Mysterious Ice Dragon Soars!

It was a fateful encounter too late; who would have thought that their connection was so fleeting and fragile?

For a moment, the two shared a subtle, unspeakable bond, something only understood by each other and impossible to explain to outsiders.

But the one who deserved a beating still had to be beaten.

Feeling the furious surge of Dou Qi energy within Hai Bodong, Chen Guan's expression turned more serious than ever before.

"Mysterious Ice Dragon Soars!"

"Boundless Ocean!"

Almost simultaneously, the two launched their attacks again.

The slight difference was that Hai Bodong shouted his attack name aloud, full of momentum, while the young man found it too awkward and merely recited it in his heart.

The sword aura and flames surged even larger, their fierce energy ripping the already-collapsed shop to shreds. The deadly ferocity of their attacks left the surrounding mercenaries holding their breath.

Before the sea is drunk by a whale, the sword aura already crosses autumn!

Yet, Hai Bodong stood unafraid in the face of it. His hand seals were already complete, and a cold ice dragon shot forth from his side, roaring to meet the attack.

The previous one was just a knock-off made of four layers of Mysterious Ice Spin, but this was the true form of the Mysterious Ice Dragon Soars!

"Break!"

The two Dou Techniques collided, their terrifying energies wreaking havoc in the air. The immense shockwave that followed almost made the young man lose his grip on his broadsword, his Dou Qi armor shattering.

Fortunately, the outcome was still within what the young man could accept.

With a slight shift to the side, Chen Guan gathered his Dou Qi once more and, at an almost imperceptible speed, struck again, sending the approaching ice dragon flying several feet away.

Taking advantage of the gap, he unleashed a long-prepared, ferocious attack.

"Calamity of All Gods!"

A pair of deep crimson sword wings spread from his back, with faint flames flickering in a brilliant and dazzling display.

What surprised people even more was its speed—so fast that Hai Bodong almost couldn't react. Seeing a red light rapidly approaching, he hastily summoned an ice shield to block it.

"Mysterious Ice Shield!"

Boom!

A massive explosion came from behind. The out-of-control ice dragon demolished more than ten shops before finally crashing into the mountain and dissipating.

No one noticed the faint sound of the ice shield and ice armor cracking amidst the chaos.

Feeling the scorching heat on his cheek, Hai Bodong was in disbelief. His body stiffened as he turned to look up at the young man in the air.

Those dazzling sword wings were so blinding.

"What a lucky kid, to even possess such a rare Dou Technique."

Hai Bodong muttered, his face grim.

Although he thought the kid was being somewhat dishonorable, the fact remained that he had suffered a loss. In a life-and-death battle, no one would care about the process.

The turbulent Dou Qi energy around him calmed down, and he had no intention of continuing. If the fight went on, one of them would indeed have to be carried out.

He really hated these show-offs who acted like saints in front of him.

It was all that woman's fault. If it weren't for the seal in his body, the one standing in the air right now should have been him!

Chen Guan's face was slightly pale. The battle had exhausted him greatly as well, and if he hadn't switched to a higher-tier cultivation technique, he wouldn't have had enough Dou Qi to sustain such a fight.

In the last second of maintaining the Calamity of All Gods, he landed firmly on the ground, showing no sign of strain. Chen Guan bowed in apology.

"I dared not hold back in front of Senior Hai, so I had to go all out. I hope you won't take offense."

Although he had gained a slight advantage today, he wasn't arrogant.

In fact, if the Calamity of All Gods hadn't caught Hai Bodong off guard, the only way he could have won would be by using his hidden trump card: his spiritual power.

Moreover, he knew that Hai Bodong hadn't fought with full strength—one of his famed ultimate techniques, the multiple-layered Mysterious Ice Dragon Soars, hadn't even been used.

Still, given Hai Bodong's current condition, whether he could support it with his Dou Qi was another question.

This battle had given Chen Guan a clearer understanding of his current strength. He could handle ordinary Dou Spirits without much difficulty, but someone like Hai Bodong, with his multitude of tricks, still posed a serious threat.

Compared to these old experts, his own repertoire seemed rather limited.

Fortunately, Chen Guan had a plan for his Dou Technique training during this journey of experience.

"Young man, what's your relationship with the royal family?"

Hai Bodong didn't seem too surprised that he had been recognized. Instead, he asked bluntly.

Old memories resurfaced. He recalled that years ago, someone from the royal family had used a similar Dou Technique, though it was said to be difficult to master and rather impractical due to incomplete forms, so no one had practiced it since.

He had thought it was a pity back then. Now, it seemed someone else shared his taste.

"I grew up in the royal family."

One sentence was enough of an answer.

Ignoring Hai Bodong's suspicious look, Chen Guan signaled for the mayor of Mo City, who had been watching the commotion from a distance, to come over. He presented the royal insignia and handed over a bag of gold coins for compensation, leaving the aftermath in the mayor's hands.

As for how he recognized Hai Bodong's identity?

In a small place like Mo City, Dou Spirits weren't exactly common.

"Senior Hai, let's have a chat."

After handling the aftermath, Chen Guan approached the Ice Emperor, who was still eyeing him suspiciously.

Hai Bodong glanced at the now-ruined shop and didn't refuse. He walked out of the city with the young man.

He was curious to know if the royal family had really produced such a remarkable talent.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it.

The two of them climbed a small hill outside the city, finally finding a quiet place to talk.

"I forgot to introduce myself earlier. My name is Chen Guan."

"Did you come specifically for me?"

Though posed as a question, the certainty in his tone suggested he already knew the answer.

"For the most part, yes."

"It seems the royal family has done quite well in my absence."

Hai Bodong filled in the blanks himself, assuming the young man had learned of his whereabouts through royal channels. After all, if even the wealthy Mitel family couldn't find him, but the royal family could, that said something.

Chen Guan wasn't going to explain it all, smiling it off.

"I once obtained a piece of a map—by chance, it was bought from your Mitel family's auction house. You've studied it for over ten years, so you must know it might involve some secret. But without the full map, it's meaningless. Even with two pieces, it's still only half. I'm quite interested in this and want to try collecting the rest."

Hai Bodong had guessed he was after the map fragment.

But he was shocked to learn that the Mitel auction had sold one, inwardly cursing Tengshan for not keeping it.

If only he'd held onto it! With two pieces, they'd have half the map. Who knows, he might even get lucky and find the whole thing!

He briefly entertained the idea but didn't take it seriously, knowing that finding the rest would be harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

If it were that easy, he wouldn't have spent the past two decades staring at an incomplete map.

Now, he leaned more toward trading the map for something more practical.

"I obtained the map by sheer luck and went through a lot of effort for it. But it's too incomplete to make any sense, so I split it in two and put one piece up for sale, hoping to get lucky."

"I don't have much use for it anymore, but you won't get it easily either. Even if you send Jia Xingtian himself, no one can find the other half if I don't want them to."

Hai Bodong wore a confident expression, as if telling the young man that force wouldn't work, and that if he wanted the map, he'd have to offer something worthwhile.

Chen Guan wasn't surprised and asked knowingly.

"So, what does Senior Hai want?"

(End of chapter)

P.S

Advance 25 Chapters are up on my Patreon

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