Immortal-Exterminating Divine Venerable

"Huh? We must be in the Northern Wilderness Forest now."

Before long, Yang Xiao had traveled from the southernmost to the northernmost point, crossing hundreds of thousands of miles of territory. Although his speed couldn't compare to a true Divine Beast cub like Golden Flame, it was by no means slow. At the very least, he had few rivals below the Demigod realm.

Yue Lingxi gradually began to realize this as well.

She was amazed by Yang Xiao's speed.

At the same time, she felt a surge of joy.

'The stronger Yang Xiao is, the better our chances are of being together.'

However, she didn't understand why Yang Xiao had brought her here.

'Does he plan to fly out from here?'

"Wait here a moment," Yang Xiao said with a slight smile.

"I have a few things to arrange, and then I'll leave with you."

He then settled in to wait.

A short while later, the void began to churn.

The Fire God Clone appeared before them.

At the sight of the Fire God Clone, Yue Lingxi's jaw dropped in astonishment, but her eyes glinted with delight.

She realized that this Clone of Yang Xiao's was even stronger than his original body.

This filled her with even more hope for their future together.

'A Clone at the Great Divine Power Realm... and a Fire God Clone at that! It's bound to reach the True God Realm in the future. With this, and his Supreme Yang Aura that can counter Nine Nether Evil Qi, surely my master won't object to us anymore?'

Yue Lingxi's heart swelled with delight at the thought.

Her anxious heart finally settled down a little.

Meanwhile, Yang Xiao began to sync up with his Fire God Clone.

Although they were two separate individuals with different cultivation levels, their consciousness was synchronized.

Thus, without a word needing to be said, the Clone understood Yang Xiao's intentions.

Without another word, he took out an ordinary-looking black bead and handed it over.

"So this is the Ten Thousand Poison Source Pearl?"

Yang Xiao didn't give it a second glance, absorbing it directly into his Sea of Consciousness.

At the same time, he handed the Heaven-Fighting Divine Palace to his Fire God Clone. The artifact wasn't of much use to his main body, but the Clone could use it with ease.

Furthermore, the Fire God Clone would also have to handle matters concerning Han Ziye.

Yang Xiao even wondered, 'Should I give the Inheritance Altar to the Fire God Clone too? That way, even if my main body perishes in the outside world, the Northern Wilderness Sword Wasteland won't fall so easily into the hands of others.'

However, when he tried, he found it was impossible to remove the Inheritance Altar from his Sea of Consciousness, so he dropped the idea.

The three Secret Pattern Seeds of the Greater Yang Secret Pattern, however, flew out effortlessly and entered the Fire God Clone's Sea of Consciousness.

He also passed over the All Heavens Starry Fist, which he had received from Nangong Tianling.

With that, Yang Xiao's arrangements were complete.

In an instant, the Fire God Clone vanished.

Only Yang Xiao and Yue Lingxi remained.

"Yang Xiao, that clone of yours is quite impressive," Yue Lingxi couldn't help but ask. "But how do you plan on getting out of here?"

Watching Yang Xiao hand over a Divine Artifact, Secret Pattern Seeds, and even a Cultivation Technique Jade Scroll to his Clone made her grow even more delighted.

She felt more confident in his earlier claim that they could leave this place, and a sense of anticipation began to stir within her.

'Maybe he really has a way to get out without using a Teleportation Talisman.'

Yue Lingxi thought to herself.

Yang Xiao, however, just smiled.

Without offering an explanation, he simply said, "Follow me."

He then took Yue Lingxi's hand and led her forward.

Just as Yue Lingxi was feeling confused, the scene before her suddenly changed.

A small path had inexplicably appeared in the Northern Wilderness Forest, a place that, despite its terrifying suppressive power, had seemed otherwise ordinary.

The path seemed to hang suspended in the void.

Yang Xiao stepped onto it.

A single step seemed to span countless miles.

Soon, he had led Yue Lingxi into what appeared to be an enclosed space.

Within this space stood row after row of silver pillars.

Each silver pillar was covered in a dense array of mystical patterns. Yue Lingxi recognized one type—it had to be the Void Secret Pattern.

The other, however, she did not recognize, as she had never seen it before.

'Could it be a rare Secret Pattern?'

Yue Lingxi's eyes lit up.

However, she didn't deliberately try to investigate them.

This place was unlike the Xuanyuan Sword Wall. They had found the Sword Wall together, and both could comprehend its Sword Intent. This, however, was clearly Yang Xiao's private space. So, even though Yue Lingxi knew she could potentially gain immense benefits by studying the patterns closely, she didn't do so.

It only made her confidence in Yang Xiao grow even stronger.

At the same time, a deep curiosity bloomed within her.

'This man from the Mortal World is such an enigma,' she thought. 'He's always full of surprises. I can't help but find myself drawn to him.'

'Sinking deeper and deeper.'

"Alright, we can get out through there," Yang Xiao said. "But before we do, we need to prepare."

Unlike Yue Lingxi, and despite it being his first time here, Yang Xiao knew this place like the back of his hand.

This place was, in fact, the core of the Array laid down by the Northern Wilderness Divine King.

Unlike places like the Nine Nether Earth Rift or the Burial God Celestial Abyss, the Northern Wilderness Forest was sealed off by these Space-Time Arrays, which prevented outsiders from entering and those inside from leaving.

To break these Arrays, one would have to comprehend the Power of Time, just as the Northern Wilderness Divine King had. And even then, one would need to be stronger than the Divine King to have any hope of success.

Of course, anyone who obtained the Northern Wilderness Divine King's inheritance could also control this place.

Opening the Array to leave or to let others in would be incredibly simple.

That was why Yang Xiao considered Yue Lingxi's earlier worries to be a trivial matter.

Things would be different once they were outside, however.

The outside world was filled with Immortal Cultivators; there was no place for Martial Cultivators to survive. Therefore, they had to disguise themselves.

Yue Lingxi, of course, understood this. Two Jade Talismans immediately appeared in her hand.

"These are the Immortal Transformation Talismans I mentioned. As long as you wear one, you'll give off the aura of an Immortal Cultivator. It will even make your Martial Arts Divine Techniques look like Immortal Dao Profound Techniques when you use them."

"They're that powerful?"

Yang Xiao's expression shifted.

After gaining control of the Northern Wilderness Sword Mansion, he had considered venturing out to investigate the world beyond. But every time he was about to take that step, the Thousand Mechanism Eye within him would issue a warning, showing him all sorts of visions.

All of them ended with his identity being discovered and him being surrounded and killed.

All of Yang Xiao's knowledge about the outside world came from the Thousand Mechanism Eye.

But after taking one of Yue Lingxi's Immortal Transformation Talismans and activating the Thousand Mechanism Eye again, Yang Xiao discovered the predicted outcomes had changed dramatically.

Although danger still lurked, it was no longer the intense, certain-death scenario he had seen before.

He knew at once that the talisman was the real deal.

He immediately fastened it to his waist. It looked like a decorative Jade Pendant, and its exquisite craftsmanship lent him a rather refined air.

Sure enough, Yang Xiao began to emit an aura unique to the Immortal Dao—an aura he happened to despise. His cultivation level, however, remained unchanged: Martial Grandmaster Seventh Layer, which was equivalent to Profound Tier Seven for an Immortal Cultivator.

"Well, of course! My master refined it himself."

Yue Lingxi looked rather smug hearing Yang Xiao's words.

Her cute little fangs peeked out again.

Yang Xiao stared, momentarily dazed. An idea sparked in his mind, and he asked, "When we get out, what identity should we use in front of the Immortal Cultivators? Brother and sister? Friends? Fellow sect members? Or... lovers?"

For the last option, Yang Xiao deliberately avoided the cultivator term "Dao companions," instead using a word common in the Mortal World.

Yue Lingxi's face instantly flushed red.

"You're impossible!"

With a stomp of her foot, the girl ran toward the exit passage.

Yang Xiao couldn't help but chuckle.

Just as he was about to follow her, the Thousand Mechanism Eye let out a soft hum.

His expression changed in an instant.

"Damn it, there's an ambush outside!"

Before the words had even left his mouth, Yang Xiao's figure flickered and he shot forward.

At that same moment, Yue Lingxi's cry of alarm echoed from outside.