With the speed of the white serpent, Yin Hui and the others reached the exit after four days of travel. Along the way, they fed off sustenance pills from Su Jia and water stored in Yin Hui's bag of holding.

As the three of them got off, Su Jia and Yu Zhuwa ran towards the light almost immediately. It was as if they had just awakened from a dark nightmare and couldn't wait to bask in the sunlight once more. Yin Hui was not as hasty and did not rush out like the others. Instead, he turned towards the white serpent and gave it a deep bow.

"I am grateful to you for getting us through the pass. Please send my regards to Lord Onyx Serpent for me as well when you return."

"Not at all young master, it was my pleasure." The snake hissed.

Yin Hui was slightly shocked. The entire time they were traveling, the white serpent showed no signs of being able to communicate in human tongue. However, now it was able to communicate with great fluency.

"Young master? Surely I'm not worthy of such a title." Yin Hui laughed slightly.

"Maybe not now, but I have a feeling that you will be in the future. I've been one of the patriarch's closest servants for a long time, so I know a bit about how he thinks."

"Like him, I believe this won't be the last time you will come here. I look forward to witnessing your growth when you return. Until then, I will pass on your kind words to the patriarch. As you know already, he takes respect very seriously. Good bye, young master."

The white serpent lowered it's head slightly towards Yin Hui and then slithered back into the pass.

After the serpent left, Yin Hui went to rejoin the others who were waiting for him outside. He squinted his eyes as the light of the sun filled his vision for the first time in a while.

"Who would have thought that a beautiful sunrise awaited us when we emerged from the pass. Such a warm feeling..." Yin Hui smiled.

Yin Hui could not remember the last time he had such a genuine smile on his face. While his expression was quite pleasant, underneath it was a profound sadness. Under the gentle golden rays of the sun, Yin Hui briefly imagined a life where fate had been kinder. In this vision, his parents were alive and happy. They sat together at the edge of a palace balcony, watching the rise of the morning sun.

The scene within Yin Hui's mind was incredibly realistic. He became so engrossed with this alternate reality that he felt his consciousness slip into a dreamlike state.

In the dream, Yin Hui had regressed into a younger version of himself. He stood no higher than four feet and his hair had shortened to its previous length. Beside him were two tall adults, a man and a woman. He could not see their faces, but he knew they were looking at him with love and affection. Despite being present in the dream as his younger self, Yin Hui had no control over his actions. Furthermore, he also felt himself spectating the entire scene from afar in his original body. Existing in two different body's was an extremely odd sensation, yet also felt extremely normal.

"Father? Mother?" The small Yin Hui asked.

"Yes Xiao Hui?" His father smiled.

"I want the rest of our lives to be as warm and beautiful as this sunrise!"

The woman who was his mother laughed.

"So do we Xiao Hui. Let's go get some breakfast okay?"

"Okay!"

As soon as the younger Yin Hui was about to touch his mother's hand, he heard a voice call out to him.

Stolen story; please report.

"Li Feng? Big Brother Li Feng? Are you still with us?"

The dream ended and Yin Hui saw Yu Zhuwa standing directly in front of him.

"You look way happier than you usually do. Did something happen?"

Realizing he was back in reality, Yin Hui shook his head and cleared his mind. He buried the feelings that had manifested within the dream deep in his heart. Once he did, his warm expression disappeared and he returned to his dark and empty demeanor.

"It was nothing. I just thought the sunrise was especially pleasing and beautiful after being in those caves for so long."

"Ha! A dark and gloomy person like you actually feels sentimental things like that? Li Feng, everyday you surprise me even more." Su Jia mocked.

Yu Zhuwa let out a small chuckle.

"Don't take it to personally Big Brother Li. Sister Su is just playing around. We're only one last step from getting to the Storm Province right? Let's keep going!"

"Right..." Despite burying the feelings deep into his heart, Yin Hui could not stop thinking about the scene he witnessed during his trance.

"Why am I still thinking about it? That was just a dream. A wish. My destiny is a trial of blood and vengeance. My parents died when I was an infant and there is nothing I can do about that. All I can do now is get stronger so that they can finally be avenged."

"Hmm?" When Yin Hui sobered up again, he noticed that Su Jia was now standing before him.

"Do you need something?" Yin Hui asked coldly.

"Damn right I do. Give me back my compass and the strand of spiritual sense I lent to you."

Without hesitation, Yin Hui took out the compass and threw it over to Su Jia. Afterwards, he brought a finger to his forehead and extracted a single strand of qi. He stared at the strand for a moment before flicking it towards Su Jia.

The wisp of qi soared through the air and into Su Jia's forehead. When it entered her body, her spiritual energy surged by a significant amount.

"Now there should be no excuses when we raid the border."

Su Jia snorted.

"Hmph! Even so, you should always return what you borrow. Didn't your parents ever teach you that?"

"No they didn't." Yin Hui said in a casual tone.

"You... I don't know how to deal with you anymore..." Su Jia pouted. No matter what she did, she could never win a battle of words against Yin Hui. He would either find some clever way to reply back to her or say something completely shameless, yet make it sound normal.

"Forget it, it'll only be a little longer before we go our seperate ways. The border should be in sight after we pass through this valley. Let's go."

The three of them traveled across the valley primarily through flight. However, they would descend every once and a while and go by foot when they sensed a patrol passing by.

The cultivators that patrolled the valley relied on their spiritual sense to scan the area quickly. However, its effectiveness was relative to their cultivation. With Su Jia accompanying them, it was mere child's play for her to interfere with the patrolling cultivators spiritual sense without them noticing.

By sunset, the border to the Storm Province was only three kilometers away. With his refined senses, Yin Hui saw the outline of a heavily fortified castle. Directly behind this castle was an enormous gate half it's size, with walls extending endlessly in a horizontal direction.

"Is that the outpost we need to takeover to get through the border? It's practically a fortress!" Yin Hui turned his head angrily towards Su Jia.

"I never said it would be easy. Sorry to say this, but out of all the outposts controlled by the Tang Clan this is the weakest one." Su Jia grimly said.

"What are we up against?"

"The reason this outpost is considered the weakest is because they prioritize quantity over quality. Most of the cultivators you'll encounter will range from early Spirit Waking to early Spirit Manifestation. There might even be some peak Impurity Cleansing cultivators too, but you won't have to worry about them much."

"If that's the case then even I'll be able to take a few of them out!" Yu Zhuwa said enthusiastically.

"Just because they're weak it doesn't mean you should let your guard down. A thousand peak Impurity Cleansing cultivators could quickly overwhelm an early Spirit Waking cultivator if they drop their guard." Su Jia warned.

"So I assume our job is to take out all the weaklings while you go after the leader."

"That's right! It might be a bit of a challenge for you if you encounter a Spirit Manifestation cultivator, but I'm sure you'll think of something." Su Jia said cheekily.

"I'm glad you have so much faith in me..." Yin Hui sarcastically replied.

"Other than the leader, the only other person you need to be wary of is his right hand man. The leader's right hand is rumored to be a peak Spirit Manifestation cultivator. If you are to encounter him, run immediately."

Yin Hui and Yu Zhuwa nodded their heads. They had already seen a peak Spirit Manifestation cultivator in action before. With their current level of power, trying to oppose such an opponent in a one on one battle would simply be courting death.

"Anyways, we'll rest for now and start the invasion tomorrow at first light! Sleep early tonight boys! I don't want any of you sleeping in and giving them extra time to prepare!" Su Jia winked.

Yin Hui and Yu Zhuwa looked at each other with blank expressions. They had a feeling it wouldn't be them struggling to wake up tomorrow.