Chapter 36: Transparent Light Wings

The day after, outside Tiandou City, hidden within a remote and rugged mountain range.

Bai He led Bai Chenxiang along a craggy mountain path. The map provided by Zi Dianxiong was incredibly detailed, even marking the types of spirit beasts one might encounter and the dangerous areas to avoid. It was clear that the man was truly terrified.

"It should be just ahead," Bai He said, stopping and pointing toward a narrow entrance wedged between two peaks.

The opening was less than ten meters wide. The mountain walls on either side, as if cleaved by a giant axe, glowed with an eerie, cyan-purple hue. Even from a distance, one could feel powerful air currents whistling out of the narrow gap, whipping their clothes into a frenzy. The chaotic yet pure aura of wind and lightning caused the spirit power within her to leap joyfully, beyond her control.

"What a place," Bai Chenxiang exclaimed with genuine admiration.

Bai He’s expression, however, remained grave. He reached out to test the air, and an invisible barrier of spirit power condensed in front of his palm.

*Sssss—*

Several tiny, nearly invisible wind blades struck the barrier, producing a teeth-grinding, cutting sound. Simultaneously, a series of minute, blue-violet sparks erupted in the air.

"Good heavens," Bai He said, pulling his hand back, his eyes turning grim. "This is just the entrance. The wind and lightning forces inside are likely far more violent than that old rascal Zi Dianxiong described."

He looked at Bai Chenxiang with a hint of worry. "Xiangxiang, this place is too ominous. Why don't we just cultivate here at the entrance? Safety first."

Bai Chenxiang shook her head. She looked at him quietly, her clear eyes reflecting his anxious face.

"Grandfather, you are a Spirit Douluo," she said, her voice soft yet every word clear. "You know that for a spirit master, the most terrifying thing is not danger, but comfort. The Speed Clan has been comfortable for too long."

These words struck Bai He’s heart like a heavy hammer. Ever since the Clear Sky Sect sealed its mountain, the vassal clans had become like rootless duckweed. They talked about self-improvement, but deep down, they were merely waiting and watching. They had lost their edge; they had lost the audacity that once made them dare to stand against the world. Spending their days guarding the meager legacy left by their ancestors and bickering over trivial benefits—was that not exactly what comfort was?

An eighty-year-old man, having his inner barrier shattered by a six-year-old granddaughter—Bai He’s face turned from red to pale, finally settling into a long, self-deprecating sigh of relief.

"Good, good, good!"

He repeated the word three times. His formerly hunched frame seemed to straighten in that moment. "Truly worthy of being my, Bai He’s, granddaughter! Go! Grandfather will not stop you!"

He pulled a pure white jade pendant from his robes, carved with a swallow in flight, and handed it to Bai Chenxiang. "This is the token of the Speed Clan's patriarch. It contains three bursts of my spirit power. If you encounter a life-or-death crisis, crush it, and no matter how far away you are, I will sense it. Even if I have to throw away this old life, I will ensure your safety!"

Bai Chenxiang took the pendant; it was warm to the touch, and she could feel the surging yet restrained spirit power within. She did not say thank you; she simply tucked the pendant close to her body and bowed deeply to Bai He.

When she straightened up, there was no longer a hint of hesitation in her eyes. Her small figure stepped forward, one pace at a time, toward the deep, cavernous valley that resembled the maw of a giant beast.

The moment she stepped into the entrance, the world seemed to change.

*Whoosh!*

Violent currents instantly engulfed her. This was no ordinary wind; it was laden with countless infinitesimal energy particles, as thin as ox hair but as sharp as blades. They frantically sliced against her protective spirit power, emitting a piercing "hiss" as if trying to tear her to shreds. Simultaneously, the free-roaming lightning in the air surged toward her like sharks scenting blood. Tiny purple arcs of electricity exploded around her body, bringing waves of numbness and stinging pain.

This was the greeting of the Purple Lightning Wind-Thunder Valley. Just standing at the entrance required a Spirit Master of the Spirit Grandmaster rank to resist with all their might just to remain standing.

But Bai Chenxiang was unhurried. She closed her eyes. Her "Wind Whisper" ability was pushed to its absolute limit. In her perception, this space was no longer just wind and lightning—it was a symphony, wildly chaotic yet following a peculiar, underlying rhythm. The wind was the main melody, sometimes soaring, sometimes low, carrying everything before it. The lightning was the most impassioned percussion; each explosion made the rhythm of the entire movement even more violent.

The wind and lightning power within her began to resonate with this "symphony."

She moved.

Her small figure began to execute inconceivable evasive maneuvers through the gaps between the gale and the electric serpents. Sometimes her body was like a weightless feather, gently lifted by the wind; at other times, she was like a slippery fish, flashing through the gaps in the lightning. Her footwork followed no set pattern, yet it seemed to align with some profound law of heaven and earth.

This was her new understanding of "Wind Blink." It was no longer about simple speed, but rather merging oneself into the wind, becoming a part of it. The wind cannot be harmed by the wind.

Outside the valley, Bai He watched with his heart in his throat, his aged heart nearly leaping out of his chest. Even with his Spirit Douluo-level vision, he could barely catch the afterimages of his granddaughter weaving through the wind and lightning.

Several times, as a massive wind blade or a thick bolt of lightning seemed poised to strike her, his heart skipped a beat, and his spirit rings nearly manifested involuntarily. Yet, every single time, Bai Chenxiang would evade the danger by a hair’s breadth, at an impossible angle. It was no longer just dodging; it was dancing on the edge of a blade!

"What kind of movement technique is this?" Bai He muttered to himself. He realized that the speed he had always taken such pride in seemed like the stumbling of an infant compared to his granddaughter’s miraculous walk within the wind.

"Heavens above, what sins did my Speed Clan commit—or did our ancestral graves finally start smoking with good fortune—to produce such a little monster?"

One moment he was so worried he wanted to rush in and drag her out, and the next, he felt an incomparable sense of pride in her talent. His emotions fluctuated between two extremes, his expression so vivid that even the best actors in Tiandou City would be put to shame. He even began to let his imagination run wild.

"If this little monster had existed before the Clear Sky Sect sealed its mountain, that old fellow Tang Chen would probably have come knocking on our door every single day to propose a marriage, right?"

"No, no, my Xiangxiang cannot marry those brutes who only know how to swing hammers; it’s too demeaning."

Just as Bai He was lost in his wild thoughts, nearly succumbing to a mental breakdown, Bai Chenxiang had already gradually moved deeper into the valley.

The further she went, the more violent the wind and lightning became. At first, they were just fine blades and arcs; now, they had turned into visible cyan storms and purple lightning pythons as thick as a human arm! They chased and collided within the narrow valley, weaving a purgatory of death.

The pressure on Bai Chenxiang grew immense. Fine beads of sweat dotted her brow, and her small face turned slightly pale due to the intense consumption of spirit power. Simple evasion was no longer enough. She had to find a place to stop, to adapt, to absorb, and to transform this external energy into her own.

Her "Wind Whisper" spread out like an invisible net across the valley. Finally, a thousand meters ahead, in a hollow of the mountain wall, she heard a note of discord. The wind seemed weaker there, and the lightning more temperate. It was like the eye of a storm, a brief and peaceful harbor.

That was it!

Bai Chenxiang’s eyes sharpened, and the wind and lightning power within her erupted without reservation.

"Wings of Wind and Thunder!"

Behind her, the spirit skill that had previously been passive manifested its true form under her active command for the first time! A pair of translucent wings, woven from pure cyan wind elements and purple lightning elements, unfurled behind her back. The wings were not large, yet they were filled with indescribable agility and explosive power.

With a sudden beat of those wings, Bai Chenxiang’s figure vanished from her spot!

This time, it was not an afterimage, nor a visual trail. It was a high-speed movement bordering on teleportation!

Outside the valley, Bai He’s eyes blurred, and his granddaughter’s aura abruptly appeared a thousand meters away!

"Is this... a spatial ability?!"