After the Xuan-Wind Martial Monarch left, inside the mountain...

Qin Nan and Princess Miao Miao both halted in their tracks as they sensed something. They looked at each other in the eyes. A few moments later, they both burst out laughing as the nervous atmosphere dissipated.

"Phew, this Xuan-Wind Martial Monarch is so fierce. He almost got me."

Princess Miao Miao reached out her jade-white hand and patted lightly on her chest.

"He"s strong indeed."

Qin Nan nodded.

He could still fight as he had yet to use the mysterious golden seal andPrincess Miao Miao had not used her strongest trump card. They could have escaped without relying on the mountain, but he had to admit that the Xuan-Wind Martial Monarch"s strength had surpa.s.sed his expectations.

Initially, Qin Nan had thought those who had inherited the Monarch Horoscopes were only mock Martial Monarchs, thus their strength would not be too outstanding.

However, Qin Nan had experienced first hand that these mock Martial Monarchs also possessed monarch force, which easily outmatched the Martial Progenitor Realm cultivators.

"I have the copper mirror defending my Divine Sense, the Divine Battle Spirit defending my soul, and the left arm of the Divine G.o.d of Battle defending me from attacks. My defense is considered outstanding, but my attacks are still too weak. I might be able to injure a first-layer Martial Monarch, but definitely not a second-layer Martial Monarch..."

Qin Nan mumbled.

With his current strength, in order to fight against a second-layer Martial Monarch, he would have to improve his firepower.

On a side note, if his thoughts were to be made known to the half-G.o.d region, it would provoke the cultivators to curse at him.

Being able to escape from a second-layer Martial Monarch was already considered unbelievable.

And now Qin Nan was thinking of fighting against a second-layer Martial Monarch with his cultivation of the Martial Progenitor Realm.

Across the entire Canglan Continent, among the countless geniuses and experts—even the three geniuses who had surpa.s.sed the rules of cultivation—none of them would be able to do it.

The difference between the Martial Monarch Realm and the Martial Progenitor Realm was like the distance between the Heavens and the Earth. It was on a completely different level.

"Qin Nan-Nan, this mountain seems quite mysterious, and it did help us escape. Why don"t we investigate deeper?" Princess Miao Miao said with a playful look.

"Mm."

Qin Nan nodded.

Since they had no clue where they should search for the Heavenly Arcana Sacred Fruits next, it would not hurt to search this mountain first.

The two flew deeper into the mountain.

As they ventured deeper, even Qin Nan was astounded by the sights along the way.

Princess Miao Miao had discovered quite a number of valuable spoils along the journey.

If they were able to find pieces of treasure before reaching the deeper region, what would it be like as they proceeded deeper into it?

Suddenly, Qin Nan came to a stop as his eyes were filled with astonishment.

The reason was that he had noticed a beam of light being emitted from the ring on his hand.

The strength of the glow was completely different from the one produced when he had discovered the map. It was thicker and more solid.

"What is it?" Princess Miao Miao asked.

"Gasp..." Qin Nan took a deep breath and said, "There"s a piece of the Canglan Tree that I"m looking for deep inside the mountain."

Qin Nan could no longer maintain his calm. His eyes became fiery as his heart began to race.

He had come to the Ancient Battleground for the Heavenly Arcana Sacred Fruits. He never thought that he would find a piece of the Canglan Tree here.

However, he had stumbled into it coincidentally.

"A piece of the Canglan Tree?"

Princess Miao Miao was startled hearing this.

As the successor of the Lost Herb Garden, she was rather familiar with the Canglan Tree.

As a matter of fact, the Lost Herb Garden had been closely related to the Canglan Tree a very long time ago.

"Tsk tsk, how do you know there"s a piece of the Canglan Tree here? Is it because of the ring?"

A voice could be heard coming from the woods ahead.

"Who"s there?"

Qin Nan and Princess Miao Miao were taken by surprise.

Being able to hide inside the woods without them detecting was enough to imply that the person was quite extraordinary.

"Qin Nan, we meet again."

Following a whoosh, a figure slowly appeared.

The person was a young man with a pair of amorous eyes that were glistening and able to unsettle one"s heart. His face was extremely pale like white jade. He was wearing a blue robe, granting him a rather handsome appearance.

"Could you be...the Ugly Crow Daoist?"

Qin Nan took a closer look and was astounded.

The person before him had the same aura as the Ugly Crow Daoist from before.

However, wasn"t the Ugly Crow Daoist a woman? Since when did she become a man?

"Stop looking at me like that. The name is w.a.n.g Zhao, a pure man. People call me Young Master w.a.n.g, but you can call me Mister w.a.n.g too!"

Green veins surfaced on w.a.n.g Zhao"s forehead.

Qin Nan"s gaze immediately forced him to recall the nightmare he had gone through.

Five days ago, prior to the opening of the Ancient Battleground, w.a.n.g Zhao had learned of a secret method to enter the Ancient Battleground earlier. However, he was stopped by the Ugly Crow Daoist. In his anger, he had ended up killing the Ugly Crow Daoist.

To his surprise, it turned out that the Ugly Crow Daoist had been turned into the envoy of the Ancient Battleground by some authority in the past, forcing him to distribute a hundred pieces of map every fifty years and let the cultivators compete for them.

Due to the Ugly Crow Daoist"s death, the role of the envoy was left empty. It triggered the mysterious force left by the authority, which knocked w.a.n.g Zhao into the Ugly Crow Daoist"s body and somehow turned him into a glamorous woman, forcing him to distribute the maps.

As for the promise of spending a night together, w.a.n.g Zhao had said it on purpose to play a trick on the cultivators since he was feeling extremely sullen.

"Mm, something"s strange about this guy, he"s not human..."

Princess Miao Miao mumbled.

"You"re not human, your whole family isn"t human!" w.a.n.g Zhao pulled a long face. As a sudden thought crossed his mind, he took a deep breath before speaking in a cold tone, "I will not waste any further time. I"m the successor of the Canglan Tree, w.a.n.g Zhao! Qin Nan, hand over the pieces of the Canglan Tree you have and the treasure you"ve found in the Lower Arcana!"

w.a.n.g Zhao had also given Qin Nan that ancient map on purpose.

It had been used to probe him. On top of that, he had also given him the real map so he would secure the treasure on his behalf. He would then rob him of everything together.

Qin Nan"s eyes flickered upon hearing this.

The Spirit of the Canglan Tree had mentioned about his successor before, but he did not expect to stumble into him so soon.

His explanation helped Qin Nan to resolve all the doubts in his mind.

"Yo, so you"re trying to rob us?"

Princess Miao Miao"s lips curled upward into an attractive smile.

Even though this guy was so ugly, he did have some courage.

"Hehe, don"t you think of seducing me. I"ve hated women the most in my life! Qin Nan, I"m telling you, the others might be afraid of your seven Martial Trees, but I, w.a.n.g Zhao, am the successor of the Canglan Tree. I"ve got plenty of forbidden arts. I can easily kill——F**k me!"

w.a.n.g Zhao had begun to threaten them in an imposing manner. However, before he could finish, his expression changed tremendously as he let out a curse.

A strong gust suddenly swept in his direction and slammed right into his body.

The gust was none other than the Wind G.o.d"s Spirit that the Xuan-Wind Martial Monarch had sent after Qin Nan and Princess Miao Miao.

The Wind G.o.d"s Spirit was supposed to arrive earlier and attack Qin Nan. However, due to the strange force of the mountain, it was greatly affected.

Somehow it had ended up attacking w.a.n.g Zhao.