325: The flawed jade is the king (Sixty-four).

“What are you spacing out for, you Junior? Hurry up and move!”

Seeing Wang Yun still frozen in place, the old man was furious. He grabbed Wang Yun's wrist and dragged him toward the depths of the jungle.

“What are you thinking about? Waiting for that long worm to come back and eat you for a late-night snack?”

The old man's speed was extremely fast, nothing like someone who was severely injured.

He pulled Wang Yun, weaving through the complicated forest, precisely avoiding deadly poisonous miasma and natural traps every time.

Wang Yun did not resist, letting the old man pull him along.

From the moment he first saw the old man, a strange sense of closeness surfaced in his heart.

This feeling was very strange.

He did not want his Saint-Grade cultivation base to create distance between himself and this interesting old man.

“Senior, where are we going?”

Wang Yun asked while running, pretending to be out of breath.

“Shut up! Just follow me and run!”

The old man cursed without looking back, but the direction he was running was consistently away from the core area of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

Clearly, he was leading Wang Yun away from this desperate place.

The two ran wildly, avoiding several waves of Yao Beast patrols, finally stopping inside a hidden cave.

The old man immediately sat down on the ground and began coughing violently, which pulled at his wounds and made him grimace in pain.

He pulled out a black pill from his pocket, tossed it into his mouth without looking, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it. Only then did his complexion improve slightly.

“Speak, Junior.”

The old man caught his breath and glared at Wang Yun irritably.

“You're just a little kid in the Heavenly God Realm. What are you doing running off to this damned place all by yourself? Are you tired of living?”

“Junior... Junior came here to look for a Spirit Medicine.”

Wang Yun scratched his head, putting on a simple and honest facade, and began the story he had already prepared.

“An elder in my Sect was struck by a strange poison, and only the local specialty, the 'Nine Yin Ghost Orchid,' can cure it. Junior heard that this item only grows deep within the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, so... so I dared to come and try my luck.”

“Nine Yin Ghost Orchid?”

Hearing this, the old man frowned even deeper.

“Nonsense! Utter nonsense!”

“The place where that thing grows is surely guarded by a powerful Yin-attribute Great Demon. Forget you, even ordinary Venerables who go there never return!”

“Which bastard elder in your Sect sent you here to die?”

Although the old man's tone was severe, Wang Yun could detect the underlying concern.

“Senior, there's no need to be angry. Didn't Junior just happen to run into you?”

“Kid, you certainly know how to talk.”

The old man snorted, but the anger on his face clearly dissipated quite a bit.

He sighed, leaning against the cave wall, his eyes dim as if recalling past events.

“Back in the day, this old man also ventured into the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains for the sake of a Junior.”

Wang Yun asked, seizing the opportunity:

“May I ask what severe illness your Junior suffered from, Senior?”

“Illness?”

Hearing this, the old man actually laughed proudly, as if forgetting the pain of his injuries.

He puffed out his chest, his face full of pride.

“My grandson has exceptional innate talent! He is a rare genius! How could he possibly get sick!”

“When this old man came in, it was to hunt an Archaic Remnant, take its Precious Blood, and help him temper his Treasured Physique, so that his future path would be more stable.”

When mentioning his grandson, the old man seemed to have endless things to say, but he remained tight-lipped about his grandson's specific Physique, only describing it as "rare throughout the ages."

Wang Yun did not press the matter, just listening quietly.

“What a pity...”

The old man's expression shifted from pride back to gloom and regret.

“It's all because this old man was too impatient back then and mistakenly killed the only son of a Saint-Grade Great Demon, which resulted in the relentless pursuit by that old demon's lineage.”

“And this entrapment lasted for thousands of years...”

He looked at the gray sky outside the cave, his voice filled with longing and self-reproach.

“Thousands of years have passed... I wonder how my grandson is doing now.”

“With his innate talent, he probably no longer needs that little bit of Precious Blood from me. He must have already ascended to the peak of the Five Domains and become an extraordinary Magnate.”

“Alas, I, his grandfather, disappeared without a trace for thousands of years and didn't even leave a single word. He must be very worried...”

Watching the old man's expression, which held both pride and self-reproach, Wang Yun felt a stir in his heart.

The affection between grandfather and grandson was something he had never experienced.

In every life, he had always been alone, traveling by himself.

“Senior, there is no need to blame yourself too much.”

Wang Yun comforted him softly.

“Your grandson is a blessed person protected by Heaven. If he knew that you were trapped in danger for thousands of years because of him, he would surely be proud of you.”

The old man paused upon hearing this, then waved his hand dismissively.

“Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore. It's bad luck.”

He stood up and patted the dust off his clothes.

“We've rested enough here. We need to take advantage of the darkness and leave this area as quickly as possible.”

The two set off again.

Perhaps because of their recent conversation, the relationship between the two had grown closer, and the atmosphere was no longer so tense.

However, good times never last.

Just as they had trekked for several days and finally saw the familiar outline of the mountains at the edge of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains.

An angry Dragon roar exploded behind them once again.

Roar—!

That Quasi-Saint-Grade Demon Dragon, its massive body obscuring the sky and sun, its cold Dragon eyes locked firmly onto them.

Its aura was even more violent than before; it was clearly thoroughly enraged.

“Damn it! We were still caught!”

The old man's expression became solemn.

He shoved Wang Yun behind him and adopted a stance ready to fight to the death.

The Heavenly Venerable Dao Fruit inside him began to fluctuate unstably, clearly showing his determination to die.

“Kid, listen up.”

The old man didn't look back, his voice heavy.

“In a moment, I will burn my Dao Fruit to tear open a path for you to escape. Don't worry about me, just leave. Run as far as you can!”

“You are still young and have limitless prospects. You shouldn't be buried here with this old bone of mine!”

Wang Yun looked at the old man's back, which was not burly but incredibly resolute, and felt a warmth in his heart.

But he was not prepared to let this “temporary grandfather” truly fight to the death.

He felt that this matter was quite interesting.

“Scram, or die.”

A Divine Thought, containing the Supreme will of the Saint-Grade, crossed the distance of space and exploded directly within the Sea of Consciousness of that Quasi-Saint-Grade Demon Dragon.

At the same time, Wang Yun secretly mobilized a trace of the Light of the Epoch from his first generation supreme bone.

That aura of annihilation, capable of erasing everything, was precisely controlled by him, covering only the body of the Demon Dragon.

Roar...?

The Demon Dragon, which was preparing to launch a full-power strike, suddenly froze its massive body.

Its pair of arrogant Dragon eyes instantly filled with terror.

It felt it.

It felt a fear stemming from instinct.

In the face of that aura, its proud Quasi-Saint cultivation base and its indestructible Dragon body seemed so ridiculous, so vulnerable.

It was as if, with just a single thought from the other party, it would be completely wiped away from this world, leaving not a trace behind.

The Demon Dragon's massive body began to tremble violently and uncontrollably.

It didn't even have time to think; the instinct for survival had already seized all its consciousness.

ROAR!!!

A sorrowful cry filled with terror and pleading.

That arrogant Quasi-Saint Demon Dragon, without saying a word, abruptly turned its Dragon head, burned its Essence Blood, and fled wretchedly toward the deepest part of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains at a speed several times faster than when it arrived, never looking back.

Its appearance was as if a natural predator was chasing it.

“...?”

The old man, who was preparing to burn his Dao Fruit and fight to the death, was completely dumbfounded.

He maintained his defensive posture, staring blankly at the Dragon tail disappearing into the horizon, his face full of confusion.

“It... it ran away?”

“Did this old long worm take the wrong medicine today?”

He couldn't figure it out.

But he didn't have time to dwell on it; the relief of surviving the disaster quickly took over.

“Who cares! It's good that it left! This is great!”

The old man let out a long breath, retracted the Dao Fruit he was about to burn, and relaxed completely.

With the crisis resolved, the two finally succeeded in walking out of this desperate place that had trapped the old man for thousands of years.

Standing outside the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains, feeling the long-lost air free of miasma, the old man was filled with emotion.

He turned around, slapped Wang Yun heavily on the shoulder, and laughed heartily.

“Kid, you and I have been through life and death together now!”

“Destiny! What destiny!”

Wang Yun smiled too, without revealing the truth of what just happened.

“Senior, let us part ways here.”

“We shall meet again!”

“Haha, we shall meet again!”