Stormwind Mountain was a massive peak located at the northwestern edge of the Tian Xuan continent. From a distance, only the lower half of the mountain was visible, as the rest was densely shrouded in grey clouds.
It stood over four kilometers tall, with fierce windstorms howling around it, while the mountain itself resembled a formidable black rock.
The mountain's conditions also made the surrounding area particularly gloomy.With the constant rumble of thunder from the sky and the biting, savage winds scattering stones and sand, it seemed like a haunted, dismal house of horror.
But due to the immense spiritual energy of the place, many marvelous herbs grew here, though only plants capable of enduring the intense wind and lightning could survive.
Usually, very few would visit such a place, but today, some uninvited guests had come to this mountain.
A creature over five meters long landed on the ground. It had a purple, crow-like body, but its aura was unmistakable, with large wings three times the length of a stork's.
"Thanks for your hard work, Kuro," Zhang Yong thanked quietly as he jumped off Kuro's back.
Kuro leaped into the air, changed her size, and landed softly on Zhang Yong's shoulder. 'Papa, I can sense some monsters here. Let's hunt them. Their energy seems delicious.'
Zhang Yong chuckled lightly at Kuro's words. Ever since he allowed her to eat monster cores occasionally after hearing it was this world's method of cultivation for beasts, she had developed a craving for monster flesh and their cores. She had become gluttonous. Well, like father, like daughter.
Zhang Yong cast a deep glance at the distant mountain and said slowly, "Well, we can't fly to the summit anyway, and we're not in a hurry. Alright, let's wander a bit."
Fog and stormy winds blew outside as Zhang Yong walked around the mountain. But after a while, it began to get abnormally cold, and Kuro was shivering on Zhang Yong's shoulder.
"Kuro? Do you want to return to the Pet Space?" Zhang Yong asked out of concern.
Kuro shook her head. 'I don't want to. I want to stay with Papa. But the weather... it's cold!'
Zhang Yong chuckled softly and patted Kuro's head. He held her and placed her inside his clothes, then began circulating the fire element through his body, allowing her to feel warmth.
As Zhang Yong walked deeper into Stormwind Mountain, the winds grew colder, the thunder louder, and the clouds shrouding the mountain thickened. The atmosphere turned from cold to biting.
He stopped in his tracks and took out the Heaven's Source Vial. Immediately, lights from the air entered it. "Yes, the law of wind here is good, no doubt. If we go deeper, it will become more dangerous. Let's traverse the edges."
After filling the vial sufficiently, Zhang Yong continued his quiet stroll. Then, suddenly, he felt the presence of something nearby. The fog was pervasive, but this was nothing against his spiritual sense.
Immediately, his spiritual sense swept out. It was a Storm Bear, a spiritual beast that relied on wind-attributed spiritual cores. Thus, an area like Stormwind Mountain was undoubtedly the perfect place for it. But beside it was something more mysterious: a plant. For some reason, this plant seemed to interfere with his spiritual sense.
As Zhang Yong approached the location, he began to feel the strange effect of the plant that was jamming his spiritual sense. "I'm truly curious about this."
But before he could get any closer, the Storm Bear roared powerfully, then charged forward. In an instant, its massive body turned into a phantom shadow, cutting through the air with immense speed, as if carried by the wind
Despite its huge size, it seemed as if its weight had evaporated, merging with the surrounding winds.
Waves of turbulent air spread around it, creating a high-pitched whistling sound as it surged forth.
Zhang Yong's eyebrow rose quietly. "A third-rank beast, but this speed is no joke, even for fourth-rank beasts."
The bear gathered wind around its massive paws, causing the surrounding air to vibrate intensely. Its enormous paws, covered in a layer of thick, dark brown fur, began to glow with a bluish-green shimmer. The wind concentrated intensely around each paw, forming a narrow, rapidly spinning air vortex.
The bear raised one of its paws high and, with a swift, sharp motion, launched a destructive blow towards Zhang Yong.
Zhang Yong raised his hand and blocked its strike with one hand. "I'm at the third layer of the Heaven-Defying Body. Third-rank beasts have no effect on me."
Zhang Yong grabbed the bear's paw, lifted its massive body with one hand, and swung it, smashing it into the ground.
Then he gripped the paw tightly and twisted, breaking the bones in the bear's arm and making it scream in loud pain.
Winds gathered around it, trying to break free from Zhang Yong's grip, but suddenly, Zhang Yong's hand reached towards its head.
Crack!
Zhang Yong twisted its head and broke its neck with extreme ease. It fell to the ground, a lifeless corpse.
Zhang Yong held the bear's body and began dissecting it calmly and carefully. He separated the skin, took the meat, and stored everything. Then he picked up the spiritual core and gave it to Kuro, who was sitting inside his clothes. "Take this. But really, I don't think it's suitable to consume cores from other elements. Your space element is already rare among beasts."
'Don't worry, Papa. I only absorb the pure energy inside them, so they don't harm me in any way.'
In truth, Zhang Yong had been very lucky to encounter a Void Bird in the Douluo world. Their presence was weak in the Douluo world, but in this world, beasts of this type were so rare they were almost extinct.
Zhang Yong sighed, then looked towards the plant that the bear had been guarding. He was shocked when he saw it.
"Three white leaves on top, the rest are purple leaves, and the root is red like flame. I can't believe it—the Burning Shadow Herb! No wonder I couldn't detect it. This particular herb can poison the soul to death if one isn't careful."
Zhang Yong covered his hand with the ice element, plunged it into the earth, pulled the herb out by the roots, and stored it
Zhang Yong stood for a moment, contemplating his surroundings. The fog began to grow denser, and the winds became more violent, making it increasingly difficult to see the mountain ahead.
Zhang Yong smiled, thinking of doing something, when he suddenly froze and began to focus on his spiritual sense. Kuro's expression also turned wary.
Zhang Yong muttered indifferently: "There's someone approaching us from within the fog." Zhang Yong turned his palm and gripped the Death Dagger in his hand, then stared silently into the fog.
Three lights exploded directly from within the fog and moved rapidly towards him. They were three needles made of ice, as long as an average person, hard enough, and sharp as a spearhead.
Immediately, Zhang Yong infused his Heavenly Eyes with mental energy and gained complete awareness of what was happening.
"One person in front, three behind him. Three attacks aimed at my left rib, head, and right chest. Wait, that insignia! Sky Claw!" Zhang Yong was secretly shocked when he recognized the insignia on their clothing.
Instantly, the movement of the giant needles slowed in his field of view. He moved his hands swiftly, deflecting the trajectory of all the needles towards different directions.
"Oh, you actually managed to stop them." Two eyes clearly shone within that fog with a cold blue glow.
"Who are you? Identify yourself!" Zhang Yong showed a severe expression when he looked at those eyes.
A young man stepped forward. His eyes were blue, clear as the sky, while his hair, blue like the ocean, hung calmly in waves down his back. He had a straight nose, and what stood out more were the snowflake patterns formed on his cheeks. His blue robe gave him an aura of cold handsomeness.
The young man stood at the front and bowed slightly, placing his arm over his chest calmly. "You may call me Bing Wang. As for you, young man, that beast of the fifth rank, give it to me."
He approached very closely, staring frankly at Zhang Yong. His eyes were fixed on Zhang Yong's clothes, more specifically, what was inside them.
Zhang Yong's eyes flashed with surprise as he realized what he meant. "You bastard, it's impossible—"
Before Zhang Yong could even reply, a barrage of large ice needles exploded directly towards him.
He waved his hand and hurled Great Sun Flame directly at them, but what happened shocked him. The needles pierced through the fire easily and advanced towards Zhang Yong.
Without any delay, Zhang Yong jumped away from the path of the needles and slid to the side. 'Impossible! My flames shouldn't be stopped by mere ice needles. The only ice that Sun Flame can't stop is Conceptual Ice!' Zhang Yong's thoughts moved like lightning.
His Great Sun Flame, Desolate Moon Flame, flames from the Heavenly Roll—but they weren't absolute. Therefore, attacks containing Concepts were something he couldn't easily counter.
This was because Concepts were linked to the law of causality, cause and effect. Even with Zhang Yong's near-absolute flames, it was still difficult to deal with higher-level Concepts.
If he had his absolute fire spirit ring he wouldn't have any trouble dealing with this man
Worse still, His attacks were rankless. Currently, Zhang Yong's tempered body could withstand high-level Mysterious grade weapons. Therefore, the only ways to harm him were two things: either a skill or a weapon of a grade higher than his body, or something powerfull but rankless—in this case, like Fu Liang's Blood Sword, or this Bing Wang's ice needles. In this case, he was killable.
Bing Wang held his chin, staring at Zhang Yong with extreme politeness as he said, "Ah, you're truly interesting. You managed to dodge them."
"This bastard, you want to kill me, right? Then take this!" Zhang Yong waved his hand, sent a fireball towards Bing Wang, and simultaneously retreated backward a few steps.
Bing Wang stepped forward, and an ice wall coldly blocked his flame. "Hahaha!" He raised his head and laughed three times, staring at Zhang Yong with an excited expression.
"That's right, I want to kill you. Come on, kill me too. Life-and-death battles are the most enjoyable. Show me more of your flames. Show me your despairing appearance. Show me your worst state. Everything matters."
Just as he said these words, waves of icy energy shot towards Zhang Yong with force.
Facing the madman Bing Wang, Zhang Yong frowned and gritted his teeth harshly. There were two rules for himself: if you encounter a weak enemy, use all your power to eliminate them; if you encounter a strong opponent, fight them wisely; if you have a weakness, run!
After all, running away is half of manliness.
"You want to kill me? See you in hell." After saying these words, Zhang Yong took the first step and shot off in the opposite direction.
"Don't run from me!" Bing Wang shouted loudly as he and the people behind him rushed after Zhang Yong at high speed.
Zhang Yong quickly regulated his breathing, and his expression became as stiff as an ice board. His blood-red eyes gleamed with a red light. In an instant, everything in the place became extremely clear: the locations of the beasts, the people following him, and his position on the mountain.
Heavenly Eyes - The Eyes That See The World.
Zhang Yong's pupils moved rapidly, quickly memorizing the places in his mind, then deactivated his eyes' ability immediately.
He sped off, changing direction towards those beasts. The others soon caught up to him, but each time, he left them in front of a beast. Icy cold winds and frigid blue light exploded.
Bing Wang smiled devilishly, staring at the winding path Zhang Yong had created, and laughed immediately. "Hehe, intentionally leading us through beast areas? You're still a thousand years too early for that."
Instantly, ice formed behind his back into huge icy wings. With one leap, he reached the sky.
He looked down at the forest below arrogantly and raised his hand. Immediately, the sky froze, thousands of crystalline ice shards appeared behind him.
With a slight movement of his hand, cold air exploded throughout the area. The crystalline ice shards fell densely onto the forest. The beasts sensed the danger and gathered under the trees to escape the attack, but the shards pierced through directly, killing them, causing them to drop like flies.
Zhang Yong's eyes widened clearly. There was no escape from them. He pressed his feet against the ground and, with lightning speed, shot forward even faster.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three shards pierced Zhang Yong's body forcefully, and blood gushed out. He was wounded in his right rib, his left shoulder, and his right thigh was grazed.
Zhang Yong continued advancing towards the areas densest with beasts, expecting those beasts to slow Bing Wang down, while also providing him with cover to escape.
Bing Wang laughed with high euphoria. "Ohohoho, excellent, you're wonderful. No, you're amazing. Come on, run more, struggle more, despair more!" Bing Wang wrapped his arms around his body, and his body began to vibrate in the air. "Show me what you can do."
Then he waved his hand high, and immediately, the air in front of him froze into a block of ice. In such a place, he had a high advantage because the area had high humidity, thus giving him an edge.
Immediately, ice gathered and soon formed a blue ice bird. The ice bird flapped its wings powerfully, heading towards Zhang Yong's path.
The small blue bird was cute like a dove, but when Zhang Yong turned his head, his face clearly lost color. "The Manifestation level of the Ice Concept!"
He realized Bing Wang wasn't joking about wanting to kill him.
The bird represented the Manifestation level of the Ice Concept, something he wouldn't face easily even with the Great Sun Flame. He felt danger as he tracked the bird's accelerating movement towards him, as if the cold wind surrounded him from every direction.
He looked around quickly to find a place to hide, but his options were limited; the path ahead was full of beasts that wouldn't distinguish between him and anyone else.
Zhang Yong sighed slowly. He knew escape was no longer an option. He raised his right hand to the sky and released a ball of flame, igniting fires around him in an attempt to slow the bird. But soon, the bird pierced through the flame unaffected, and cold snow began to fall around him. The air froze from the extreme cold.
'Dammit, my luck is utterly terrible. I can still use "that," but I can't focus enough to do it now.'
Zhang Yong tried to move frantically, but this blue ice bird wasn't an ordinary attack that could be dodged. It was as if it was alive; once it found its target, it would close in.
"BOOM!"
The ice bird exploded the moment it hit Zhang Yong's back. Immediately, cold air spread everywhere, and the piercing blue light from the explosion illuminated the forest.
His body was thrown by the blast's impact to hit a giant tree, leaving a patch of blood on it before falling to the ground. He groaned heavily, and the icy sensation penetrated his bones, making it hard for him to move his limbs.
Immediately, he circulated the Great Sun Flame through his body, dispelling the cold, and stood up with difficulty, glaring fiercely towards him.
Bing Wang stood in front of Zhang Yong and mocked, "Oh come on, I haven't even used everything I have."
"I don't care for your nonsense." He moved his hand slowly, concentrating all his energy in his palm where the glow of the Great Sun Flame slowly gathered to form a small but intensely radiant ball.
Bing Wang laughed coldly and said, "Good, you can still fight. Come on, strike, cut, and crush. Do what you can! Amuse me!"
But Zhang Yong, with a confident smile, whispered quietly: "Amuse you? Sorry, but I'm better at explosions."
At that moment, with a sudden touch, Zhang Yong launched the fireball towards the ground, causing a huge explosion of flames and smoke that covered the entire area.
He used this distraction and escaped towards the direction of the mountain. Due to the previous battle, it had caused many beasts to flee, leaving the place almost empty.
As he advanced, the temperature had dropped, but he couldn't feel the cold. If the Ice-Fire Alchemic physique was at its peak, resisting Bing Wang's attacks would have been easy, but unfortunately, it wasn't.
As he ran, an unknown voice sounded in his head. 'Head west.'
Zhang Yong had no choice and headed directly west. He didn't trust the voice much, but it was his best option. But west... was the direction of the mountain's base!
Zhang Yong began running with no choice towards the mountain base, and soon reached its boundaries. The voice sounded in his head again. 'Go right until you reach a cave and hide inside it.'
Zhang Yong quickly headed right, and as he ran, his heart was pounding fiercely. Quickly, an entrance to a cave appeared on the side. He immediately entered it and leaned against the wall. He looked at his hand, which was covered in blood, and closed his eyes quietly.