Zhuang Mao took off the ring on his finger and handed it to Xia Xiao. It was a middle-grade hollow ring, with a space as big as a palace, and could hold living things, which was very rare. It was said that it was a reward for Elder Zhuang Mao's achievements in Zhuang Sect, and was given by the Sect Master himself, but who would have thought that it was given to Xia Xiao and the other two?

Yue Long's heart trembled, and he regretted what he had done before, but he also had an evil idea in his mind.

"This is the empty ring I carry with me. It contains many elixirs and some scrolls of exercises. Maybe it can help you who have just arrived in Xishu."

Although he didn't know what it was or what it was used for, he knew it was precious from the luster of the ring and Yue Long's expression. As the saying goes, if you take something from someone, you should give it back. Xia Xiao immediately declined. But Zhuang Mao insisted on giving it to him. The situation became more and more awkward. Xia Xiao winked at Ah Zhu. It seemed that his words were useless, but Ah Zhu was different.

"Master Elder, we don't need such a precious thing, you should keep it!"

"That's right. Once your clan is willing to support us, it won't be too late for us to accept the gift."

Seeing that the two of them were following suit, Zhuang Mao was helpless, but he still insisted on giving it to Azhu.

"Don't be polite. This doesn't represent Zhuang Zong, it only represents me personally. Besides, can I threaten you with a small middle-grade hollow ring? Take it, it will be useful."

Zhuang Mao is a well-known scoundrel who only takes in but never gives out. Yue Long has never seen him give gifts to anyone, but his insistence at this time undoubtedly shows his intention. Ah Zhu looked at Xia Xiao with an apologetic look on his face. Seeing that he was holding the gift in his hand, the latter no longer refused, but bowed and thanked him:

"Thank you, Elder."

"You're welcome. Although the world of Xishu does not welcome weaklings, you are not among the weaklings. With your abilities, you should enjoy special treatment. Although my Zhuang clan is not as good as the other eleven local forces, we also value talents. I'm sure the clan master will feel lucky to hear that you have landed on my land."

"It is our fortune to meet someone like the elder. As for today's matter with the Zongyue sect..."

"Don't worry, I don't think anyone dares to say a word of gossip!"

Zhuang Mao turned around and glared at Yue Long, causing him to be afraid to speak. But things were definitely not as simple as he thought.

"It's getting late. If you feel it's inconvenient to stay in Guyue City, just find a place to rest. But don't go to the wasteland outside. There are wild beasts there. Although they are not strong, they are troublesome."

"Thank you for your concern, Elder. We will take our leave now. If there is any news from Zhuang Zong, please inform us."

After Xia Xiao finished speaking, he bowed again and took the two girls away. He was heading to the north again. It was much more convenient to be with beasts than with people. But Ah Zhu saw him and asked:

"Didn't you say we can't go back to the North?"

"Just believe half of what he says!"

"Why? I think he's pretty good."

Yu Shangyan snorted and said unhappily:

"If it weren't for Xia Xiao, you would have been sold out long ago and would be counting money for others."

Ah Zhu ignored her and asked Xia Xiao what he meant. The latter couldn't tell the specific matter, but felt that Zhuang Mao had no good intentions and must be planning something else. Yu Shangyan saw it, sighed, and said disappointedly:

"I overestimated you, but you are indeed very inexperienced and have not participated in the struggle between forces. You may not know that things are not that simple."

"What's the meaning?"

"Since Zhuang Zong is a 'Earth' level force, they must want to recruit strong people. Instead of letting us form our own forces outside, it is better to bring us into their pocket. You shouldn't have revealed Ah Zhu's true identity before. Although it can gain respect, they will only try to control us and rely on us to become stronger."

It was indeed true when he said that, and Xia Xiao immediately felt a little apologetic.

"I thought they would back down, but I didn't expect this kind of consequence."

"It doesn't matter. Her identity will be exposed soon anyway. Instead of using the power of the gods when she is cornered, it is better to tell them now. But we have to act ruthlessly. Next, they will definitely take some action to force us to get their protection and join their team."

"How to do it specifically?"

“Adapt to circumstances.”

In the night, Yu Shangyan fully demonstrated his wisdom and said:

"If it were me, in order to get a few strong men that I couldn't get otherwise, I would have to make them feel guilty about us, for example... let the Zong Yue sect send a large number of people to attack us. Although we have exposed our strength, the Zong Yue sect doesn't know that Zhuang Mao might let them attack us, first to see if our strength is as strong as we say, and second to make us feel guilty. After all, killing a lot of people is not a good thing for us who just arrived."

"Why? Wouldn't that be the case if they were disrespectful first? And since they know we are very strong, would they still be so obedient as to attack us?"

When Ah Zhu raised a question, Xia Xiao answered it. In the broken wind, he replied:

"Our emergence and establishment of power do not directly threaten the Zhuang Sect, because we still need time to grow. But the Zongyue Sect is different. If they want to maintain their status and prevent us from swallowing them up after we grow up, they have to take action against us in advance."

"But this can be said to be their own wish and has nothing to do with the Zhuang Sect. The latter can only accuse them of being rebellious and disrespectful. But the Zhuang Sect can test our strength and indirectly threaten us to join by using the lives of so many people in the Zongyue Sect. Am I right?"

Yu Shangyan nodded. What Xia Xiao said was indeed what she had thought of. Ah Zhu felt a little unbelievable after hearing it, but that was how human nature was. The upper class always played with the lower class, and the latter could only be manipulated because they had no power to resist. If Ah Zhu had not seen more horrible things, such as the Emperor Qishi devouring his own race and Quedan absorbing thousands of lives, she would not have dared to believe it.

“How horrible.”

"We should just be ourselves. And with your status, you might directly alert the Heavenly Palace. Zhuang Zong doesn't dare to do so many tricks. In the end, Zhuang Mao will only suffer. Also, we can't have similar things happen in our future forces."

Xia Xiao looked at Yu Shangyan, as if to ask for a promise from her. She shrugged, as if to agree, but also as a perfunctory response. But in Guyue City, Yue Long saw Xia Xiao and the other two walking away, then he stood behind Zhuang Mao and asked:

"Elder, how strong are they?"

"You don't need to know. Anyway, once their power is established in this land, you will die. In the end, only one of you can survive. Do you understand what I mean?"

Yue Long was stunned. He didn't expect the elder to say it so directly, but he understood. So, after sending the elder away, he began to prepare his men. Although there were many reasons to consider, the elders in the sect still agreed to spend a huge amount of money to invite two masters to wipe it out together.

Although doing so would most likely draw the wrath of the Zhuang Clan, they could at least prove their strength. Compared to the three newcomers, they were obviously more useful because they were loyal. The Zhuang Clan lacked strong men, but they lacked loyal and non-threatening subordinates, otherwise they would be devoured. If they did nothing, they would only wait to be devoured.

Yue Long is a veteran under Zhuang Zong. Although he is greedy for women and often rapes them, he is still alive today. It can be imagined that in addition to his own strength, he also has some background. This time, he will gather all the people he can summon without reservation to let Xia Xiao see what kind of person he has offended.

“Ahh—”

Xia Xiao sneezed loudly and realized that it was that bastard Yue Long who was scolding him, but he had already arrived at the wasteland in the north.

Landing on the dark ground, the three of them could see clearly around them, so they did not light a fire, but just prepared to practice. Their journey was difficult, not just a vacation, so they had no complaints.

Before Xia Xiao entered the state of cultivation, he played with the empty ring in his hand. In the Great Wilderness, a space can also be opened up through the talisman array, but it is not used in this way. Xia Xiao wanted to make one, but he was not good at the talisman array and gave up. However, this empty ring is really good. A ring is like carrying a palace with you.

And this is still a mid-grade hollow ring. If it were a top-grade one, it would probably be as big as a small world and look more refined. However, this mid-grade hollow ring looks pretty good. The blue gem is not much smaller than the gem condensed from the energy of life on Ah Zhu's finger.

Xia Xiao explored the contents and found that they were not simple. Most of them were skills, and the highest level was the earth-level upper-grade skills. From Qin Shuo, he learned that skills were roughly divided into three levels, from high to low, they were heaven, earth, and man, and each level had three levels: low, middle, and high.

From this point of view, this earth-level upper-grade technique is not weak, but Xia Xiao did not immediately start to try and apply it to practice. Because the practice method of the Great Wilderness World is different from that of the Dawn World, it is probably no good to try rashly, but he found some good things, such as a sword.

This world also has spiritual weapons, and they have different levels. In the Great Wilderness World, Xia Xiao had only seen two high-quality spiritual weapons, one was his master's cattail leaf fan, and the other was the vice president's jade sword. Although there was no high-quality spiritual weapon in this empty ring, there was a medium-quality spiritual weapon, a heavy sword. Xia Xiao took it out and looked at it, then put it back, and did not touch any of the elixirs in it. He would return it. Xia Xiao did not have the habit of accepting things from others without knowing why, especially in this situation.

After a night of practice, Xia Xiao absorbed a lot of source energy and heard a lot of animal sounds, but he didn't pay attention to them. They were like stone statues sitting in the same place, motionless for a long time, only the source energy kept floating around them and then entered their bodies.

When the night passed and dawn came, Xia Xiao took out the pretty good scroll of cultivation techniques and prepared to use it together with Azhu Yu and Shangyan. This way, not only could they improve their strength together, but they could also avoid mistakes in cultivation caused by different methods.

"It's really troublesome. Why does a simple absorption matter have to be complicated?"

As Yu Shangyan, who had practiced for the longest time, she was not used to it, but Xia Xiao gradually discovered some clues while reading the scroll, which surprised her: