After passing through the Mountain of Heavenly Prophecies, Zhou Yan finally arrived at the abandoned plains that bordered the City of Heavenly Prophecies. After traversing through the plains, he would have arrived in the city.

The Heavenly Prophecies City was the neighboring city of the Canglan City. No lies were spoken in Zhou Yan’s earlier statement. The lad only spoke the truth.

This time, his father was not with him and the lad intended to tie up any loose ends and to do some training.

The Xiao family in the Heavenly Prophecies City was not known to be a major family but not a minor one either. His father’s bond with Xiao Zhan was once close, however, after leaving to a distant land, the bond they shared was completely severed.

Upon his father’s return, the duo had met up and interacted. The only problem was that his father’s situation had changed, and his position and powers in the Zhou family had been diminished significantly. Also, the Xiao family had to worry about conflicts, both internally and externally. Due to all that, the relationship of both families had since drifted apart.

To Zhou Yan, the lack of interaction between his father and Xiao Zhan was never due to his father’s abandonment and the lack of value towards their friendship. He knew that his father absolutely valued and loved the friendship they both shared. The lack of interaction was due to his father’s concern that his fall from grace would bring great misfortune to the Xiao family.

However, Zhou Yan no longer cared about such trivial matters since the uncertainty of his father’s current condition.

Thus, the young lad inched one step forwards at a time against the strong wind through the shroud of darkness as daylight was once again approaching. The young lad surrounded him with his Blade’s Essence to deter any wild beasts from approaching the young lad.

The entire stretch of his journey had been calm and peaceful until he reached the core of this abandoned plains.

Daylight came, but there was not a sign of the morning sun in the sky. The only visible light was the creeping rays of twilight through the misty shroud.

The gloomy skies were shrouded by a veil of mist. The entire plains were indifferent to that at night as they were shrouded in a sea of darkness.

Two to three rays of Blade’s light coursed through the skies above occasionally. They flew past the lad, never landing at the spot he was.

Hence, the lad, Zhou Yan hastened his speed as he quickly tracked through these plains. The young lad never flew across this long stretch on the body of Sorrow’s Breaker. This was because, on the very ground he stood, was a land of immense danger. Hence, the lad had to reserve every ounce of his powers to repel threats that would come his way.

A sudden drizzle fell from the heavens above. A cool breeze started to brew along with the rain, making it hard to keep the lad’s eyes open.

The lad squinted his eyes as tightly as he could, staring ahead. Step by step, the young lad inched through these treacherous fields.

At the edge of the endless skies, two violent flashes of purple lightning collided against one another. It seemed like a brutal flashing duel between the two bolts.

Suddenly, the young lad, Zhou Yan, stopped moving. Standing very still, with rain pouring down on him, he focused on that scene.

“Dragons are ascensions of the clouds, as dragons pierce the very heavens when soaring the skies above. Whenever one witnesses the reflection of the dragons within the still waters of a paddy field, that dragon would be amongst the clouds,” mumbled the lad in a trance.

As he was in a trance, that very flash of lightning seemingly enlightened the lad’s mind. It was as if lightning had struck the deepest core of his mind. However, he instead caught that bolt of lightning within the grasp of his hands.

“Even when a blow from a fist would bear remarkable results, a fist is not necessarily required. A blade itself could be an extension of the fist. Thus, there will be no need to change the form too much. Swords and fists are interchangeable! Fists can be swords, and swords are always going to remain as swords!”

As the young lad once again focused his mind, suddenly, without warning, a violent explosion throughout his mind could be felt. It was as if his very own mind had been blown open by a bolt of lightning. At the same time, he could clearly feel every drop of his blood beginning to boil in a violent fury.

The young lad felt a strong mad impulse to begin training his sword art.

“Bang!”

The two rays of purple Blade’s Light violently clashed against each other like bolts of charged lightning. After that, it seemed as if both the heavens and earth cracked open as waves of unrelenting thundering lightning roared in the skies above. At this moment, a figure of a person could be seen making its retreat. The figure seemed to be in a battered state.

On the other hand, the other bolt of lightning instantly vanished without a single trace.

Thus, the young lad, Zhou Yan, yelled out in a commanding tone as he jumped into the skies above. An overwhelmingly suffocating Blade’s Essence emanated from Sorrow’s Breaker that was in the very palms of his hands. While raising it high in the air, every single ounce of elemental energy from the lightning had been absorbed within his blade.

“Hiss…”

As a bolt of purple lightning ambushed the lad, Zhou Yan did nothing to dodge it, simply allowing the lightning to land directly on him!

It was at that very instant, Zhou Yan yelled out with a clear voice, “Blade of The Dragon’s Soul!”

“Roar…”

Almost immediately, countless Blade’s Essences condensed into a single concentrated sentient will. This concentrated will alone harbored immense, boundless energy. However, this seemingly infinite, raw power once again suddenly condensed and morphed into a silhouette of a dragon.

However, the head of the dragon formed by the silhouette of this godly dragon, shattered after a single roar.

Suddenly, every ounce of energy was drained out of Zhou Yan’s body, causing the young lad to fall from the sky.

The young lad never panicked. Using the physical strength of his body alone, he made two flips midair before safely and firmly landing on the ground.

Both the young lad’s feet were trembling as streaks of blood were trickling and dripping down his palms. This was done through an impulsive and rash act. That explosion of impulse seemingly burned and boiled every drop of blood in his body, forcing his very own will to take shape and form a small part of the Art of the Dragon Blade!

At this moment, the young lad had only succeeded in molding the shape of this very skill. However, Zhou Yan knew that the raw power this attack contained was terrifyingly powerful! Every single ounce of energy in his body had been completely drained by that single move alone. It seemed this attack was extremely devastating and destructive in nature by the sheer ferocity of its power!

This result was expected by Zhou Yan since he inherited the skills and moves from a master capable of spatial destruction. An attack like this must have been morphed and modified countless times to have such ferocious and immense power.

Zhou Yan took a deep breath and proceeded to take two Qi Infusion Pills as he gradually recovered while standing still.

It was then that the young lad realized the terrifying recovery ability his mutated body possessed. The very moment he took those pills, they were instantly infused within the empty and drained pillar of Qi in his body, thus recovering one-fifth of his energy!

A change this drastic shocked Zhou Yan since it was clear to the lad that the very condition of his body was extremely unique and terrifying at the same time!

Never in his life had the young lad heard about anyone being able to instantly infuse these elixirs or pills within their body!

As he contemplated, the young lad took out some crystals. To his surprise, he was able to absorb these regular, unappealing crystals within his body.

It was surprising for the lad to realize that his personal pillar of Qi itself had far surpassed any regular scholars of the blade!

After absorbing several mid-tier spirit crystals to fully recover, the young lad once again resumed trekking these plains.

However, at this very moment, he felt overwhelmed by a mysterious wave of energy approaching him. He experienced great fear, as the lad felt shivers running through his spine, and goosebumps began to form on the scalp of his head!

Without hesitation, he jumped out of the way of this wave of energy, letting it through.

The instant he jumped out of the way of that mysterious, menacing wave of energy, a flash of purple light struck the very grounds the lad stood just moments ago.

“Boom!”

A loud echoing rumble could be heard, as the very earth beneath his feet began to quake violently. Even raindrops had been expelled outwards from that violent quakes.

A sudden powerful rush of energy that resembled a halo expanded outwards. Shocked by the sudden ambush, Zhou Yan instantly steered Sorrow’s Breaker to avoid this attack. However, he was not fast enough, and thus, the lad was violently struck by this attack! Then, just like a broken kite, the lad was gliding uncontrollably with this wave of energy.

Calming his mind, the young lad regained control of his body. He then grabbed a handful of the Qi Infusion Pills and tossed every single pill into his mouth, recovering his own Qi energy.

As the lad stood on the ground, countless webs of cracks were formed on the surface of his brand, now spiritual armor. However, the upside about this armor was its innate ability to self-heal, thus saving the young lad from revealing too much flesh.

His cold expression grew frantically unstable as he stared at the spot where the purple light landed. A bitter look could be seen on his face.

Standing on that spot was a maiden draped in a purple silk dress, completely soaked in blood. It was unsure when this lass actually appeared.

Both her hands were completely soaked in blood as she wielded a sword. On the body of that silvery blade were bolts of flashing purple lightning.

“Who are you? What is this place?”

The young lass extended her blade, pointing the edge directly at the young lad while she questioned him with a cold, fierce tone. Her killer’s intent was extremely obvious.

The lass that stood in the face of Zhou Yan was extremely powerful as he found it extremely difficult to speak in her weak, deceiving facade. However, in comparison with her prowess to the Lady of the Snow-Jade Palace herself, it seemed slightly weaker. The overwhelming pressure was not as strong and dense as when he faced the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace.

“This is the Plains of The Heavenly Prophecies. Who I am is not important.”

With a slight twitch of his arm, Sorrow’s Breaker instantly fell into the grasps of his palms.

“Huh, Absolute Cold Soulblade? You have ties with the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace? To have been graced a soulblade by the Lady of The Snow-Jade Palace herself makes you no stranger then.”

A hint of curiosity and surprise flashed across the lass’ eyes. As the curious gaze slowly faded away, the lass seemed slightly relaxed.

The instant she eased up, the injuries her body sustained seemingly overwhelmed her. She coughed up a pool of blood then instantly slumped over in the overgrown bushes of the plains.