While in Battle Through the Heavens, one can pre-appoint oneself as an emperor.

Real combat is the only standard for testing strength.

Most people can bully the weak, but only a small group of people can defeat the strong with the weak.

Chen Xiao and Hai Bodong have the same martial arts techniques.

However, the latter's level of skill, the number of combat techniques he knows, his combat experience, and even his physical qualities are all far superior.

This means that in today's sparring match, Chen Xiao is still at a significant disadvantage, almost completely suppressed.

Moreover, since there was no limit to a hundred moves today, the two fought for a longer period of time. Chen Xiao clearly felt that he was improving rapidly, but the outcome was even more embarrassing than yesterday.

"You have too little experience fighting others. Although you are improving rapidly, you still need to practice, otherwise you will suffer a great loss in the future. From now on, I will accompany you to practice for one hour every day, and we will set the time in the morning. During the rest of the time, you can go to the edge of the desert to hone your skills. You only need to show a little wealth, and there will be plenty of mercenaries to fight to the death with you. If you are lucky enough to encounter snake people, your progress will definitely be rapid."

After a long battle, Hai Bodong pointed his ice spear directly at Chen Xiao's forehead, smiled slightly, and then dispersed the ice spear, speaking slowly.

After two days of interaction, he could sense Chen Xiao's progress, which made him even more determined to take Chen Xiao under his wing.

Upon hearing Hai Bodong's suggestion, the phrase "entrapment" immediately came to Chen Xiao's mind.

This method does work.

"I will go."

Without much thought, Chen Xiao nodded in agreement.

The desert is not only inhabited by humans and snake people, but also by many magical beasts and poisonous insects.

Occasionally, there would even be people coming from other empires.

"Well, that's enough for today. I sent a message to Tengshan last night, and he will definitely arrive within three days. Be prepared."

Hai Bodong nodded, glanced at Qinglin who was watching from a distance with a nervous expression, and then leisurely left.

Only then did Qinglin dare to approach and examine Chen Xiao closely. Seeing that Chen Xiao only looked disheveled but was actually unharmed, she was completely relieved.

The previous exchange between the two was far more terrifying to Qing Lin than any of the mercenary group clashes she had ever witnessed.

"Don't worry, Ice Emperor and I know what we're doing. Let's go back. Today I'll teach you Qi Induction. From now on, you won't have to accompany me around during the day. Just focus on your cultivation at the inn."

Qinglin nodded her head, followed Chen Xiao for a while, and then spoke softly.

"Young master, may I ask you a question?"

"Anything is acceptable; there are no taboos."

"Qinglin doesn't know your name yet, young master."

"I forgot, my name is Chen Xiao. It's not as nice as Qing Lin's name, but it's still easy to remember."

Qinglin nodded; it was indeed easy to remember.

But then he suddenly felt that this was implying that his own name sounded better, and immediately shook his head repeatedly.

No, that's not right either!

Qinglin's face was full of confusion, which made her look quite cute, and Chen Xiao couldn't help but laugh out loud.

...

For the next three days, Chen Xiao's movements were very regular.

I woke up from my cultivation in the morning, then went outside the city to fight Hai Bodong, and then went into the desert to train in the edge area.

He ultimately didn't resort to entrapment tactics, because after entering the desert, Chen Xiao realized it was completely unnecessary.

There are at least a hundred mercenary groups in the surrounding cities, and even more mercenaries are active on the edge of the desert every day. Among them are some vicious people who believe that murder and arson bring wealth and that building bridges and roads leaves no trace. They specifically target people who seem easy to bully.

Chen Xiao happens to belong to this group of people.

This makes him a constant target, with no shortage of people to fight him.

It's a bit of a shame that most of these mercenaries are of average strength. Even though there are many of them, they are not enough to pose a threat to Chen Xiao. He has to suppress most of his strength each time in order to feel the benefits of fighting.

Day four, early morning.

As soon as Hai Bodong opened the map shop, he saw several figures flying down from the sky.

That can be confirmed by those pairs of dazzling and colorful battle aura wings.

These people are all experts at the level of Dou Wang or above!

Fortunately, it was too early and there were hardly any people on the streets; otherwise, seeing this scene would have caused quite a stir.

With his exceptional eyesight, Hai Bodong was able to see clearly that among the five people flying towards him, the most familiar one, Teng Shan, was among them.

However, he was not in the center position among the five.

In the center was a person dressed in a black robe, whose gender was indistinguishable, and whose face was not yet visible due to the angle of view.

Aside from this person and Teng Shan, Hai Bodong recognized the other three at a glance; they were—

The Lionheart Marshal of the Gama Empire, Nalan Jie of the Nalan family!

The Lion King, Yan Shi!

Feng Li, also known as the Windwalker!

These individuals are all among the top ten strongest in the Gama Empire!

"What is Tengshan up to?"

Looking at this rather impressive lineup, Hai Bodong frowned slightly.

This time it's not like we're going to attack the snake people, and the chances of us even fighting are slim, so why make such a big fuss?

Under Hai Bodong's watchful gaze, the group of five quickly flew down and saw him standing at the door.

Only then did Haibo Dongfang recognize the identity of the person in the black robe.

It was none other than Yun Yun, the sect leader of the Yunlan Sect.

A genuine Dou Huang powerhouse!

With such strength, it is well-deserved to be guarded in the center.

"Old Hai, it really is you! When you left and never returned, I used almost all my resources, but I couldn't find a trace of you."

Upon seeing Hai Bodong, Tengshan, dressed in a magnificent robe, immediately stepped forward, his expression one of great excitement.

Hai Bodong nodded slightly, leaving Teng Shan aside for the time being, and went forward to greet the other four people.

"Sect Master Yun, Nalan Jie, Yan Shi, Feng Li, I didn't expect Teng Shan to have invited you all."

"Ice Emperor".

"Haha, Tengshan's offer is very generous, it's really hard to refuse."

"Ice Emperor, so many years have passed since we last met. I never imagined we would meet again."

Yun Yun and the other three responded one after another.

They all realized that the Ice Emperor's condition was not as good as before, but no one said anything about it.

After a brief greeting, Hai Bodong led the five people into the store.

After they were seated, Tengshan, who was closest to Hai Bodong, couldn't help but ask the question first.

"Elder Hai, is your current condition caused by that powerful enemy? There are only a handful of Dou Huang level experts in the Jia Ma Empire. I wonder which one attacked Elder Hai?"

Upon hearing this, Yun Yun and the others all perked up their ears, filled with curiosity.

Hai Bodong is a Dou Huang powerhouse who has been famous for many years, unlike Yun Yun, a rising star.

The person who made such a huge loss to Hai Bodong, and even forced him to ask for help, must be a high-level Dou Huang!

It was with these doubts in mind that Tengshan did not inform the royal family this time.

After all, the one in the royal family is also a suspect.

Although Tengshan couldn't figure out the motive.

Feeling the gazes of the five people, Hai Bodong became more and more puzzled as he listened.

"No, who told you I was in danger?"

He did have some problems, but those problems date back many years.

As of now, Hai Bodong has no intention of seeking revenge.

Queen Medusa was terrifying!

Hai Bodong never imagined that within the Gama Empire, there was anyone who could reliably defeat her.

Moreover, Queen Medusa has the entire Serpent People race behind her!

"You didn't encounter any danger?" Tengshan asked in astonishment.

After a moment of stunned silence, Tengshan realized that he had probably misunderstood the situation, which had led to this misunderstanding.

"I was just overthinking things because I was too concerned; I thought Elder Hai was in danger."

With a wry smile, Teng Shan sorted out the whole story.

At the same time, he also took out the message from his storage ring.

Upon opening it, there was only a simple sentence on it—

"We are seeking a powerful individual to come to Desert City and offer assistance immediately!"

Upon seeing this, Nalan Jie and the others laughed rather unkindly.

It's not surprising that Tengshan misunderstood; it's just that this one sentence easily leads to speculation.

Hai Bodong shook his head helplessly. The matter of Chen Xiao was somewhat complicated and could not be explained in a few words on paper. He originally thought that he would discuss it in detail when Tengshan arrived, but he did not expect it to turn out like this.

"Never mind, it won't make much of a difference anyway. Since you've all received your payment, you can all come along."