But now, in Li Chang’an’s hands, killing such a terrifying and bizarre monster seemed as easy as slaughtering a chicken in a coop. This made her feel the chasm-like gap between them.
She was clearly cultivating the Martial Scripture as well, and she’d made progress over the years.
So why was the distance between her and this young man growing ever wider?
Leng Yanran couldn’t quite understand it.
She had been a peerless prodigy in the eyes of others since she was a child. This was the first time she had ever felt such despair on the path of cultivation.
Li Chang’an didn’t bother explaining much to her.
After he killed the largest monster, many of the prying eyes in the surroundings vanished.
Within the dense fog, numerous Evil Spirits still trailed behind them. However, intimidated by the aura radiating from Li Chang’an, the Evil Spirits didn’t dare get too close, nor did they dare make any more moves.
But the two of them could clearly sense that the spirits were constantly shadowing them, waiting for the right moment to swarm.
For an ordinary person, this would be an incredibly stressful and terrifying place.
But Li Chang’an clearly wasn’t in that state of mind.
Under Leng Yanran’s guidance, they quickly passed through the first mountain ridge and entered the area of the second.
The fog on the second mountain ridge was even thicker, reaching the point where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
There was no light from the sky, and the entire world seemed to have lost its sense of direction. It was difficult to even tell front from back, left from right.
Fortunately, there was still a clearly visible path on the ridge.
The two followed the path forward. The number of Evil Spirits around them increased, and no matter which way they looked, they could see strange figures drifting on both sides of the road.
"GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE..."
"HISSSSSS..."
Rustling sounds came from both sides of the road, and suddenly, a monster nearly five meters tall shot out.
Leng Yanran was terrified. When she had escaped from Broken-Back Mountain before, these were the sounds that had haunted her nightmares for days.
She drew her longsword, preparing to fight.
However, Li Chang’an acted a step ahead of her. With a flash of his saber from his waist, Li Chang’an infused his Spiritual Power into it. The blade flew swiftly, slashing toward the figure of the monster pouncing from nearby.
"SQUELCH!"
Before the monster could even get close to them, its massive body was struck by the flash of the saber and it staggered before collapsing to the ground.
A cloud of black mist slowly rose from its body.
Its flesh also began to squirm and decay.
The two walked closer for a look and saw that the monster had two heads. They looked like human heads but had wolf-like mouths, and its limbs looked more like four claws.
’A chimera, a stitched-together monstrosity!’
This monster was just like the red-furred one they had seen earlier, assembled from the flesh and blood of multiple creatures.
’Things like this generally can’t be formed naturally, which means this place has likely been tampered with.’
’Who could tamper with a place like this?’
’Or rather, whose handiwork could create something that even Leng Yanran couldn’t traverse?’
There could be many answers to this question, but right now, Li Chang’an could only think of one.
Cultivators!
Upon this realization, Li Chang’an grew even more excited, and his pace quickened.
...
They passed through the first and second ridges smoothly.
But upon entering the third ridge, there was no longer a path on the ground. The surrounding fog became almost tangible, and visibility dropped to barely a meter.
Leng Yanran grew nervous and grabbed Li Chang’an’s sleeve. "Should we keep going?"
This was the farthest she had ever gone before.
Because the fog on the third ridge was too dense, she had wisely chosen to turn back.
Li Chang’an patted her shoulder to soothe her, smiling. "If you’re scared, I can send you back out now. I’m fine going in alone."
He had only brought her in earlier because he wanted her to lead the way.
Now that they had come this far, he no longer needed a guide. Sending Leng Yanran away wouldn’t be a problem.
Feeling the warmth radiating from his body, Leng Yanran’s emotions stabilized. She pursed her lips and said, "There’s no road. Where do we go from here?"
Li Chang’an closed his eyes. The fog could block sight and even Divine Souls, but Li Chang’an’s Divine Soul was so powerful that even though the fog obstructed and limited it, he could still probe a great distance.
After sensing for a moment, he took a few more steps forward.
Seeing that he intended to break into the third ridge, the monsters that had been following them all went berserk, frantically lunging at Li Chang’an.
Li Chang’an was prepared for this, unleashing all of his Slaughter Skills.
For a moment, flesh and blood flew everywhere as black mist scattered.
The area between the two regions was left in utter chaos.
An unknown amount of time passed, and he killed an unknown number of them.
Finally, silence returned to Li Chang’an’s ears.
The ground was littered with the corpses of monsters, and thick, jet-black blood was splattered everywhere.
Li Chang’an retracted the still-dripping long saber in his hand. He walked over to the footprints Leng Yanran had seen before and smiled. "There might not be a road ahead, but aren’t there still footprints? Let’s follow them. I’m very curious to see what kind of secret this place is hiding!"
Leng Yanran looked at him.
At that moment, she wasn’t sure who was more terrifying—Li Chang’an, or the monsters of Broken-Back Mountain.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, let’s go!"
To be honest, the fact that a set of fresh footprints, looking as if they’d just been made, remained in this bizarre land teeming with countless monsters was eerie no matter how you looked at it.
But Li Chang’an wasn’t afraid.
’If Cultivators are truly so powerful that they’re impossible to contend with even at full strength, then even with another twenty years, I’d still be no match for them.’
’Now that I’ve rashly barged into a Cultivator’s territory... ’
’...the worst that can happen is an early return to the Rebirth Space.’
’I’ve come this far. There’s no reason to stop now.’
...