Beyond the Northwest Sea, north of the Red Water, lies Zhang Tai Mountain. A deity resides there, possessing a human face, a serpent’s body, and crimson hues, its gaze direct and unblinking. When its eyes close, darkness descends; when they open, light returns. It neither eats, nor sleeps, nor rests, receiving worship from the winds and rains. This is Candle Nine Yin, also known as the “Candle Dragon.”

Amidst the night of the Mountain and Sea Realm, Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu, picking a direction unknown even to themselves, pressed forward with heads lowered.

The fully formed Smoke Armor enveloped them, preventing the heavy and profound environment of the Mountain and Sea Realm from impeding their progress.

However, to be precise, the Smoke Armor Zuo Guangshu created was designed for more freedom in combat within the Mountain and Sea Realm. Yet, facing the fearsome beasts of this realm, many of which possessed strength nearing that of deities…

The primary function of the Smoke Armor seemed to be enabling them to maintain peak condition at all times… to quickly retract the armor.

The night was starless and moonless, and the sea waves were calm.

The gentle echo of the tides carried a calming power.

“Truly a pity, like a bright pearl covered in dust,” Jiang Wang sighed.

Holding the Red Makeup Mirror in his hand, it illuminated a radius of fifty *li*.

This range wasn’t small, but within the boundless expanse of the Mountain and Sea Realm, it truly covered little.

For instance, those floating mountains appearing faintly within their line of sight looked relatively close. But to actually approach them, who knew how many days it would take. It was like looking up at the sky, the clouds and mist all within view, yet wishing to touch them wasn’t something easily achieved by merely flying several hundred *zhang*.

The saying “looking at a mountain runs a horse to death” held true, let alone reaching the clouds in the high sky.

Flying over the sea surface, with almost no obstructions to their vision, the naked eye of a normal cultivator could see much further than fifty *li*. In such an environment, the exploratory ability of the Red Makeup Mirror was almost useless.

Zuo Guangshu thought Jiang Wang was referring to his Smoke Armor and replied in a muffled voice, “I can add some concealment features to make the smoke armor colorless and transparent, making it less conspicuous.”

Jiang Wang casually responded, “But wouldn’t the power fluctuations of the Smoke Armor itself attract more attention from powerful beings than its appearance?”

“Then I’ll add a technique to conceal power fluctuations,” Zuo Guangshu said.

While retaining the original functions of the Smoke Armor, adding concealment and power fluctuation masking would not only be difficult to achieve, but the resulting technique would likely be cumbersome.

Jiang Wang didn’t dispute him, merely saying, “Then you’ll need quite some time… Let’s wait until after the Mountain and Sea Realm concludes.”

Zuo Guangshu remained silent.

Indeed, transforming such a technique would take more than ten days or half a month. Because the Smoke Armor was already his finest design, any change would be extremely difficult.

The day and night cycle of the Mountain and Sea Realm was controlled by the Candle Dragon, one of the most powerful existences in this realm. When its eyes opened, it was day; when they closed, it was night.

The daytime was fine, but at night, both Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu were somewhat hesitant to speak loudly, fearing they might disturb the slumber of the mighty Candle Dragon – although achieving this was actually quite difficult for them.

Did not that Kui Niu almost shatter the sky with its roars, yet fail to awaken the Candle Dragon?

The night remained night, and its eyes remained closed.

Clearly, not everyone, like the two wearing smoke armor, could so quickly learn discretion.

Jiang Wang suddenly turned his body, his gaze fixed on the distance.

Within their vision, two human figures flew high in the sky, approaching rapidly. Their momentum was fierce, almost completely unmasked, displaying strong confidence.

“Zhong Li Yan!” Zuo Guangshu immediately warned.

At the same time Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu spotted the other side, the other side clearly saw them as well… and suddenly accelerated!

Not a single word was exchanged, and the battle began instantly.

Zuo Guangshu’s hands crossed, and he pressed down on the sea surface. Amidst the surging waves, two deep blue water dragons leaped forth, raising their heads and roaring!

Their horns, claws, and tails were all distinct.

From a considerable distance, even before being able to clearly see their opponents’ faces, his water manipulation techniques had already begun to unleash their power, tearing and biting at their adversaries.

In an environment rich in water elements, a River Lord was practically a deity!

The two figures charging towards them were both possessing extraordinary momentum.

The figure on the right, wearing a wide robe and flowing sleeves, with a jade belt and fragrant pouch, held a folded fan. His eyebrows and eyes were carefree and unrestrained, possessing the air of a true prodigal son – precisely Fan Wu Shu, the esteemed genius of Li Country, a model of a prodigal son’s return, as told in the stories.

Unfolding his fan, he lightly drifted down, taking a step and landing on a dragon’s head.

*Ka ka ka.*

Starting from the sole of his foot, that deep blue water dragon quickly transformed into an ice sculpture.

The ice spread with terrifying speed, instantly covering the other water dragon that had leaped and charged, even extending to the sea surface.

The two water dragons and a section of the sea all turned into ice.

With Fan Wu Shu’s single step, the ice surface continuously expanded, and the cold frost energy rapidly surged towards Zuo Guangshu and Jiang Wang.

A single sweep of frost that killed for a hundred *li*!

Freezing the nearby sea area was undoubtedly the best way to restrict the divine abilities of a River Lord in the Mountain and Sea Realm.

But to achieve this, the power displayed behind it was certainly not to be underestimated.

Meanwhile, the short-bearded, eagle-eyed Zhong Li Yan didn’t even spare a glance at the two water dragons, completely leaving the battlefield environment to Fan Wu Shu to clear.

He simply charged forward.

The vast sea, with a layer of frost ice as its boundary, held chilling frost above and surging waves below.

Fan Wu Shu, who could freeze and kill for a hundred *li*, was truly a reformed prodigal son, carefree and uninhibited.

Zuo Guangshu, who controlled water and directed the sea, was even more of a distinguished young master from Great Chu, standing out from the crowd.

Zhong Li Yan, wielding a heavy sword in both hands, flew above the ice and frost, like an eagle striking the long sky.

Approaching his opponents with terrifying speed, his bones emitted dense popping sounds like exploding beans, a thousand hundred sounds merging into one, and then he raised his sword high and brought it down—

All two hundred and six bones in his body resonated as one.

All their combined power was concentrated into a single point.

Thus, it exploded.

This was the extreme of strength.

It was the mountain-collapsing heavy sword.

Sword energy, thick and heavy like a mountain peak, tore through space, smashing towards Zuo Guangshu, who was continuously controlling the water to impact the ice layer.

Just as Zhong Li Yan completely disregarded the two water dragons, Zuo Guangshu didn’t even lift his head.

Because a figure in green clothes had already leaped into the air, appearing before him, drawing a line across the sky from left to right.

One sword horizontally!

Ten years of hardship, canceled with one sword.

This person’s sword style was incomparably sharp.

The thick and heavy sword energy, like a mountain peak, was directly split in the middle, one half striking towards the sky, the other half descending towards the sea surface.

Zhong Li Yan, who abandoned techniques to cultivate martial arts, and continuously pursued Dou Zhao, the proud genius, was in Jiang Wang’s heart, one of the most threatening individuals on the Chu Country side.

Anyone who could contend with Dou Zhao was certainly a strong among the strong.

So he did not hold back, absolutely no negligence. From the outset, he had already lit up five Inner Mansions, revealing his Heaven Mansion body. Long Xiang Si was held in his hand, and the Qingyun One Break was already close at hand.

Sword struck Zhong Li Yan!

Jiang Wang’s sword techniques were renowned throughout the world. At Guanhe Terrace, he could directly confront Qin Zhizhen’s ultimate saber technique.

Facing such a person, such a sword.

Yet Zhong Li Yan was as carefree as a deity. His left foot retreated half a step, his body turned sideways, and the body of his heavy sword was held horizontally to receive—

Clearly a posture of retreating and receiving the sword, yet the sword tip pointed directly at the tip of Long Xiang Si!

Avoiding the most potent instant of Long Xiang Si’s sharpness, he precisely intercepted it before it could achieve its full effect.

Then, with his retreating left foot stepping forward, he pushed forward with both hands on his sword, directly pushing back Jiang Wang, who had come with a vertical sword!

He rawly resisted the tragic heroic old general’s late-life sword and pushed it back!

At the same time, that clearly split/originally should have dissipated two halves of sword energy, one half in the air, the other falling into the sea… yet they exploded simultaneously!

They had never lost control, merely made a slight performance.

The half of the sword energy in the air, like electric light crossing the sky, instantly wove into a net of sword energy, covering Jiang Wang.

The half of the sword energy in the sea, like a blooming lotus flower, surged from below, straight up, as if to “hold up” Jiang Wang.

Heaven and earth combined.

And at this moment, Zhong Li Yan was still using his sword to strike at Jiang Wang’s sword, forcing him to resist with force and preventing him from escaping.

With this double combination, Jiang Wang was trapped in an absolute predicament!

At Guanhe Terrace, Jiang Wang, relying on his innate talent for sword dao and constant effort, was able to confront Qin Zhizhen’s saber and Xiang Bei’s halberd with his self-created sword techniques. At that time, his sword techniques had not yet reached the peak level of the Inner Mansion Realm, but they were already very close.

But upon reaching the Outer Building Realm, cultivators like Qin Zhizhen and Xiang Bei, who inherited truly peerless combat skills, could likewise quickly display ultimate saber techniques and halberd techniques at the peak of the Outer Building Realm.

Jiang Wang, however, could only rely on his own continuous progress to complete this.

This was also why, although his sword techniques had clearly reached the peak of the Inner Mansion Realm later, he lost to Ning Jianke in sword combat in the Outer Building Realm.

He did not lose to Ning Jianke, but to the foundation of a major sword dao sect.

That unending layers of ultimate sword techniques required him to spend countless sleepless nights to compensate.

At this moment, Zhong Li Yan was also like this.

In terms of talent, having abandoned techniques to cultivate martial arts, he could still directly pursue Dou Zhao after starting anew.

In terms of cultivation, Zhong Li Yan’s spine had opened twenty layers, just one step away from the God Arrival Realm.

In terms of origin, as a direct descendant of the Great Chu Zhong Li Clan, he possessed countless ultimate martial skills.

Therefore, he was so at ease, even upon a single encounter, he sought to establish an overwhelming advantage!

But how could Jiang Wang not be aware of the shortcomings in his sword techniques?

He had deliberately suppressed his power for serious combat once again in the Tai Xu Illusion Realm. He had only used his sword skills to contend with Ning Jianke, reviewing and examining himself, all in the pursuit of refining his combat techniques.

Upon taking action in the Mountain and Sea Realm, he certainly didn’t expect to defeat Zhong Li Yan with just his sword techniques.

How could he not know the strength he had honed bit by bit, drop by drop!

Just as he said in the Seeing Me Building, the age of the first Inner Mansion Realm was in the past, and the Outer Building Realm was an entirely new journey.

So when his sword struck Zhong Li Yan, it wasn’t just the sword that struck!

As Zhong Li Yan’s two split sword energies exploded open, one forming a sword net and the other a sword lotus, at the same time, between heaven and earth, fire sparrows cried, fire flowers bloomed, and fire meteors streaked across the sky!

Within the world of mountains and seas, a world of fire was born.

This world had its limits, but its future was boundless.

The sword net, the sword lotus, they encompassed even Jiang Wang himself and Zhong Li Yan, and even Zuo Guangshu, who was silently controlling the water, and Fan Wu Shu, who was stepping on the ice and coming forward, were all contained within it.

And within this magnificent world of fire, Jiang Wang’s long sword trembled, evading the edge of the heavy sword, pulling left and pressing right—

Within the world of fire, he unleashed the “Person” character sword!

This was a sword that directly supported this world, and also a sword that truly nurtured life.

With people in heaven and earth, all things flourish.

He had comprehended this change during his battle against Zhao Xuan Yang and had gradually perfected it.

The “Person” character stood between the heavens and the earth, making the world of fire even more lively and stable.

With the power of the world of fire feeding back into this sword, this single sword became stronger, more absolute, and more complete!

It wasn’t an ultimate sword technique of the Outer Building Realm, but it possessed the power of an ultimate sword technique of the Outer Building Realm.

*Pi pa!*

That sword energy net directly cracked open, and the sword energy lotus withered piece by piece.

Only Long Xiang Si continued to advance.

Within the entire world of fire, all the fire spirits were silent, as if only this one sword remained.

One world supporting one sword, who should it be?

Fan Wu Shu was not in time.

Only Zhong Li Yan!

Could Zhong Li Yan withstand it?

In the almost suffocating atmosphere, a faint tremor occurred in space, giving the answer.

Zhong Li Yan held his sword in both hands, his cold gaze fixed on Long Xiang Si, which was continuously approaching.

The terrifying power could no longer be contained.

Space was already trembling for him!

The next sword strike would surely shatter the rocks and shake the sky!

Jiang Wang returned his sword to its sheath, casually grasping and collecting the magnificent world of fire.

Heaven and earth suddenly returned to silence.

Everything stopped abruptly.

“Treasures in the Mountain and Sea Realm haven’t appeared yet. I don’t think we need to fight to the death right now,” he said.

Zhong Li Yan’s pupils slightly contracted.

Jiang Wang’s sword supporting the world of fire didn’t shock him, but the sudden act of collecting the sword before it exploded did.

He could clearly see the complexity of this sword: it was a perfect fusion of sword techniques, dao techniques, and divine abilities.

But despite being so complex and terrifying, Jiang Wang could freely unleash and retract this sword momentum.

Such mastery, handling the heavy as if it were light!

Where did his strength end?

The shock in his heart lingered, but the sword momentum on his body had already disappeared. He casually carried his heavy sword on his back.

“You are right,” he nodded.

Fan Wu Shu also collected his folded fan and walked forward with flowing sleeves.

This was considered an acknowledgment that they both had the qualifications for dialogue.

Just based on the style of these two individuals who accelerated their approach upon meeting, if Jiang Wang couldn’t display sufficient strength, he wouldn’t have been able to stop the fight at all.

After all, in the Mountain and Sea Realm, every competitor killed meant one less, and there was no need to hold back.

Of course, Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu were not afraid either.

Truthfully, Zuo Guangshu had made the first move.

Conversely, if Zhong Li Yan and Fan Wu Shu hadn’t shown enough strength, Jiang Wang wouldn’t have minded conveniently eliminating them.

After each side recognized the other’s strength and understood that the cost of a fight would sharply increase, then it became possible to stop.

The two sides mutually assessed each other.

It was then that they discovered that in the recent battle, both groups of people, despite their fierce momentum, were not in particularly good condition.

Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu themselves didn’t need to be mentioned; they had been constantly fleeing for their lives to get here. Although covered in smoke armor, a closer look still revealed their struggle to conceal their disheveled state.

Meanwhile, Zhong Li Yan and Fan Wu Shu weren’t much better off.

Fan Wu Shu’s suddenly retracted folded fan was clearly singed.

Zhong Li Yan’s left half of his long hair was unnaturally curled, a detail that wasn’t difficult to notice.

“You look quite disheveled,” Zhong Li Yan looked at Jiang Wang, then at Zuo Guangshu, saying with a hint of arrogance.

The two sides skipped the self-introduction phase, as they had already recognized each other through various channels.

“We just killed a few fierce beasts,” Jiang Wang flicked his sword, saying very casually.

He then looked back at the two opposite them and retorted, “You seem to have encountered some trouble?”

Zhong Li Yan naturally wasn’t willing to admit that he and Fan Wu Shu had almost been killed by that Kui Niu. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, specifically feeling compelled to come and see if there were any opportunities for revenge.

“Trouble? Hehe, I really don’t know what trouble… Did you notice that Kui Niu nearby just now?” He also spoke very indifferently, “We were just chasing that Kui Niu.”

Jiang Wang lightly chuckled, “Chasing? You’re keeping quite a distance, aren’t you? Are you sure you won’t lose it?”

Zhong Li Yan snorted coldly, “What do people from Qi Country understand about hunting? Not a single word more of nonsense!”

He directly flew away.

Fan Wu Shu, however, smiled at Jiang Wang and Zuo Guangshu before closely following Zhong Li Yan.

Jiang Wang: …

He turned his head and asked Zuo Guangshu, “You’re from Chu Country, do you understand?”

Zuo Guangshu shook his head.