An unknown amount of time passed before Ye Guan finally opened his eyes. 

He felt slightly dizzy as he looked around. 

There was a lake in front of him, and there was a mountain range just behind the lake. A towering flag pole could be seen at the end of the mountain range, and at the end of the flagpole was the flag of the Guanxuan Academy.

It seemed that the flag was the endpoint, and reaching the endpoint was their task.

Nalan Jia next to Ye Guan said, “This place isn’t simple.”

Ye Guan looked at the flag and pondered over flying directly toward the flag. 

However, a shrill, miserable cry interrupted Ye Guan’s train of thought.

Ye Guan and Nalan Jia looked toward where the voice had come from and saw a young man plummeting to the ground. A flying demonic beast seemed to have attacked him. The demonic beast’s physique was like a hawk’s, but it was as huge as a bull. It had two wings that let out bursts of air every time it flapped its wings.

It was an Earth-rank demonic beast. However, the issue was that there wasn’t just one Earth-rank demonic beast but hundreds of them!

Ye Guan and Nalan Jia looked at each other. They shook their heads and smiled. Flying toward the flag wasn’t an option.

Ye Guan was confident that he could shake off the demonic beasts if he were to use his sword, but it was still too early for him to reveal his trump card. 

“I guess we can only walk,” said Ye Guan.

Nalan Jia nodded in agreement.

The pair soon arrived at a riverbank. They were about to jump over to the opposite side, but Ye Guan frowned and pulled Nalan Jia back. 

“Wait!” he exclaimed.

Nalan Jia looked at the grim-looking Ye Guan. The latter pulled her behind him, and the ground in front of them suddenly burst open. Moments later, a black figure rushed toward them. 

The figure was so fast that it was basically invisible to the naked eye.

Bang! 

Ye Guan’s attack was incomparably swift as well, and he managed to hit the black figure, sending it flying away. 

Ye Guan and Nalan Jia finally saw the black figure’s appearance. It was a demonic beast that looked like a mouse. It was covered in tiny wings, and it only had one eye.

Nalan Jia muttered, “It’s a Shadow Mouse! It’s an Earth-rank demonic beast, but it’s even more terrifying than Sky-rank demonic beasts because it’s extremely fast!”

Ye Guan stared intently at the shadow mouse, and the shadow mouse examined him as well. In the end, the shadow mouse turned around, leaving only its afterimage as it disappeared into the distance. 

The shadow mouse left after judging that it was no match for Ye Guan. Demonic beasts weren’t idiots, and they wouldn’t fight others to the death if they could afford to avoid such a battle.

“We really have to be careful….” Ye Guan muttered. He initially thought that he was capable of easily traversing the Endless Demon Domain, but Ye Guan finally realized that his mindset was dangerous. 

Ye Guan would have underestimated the danger of the Endless Demon Domain if he hadn’t realized that his mindset was dangerous. Even lions would use all their might while chasing a rabbit, so what right did he have to hold back? 

Nalan Jia said, “I’m afraid that the demonic beasts here are Earth-rank demonic beasts at the very least.”

Ye Guan agreed and said, “I think there are plenty of Sky-rank demonic beasts here as well.”

The pair stared at each other. 

Ye Guan said, “I wonder where Siao Ge and Sun Xiong are right now.”

“I think we should just explore for now and hope that we’ll stumble upon them.”

Ye Guan nodded, and the pair continued on their journey.

Soon, they entered the mountain range that they saw upon arriving at the Endless Demon Domain. They walked into a dense forest, and Ye Guan frowned. The forest was deathly quiet —it was so quiet that there was definitely something wrong with it.

Ye Guan stopped in his tracks and looked around. A thirty-meter-long green snake suddenly lunged toward him from above, but it abruptly stopped before reaching Ye Guan. A strand of sword energy pierced its head before it could get close enough.

Rustle!

The dense forest abruptly got noisy. Nalan Jia looked around and saw green snakes everywhere.

Ye Guan muttered, “I think we entered a snake forest…” 

The snakes slithered toward them while hissing menacingly.

Nalan Jia leaned on Ye Guan. 

Ye Guan turned to look at her and saw her pallid look. He blinked once and asked, “You’re scared of snakes?”

Nalan Jia nodded in response. 

Ye Guan held her hand tightly and reassured her. “It’ll be fine!”

With that, Ye Guan swept his gaze across the countless snakes and saw a dark purple snake amidst the green snakes. The dark purple snake realized that Ye Guan was staring at it, so it let out a strange hiss. 

Moments later, the slithering snakes flew toward Ye Guan and Nalan Jia.

Ye Guan snapped a tree branch from the nearest tree, and a whistling sound echoed as the tree branch flew toward the dark purple snake’s head.

The dark purple snake hurriedly opened its mouth and shouted, “Stop!”

Ye Guan was taken aback. 

It knows how to speak the human language? Could it be that it’s a snake king?

The Snake King glared at Ye Guan and said, “The two of you can pass!”

The Snake King was aware that the human was being merciful. After all, the tree branch that the human had thrown toward it was capable of decapitating it.

The snakes around Ye Guan and Nalan Jia slithered away. 

Ye Guan made a sidelong glance at the Snake King before turning around to leave.

However, Ye Guan seemed to have recalled something. He stopped in his tracks and asked, “Are there any dangerous places up ahead?”

The Snake King wordlessly stared at him.

Ye Guan flipped his palm over, and a storage ring floated toward the Snake King. There were a thousand gold spiritual crystals in the storage ring. 

The Snake King examined the storage ring and said, “Give me another one thousand gold spiritual crystals, and I’ll let my subordinate guide you through this forest on a safe path.”

Ye Guan was silent for a few moments before asking, “Are you really trying to bargain with me?”

The Snake King calmly replied, “I would have defeated you if I were strong enough to do so. Unfortunately, I’m not strong enough, so I decided to just earn some money. What? Is there something wrong with that?”

Ye Guan shook his head and said, “No.”

It seemed that he truly couldn’t think that demonic beasts were dumb just because they were beasts. Ye Guan decided to give another storage ring to the Snake King, and a tiny snake flew toward Ye Guan and Nalan Jia.

The Snake King instructed. “Follow that snake.”

Ye Guan nodded.

They followed the tiny snake deep into the forest. They managed to successfully avoid the territories of many demonic beasts, which saved them a lot of trouble.

Demonic beasts were territorial creatures, and trespassing on their territory meant that one was challenging them. The tiny snake guided them faithfully on a safe path.

Soon, the three arrived in front of a canyon. The canyon was between two majestic mountains that were thousands of meters tall.

The tiny snake came to a halt. 

The pair turned to look at the tiny snake, and it explained, “The territory up ahead belongs to the black bears. They have always been our archenemies, and they’re definitely going to attack you if they catch a whiff of my scent with you. You’ll have to continue down the canyon on your own.”

Ye Guan nodded slightly. 

He flipped his palm over, and a storage ring floated toward the tiny snake. 

“Thank you,” said Ye Guan.

The tiny snake examined the storage ring and saw that there were a hundred gold spiritual crystals inside of it. It blinked and said, “The Bear King was once a student of the Guanxuan Academy, and it is a huge fan of human decorum. Perhaps it won’t give you a hard time if you’re respectful enough.”

Ye Guan smiled and thanked the tiny snake once more. 

The tiny snake thanked him for the tip. It put the storage ring away before leaving. 

Ye Guan and Nalan Jia looked at each other. They shook their heads and smiled. 

“I suddenly feel like snakes aren’t that scary anymore!” said Nalan Jia.

Ye Guan laughed. “Indeed!”

The pair soon entered the Black Bears’ territory. 

Nalan Jia muttered, “The harmonious relationship between the demon race and mankind is all thanks to the Sword Master. He unified the entire universe during his era, and he restored peace before establishing a new order. If it hadn’t been for him, I wonder just how chaotic our world would have been.”

Ye Guan nodded slightly. He had learned a lot about the Sword Master since he enrolled at the Guanxuan Academy, and he also learned that the Sword Master was indeed the reason why mankind could live in harmony with the other clans.

The Sword Master had unified all hundred clans under the same banner by himself! The clans had to follow the Guanxuan Law. Conflicts could never be avoided, so there were still some skirmishes between clan leaders. 

However, a large-scale war had never happened since the Sword Master united the clans.

Ye Guan seemed to have thought of something, and he decided to ask, “Master Pagoda, are you familiar with the Sword Master? I mean, are you acquainted with him?”

Little Pagoda replied, “Yes.”  

Ye Guan was thrilled. “Master Pagoda, you must have been extremely strong when you were in your prime! I didn’t expect that you'd be acquainted with the Sword Master…”

Little Pagoda was rendered speechless. 

However, Ye Guan wasn’t done just yet as he asked, “Master Pagoda, may I ask why you told me not to take him as my role model?”

Little Pagoda replied, “I didn’t mean it that way. I was trying to say that you should take it slow. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, do you understand?”

Ye Guan nodded, “I understand!”

Rumble!

The ground suddenly trembled, and a massive black bear appeared in front of Ye Guan and Nalan Jia. The black bear was so huge that it seemed bigger than three bulls combined. It was giving off an imposing aura as it stood in front of the pair.

It was a Sky-rank demonic beast! 

Ye Guan’s expression turned grim upon realizing that there were hundreds of black bears—hundreds! A few black bears weren’t Sky-rank black bears, but there was no way Ye Guan could handle them all at once. 

However, demonic beasts always travel in groups, so it wasn’t really strange that hundreds of black bears had emerged to stand in front of them.

Ye Guan erased his unnecessary thoughts and bowed toward the biggest black bear.

“We have mistakenly trespassed on your precious land. Please forgive us, Bear King,” said Ye Guan.

A black bear next to the Bear King roared at Ye Guan. “Humans…!”

The Bear King turned around and slapped the black bear. 

Pa! 

The black bear flew away, rendering the other black bears speechless.

The Bear King coldly scolded, “What are you yelling for? Haven’t I taught all of you before? Have some manners—have some manners!”

Afterward, the Bear King turned to look at Ye Guan.

It bowed slightly and said, “Young Lord, we’re pleased to have you here in our humble abode.”

Ye Guan was rendered speechless, while Nalan Jia’s shoulders trembled ever so slightly as she stopped herself from laughing.

Ye Guan smiled slightly and said, “I’ve heard that the Bear King is well-read and well-mannered, and it seems that the rumors are true!”

The Bear King blinked and asked, “The people outside… they know me?”

Ye Guan nodded. “Yes!”

The Bear King boisterously laughed and said, “They speak too highly of me!”

Ye Guan took out an ancient book and extended it over to the Bear King. 

“Bear King, this book belongs to the Guanxuan Academy. It’s not a book on martial arts, but the Sword Master himself wrote the contents of this book. 

“I learned a lot from it, and I have decided to give this book to you because it seems that we have quite an affinity with each other,” said Ye Guan.

The Bear King hurriedly accepted the ancient book and said, “Humans—Ah, Young Lord, you’re too kind!”

It took out a Sky-Grade demonic beast internal pill and extended it over to Ye Guan before saying, “A kind gesture must be returned. Please accept this Sky-grade demonic beast internal pill from me.”

Ye Guan and the black bears were rendered speechless.