Chapter 33 Meeting Welcurus Again

Upon hearing Zhang Xiao's words, Kamat, despite his tender age, was extremely clever. He understood that while Zhang Xiao would not accept him as an official disciple, he was willing to impart a set of skills to him. Though this fell far short of his original goal, Kamat remained deeply grateful to Zhang Xiao.

With Kamas and Kamat in tow, Zhang Xiao and Bai Shunuan headed toward the main city of District 10. Because Zhang Xiao needed to instruct Kamat along the way, the party's pace was quite slow.

Up on Wuyou Peak of Mount Shu, Zhou Fang walked out of the grand hall and said to Zhou Qiuyan behind him: "The Sect Master has summoned me. Be a good girl and watch the house properly. I am going to Wuliang Peak and will be back in a flash. Remember, absolutely do not touch my things, or I will throw you into the Profound Ice Cave and lock you up for ten days or half a month."

At the mention of the Profound Ice Cave, Zhou Qiuyan shuddered violently all over. Recalling that bone-chilling, snow-white abyss, she immediately put on an obedient expression and repeatedly swore promises to Zhou Fang. Seeing this, Zhou Fang finally set his mind at ease. He mounted a mechanical greatsword, soared straight into the clouds, and sped toward the main peak, Wuliang Peak.

Seeing her older brother disappear into the distance, Zhou Qiuyan's eyes rolled around craftily. She stuck out her tongue at Zhou Fang's departing figure and muttered, "Hmph, stinky brother, bad brother, wanting to throw me into the Profound Ice Cave. Hmph, keep dreaming." With that, Zhou Qiuyan walked into the Changming Hall.

As Zhou Fang's younger sister, many of his secrets were not hidden from her, especially the passwords to the various mechanisms, which he had detailed to her precisely out of fear that she might accidentally be killed by his traps. Zhou Qiuyan walked all the way through without the slightest obstruction. Anyone else would have long since been blasted into dust by the mechanisms Zhou Fang had set up.

Pushing open the heavy steel door before her, she saw a room a hundred meters wide containing only a gigantic circular wheel surrounded by various instruments. It stood in the center of the room, resembling a portal, though much larger than ordinary ones.

"Hehe, big bro, let me try out the fruits of your painstaking research." Zhou Qiuyan opened the computer and entered a sequence of complex composite passwords.

"Boom!" With the startup of the computer, the giant circular wheel in the center instantly began to spin. Zhou Qiuyan took out a pre-prepared disk and inserted it into an adjacent instrument. Immediately, a wave of aura was extracted by the machine. Had Zhang Xiao been present, he would have easily recognized that this aura distinctly belonged to none other than himself.

"Target locked: Zhang Xiao. This individual is a red-alert restricted person. Please enter the password." Zhou Qiuyan furrowed her brows, curled her lips, and said, "Restricted person, my foot. Hmph." Despite her words, her fingers flew rapidly across the keyboard.

Finally, after trying dozens of passwords, the computer emitted a new prompt: "Password correct. Please select whether to initiate transmission." Zhou Qiuyan narrowed her eyes, retrieved a large bag of items from a nearby storage cabinet, stuffed them into her storage pouch, tapped the keyboard, and confirmed.

"Thud!!" A beam of light soaring into the heavens erupted from Wuyou Peak. Everyone currently gathered at Wuliang Peak's Chongyang Hall suddenly changed expression and looked toward that dazzling pillar of light.

Meanwhile, Zhou Fang's face turned completely pale. He cursed, "Damn it, I clearly changed the password. How did this little girl manage to exploit a loophole?" Cursing angrily, Zhou Fang summoned his flying sword and instantly blasted off toward Wuyou Peak.

At that moment, the giant circular wheel before Zhou Qiuyan spun faster and faster, bolts of lightning crisscrossing at its center to tear open a spatial rift. Seeing this, Zhou Qiuyan hurriedly put on the battle armor her brother Zhou Fang had given her and strode boldly into the teleportation array.

By the time Zhou Fang arrived, the portal had already closed. Seeing this, Zhou Fang cursed furiously, "Damn it! You little brat, I'm going to throw you into the Profound Ice Cave for the rest of your life."

Meanwhile, on the other side, Zhang Xiao sat nearby, watching Kamat practicing horse stance in the rushing river current. A smile unconsciously formed at the corner of his mouth. The river was narrow and torrential, and occasionally broken logs rushed down from upstream. If this were before the global transformation, anyone attempting such a thing would have been treated as a madman.

However, after the global transformation, people's physical constitutions underwent fundamental changes upon leveling up. Though Kamat was only at level 15, it was already enough for him to barely stand in the river current and fend off the gravel and debris washing down from upstream.

Although he did not know why Zhang Xiao made him do this, Kamat never doubted a single word Zhang Xiao said. Whatever Zhang Xiao told him to do, he executed without the slightest hesitation and with every ounce of his strength. Because of this, in just over ten days, Kamat's physical constitution had improved tremendously.

"Are you truly not planning to take him as a disciple? I think this boy is quite exceptional," Bai Shunuan's voice came from the side. Without turning his head, Zhang Xiao flicked his hand gently toward the upper reaches of the river. A giant tree a thousand meters away suddenly exploded, and countless thick trunks plunged into the river, rushing downward at breakneck speed.

The momentum carried by each tree trunk was enough to crush a compact car flat, yet Zhang Xiao said coldly, "Do not move. Block these trunks for me." Upon hearing Zhang Xiao's words,

Bai Shunuan could not help shouting, "Are you out of your mind?" As a physics professor, Bai Shunuan was acutely aware of just how immense the impact force of the incoming tree trunks was.

Yet Zhang Xiao firmly pulled Bai Shunuan aside, keeping his eyes locked onto Kamat. "Bam!" A thick tree trunk was intercepted by Kamat. The intense momentum immediately pushed Kamat back several meters, but he still stubbornly braced himself against the trunk.

Then, trunk after trunk crashed into one another, yet a fierce fanaticism burned in Kamat's eyes as he persistently blocked every single log.

Seeing this, the corner of Zhang Xiao's mouth curved into a smile. "This child is wonderful. The path to success relies on perseverance. Many people fail to understand this, but this boy does." With that, Zhang Xiao turned and walked away, leaving Bai Shunuan staring at Kamat in the riverbed, her mind filled with unreadable thoughts.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed. During this time, Zhang Xiao taught Kamat nothing theoretical; every day consisted of subjecting Kamat to various forms of extreme torture. Seeing the city walls of District 10's main city come into view ahead, Zhang Xiao finally called Kamat before him and handed him a stack of thick books, a pitch-black fire-poking rod, and a storage pouch.

"These books are the notes and insights of the Level 10 spatial mage Carosius. That fire-poking rod will be your future staff, and the storage pouch contains some currency. I have given you the opportunity; whether you can seize control of your own destiny depends entirely on yourself. Kamat, until we meet again."

After saying this, Zhang Xiao's figure flickered, pulling Bai Shunuan along with him as he vanished from Kamat's sight. Looking in the direction where Zhang Xiao had disappeared, Kamat's eyes were filled with reluctance, but that expression was quickly replaced by a fierce, unyielding resolve. He murmured, "Thank you. I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life."

No one could have predicted that out of a momentary whim, Zhang Xiao had forged the generation's supreme God of Magic in the Western magical world. Even less did anyone know that the legendary divine artifact known as the Staff of Burning Gods was actually such an ugly fire-poking rod. Of course, all of that is a story for another day.

Zhang Xiao led Bai Shunuan into the main city. At that moment, the streets were shrouded in an atmosphere of deep sorrow. Corpses were laid out neatly in rows; with a casual sweep of his spiritual sense, Zhang Xiao detected nearly a thousand people who had been completely annihilated, without even a chance of resurrection. One could easily imagine how fierce and brutal the battle had been.

As a modern person, where had Bai Shunuan ever witnessed such a tragic scene? For a moment, she hid behind Zhang Xiao, unable to bear the sight. "Hold on! Silver-haired kid, stop right there!" At that moment, a cold shout rang out, and a squad of men immediately surrounded Zhang Xiao and Bai Shunuan.

Zhang Xiao narrowed his eyes, recalling the Huaxia pursuit order previously issued by the Holy See, and a chill of murderous intent quietly flashed in his eyes. At that moment, the leader of the men looked closely at Zhang Xiao's face, then suddenly burst into loud laughter. "Hahaha! It's been years, why have you aged so much? Even your hair has turned white!"

Upon hearing the leader's words, Zhang Xiao was momentarily stunned. He looked closely at the man: rugged beard, sturdy build, and a pair of large sabers at his waist. Zhang Xiao felt a sense of familiarity, yet could not recall where he had seen him. However, when his gaze fell upon the intricate markings on the pair of sabers at the man's waist,

his eyes suddenly lit up, and he couldn't help smiling. "Hehe, I didn't expect to run into you here. Well? Still want to have a match with me, Wekrus?"

As it turned out, this man was none other than Wekrus, whom he had encountered years ago in the Dead Forest while upgrading the Silver-Armored Corpse. The two of them had engaged in a fierce battle back then. Knowing that Wekrus was merely a martial arts fanatic, Zhang Xiao paid no mind to the troops surrounding him; instead, his tone was casual, akin to teasing an old friend.

Wekrus let out a hearty laugh. "Sure! But now's not the time. How about this—if you don't have a place to stay right now, come stay at my place. We can chat tonight after I get back." With that, Wekrus produced a slip of paper, tore open a wound on his arm, wrote down an address in blood, and handed it to Zhang Xiao.

Faced with such a rugged and unrestrained fellow as Wekrus, Zhang Xiao truly had no idea what the man was plotting. However, his main purpose in coming here was to let Bai Shunuan gather intelligence on Atlantis, and having the assistance of a local expert like Wekrus would naturally save him a great deal of trouble. Therefore, without standing on ceremony, he took the slip of paper and said, "Very well, we'll wait for you at your place."

A smile instantly bloomed on Wekrus's face. "See you back tonight." With that, Wekrus led his squad and marched toward the northern sector.

"Who is he? Can he be trusted?" Bai Shunuan looked at the bloodstain on the paper in Zhang Xiao's hand, clearly unimpressed by Wekrus's boldness. Hearing this, Zhang Xiao smiled and said, "He's all right. We share a bond forged through fighting each other."

A bond forged through fighting?! Bai Shunuan was taken aback. When she finally snapped out of it, she realized Zhang Xiao had already walked ten meters ahead. She hurried after him, shouting, "Wait for me! Explain yourself—what kind of bond is from fighting? Did you guys actually brawl?"