"Master, I swear, I will do everything in my power to revive the glory our branch once held!" Dugu Huan declared.
"Mm, very good. Who would have thought that after all these years, I would encounter such a gifted disciple in the Saber Dao! The heavens have not treated me poorly after all! Very well, my good disciple, go now. Seek experience in the vast, colorful Great World. Only by roaming and experiencing can you grow more swiftly." The aged voice from within the statue spoke.
"Furthermore," the voice continued, "the Thousand Severities Saber technique you cultivate is an extremely profound method. You must devote yourself to its practice, striving to execute one thousand saber slashes as soon as possible. If you can unleash that thousandth slash, your Saber Dao level will be at least a thousand times higher than it is now."
"Master, I understand. In the future, I will return to visit you!" Dugu Huan bowed solemnly to the statue, knocking his head three times on the ground. He then rose to his feet, turned, and left the palace, descending from the Blade Mountain.
The entire mountain was shrouded in dense swarms of saber light, yet Dugu Huan seemed to take no notice of them. His expression calm, he traversed through the multitude of blade energies completely unharmed. Many of the saber lights, radiating terrifying destructive auras, swirled around Dugu Huan like a school of docile fish. Moments later, Dugu Huan descended the mountain.
"The exit of this Small World should be in that direction." After getting his bearings, Dugu Huan lifted his foot and strode towards the Ancient Beast Realm's exit.
Suddenly.
"Young man, I never expected you to come down from the Blade Mountain alive," a middle-aged man appeared before Dugu Huan, examining him with surprised eyes.
Whoosh! Dugu Huan's figure flashed, instantly retreating a great distance. He raised an ancient-styled curved saber, aiming it at the middle-aged man, his face full of vigilance. Dugu Huan could sense this man was incredibly strong, unfathomably deep!
"Young man, rest assured, I bear you no ill will. My concern for you is due to a commission from another young man." The middle-aged man smiled.
"Who?" Dugu Huan was taken aback.
"Him." The middle-aged man waved his hand, using his Soul Power to simulate a clear figure standing beside him.
"Ye Yunfei! You've seen him?" Staring at the figure, Dugu Huan couldn't help but blurt out.
"I have. He once entered this Small World searching for news of you. He even came before this Blade Mountain, though the Saber Qi here was too domineering; he could not force his way up."
"So that's what happened." Dugu Huan nodded, the wariness on his face beginning to fade. "To think Ye Yunfei actually came to this Small World looking for me!" He felt touched.
"Haha, he is skilled in spatial energy. Entering this Small World would have been simple for him," the middle-aged man chuckled.
"Alright, young man, it is good that you are safe and sound. Now, I shall send you out." With those words, the middle-aged man flicked his sleeve, sweeping Dugu Huan up. Taking a single step, they arrived at the Small World's exit.
Dugu Huan was shocked, almost instinctively thinking of resisting. This middle-aged man's strength was frighteningly formidable!
"Here, young man, off you go." The man pointed a finger, and a faint, shimmering spatial doorway slowly materialized.
"Senior, I bid you farewell." Dugu Huan saluted the middle-aged man, then turned and stepped into the spatial portal.
The next moment, Dugu Huan returned to the Ten-Thousand Beasts Forest.
"I'll go back to see Ye Yunfei first, then go out to seek experience. Master is right; only more roaming and more experience will lead to faster growth." After some thought, Dugu Huan retrieved a starship and flew back towards the Northern Wilds Domain.
Meanwhile, at Qingyun Palace headquarters...
By now, all the personnel who had been lurking around Qingyun Palace had departed. Over the past couple of days, the area before the headquarters had been exceptionally quiet.
*Boom! Boom! Boom! ...*
Suddenly, a vessel came roaring through the sky from the distant horizon. Shortly after, this starship arrived and stopped before the mountain gate of Qingyun Palace.
A group of men surged out from the ship, each one bristling with killing intent.
At their head was a tall, lean middle-aged man with a sharp, aggressive aura and a face full of sinister cunning.
"All members of Qingyun Palace, get out here this instant!" the tall, lean man raised his voice in a mighty roar.
*GET OUT HERE!*
*GET OUT HERE!*
*...*
His mighty voice waves rolled through the region, shaking heaven and earth and sending plumes of dust skyward.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! ...*
Over a dozen figures soared into the air from within the Qingyun Palace headquarters. Chu Ji, the Seven Great Bandits, Dean Sima, Elder Tang Wu, and other higher-ups were all alerted and appeared one after another.
"Honored guest, why are you shouting before our mountain gate?" Chu Ji inquired.
"Listen well! We are from the Tianlin Clan! Not long ago, Young Master Ruan Qing, the grandson of our Sixth Elder, entered Qingyun Palace. To this day, we have not seen him emerge! Speak! What exactly happened?! Hmph! Our Tianlin Clan is a major power ranked among the top fifteen in this cosmic starry sky, absolutely not one that a puny little Qingyun Palace like yours can afford to provoke! Bring out Young Master Ruan Qing at once! I warn you, if a single hair is out of place on Young Master Ruan Qing, your Qingyun Palace can await annihilation!" the tall, lean man harshly berated.
*Rumble rumble rumble...*
As his voice fell, a powerful force of Spiritual Pressure erupted from his body like a hurricane, rolling out like stormy waves to press down on the Qingyun Palace headquarters.
This tall, lean man was a mid-stage Sea Transformation Realm expert!
Chu Ji and the other Qingyun Palace higher-ups were forced to retreat repeatedly.
"Bring Young Master Ruan Qing out immediately! Otherwise, we will simply charge in and annihilate Qingyun Palace today!" Another burly man with a coarse, scowling face stepped forward, standing beside the tall, lean man and releasing his own surging Spiritual Pressure.
Another mid-stage Sea Transformation Realm expert!
These were all members of the Tianlin Clan who had come to the Celestial Web Star Sea in separate groups a while ago to search for the Heavenly Dao Tower. Ruan Qing had been captured by Ye Yunfei within Qingyun Palace headquarters and imprisoned in the Phantom Tower. These Tianlin Clan members, unable to contact Ruan Qing, had come seeking answers at Qingyun Palace.
"Honored guest, Ruan Qing is no longer within Qingyun Palace. Please leave," Chu Ji replied.
"Young Master Ruan Qing has already left? Hmph! Your words mean nothing! We will go in and search for ourselves! The moment we find that Qingyun Palace has dared show the slightest disrespect to Young Master Ruan Qing, you can await the obliteration of your faction!" The scowling, burly man waved his hand and shouted loudly, about to charge into the Qingyun Palace headquarters.
At that very moment.
*Slice!*
A tyrannical saber aura, dozens of yards long, streaked through the sky like a roaring calamitous dragon. It pierced through space and instantly arrived before the scowling, burly man. This saber aura crackled with lightning and thunder, its deafening roar shaking heaven and earth.
"Who goes there?!" Sensing the terrifying saber aura, the burly man was shocked, a chilling feeling rising in him. In startled fury, he threw out a punch to defend himself.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! ...*
A fist seal the size of a millstone manifested, colliding with the incoming saber aura.
*Crack!*
To the burly man's astonishment, the fist seal he unleashed was cleaved neatly in two by the saber aura.
Then.
*Pfft!*
The saber aura struck the burly man's fist, directly splitting it in half as well. The blade force continued forward, shredding his entire arm into fragments.
"ARGH!" The burly man let out a sharp scream as his body was sent flying backward a great distance.
"Leave now, if you wish to live!" In the distance, a young man held a curved saber, pointing it coolly at the Tianlin Clan members.
"Dugu Huan!" Seeing this young man, Chu Ji, Dean Sima, and the others were both shocked and overjoyed.