Through Long Xin's account, I finally grasped the rough outline of events! Two years ago, Xing Ye and the others tracked the experts of the Church to the Snow Domain Continent!
Only when they arrived at the Snow Domain Continent were they shocked—this was a world entirely different from the Marfa Continent! The Snow Domain Continent was perpetually covered in ice and snow, and here they encountered attacks from various terrifying creatures unique to this land!
Snow Domain Hairy Men, Snow Domain Savages, Snow Domain Ice Wolves, Snow Domain Ice Beetles, Snow Domain Sheepmen, Snow Domain World-Extinguishing Demons, Snow Domain Five Poisons Demon, Snow Domain Frost—these were terrifying beings unheard of and unseen on the Marfa Continent! Their strength was simply beyond everyone's wildest imagination!
They managed to push these experts, who had passed the Heavenly Gate trials, into fierce battles fraught with peril, even resulting in the loss of several elite generals. Of course, as time passed on the Snow Domain, the group gradually adapted to this fearsome continent.
And they continued to track the movements of the Church. During their pursuit, Xing Ye and the others unexpectedly discovered that the Snow Domain Continent was inhabited by humans, who had developed numerous massive tribal alliances and even nations!
It turned out that the ancestors of these natives were prisoners exiled here by the Divine Dragon Empire over ten thousand years ago. After ten millennia of development and evolution, these residents of the Snow Domain, far removed from the Marfa Continent, gradually established another unique system of civilization.
They formed four powerful tribal alliances! These four tribal alliances corresponded precisely to the four penal zones established by the Divine Dragon Empire based on the prisoners' crimes.
They were named: The Snow Cliff Tribe! Corresponding to the Static Snow Cliff of the Divine Dragon Empire era, located at the far east of the continent!
The Ice Valley Tribe! Corresponding to the Static Ice Valley of the Divine Dragon Empire era, located at the far south of the continent!
The Cold Ridge Tribe! Corresponding to the Static Cold Ridge of the Divine Dragon Empire era, located at the far west of the continent!
The Frost Tribe! Corresponding to the Frost Throne of the Divine Dragon Empire era, located at the far north of the continent!
These four tribes possessed immense military might and ruled this ancient continent! However, due to the obstruction of the Sea of Death, these tribal peoples of the Snow Domain Continent could never leave it and return to the Marfa Continent.
Over ten thousand years had passed, and the people living here had even forgotten that there was another continent called Marfa in this world. In their view, the Snow Domain Continent was the entire world!
Only a select few knew that their ancestors had been prisoners exiled here by the Divine Dragon Empire! These few were the leaders of these tribes!
But these leaders harbored an inherent hatred towards the Marfa Continent, especially the Divine Dragon Empire! Consequently, the appearance of Xing Ye and his group immediately led to ruthless pursuit by the native inhabitants of the tribes!
Naturally, Xing Ye’s faction wasn't the only one being hunted; the Church elites who had arrived earlier were faring no better! They were likewise being fiercely pursued by the indigenous tribes of the Snow Domain!
Although Xing Ye and the Church elites who came to the Snow Domain Continent were all top-tier experts with extraordinary skills, what they never expected was the existence of super warriors on this continent whose power was in no way inferior to their own! They lacked super armor like the Phoenix Sky Demon Armor, yet their cultivation levels were astonishingly high!
Relying solely on their formidable combat techniques and cultivation, they could contend head-on with super experts like the Phoenix Sky War God! Moreover, the number of such experts was far from small!
After several rounds of confrontation, neither Xing Ye nor the Church gained any advantage; on several occasions, they were forced into extremely perilous situations! Left with no choice, Xing Ye adopted a strategy of evasion and circumvention, simultaneously dodging the pursuit of the indigenous tribes while continuing his mission to locate the Heroes' Land!
Through prolonged contention, Xing Ye and the Church side also uncovered several secrets of the Snow Domain Continent. It turned out that the Ancient Heroes' Land indeed existed on this continent, and the Four Great Tribes were intimately aware of these locations.
There were seven ancient heroes left over from the Ancient Era, each hidden within seven special spatial secret realms on the Snow Domain Continent. The people of the Snow Domain Continent referred to these seven secret realms as the Heavenly Sanctuaries!
However, to enter these seven Heavenly Sanctuaries, one needed seven types of special magic fireworks! These seven fireworks were rumored to be the most fantastic and brilliant seven-colored fireworks from the Divine Dragon Empire era, named: Singular Devotion, Mutual Resonance, Flying Fire Meteor, Romantic Star Rain, Dream Fantasia, Skyfire Dance, Mist-like Dream Consequently, these seven secret realms were also known as the Firework Lands!
Although the name Firework Lands sounded romantic, what lay within was an extremely perilous and terrifying place! Legend held that the seven magic fireworks were created by the court Archmage of the Divine Dragon Empire era, utilizing special magic to possess the extraordinary power to shatter space-time and facilitate powerful teleportation.
Once inside, cultivators would find themselves in strange, ancient battlefields. They had to survive in that environment and defeat the terrifying monsters within to pass the test!
The level of danger surpassed even the challenges of the Sevenfold Heavenly Gate! Because entering the Firework Lands to challenge the Heavenly Sanctuaries was known on the Snow Domain Continent as Fiery Demon Slaying, only warriors who passed the Fiery Demon Slaying were qualified to call themselves true warriors!
On the Snow Domain Continent, the existence of the seven Firework Lands was equivalent to the Marfa Continent's Six Great Dark Halls and the King’s Forbidden Ground, serving as the ultimate grounds for martial artists seeking cultivation! Those who successfully completed cultivation in the seven Heavenly Sanctuaries and emerged were called Sanctuary Warriors!
And the heroes left over from the Ancient Era slept in the topmost layer within the seven Heavenly Sanctuaries. This layer was also the ultimate goal for the Sanctuary Warriors' cultivation!
However, the martial artists of the Snow Domain Continent could not enter the topmost layer to awaken the sleeping heroes because they lacked the Luminous Pearls! Thus, the arrival of Xing Ye and his group was undoubtedly tremendous news for the powerhouses of the Snow Domain Continent!
The Four Great Tribes were absolutely determined to obtain the Luminous Pearls they carried! Naturally, Xing Ye and the Church side also learned that two things were required to enter the Heavenly Sanctuaries!
These were the Seven-Colored Fireworks and the maps leading to the Heavenly Sanctuaries! Consequently, Xing Ye and the Church side began vying fiercely with the indigenous tribes for the fireworks and maps, while the indigenous tribes sought the Luminous Pearls held by Xing Ye and the Church group, leading to thrilling and complex battles of contention among the various factions!
The Four Great Tribes were constantly slaughtering each other, compounded by the presence of alliance experts from the foreign Demonic Dragon Empire, the Sacred Word Church, the Demonic Luo Church, and the nations of Bichon and Cangyue! The situation could be summed up in one word—chaos!
After a long period of contention, Xing Ye and his group successfully seized one Luminous Pearl from the Sacred Word Church. Moreover, they managed to infiltrate the indigenous tribes' forbidden grounds to seize the maps required to enter the Heavenly Sanctuaries!
What they didn't anticipate, however, was that the map leading to the Heavenly Sanctuaries was composed of seven giant maps, each astonishingly large and exceedingly complex, carved onto seven massive stone walls within the forbidden grounds! In haste, Xing Ye and the others had to use their Star Moon Mirrors to engrave the maps.
However, the map was so vast that a single Star Moon Mirror could not record it all. Therefore, to engrave this map, Long Xin, Yan Luo, and five other mages from the Blood Wolf Tribe each used seven Star Moon Mirrors to engrave the seven maps before retreating!
But they never expected it—the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind! During their retreat, they were ambushed by the Church forces, suffering heavy casualties.
The tribal forces also quickly arrived, plunging Xing Ye and his group into a desperate situation, caught between the wolves in front and the tigers behind! Although they fought desperately to break out of the encirclement, Long Xin and Yan Luo were separated from the main body and ultimately captured by mistake!
The big fellow carrying Yan Luo and Long Xin out of the breach was also injured by a magic trap and fled, wounded! Long Xin fell into the hands of Demonic Luo Yinfeng, while Yan Luo was captured by the tribal forces!
As for the situation of Xing Ye and Xing Zhan, Long Xin had no knowledge! However, even though Demonic Luo Yinfeng captured Long Xin, he could not open the Star Moon Mirror because Long Xin had locked it with mental magic.
Demonic Luo Yinfeng threatened Long Xin to open it, but Long Xin defiantly refused! With no other recourse, Demonic Luo Yinfeng decided to take Long Xin back to the base to make further plans!
And then came the part where I rescued Long Xin! That is roughly the sequence of events!
Although I didn't experience it firsthand, the thrilling twists and intricate complexity were not hard to imagine! "I never thought that upon arriving at the Snow Domain Continent, you would encounter so many perilous events." "Heh, we nearly perished several times." Long Xin still felt the lingering fear.
"You have no idea how terrifying those tribal experts are. Several of them are probably on par with you." "....." I was nearly stunned silent!
There were actually experts this formidable? I had labored for twenty-five years cultivating the Nine Dragons Body Protection, and only by stumbling into the fifth and sixth layers of the Nine Dragons Body Protection did I achieve my current status.
Yet now, hearing this, these Snow Domain experts could contend with the Phoenix Sky War God using only their physical strength, without the aid of super equipment like the Phoenix Sky Demon Armor and War God gear—this truly exceeded my imagination. If they were wearing the Phoenix Sky Demon Armor, who could possibly stand against them!
Thinking of this, cold sweat uncontrollably beaded on my forehead! What kind of place was this Heavenly Sanctuary that it could nurture such terrifying experts!
I once thought that even if I wasn't invincible across the land, I was certainly among the handful of super powerhouses. Now it seemed there were always others better outside one's known sphere!
"What, are you feeling discouraged?" Long Xin seemed to have seen right through my thoughts. "A little!" I replied ruefully.
"It seems this mission won't be easy to complete." "Indeed. For the past two years, we've spent almost every day fleeing for our lives," Long Xin said.
"Only a month ago did we finally manage to seize the Luminous Pearl and the map from the Church's Bright Pearl Tribe! If I'm not mistaken, after they couldn't find us, Xing Ye and Xing Zhan must have headed to the Heavenly Sanctuary!" "Do you have any way to contact them now?" "No way." Long Xin sighed.
"The space here is very unstable due to the influence of the Crimson Moon Magic emanating from the Sea of Death. Sound Transmission over a Thousand Miles simply doesn't work." "This is truly troublesome," I mused inwardly, wondering how the progress was on Silver Frost's side!
"What should we do next?" Long Xin asked. "I think we should first find a way to rescue Yan Luo." Since I knew Yan Luo had been captured by the tribal forces, I naturally couldn't stand idly by.
"I knew you would say that," Long Xin commented with a faint smile. "......" I was slightly taken aback, but I continued, "Rescuing Yan Luo is important, but I think we should reunite with Silver Frost and the others first, and then make further plans." "En!" Long Xin seemed to recall something.
"So Silver Frost and the others are here too." "This time, only four of us came: myself, Silver Frost, Mo Hui, and Mo Cha." "....... " Long Xin looked surprised, then said, "That's too few; they can't help much at all." "This time we just came out to find you," I clarified.
"We haven't heard from you in two years, so we were very worried and came to check first." "That couldn't be helped," Long Xin admitted with a touch of sadness. "When we first arrived at the Snow Domain Continent, the Thunderhawk was accidentally killed by the tribesmen.
Later, we discovered that Sound Transmission over a Thousand Miles couldn't reach Demonic Dragon. So, we decided to focus on completing the mission first.
After seizing the Hero, we would defeat the Church and retrieve the Thunderhawk to return to the Demonic Dragon Empire." "No wonder we haven't heard from you in two years!" "Right, how did you find me?" Long Xin asked, finally realizing the question. "That's thanks to the big fellow; it led me here by tracking them all the way." "The big fellow." Long Xin's voice held a pang of heartache.
"When we were ambushed, Yan Luo and I were both injured. Xing Ye let the big fellow carry us out so we could escape successfully.
Although we broke through the encirclement, the big fellow was injured by a magic trap and fled wounded! When I was captured, the big fellow had been following us the whole time.
Demonic Luo Yinfeng set several ambushes trying to catch it, but the big fellow always evaded them. Later, the big fellow disappeared, and I thought it had lost us.
I never expected it would run into you." "Hmph, what a smart creature." Although I knew the big fellow wasn't simple, I hadn't expected it to be this clever! "Heh, that guy is no ordinary creature," Long Xin said, clearly pained.
"But after suffering such severe injuries! And it kept following us; I was sweating for it the whole time." As they spoke, a strange sound suddenly drifted over.
The Great Mammoth King ghosted out of the woods and rushed before us! "Are you alright?" Long Xin cried out in delight!
Woo! The big fellow let out a happy, low roar!
It stretched out its massive tongue and incessantly licked Long Xin's face! It seemed the big fellow had changed considerably over the past twenty-five years.
Previously, it ignored everyone except me. I hadn't expected it to...
Seeing this scene, I felt an inexplicable sourness in my heart. "Heh heh, you're jealous," Long Xin said, looking at me meaningfully!
Even the big fellow nearby seemed to have a strange expression! Waiting for me!
When did these two become so familiar! I was secretly astonished!
But I still glared at them in annoyance: "Stop talking nonsense." "Stop talking nonsense." I glared at them irritably, then said, "We should hurry back to Silver Frost's location now." "Ah!" Long Xin suddenly remembered something important. "Right, I totally forgot!
Demonic Luo Yinfeng has a Luminous Pearl on him. Why don't we just rob him and take his two sets of Phoenix Sky Demon Armor too?
With your current ability, taking them should be no problem at all." "Luminous Pearl, Phoenix Sky Demon Armor." I smiled wryly. "Boss, do you really think I'm invincible?
They still have over twenty people, plus Demonic Luo Yinfeng, who is a Phoenix Sky War God." "But didn't you easily kill the seven generals and Demonic Luo Yinzhi?" Long Xin countered, unconcerned. "I saw it with my own eyes.
Back then, you truly killed them without any chance to fight back—it was over in the blink of an eye. Killing a few more should finish them off." I looked utterly defeated!
Staring at Long Xin, I explained, "To achieve that extreme speed in that seemingly short span of one or two seconds, I nearly exhausted all my Dou Qi. But even in that state, I could only maintain it for a maximum of three seconds!
After three seconds, I probably wouldn't even be able to move a finger! Otherwise, why would I have to fight a burst then recover!
And in these short two days, I activated Instant Invincibility three times; my physical strength and Dou Qi are severely depleted. Even healing potions can't restore it fast enough!
Do you think I have the capacity to go robbing things?" "Instant Invincibility!" Long Xin finally understood. "No wonder your speed was so fast; so this freakish technique has such a drawback." "You know now, don't you," I said with a pained smile.
"If the big fellow hadn't been carrying me all the way, tracking them while recovering my strength, I probably wouldn't have been able to save you." "They were lucky this time." Although Long Xin was somewhat reluctant, she was still concerned. "How do you feel now?" "A bit better," I said, pushing myself up.
"Let's return to Silver Frost's place first. Otherwise, if we run into them, we'll be the ones running away."