Xiang Shaoyun left the Dragon Phoenix Academy with Shou Xie and company. News of his departure quickly spread to a few core disciples of the academy. Shortly after, a considerable number of people set off after Xiang Shaoyun's group. Of course, Xiang Shaoyun and company were still unaware of it and were traveling east.

The academy was located within the Dragon Phoenix Mountain Range, surrounded on all sides by mountains. According to legend, the Dragon Phoenix Mountain Range was once home to dragons and phoenixes. Not many people knew if the legends were true.

A large number of natural treasures could be found within the mountain range, as well as many different veins of ore. One could say the Dragon Phoenix Mountain Range was a natural land of treasures. Of course, it also contained numerous dangers. After all, this was demon territory, and numerous breeds of demons filled the mountain range.

In fact, that was obvious from what the disciples encountered during the first round of their entrance test. Exploring the mountain range without sufficient strength would cause one to pay with one's life.

There were 15 people in Xiang Shaoyun's party. Apart from Xiang Shaoyun, Tang Longfei, Lady Shura, and Ning Wenhuang, the others were the followers of Shou Xie, Yang Gang, and Zhong Xia, and some other disciples the three had invited.

Among them, one of them was ranked higher than Xiang Shaoyun on the strength rankings. He was Li Haonan, taking 893rd place on the Jiao Luan List. He was a friend of Zhong Xia, and they had invited him quite a while ago to work together during the mission. After all, traversing the Dragon Phoenix Mountain Range was extremely dangerous. Without an expert or two with them, they would have a hard time completing the mission.

Shou Xie, Yan Gang, and Zhong Xia had not reached the Dragon Ascension Realm. Even though they had Dragon Ascension Realm followers, the combat prowess of their followers was still incomparable to the geniuses on the Jiao Luan List. That was the main reason they had invited Li Haonan.

Li Haonan was a second-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator who cultivated the rare water and wood powers. He was against Xiang Shaoyun's group joining them. After all, even if they knew the rough location of the dragon liquid, it was still unknown how much dragon liquid they could find. The bigger the group, the more people they had to share the harvest with, which was something he did not wish to see.

But since Shou Xie was the leader of the expedition and the only person who knew the location of the dragon liquid, Li Haonan had no choice but to suppress his dissatisfaction. One should not look down on Shou Xie just because he wasn't very strong. He had three tamed Demon Emperors by his side, and that made him a person to be feared.

Xiang Shaoyun could sense the traces of hostility Li Haonan was showing him, but he wasn't bothered about it, even if Li Haonan was a second-stage Dragon Ascension Realm cultivator. He only hoped that he would not create any trouble for him. Otherwise, he wouldn't mind teaching Li Haonan a lesson.

Shou Xie had invited Xiang Shaoyun because he was aware of Xiang Shaoyun's freakish combat prowess. He knew more than others, as back then, he had personally witnessed Xiang Shaoyun slaughter a third-stage Demon Emperor with a cultivation level of fourth-stage Skysoar Realm. He still remembered everything as if it had happened the day before.

The other battles Xiang Shaoyun had gone through also proved that he had an unfathomable combat prowess. The strength Xiang Shaoyun had displayed on the ring was only half of his real strength. Shou Xie knew that very well. Thus, he planned to properly latch on to Xiang Shaoyun since it would benefit him.

This time, Xiang Shaoyun had Money remain outside the astral cosmos sea. He did not wish to see Money lose his combat awareness, becoming a snake that only knew how to grow his cultivation level but not fight. Money needed to recover some of his bestial nature, which would be beneficial for his future growth.

Soon, after traveling a distance from the academy, the group started encountering the attacks of demonic beasts. Fortunately, they were able to easily deal with the demonic beasts of this level and did not suffer much damage.

With one of Shou Xie's Demon Emperors leading the way, the group continued deeper into the mountain range. The Demon Emperor was actually a mouse, one with a treasure hunting ability. It possessed a partial bloodline of the bejeweled treasure mouse, known as the treasure seeking mouse.

If it was an actual bejeweled treasure mouse instead, it would be a very big deal. The bejeweled treasure mouse was an extraordinary breed of mice, capable of seeking treasures in addition to some other inconceivable abilities. This treasure seeking mouse had inherited the treasure seeking ability of the bejeweled treasure mice and was also a considerably rare breed of mice.

This mouse was why Shou Xie knew the rough location of the dragon liquid. But since the dangers at the location were too much for him to handle, he had no choice but to share the possible harvest with others.

After a while of traveling, Xiang Shaoyun suddenly had a bad premonition, one that originated from a different source of danger, not from the beasts inhabiting the mountain range. He immediately spread the senses of his Nether Soul Domain to scan his surroundings.

Soon, he found that two groups of people were tailing them from two different directions. Both of them were groups of considerable strength as well. In fact, they possessed a strength beyond what mere disciples of the academy should possess.

Among them were peak Emperors and even a Sovereign. Xiang Shaoyun was astonished to learn that someone of that strength was actually tailing his group. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that they were there to protect them secretly. And he was also sure that they were not there for Shou Xie and the others. Thus, it was more believable that they were there for him.

Apart from Di Lin and Huo Xudong, I can't think of anyone who hates me more than them in the academy. They had definitely sent these people after me. They are probably afraid of making a move here because we are still not too far from the academy and they don't want to attract the attention of the elders. When we travel farther away, they will definitely attack. The nether prison devil puppet won't be able to effectively stop them either. After all, they know me quite well. What should I do? Xiang Shaoyun sank into conflict.

He did not wish to see harm falling onto his companions just because of him. But how was he supposed to tell them about this?

"Young Master Xiang, why have you stopped moving?" Shou Xie asked when he saw Xiang Shaoyun stop.

Xiang Shaoyun hesitated slightly before saying, "Nothing. I have suddenly thought of something urgent I need to deal with, so I might not be able to complete the mission with you guys anymore."

His words astonished Tang Longfei, Shou Xie, and the others. None of them had expected that Xiang Shaoyun would suddenly withdraw from the mission.

"Are you sure, Young master Xiang?" Shou Xie asked.

"My apologies. You guys should move ahead without me," said Xiang Shaoyun apologetically.

"Xiang Shaoyun, are you playing a joke on us?" Li Haonan could no longer hold in his temper.