Looking at everyone's knowing smiles, each having gained something, Mi Xue felt a pang of wistfulness.

This trip to the Leshan Giant Buddha seemed to be the only one where she had gained nothing.

On the way back to the hotel, Mi Xue pouted, clearly in low spirits. Zhang Yang noticed, shook his head slightly, and said nothing.

Enlightenment itself is related to one's age and life experience. The older a person is, having encountered more things, the more likely they are to experience an epiphany. Take Qiao Yihong, or Yan Yefei and the couple Li Juan; they had endured much hardship to reach this point, possessing rich life experience. Once they attained enlightenment, significant breakthroughs and changes would naturally follow.

But Mi Xue had always had things go smoothly. After meeting Zhang Yang, life became even more placid; Zhang Yang handled and prepared everything for her, so she never needed to experience much hardship. Furthermore, when she started cultivating later, it was exceptionally easy; she reached the inner strength realm—a level ordinary cultivators spend years or even decades reaching—with remarkable speed. Naturally, gaining profound insight wouldn't come so easily.

However, regardless of that, making a special trip back to Leshan, bringing Yan Yefei and Qiao Yihong to visit the Leshan Giant Buddha again, was indeed the wisest decision.

This journey was absolutely worthwhile. Qiao Yihong finally broke through, officially stepping into the gate of the fourth layer of inner strength. As for Yan Yefei and Li Juan, they too had gained enlightenment, causing their cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. After returning from the Leshan Giant Buddha to the hotel, overnight, both of them reached the middle stage of the first layer of inner strength. This was less than half a month after they had consumed the Marrow Cleansing Pills and resumed cultivation!

It should be noted that Yan Liangfei, possessing the rare Golden Pupil physique, only just broke through to the middle stage of the first layer of inner strength after restarting his cultivation until this moment. Now, Yan Yefei and Li Juan had instantly reached that same level.

This demonstrates that once a cultivator experiences an epiphany, the benefits gained are far from trivial. That evening, at the restaurant, Zhang Yang ordered a full four large jars of fine liquor—each jar holding about two jin of high-proof sorghum liquor. Four jars made eight jin. He intended to drink heartily with Yan Yefei and Qiao Yihong until they were thoroughly satisfied.

Eventually, even the three young women, Mi Xue, Qu Meilan, and Li Juan, poured themselves small amounts of wine to toast with Zhang Yang and the others. At this point, Mi Xue forgot about her earlier lack of gain at Leshan, laughing happily as she joined the jovial group. The slight gloom in her heart completely vanished then and there.

Zhang Yang didn't even forget Wuying and Shandian; he set aside one jar of liquor for each of the two little ones. Quickly, this jar of liquor disappeared into the small bellies of Wuying and Shandian. After drinking, the two youngsters flopped onto the dining table, exposing their snowy white stomachs, wiggling back and forth, their little paws constantly scratching, acting coquettishly right in front of everyone. This thoroughly amused Mi Xue and the others, making them erupt in laughter.

The four jars of top-grade high-proof liquor weren't enough, so Zhang Yang ordered four more—a total of eight jars, sixteen jin of high-proof sorghum liquor. Their table terrified the surrounding patrons. Even the restaurant owner came out several times, fearing Zhang Yang and his group were there to cause trouble.

Unexpectedly, all eight jars—sixteen jin of high-proof liquor—were ultimately consumed by Zhang Yang and his party. The restaurant owner and waiters were left utterly stunned. In all their years working there, they had never witnessed people who could drink so much; it was simply unbelievable!

Especially the two youngsters, Wuying and Shandian, who captured the attention of the other diners, none of whom could focus on eating, constantly stealing glances at them. After seeing these two little creatures down an entire jar of liquor, every person in the restaurant was completely shocked.

To Zhang Yang, this fine liquor was like mere water; the more he drank, the clearer his mind became. However, Qiao Yihong and Yan Yefei were different. Qiao Yihong’s face was flushed, showing clear signs of intoxication, while Yan Yefei was already babbling incoherently, completely drunk.

It could be said that the last four jars of liquor mainly went into Zhang Yang's stomach, with the remainder going to Qiao Yihong. Qiao Yihong had just broken through to the fourth layer of inner strength and was riding a high, so he drank quite a bit too.

Once all the liquor was gone, everyone felt thoroughly satisfied. They helped each other up and walked out of the restaurant.

In contrast, Yan Yefei, who drank the least, was the most severely intoxicated, requiring support from Qu Meilan and Li Juan just to walk steadily.

After Zhang Yang and the others left the restaurant, the owner and the waiters stared in silence at the eight empty liquor jars on their table for a long time.

"He's a true God of Wine!"

Finally, the restaurant owner, who wasn't highly educated, managed to squeeze out only this single phrase after deep contemplation.

What is a God of Wine? Look, even their pets could casually finish an entire jar of liquor. What else could a person like that be but a God of Wine...

Shaking his head, the restaurant owner finally turned away from Zhang Yang's table and instructed the waiters to clean up quickly.

Since everyone had experienced an epiphany, Zhang Yang decided to linger in Lezhou for another day, allowing them more time to relax and enjoy the sights.

On the morning of the third day, Zhang Yang finally decided it was time to move on, continuing westward toward the Kunlun Mountains. Knowing they were leaving, everyone woke up exceptionally early that morning, packed their luggage promptly, checked out of their rooms, and returned to the vehicles.

The two Hummers drove out of Lezhou City in succession, continuing their journey northwest.

The following days became somewhat monotonous compared to before. Entering the Emei Mountains, Zhang Yang and the others made casual stops before proceeding directly past Qingcheng Mountain, moving further northwest into Qinghai Province.

Here, human presence gradually thinned out; most areas were sparsely populated.

The Great Northwest is vast and rich in resources. Only by truly entering this region can one fully appreciate its immense, empty expanse.

Not far ahead lay the grasslands—the very place where Zhuifeng was discovered.

At that time, Zhang Yang was drawn by a group of poachers and discovered an injured Zhuifeng. He not only rescued Zhuifeng but also avenged him. Returning here again, Zhuifeng's mood was naturally different.

As soon as they entered the grasslands, Zhang Yang released Zhuifeng from the vehicle. This was Zhuifeng's domain; no matter how fast a Hummer was, it couldn't outpace Zhuifeng.

Zhuifeng bounded around the two Hummers, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, playing with sheer delight. This scene made Wuying and Shandian in the car drool with envy, and they immediately demanded to be let out to play with Zhuifeng.

Spirit beasts are inherently pets of nature; the closer they are to the natural grasslands, the stronger the feeling of kinship, of being home. Zhang Yang smiled and released Wuying and Shandian as well, letting them join Zhuifeng in play.

With Wuying and Shandian joining in, Zhuifeng became even more exhilarated. The three great spirit beasts galloped across the boundless prairie, transforming into three splendidly colored streaks, adding countless hues to the magnificent landscape of the grassland.

At noon, the group stopped at a small town they passed for a break, eating at a very ordinary restaurant there.

At the table, Zhang Yang spread out a map. Now that they were in this sparsely populated region of the Northwest, things weren't as straightforward as before; they needed to fix their direction to avoid going astray.

Previously, Long Feng had led the way, but this time, Zhang Yang was guiding a group of people who had never been here.

Of course, the most crucial reason was that their route had changed.

Originally, Zhang Yang planned for them to proceed directly from here to Longjia Plain to rendezvous with Grandpa Zhang Pinglu and Maternal Grandfather Zhang Daofeng before heading to Kunlun together.

However, Uncle Zhang Yun'an had suddenly left them a few days prior, heading early to Longjia Plain. Therefore, Zhang Yang now had to lead Mi Xue, Qu Meilan, and the others straight to Kunlun and wait for the grandfathers to join them there.

The grasslands were vast; roads led in all directions. A slight error in direction could mean a significant detour or even heading further away from their goal.

On the subsequent journey toward Kunlun, Zhang Yang had to ask Zhuifeng and the others to stop their games and focus on leading the way ahead, lest they waste time taking wrong turns.

The sun quickly sank from the midpoint of the sky behind the distant mountains on the horizon. The golden glow of dusk spilled across the prairie. Unaware of the time, Zhang Yang and the others had been driving all afternoon.

"Jee jee jee!" "Squeak squeak squeak!"

Wuying and Shandian, who had been trailing beside Zhuifeng, suddenly stopped ahead and cried out loudly.

The two Hummers slammed on the brakes, leaving long streaks of tire marks.

Zhang Yang stepped out of his vehicle. If there hadn't been an issue ahead, Wuying, Shandian, and Zhuifeng would never have stopped so abruptly.

"What is it?"

From the Hummer behind, Qiao Yihong and Yan Yefei also got out, walking up beside Zhang Yang, and asked softly.

"There are cultivators ahead."

Zhang Yang frowned slightly. He could already sense a camp not far ahead—countless tents pitched there, and the people moving about were all cultivators.

Arriving here meant they were practically within the perimeter of the Kunlun Mountains. Discovering such a large group of cultivators in this sparsely populated area was quite unusual.

Qiao Yihong and Yan Yefei also spotted the camp ahead and frowned. "No need to worry, they are just cultivators from minor sects. Look, although they've camped in one area, they have distinct regional divisions. Clearly, these are cultivators from several small sects who have temporarily banded together."

Zhang Yang examined the camp carefully and quickly grasped the situation within, relaxing his posture.

"Let's go over and take a look."

Leaving the three great spirit beasts to guard secretly outside the camp, Zhang Yang decided to take Qiao Yihong and the others over to meet these cultivators whose purpose for setting up camp here was unknown.

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