Brilliant beams of light erupted from behind the mountain, accompanied by sharp cries and the enraged roars of monstrous beasts.

Shi Yan shifted onto the mountain peak and paused momentarily, observing the streaks of light with a cold gaze. After careful scrutiny, he discerned that the power contained within those flashes was quite extraordinary; the martial artists behind the peak likely possessed cultivation levels around the second or third tier of Nirvana, or perhaps even the Celestial Realm.

He judged that he was capable of fighting someone of that caliber. After watching for a while and realizing no power signatures corresponding to the Divine Realm were being unleashed, he relaxed and crept closer stealthily.

Free from the constraints of gravity, his body moved like a willow catkin drifting in the void, extremely swift. Three minutes later, he reached the far side of the mountain.

Hiding beneath a jutting precipice, he cautiously peered out to observe the battle unfolding behind the peak.

A group of five martial artists, wielding various secret treasures, were fiercely engaged with three Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lions.

The five martial artists—two women and three men—were all strikingly young, appearing to be in their early twenties. The two women were alluring with graceful figures and considerable beauty; their cultivation seemed profound, likely within the Celestial Realm.

The three men were tall and exceptionally handsome. Two of them had blue eyes and golden hair, seemingly at the third tier of Nirvana. They shared similar facial contours, suggesting they were brothers. The remaining man was slightly younger, with a sharp, elongated face and cold, sharp eyes, also at the third tier of Nirvana.

The five martial artists, two women and three men, fought together against the three Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lions and were subtly gaining the upper hand. Lying on the ground beside them was the corpse of one such lion; its head bore a dark, bloody wound, indicating its demon crystal had likely been extracted.

The Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion was a sixth-tier demonic beast, comparable to a human martial artist in the Nirvana Realm. It possessed immense strength and incredibly tough hide, making it difficult for ordinary sharp weapons to penetrate and extremely challenging to deal with.

Relying on their superior strength, these five martial artists had already slain one lion. The remaining three were heavily wounded; their tails had been severed, and their massive maws, which continued to roar menacingly, were a bloody pulp, suggesting they had been slashed open by sharp implements.

Shi Yan remained hidden, watching the battle before him. He observed that the remaining three Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lions were clearly weakening and seemed destined to soon follow their fallen comrade.

These five young-looking martial artists, whose origins were unknown, displayed remarkable cultivation and profound realms at such an early age. The secret treasures they held gleamed with divine light, clearly not ordinary artifacts.

After observing for a while, Shi Yan felt a silent shock. He realized that the martial skills of these five were quite esoteric, surpassing those of the so-called young prodigies he had encountered in the Endless Sea.

“Blade of Disintegration!”

The woman clad in silk brocade, cinched by a belt studded with sapphires, suddenly cried out.

A dazzling sword-light shot forth from her slender jade hand. The blade was as white as frost, its chill piercing to the bone, incomparably sharp. It instantly plunged into the body of one Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion.

The lion, five meters long and radiating ferocious aggression, suddenly froze mid-air. Then, its tough hide erupted with dazzling light, and its body violently split into pieces, without even a drop of blood spilling, effectively slain.

With the demise of this lion, the remaining two finally panicked and fled in opposite directions.

The heavily wounded one was instantly intercepted by the other four. These four joined forces, trapping the injured lion and unleashing a dazzling array of attacks that sent the beast flying high into the air.

The uninjured Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion roared and bolted toward Shi Yan’s location with extreme speed.

The woman in the silk brocade robe with the sapphire belt suddenly moved her graceful form, chasing after it like a whirlwind, closing the distance rapidly.

All of this happened in a flash. Shi Yan hadn't even fully reacted when he realized the fleeing lion was mere feet away.

His expression shifted slightly. Shi Yan intended to remain hidden, but the lion seemed to have spotted him. It suddenly roared and spat out a plume of silvery-white cold air.

“Stop it!”

The woman, mid-flight, spotted the hidden Shi Yan and urgently cried out, asking him to lend assistance.

Shi Yan’s face darkened. Seeing the silvery-white cold air approaching, he didn't hesitate. He raised his hand and blasted out a Sheng Seal. Seven hand seals merged in the void, forming one massive seal that blocked the charging lion.

“Boom!”

Under the impact of the Sheng Seal, the charging Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion was violently thrown backward by a surge of ferocious force.

The silvery-white cold air it had expelled landed on Shi Yan’s body, where it was slightly melted and vanished without a trace by the power of the Earth Core Fire he circulated within his muscles.

Before the lion thrown back by his seal could regain stability, it was struck again by the woman’s “Blade of Disintegration.” Its robust beast body suddenly fractured, dissolving into more than a dozen neat pieces of flesh that floated momentarily in the air before slowly descending.

Shi Yan’s eyes shone as he watched the Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion. He noticed that as soon as the beast died, its corpse lost its suspension and plummeted onto the peak as if gravity had suddenly reasserted itself.

The woman, having slain the lion with her secret technique, flew over quickly. A brilliant light shone from the tip of her slender jade finger. A thin, sharp silver thread shot out and moved around inside the lion’s head for a moment, retrieving a sparkling demon crystal.

While she was dispatching this lion, the other four martial artists had already succeeded in eliminating the final Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion and claimed its demon crystal.

In an instant, all the Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lions on the peak were killed. The five martial artists of unknown origin regrouped and looked towards Shi Yan from a distance.

Shi Yan stood on the cliff, frowning as he surveyed the scene. After a moment of hesitation, he moved toward the five, his figure floating, and soon stopped about twenty meters in front of them, careful not to approach further, maintaining vigilance.

“Friend, from where do you hail?” The tall, slender woman in the silk brocade robe asked, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed, her long, narrow eyes fixed on him as she toyed with a demon crystal taken from a Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion.

(“The Endless Sea,” Shi Yan murmured after a moment, answering calmly.

“The Endless Sea?” The woman looked somewhat bewildered and turned to the other beautiful woman beside her, whispering, “Caiyi, have you ever heard of this place?”

“Past the Dark Magnetic Mist, far to the west. It is said to be a sea region where martial artists congregate, called the Endless Sea, I believe.”

The woman named Caiyi, adorned with colorful bracelets on her arm, let out a melodious jingle as her fair arm moved. She pursed her lips into a smile, her expression mixing slight disdain with nonchalance. (“Aiya, that Endless Sea is a land of barbarians. Although they have some powerful martial artists, they are significantly inferior to the martial artists of our Divine Continent. It is rumored that the ancestors of those from the Endless Sea were martial artists who could not survive in our Divine Continent, so they crossed the ocean to the Endless Sea, where they reproduced and gradually formed their society.”)

(“Oh,” the woman named Aiya nodded lightly upon hearing this and said nothing further.

The expressions of the three young men in the third tier of Nirvana held clear contempt. Among them, the one with the cold expression muttered coldly, “Turns out they are outsiders from beyond the borders.”)

Shi Yan’s brow twitched, but he said nothing more. Internally, however, he was deeply astonished.

In his view, the Endless Sea spanned vast territories and held numerous powerful martial artists, far surpassing places like the Merchant Alliance. He never expected that in the eyes of these people, the Endless Sea would be considered a place of uncivilized barbarians, judging by their dismissive tone.

A thought struck him, and he suddenly understood. He asked, “You come from east of the Dark Magnetic Mist, from the center of the Divine Grace Continent?”

The two women in the Celestial Realm smiled faintly, offering no further comment.

But the three young men at the third tier of Nirvana nodded proudly, their expressions conveying a sense of superiority.

Shi Yan had initially intended to converse with the group, but upon witnessing their attitude, he felt a surge of distaste, and his expression turned cool. He lost all interest in probing further. He nodded, cupped his hands, and said, “Farewell for now.”

With that, he turned and left without any lingering hesitation.

“Wait a moment,” Aiya suddenly called out softly.

Shi Yan’s heart tightened, but his expression remained unchanged. He was already prepared mentally, ready to strike first if the situation turned sour.

These five individuals possessed profound realms, esoteric secret techniques, and each carried a secret treasure. Like Ye Changfeng and Lin Yaqi, they were all young elites worthy of envy. If they truly intended to deal with him, he would need to exert his full power just to ensure a chance of escaping intact.

Having been in this world for more than a single day, he was long accustomed to its dangers. Powerful martial artists needed no reason to kill, a fact he understood perfectly well.

“What is it?” Turning back, Shi Yan’s gaze was calm, and a gentle, harmless smile even graced his face, as if he harbored no defenses.

“You helped me out. I will give you a small piece of the Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion’s demon crystal.”

Aiya spoke in a detached tone. As she said this, she took out a dagger shimmering with silver light, cut off one-third of a Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion demon crystal, and then flicked her crystalline finger. That small piece flew toward Shi Yan.

“Whoosh!” A figure flashed through the void, snatching the one-third piece of the demon crystal. The figure shot a cold glance at Shi Yan and said to the woman behind him, “Boge, every fragment of demon crystal in the Dark Magnetic Mist is incredibly precious. You are being too wasteful, Aiya?”

It was the young man with the cold demeanor.

“Boge, my father taught me that one must repay even a small favor. That piece of crystal is what he deserves, otherwise, if that Golden-Eyed Snow Dragon Lion had escaped into the sea, no one could have hunted it down. That is fair. What, do you object to my decision?”

As she spoke, a dangerous aura suddenly emanated from her body.