After successfully dispelling the curse within Mandala's body, Xiao Yan and Mandala took a brief period to recuperate. Once they were ready, the two of them departed from the Northern Region and made their way toward the Southern Region, where the Sacred Demon Palace was located. Of course, before they left, Xiao Yan didn't forget to secretly stash away the Ancient Flame Dragon's skeletal remains at the bottom of the magma, quietly transferring it into his Heavenly Tomb.
Although he couldn't yet refine the divine meridians within the bones, the fire-attribute spiritual energy contained inside was already immensely beneficial. Naturally, all of this was done without Mandala's knowledge. She still believed that once her strength had risen sufficiently, she could return to retrieve the skeleton. However, when that day came, she would likely be shocked to find the once-boiling magma had cooled significantly.
The distance between the Northern Region and the Southern Region was quite vast. Even with the aid of spatial transportation arrays, it still took them nearly a full month to reach their destination. The Southern Region was significantly larger in scale compared to the Northern Region, and correspondingly, the forces here were far more powerful. The Sacred Demon Palace stood at the pinnacle of these powers, reigning as the undisputed overlord of the Southern Region.
Upon arriving, Xiao Yan and Mandala did not act recklessly or attempt to confront Lu Heng directly. Instead, they settled in a modest inn as their temporary base and spent some time gathering intelligence about Lu Heng and the Sacred Demon Palace. After all, as the old saying went: know yourself and know your enemy, and you'll never lose a battle.
"Tsk, no wonder the Sacred Demon Palace is considered a hegemon of the Southern Region. Their power is overwhelming," Xiao Yan muttered, clicking his tongue in surprise as he read over the information. According to the intelligence, the Sacred Demon Palace boasted close to ten Earth Sovereigns. Even if the most powerful factions of the Northern Region combined forces, they likely still wouldn't match that number.
In addition to those Earth Sovereigns, the Sacred Demon Palace was protected by an elite army known as the Sacred Demon Sky Guards. It was said that this army alone possessed the strength to hunt down Earth Sovereigns. With such a terrifying lineup, even a true upper Earth Sovereign wouldn't dare storm into their territory alone—especially with Lu Heng, the Sacred Demon Emperor, personally sitting in command.
"As it stands, we'll need to find a way to isolate Lu Heng. Otherwise, things could get extremely tricky," Xiao Yan said while rubbing his temples and pretending to be overwhelmed. "No matter how strong we are, taking on an entire faction head-on is unrealistic."
Though he could technically seek aid from other Earth Sovereigns by leveraging his status as an alchemist, Xiao Yan's fame in the Great Thousand World was still too limited. Even if he approached them, others might not believe him. Moreover, that kind of large-scale mobilization could risk exposing his identity. If the Nine Nether Sparrow Clan caught wind of his survival, things could get very complicated.
To be honest, Xiao Yan already possessed the capability to raze the Sacred Demon Palace to the ground, but he had no intention of revealing too much of his strength to outsiders. Besides, this mission was supposed to be a joint operation with Mandala. If he did all the work, it would go against his principles of balanced cooperation.
"Opportunities like this won't come often…" Mandala muttered, frowning slightly. As the lord of a powerful palace, Lu Heng rarely left his headquarters. Even when he did, he was always heavily guarded. Finding a chance to catch him alone was almost as difficult as storming the palace itself.
"If opportunity doesn't exist, we'll just have to create one. Besides…" Xiao Yan grinned, "as long as he steps outside, I have more than enough methods to render his entourage completely useless."
After advancing to Earth Sovereign, Xiao Yan's mastery over spiritual arrays had also advanced significantly. At this point, setting up intermediate-level master arrays was no longer an issue for him. As long as he had sufficient time and access to the right formation diagrams, he could create traps capable of eliminating even Lu Heng's elite forces.
The problem was that while Xiao Yan had the skill, he lacked sufficient resources. Aside from the Five Saints Demon-Sealing Array, he only had one other intermediate master-grade formation diagram. Even that had cost him a small fortune to acquire. The same was true for alchemical recipes—now that he had stepped into the Earth Sovereign realm, collecting new pill formulas and array diagrams had become significantly harder.
"By the way, it seems the Ice Spirit Clan has arrived in the Southern Region as well," Mandala suddenly said after thinking for a moment. "Their lineup is quite impressive too. They even brought along an upper Earth Sovereign. Maybe we can use that to our advantage."
"The Ice Spirit Clan? What are they doing here?" Xiao Yan was momentarily stunned. The Ice Spirit Clan, like the Fire Spirit Clan, was one of the most renowned ancient races of the Great Thousand World. As their name suggested, they specialized in ice-attribute power. However, they had long since fallen from their former glory and were now a shadow of their past self, no longer on par with the Fire Spirit Clan.
But as the saying went, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Even in decline, the Ice Spirit Clan retained terrifying strength—enough to sweep across the entire Tianluo Continent. They might even rival the Nine Nether Sparrow Clan. The question was, why had such a powerful force traveled so far just to come to this distant and desolate land?
"Word is, they're here to capture someone," Mandala said thoughtfully.
"Oh? And who's worth mobilizing such a force?" Xiao Yan raised an eyebrow. For the Ice Spirit Clan to send an upper Earth Sovereign across continents, the target must be someone truly extraordinary. Could it be someone carrying some kind of legendary artifact? If so, perhaps he could intercept them and snatch the prize.
"I'm not sure of the exact details, but it's said to be related to one of the Ice Spirit Clan's deepest secrets," Mandala replied. "According to the intel I've gathered, the fugitive came from the Nine Nether Sparrow Clan, but she herself doesn't belong to them. Her name… hmm, let me think… it was something elegant. Right—Qing Tan."
"What?!" Xiao Yan's expression immediately shifted when he heard Mandala say the fugitive was from the Nine Nether Sparrow Clan. There were very few people who could match that description—and as soon as he heard the name Qing Tan, everything clicked into place.
He had assumed that Qing Tan was doing fine under the protection of the Nine Nether Sparrow Clan. Yet now it seemed she had not only escaped but had also provoked the wrath of the Ice Spirit Clan, attracting pursuit by an upper Earth Sovereign. How had this little troublemaker managed to cause more havoc than even he did?
"What's wrong?" Mandala blinked in confusion, catching Xiao Yan's sudden shift in demeanor. Was there some connection between him and this Qing Tan?
Xiao Yan didn't answer her right away. Instead, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes as if lost in thought. After a few moments, he opened them again and asked, "Mandala, do you know where the Ice Spirit Clan is currently residing?"
(End of Chapter)
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