able to make them disappear without a trace!
But these… These were blue flames!
Run…
They didn’t have time to shield themselves against the fire!
Where would they have time to escape then?!
The surrounding air suddenly became cold at this moment!
A white hand reached out suddenly, catching the faint, blue flames bare handed. The blue contrasted against the white, and the faint blue fire still contained the terrifying energy that could be felt by all of them. This was the power of heaven and earth, one that the Vermillion Bird was born with, the unique energy of the Phoenix Tribe!
However, the pair of hands had grabbed those flames barehanded, and everyone watching this scene was dumbfounded. Even the people from the Peace Squad had stopped their fight, turning to look at what was happening.
The hand holding the flames were extremely white, comparable to a fresh layer of snow. The blue flames trembled in the hands for a moment, before dying out with a ‘squeak’.
It was fine and all to extinguish it, but the key point was that no one had felt any fluctuation of the person’s chi at all.
That was the terrifying part!
Everyone present was stunned, their gaze slowly travelling up the hands of the person, finding a tall, quiet and handsome figure. He lowered his eyes slightly to look at the dying flame, the light illuminating his elegant, defined features of his face. Under the reflection of the light, a burst of chill came forth.
“Be careful.” Once the fire had been extinguished, he raised his head to look at Xixi, who was also stunned.
His voice was cold as ever, but Xixi could feel that something was off about him.
If it was before, the man would have looked at him with a hint of contempt in those eyes, and his voice would be slightly taunting. Unlike now, where his eyes were calmed, and at first glance, he resembled an ice mountain, making people feel like he was unfathomable.
Xixi flapped his wings a little, wondering if it had a masochistic streak in itself if it was practically asking to be abused. It then turned to the elders without a hint of remorse and apologized. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, I couldn’t stop it in time!”
“It’s fine.” The elders had also recollected themselves, seeing closely that it was Jiang Shuxuan. Their hearts that had leapt up to their throats had also returned to their rightful place.
“Why is this guy getting more and more unpredictable suddenly?” The great elder looked at Jiang Shuxuan, muttering quietly under his breath.
Jiang Shuxuan’s eyes swept past them, then to someone behind them. When he did, the icy look on his face receded slightly.
Gu Xiqiao was walking out the door slowly, flashing a smile at Jiang Shuxuan. “I’m done.”
Jiang Shuxuan nodded, giving another ‘hm’.
“I’ll be waiting for you at the Mountain Range of Death.” Gu Xiqiao looked at the elders, before leaving Peace Manor with Jiang Shuxuan.
The two silhouettes, one with grace and beauty, and the other with exceptional temperament as well as chillingly cold.
They were obviously not of the same type, but they still fit together perfectly.
The group of people from the ancient martial arts world felt as though they were in two different worlds, a look of admiration on their face as they watched the two retreating figures.
Both of them, one being a figure of conviction since they were young, and the other, a goddess who had suddenly appeared in the recent days!
No matter which one of them, they were out of their reach.
After the two had disappeared from their sight, it took a long while before the people gradually recovered.
Then when they recalled the words that Gu Xiqiao had said, a feeling of pride blossomed in their hearts.
Miss Gu had said it, they could also be stronger!
The elders let out a deep breath, then turned towards the direction where Xixi was. It was Baili Wen and Shi Qin’s team, and now that they added in another member from the Baili family, they had a full ten man team. The Five Element Formation that they were able to do was so powerful that one couldn’t afford to be their opponent.
They were strong enough to injure Xixi’s wings, when suddenly, a pink flower suddenly bloomed on top of Xixi’s head. It opened its mouth, swallowing the energy that the ten of them had shot out into its stomach!
“F*ck!” One of the elders who always had an elegant demeanor and didn’t swear on usual days suddenly spat out such a word.
The ten of them were strong, Xixi was strong, and now even a flower was strong!
It was no wonder an elegant elder would spit out such a word, because the others were tempted to do the same. But their throat was dry, and the words were stuck in their throat.
The elders watched at the monstrous Peace Squad, then looked towards the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world.
There was no harm if there were no comparison.
“Miss Gu said that the training grounds will be in the Mountain Range of Death. In that place, life and death have already been predetermined. Do any of you want to quit?” There were many things that he was feeling in this moment, but he still stood up strong and said this.
The Mountain Range of Death, it was possible for Gu Xiqiao and the Peace Squad to handle it, but it wasn’t confirmed that the youngsters of the ancient martial arts world were able to. Everything had to be with their consent and voluntary.
“We’re not afraid!” As soon as the great elder finished speaking, the young people all roared without hesitation.
He looked at the young but extremely determined faces, and was caught off guard in that moment. He initially thought that he would be met with hesitation, and was expecting some to shrink back the moment he mentioned the place. It was natural for humans to fear death, after all. But he never expected to hear such words!
Yes! These were the people worthy to be from the ancient martial arts world!
The road to becoming strong was never easy to walk, who of them had not experienced life or death while on this path?
The great elder waved his hand. “Let’s go!”
Tengen was in the middle of the crowd. After seeing Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao leave, he also left to follow them.
***
The Mountain Range of Death was a place that usually had no people, but today there were a few shadows at the bottom.
Gu Xiqiao stood at the foot of the mountain, looking at the people that the elders had brought over. Her eyes swept over them, and with her strong memory, she obviously knew that there wasn’t a single person who had backed down.
She nodded in satisfaction. To walk the path to be stronger, it required a heart that was not afraid of anything!
She gestured for the people to enter the mountain, and everyone went in without hesitation.
The elders, patriarchs, and Jiang Shuxuan’s Mahjong Army all stood at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the stillness of the mountain.
“They… what are they doing?” One of them watched as Gu Xiqiao brought the group of people to the bottom of the mountain, making a circle in the spot, while Jiang Shuxuan placed a bowl of blood on the ground.
Fresh blood—it could attract the beasts!
But, the beasts in the mountains were fierce and dangerous!
These fierce beasts were extremely powerful in the eyes of the elders, but weak in the eyes of Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao.
Apart from Yi Tong, everyone else didn’t know what Gu Xiqiao was intending to do. Yi Tong looked towards the bunch of youngsters who were with Jiang Shuxuan and Gu Xiqiao, a hint of envy in his eyes. “They’re really lucky.” With the top two masters of the ancient martial arts world escorting them, how was that not lucky?
Jiang Shuxuan acted just like Gu Xiqiao while she had been in Baixing Village, grabbing the fierce beasts and tossing them one by one into the center of the group.
Gu Xiqiao stood in mid-air with powerful energy radiating around her!
With her chi that was filled with vitality, she drove away the malicious aura at the foot of the mountain. Then she threw out a few jade pieces, and the foot of the mountain quickly became a vacuum zone.
In this vacuum zone, the fierce beasts couldn’t enter nor leave, and even evil spirits couldn’t!
What the heck was this situation?!
Forget about the fact that she could easily dispel the evil spirits, but how the h*ll could she even control them?!
That was just!
However, it wasn’t over yet. She walked up into the air, dispelling the malicious spirits halfway up the mountain, She threw another few jade pieces, turning this area into an independent vacuum zone.
Then she walked halfway up the mountain, and with every step she took, a bolt of thunder would strike down and kill the more powerful beasts inside it. She threw some of the weaker ones down to Jiang Shuxuan, who was still with the group of youngsters. Jiang Shuxuan had his eyes on the group around him, tossing the beasts towards groups that seemed to be skillfully dispatching them.
Wait…
With such thunder and power, why was it that the chi in her body was not decreasing a single bit?!
All of them watched as she easily turned the most vicious place in the ancient martial arts world into a training ground!
When she reached the top of the mountain, a roar rang out from a beast!
She didn’t even look at it, raising her hand, a thunder that was as thick as an arm came striking down!
Boom!
The beast didn’t expect a thunder to suddenly come down and strike it!
A crackling sound sounded out, splitting the beast in half, leaving only a scorched corpse behind!
It was a grand scene!
The group of people at the foot of the mountain looked up at the figure in the sky, a stupefied expression on their faces!
“Don’t freeze up.” Jiang Shuxuan said, glancing at them. A trace of mental power leaked out, instantly snapping them back to reality.
The youngsters immediately grabbed their weapons, killing the beats one by one. They had all been split into teams of five by Gu Xiqiao, and the teams progressed from five people killing one beast, to five people killing two beasts! They constantly challenge their limits, and learn how to cooperate more effectively and tacitly!
The people from the ancient martial arts world had lived their whole lives in the city. Every day, they only focused on breaking through the floors in the Trial Tower. The missions in the secular world were carried out by the Special Defense Force, and they didn’t have a lick of actual combat experience. They had been afraid when they first saw the beasts, but they gradually got used to it, and now you could see how calm their faces were.
There was nothing like actual combat to make people grow stronger, and become even stronger!
Their slaying of the beasts made the people standing at the base of the mountain filled with enthusiasm and excitement!
In the beginning, the elders and the other onlookers were still happily chatting and discussing amongst each other. In the end, they were so fixated on the scene in front of them, watching with bated breaths, some even forgetting to breathe.
With just a turn of hands, the Mountain Range of Death that everyone had heard and feared was now a training ground, for a group of youngsters who had never seen blood spilled before to be tempered into a sharp blade!
They never once thought that Gu Xiqiao’s strength lay not in her power, but her means of teaching others. If she wanted to, she could even create an army of thousands!
There was only one person who could do this, no matter how much you searched through the ancient martial arts world, that was Gu Xiqiao!
“Heh, I can’t believe you guys are surprised with just this. Her methods are so much more beyond your imagination.” Tengen watched the people from the ancient martial arts world who were in shock as he sneered. Don’t think he didn’t know, when they had just arrived, they were all still harboring doubts inside and questioning his master’s methods.
They should be able to imagine how amazing his master was by now.
All the elders heard the voice, and turned around to see a man clad in a gray robe. His face was unfamiliar, but the elders didn’t say a single word to refute his. Because, that was exactly the thoughts in their own minds!
“Master Dubhe.” The great elder recognized Dubhe, who was standing next to Tengen, and he clasped his hands together, greeting him before turning around to resume watching Gu Xiqiao.
In the past, he would never have dared to be so disrespectful to Dubhe, but he found that he couldn’t care less about Dubhe at this moment.
Dubhe didn’t take it to heart, looking at the figure in the sky instead, and saying nothing for a long time.
“Great Elder, our ancient martial arts world has really found a treasure this time.” One of them suddenly said, still looking up at Gu Xiqiao.
Gu Xiqiao really was an existence that defied all logic. She was strong, smart, and it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that she was all mighty. Before the calamity hit the ancient martial arts world, they needed a strong and astute leader. More importantly, they needed someone who could improve the overall strength of the ancient martial arts world as a whole. And this, the only one who could do it, was Gu Xiqiao.
Dubhe was silent, naturally reaching the same conclusion as the rest of the elders. However, there was a fear in his heart, and the reason was because he had almost killed Gu Xiqiao with his own hands before this. He didn’t dare to imagine if he really had managed to kill her back then, what would have happened now if he had succeeded back then?
“Didn’t you even say that you were going to burn her at stake?” the great elder sighed as he looked to the elder who had spoken. “You have to be grateful that Miss Gu didn’t take your word and action to heart!”
Otherwise, that would be the real calamity in the ancient martial arts world.
The elders all flushed with embarrassment, lowering their heads as they thought back to their actions. Let’s not bring up those past matters anymore, from now on, they would listen to Gu Xiqiao obediently and follow her words to a T!
Well, for someone who was capricious, good at tactics and manipulation, who the heck could stop such a tyrannical person that was Gu Xiqiao?
Jiang Shuxuan? It would be considered good already if he didn’t enable her!
