Ch. 224 - Once Treading Mountains & Rivers In Wind & Snow

The space gate opened, and the two figures moved through the endless void.

Before Xu Zimo, everything was a blur of nothingness. He felt as though his body was suspended in a vacuum.

As a cultivator at the Imperial Meridian realm, he too possessed the ability to tear through space.

But his power only allowed for short-range movement, it couldn’t span long distances.

“Master, where are we going now?” Paimon asked from the side.

“To Maple Leaf City. Yao Shengnan and Little Gui are there,” Xu Zimo replied.

Just as he finished speaking, a loud boom sounded. The space in front of them seemed ready to explode.

A powerful force was condensing in the void above them.

“Someone is interfering with our spatial transmission,” Paimon frowned. “The enemy is hiding in the void, I can’t locate them yet.”

As the force grew stronger, the surrounding space was forcibly compressed. Chaotic spatial currents spread in all directions.

These currents were like sharp blades, forming a dense web that enveloped the void.

“Master, we’d better get out of here first,” Paimon suggested.

Xu Zimo nodded. With a wave of his hand, demonic energy surged across the air.

All the spatial turbulence was wiped out. The space before them was torn open again, and the two stepped out.

Xu Zimo looked around with a slight frown. The ambush he expected didn’t happen, the surroundings were eerily quiet.

“They’re gone,” Paimon said. “There were at least five Immortal Path cultivators attacking just now.”

“Ordinary imperial lineages don’t have that kind of power,” Xu Zimo muttered, deep in thought.

Of all the forces he had encountered, only two had the strength and reason to do something like this.

“Dark Primordial Race and the Divine Gate.”

The Dark Primordial Race didn’t need much explanation, they were rulers of the Primordial Era. Though they had suffered a great upheaval, they still had deep reserves.

As for the Divine Gate, they were even more mysterious. They controlled the Forbidden Ground of the Elden Lands, which was also a realm of immense treasures.

After tens of thousands of years of development, their current strength was largely unknown to the outside world.

Xu Zimo scanned the surroundings. They were in a forest. Bare, desolate trees stood quietly over the frozen ground.

A cold wind blew through. After a heavy snowfall, everything in sight was blanketed in white.

In the distance, a wisp of smoke curled from a village nestled at the edge of the snowy expanse.

Paimon hid in the void while Xu Zimo walked toward the village, hoping to figure out where they were.

…

Hidden World Village, so read the black stone stele at the village entrance. Xu Zimo looked at the inscription with interest:

"Once treading mountains and rivers in wind and snow, life is but a dream."

As he walked into the village, Xu Zimo was surprised by what he saw.

The village wasn’t large, just a few dozen houses, but the scene within was extraordinary.

Above the rooftops floated a suspended river, crystal clear. Whenever a villager needed water, the river would release it as if it were sentient.

Every household had spirit fruits and mystical herbs growing out front.

Some of them were rare Star-tier spiritual medicines.

In the outside world, these would be incredibly valuable.

But here, they grew like common weeds, everywhere and in abundance.

Even the falling snow couldn’t penetrate the village. Inside, it was perpetually spring. Flowers and trees flourished.

Just then, a burly man carrying a hoe, apparently just back from the fields, walked up to Xu Zimo.

“Who are you?” the man asked warily.

“I got lost. I don’t know where this is,” Xu Zimo answered with a smile.

He could feel the unusual nature of the village, this clearly wasn’t a place for ordinary people.

“Lost?” the man chuckled coldly. Spiritforce surged from his body as he launched a palm strike at Xu Zimo.

All seven of his meridian gates burst open, he was an Empyrean Meridian realm cultivator.

Xu Zimo frowned and returned the strike with a punch.

Boom! Both men staggered back several steps.

“Imperial Meridian realm?” the burly man looked up, surprised.

There was a whole major realm between them, and yet they were evenly matched.

Xu Zimo snorted, and the Power of Creation spread around him. He drew the Shadow Tyrant, and the roar of the Shadow Dragon echoed with the sound of the blade leaving its sheath.

Tempered by the Power of Creation, the Shadow Tyrant had evolved once more.

The dragon’s roar and the blade’s aura spread through the air, it was Xu Zimo’s first real fight since stepping into the Imperial Meridian realm.

The man’s fists glowed with green spiritforce, transforming into the illusion of a green serpent. Cracks appeared in the space around them.

Their clash triggered another deafening boom, and shockwaves blasted out in all directions.

"Is that all you've got?" Xu Zimo raised his Shadow Tyrant and unleashed the Nineteen Forms of Dao-Seeking.

The blade techniques were unpredictable, ferocious and powerful, and they pushed the Empyrean Meridian man back.

As the fight dragged on, the man looked increasingly disheveled, his hair in tangles, his robe torn in many places.

But Xu Zimo knew that despite gaining the upper hand, he hadn’t landed any truly fatal blows to that man.

“All right, maybe we can talk now,” the man said, catching his breath.

“What’s there to talk about?” Xu Zimo asked coldly, not stopping his attacks.

“You just want to stay in Hidden World Village, don’t you?” the man said.

“No. You’ve got it wrong. I’m really just lost.”

In the sky, the Shadow Dragon’s phantom appeared again. Thunder and flame swirled around it.

As Xu Zimo slashed down, the dragon’s eyes, once closed, suddenly opened.

A vast dragon might filled the air.

With a thunderous roar, the Shadow Dragon broke through layers of space, charging toward the burly man.

Seeing this overwhelming power, several figures suddenly appeared not far from the battlefield.

There were four of them: one tall, one short, a woman, and an old man.

“Well damn, Snake Monarch’s actually getting beaten by an Imperial Meridian cultivator. What a disgrace,” the short one jeered gleefully.

“You wouldn’t do any better,” the tall one replied calmly.

“This little guy looks delicious,” the woman said seductively, licking her lips. “Should we go help?”

“No need. The Snake Monarch isn’t that weak,” the old man said, shaking his head as he watched the battle intently.

“You think I’m afraid of you?” the burly man roared as the Shadow Dragon came crashing down, releasing waves of boundless spiritforce.

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