"Zzzz..."
As Xiao Feng performed the seal-breaking technique, Hai Bodong's body began to tremble slightly. A strange, eerie blue energy rapidly gathered on his forehead, forming a small, snakelike pattern of energy.
"Break!"
Suddenly, Xiao Feng shouted, and both the multicolored snake scale in his hand and the eerie blue energy pattern on Hai Bodong's forehead dissolved into countless specks of starlight, disappearing into the air.
"Whoosh!"
At the moment the seal was broken, Hai Bodong's eyes snapped open, a sharp gleam flashing through them.
"Boom!!!"
A powerful pressure burst forth from Hai Bodong's body, filled with a terrifying cold aura. The intense Dou Qi blast pushed Xiao Feng back several steps, covering the entire map store in a thick layer of frost.
"This damned seal is finally gone! I'm a Dou Emperor again! Hahaha..."
With his power restored, Hai Bodong's aged face became much younger. He transformed from an elderly man with white hair into a middle-aged man with white hair, and couldn't help but fly into the air, laughing wildly at the sky.
After a long laugh, Hai Bodong finally turned his gaze toward Xiao Feng, squinting his eyes instinctively.
[This kid has plenty of treasures, but his strength is mediocre. Should I take back that fragment from him?]
Hai Bodong was certainly no saint. Years ago, in a fit of rage, he had frozen an entire city where his enemies lived, burying hundreds of thousands of innocent residents alongside them.
[Forget it! This kid was able to break Queen Medusa's seal. He might be that crazy woman's boy toy. Better not risk it. I don't want to mess with that crazy woman again.]
Hearing Hai Bodong's wild thoughts, Xiao Feng's eye twitched slightly, and he showed a somewhat speechless expression.
At this point, Queen Medusa hadn't yet evolved into her human form, and Xiao Feng had no intention of becoming a hero for a grass python.
Giving up the idea of killing and looting, Hai Bodong took out a token from his storage ring and tossed it to Xiao Feng. "Kid, this is the token of the Grand Elder of the Miter Family. If you ever need to find me, just take this token to the Miter Family in the Imperial Capital!"
"Now, I must go!"
Without giving Xiao Feng a chance to respond, Hai Bodong summoned his ice-blue Dou Qi wings and shot off in the direction of JIa Ma City.
Xiao Feng watched him leave and shook his head helplessly. "That old fox. He even abandoned his map store. Was he afraid I'd take advantage of him?"
...
More than half a month later, at Zhen Gui Pass of the JIa Ma Empire.
Zhen Gui Pass was the last military fortress on the JIa Ma Empire's eastern border. After passing through it and traveling hundreds of miles east, through some small nations and tribes, one could enter the infamous Black-Corner Region.
On the dusty road leading to the fortress, a mercenary group of several hundred men was speeding toward the massive stronghold. Cheers and curses echoed continuously through the air.
Due to its location on the empire's frontier, the atmosphere at Zhen Gui Pass was rather chaotic, making it a favorite among certain mercenary groups.
These mercenaries were not particularly interested in hunting magical beasts. Instead, they enjoyed being wartime mercenaries, meaning they were hired by one side in a conflict to help attack the other side.
During peacetime, those mercenaries who enjoyed killing would sometimes moonlight as bandits, robbing passing caravans and lone travelers.
As a result, the area around Zhen Gui Pass was full of bloodstained hands, perfect for Xiao Feng to carry out justice and earn merit.
Of course, Xiao Feng wasn't just there to accumulate merit. He was also searching for the legendary Devouring Life Pill.
The Devouring Life Pill was an extremely rare peak-tier seven pill, capable of temporarily boosting a Dou Master to the Dou King level in a short time.
However, it achieved this by consuming the lifespan of the user.
Anyone who took the Devouring Life Pill would have their lifespan reduced to just three years.
According to the original plot, Xiao Li would, years later, be pursued by experts from the Yunlan Sect. By chance, he would discover the long-lost Devouring Life Pill and its formula deep in some remote mountains.
Unfortunately, in the original storyline, Xiao Li did not mention the exact location of the discovery.
So, Xiao Feng had to put himself in Xiao Li's shoes. If he were being hunted by experts from the Yunlan Sect, he would likely choose to escape to the chaotic Black-Corner Region.
Despite its disorder, the Black-Corner Region was full of opportunities.
Once inside, Xiao Li could not only evade the Yunlan Sect's pursuit, but he might also come across some fortuitous encounters that could give him the power to destroy the Yunlan Sect.
Since breaking through to the Dou Master level, Xiao Feng had noticed a significant slowdown in his cultivation speed. He estimated it would take at least a month before he could advance to the two-star Dou Master level.
At his current pace, without some stroke of luck, it could take him three to four years to reach the Dou King level.
Xiao Feng had no desire to follow the slow path of cultivation, so searching for the Devouring Life Pill became a necessity.
Though the Devouring Life Pill shortened the user's lifespan, as long as they found life-extending treasures or broke through to the Dou Emperor level before their life ran out, they could negate the pill's side effects.
If Xiao Feng was correct, the original purpose of creating the Devouring Life Pill was likely to allow cultivation geniuses to skip over the Dou Master and Dou Spirit levels, saving them a great deal of cultivation time.
After all, a fifth-tier pill would be enough to make a Dou King fight for it.
A peak-tier seven pill like the Devouring Life Pill could even prompt a Dou Zong-level expert to lend a hand.
The ingredients needed to refine the Devouring Life Pill were far more valuable than the life of an ordinary Dou King, making it far too costly to waste on raising a mere Dou King.
Since Xiao Feng didn't know the exact location of the Devouring Life Pill, he planned to spend the next three months starting from Zhen Gui Pass, working his way toward Yunlan Sect. Along the way, he would earn merit while searching for the pill.
If he was lucky and found it, it would be the best outcome.
If he couldn't find it, it would just mean that the Devouring Life Pill wasn't meant for him, and at least he would earn some merit along the way.
"Whoosh!"
Under Xiao Feng's control, a massive black eagle with a wingspan of over fifty feet swooped down, landing in a forest near Zhen Gui Pass.
The black eagle, called the Black Wind Eagle, had been a genuine fifth-tier magical beast in life. Recently, Xiao Feng, in his transformed state as the Emperor Giant, had slain it with a single blow and then turned its corpse into a flying corpse puppet.
(End of Chapter)
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