After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

The airplane announcement came on at the right time, then stopped. Zhou Yan, carrying Su Xiaowan and with the Chongming Bird on his shoulder, stepped off the plane amidst the announcement.

This place is the private airport of the Vermilion Bird Academy. As soon as Zhou Yan got off, a burly man who had been waiting inside the private airport walked over.

Before even reaching Zhou Yan, the burly man waved at him.

"You must be Zhou Yan. I've already heard about you from Lord Suzaku."

The burly man glanced at Su Xiaowan in Zhou Yan's arms and the Chongba bird on his shoulder, his expression immediately stiffening. Like the people from the Vermilion Bird Academy in the Abyss Underworld, he thought Zhou Yan's attire suggested he was on vacation.

Zhou Yan noticed the man's expression and then smiled.

"It's alright. This time I'm going to act on my own in the Ten Thousand Miao Mountains. You just need to provide me with intelligence; you don't need to accompany me."

Zhuque had discussed this with the strong man. Because Zhou Yan had previously proven his ability to avoid danger in the Abyss Underworld, Zhuque also knew that Zhou Yan had a rather violent temper. Forcing Zhou Yan to change his temperament would probably backfire, so she gave Zhou Yan a few magical artifacts that could save his life and then let Zhou Yan act on his own.

The burly man laughed.

"Alright, young master, if you want to act on your own, then do so."

The burly man turned around.

"Young master, I'll take you to our dormitory. Don't worry, you'll have a single room."

The burly man led Zhou Yan out of the airport and to a nearby apartment building where only students and teachers of the Vermilion Bird Academy could live. Zhou Yan got a key at the front desk and went upstairs.

The single rooms at Shiwan Miaoshan are nice, each with a separate living room, bathroom, bedroom, and balcony.

The bedroom was also equipped with a computer. The burly man gave Zhou Yan a map of the 100,000 Miao Mountains within the Vermilion Bird Academy, along with his WeChat account, instructing him to contact him if needed before leaving.

Zhou Yan placed his luggage in the wardrobe next to the bed in the bedroom, then turned on his computer. During the boot-up time, Zhou Yan spread out the map that the burly man had given him and took a look at it.

The map of the Ten Thousand Miao Mountains is different from the map of the Abyss Underworld. The Ten Thousand Miao Mountains are a mountain range made up of countless peaks. The mountain range has all kinds of terrain and countless evil creatures and poisonous insects. Zhou Yan scanned the map and found more than 300 places with a deep sense of danger. It seemed that going there would definitely lead to life-threatening situations.

This is a bit of a problem.

The density of death points in the 100,000 Miao Mountains is much higher than in the Abyss Underworld.

However, the Abyss Underworld is full of ghosts, most of which are illusions and can be suppressed by Zhou Yan. The 100,000 Miao Mountains are full of Gu worms, so Zhou Yan doesn't have as much of an advantage here.

Then we have no choice but to find a safe place to go.

Zhou Yan caught the Chongming bird that was pecking at its own feathers on the computer desk and carried the little guy, whose brain wasn't very sharp yet, to the map.

"Little guy."

Zhou Yan pointed to the map.

"I'll take you to this place for a good meal tomorrow."

"Coo coo coo, coo coo coo..."

The Chongming bird kept turning its head left and right, unable to understand the contents of the map with its tiny head.

However, whatever Zhou Yan said was law, and she never doubted his decisions.

Chapter Three: Emperor Yan

The clouds passed by outside the plane window.

Xu Ruheng coughed a few times, his weak eyes looking out the window.

Beside Xu Ruheng, a man with a ferocious face, who could get three auxiliary police officers promoted to full-fledged positions just by walking down the street, and who could eat three vegetative patients in one sitting if he wanted to eat vegetarian food, also looked out the window following Xu Ruheng's gaze.

The clouds outside the plane window began to thin, and then large swathes of mountain peaks appeared.

The plane began to descend, and once it reached a certain altitude, a cluster of buildings built on the flat mountainside began to appear.

The ferocious-looking man chuckled wickedly.

"Oh, it's almost here, I can already smell the blood."

Xu Ruheng glanced fearfully at the ferocious man beside him, then looked back at the scenery outside the window.

"I never thought I'd be able to come back to this place again in my lifetime."

Years ago, Xu Ruheng was forced by circumstances to come to several mountains outside the Ten Thousand Miao Mountains to search for immortal plants. After returning with a narrow escape from death, Xu Ruheng vowed never to come to this place again.

In the end, they still came back.

Fate is always so helpless.

The plane landed and began to taxi and slow down. After a short while, the plane stopped, and Xu Ruheng, along with his bodyguards and the two demigod-level awakened individuals he had invited, disembarked.

This place was the White Tiger's front-line station in the Ten Thousand Miao Mountains. Xu Ruheng and the others were not from the White Tiger Academy, so there were not many people waiting for them. The group walked out of the airport and then went their separate ways.

Two bodyguards took Xu Ruheng to a nearby hotel, while the rest of the group went to find a guide and purchase various internal maps and some magical artifacts specifically designed to deal with the dangers of the Ten Thousand Miao Mountains.

The best hotel nearby was a five-story villa. Xu Ruheng, who was not short of money, went in with his bodyguards. After paying a large sum of money for the accommodation, Xu Ruheng was helped by his bodyguards to the luxury suite on the third floor. After entering the bedroom, Xu Ruheng weakly called out to his bodyguards.

"Water, water, water."

The bodyguard immediately went to pour water for Xu Ruheng. With trembling hands, Xu Ruheng took out a bag of medicine from his pocket, then took out a small bag of medicine from another bag, poured the medicine into his palm, and swallowed it with the water the bodyguard brought him.

After drinking it, Xu Ruheng felt much better, whether it was a placebo effect or not, and his physical fatigue seemed to have lessened considerably.

Xu Ruheng shakily collapsed onto the bed. The bodyguards beside him began to take off Xu Ruheng's shoes and clothes, then placed him in the middle of the bed and covered him with a blanket.

Exhausted, Xu Ruheng fell asleep quickly.

……

"Wake up..."

"Wake up..."

Xu Ruheng felt a sharp pain on his face. Stimulated by the pain, he slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw several middle-aged people dressed in ugly, thick winter clothes surrounding him. Xu Ruheng's heart stirred. He rubbed his eyes and said sleepily.

"Are we leaving?"

A few middle-aged men nearby chuckled.

"Ah, whether I can eat well or not in the future depends on this one time."

Xu Ruheng smiled bloodthirstyly.

He grew up in poverty, and his father died before Xu Ruheng was old enough to understand, leaving his mother to raise him with great difficulty. Just when Xu Ruheng was finally able to earn money, his mother fell ill.

People say that only children make choices, while adults want it all. That's bullshit. In reality, there are no choices in the adult world.

Xu Ruheng had no choice but to risk his life. For this reason, he signed up for Chang'an Mountain. It was said that there were many precious medicinal herbs in Chang'an Mountain that wealthy men liked. If you could just get one, you would be set for life.

Now that I've arrived at Chang'an Mountain, I've found a professional team and become one of them.

A submachine gun was handed to Xu Ruheng, who gripped it.

"Alright, let's go."

The middle-aged man at the head of the group waved his hand, then opened the door and went out.

The others followed, and Xu Ruheng also went out.

It's winter now, and the ground outside is covered with a thick layer of snow. Your breath turns into mist, and the cold is indescribable.

After going outside, Xu Ruheng shivered, then walked over to the uncle he was closest to and asked in a low voice.

"Uncle Wang, I've heard this place is very dangerous, with some... monsters?"

In Xu Ruheng's era, the government was still able to suppress the Awakened Ones, and the Awakened Ones were not qualified to appear in front of the general public. Therefore, Xu Ruheng had heard of the existence of some Awakened Ones who were very good at fighting, but he had never seen them.

Uncle Wang looked fearful.

"Yeah, this place is full of demons and monsters. If out of ten people who come here to search for treasure, it would be good if two of them came out."

Xu Ruheng grinned menacingly.

"But those two who came out must have become successful, right?"

At this point, Xu Ruheng was a nobody and didn't care how dangerous this place was.

Uncle Wang chuckled softly, then brandished the gun in his hand in front of Xu Ruheng.

"So, we should make good use of this treasure; we'll rely on it if something happens later."

Xu Ruheng's grin widened.

As a member of the lower class and a poor person, Xu Ruheng joined a gang at a young age. He had fought, killed, and engaged in smuggling. He was a man of many vices at a young age, but he had no money.

Therefore, Xu Ruheng believed he could do anything for money.

He would kill anything that stood in his way while he was making money, whether it was a mountain spirit, a monster, or a god or Buddha.

The group hiked up two mountains in the snow-covered environment, rested for half an hour, and then continued on to other mountains.

As the midday sun slowly moved westward and darkness fell, the middle-aged man at the head of the group waved goodbye, preparing to leave.

Somewhat disappointed, Xu Ruheng had only turned halfway around when the middle-aged man at the head of the group suddenly shuddered. In the corner of Xu Ruheng's eye, the leader collapsed to the ground. Then, the flesh on the middle-aged man's face, along with the contents of his seven orifices, flowed down like water, revealing his reddish-black skull.

The people around were stunned for a moment, but within a second, the two people closest to the leader shouted.

"quick……"

"Crack...crack..."

The two people closest to the leader fell one after another. Their deaths were different from the leader's; their faces were not disintegrated, but blood was spurting from their seven orifices. One of them was spurting blood so badly that it even spurted from his eyes.

Upon seeing this, the others let out a strange cry and ran off in twos and threes in different directions.

This was agreed upon long ago. If danger arises, we'll split up and run. Whoever is unlucky enough to be targeted by danger is simply destined for it. If we end up in hell, no one can blame anyone else.

Xu Ruheng was one of the lucky ones. He hadn't run far when he caught a glimpse of people running in different directions falling down one by one, with blood seeping from the places where they fell.

"Pfft...pfft...pfft..."

Human bodies fell one after another, spreading across the snow. Xu Ruheng felt a chill run down his spine, and large patches of goosebumps rose from his back.

Every thud of a foot hitting the ground represents a life lost!

Why, why?

In the end what happened?

How could so many people have suddenly died?

Xu Ruheng had no idea what was happening around him, but he knew there was something very dangerous around him. It was terrifying because he couldn't see what it was.

The more Xu Ruheng thought about it, the more his heart trembled.

"Pfft... pfft..."

Xu Ruheng opened his mouth, and the sound of him falling to the ground was very close!

Xu Ruheng looked around and saw his closest friend, Uncle Wang, who had been running in the same direction as him, lying on the ground. Just moments before, Uncle Wang had been chatting and laughing with him, saying they were going to get rich together. One of his eyeballs had been spurted out of his skull, and one of his hands was outstretched towards Xu Ruheng.

"Help...me...I..."

Xu Ruheng clearly saw several insect legs protruding from the eye sockets of Uncle Wang's eyes.

"No! No! No!"

Xu Ruheng screamed and ran away.

The sight of the leader's death, the thuds of his feet hitting the ground, and the bloodshot face of Uncle Wang as he fell—all these images combined to create a single thought in Xu Ruheng's mind.

I want to live.

During this escape, Xu Ruheng's adrenaline surged, and he quickly distanced himself from his own group at an unimaginable speed. He ran until it was almost dark before he stopped due to exhaustion. The young man, panting heavily, leaned on a tree to rest.

"Splash!"

Xu Ruheng had just pressed down on the tree when a dark shadow fell down in front of him.

Xu Ruheng looked closely and saw that it was a skeleton, crawling with all kinds of insects, white, with dried flesh and internal organs.

The human skeleton quickly matched the corpse of his teammate that Xu Ruheng had seen earlier.

"No! No! No!"

Xu Ruheng roared and, after catching his breath, started running again. However, he hadn't gone far when he lost his footing and tumbled down a cliff.

After rolling to the bottom, Xu Ruheng slowly turned around. He had only stood up halfway when he noticed a few snowflakes falling in front of him.

Snowing.

Xu Ruheng looked up and saw endless goose feathers falling from the dark sky.

Xu Ruheng got up, but halfway up, he ran out of strength and collapsed to the ground. The biting cold wind mixed with snowflakes fell on him.