Exile

"It seems my two junior brothers have found your cultivation rather dull of late and lacked the drive to raise your realms. That must be why you've taken such an interest in trivial matters like this." "In that case, why don't you two go gain some experiential training where the Central Continent borders the Demon Domain?" "Eldest Senior Sister, isn't this a bit—" Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou tried to protest, but Eldest Senior Sister brooked no argument. Grabbing each of them by the collar with one hand as if hauling a pair of insolent brats, she gave them a casual toss. The scenery before them blurred in an instant, and they found themselves soaring through midair, hurtling southward—or rather, being flung southward—at an utterly terrifying speed. The landscape flashed past far too quickly for either of them to calculate just how fast they were moving. They merely caught glimpses of the occasional flying boat streaking by, or an esteemed expert in flight whizzing past just as rapidly. The passengers on the flying boats and the high-level experts were left thoroughly flabbergasted, secretly wondering what realm those two airborne figures had reached to possess such staggering flying speed. *Thud!* The two crashed into the ground, completely upended, heads plunged into the dirt and legs kicking the sky, tangled in tree vines. "I feel like my whole body's been shattered to pieces." Lu Yang grimaced as he climbed up, aching all over as though he had been dismantled and hastily reassembled. "Where are we?" Meng Jingzhou surveyed their surroundings. The jungle was dense, exceptionally humid, and choked with all sorts of rare flora. "Didn't Eldest Senior Sister say she was sending us to gain experience along the border of the Demon Domain? This must be where it borders the Demon Domain." Lu Yang pointed out the local specialties. "Look, all around here are things rarely seen on the continent. That's Coin Flower, that's Flowing Cloud Grass, that's Myriad Green Wood, and that's a snake demon whose cultivation realm I can't even... hm?" Several dark green snake demons slithered into view, their heads triangular, their forked tongues hissing as they rapidly crawled in their direction. "Run!" Unable to discern the snake demons' cultivation realms, the two dared not take any chances. They pulled themselves free of the vines, somersaulted to the ground, and took to their heels. This pack of snake demons clearly looked like trouble. Foundation Establishment stage foes wouldn't scare them, but they feared these beasts were far beyond Foundation Establishment. "Young masters, don't run! Come over and play with us little sisters," the snake demons spoke in human tongues, their voices dripping with sultry allure that sent tingling shivers down the spine. "We'll definitely give you boys heaven on earth~" "Come play with us~" The two looked back and saw the snake demons shift into human form: captivating, delicate, and dressed in scanty, revealing attire. One glance showed they were not from decent families. "No thanks, no thanks. You're way too ugly," Meng Jingzhou politely declined. Hearing this, the snake demons froze for a moment, then flew into a towering rage, slithering faster and faster. Fortunately, neither Lu Yang nor Meng Jingzhou was an easy target. When it came to running for their lives, they feared no one, their legs pumping in a frantic blur. Misfortune, however, never came alone. Failing to watch their step, the two stumbled straight into a bog. Seeing the pack of snake demons about to catch up, Lu Yang gritted his teeth. "This won't work. Let's escape with Shrinking the Earth!" "What about me?" "Stand still! Draw a Prison!" Lu Yang swiftly drew a circle around Meng Jingzhou. Before Meng Jingzhou could even react, he was locked inside a cage. Lu Yang then unleashed Shrinking the Earth, pushing the prison and its inmate Meng Jingzhou ahead of him as he bolted. "You can chain those two spells together?!" The snake demons behind them were left dumbfounded, failing to grasp what had just transpired. By the time they spread their divine sense to search for the pair, the two had already fled beyond its range, leaving not a trace behind. "Are we really that terrifying?" The snake demons looked at one another in dismay. They had hoped to use their bodies to earn some spirit stones on the human side, but every human they met proved to possess an iron will, turning tail and running the moment they caught sight of them. What was even more absurd was that whenever they offered pleasure, the men ran even faster. They belonged to the Azure Sky Green Snake clan, renowned back in the Demon Domain for this line of business. Yet in their attempt to expand operations into human territory, they hadn't landed a single deal. "Should we apply for work at a human brothel instead of hunting in the wild like this? I heard many of our sisters did that," one of them asked. "Didn't they say humans also love messing around in the wild? Besides, there's no tax out in the open." "I just don't get it." …… On the other side, Lu Yang was still pushing Meng Jingzhou at a dead sprint, his legs flapping through the earth as nimbly as fish fins. "Is this far enough?" "We should have shaken them off." The two poked their heads out of the soil at the same time, only to see the massive foot of a gigantic elephant stomping down toward them. Behind the giant elephant was a herd of elephants with blood-red eyes and tusks over three meters long—obviously not a bunch to be trifled with. Lu Yang hastily pulled himself and Meng Jingzhou back beneath the earth. They popped their heads up again, only to see a beast resembling a hybrid of a tiger and a leopard crouched over the carcass of a deer demon, gorging itself. The two youths and the demon beast locked eyes, all freezing for a brief moment. Then the beast let out a ferocious roar, and the two immediately tunneled back underground to flee for their lives once more. Finally, the two managed to crawl out of the earth, leaning on makeshift walking sticks, having endured who knew how many more ordeals along the way. "This isn't experiential training at all, it's straight-up exi—" Before the word "ile" could leave his mouth, Lu Yang cut him off. "Don't talk nonsense! This is experiential training Eldest Senior Sister arranged for us!" Lu Yang was far more vigilant than Meng Jingzhou. Worried that Eldest Senior Sister might have some way of watching them, he threw furious glances Meng Jingzhou's way, terrified Meng Jingzhou might provoke her and bring an extra layer of torment down upon them. Meng Jingzhou caught on instantly and hastily corrected himself: "Ex... exposing how unstable our realms are, sending us here to fight and seek an opportunity for a breakthrough!" "Where should we go? We can't just stay out here forever, right?" Lu Yang trudged forward with uneven steps, deeply feeling the hardships of survival. "Don't panic. Since this is where the Central Continent meets the Demon Domain, there's bound to be a major city! I heard from my family that the Great Xia Dynasty established six cities here to guard against the demon race. One of my uncles is stationed as a defender in one of them!" "Hm? What's that on your arm?" Lu Yang noticed a tiny black creature squirming on Meng Jingzhou's arm, thick at the head and tapered at the tail, having crawled on who knew when. "It's a leech!" Terrified, Meng Jingzhou frantically shook his arm, but the leech clung as though glued to his skin and wouldn't budge. "Don't panic! I heard these things fear fire—watch me burn it! *Ptooey!*" Lu Yang spat a puff of Three-Flavor True Fire, lightly grazing the leech. It was incinerated instantly, releasing its grip and falling from the arm. The two had kept their divine sense active the entire time, but they had only been on guard against massive demon beasts; they hadn't imagined that in this place, even tiny bugs demanded vigilance. A leech wasn't capable of breaking through Meng Jingzhou's defenses, but having lived a pampered life since childhood, he was thoroughly repulsed on a purely physical level. After tunneling into demon beast dens seven times, being besieged by beasts five times, being forced into desperate fights four times, and crawling out from the belly of a demon beast once, the two finally made their way out of the dense jungle and beheld a city built by the human race. Disheveled, filthy, and limping, with beast saliva still clinging to the ends of their hair, they stared ahead. Atop the city gate tower, three massive characters—"Demon Quelling Pass"—shone resplendently, radiating an intangible pressure that brought them an inexplicable sense of safety. "Eldest Senior Sister bless us, we finally made it out!" The two pressed their palms together toward the sky in heartfelt gratitude, thanking Eldest Senior Sister for sparing their lives.