Crossing Over: The Strongest Mage

Fang Yu helplessly explained to Wang Mang: "We can't just stand here and watch..."

Wang Mang still didn't want to leave.

"As long as you all get out safely, I'll find a way to leave here myself," Yan Huo lied to them, hoping to convince them.

"Alright! This might be our only chance," Yan Huo continued.

"Yan Huo, be careful. We'll be waiting for you outside," Yang Lue said softly, placing his hand on Yan Huo's shoulder.

"Got it, Yang Big Brother," Yan Huo replied with a smile, turning back to face the situation.

The giant's voice boomed, "Have you all finished your discussion? You should know that I've cultivated for hundreds of years. I'm very powerful! Killing you all would be as easy as squashing an ant. Don't you fear death?"

In reality, Yan Huo was the one most afraid of death. He hadn't yet found the immortal, and he hadn't completed his promise to Xiuning. But he also had his principles.

"Heh, we've finished discussing. The result is..." Yan Huo turned to signal Yang Lue and the others with a glance. Then, he suddenly roared at the giant, "Let's settle this!"

Yan Huo unleashed his *Thousand Bee Needles*, sending a thousand black spiritual needles hurtling toward the giant. At the same time, he charged directly at the giant, while Yang Lue and the others used all their strength to perform their light body technique, leaping swiftly toward the cave entrance on the cliff.

"Ah!!" The giant was clearly taken by surprise at Yan Huo's actions. "Didn't you say you've only practiced for a few years? Why are you able to control spiritual weapons? You lied to me!"

Yan Huo didn't respond to the giant's words; he continued his charge, and the thousand spiritual needles were already closing in on the giant's face.

"I hope I can buy them more time." Yan Huo quickly glanced back. Yang Lue and the others were still a long way from the cave entrance. His plan was that once they safely escaped, he could use the *Heavenly Void Five Element Formation* to hide and leave. The only thing he worried about was whether the giant would be able to detect his concealment.

Turning back, Yan Huo continued charging toward the giant, aiming to use his body to collide with the giant's legs. But at that critical moment, something unexpected happened.

"You're lying! I'm not playing with you anymore," the giant's voice suddenly took on a childish tone, and with a "Boom!" a dense white mist erupted, replacing the giant's massive body. The golden-armored giant disappeared along with the mist.

The *Thousand Bee Needles* lost their target and flew straight through the mist.

"Eh? Where did it go?!" Yan Huo was bewildered, but he didn't dare be careless. He quickly pulled back his spiritual needles and remained alert for the giant's reappearance.

The white mist was thick, almost obstructing Yan Huo's vision. He expanded his senses to their maximum, not letting even the smallest movement escape his attention. However, after a while, there was no sign of movement around him. Yang Lue and the others had not been hindered and had already entered the cave.

"Five directions, unite and assist, conceal!" Though Yan Huo wasn't sure why the giant had disappeared, he didn't want to be caught in a situation where the enemy had the advantage of surprise. The white mist wouldn't dissipate quickly, so he decided to use his formation to hide.

Now concealed, Yan Huo slowly made his way out of the mist, staying alert for any signs of movement around him.

Just as Yan Huo was about to leave the white mist, a small white object shot out from behind him at lightning speed, darting through the mist and heading straight for the towering stone pillar. Of course, none of this escaped Yan Huo's keen eyes. The white object disappeared after reaching the stone pillar, as though it had blended into the stone itself.

"What was that?! It looked like some kind of animal... but how could there be animals here? And where did the giant go?" Yan Huo couldn't help but be filled with questions. He approached the spot where the white object had vanished and, to his surprise, felt a familiar fluctuation of spiritual energy coming from the stone pillar.

"Haha! So it was a *Heavenly Void Five Element Formation* hidden on the pillar," Yan Huo laughed, his mind racing. "But why is this formation here? Could it be that Senior Zhou Yang left more than one cultivation method on this continent? Is this some place my fellow disciples use for their practice?"

Since starting his cultivation of the *Xiao Yao Heart Method*, Yan Huo had always considered himself a disciple of Zhou Yang. However, this formation was far beyond Yan Huo's abilities. His own formation could only conceal him, but this one could disguise itself as part of the stone pillar, hiding the door that had originally been there.

If Yan Huo hadn't gotten so close, or wasn't so familiar with the *Heavenly Void Five Element Formation*, an outsider would have never detected that there was a hidden entrance.

"Since I'm here, I might as well take a look. If something's wrong, I can always retreat. After all, Yang Big Brother is safe. The owner of this place must want to keep it hidden, and who knows, that treasure might be inside. If it's truly another fellow disciple here, that would be amazing."

Yan Huo dispelled his concealment and walked through the entrance hidden in the stone pillar.

"Haha! I can't believe this is inside the stone pillar!"

Yan Huo had expected to find a hollow space filled with stone, but what he saw was far from that. It was as if he had entered a pavilion or a small courtyard. The room was decorated in a traditional and elegant style, with wooden tables and chairs, and the walls were adorned with landscape paintings and calligraphy. Even the doors and windows were beautifully crafted.

As Yan Huo surveyed the room, his eyes locked with a pair of small, curious eyes peering from the corner of the room. Both of them gasped in surprise.

"A fox?!"

"Ah!?"

The small white figure seemed even more startled than Yan Huo. It quickly turned and darted away, its footsteps echoing as it scurried up a set of stairs.

"A fox?! How could it be a fox?! Could that giant from before have been transformed from a fox?" Yan Huo muttered to himself. While traveling on the mountain, he had seen foxes before, and he knew they were sly creatures. But had he ever heard of a fox being able to transform into such a giant?

"Catch it and ask. If that giant was really a fox in disguise, it probably won't be too powerful. If it had real power, it wouldn't have run away like this."

Yan Huo made up his mind. He located the stairs leading up and headed toward the second floor of the stone pillar tower.

"My heavens! How high is this tower?!" Yan Huo couldn't help but marvel as he climbed.

He wasn't physically tired, but after seeing the same floor and decorations over and over again for forty levels, he was starting to get frustrated. When he reached the fiftieth floor, he finally stopped to take a closer look at the paintings hanging on the wall. At first, he hadn't paid much attention to them, but after climbing so many levels, he noticed that each floor had ten paintings, and each painting depicted the same place.

Naturally, Yan Huo was curious. What was this place that the owner of this tower felt was worth painting so many times?

The inscription on one of the paintings caught his attention: 

*"A glance to the southeast, where the sea meets the horizon; where can I find a sage to share my thoughts?"*