In the pitch-black great plains, a convoy of carriages stirred up a faint yellow dust, speeding past before disappearing into the distance. Inside a slightly bumpy carriage, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged. In front of him was the caravan leader named Doma. Indeed, as he had said, the guards of this caravan were not particularly strong; the strongest among them seemed to be around the level of a five-star Dou Shi. Naturally, as the original hired guard captain, that person wasn’t too fond of Xiao Yan’s sudden addition. However, after being “accidentally” knocked off the carriage by Xiao Yan during one of their travels, he became much more obedient. Due to that incident, Doma’s enthusiasm for Xiao Yan grew even more, to the point where he eventually invited Xiao Yan into the carriage and treated him well. After all, under such perilous conditions where the risk of ambush was constant, having a strong presence in the caravan did indeed bring a significant sense of security.
At this moment, Doma was taking out a somewhat yellowed map from his pocket, slowly unrolling it on the table in front of them. He pointed to a red dot with his finger and said with a smile, “This is our destination, Black Seal City. At our current speed, we should arrive by tomorrow afternoon.”
Xiao Yan’s gaze was fixed on the yellowed map, lingering for a moment on the small dot representing Black Seal City. Then, following a route, his eyes slowly moved upward, finally resting on a blue star at the center of the map. “This should be the Gan Nan Academy, right?” Glancing at the blue star, Xiao Yan’s face remained unchanged as he asked casually.
“Yes, that’s the renowned Gan Nan Academy on the Dou Qi Continent. My daughter is there, hehe,” Doma nodded, a hint of pride showing on his plump face as he mentioned his daughter.
Xiao Yan silently nodded, firmly memorizing the route. His gaze then shifted to the black area surrounding Gan Nan Academy, which was divided into several uneven sections.
“The ‘Black-Corner Region’ is now largely divided among some powerful forces. Although they are still constantly fighting over territory, the situation is unlikely to change much in the short term.” Seeing Xiao Yan’s gaze, Doma, as a merchant, naturally understood his doubts. Although he could guess that Xiao Yan was a newcomer to the Black-Corner Region, he wisely kept it to himself and instead smiled as he explained.
“The city we’re heading to, ‘Black Seal City,’ is under the jurisdiction of the ‘Eight Doors.’ This ‘Eight Doors’ is an old and very powerful force in the Black-Corner Region. It is said that their leader, Yuan Yi, ranks among the top ten on the Black List. This time, the auction in Black Seal City is hosted by the ‘Eight Doors.'”
Doma drew a small circle around the area near Black Seal City and continued, “The Black List? It’s similar to the rankings of powerful individuals in some empires, but the competition here is far more intense. In just the last two years, the bottom three on the list have been replaced. The three who were replaced were also Dou Wang level experts…”
Hearing this, Xiao Yan was visibly moved. In the Jia Ma Empire, the top ten powerful figures would typically take almost a decade to change. Here, even Dou Wangs were eliminated so quickly. It was hard to imagine the ruthless nature of this competition.
“Who are the top few on the Black List, and what are their strengths?” Xiao Yan asked curiously.
“The top two are too mysterious, so few people have seen them, and I don’t know much about them. However, the third-ranked individual is a formidable expert. It’s said that his strength has already reached the peak of Battle Emperor, and he is extremely skilled in alchemy, known as the first alchemist in the Black-Corner Region. Many people respectfully call him ‘Alchemist Emperor.'”
“Alchemist Emperor? That’s quite a weighty title,” Xiao Yan smiled faintly. “What’s his real name?”
“Let me think… I believe it’s Han Feng…” Doma scratched his head and smiled.
As soon as Doma finished speaking, Xiao Yan’s hidden fingers trembled violently. The black ring on his finger burst with white flames, scorching a small hole in the carriage floor. The sudden change made Xiao Yan’s expression shift, but fortunately, the sleeve covered it, so Doma didn’t notice.
“Teacher, what’s wrong?” Xiao Yan gently stroked the black ring, whispering in his heart. The sudden movement of the ring was clearly due to the Elder’s emotional upheaval.
Xiao Yan’s question went unanswered, as the Elder fell silent. Feeling the Elder’s complete silence, Xiao Yan wisely chose not to press further. However, he firmly remembered the name Han Feng, suspecting that this person might have a significant connection to the Elder.
“Mr. Yao Yan, are you alright?” Doma, noticing Xiao Yan’s sudden change in expression, asked cautiously.
“Nothing,” Xiao Yan smiled. Just as he was about to speak, he noticed a commotion outside the carriage. Shouts of alarm echoed, “Everyone, be alert! A black storm is coming! Prepare to stop!”
“Black storm? Bad luck, we’ve encountered it again,” Doma’s expression changed, though he wasn’t overly panicked. He turned to Xiao Yan, “Mr. Yao Yan, let’s get off the carriage. As long as we take precautions, this isn’t a particularly large black storm, and it shouldn’t be too dangerous.”
Nodding, Xiao Yan lifted the carriage curtain and jumped out, looking up to see the sky, which had been clear just a few minutes ago, now shrouded in a strange black fog. Looking ahead, visibility was severely obstructed. Now he understood why Doma had said that even with a map, a black storm would be useless.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Yao Yan. I checked the wind direction, and it’s not too strong. This is a stroke of luck amidst misfortune,” Doma laughed beside Xiao Yan. “Although the black storm is the most annoying weather condition in the Black-Corner Region, it’s better than encountering those brutal black bandits. At least with a bit of luck, we can survive a black storm, but if we encounter thousands of black bandits, we’d be doomed.”
Xiao Yan nodded slightly. Just as he was about to say something, he noticed the already dim sky suddenly plunge into complete darkness. Soon, a howling wind swept down from the sky, causing the weaker members of the caravan to sway and grab onto anything they could. The black wind, like a giant-mouthed demon, devoured everything in its path. The caravan, arranged in a circular formation, huddled together, their weapons driven into the ground, anchoring themselves like nails.
In the pitch-black darkness, no one could sense the presence of others. Xiao Yan, half-kneeling, drove his Heavy Scale deep into the ground, hiding behind it. As the howling wind battered against the scale, his expression changed. He hadn’t expected the black storm to be so powerful. This was only a small storm, according to Doma. If it were any larger, wouldn’t it be capable of sweeping people away?
The darkness and gale continued for an unknown amount of time. Suddenly, in the darkness, Xiao Yan furrowed his brows and turned his gaze to an undetermined direction. There, a faint red glow flickered, accompanied by indistinct sounds.
Blinking, Xiao Yan sensed the wind’s intensity diminishing. After a moment’s hesitation, he crouched and stealthily moved towards the faint red glow. Moving in the darkness for a few minutes, the red glow finally appeared in his line of sight. Using the weak light, Xiao Yan was startled to find that the source of the red glow was a somewhat ethereal human figure, similar to the Elder’s appearance when he appeared.
“Hmm? This guy is also a soul body? But it seems weak, only a Dou Ling. Wait! Something is hiding in the darkness… Little one, don’t move!” Suddenly, the silent Elder shouted urgently.
Hearing this, Xiao Yan froze, dropping to the ground and holding his breath.
“Who are you? Why are you chasing me? I don’t recall ever offending you!” The red soul body, swaying in the wind, faced the darkness, its face twisted with fear.
A chilling laugh echoed from the darkness, followed by a black chain shooting out like a black snake, wrapping around the red soul body. The energy chain, made of some strange energy, caused the red soul body to emit white smoke, followed by a piercing scream.
No matter how he struggled, even summoning a red flame, he couldn’t escape the black chain. Eventually, the soul body grew weaker and weaker, until the chain spat out a black light, enveloping it completely.
“Ha ha, no matter how glorious or powerful you were in life, once you become a soul body, you’re a target for my ‘Soul Temple.'”
The harsh laughter gradually faded into the darkness. In the dark grass, Xiao Yan almost held his breath, his clothes drenched in cold sweat. He never expected to encounter the mysterious organization hunting the Elder in this black storm. What shocked him most was that the mysterious figure hadn’t even shown itself, yet a Dou Ling-level soul body was captured without resistance. Such power was truly terrifying.
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