Chapter Thirty: The Western Xia Empire

  Xiao Ziyang looked back at the two "dragging oil bottles" following behind him, looking around in all directions, and couldn't help but let out a soft sigh. These two little snow tigers still didn't know how to hunt and couldn't survive on their own. A month of daily interactions had already made him fond of these two little guys who treated him as their mother, and he just couldn't bear to abandon them and leave.

  Xiao Ziyang randomly bought some fur, purchased enough medicinal materials for a month of cultivation, and then went to the tailor's shop to have two sets of well-fitting clothes made.

  After resting at the inn for a night, he set out early next morning, took out his clothes and headed towards the big mountain.

  Two little snow tigers grew extremely fast, and at the age of two months, they were already nearly four feet long. Under Xiao Ziyang's daily feeding with medicinal food, they grew to be extremely robust, galloping freely in the snowy forest like the wind.

  As they grew in size, their appetite also increased dramatically, forcing him to go hunting every two days. Fortunately, it didn't take long for them to learn how to hunt and kill on their own.

  When Xiao Ziyang first saw the two little guys working together to drag a nearly hundred-pound yellow sheep back to the cave, and then celebrating around him with excitement, he felt both delighted and reluctant. He knew that the time for him to part with them was approaching soon.

  The two snow tigers, since they first caught their prey, were unstoppable, and afterwards did not need Xiao Ziyang to hunt personally. These two snow tigers, under Xiao Ziyang's medicinal feed, were stronger and more agile than their mother, and hunting was a trivial matter for them.

  If it weren't for Xiao Ziyang's intervention, these two careless guys almost wiped out the wildlife in this area. The entire cave was filled with animal carcasses, enough to feed them for a whole winter.

  What made Xiao Ziyang laugh and cry was that these two little guys simply didn't eat raw meat. They dragged back their prey, placed it at his feet, and would stare straight at the big pot he had bought especially on his second trip down the mountain.

  The medicine that was hard for Xiao Ziyang to swallow seemed like a delicious dish to the two sisters, and even if they were forced to eat raw meat, they would spit it out, which made Xiao Ziyang worried.

  These two snow tigers, one with a slightly larger head, is male, and Xiao Ziyang named it Da Long. The smaller one is female, and he named it Xiao Long.

  Da Long Xiao Long is extremely intelligent, and Xiaozi Yang didn't have any special training, yet they can actually understand some of his simple language.

  Winter is about to pass, and he finally completed the first chapter of "Zi Yu Sheng Yan".

  At this time, his physical strength had increased by more than three times compared to before he practiced the scripture. The strength between his arms was no less than 1,500 catties! Fortunately, as he continued to practice, the speed at which his body developed horizontally gradually slowed down, and his muscles became even more compact and solid, with every muscle being as hard as iron. His weight was nearly 400 catties, much heavier than he looked.

  The big dragon and small dragon have also grown up completely, not counting the tail, they are already more than seven feet long, their double claws can easily rest on his shoulders.

  Under Xiao Ziyang's coercion, they reluctantly learned to eat raw meat. Otherwise, with their appetite, even if he cooked meat all day, it wouldn't be enough for them to eat. However, once they found out that Xiao Ziyang started cooking meat, they would stick to the bonfire and couldn't be pushed away.

  On this day, Xiao Ziyang called Da Long and Xiao Long to his side, drinking a pot of old wine, and didn't care if they could understand or not, he kept talking to them about his troubles. He told them that he would be going on a long journey, to do something very important, and he couldn't take them with him, so he had to say goodbye to them. However, he promised that after he finished his business, he would definitely come back to find them.

  As he spoke, he suddenly found two snow tigers staring at him with a strong sense of reluctance and nostalgia in their eyes. He shook his head, looked at the wine jug, and wondered if it was because the boss forgot to add water when they went down the mountain to make wine this time, so that he got drunk?

  The next day, when he left, his heart was still aching about how to shake off the two followers. He had even thought it out and decided that at the time, he would have to harden his heart and severely scold them, not to be defeated by their two pairs of sparkling, pure eyes like crystals.

  But when he really left, the big dragon and the little dragon did not follow up. They just stood at the entrance of the cave, their two pairs of watery eyes staring tightly at him, as if they were reluctant to part with him, as if saying, "You promised us that you would come back!"

  Two of the followers did not catch up, Xiao Ziyang should have been happy, but he couldn't be happy no matter what, only feeling empty in his heart.

  As he waved his hand at the two snow tigers and turned around to walk away, two lines of hot tears finally rolled down.

  Xiao Ziyang did not leave immediately, he stayed in the county town for three days, secretly inquiring and did not find any signs of the official secretly searching for him. It seems that Wu Tianyou indeed concealed the truth from the Zhao County Magistrate as he had intended. Knowing this news, he left the county town with satisfaction.

  As he passed through Hengshi Town, Dangyang County, Xiao Ziyang found that the Golden Dagger Bureau was deserted, and the people in the alley were speculating about the whereabouts of Lei Bing's family, with all sorts of rumors flying around.

  Hengshi Town was just a small town with only a few thousand people, and the townspeople basically all knew each other. He wandered around the town for half a day, but no one recognized him, not even when he passed by several familiar escorts from the escort agency face to face, none of whom gave him a second glance.

  After leaving Shanwei County, Xiao Ziyang first arrived at the city of Ganzhou Prefecture and took a water route, boarding a cargo ship that sailed southeast along the Ganluo River.

  To the north of the Western Cool Empire lies the Tai'an mountain range, and to the south lies the Miro mountain range. Both originate from the first mountain in the world, the Taichu mountain range. The Tai'an mountain range stretches northwest, while the Miro mountain range extends southwest, forming an eight-character shape that envelops the entire empire.

  The Tai'an Mountains and the Miro Mountains are both branches of the Taichu Mountains, with high peaks and steep cliffs, rich in spiritual energy, and inhabited by many ferocious beasts, making it difficult for ordinary people to pass through. The two great mountains serve as a natural barrier for the Western Liang Empire, blocking enemies from both the north and south.

  The nomadic tribes of the north have always been a great enemy of the southwestern Tai Xi region and the Central Plains, so the people of Xiliang named this northern barrier the Taian Mountains.

  In the east of the Western Liang Empire lies the legendary Taichu Mountains, home to the Xianren. Since the conquest of the Shanluo tribe under the Taichu Mountains by the previous dynasty and the incorporation of the Shanluo Plateau into the empire's territory, there have been no more enemies in the east for the empire.

  The western part of the Western Liang Empire is a vast expanse of tens of thousands of miles wide from east to west and nearly two hundred thousand miles long from north to south, known as the Bitter Sea.

  The narrow and long bitter sea is a transportation hub connecting eighteen countries in Southeast Asia.

  The Tai Xi region refers to the area west of Mount Tai Chi, adjacent to the Tai Chi mountain range, a narrow and long north-south trending region. Within this narrow and long region, there are eighteen countries distributed.

  To the east of Tai Xishan is the vast Central Plains, and in the eyes of people from the Central Plains, the eighteen countries to the west are remote and cannot be more remote than a poor and desolate countryside.

  Of course, people from Taiwan don't think so.

  East of the bitter sea is a boundless desert. It's said that if someone can cross the desert, they'll be able to see the real ocean.