"Definitely once a year..." Xiaoyao thought for a moment, then said this, leaving everyone completely speechless.

"..."

You could say once a month would already be a lot, or even once every six months at most, but you actually said once a year. Don't you know that your sister wants to beat you up?

"Too lazy to deal with you. Anyway, I'll just pretend I don't have a brother like you," Qi Yanran said.

"Cough cough, the weather is really nice today," Xiaoyao said with a smile.

"..."

Just like that, Xiaoyao and Hei Xue left the Demon Domain, while Qi Yanran could only remain in the Demon Domain to handle her affairs. Since Qi Yanran wasn't there, Xiaofeng and A-Qing naturally wouldn't go with Xiaoyao either—they weren't that familiar with him.

"Hei Xue, you should go to the Carefree Sect first."

After Xiaoyao bid farewell to Qi Yanran, he looked at Hei Xue very seriously and said this. Right now, he absolutely didn't want to go to the Luo family together with Hei Xue. This wasn't because he wanted to go back on his word, nor because he detested Hei Xue, but rather because Hei Xue's entourage made him very uncomfortable.

The Demonic Sound Sect actually wanted to send out a team. Although this team wasn't large, it wasn't small either. For Xiaoyao, the target was too conspicuous. He didn't want his whereabouts known for these two months and didn't want to be so eye-catching.

Moreover, he didn't want to bring this team to the Luo family. This wasn't just one Hei Xue—it would be inconvenient.

"What are you doing? After leaving the Demon Domain, they'll go their way and we'll go ours. They'll go to the Carefree Sect first to prepare, and we'll go there later," Hei Xue said irritably. She knew what Xiaoyao was thinking and immediately explained.

"Then that's fine. But your target seems a bit too large. I suggest you also split up after leaving the Demon Domain," Xiaoyao said.

"Don't worry. We have identities over there. Although the Demon Domain is called a forbidden land by outsiders, there's still quite a bit of contact," Hei Xue said. This was also a secret matter—something that couldn't be openly discussed but was allowed.

"Oh, I see. Then there's no problem," Xiaoyao nodded. He also knew about this matter. Originally, Qi Yanran could have left using this identity too, but now her identity was too sensitive.

However, this kind of unspoken rule also had certain problems. If one's identity was discovered, it would still be very dangerous. This was also something Xiaoyao was worried about—of course, previously he was worried for Qi Yanran. As for these people now, he didn't need to worry about them.

After traveling all the way out of the Demon Domain, Xiaoyao and Hei Xue parted ways with those people. By the time they left the Demon Domain, half a month had already passed. Heavenly Demon City was in the heartland of the Demon Domain, very far from the border, plus the terrain problems. Being able to reach the border in half a month was already quite fast.

Now only two months remained, and these two months didn't necessarily have to be that precise either. A little less wouldn't matter—he believed Qi Bupo wouldn't be that calculating either. Besides, so what if he did calculate? Xiaoyao was already so far away from him now that even if he got angry, he wouldn't be able to see it.

While traveling with Hei Xue, Xiaoyao disguised both of them, though it was just a simple disguise to prevent people from recognizing their identities. They were playing the roles of siblings from a scholarly family who had come out to travel and gather inspiration.

Hei Xue was a bit older than Xiaoyao, though not by much, which made Hei Xue quite displeased. However, she comforted herself in her heart: age isn't a problem—I can maintain this youthful beauty forever.

Along the way, the two toured famous mountains and great rivers, various ancient sites, truly looking like scholars traveling to gather inspiration. They didn't arouse anyone's suspicion and naturally no one noticed their identities.

Xiaoyao also made some modifications to Hei Xue's appearance. She still looked very beautiful but wasn't quite so bewitching. Even so, she still attracted some trouble. Originally, she could have handled such trouble herself, but she particularly liked having Xiaoyao solve it, which made Xiaoyao feel helpless.

On this day, the two toured a famous scenic spot and then walked to the next stopping point. They never turned back—they didn't stay in the vicinity for several days but followed a planned route forward.

These were all planned by Xiaoyao, who had considered every aspect. There wouldn't be situations where they had to sleep outdoors. They might stay overnight at temples or Daoist monasteries, or at mountain villas, but there would definitely be no gaps leaving them to spend the night in deserted wilderness.

Unless he did it deliberately—some scenery could only be seen in the wilderness, where there might be no people for hundreds of li around. However, Xiaoyao hadn't chosen such places.

Just then, the two passed by an iron chain bridge. This iron chain bridge was a path between two cliffs. Such iron chain bridges weren't uncommon—in such harsh environments, iron chain bridges were the most economical transportation bridges.

If the iron chain bridge was large enough, it could even allow horse carriages to pass, though carriages that were too heavy shouldn't even think about it unless they wanted to court death.

The iron chain bridge before Xiaoyao wasn't very large, only allowing one person to pass at a time. After reaching the cliff on the other side, it seemed they would need to cross similar iron chain bridges. There seemed to be quite a few cliffs here, all fragmented, connected only by iron chain bridges forming a path.

This was also a famous and wondrous place. Some people came here specifically to appreciate the unique scenery and walk these high-altitude iron chain bridges that could scare a crowd of people to death.

This place definitely had the most high-altitude iron chain bridges in the world. There were bridges between almost every cliff, with the longest being several hundred meters. The existence of these iron chain bridges was also a kind of miracle.

Some cliffs seemed to have people living on them, forming unique villages. Xiaoyao had originally planned to stop at one such village for a meal. This village was called Stone Forest Village.

"Do you really need to be like this? Are you afraid of walking on these iron chain bridges?" When Xiaoyao got off the iron chain bridge, Hei Xue was practically hanging on his body, looking like she was very scared.

However, this appearance was put on. Didn't Xiaoyao understand her? Even when standing at high altitudes, he'd never seen her afraid. This appearance now was definitely an act.

"I really am scared. I'm just a weak woman—aren't you my younger brother?" Hei Xue said irritably, and she was very much in character. Her current identity was Xiaoyao's older sister, called Le Xiaoxue.

"..." Xiaoyao didn't answer, not because the question was hard to answer, but because he saw something that temporarily prevented him from responding to Hei Xue.

He saw a person coming from ahead, a martial artist who looked somewhat bedraggled, who then cut down the iron chain bridge with one sword strike.

"What do you mean by this?"

Because it happened so suddenly, Xiaoyao and his companion just watched from the side without intervening. Only afterward did they react—what was this all about? How could someone cut down the iron chain bridge?

Fortunately, they had just crossed over. Otherwise, they would have fallen from the broken bridge. Clearly, this martial artist hadn't considered whether there were people on the iron chain bridge and directly cut it down.

"If you don't want to die, don't ask so many questions," the martial artist said coldly, glancing at Xiaoyao and his companion with contemptuous eyes before leaving.

Right now, Xiaoyao and his companion appeared to be weak scholars. In the martial artist's eyes, they were just two passing literati with no trace of martial artist aura.

Xiaoyao was currently hiding very deeply—even God Level experts would have difficulty seeing through his strength. As for Hei Xue, she didn't cultivate internal energy much to begin with. Her internal energy was indistinct—ordinary experts couldn't tell anything, and this martial artist clearly wasn't that kind of expert.

Xiaoyao was just puzzled about what this martial artist was doing. The purpose of cutting down the iron chain bridge should only be one thing—to prevent entry or exit, either to prevent outsiders from coming in or to prevent insiders from going out.

Judging from this martial artist's bedraggled appearance, it seemed he was trying to prevent others from coming in. Hmm, this possibility should be the greatest...

Wait? If he was trying to prevent others from coming in, didn't that mean he had cut down all the iron chain bridges here?

"Did you cut down all the iron chain bridges here?" Xiaoyao asked.

"Yes. If you want to leave, I won't stop you," the martial artist said coldly.

"You..." When Hei Xue wanted to speak, Xiaoyao pulled her hand, so she didn't continue. She followed Xiaoyao into this small village.

This village was on a cliff, and this cliff was like a column towering into the clouds. Without iron chain bridges, it would be very difficult to get onto this cliff—ordinary people simply couldn't do it.

Those who could do it would also find it quite difficult. If there were people guarding above, they could harass them and prevent success. Simply put, this place had now become an absolutely easy-to-defend, hard-to-attack location—all by cutting down the iron chain bridges.

"Let's go see what the situation is, what's really happening here. These people are probably very troublesome—don't provoke them," Xiaoyao said, pulling Hei Xue along.

"Fine. These small fry—I can't be bothered with them," Hei Xue snorted. Given her status, even ordinary experts and major powers were just small fry.

Whether in the Demon Cult or Demon Sect, her identity wasn't simple. She was a natural daughter of heaven and also part of the actual power structure.

"You're really unlucky, coming here at this time..."

After Xiaoyao entered the village, villagers came to chat with him. These villagers were somewhat afraid of those martial artists, but Xiaoyao and his companion didn't give them a feeling of fear. They even felt like they were in the same boat, so naturally they became friendlier.

"Brother, what's the situation?" Xiaoyao asked.

"We don't know either. We only know that as soon as they came, they destroyed the iron chain bridges. There were originally five iron chain bridges connecting this place, and now they're all destroyed. How are we supposed to get in and out in the future?" the villager said, shaking his head. Clearly, the people here were also confused by this matter.

(End of Chapter)