Zhou Yan sighed with glee as the young lad’s heart grew warm. It would be impossible for the young lad to be aware of how unworthy he was to have been graced by the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace herself since his skills were indeed mediocre. He knew that it was entirely out of the goodwill of Ning’er to have her sister grace him with such treatment.

Perhaps Ning’er was worried and deeply concerned about him to have made such a request to her sister.

As Zhou Yan reflected upon this incident, deep cracks formed throughout the entire realm of the blade. As these cracks grew closer and tighter together, the entire realm collapsed as a section of the web of cracks crumbled away, thus completely destroying that realm.

As soon as that happened, Zhou Yan’s consciousness returned to his body, and the entire incident felt like a vivid dream to the young lad as his gaze was still fixated at the red-painted horizon of dusk. The entire incident was seared deeply into the lad’s memories.

“Huff…”

Zhou Yan let out a long-winded sigh, as the young lad felt an unexplainable feeling of restlessness.

It seemed that both Ning’er and her sister had made the young lad feel peculiarly pressured.

The young lad would have ignored her sister’s words if she were to tell him that working hard would allow him to gain a position of power. However, since she repeatedly mentioned how important it was for him to ascend to the realm of the Blade’s Menace before he reached the age of sixteen, he could not get that out of his mind.

To ascend into this realm, it would not be as simple as being completely enlightened within the realm of the Blade’s Essence. The difficulty of ascending into the realm of the Blade’s menace was unimaginable. Even by his father’s standards and natural gifts, he was unable to ascend to that realm.

To put things into perspective, the enlightenment of one’s Blade’s Menace was such an arduous task to accomplish that not even one out of the billion people population of Canglan City had managed to accomplish that yet.

However, the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace had told him to do whatever it takes and use whatever ruthless methods the lad deemed necessary as long as he succeeded.

As the lad thought about that, something else came to mind… Ning’er was still in no condition to train, and she was also fifteen years of age. She also only had one year left, how would she be able to break free of this shackle?

Zhou Yan lightly shook his head. This matter would have no immediate solution; hence the young lad chose to stop thinking about it.

The young lad once again looked at that ring around his finger and began sensing it. There was no resistance this time as his consciousness could easily peer through the ring, sensing the realm within it.

It was as he imagined. Beside the pile of spirit crystals, there was an ancient bright yellow scroll that was made out of silk. The scroll was woven using the finest satin. It felt exceedingly smooth, and reflecting off its surface was a hint of faint spiritual light. Judging from its quality, this was no ordinary scroll.

Besides the scroll, there were two books titled, ‘Introductory Blade’s Formation’ and ‘Introduction to Revitalizing Blade.’ These were reading materials for the general public.

The quality of these books was quite low. It was possible that when the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace murdered those people, she had placed these books in the ring without noticing.

Zhou Yan carefully organized everything within the ring. Most of the items in the ring were useless. Some objects were inedible but were too pretty for some people to just simply toss away.

However, Zhou Yan never bothered to even look at the old, tattered armors and useless crystals that contained very little spiritual energy, which was worthless as currencies. Hence, without thinking twice, the young lad tossed those items away.

Thus, Zhou Yan resumed his journey after he finished organizing his possessions and was done eating.

As the young lad prepared to move on, his ears twitched, and in an instant, he shifted his gaze to look into the distance.

“Hey kid, you actually tossed something this valuable without even thinking? It seems to me that you have plenty of treasures left in your possession!”

It was at this moment an ugly looking man with a sinister, malicious gaze spoke directly to Zhou Yan while standing on a pitch-black sword, levitating in mid-air.

This man’s horrendous face was completely covered with acne scars and an extremely obvious tumor growing out of the man’s head. It looked like a smaller head stacked on top of a larger head. A single glance at this man was enough to terrify anyone.

Staring directly at him would be extremely nauseating.

It was unfortunate that he was unexpectedly met with a hideous man after such a hearty meal. Nine out of ten people would have violently thrown up their meal at the mere sight of this man.

However, Zhou Yan never even flinched.

The young lad only secretly hated his lack of perception. His mind was too focused on exploring that ring that he was completely unaware of the man’s presence.

“What about it? Do you intend to murder me and rob me of my possessions?” questioned Zhou Yan cynically.

“Hahaha, obviously to rob you of your possessions. Murdering you on the other hand, well, it’ll all depend on your performance alone.”

The man cackled as the echoes from his laughter caused violent rippling waves on the surface of the lake. Even the wilting leaves from the trees near the lake fell off the branches.

“Alright then, hurry up and make your move. The faster you rob me, the faster you’d get to spend some awesome time with women,” said Zhou Yan as he squinted at the hideous man.

As the man’s eyes dimmed, a malicious and sinister gaze reflected through his eyes. It was similar to a serpent’s predacious gaze! The man’s voice was deep and coarse. It sounded inhumanly horrible. The man said, “Do you know what this place is, child?”

“This is the Mountain of Heavenly Prophecies! An abandoned land wedged between the Cang Lan City and the City of Heavenly Prophecies,” said Zhou Yan sarcastically as he chuckled.

As the lad spoke, he proceeded to casually pick up some leftover hare that was roasting by the fire. While staring directly at that man, he took a bite, exposing a row of his glistening white teeth.

“Since you know where you are, how dare you still intrude in this land,” yelled the man.

“I was simply passing through to quell my hunger, and I hunted this wild hare. In which part do my chores concern you, Twin Fiends?” Zhou Yan answered with a sarcastic giggle.

“It seems that you are an arrogant fool. Perhaps your personal training had driven you mad. Such a display of arrogance, however, would be an invitation to death!” cackled the man.

Hidden between the layers of his statement, was an evil intent to kill. Oddly enough, the man did no such thing.

Once again, Zhou Yan casually took another bite of his roasted hare. The lad not only ate the meat but also the bones. As he crunched on the bones, the man started to worry as he wondered what the lad was capable of.

“You have all the land in the world to roast your hare, why here? Why did you also toss away such priceless treasures?”

The man grew increasingly wary of this young lad. It made the man seem less of a reckless brute as he knew that appearance could be deceiving. As weak as anyone may seem, the actual ferocity of one’s skill was still a mystery. Hence, the man kept his guard up, especially in the presence of this lad. He sensed a malicious aura emanating from the lad who sat beneath him.

“Perhaps, I find joy in eating roast hare and tossing crystals in the face of scholars of the dark arts,” replied Zhou Yan merrily.

Although the lad’s gaze was bright, the depth of his gaze seemed endless. Through the reflection of his gaze alone was a rippling blade’s light.

It was obvious through Zhou Yan’s voice that he was intentionally sarcastic and carefree in his reply. However, it brought out slight honesty in the man.

“What purpose do you have in coming to this land? Do you seek challenge, or perhaps do you look down on me, the Fury of The Twin Fiends?” yelled the man furiously.

With a single swing of the man’s sword, the land in front of Zhou Yan split open into a two-meter-deep trench.

As the trench formed, storms of dust and sand billowed around the lad. However, not a single speck of dust landed on him. The young lad remained unfazed as he sat in the spot, without the need to block the storm out with his hands. Ignoring that outburst, the young lad casually munched on his meat.

“I was just passing through this land. I am heading to the City of Heavenly Prophecies. I have matters to discuss with the lord of the Xiao household, Xiao Zhan,” said Zhou Yan calmly.

However, as his hands inched closer to reach the hilt of his blade, he quickly withdrew his arm.

As much as the young lad was tempted to test his might as the scholar of the Dark Arts, the Fury of the Twin Fiends did not seem to be as evil and malicious as the young lad assumed. All these people did was to rob a few people of their possessions and never intended to murder anyone. Even so, these people rarely rob the common-folk.

As the lad’s emotions were calmed, he decided to not draw his blade.

“Xiao…Xiao Zhan? You are acquainted with Xiao Zhan?”

The man’s expression changed drastically.

Zhou Yan calmly replied, “I do not know him. However, my father does.”

“Who might your father be?”

The man grew increasingly terrified.

“Zhou Wangchen!”

“The blade fiend, Zhou Wangchen? You must be…Zhou Yan then?”

The man’s expression instantly changed as he could not believe what he had just heard. The man suddenly recalled that the young lad’s very expression that instilled such fear in his heart was the same as that of the merciless killer, Blade’s Fiend, Zhou Wangchen.

The man’s feet began to tremble uncontrollably. His body sensed imminent danger as he wanted to flee. Even the man’s head was slightly numb.

Even though the rumors claimed that he was a useless piece of trash, he dared not provoke Zhou Wangchen’s son any further. Not to mention that this lad was Zhou Wangchen’s birth son. It would be impossible for this lad to be trash. There too, was once a rumor claiming that Zhou Wangchen’s son was to be the legendary, prime genius of the Zhou family.

“Stand still!” bellowed Zhou Yan angrily.

His arm suddenly reached for the hilt of his sword that was hanging by his waist. A wave of Blade’s Essence was targeted at that man.

That man dared not provoke him any further since his prodigal reputation precedes him. The menacing fury of Zhou Wangchen still remained even though it had been more than a decade.

Even with the presence of a hundred Fury of the Twin Fiends, he would not dare to provoke this lad’s fury.

“What… what do you want?”

“You’ve ruined my appetite for my meal and intended to rob me of my possessions. You even have the intention to murder me,” said Zhou Yan calmly.

Suddenly, he glanced over to look at something close to that man. He frowned while letting out a soft sigh. The lad said, “Look at my hands, aren’t they soft and white? Don’t they resemble the hands of a woman, like a budding flower?”

Zhou Yan extended his hands, seemingly mumbling to himself.

Merely fifteen years of age, he had undergone two mutations of his body. The original tone and texture of the lad’s skin was tender and white. It was as if droplets of water would form on the surface of his skin. Judging from his appearance alone, the lad truly resembled a spoiled child.

The fingers on the lad’s hands were slender and soft. If his hands had no bones, it would very much resemble an orchid. However, hidden in the lad’s smile was a hint of malicious intent.

“They do…They do…”

While staring at his hands, the man was bold enough to spit at the lad’s hands.

“However, hands like these would love to kill. I did not intend to kill anyone initially. However, it looks like you and your friend here already had a plan to kill me.”

In a flash, the lad’s right arm reached for the hilt of Sorrow’s Breaker. With a mere gentle brush of the hilt, the blade morphed into a ray of glimmering silver light. Fueling his blade with two separate Blade’s Essence, the blade instantly shot out with two distinct ‘swooshing’ sounds.

It was instantly followed by two agonizing screams of pure agony. Falling to the ground with that man was another man hidden nearby in a thorny bush. As they both fell, they struggled violently as their foreheads were pierced by the sharp Blade’s Essence. Streams of blood violently gushed out the gaping holes on their head.

However, these men were not dead yet. They could clearly see streams of blood rushing out from their foreheads.

These two men had both recently ascended to a rank two Blade’s Essence as Scholars of the Dark Arts. However, they were not as powerful as a regular rank two Blade’s Essence person. However, their prowess was leagues ahead of any top tier master in the first rank in the realm of the Blade’s Essence.

It baffled them as they were unable to sense such a powerful blade’s essence directed at them.

Regret and shock filled their hearts as they knew it was already too late to beg for their lives.