The sky was clear and bright. There were also gentle and pleasant breezes.

A silver stream of light shuttled between the layers of cloud. When one took a closer look, one could see that the light was a silver flying carpet, which was of a unique color.

2 figures—an elder and a young man—were seen sitting on the flying carpet. The young man was fair-skinned and good-looking, but he gave off a feeling that he was matured and steady. As for the elder, it had the face of a macaque, and it carried a powerful aura, but it was concealed. Even so, it was enough to twist the air around it. The 2 figures were Ou Yangming, who was on his way to join the Big Smithing Competition, and the old macaque, which was escorting him, from the Beast King Sect.

When Ou Yangming looked down at the mountain river below, he was greeted by lush plants and flowing spring waters—all in all, a beautiful and leisure scene, which was quiet yet graceful. A clear breeze blew while the clear stream between the mountains extended from a mountaintop to the foot of the mountain. It appeared as if grasses were bending over as they kept swaying their heads with a special charm, and they went up and down without an end.

At the periphery of the mountains, a huge river extended across 5,000 kilometers.

"Tianlan River!" Ou Yangming was deeply moved as he watched the winding Tianlan River flowing fast and slow.

He had read many literature and ancient records in the Beast King Sect's library, hence he knew very well that the river was not as simple as one could imagine.

The mountains undulated without an end but slowly looked scattered.

At one point, the old macaque glanced at a towering mountain in front of it. The mountain was over 3 kilometers tall, and it was covered in a thick layer of snow from the hillside to the top. The stranger part was how the mountaintop was smooth and flat without uneven spots, making it look like a mirror.

The old macaque beamed, and its wrinkles squeezed together as though they could squeeze a fly to its death. It introduced the mountain to Ou Yangming, "This mountain's known as Mount Yijian. Legend has it that a senior master cut off the peak with a sword, and the sword Qi remained for a millennium and even rose into the sky."

Ou Yangming looked envious. He was a caster with mental power that was great beyond one's imagination, thus he could easily multitask.

While controlling the flying carpet, he asked curiously, "Elder Macaque, are you able to do that?"

The old macaque's skin became as loose as dead tree bark.

It lifted its right arm and pointed at the mountain with a missing section as it responded with a smile, "A Venerable One at the peak has overcome the Thunderbolts Disaster, where one's organs would've been tempered to be extremely strong, allowing one to fly and also borrow the universe's power. Having said that, there's a limit to how overbearing everyone's body can be. At a certain limit, one wouldn't be able to take it anymore, so it's already notable for a Venerable One at the peak to chop off a roughly 66-meters-tall mountaintop. As for me, I can chop off a mountaintop that's about 33-meters tall! But even the finest part of this mountain here extends over 300 meters, so I'm afraid that nobody in the Spiritual Realm can split it." The old macaque later turned its wrist and retrieved a light green wine pot, which was clearly unordinary.

Ou Yangming gave the old macaque a thumbs-up and praised it sincerely, "33 meters can also be considered a remarkable capability!"

The old macaque was delighted, but it still scolded the young fellow while laughing, "Young fella, you're trying to gross me out, aren't you? Back then, I would've beaten you up already. Hehe, you can choose not to accept anything, but you must give in to old age. I wonder how long I can go on with this old body…" It eventually spoke softly. It was not that it was afraid of death, but it wanted to hold on longer for the Beast King Sect.

When the old macaque took another mouthful of its drink, it somehow felt that it tasted more bitter than usual.

'This is probably too strong, isn't it?' The old macaque wondered. It pursed its lips and swallowed another mouthful of its drink, then it spread out its finger and sighed. "I've gone to many places in my life, and I've almost visited every place in the Spiritual Realm, so I've encountered all sorts of things. Nevertheless, the life of a macaque can simply be concluded with the words—being muddled, gaining knowledge, meeting someone, choosing a city, spending the last years… Among those, other than meeting someone, I've done well in the other aspects. Besides, it's not that I didn't meet anyone, but the time and place weren't right. Now that I think back on it, I feel rather regretful."

Ou Yangming nodded in agreement. "The order of the people that a human meets in his or her life is really important."

"God is cunning and likes to play tricks on people. He always places the best person at a time when one doesn't know what one's doing, and missing that person means that one will miss that person forever." The old macaque suddenly shifted its butt and exclaimed, "I didn't think that you'd understand this too, Master Ou."

Ou Yangming smiled embarrassedly and shrunk his neck.

The old macaque finished its pot of drink after 15 minutes. It asked solemnly, "Master Ou, are you confident about representing Danzhou in the battle this time?"

As soon as the macaque brought up equipment smithing, Ou Yangming became highly-spirited. He controlled the flying carpet to make a turn while he answered softly, "Of course—equipment smithing's my expertise."

The flying carpet flew further, and it was almost evening time. All of a sudden, a light red screen flickered.

It was worth noting that even the sunset was blocked by the light red screen. As a result, the mountains seemed desolate and deep, making one feel cold.

"This is odd—what's this red light screen?" The old macaque was confused, but it was not concerned.

The light eventually dimmed as if it was being absorbed by an unknown substance. Without warning, white mists surged from over 3 kilometers away. They darkened bit by bit and finally became as red as blood.

An intense life-or-death crisis appeared in Ou Yangming's mind. He communicated with the universe's spiritual power without any hesitation and enveloped the flying carpet with his mental power to escape backward. The young fellow was as fast as a Spiritualist in the late stage, but he was as slow as a snail as compared to the red mists that were approaching them.

The old macaque's face darkened. Its Qi movement became vigorous as it was ready to attack at any time.

'Could it be Blood Shadow again?' The old macaque wondered. Its forceful momentum burst out and covered everything at the perimeter. As it flashed, it jumped up from the flying carpet and shouted, "Master Ou, leave first while I hold him back!"

Ou Yangming's face changed, then he cupped his hands and uttered, "Elder Macaque, be careful!"

The old macaque accepted his salutation. An imposing look could be seen in its eyes as it expressed proudly, "Hmph, unless 4 Venerable Ones show up at the same time, they can forget about killing me!"

Ou Yangming wanted to say something but was hesitant. Without further ado, he sat on the flying carpet and escaped toward the mountains below.

"Disperse!" As the old macaque roared, it lifted its right hand and pushed it downward. The red mists boiled instantly as though they were being stirred by an invisible giant bamboo stick. With that, they formed a red vortex and quickly dispersed.

"Get lost…"

Just as the red mists were going to fully disperse, a scoff was heard coming from them. One could not tell the age of the person that spoke, but the sound was filled with strong killing intent and gave off an evil feeling.

An invisible soundwave spread and stirred up a gale, which immediately disintegrated the red vortex that was formed by the old macaque.

Concurrently, a white-robed man stepped out from the mists. Following his step, the old macaque's vision went blurry, and its head felt heavy as if the sky around it had just shaken. Furthermore, 2 clear stains of blood could be seen beside its mouth, and they were sparkling under the setting sun.

The man glanced at Ou Yangming, who was fleeing, and did not bother about the old macaque anymore. He scorned and asked, "Trying to get away? But can you?"

He later turned to look at the old macaque again and lifted his right hand, revealing his dry and pitch-black arm in the air.

"Surging Clouds Palm!" He grunted.

At the spur of the moment, the mists within 3 kilometers from him surged and reversed to gather into a black palm with clear veined patterns on the fingers. The palm seemed to have reached out from a deep and dark gap, and its killing intent was earth-shattering. Subsequently, a monumental pressure crushed down, and the black light from the palm seemed to be able to erose even the afterglow.

The man pushed his right hand forward, causing the black palm to charge toward the old macaque.

Appalled, the old macaque had a bitter look on its face. "A top-grade Venerable One?" Despite that, it did not retreat at all as it wanted to buy time for Ou Yangming, or the consequence would be unbearable. The macaque tapped its interspatial bag with its right hand, then a white light flashed before a war hammer could be seen in its hand. The weapon was about 3 meters long, and it was incredibly sharp. At this point, an immense fighting spirit burst out from its old body.

"Die!" The old macaque roared in a muffled voice, and the black surface of its war hammer shone.

Runes that looked like tadpoles lit up as the old macaque hit its hammer at the black palm, resulting in a deafening sound spreading down from the sky. When the airflow that followed struck, countless spirit beasts were killed, whereas a crack appeared on the black palm. The crack elongated with the wind, but the palm went back to normal after some time and hit the macaque's chest. A thunderous power attacked the macaque and caused it to spit out essence and blood.

"Crack, crack…"

A muffled sound was heard coming from the old macaque's body as its rib cage was crushed. An indescribable pain reached its head at that time.

The old macaque lost its complexion, then it staggered and fell from mid-air!

Li Xin scoffed coldly. "You don't know your place!"

He quickly pursued Ou Yangming but after flying for a distance, he suddenly turned and stated coldly, "Blood Shadow, you better not think about playing any tricks. If I could save you, I can kill you too!" As he smirked, a devouring power was released from his hand. Although it was very messy and far from that mastered by the giant head, it was a devouring power indeed.

A resentful look could be seen deep inside Blood Shadow's eyes, but he hid it very well.

Beggars could not be choosers. As such, he could only stay with Li Xin and pursue Ou Yangming like 2 red horses.

"Boom…"

On a hill, dust flew as the old macaque formed a big hole on the ground. Its clothes were ragged.

By using all its might, it crushed a yellow rune paper, then a yellow paper crane flew out.

A look of delight could be seen on the old macaque's pale face. It spoke in a hoarse and dry voice, "10,000 Beasts, Kurong, Yuqi, Blood Shadow and a white-robed man attacked us halfway. After taking me down, they're now pursuing Master Ou. Quickly come, quickly come." As soon as it finished, it spat out its essence and blood again. The paper crane seemed to have come to life and was filled with a spiritual aura. It chirped softly and flapped its wings before it disappeared from the macaque's sight.

"Hopefully, it won't be too late," the old macaque mumbled. Right after that, its dantian dried up, and its mental power was depleted. Since it could not hold on any longer, it passed out on the spot.

In the sky, Li Xin was pursuing in front while Blood Shadow was behind. They caught up to Ou Yangming very quickly.

The white-clothed Li Xin looked at Ou Yangming from afar and sneered. "Ou Yangming, you can't get away. Turn yourself in now, and you'll suffer less."

Ou Yangming was not tempted by his words at all. Instead, he sped up and kept a straight face though he was feeling anxious.

The young fellow enveloped his flying carpet with his mental power to zoom toward the forest below. This was because he knew very well it would be wishful thinking if he wanted to escape from a Venerable One in the sky. He would only stumble on a silver lining if he entered the mountains and utilized the complicated terrain.