Chapter 83: Shocking Sight

Dozens of breaths after Xu Ziyan left, a loud explosion echoed in the air. All the talismans in the sky shattered, and Yang Leng and Yang Linglong, along with the other three, wearily freed themselves from the talisman array. Looking around, they found they were no longer on the imperial highway and couldn’t help but feel shocked and uncertain. Yang Leng couldn’t hide the astonishment in his eyes and said in a deep voice,

“Let’s go!”

He took the lead, flying on his sword toward Nanlin City, while Yang Linglong and the others followed nervously behind. As they flew, they thought to themselves,

“Who moved us from the imperial highway to this place? Could they be a friend, not an enemy? Otherwise, with such power, why didn’t they kill us? Could it really be a friend from Nanlin City who went to chase after the Xu Clan?”

However, no matter what Yang Leng and the others thought, they didn’t dare to stay any longer. If the person they imagined was actually an enemy, wouldn’t it be very dangerous? Besides, by now the Xu Clan members had probably already returned to their clan. Staying here would not only be useless but also very risky. So, Yang Leng and the others, dragging their tired bodies, flew away without stopping and soon vanished without a trace.

By now, Xu Ziyan had completely opened her mind, merging with the heavens and earth. The Water Ice Art in her soul blended perfectly with the vast, snowy world around her. Many things she hadn’t understood before suddenly became clear, and in an instant, she gained many insights. Her mental state continuously improved.

The snow kept falling, and Xu Ziyan continued to drift through the sky with the wind and snow. She didn’t know how much time had passed. The night ended, and dawn arrived. The sky gradually brightened and then dimmed again. The day passed quickly, and without realizing it, Xu Ziyan had drifted to the deepest part of the Cangmang Mountain Range.

The snow stopped. It was already evening, and the empty mountains were silent, with vast wilderness all around. The entire forest looked like a fairyland, with rocks, trees, the ground, and everything else covered in a thick layer of snow, all wrapped in silver.

At that moment, Xu Ziyan stood motionless at the foot of a slope, still in a state of sudden enlightenment. A vigorous spiritual power surged continuously from her body, and the spiritual energy from the heavens and earth gathered toward her. That day of sudden enlightenment allowed Xu Ziyan to break through once again, and this breakthrough was different from the one the previous night.

The breakthrough the previous night happened under pressure when the spiritual spring power within her acupoints suddenly erupted, leading to an abnormal breakthrough in a passive state. If her mental state didn’t improve afterward to match her cultivation level, her cultivation would drop back, and it would become very difficult to improve again.

Fortunately, after the passive breakthrough, Xu Ziyan immediately entered a state of sudden enlightenment in the wind and snow. This was because the cultivation method she practiced, the Water Ice Art, was originally compatible with the falling snow. Water, ice, vapor, frost, and snow are all different states of water. The vast snowfall stirred the Water Ice Art in her soul, allowing her not only to gain a deeper understanding of the Water Ice Art but also to reach the required mental state for her cultivation level, even surpassing it. Through sudden enlightenment, her cultivation broke through once more, directly reaching the peak of the 11th Level of Qi Refining Stage, not far from the Foundation Building Stage.

The spiritual energy around Xu Ziyan gradually stabilized, and her aura grew stronger. Slowly opening her eyes, Xu Ziyan was startled by the scene before her.

She found herself standing at the edge of a forest, but the forest ahead was in ruins. Trees covering dozens of miles in all directions had fallen, many broken into several pieces, and some even shattered into fragments.

Not far in front of Xu Ziyan was a patch of pure white, but it wasn’t snow. Looking at it gave a fluffy feeling. Following that white patch, which stretched for several miles, her gaze fell upon a fiery red expanse.

Xu Ziyan stood there in a daze, unsure of what was happening. The things before her were too huge for her to make out what they were.

She took out a flying sword from her storage pouch, threw it into the air, leaped up, and soared high into the sky. When she flew up high and looked down from above, an extremely shocking image struck her vision.

What a scene it was! Two giant birds lay facing each other on the ground, both completely motionless. The bird on the left was pure white, without a single speck of another color, radiating a silvery glow. The bird on the right was fiery red, also without a single other-colored feather, like a flame. Each bird’s body was several miles long, and with their wings spread out, they stretched over ten miles.

Xu Ziyan continued to rise higher on her sword. When she reached a very high altitude, she finally saw the full appearance of the two giant birds. The fiery red bird looked very familiar to her, as if she had seen it somewhere before. Suddenly, a thought flashed in her mind, and her heart shook violently.

“This… isn’t this the phoenix from my memories? Does this world… really have phoenixes?”

But what was the big white bird? Xu Ziyan couldn’t help but turn her gaze toward the pure white giant bird. She didn’t recall any bird like it from her memories. It looked a bit like an eagle, but no eagle could be this big! Could it be…

Xu Ziyan had a thought, focused her eyes, and looked carefully. She began to feel somewhat certain.

“Could this be the Kunpeng mentioned in Zhuangzi’s ‘Free and Easy Wandering’?”

It must be the Kunpeng; otherwise, how could there be such a huge bird? And one that could fight with a phoenix, ending in mutual destruction.

By then, night had completely fallen. Xu Ziyan, flying on her sword high in the sky, even with her peak 11th Level of Qi Refining Stage cultivation, couldn’t withstand the astral wind at that altitude. Slowly, she descended toward the space between the two giant birds, all the while thinking,

“Looking at this place, it seems the phoenix and the Kunpeng had a great battle. They destroyed the forest for dozens of miles around, and in the end, both giant birds died. They should really be dead, right? They aren’t still alive, are they?”

Xu Ziyan, full of fear, slowly descended toward the middle of the two giant birds. Getting closer, she could now see the heads of the phoenix and the Kunpeng facing each other. Holding her breath, she carefully lowered herself bit by bit. Seeing that the eyes of both the phoenix and the Kunpeng were closed and they remained completely still, Xu Ziyan finally felt a little less anxious. Cupping her hands around her mouth like a megaphone, she called out softly,

“Hey~~”

The two giant birds on the ground showed no reaction.

“Hey~~”

Xu Ziyan raised her voice, but the phoenix and Kunpeng still didn’t respond. Her heart eased a bit more, and she descended a little further…