Sepant Wind Mountain!

BOOOOOOM!

Debris flew everywhere, hammering against his body like shrapnel from a warzone.

The demon child, like a berserk force of nature, had collided with the blocked cave entrance, shattering it with immense strength.

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Stones flew in all directions, some sticking into Su Xiaobai like jagged spikes. The sheer force of the impact sent shockwaves through the earth.

But, miraculously, the cave entrance had opened.

"Wha—," Su Xiaobai blinked, still processing what had just happened. Somehow, by sheer luck or the absurdity of fate, the demon child had cleared the way.

"This damn demon child," Su Xiaobai muttered, shaking his head in disbelief. Even he couldn't deny how absurd his life had become.

One minute he was dodging death, the next, everything was exploding around him like some heavenly joke.

"Well, time to run like a fucking rocket…"

But as Su Xiaobai glanced back, his eyes widened in realization. The demon child, for all its terrifying aura and bloodlust, wasn't chasing him.

In fact, the twisted thing looked almost… shy.

Cute? Su Xiaobai blinked, his brain struggling to reconcile the mass of bloodthirst and destruction with the bashful creature now crumpled against the rocks.

It hadn't just failed to attack him—no, it seemed to have utterly annihilated itself by trying to flee from his presence!

Clearly, after witnessing his overwhelming greatness and might, the demon child had deemed itself unworthy, so humiliated that it had destroyed itself in sheer shame!

A twisted grin spread across his face. "Hah, can't blame it," he sneered. "I 'am' pretty magnificent." He shrugged, entirely indifferent to the demon child's apparent demise. "Hell, I should have plenty of girls throw themselves into rivers after one glance at my handsome face."

Without a second thought, he bolted from the scene, his every movement now empowered by the strength of his Peak Meridian Expansion realm.

His feet barely touched the ground, and for a moment, he almost felt like he was soaring through the air—his new power turning him into a human rocket, blasting out of the cave as if fleeing from some cosmic disaster.

The wind howled past him, and the world blurred around him as he sped forward.

"Nothing like a little near-death experience to boost cultivation, eh? Su Liang, your Daddy is still alive! Ha-ha-ha!" he muttered to himself, his grin widening as the thrill of newfound strength surged through his veins.

________

One week had passed since Su Xiaobai's escape, and the fiery rush of near-death had given way to a calm, calculated hunger for more.

Yunan City bustled with its daily chaos, but his mind drifted far beyond the trivial concerns of the mortals crowding the streets.

His eyes narrowed, scanning the landscape as he pieced together the geography of the region.

The 'Thousand Beast Forest' lay nearby, filled with danger, but it was the towering 'Serpent Wind Mountains' that truly captured his interest.

He had overheard a merchant yammering about the city's origins. "Yunan City? It only stands because of the Xiantian Sect. They control everything here, their roots are in the mountains—part of the land itself."

Su Xiaobai didn't need the man's help to notice.

The mountains stood like ancient guardians, stretching hundreds of thousands of kilometers, their peaks jagged scars across the heavens.

From the moment he laid eyes on them, he had felt the ancient qi rolling off the stones, the spiritual pressure dormant but ever-present, as though the mountains themselves were alive, waiting for a worthy soul to challenge them.

The name 'Serpent Wind' had piqued his curiosity, though no one seemed able to explain it.

Still, his focus wasn't on the mountains, but what they held: the 'Xiantian Sect', the tenth-ranked sect in all of Yue Country.

Su Xiaobai's lips curled into a smile.

He had planned to steer clear of it—sect politics were a chaotic web, and he wasn't keen on getting trapped.

But then again…

"Who would even know about Xiantian sect disciples, they should already be burried inside the cave?" He mused. "And even if they did, their death has nothing to do with me. Just bad luck on her part...."

He chuckled under his breath. "Act like you belong, and no one questions you. Act like a god, and they'll kneel."

With this thoughts fueling him, he threw away the doubts of being held responsible of Elder Bai's death, and decided to scout the sect from a distance.

He wouldn't be some petty thief sneaking about—no, he was here to see if they had treasures, which can increase his cultivation in very short time.

The real question was whether the Xiantian Sect's treasures were worth his time.

As he delved deeper into the gossip of Yunan City, he discovered more about the strange structure of the cultivation sects in this world.

Unlike his homeland, where survival meant everyone was an enemy, this world was divided into two opposing factions: 'Righteous' and 'Heretic'.

'So,' Su Xiaobai thought, 'I don't need to put on a false front? I can refine the peasants for my blood arts without playing the noble cultivator and jump stages easily?'

The thought brought a complex expression to his face.

It was tempting, but it shouldn't be this easy, he thought.

The truth soon tempered his excitement.

The Heretic factions might offer freedom, but their rules were brutal. His Peak Meridian Expansion Realm might be impressive for a normal cultivator, but in a Heretic sect, he'd be swallowed whole by someone stronger.

Even their weakest were more ruthless than most Righteous sect members.

On the other hand, the Righteous sects offered safety—hypocritical as they were, they shielded their disciples.

Su Xiaobai understood why people flocked to the Heretics: power came faster through slaughter and bloodshed, but the risks were far higher.

Only those rejected by the Righteous sects turned to the Heretics as a last resort.

'Kill or die,' he mused with a dark chuckle, his eyes narrowing as he made his way out of the city and toward the mountains.

The pull of the Xiantian Sect's treasures really tempted him.

Even if they weren't the top sect, their status meant they had something worth taking.

As he entered the foothills of the Serpent Wind Mountains, Su Xiaobai's senses sharpened. Spiritual energy flowed like invisible rivers through the landscape, seeping into the earth and air, giving life to the vast mountain range.

The Xiantian Sect only controlled a small portion of the range, but the rest?

Still not conquered and dangerous.

The kind of place where only the strong survived.

Barely a few steps in, the first gust of wind hit him.

"Again?" Su Xiaobai muttered under his breath as an all-too-familiar chill crept up his spine.

Then he saw them—serpents of wind, twisting and writhing as they lunged toward him, their translucent bodies glimmering faintly in the light.

"So this is why they call it Serpent Wind," he thought with a smirk, his eyes glinting as he dodged the ethereal creatures.

The 'Wind Serpents' weren't true beasts, but manifestations of the mountain's qi.

Born from 'Qi Condensation Anomalies', they were semi-sentient, capable of killing weaker cultivators with ease.

But to him? They were not really useful.

"Sigh.. Not even strong enough to feed my Qi reservoirs," he sighed, swatting one aside with a flick of his sleeve.

Still, it made sense. The Xiantian Sect had chosen these mountains for a reason. The wind serpents acted as a natural barrier, keeping the weak at bay while the sect sat high above, isolated and aloof.

Only the strong would survive long enough to even approach their gates.

Typical

Su Xiaobai thought, rolling his eyes.

Looking down on the world like gods, while their precious wind serpents guard them from the rabble.

So very righteous.